garthsj

I'm in full agreement with you there — and I wouldn't say that your description is an overstatement! I've always had a soft spot for Brownie's Paris recordings. In fact, I happen to like them quite a bit more than his polished work for EmArcy. Brownie's playing on "I Can Dream, Can't I?" — it's one of the few times where I actually want to listen to the master take immediately followed by the alternate takes ... on repeat! To my ears, it's rawer Clifford Brown, while still beautiful and (yes) innocent. This is such important music (I'm thinking of 1953 Paris recordings) — it should really be honored by at least a Mosaic Select. Strange that these recordings were originally released by Vogue, then licensed by Blue Note, then licensed by Prestige, and now are under the BMG umbrella ... and still don't have a permanent home in the U.S. market! I've still got this version, a 3-CD set from 1993. Hard to believe the more recent BMG version is OOP too. Does anyone know anything about this date? Has this been issued before? If so, I don't remember ever seeing it listed. Clifford Brown At The Cotton Club 1956 (3CD set) Clifford Brown Add to Cart $22.99 ... CD (€16.85 || £11.52 || ¥2745) (approx.) CD (Item 462540) Lonehill (Spain), 1956 -- Condition: New Copy An extended live session from the team of Clifford Brown and Max Roach -- recorded together at the Cotton Club in Cleveland at the end of May in 1956 -- over the course of three nights of performance that are all represented in this overstuffed set! The group here is a classic one -- with Brown on trumpet, Roach on drums, Sonny Rollins on tenor, Richie Powell on piano, and George Morrow on bass -- an ensemble that's been famously documented on record by Emarcy, but which is heard here in a more relaxed, rougher-edged mode -- not just because of the slightly amateur sound quality on the CDs, but also because of the open-ended, club-styled performance by the group. What the date lacks in polish, it more than makes up for in edge -- especially from Rollins, who's really beginning to stretch out during these years. Titles include a 23 minute take on "Get Happy", a 14 minute "Untitled Blues", a 13 minute "Delilah", a 16 minute "Jordu", an 18 minute "Nice Work If You Can Get It", a 19 minute version of "I'll Remember April", and a 10 minute take on "Daahoud" -- plus versions of "Lover Man", "Take The A Train", "Valse Hot", "Lover", and "What's New". CD also features 3 bonus tracks -- the same group broadcast from Town Casino in Buffalo in February of 1956 -- on "Round Midnight", "Daahoud", and "The Blues Walk". Add Item to Want List

I have also admired this date since my first vinyl copy back when the covers were real cardboard, but my only compaint is that at 37 minutes there should be more music!

They're yours .... PM sent ...

A good example of such quality publication would be the two books put out by Parkside Press in Seattle, TAKE FIVE: THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LIVES OF PAUL DESMOND, by Doug Ramsey; and A LIFE IN THE GOLDEN AGE OF JAZZ; A BIOGRAPHY OF BUDDY DEFRANCO, by Fabrice Zammarchi and Sylvie Mas .... both of these wonderful tomes are full of great photographs, as well as being quite authoratative texts. They were priced in the $65 range in an approximately 400 page hardback.

OOOPS! My Bad .... Thanks to you I have corrected the listing.. it is the Jazz Unlimited recording .... It must be something in the opium today (medicinal, of course) ....

