DrJ

WHAT??? We've been had! Me and the missus figured since it was called a Diaper Genie that the waste and plastic and all were just whisked away into beyond by magic when you turn that there top doohickey! You mean there AIN'T no miniature genie sittin' under that plastic cover? Sheesh...talk about false advertising...can you say "class action lawsuit?"

That was one reason I checked in on this, Kevin - I have heard general comments about DADs that were not glowing. Oh well, my guess is it will be superior to the Savoy FIERY standard CD (they are the same, I believe). Will try and remember to post an opinion after it arrives.

Hell yes! On a briefly more serious note: I continue to vacillate about whether I should feel guilty or not re: the environment and disposable diapers. The water waste and the amount of gray water and need for processing generated by cloth diapers is not insignificant in terms of envirnomental impact according to my research. Many environmentalists feel it's basically a coin toss between the two in terms of which is "worse." We thought long and hard about it from this angle and decided that, in a drought-prone, water-poor state like California, disposables were probably the lesser of two evils.

I've always loved "The Procrastinator." The intro sounds Russian to me, damned odd for Mogie but effective.

If you're a new daddy, then you GOTTA belive it is all that AND a bag of potato chips. Brilliant.

Temple Jazz, that one has always been one of my favorites of Byrd's, Griffin's, and Pepper's. No muss, no fuss hard bop.

Ah, more fuel for the fire! Thanks Berigan. I will be ordering this one today. B)

I stumbled across this single CD 1993 reissue from BN in NYC a few years back at a used store. Had never even heard of it, but the line-up alone made me take the plunge without hesitation: Joe Farrell - tenor Marvin Stamm - trumpet Garnett Brown - trombone Chick Corea - piano Richard Davis - bass Elvin Jones - drums Recorded live at the Vanguard - October 1, 1967 Produced by Sonny Lester for Solid State; remix/restoration by Malcom Addey It turns out this was recorded the same afternoon as the more well-known Dizzy Gillespie recording LIVE AT THE VILLAGE VANGUARD (BN, 2 CD set). The liners peg it accurately as "a friendly jam among musicians whose paths had crossed often in a variety of settings." Everyone plays well, and it's a real pleasure to hear people like Stamm and Brown get some extended solo space. Of course Farrell and Jones are always a pleasure to hear, and I just can't get enough of Corea in this early phase of his career, where his playing was so fresh and new. You get three longish performances: 13 Avenue B (Farrell) - 22:51 Stella By Starlight (N. Washington/V. Young) - 22:06 Bachafillen (G. Brown) - 15:03 The first two tracks were issued in edited form as sides 1 and 2 of the Solid State album (SS-18052) while "Bachafillen" was not issued until this CD. Sound quality is very good. I highly recommend this one if you can locate it - if for no other reason than it sits nicely alongside beauties like NOW HE SINGS, SONG OF SINGING, TONES FOR JOAN'S BONES, and the IS sessions and rounds out any "early Corea" collection.

Rooster, I just saw it on Jazzmatazz under "2003" upcoming, no date was attached - hope someone else has more info!

Jaki Byard - HI FLY (OJC) Bud Powell - THE SCENE CHANGES (BN) Kenny Burrell - MOTEN SWING! (Sundazed/Columbia) and INTRODUCING KENNY BURRELL (BN Conn) Disc 1 Baby Face Willette - FACE TO FACE (BN Conn) Joe Henderson - MODE FOR JOE (BN) Stan Getz w/Rene Thomas, Eddy Louiss - DYNASTY (Verve) AL GREY/BILLY MITCHELL SEXTET (Argo) Andrew Hilll - SHADES (Soul Note) ART ENSEMBLE 1967/8 (Nessa) Eddie Lang/Joe Venuti - 1920's/30's (JSP) Various - JAZZ FOR A SUNDAY AFTERNOON - LIVE AT THE VANGUARD (BN)

I actually totally agree about Quartet West, EXCEPT for that first album - everyone, including Watts, plays with heart and soul. It sounds substantial and fresh, rather than like a dredging of the past which is how I think the rest of the Quartet West albums sound. Should have quit while they were ahead.

I actually agree, Mike - what I was getting at is that if you make the definition of concept loose enough, which some folks seemed to be arguing, then you can end up including even some blowing sessions that have a little kernal of theme or idea behind them, however small. I'm arguing against that - I think personally to qualify as a concept album, there has to be a whole lot more continuity/thematic unity/overt structure throughout the recording than many of those being listed actually have. For example, how would EMPYREAN ISLES be considered a concept album? Great music, but a pretty thin "concept."

