Brad

I was thinking about buying Shipton's bio of Dizzy. Is it worth picking up?

Mine never showed up either, if you wouldn't mind sending.

Some of them have by a company called Prevue.

I have a few Xanadu cds and can reccomend them all: Bud in Paris Barry Harris Plays Tadd Dameron - really good International Jam Sessions Barry Harris - Live in Tokyo Al Cohn and Dexter Gordon - True Blue - a truly outstanding disc I have all the Bebop Revisited and they're all fantastic. I don't think they've been reissued on lp (a pity) Great label.

That's funny you should show this one, as I had Mel sign a copy of this for me one day and he said he wished it hadn't been released! Mark, did he say why?

I read these all when I was a kid and have a Doubleday edition from the 60s. Do you think this is worth picking up?

Good review by Joe. It's a nice mood album, with excellent playing. I wondered about the celeste at first but it seemed like Horace warmed up to it at after a bit and seemed to add a lot to the session. I don't if this was mentioned but these songs have never been mentioned before and Lock and Griff don't play together.

Late, For Jimmy Forrest, there's Out of the Forrest and if you can't find it, All the Gin is Gone on Delmark, which is notable for being Grant Green's First Recorded Session. I also remember liking Two Altos although it's been a while since I heard it. BTW, all the Thad Jones are very good, especially Mad Thad.

Nice one and all the more unusual to have an organist and a pianist.

Late, did you ever get the BN Hopes? That's a cd that should be reissued either as an RVG or a Conn.

Dusty Groove is actually pretty good about getting things back in stock if you send them your email adress when you access the link that couw left. That's what I just did.

Dude, that's heavy, awesome man

Those are good rules to follow. My family thinks I'm fixated on jazz which is true but not to the neglect of other things. There have been many a time I've gone into a Borders and walked out with anything I wanted, especially if the price wasn't right. What we often think we have to have days later we say "did I really need that?"

Thanks to you both. It's on the way and then I'll see who's right Garth, did you order that clarinets cd?

Forgot to mention Mad About Tadd from Continuum and also Pepper Adams' Urban Dreams, both from Quicksilver. I didn't buy this but did acquire Nick Brignola's Burn Brigade on Beehive, one of the hottest recordings I've ever heard.

I recently received a copy of Burn Brigade on Beehive (Nick Brignola, Cecil Payne and Ronnie Cuber on bs, Walter Davis p, Walter Booker b and Jimmy Cobb ds) and this is one of the most exciting flat out kick ass recordings I have ever heard. Our Delight is clearly one of the most exciting renditions I have ever heard. I can't believe this lp not to mention the other Beehives haven't been released on cd. I would love to be able to get the rights to this lp and reissue it, if I knew how. I can't believe this wouldn't sell. It's just that fantastic.

