JSngry

That can't be right! Electric Miles was strictly about the commercial sellout, doncha' know!

Here's wishing Mike well on his new feature. But I hope nobody takes it the wrong way when I say that I'm a "grass roots" kind of guy, as well as one who "stays with the one who brung me" unless/until I have compelling reason to go elsewhere, so I'll be making Alan's site my "first choice". But since there's room for everybody, there's no reason not to make Mike's my second, if need be. Alan's been busting his chops for years to do what he does, and I appreciate both the effort and the service. It's a "mom and pop" type effort, and I'm all about the "mom and pop" stuff, even if it's out of synch with today's business reality. Hey - I'm a jazz musician. I've been out of synch with today's business reality longer than I can remember!

Lenny was/is a personal hero, to be sure, and I've committed most all of his bits to subliminal memory. So why do I listen to Lord Buckley more these days, and why does he now make me laugh more? Especially "Senator Slugwell"....

It's a blues. I don't hear a head.

That's all any of us can do, dude. Hang tough, ok?

Richard Termine for The New York Times New arrangements: Herbie Hancock, far left, Wayne Shorter, Dave Holland and Brian Blade in their new quartet, playing at Carnegie Hall during the JVC Jazz Festival.

My source is sticking with "Fall of 2004" and hasn't heard otherwise. FWIW.

Stick around for the Phillips, ok?

You say tomato....

Yeah, pretty much all of Bird's alternates would apply here. And Prez on the alternate of "Shoe Shine Boy" would too. The differences between the two takes makes the stories of him in K.C. jamming endlessly on one tune w/o repeating himself totally believable and cause more than a little "wish I had a time machine" envy.

Sonny Rollins' alternates from both the Contemporary & the RCA sessions. WHOA! One wonders what all's been going down in the studio during the Milestone years that for wahtever reason has been judged not album-worthy. I harbor fantasies/illusions/whatever of Sonny & crew just going all out and Sonny deciding that it's too whatever to release. Call it a dream, but hey - it's my dream and I'm gonna keep dreaming it!

Anybody who doesn't list Wario's Woods in their Top 25 SNES games obviously needs reeducation.

Booger sammich w/snot mayonaise! Homemade, no less!

Shawn, your time in Programming Central, errrr..... "Dallas" (yeah, that's the ticket!) was not wasted I see. Go forth - you have learned well!!!

I wonder what the first and last ones he bought were...

I'd prefer to get a Phillips set first, but I'm probably in the minority.

So the Phontastic has the full Miles set that mostly made it to MILES & MONK AT NEWPORT, right? I bought that disc but had to return it due to an excruciating high-pitched squeal that seemed to run throughout the Miles set , albeit in the bavkground. Going back to the Columbia LP, I heard it there too, for the first time, although it had been greatly muted (and the high end of the music somewhat curtailed as a result). Anybody else experience this? Anybody have a story about the tapes and the squeal? Anybody?

Buy the CD!

The travelling NewOrleans-style band is a surreal touch. I like the movie a LOT. Anita O'Day is hot, musically and visually.

A digital one?

explain? (asking seriously!) Taken on its own terms, sepearate from all the historical aftermath of itself, "Birdland" is indeed a marvellous piece of music, a compact little multi-sectioned gem worthy of late-30's/early 40s Ellington (and I do mean that!). It was hugely interesting and exciting when it first came out, at least in my circles. But... It's kinda like putting together a "straight ahead" jazz compilation for "general" educational purposes and including "Take Five" or some such. Why? A) the artists in question have done meatier work elsewhere (and don't get me wrong, I like both cuts immensely, but still....) B ) it's something that a lot of people have already heard, if only through osmosis and C) (following from B ), it's something that some people have heard so often in so many different versions (and contexts) that they've developed a distaste for it, and that might turn them off on whatever else they will hear in conjunction with it. If I wanted to present a cut from HEAVY WEATHER (and why not?), I'd maybe go with "Palladium", every bit as catchy and "accessable", but significantly less familiar to the "civilian" population. Just my opinion, and not a particularly strongly held one at that!

Welcome, Jason! Your father is one of my very few real heroes, musically. I refuse to say "was", because the inspiration I draw from him grows with time, not diminshes.

ANYTHING but "Birdland"!

If you have the two full albums I metnioned above and don't want to go all the way into the individual albums, the CAPITOL YEARS & COMPLETE CAPITOL SINGLES collection will do you right, I'd think. Although, for $238.48, you can get the CONCEPTS box at B&N online, and that's got all the Capitol "concept" albums in one package. Couple that with the SINGLES set, and you got it all, I think. other than a few stray previously unreleased things that made it onto some of the individual album reissues.