CDs FOR SALE! Here are a few CDs for sale. I have decided to downsize my collection. This is the first of what I hope will be several lists in forthcoming weeks. All CDs are in mint/excellent condition. I have based my prices on listings on Amazon less between 20% and 40%. I accept Paypal (preferred) or personal checks. Please contact me if interested on here, or at garthsj@earthlink.net (quicker). Japanese Pressings Kenny Dorham, “Round Midnight at The Café Bohemia, Vol. 2” TOCJ 1606 - $15.00 Kenny Dorham, “Round Midnight at The Café Bohemia, Vol. 3” TOCJ 1607 - $15.00 The Jazz Messengers, “At The Café Bohemia, Vol. 3,” TOCJ 1603 - $15.00 Doug Watkins, “Watkins At Large,” TOCJ 5885 - $20.00 Art Blakey, “A Night At Birdland, Vol. 3” TOCJ 1602 - $20.00 (Sealed) Benny Green, “Soul Stirrin’,” Conn Series EMI Taiwan seal, Japanese??? - $15.00 (sealed).*** *** Can anyone help me a clear ID of where this came from. It seems to have Japanese on the OBI. but it it has a red seal in the plastic cover which says EMI Taiwan ... I always thought that it was a Japanese issue, and originally purchased it as such, but now I am not sure ... Regular Pressings Spike Robinson, “Reminiscin, ” Capri - $4.00 Duke Ellington, “At Birdland, 1952.” – Jazz Unlimited - $5.00 Adam Makowicz “Trio” (Mraz, Dawson), Concord, - $6.00 Helen Merrill and Ron Carter, “Duets,” Emarcy - $5.00 James Newton, “If Love” (Billy Hart, Anthony Cox, Mike Cain), Jazzline - $9.00 T. Monk, ”Live At The Jazz Workshop,” Columbia (Original 2-CD set) - $10.00 (Crack in jewel box) Conrad Herwig, “New York Hardball” (McLure, Beirrach, Nussbaum), Ken - $8.00 Sam Most, “Mostly Flute,” (Jordan, Farlow, Higgins), Xanadu - $20 (sealed). Randy Weston, “The Spirits Of Our Ancestors,” (Gillespie, Sanders, Melba Liston arr.), - Antilles (2-CD set) - $15.00 Claude Williamson, “The Fabulous Trio,” Contract (Fresh Sound) - $9.00(sealed) Barney Wilen with the Mal Waldron Trio, “Movie Themes From France,” Timeless - $13.00 Charles Mingus, “Epitaph,” Columbia (2-CD set) - $18.00 Charles Mingus, “Revenge,” Columbia (2-CD set) - $15.00 (sealed) Jim Hall, “Concierto” (Remastered) – CBS - $4.00 Christian McBride, “Getting’ To It,” Verve - $4.00 Phil Markowitz, “In The Woods,” Passage - $5.00 Shelley Carrol, “ With Members of the Duke Ellington Orchestra,” Leaning House - $5.00 Ted Rosenthal, “Rosenthology,” (Drummond, Formanek), Concord - $14.00 Ted Rosenthal, “New Tunes, New Traditions,” (R. Carter, Higgings, Harrell), Ken - $10.00 Clark Terry, “With the Metropole Orchestra,” Mons - $2.00 (sealed) Trumpet Legacy (Payton, Soloff, Henderson, Harrell) – Milestones - $6.00 Bill Evans, “Solo Sessions Vol. 2,” Milestones - $7.00 Kenny Drew, Jr., “Trio,” – Antilles - $1.00 Andrew Hill, “Dusk,” – Palmetto - $7.00 Marty Erlich – “Malinka’s Dance,” Omni-Tone - $7.00 Jim Hall – RonCarter, “Telepathy,” Concord 2-CD set) - $10.00 Joshua Redman, “Spirit of The Moment – Live At The Village Vanguard” – Warner Bros. (2-CD set) - $5.00 Hal Galper Trio, “Tippin’,” Concord - $5.00 Jerry Granelli, “A Song I Thought I heard Buddy Sing” (Garrett, Priester, A. Cox), Evidence - $3.00 Mailing: Priority: 1-3 Cds – $5.15; 4 or more $6.95 Media Mail: 1-3 - $2.95; 4 or more $4.05

Here is more information about Rod Levitt's passing taken from Doug Ramsey's "Rifftides" site. Mosaic really should reissue his great recordings .. they are unique and are sadly in need of a full Moasic type presentation. Rod Levitt R.I.P. Levitt.jpg It was a phone call I wished never to receive and knew was inevitable. Rod Levitt's wife Jean called to report that he died peacefully in his sleep the night of May 8. A composer and arranger of inventiveness, warmth and resourcefulness, a trombonist whose kindness and humor radiated in his playing, Rod had Alzheimer's. He was not warehoused in an institution, as so many Alzheimer's patients must be. Jean kept him with her at home in Vermont. She said that although much of his past had slipped away, he kept his horn near and played it this week even as he was declining. "You know, his trombone, his music, were his life," Jean said. She left out the most important element in his life, Jean. Mrs. Levitt said that they kept printouts of the Rifftides pieces about him in a neat stack on his desk and that he often asked her to read them to him. She said he was moved by the comments from Rifftides readers. For background on Rod and links to his music, see this item from January, and this followup from Steve Schwartz about Rod in his final years. Here is a little of what I wrote about the importance of his albums: They comprise a body of recordings that are fresh, evocative and enormously entertaining forty years later. The writing was daring, finely crafted and marinated in wit. The bassist Bill Crow knew Rod more than a decade longer than I did. He sent this recollection. When I got out of the Army in 1949 and returned to my studies at the University of Washington, I soon discovered the afternoon jam sessions that went on in the U.'s music annex. I was a bebop valve trombonist and sometime drummer in those days. I met Rod Levitt at one of those jams, and we hung out a little together on the Seattle music scene until the winter of 1950, when Buzzy Bridgeford, a drummer from Olympia, invited me to go with him when he went back to New York. I kept hearing about Rod, but when he came to New York, he didn't hang with the same people I was interested in at that time. Whenever our paths crossed, we had a nice reunion, and he called me to play on a couple of his projects, which I enjoyed very much. I liked his playing and his writing, and always appreciated his sunny disposition. Rod Levitt would have been seventy-eight in September.