Bob Van Langen (who many of you may know from ebay) sent this to me and I'm sure many of you received this and has given me permission to post it. It's pretty funny so here goes: In these days, when honesty and openness is so much needed in the world, I have decided that it is time to reveal how CD reviewers do their jobs. The following is an extract from the Reviewers Digest, Fourth Edition (sub-section: CD Reviews; sub-sub-section: Jazz Singers). Because this Digest was hitherto Top Secret, I am risking legal (and maybe lethal) action by the CIA, FBI, DDT and RSPB in making this exposé, I shall therefore be grateful if, after reading this message, you will eat it. Thank you. Bruce Crowther ------------------------ Reviewers Digest, Fourth Edition (sub-section: CD Reviews; sub-sub-section: Jazz Singers). On receipt of the CD, allocate a notional score of 20 points. (This is to acknowledge the fact that someone has gone to a lot of trouble to make this and send it to you and that no one along the way has stolen it.) 1. Examine the packaging. If it is in one of those nifty little flexible plastic packs or the cardboard gatefold type, add 1 point. If it is in one of those so-called jewel boxes that crack and splinter when you look at them, deduct one point. 2. If the case is shrink-wrapped, deduct one point for the fingernail you are about to break. If, beneath the shrink-wrap, there is one of those sticky barcode thingummies redundantly gluing the case shut, deduct a further point for stupidity. 3. Examine the illustration on the front of the CD case. If there is a picture of the singer and more than 10% of the surface of the body is naked, deduct one point. This is in order to refute later allegations that you were seduced by the implicit offer of sexual favours. (NB: this rule applies for male singers as well as for female singers. The previous ruling, that a picture of a partially-naked man was penalized two points, had been withdrawn following allegations of homophobia made by the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. Also note that this rule applies equally to male and female reviewers.) 4. Examine the information on the back of the CD case. If you do not recognize the titles of at least half of the songs listed, deduct one point. (Singers who insist on writing their own songs must be taught a lesson. However, please note the rider to Rule 15.) 5. Now open the case. If the CD promptly falls out because (a) the sleeve design is so bad you couldn't tell you were holding it upside down, or (b) too many of the little plastic fingers have broken off because they are made of the same duff plastic as the jewel boxes, deduct one point. Health warning: Remember to pause at this moment and strain your coffee in case one of the aforementioned plastic fingers fell in your cup.) 6. Inspect the liner notes. If they are printed in a type size so small that it requires 20:20 vision, plus a magnifying glass and a bright light, deduct 1 point. If the printing is in yellow on a white ground, dark brown on a dark blue ground, pink on purple, or vice versa, or any similar combination, including white print on black, deduct one point. Black print on white ground, add one point. If the general design is clearly the work of a second-year art student with learning difficulties, deduct one point. (If the designer is one of the singer's younger siblings, deduct a further point. Nepotism will not be tolerated.) 7. At this point, you might wish to check the total of points. So far, a possible ten points might have been deducted. If this is the case, you may now discard the CD. No matter how good it is, there is no way it can make up a deficit of ten. Bin it, and move on. 8. If the CD has survived, you must now read the liner note. All of it. Sorry, but this must be done. You are supposed to be carrying out a public service here and so far you have done nothing but sit there. If there is no liner note, deduct one point. How are you supposed to know what's happening if no one tells you? If the liner note contains more than 17 spelling mistakes and/or typographical errors deduct one point. If the name of a composer and/or instrumentalist is misspelled deduct a further point. If the singer's own name is misspelled, bin it. 9. If the liner note actually tells you something you did not already know, add one point. (NB: Useful things, of course. Telling you the name of the singer's dressmaker is not regarded as useful information.) 10. Count the number of people to whom the singer offers thanks. More than ten deduct one point, deducting a further point for every five additional names. (This is to counter time-wasting attempts to break the World Record, currently believed to be held by Eve Cornelious in the liner for "I Feel Like Some Jazz Today", where 67 persons are named. This trend must be stamped out. If more than four of the people acknowledged are dead, deduct a further point. I mean, come on, they're dead for God's sake, they can't read the damn notes can they. Or hear the CD. Just because it makes the singer feel good is no excuse. Singers are not put on this Earth to feel good. They are here to entertain those of us who are too busy doing proper jobs to spare the time to sing themselves. (NB: For these purposes, God counts as a dead person.) 11. Now place the CD in your player and check the running time. Less than 40 minutes, deduct five points. More than forty but less than sixty, deduct one point. More than sixty, add one point. More than seventy, add two points. Remember, we live in a commercial age. Quantity beats quality every time. This might be a useful moment to re-check the points deducted and apply the same rule as before, binning any CD that does not have a chance of getting into the black. 12. Sorry about this, but any CD that has survived so far, must now be played. There really is no possible alternative. Just grit your teeth, take any medication prescribed, and press the start button. (NB: For these purposes, as indeed for many others, booze counts as medication.) Having played the CD all the way through (Yes, ALL the way), please return to these notes. 13. There, that wasn't as bad as you thought it would be, was it. 14. If you were able to sing (hum, chant, whistle, doo-de-doo), along with more than half the tracks without losing the beat, award an A. 15. If you are able to recall the melody and/or lyrics of any "original" material for more than seventeen seconds after the track ended, award an A (and think of nominating the writer to the Irving Berlin Hall of Fame). 16. If the singer lets the instrumentalists take solos, award a B. 17. If you fell asleep before the CD ended, award a B. (This is just in case it was really rather good and you wouldn't want to look a fool just because you took a hard-earned nap, now would you.) 18. If the CD is by a so-called jazz singer and she/he scats, award a C. (Billie Holiday didn't scat, so just who the hell do these people think they are?) 19. Anything that does not qualify for an A or a B or a C, award a D. 20. If you feel an irresistible urge to play the record again, don't. This is hallucinatory. It's the medication (or the booze) speaking. 21. You have now completed your review and all that is left is for you to write it. Please go to the website http://www.tirofllefu.com from where, if you follow the instructions, you can extract boilerplate reviews, clicking on A, B, C or D as appropriate. You will note that there are no really bad reviews, even the D is not actually cruel. Partly, this is because if you have followed these instructions correctly, you should have got rid of the truly duff stuff. Chiefly, though, this is just in case, one day, you happen to meet one of these singers. You don't want a poke in the eye with a finger, however well manicured it might be, now do you. (It has been known to happen.) Now download, print and sign and send off to the magazine/newspaper/whatever, and you are now free to spend the rest of the day doing something really useful.

