JSngry

I was pissed when I realized that "complete" didn't really mean COMPLETE with this set, and intentionally so. About that, I am still ambivalent.

My money would have been on Jackie Vernon, but if Freddie Hubbard thinks that Dick Cavett is the greatest trumpet player in the world, who am I to argue?

Whittaker looked too much like Cannonball to "be" Bird for me (plus, I didn't care for the script all that much - didn't hate it like some did, just didn't care for it). But if anybody ever makes a Cannonball movie, there's your guy!

'nuff said.

I've long heard the name, but never the music. Should I, all things considered?

I like IT MIGHT AS WELL BE SWING the best, in spite of a horrendous "I Can't Stop Loving You" that plays to every anti-Sinatra cliche imaginable, a "Hello dolly" that comes perilously close to doing the same, and string writng/playing on a few cuts that seems "questionable" in terms of execution (but not of intent). Otherwise, though, a superb album, with the Basie band laying down a DEEP pocket that Sinatra had no problem getting into his own self. SANDS has quite a few ardent fans, but I'm not one of them, although the band is in great form, and the ambiance is indeed "classic", especially the monologue. But Sinatra's voice sounds tired, and the whole presentation seems "show biz"-y in a not so good way, with the tempos being all wrong, and the interpretations by sinatra lacking the depth that he was so very capable of. Just my opinion, though. Like I said, this one has a LOT of fans. BTW, the uncredited arranger for SINATRA/BASIE was Neil Hefti.

I'm the Urban Spaceman.

Not a student band, or a rehearsal band, or a specially assembled orchestra, but a regular, touring, live/sleep/etc together 24-7 REAL big band made up of veterans who play the entire night with the book shut. I tell you, the sound is glorious, the groove deep, and the energy impossible to ignore. What you hear on records is just the tip of the iceberg. Too bad there's hardly any left.

Maybe nobody remembers Alan Sherman anymore.

I think the next level should be named after a breakfast cereal. Something like "Post Toasty".

Mr. Kim's daughter seems to have a bit of "street attitude", and I'd not be surprised to see her back as Tony B's new girlfriend, nor to see the massage parlor continue on as a front (or maybe even as a massage parlor of the OTHER kind). Mr. Kim's already doing business w/Tony S vis-a-vis the union situation, remember.

Somebody may well beat me to it the way my schedule has been the last few weeks...

AND.... didja' notice that Tony Blundetto's girlfriend was played by the same actress who plays (played?) Gina on Sesame Street? It took me a while to notice, but it sure is.

So what are the odds that the jealous preist rats on Carmella sooner or later?

No shit.

I think that both bands usually had vocalists well-suited to what the bandleader wanted.

Who is the "Laura" that Grace Slick refers to at the end of the song? I knew a Laura once. She knew where it was, so I don't think it's the same one.

How did Burdon get hooked up w/War anyway? I know that some people think that he started the band, but that ain't right.

"Now" is definitely scarier.

A new day in the mornin'.

Last I heard, Arthur Brown was a housepainter in Austin!

How come nobody ever mentions Jimmy Grissom whenever we have this discussion?

"It's tough doing business with strangers." Ok, I freely admit to finding "profundity" where none was intended, but that strikes me as a very profound statement, and not just in the context of the show.

War was a great band.

Trane dropped acid "more than once" from what I hear. A LOT more...