JSngry

Thanks for that info! A pity indeed.

What are these? I only know of the Lester/Lee band through instumental cuts. Didn't know of any w/vocals by Billie. Inquiring minds want to know!

So, is this album any good? I've been tempted to check it out.

For many people it IS cheese. That's all they know! You get a sub at Subway, and the cheese is White American. The irony should be more than obvious.... :D

For those who don't know, Kenny Dorham & Harold Land share the front line and are in peak form throughout. HIGHLY recommended!

Is there any excuse for this stuff being on the market? I mean, even Velveeta has a useful purpose (queso dip). But this American cheese crap, what good is it, other than to satisfy those random cravings for edible plastic that sticks to the roof of your mouth? Speak up, people - write your congressman, boycott Kraft, discover a way to put cheddar into individually wrapped cello-packs so the trauma to the masses won't be too much. Just do SOMETHING! American Cheese Has GOT To Go!!!

More Shepp on alto, this time an entire album:

I been hering talk that the cut was caused by the laces (or whatever the laces go in/around) on Lewis' glove(s). Is this true, and if so, and it was intentional, is that not grounds for disqualification?

Found at a Goodwill store somewhere between Austin & San Antonio (don't know exsctly where, I was asleep until we stopped) , a 45 on the Johnny Stewart Game Calls label out of Waco, Texas entitled "Actual Distress Cries Of A Cottontail Rabbit (High Pitched Voice)" which according to the label itself is a "special call for red foxes!" and "calls all animals and birds that feed on rabbits!" This one oughta be fun next Halloween... Also found at the same store, another 45, this one on the Electronic Game Calls, Inc. label of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin (duh...) entitled simply "Mallard Talk - An Actual Live Recording". I might have miscued on this one though - the label states that it is "Recommended for use with "Electronic Game Caller" Record Player with high output and fidelity". Not being up on the latest high-end audio gear, I got a sinking feeling that I'll not derive maximum satisfaction from this item. Bummer... Now what was REALLY a trip in this store was finding a SEALED Bill Dobbins Trio album - Roads Travelled and Days Gone By on the Mark label. But the trombone player I was riding with saw it first, so he got it. No matter - we both decided to someday form a band called Distressed Rabbits. This, ladies and gentlemen, is how bands REALLY get their names. Besides, I got this Sammy Davis Jr/Joya Sherill on Design (in Spectra-Sonic Soundno less!), an Eckstine/Billy May thing on Forum, and a totally plowed Johnny Mathis 6 Eye that's got some really good tunes like "The Folks Who Live On The Hill", "There's No You", and "I'm Gonna Laugh You Out Of My Life" on it. Close enough for a lunch stop on a road trip, no? Most intriguing find in this establishment located in the middle of seemingly nowhere was a copy of THE JOY OF LESBIAN SEX. Whilst carrying it around in contemplation of a possible purchase, I spotted a children's book called IN YOUR WILDEST DREAMS. Well, it seemed like a natural pairing to me, so I left the 2 books on top of a set of golf clubs and hoped that some stranger would someday benefit from my kindness. Spreading joy wherever I go, that's my mission in this life.

Yo dude - MY copy ain't even a Roulette and it ain't even called "Chairman Of The Board"! It's a MONO lp called COUNT BASIE PLAYS HIS HITS OF THE 60s on the renowned Pickwick/33 label, plucked from a TG&Y store, I think, somewhere in the very early 70s. Sentimental value and an archivist's passion for the days of dimestore bargain racks precludes me from EVER replacing this item! :D

DA' Bearz, DA' Bank.

Rahsaan on bari:

Sonny Fortune on tenor:

Sonny on Lyricon:

Trane on flute:

LOVE LETTERS has been getting heavy play on KNTU, and what I've heard has been a bunch of rambunctious messification of the highest order. Roy's kicking EVERYBODY'S ass on this one. FRIENDSHIP is a different matter altogether, imo. If this album is indicative of Max's current condition, then, as much as it pains me to say this, I hope this is the last record he makes. He's not "off" or anything, but it sounds as if his strength has diminshed and his reflexes have slowed JUST a little bit. His timing is still impeccable, but the execution slips ever so slightly, not ever blatantly, but still... Objectively, it's not too a bad side at all, and Terry continues to defy time. But I've always idolized Max Roach as a Collosus of inextinguishable fire, inexhaustable strength, and neverending drive, both musically and personally. Objectivity is impossible. Hearing this album was a cold splash of reality that I'd really rather not have gotten, not just yet. Max has gotten old, and I'm not ready for that.

If you look at it JUST right, that picket fence looks like a piano keyboard. Perfect.

All I'll say is that everything has its place, sluttiness included. And that my wife's been out of town for 3 weeks and gets back Saturday. Draw your own conclusions....