If you are an insane "completist" for the music of the MJQ, as I am, then this is terrific, not to be missed music. On the other hand, I know that there are those on this list that are not big fans of the MJQ. BTW, there are several excellent DVDs of the MJQ in concert ... and some "original" music is on these that is not available on any of their studio CDs ..

I apologize if this information has already been posted ... I could not find it using the search function ... I must be one of those people who have had mainly good experiences buying from Caiman through Amazon ... Tower Records' New Owner Plots Return to Retail by Dale Kasler Sacramento Bee, May 1, 2007 In an industrial-looking office in West Sacramento, Calif., a skeleton crew operates Tower Records' still-functioning e-commerce business, Tower.com. Tower.com represents the last remnant of Tower's once-great retailing empire. It could also be the launch pad of a Tower comeback. Caiman Holdings Inc., a Montreal-based Internet merchant that is buying Tower.com, is going to try to reinvigorate the Web site using a team of employees based in Sacramento. And in a potentially tantalizing development, Caiman is mulling the idea of opening some stores under the Tower name, said George Scarlett, a former Tower executive who is Caiman's newly hired director of entertainment. Because it also purchased Tower's trademark, Caiman has the right to open Tower stores. It's possible "you'll see the Tower shingle out there again someday," Scarlett said. "It's just hard to know in what form." Didier Pilon, Caiman's founder and director, told the trade publication Billboard that stores could open in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York in nine months. But opening new stores, given the difficult climate for music retailers, may prove troublesome. Scarlett said it's far from certain that any new stores will open. "We've had very superficial discussions, just spitballing some ideas," Scarlett said. The online plans are more settled. The e-commerce business will operate temporarily from the current Tower.com office, located around the corner from Tower's headquarters in West Sacramento's warehouse district. Eventually the plan is to move somewhere else in the Sacramento area, employing an estimated five to 20 workers, he said. Two other former Tower managers have already signed on, he said. Caiman decided to keep the operation in Sacramento because "they feel a kinship and an interest in the Tower brand," Scarlett said. "They're very aware of the history that's involved." Tower.com will be run separately from Caiman's own e-commerce business, most of which is conducted as a third-party merchant selling through Amazon.com. Caiman tends to traffic in hard-to-find music and other items, "the kind of stuff... that Tower really used to specialize in," Scarlett said. Tower's 89 stores in the United States were liquidated in December. The Web site, which has stayed in business, was originally sold to a San Francisco e-commerce company, but that deal fell apart and a new auction was held through U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Bidding for both the Web site and trademark, Caiman won with a $4.2 million offer. The new owner is acquiring a name that still resonates with the public. That will help Caiman revive the business. "That name is so much a part of the music scene to this day, from a legacy standpoint," said Lynn Upshaw, a brand consultant based near San Rafael, Calif. Caiman has its main offices in Montreal and its warehouse in Miami. Its legal headquarters is in the British Virgin Islands, a known tax haven. Pilon, the company's founder and director, is a French entrepreneur who was once a supplier to Tower's stores. In the 1990s Pilon ran a world-music wholesaling company based in Rohnert Park, Calif. Tower "gave him a shot," signing his company on as a supplier to its stores, Scarlett said. That company eventually became Caiman. In 2002, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, blaming a legal tussle over a copyright issue and a water-main break at its Miami facility, which crippled the business. After emerging from bankruptcy, Caiman reinvented itself as an e-commerce retailer, Scarlett said. Pilon is "a well-financed entrepreneur who knows what he's doing," Scarlett said. "This is a very strong, stable company." Pilon couldn't be reached for comment. Scarlett acknowledged that Caiman's sales on Amazon have generated an unusually high number of complaints about customer service. Caiman is working to improve its service, Scarlett said. "They are going to do right by the customer," he said. The Tower.com site will have the broad selection for which Tower was known, and will probably ramp up its book offerings, he said. In addition, the company wants to create a diverse network of customer product reviewers, creating the sense of community that has been a big part of Amazon's success. "I think the dot-com is going to be a big hit," he said. "We're not going to do Amazon numbers, but we're going to be a respected player." It may take a lot of work to make Tower.com a big hit. The company's Web site has always been well regarded but not a major factor in online music retailing. With the bankruptcy and liquidation, Tower.com's traffic has fallen 56 percent in the past year, according to comScore Inc. Nevertheless, analyst Sucharita Mulpuru of Forrester Research Inc. said Caiman has a chance at making Tower's Web site a success. "As long as they have a good user interface and a breadth of product, they'll be fine," she said.

