garthsj

John Norris and I became good friends during the years I lived in Toronto (1960-1970) ... and remained so ... I did the odd record review on occasion. I remember visiting John's apartment on several occasions and just being in awe of that immense collection of albums, which he filed by Catalog Number! I bought a lot of vinyl from John and Bill Smith during their years at various record shops, and then with their own place ... John was more receptive to all kinds of jazz, while Bill was much more into free jazz (both playing and talking about) even during that early period. I distinctly remember a somewhat heated discussion that Bill and I had about the merits of Art Pepper, when Bill in exasperation finally exclaimed .."all he does is play the damned changes!" ... How could I top that? I hate to see Coda become a Canadian version of Jazz Times!

For me the exciting news (according to Jazzmatazz and CDUniverse) is that Verve will be reissuing the great Harry Edison album "Sweets" on April 12th ... ever since damaging my original vinyl album when it fell behind a radiator when I lived in Canada I have wished for a replacement ... one of the all time great Verve "swingers" ...

I had exactly the same experience. Bought it on some cheap Decca subsiduary label then got what was I think a Decca re-release. Don't have it any more but wold like it on cd. Think it's got both Phil and Quill on it. Manny Albam's version of West Side Story was originally issued on Coral (57207) in 1958; it was later reissued on Decca (4717 -- with a different cover as I remember) in 1964. The Decca version was in both mono and stereo, the original Coral version was only mono. (There might have been another reissue somewhere along the line). One of my guilty pleasures is a fine Manny Albam release on Impulse ... "Jazz Goes to the Movies" (Impulse 19, 1962). This has a particularly "stirring" arrangement of "The Theme from "The Guns of Navaronne" ...

BUT -- that reminds me of a fellow music student from my college days, a cellist, definitely Jewish, whose last name was, believe it or not, Goy. So nu? Well .. if you had the cossacks riding through your house every couple of weeks, I am sure that you would change your name to GOY too ...

Allen ... you be bad!

Basically I have had good service from Caiman .... but recently, ever since ordering a CD (John Lewis) from them on Amazon (France) they have been sending me email letters about my orders in FRENCH! I need Brownie to help me out here .... I really would like to know more about this company; for instance how large are they internationally; do they really have a warehouse in Florida; what is their relationship to Amazon?

I also just discovered that one of my favorite deceased musicians, the late baritone sax genius, Bob Gordon was born Bob Resnick .... another to the list ...

At some point in his later life Shorty Rogers converted to a rather evangelical form of Christianity. I am still trying to nail this down more definitively (it is the historian in me!), but I have come across this fact several times in the past. In a lengthy interview with Ross Tompkins in 1984, this is what he had to say about his faith and his work in "The Church": "As for myself—I would say that the West Coast era was a certain peak, but I just put myself in the hands of the Lord as far as my life and my career are concerned. I just expect things to get bigger and better, and to be led into a more prolific, more productive part of my life. I believe that’s what’s going on; I think that’s why I’m here. I didn’t say: “I have to do this,” but just as when I got out of high school and when I got out of the Army, things were waiting for me, that’s the way I see it happening. The religious faith I have now is something I’ve grown into during the last five years and seven months. It’s the best period of my life. I’m writing some music for the church; I’ve written three cantatas for a hundred–voice and a hundred–and–twenty–voice choir, plus a big orchestra we put together. And who’s in the church band? Pete Candoli, Bob Cooper and some of the other guys. Some good jazz things are happening too! It’s sacred music, but more or less in a way that I’m having fun with it. In church before, they would never have any ad lib solos—now it’s really cooking, with some great players. It’s as good a band as any I’ve ever had—nothing like the old bass–drum–and–cornet–style church band. If that’s the direction the Lord wants me to go in, I’m not going to argue, because it’s not only fun—it’s palatable to me and to the people I know who love jazz, and it also serves the purpose. I think it’s an area that can afford to be looked into a lot more." I totally agree with Larry (as I most often do) that in Shorty's total demeanor, from his playing style, to the choice of the titles of his compositions, he was clearly the product of a Jewish cultural upbringing. Earlier in that same Tompkins interview he describes how he requested and received a trumpet as his barmitvah gift. Funny ... he doesn't look Jewish!

Did we ever really define what we mean by "Jewish" in this thread? I am a Jew by virtue of a Jewish mother and grandmother (her name was Esther Cohen !!!) so I am totally accepted as a Jew, but some of the names on this list might have been of Jewish heritage, but were not practicing Jews .. Shorty Rogers for one .... Sammy Davis, on the other hand converted to Judaism (I am not sure how seriously he practiced his religion) ... So, do we have a definition? This is, of course, an issue that preoccupies much of Israeli culture and internal politics ...