Great pick, Chuck. It had been way too long. First got this one on the 1978 FIRE WALTZ Dolphy 2-fer on Prestige (w/a nice liner essay/personal reminiscence by Ken McIntyre, btw), and had kinda lapsed on it after a lot of listening early on. I refreshed my memory last night several times over, and it remains fresh and invigorating. Many things struck me while hearing this for the first time in not a few years, not the least of which being how intriguing the compositions are. There's a Mingus flavor to many of the heads, but a flavor is all it is - for a group whose three main solo voices have such a distinct Mingusian pedigree, this album is decidedly NOT a "Mingus without Mingus" project as it could have been fairly easily if Waldron didn't have a strong vision of his own, a vision of how to use many of the same compositional ingredients to create a totally different finished product. As Saint Vitus noted, Waldron definitely deserves greater recognition for his composing as well for his group concept - these tunes would definitely not have the same vibe with another pianist. Waldron gives the group a strong identity by his accompaniments, not unlike Horace Silver or Ellington did. That's no small feat if you ask me, and I think it shows a "wholistic" musical mind at work, something that might have become more commonplace as time passed, but in 1961 it was still a realtively rare concept, I think. So you can sense that this is not just another blowing session or a cursory runthrough of some forward-looking originals stemming from Mingus' influence. It COULD have been, but Waldron's pianistic shading throughout and attention to detail in arrangements sees to it that it's not. It's HIS world, his room with a view to all the currents of the time, and when the curtains are drawn, there's enough to hold your interest right there in that room that you don't really care if the curtains ever get reopened or not. And speaking of "forward looking", does anybody besides me hear more than a few moments that hint at Wayne Shorter's work later in the decade? "Duquility", in both the tune itself and the arrangement (which seems to have taken a lesson in two-horn scoring from Gerry Mulligan, of all people!) keeps reminding me of a Wayne tune or two (and oddly enough, Cecil Taylor's "Enter Evening" from UNIT STRUCTURES in the way the horns fade to quiet before the piano begins again, and Carter's arco cello somehow conjures Alan Silva. Wierd association, I know...), the opening of "Thirteen" prefigures THE ALL SEEING EYE not slightly (and by doing so inadvertantly shines a light on the Dolphy/Spaulding tonal connection that I might otherwise have overlooked), the theme to "We Diddit" has me flashing on Wayne's "Playground", and so on. I have no idea how much, if any, influence Waldron had on Wayne as a writer, but if nothng else, this tells me that Waldron at his most imaginative was indeed one of the more distinctive composers of his time, and not a little ahead of it as well. "Warm Canto" has been duly noted by many posters as an exceptionally beautiful piece, and indeed it is. At once reflecting the relatively underexplored potential of the best of the earliest Chico Hamilton Quintets (rustiness on the clarinet aside, this piece must have provided Dolphy with a chance for a moment of musical looking-back that he seldom got), and, believe it or not, some of the more interesting moments that were going on behind Ken Nordine's Word Jazz, it nevertheless keeps from feeling anything less that totally of the moment, and you can give Charlie Persip's subtle driftings in and out of 12/8 all the credit for that you see fit! And hey - what's up with Waldron's very last chord? THAT's the kind of thing that makes me think of everything that just happened in a totally different context, and the only way to get that context is to go back and listen to the piece again, from the beginning, which I of course do. And do... Chuck noted that this was the last album of Waldron's "first" career, and there could be no better forshadowing of Waldron's upcoming groove/trance work on Max Roach's SPEAK, BROTHER SPEAK! than " Warp and Woof ", but for my tastes, this is the "lull" (but only relatively speaking) of the album. Booker, who normally simultaneously breathes and spits fire on this kind of groove, seems hung for inspiration, Persip, who otherwise spends the album as Waldron's proofreader, making shure that EVERY nuance of the music is properly brought to our attention, makes me want to hear Max's perpetual butt-kicking, and the less said about Ron Carter here, the better (Chuck, I think he's only "safe" on cello when he doesn't bow! ). But the darkest hour is just before the dawn, and this incarnation of "Fire Waltz" is a trip-and-a-half, what the results of the musical coupling of Nino Rota with Mingus may very well have returned. Dark? Yeah. Puckish? HELL yeah. Tailormade for Booker's patented wailing, sequential-induced dissonace through taking the express through the changes rather than the local and Dolphy's seriously wry/wryly serious/dare-you-to-decide-which-it-is way with a melody? HELL YEAH!!! And - The kind of album closer that makes you let the disc loop indefinitely so you can take this ride through this unique world one more time, one more time, one more time, one more time? Damn straight it is.

You know, the various Time recordings that Max Roach played on (and this is one), are uniformly excellent. Collation of some sort would make for a nice set someday. Interesting how Max followed Bob Shad from Mercury/Emarcy to Time, but not to Mainstream, Shad's next label. Wonder what the story there is?

Brad - "Blues In Hoss Flat", the opener of the Basie album, is the piece that Lewis used for his famous pantomine in "The Errand Boy" where he was fantasizing about being, well, Chairman of the Board. You know, the one where he's at the board table by himself w/a big stogie and is barking at the imaginary board in sync w/the music. Pretty clever, actually, at least the first time through. Otherwise, it's a good album, but a little too tightly arranged overall for my tastes, a big step along the way for the criticisms that Basie's band was turning into a "swing machine" and losing any and all spontanety. The only thing that really opens up is "Seque In C", which is REALLY nice. The writing's top-notch throughout, especially Thad's "Speaking Of Sound" & "Mutt & Jeff", but again, more solos and less ensemble would have made it more to my liking. But as I understand it, the album did really well saleswise, so that's that! Besides, it's all history now, The REAL Basie band is long dead, so any document from the "glory days", and this was definitely from the glory days, has merit as a document, I think. But the same band doing the same material live and stretching out some would have probably made for a better album. Just my opinion. Classic cover though:

The Basie is a must-have for Jerry Lewis fans.

Sadness behind the sun? Is that the inverse of the cloud's silver lining? And angular reed notes? Geez, I get a hernia just TRYING to visualize what THOSE must involve. WTF? da'Groove done outdid themselves w/those, and THAT takes some doing... But the cringe-o-meter will revert to "happy" when the music is heard. Those Calliman Cataylst sides are nice.

Just to clarify, it's with Hutch's BAND of the time - Bayete Todd Cochrane, James Leary, & the amazing Woody Theus (aka Sonship), with spot appearances from Victor Pantoja & Luis Gasca. Bobby himself is not on it. But hey, you wanna make some noise, you got my support. The last I heard, Mainstream is in the hands of Sony. In the meantime, be on the lookout for used vinyl.

What's that gooey stuff they put on the cut?