Late

Dirty blonde. (No pun intended.)

Thanks guys. It's the Sextet, and not Ensemble, that has the Zieff tunes (one of which I remember simply being titled "X"). I'll have to pick it up before it too goes out-of-print. Montg — the Baker Big Band disc on Pacific Jazz is pretty good. And, if you can actually find the earlier version, it had more tracks on it. The sound was allright too, as Malcolm Addey did the transfers. (I believe McMaster worked on the more recent version.) I like pretty much all of Baker's Pacific Jazz work, though I reach for the studio material more often than the live stuff.

One more vote of confidence. They upgraded to 1st class for my order without even mentioning it.

How cool would THAT have been, though? Very cool — but not if the title ended up being BACKSIDE to BACKSIDE.

Finally picked this one up: Better than I expected.

Is this the set that also includes the previously unissued Bob Zieff tunes?

They were sidemen together on a number of dates (Side by Side comes to mind), but those are the only three I can think of in which they're leaders/co-leaders. I agree, that Columbia date is sublime. Webster and Edison were a natural match.

In the vernacular of the day ... this one is sick. I love it.

I don't think Gray died as a direct result of drug use. Wasn't he actually murdered ... in Nevada?

I've put my ear up to liner notes before, and I still don't hear anything. Incomplete, yes.

Lon, you have to rent/buy/find the documentary The Brute and The Beautiful! In it, Webster's cousin discusses how Lee and Lester Young — back in 1929 — took Webster under their collective wing for a while. Webster himself, in fact, credits his first saxophone "lessons" to Pres! (Long before he was dubbed Pres, of course.)

Thanks! Hey, better than nuttin'.

Did the 30%-off coupons grind to a halt?

Aha — strategically timed for Ben Webster's birthday! Chu would be honored.

Up for air. Watched "Manhattan Murder Mystery" last night for the ja-billionth time. Still entertaining, and I noticed, for the first time, that this is one of Zach Braff's (from the television show "Scrubs") first roles. He plays Allen's son. Also, Aida Turturro (Tony Soprano's sister) is in this. (She's been in two Allen films.) When Allen's character tips Turturro (a cleaning lady in the film) a dollar bill, he delivers one of the film's classic lines: "What are you making a face for? That's the father of our country." There have been a few other Allen films out since this thread was started. "Scoop" has yet to be discussed. It was passable, and Allen drives (and crashes!) a Smart Car. To me, "Matchpoint" is the film that people who don't like Woody Allen films love. Allen is now being underwritten in some form by Spielberg, and, in my opinion, this film shows it. Unusually mainstream. Still, it's a competent movie that's well-acted. It just doesn't seem like a Woody Allen film to me. (Maybe my take on it will change over time.)

... and here I thought that the only set Montoliu made with Webster was Gentle Ben. By the way — this might be of significance to U.S. posters here — The Holland Sessions can be purchased from a place out of Tacoma, WA called Dandylion Records. They had the title up at eBay, but are/were also selling it directly from their website. (Still looking for the & Associates cover. -_- )

Wardell's first few notes on "Twisted" sound like a baritone saxophone. Great stuff all around. The vinyl has three different covers - 2 for the 12" and 1 for the 10". I like the 10", because then it wasn't a "Memorial," but rather "Tenor Sax Favorites."

Let us not forget and continue to pine for: COLTRANE: The Unrelenting Explorer — Unissued Accordion Sessions, 1961-62

This one was just added at eMusic, under the title "Hawk Swings." I'll hit it when my account refreshes.

"Where you at, where's your natural habi-tat, where you at, I wanna go there ..." (With lots of musical notes jumping around.)

You won't dance the tango for dinner with poor loser RVG?

And on the 27th, this will get some air time ...

Oops — thanks for the catch. I meant March 27th! Webster's dates are: Born: March 27, 1909 in Kansas City, Missouri Died: September 20, 1973 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands Ben would have been 98. Let's all celebrate on Big Ben's day by spinning our favorite Webster LP/CD!

Zoot was a giant.

Whoa — that one wasn't even on my radar. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. Also, John Tapscott's recommendation: that one looks good too. Discs on Storyville seem more readily available in Europe, I'm guessing? I never see them locally at least, but haven't scoured all the online options. March 21st is BEN WEBSTER day. In preparation, I watched the wonderful documentary entitled The Brute and The Beautiful. Rhapsody put it out on VHS way back in 1989. It's one of the best jazz documentaries I've ever seen. Anyone else here seen it? Some of the footage, particularly a live set with Benny Carter circa 1970, is stunning. No Webster fan — even if you have to give up buying a few CDs — should be without this show. It's that good.