I have dealt with CDUniverse extensively over the years. Their preorder service is very reliable, BUT I have had new releases arrive before, on, and after the actual release date. You have to take into account the delivery from the manufacturers, and the vagaries of the U.S. Postal Service .... My suggestion ... calm yourself for a day or so Brad ... they will arrive. Seriously, I have not purchased a CD from Borders or B&N or any other retail outlet in Houston for about four years now. Ordering online assures me that I will get what I want without having to go through the "special order" at full price routine ... I went through the latest Jazzmatazz this morning .. and now CDUniverse have about 25 albums on preorder for me extending up to April ....

Stan Levey Russ Freeman Milt Bernhart Shorty Rogers was NOT Jewish by religion, but by birth, I believe. Sammy Davis Jr. Max Kaminsky Sol Yaged

There is much food for thought here ... Thanks so far folks .... Garth.

Damn! Again .. by the time I posted that I had ordered from DG they were already sold out of "The Best From The West" .. so I am afraid I can't answer your question ... but I do have the John Graas set, and that is definitely taken from LPs ... the sound is O.K. but there is audible surface noise. On the other hand the John Lewis, Orchestra U.S.A. and the Gerry Mulligan/Art Farmer Concert albums are very good ... so I guess it all depends where they get the source material. I must assume that they DO NOT have access to the original BN 10" tapes ...

Perhaps they figure it is safer to rip off little outfits like Mosaic than step on the toes of a Sony, or other larger operation, who could say what the hell and if they wanted to, and spend a few thou on legal fees. I will repeat what I said above ... I do NOT think that they are "ripping off" anyone in the usual sense of piracy. It would cost far too much money to duplicate all those albums, and the boxes and ancillary material (such production costs are more expensive than actually producing the CDs ... You have to have special dies cut, printing, binding, etc.) ... so the merchandise apparently is the genuine article ... none of the criticisms they received indicate a problem with the product ... mostly non response and late, or no delivery. So .... how do they do it for this price? ... THAT is the mystery ... and if we could get an answer out of Mosaic as to whether they are, in actual fact, selling wholesale to this organization it would go a long way to solving the mystery.

Boy! If they are pirating these albums then they need some jazz expert giving them advice ... if you check out their full catalog you will see some very specialized items, and some offerings that would really tax the ingenuity of someone trying to duplicate such things as the Dexter Gordon, Dave Brubeck and Miles Davis boxes .... and why would anyone pirate the already pirated Lonehill Jazz material? I don't even pretend to have an answer to what these people ARE up to, but based on the comments, even the negative ones, their merchandise does seem to be genuine ... so how can they sell those boxes for $11.03? I wish I knew ... it is so tempting to just wade in .. and then wait a year!

I am always tremendously impressed with the expertise on this board, and particularly in this audio section, so here is my dumb, naive challenge and request for advice. I am expecting a small royalty check from one of my publishers, and every year I just deposit it into my bank account, where it goes to pay my property taxes, the light bill, or assist my jazz jones. This year I would like to upgrade my audio setup .... basically at the moment I am using the CD player and speakers that came (as a free gift) with the new Phillips HDTV extended TV as part of "the home theater" setup. (This is surprsingly good, but clearly I need something with more sonic quality). In the past I had a Carver 2000 receiver, with "Infinite Slope" J.S.E. speakers. (I also had a Thorens TD 318 turntable ... but I no longer have any LPs ... ) ... BTW, all of this is for sale if anyone is interested .... So ... If you had $2,000 - $2,500 to spend for a "quality" CD playing setup, what would you buy? (I would appreciate links to any equipment you recommend if that is possible). Thanks in advance for the advice ... Garth.

Hmmmmmm .. I found these listings on DG .... The Tony Scott is a real mish-mash .. damn! They could have done a better job of pulling this material together... I already have most of it, and Rhino reissued a pristine version (from the original tapes) of the Milt Hinton album several years ago. The trip to The Bastards was useful though in that I picked the Conte Candoli "Little Big Band"; The "Best Of the West": and an expensive Japanese mini-LP of Tony Scott's great Brunswick album, "In Hi-Fi" ... an expensive morning, but worth it.

I would be interested .. where did you see these albums posted? I assume that the Tony Scott includes the Bethlehem, Brunswick and Dawn albums..... It would be nice to have the two 10" "Best of the West" available .. but why doesn't BN do it themselves. Lonehill does fill in some gaps, but unfortunately they make their dupes from vinyl ... and the surface noise is very obvious.