I have a Sony burner, just use the analog input (Technics turntable to Denon AVR-3300 receiver to burner) and nothing else fancy and they come out sounding great.

Yes I've picked up one of the more hard to find Konitz Verves - TRANQUILITY - and it's excellent. Lee himself was reportedly not happy with a lot of his output for Verve, so perhaps that's why so little has appeared in the U.S., but I agree it would make a killer Mosaic. I always figured there was probably a lot of previously unreleased material/alternates in this body of work, given what finally saw the light of day in the 3 CD version of MOTION from a couple years ago. Glad to have you confirm that, Lon! Complete Don Pullen/George Adams BN Sessions And forgot - Pacific Jazz also needs to be better represented! Complete PJ Buddy Rich Big Band Sessions (this would include the unreleased material alluded to in the single CD reissues out on BN in the past few years) Complete Harry Edison PJ/Roulette Sessions Glad to see the Brookmeyer stuff will be making it onto a couple of Mosaic Selects soon. An assorted United Artists/PJ/Roulette/Liberty/Capitol female vocalists box would also be interesting - there are some real nice obscurities there - in fact Red Trumpet is stocking a whole series of Toshiba mini-LP reissues by vocalists from the 50's/60's like Pat Healy (arrangements by Fred Katz), Ann Phillips, Sue Raney, Carole Simpson, Beverly Kenney (w/Johnny Smith), etc. Granted, not to everyone's taste, but what I've heard of these are much better than you'd expect, and highly collectable.

Agree with the Keynote box - that one MAY happen! Also the Reece Select, I think we'll see that eventually. And Mosaic is trying to license Farlow's Verve stuff according to an e-mail reply they sent to me recently, so I have hope for that one. For those we'll likely never see: Complete Toshiko Akiyoshi/Lew Tabackin RCA Big Band Sessions Complete Warner Bros 50's/60's Jazz Sessions (see recent thread on this) Emarcy Classic Jazz Sessions (this would collect the many one-offs and obscure but excellent recordings for the label, not the biggies like Roach, Cannonball, etc but stuff like George Auld, Thelma Gracen, and others) Complete Yusef Lateef on Impulse! Complete Strata East Sessions (or maybe even just a Charles Tolliver focus - Strata East and other leader dates, like PAPER MAN on Arista/Freedom) Complete Horace Tapscott Nimbus Sessions How about some kind of Clarke-Boland Big Band box? Not sure of how to "theme" it. Complete Slide Hampton Atlantic Sessions Complete Jazztet Argo/Emarcy Sessions Complete Hutcherson/Land Sessions (cross-label, including Mainstream, Cadet, BN) Complete Roland Kirk Atlantic Sessions (if Joel Dorn never gets around to doing this, as I thought he was going to a while back) And I'd still like a Lucky Thompson Mosaic - he DESERVES the honor. Maybe a complete Milt Jackson/Lucky Thompson Savoy sessions (probably small enough to be a Select). But I'd really like a box that pulled together a large chunk of Lucky's scattered work as a leader in one place, although the licensing intricacies alone would probably preclude it ever happening. Maybe just his European sessions? I don't know.

I already have JAZZ GUITARIST on the way from Dusty Groove - can't wait!

Yet it's interesting that even many of those blowing sessions would qualify as "concept" albums under the definition promulgated here. You know, "We wanted to get Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt together to blow," and that would be the "concept." I still don't get it. A concept album has to have a lot more structure/organization around a central idea or theme to truly qualify for that label in my view. The Verve mid-90's concept albums are great examples of true concept albums - some work, some don't, but there is an overt, "here's what we want you to get" vibe, for better or (quite often) for worse as Jim alludes to. The JAZZ IN FILM Blanchard date was recorded March 17-18 (this was the session that included Henderson) and April 7, 1998 (both sessions had Kirkland).

I got my MD degree at St. Louis University. We lived not too far from U. City, in Dogtown (you know, the home of the big mutha Amoco sign and the Hipoint (sp?) bar!). My wife and I spent about 99% of our waking ours away from work at "the loop" in U. City. Boy did I haunt both of these places a lot. Back then, though, I was big into alternative rock obscurities - only light on the jazz. Do I wish I could go back in time, since the jazz reissue boom hadn't really hit yet - probably missed out on a ton of great vinyl opportunities! BTW, I've always loved the Vintage Vinyl stickers with the Roland Kirk drawing on them...I have one still on my guitar case.

Oh so many reasons for the moniker. 1) I'm a family physician. 2) I was a huge fan of Julius Irving as a kid. 3) My dad is infamous for making up silly little nicknames for everyone, sometimes 5-6 to a person, trotting them all out periodically for variety, and one of mine since finishing med school has been "DrJ." So you see, it was written in the stars...