David, Halfway through the post, I gave up on that idea . However, I do agree with Vibes. He really expresses my (and probably most of our) sentiments. Alexander, What did your therapist say. I'm curious, if it's ok to let us know.

Only 34! Man, you've still got a lot of teeth to pull Have a good one. Don't splurge too much at Academy

I'm guessing this is probably the point/joke. Well no one said I was ever the brightest bulb in the planet

I guess I'm thick but can someone explain this to me because wasn't he a fairly obscure trombonist (I have to admit that I never heard of him until I saw his name here). Here's his AMG bio: The nickname of this trombonist, spun off of his surname, makes him sound like someone about to run amuck with a pair of scissors. Cutty Cutshall was armed with a trombone, however, and the main cutting he did was either besting other bonemen in jam sessions or simply making records. He evolved into one of the grand old men of the swing revival of the '60s and is on the list of journeymen musicians who passed away alone in their hotel rooms while on tour. Cutshall came out of the Pittsburgh music scene and was pulled away from that town in 1934 to tour with Charley Dornberger. The trombonist worked for two years with Jan Savitt beginning in 1938, then was in and out of the Benny Goodman band through the first half of the '40s, at one point pressed into service by the American military. In the late '40s he was a regular collaborator with Billy Butterfield but also skimmed the New York City freelance cream, filling up several pitchers with discographical entries. By 1949 he had begun a long term relationship with Eddie Condon, whose work in the name of swing included not only bandleading but running a club in which he ruled the bandstand. Cutshall toured England with Condon in 1957; he was also with Condon in the thick of a stint at Toronto's Colonial Tavern at the time of his death. The trombonist also performed and recorded with clarinetist Peanuts Hucko, singers Bob Crosby and Ella Fitzgerald and the great Louis Armstrong during a contract with the Decca label.

Hans (J.A.W.) is correct because when I looked at the website yesterday evening, Audio Park doesn't take paypal whereas Hiroshi does. This cd does look like it won't be cheap, however, $25.

Al, Is it too late to sign up?

I've been a little tardy in reading this but I've just finished the Dizzy Gillespie article. The only thing I can say is that you know how to write because there is some beautiful expressive writing. I skipped ahead to the Sonny Stitt article and what you wrote really summarizes Sonny. This and the Morgenstern book are required reading. I hope your father is getting better.

Ahh, tongue in cheek. Probably that's where Dex's would have been if he had played it 50 times in a row.