.... as you said .....

DEAR GOD!! THIS WILL BE MY THIRD, AND OFTEN FOURTH VERSION OF THESE!!! (Do Liberty LP editions count?) ..... and then some joker told me earlier this week that my hearing was deteriorating ... so why should I bother? But Damn! I guess I will go for it .... why stop now? My son could always use the original CDs ... sssshhhh! He doesn't know any better, having just started his collection with my castaways .... but what about my TOCJ's? ... Questions, questions!

Just this past week I showed "D.O.A." (1949) in my class, Social Aspects of Film. This is one of the great Film Noirs, starring Edmond O'Brien as the "murdered" Frank Bigelow hunting for his killer. There is a great scene in a jazz club where the frantic music is a clear indicator that something "crazy" is about to happen. (Frank's drink is spiked with "luminous poison"!) Even as a kid I was fascinated by this rather long scene of jazz musicians sweating, mugging, and generally acting like every stereotype of a 1940's dope-fiend hipster you can conjure up. There is even some gratuitous hipster banter with a very "cool chick" at the bar .... so you mavens out there ... who were these musicians? (I know ... but I am just testing the famed expertise on this board) ... Garth.

Gee! I am amazed that no one from England has mentioned the "great" Freddy Gardner .... his records, particularly things like "Roses of Picardy" were staples in my household when I was growing up ... He sounded a bit like Johnny Hodges. Does anyone even know of him these days? ... In an age when the saxophone was not exactly a major instrument in popular music, Gardner was the Kenny G. of his time ... a rather backhanded compliment I know ... but he sold lots of records in his time. ......My father wanted me to develop a tone like his as the "ideal" for an alto player .... I wanted to sound like Art Pepper! Garth.

Older people always have increasing high-frequency hearing loss. Some more than others, though. :(

source: http://www.afm655.org/learn/rma.htm Thanks for finding the source Couw; I will now make the correct citation in my notes ... I am usually careful with sources ... in my business you can't be too careful.

This is taken from my notes .... I am not sure which site I got it from ... it should answer your question. A Brief History of the Recording Musicians Association In an attempt to protect the live music industry, AFM President Petrillo ordered a ban on phonograph/transcription recordings in 1942. In 1944, the ban was lifted as the AFM had negotiated fixed royalties for each album produced by the record companies. By 1951, the royalty payment amounted to 5% of the overall budget for TV productions, which led to "track libraries" being produced overseas to circumvent the royalty payments. LA musicians were losing work, and even Desi Arnez was pleading their case to AFM officials in New York. Petrillo in 1955 began to divert the $25 payment for film reuse on TV from the recording musicians to the new MPTF program; the total roylaties diverted came to almost $2 million. Full-time recording musicians, receiving no pension, royalty, or reuse payments, and unable to ratify their own contracts, now became upset over the loss of these funds to the MPTF program, and in 1956 began a revolt led by Local 47 VP Cecil Read. Before the revolt would end, the leaders would be expelled from the AFM and they would make national news, seeing their cause reported in the LA Times, NY Times, Wall Street Journal, and others. During the 1958 motion picture strike, these "renegades" formed the Musicians Guild of America. If the AFM would not represent their interests, they would form their own union to represent their needs. An NLRB election gave representation rights at the major studios to the MGA, taking them away from the AFM. The new AFM leadership took this, as well as the formation of the Recording Society of NY, as a wake-up call, and began to follow suit, eliminating the 5% TV royalty tax and creating a pension plan. The AFM won back representation rights to the studios in 1960 and began talks to reunite with the MGA recording musicians, offering the Special Payments Fund, a recording advisory committee, and the ability to ratify contracts as incentives to put an end to the dual unionism. The RMA of NY was formed in 1969 to offer more input from recording musicians during negotiations. When the AFM "gave back" 25 years of progress through negotiations in 1982 by making a sweetheart deal to legitimize nonunion rates at San Diego jingle house Tuesday Productions, recording musicians used this as a rallying cry to form a national RMA, eventually with chapters in NY, LA, Chicago, Nashville, and Toronto. The RMA exists to unify recording musicians and coordinate their efforts. They lobbied for and were eventually given AFM Conference Status in 1987. Some of the goals the RMA has worked toward since its founding are: * Oversight of the AFM-EPF, forcing it to be a better performer * Publication of a national directory and scales in 1971 * 1994 creation of Low Budget Contract to keep scoring from moving overseas * Creation of EMSD in 1990 * Testifying before Congress over Digital Performance Rights in Sound Recording Act in 1995