The problem I have with trying to define a concept album is alluded to in many posts so far - nearly all recordings have SOME concept, but often it is quite loose and thus I wouldn't consider them "concept albums." Otherwise, basically every album is a concept album. Personally, I wouldn't consider it a "concept" album unless there is a very clear structural thread running through - so Flanagan's LONELY TOWN, which is all Bernstein tunes (actually, all WEST SIDE STORY tunes) would qualify for me, but something like LOVE SUPREME would not. Therein lines the pro and con of concept albums - there is a strong unity in the structure, which brings it right to the edge of (and sometimes in less successful cases across into) contrived territory. To be honest, I chafe at the idea of describing albums like WE INSIST! and LOVE SUPREME as a concept albums- they are far beyond that, not reducible to anything as simple or contained as a "concept." Sure, there's an underlying sense of purpose and general intent, but again, most albums have that. One can take away so many interpretations and meanings (in the abstract sense) of this type of music, many of which have nothing to do with the artist's original intent. By contrast, in my view concept albums basically tell the listener up front, "Here's what we're about on this recording, we're exploring X and we want you to appreciate it." As a result, there are few truly great concept albums, although they can be quite good and enjoyable when done tastefully.

Tony, Jazzmatazz also lists an upcoming (altho under the "2003" heading, no actual release date) further recording from Montreal featuring Haden, Joe Henderson, and Al Foster!

Funny, I just listened to Baby Face Willette's BN date FACE TO FACE yesterday, on which Jackson is prominent and in fine form. Not quite up to the level of HOOTIN' AND TOOTIN' IMHO, but damn fine. Grant Green on board to boot, firmly in his "these are my pet funky organ jazz gig licks and I'm going to play them hard for you...now you've heard them many times before, I know, but hell, I'm still wringing them for every last ounce of emotion, sporting that beautiful beefy yet fragile singing tone, and I KNOW you never heard me put 'em in these here little Baby Face comp and Ben Dixon engine house nooks and crannies before...so, ah, let's just get in the groove and save the fancy schmantzy runs for dates like SOLID" mode.

OK, maybe you CAN get too much Ike! Love all his stuff, but it's the jukebox sessions that get to me the most. I like to play that stuff for people who aren't sure if they like jazz - never fails to elicit a big smile and a "now THAT's good music, is THAT jazz?" exclamation.

There are probably many more, but two I've recently enjoyed come to mind: Tommy Flanagan - LONELY TOWN (United Artists 1959). This one's pretty obscure, undeservedly. Last reissued in Japan (TOCJ) in 2000, as part of the series that also included Tina Brooks' WAITING GAME, Freddie Redd's REDD'S BLUES, and Ike Quebec's FROM HACKENSACK TO ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, only 2 of which have made it to the U.S. reissue series recently. A fairly conventional concept at first glance - Flanagan, Joe Benjamin on bass and Elvin Jones on drums play 7 Leonard Bernstein compositions, including "America," "Lonely Town, " Tonight," and "Make Our Garden Grow." But then again, how many jazz albums have been devoted to Bernstein's compositions? Furthermore, it sounds and feels like Flanagan was born to play these pieces - an understated, humble masterpiece. Terence Blanchard - JAZZ IN FILM (Sony Classics 1999). A fine group, including Joe Henderson, Donald Harrison, Steve Turre, Kenny Kirkland, Reginald Veal, and Carl Allen, backed by a full orchestra, tackle a series of classic film score themes, many with strong jazz undertones to begin with. Alex North's "A Streetcar Named Desire," Jerry Goldsmith's "Chinatown," Quincy Jones' The Pawnbroker," Duke's "Anatomy of a Murder," and several others are given lush, film noirish arrangements that have a stunningly big, "deep" movie house kind of sound. Top notch playing by all involved.

Since generally people talk less about more recent recordings when discussing artists, I'll put in a plug for two modern classics on which Haden is an integral player: 1. The first Quartet West album, titled simply QUARTET WEST (Verve). Ernie Watts, Alan Broadbent, and Billy Higgins. Nobody should be able to sleep at night without this one in their collection. 2. Geri Allen Trio LIVE AT THE VILLAGE VANGUARD (DIW). Geri, Haden, Motian, all in top form. See above. I love the Wilbur Ware comparison made above - YES, in terms of fullness of tone, of a tendency to (thankfully) dwell in the bass range of the bass. Much more adventurous harmonically, of course, but there is a clear lineage. Doug Watkins comes to mind as well - I doubt he was an actual influence on Haden, but there is a similarity in the "I'm a bass player so I'll play the bass" sensibility and in that huge ripe tone.