Passed - Didn't want to see/hear what Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Kid Rock, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Bette Midler, and the rest of his latter day cronies had to say. Now that the cynic in me missed it - does any one here feel it was worth watching? I was forced to grade papers last night, so I put the show on as background, but despite the fact that the jazz side of Atlantic was hardly mentioned (it was after all Nesuhi's domain), the show as quite appealing, and worth watching, especially when considering that the option was watching Glen Beck's attempt to refute the global warming scare!). ..... The big show on TV last night was the second part of the Marlon Brando documentary on TCM .. Now, that was definitely worth watching!

Howard Pollack is a colleague of mine here at the Univerity of Houston. He is (obviously) in the Moores School of Music, and a well respected musicologist. This is an amazing book (and I have read and own a copy of the Jablonski's biography). Pollack''s book is actually two biographies in one .. one half of the book is a very detailed musical history of Gershwin's work; the other is a fascinating examination of Gershwin's contribution to American music within the zeitgeist ... It is not an "easy" read, but in my limited experience in this particular field, it appears to be definitive (if it had been a volume dealing with the history of film I could be more precise in my assessment) ... The reviews that I have read appear to be uniformly complimentary, although there have been some questions about the dual structure of the book.

"Flute Fever" was/is such an amazing album that everything he did afterwards was such a letdown, particularly the album with Bill Evans. I have often wondered why he did not continue in the "straight ahead" mode, but veered off into that basically boring fusion "sound of the month" stuff? Also, a great mystery as to why "Flute Fever" has never been reissued in any form that I am aware of. (Corrections welcomed here). My only means of playing it now is on a home made cassette ... I don't even have a CDR!

Here is a long ovedue biography of Willis Conover, the man who boosted the reputation of the United States by showcasing jazz via The Voice of America. Many was the night in Cape Town in the fifties when I tuned in my large salvaged shortwave radio, hoping for decent reception, (the broadcast was not aimed at Southern Africa) and listened to Conover. He, perhaps more than anyone else, is responsible for my interest in jazz ... http://tinyurl.com/32qlvp

I am answering my own post here .. I just found out that a new organization took over the station as of 12:00 a.m. Saturday morning .. so now I know why their entire presentation is so lousy!

I wonder if any of you listen to KKJZ regularly .. I do through the miracle of the internet. I see that they now have a new lineup of presenters, some of whom should take basic grammar and pronunciation lessons, but then maybe I am just being an old fogey, and in this age of "do your own thing" my standards of literacy are no longer valid. Do any of you have any opinions about this ... ?

This should make fascinating reading ... - Cadence Music Sales FOR WEEK of APRIL 18 - APRIL 27, 2007 New BOOK NOW AVAILABLE: Death of a Bebop Wife (The Al Haig Story) by Grange Haig Rutan This is the compelling life story of pianist Al Haig, one of the Jazz greats in the vanguard of the Bebop revolution. Over 15 years in the making, this is the uncomfortable and often horrifying story of a Jazz life as researched and told by a wife who survived an experience that left many devastated, and, in one case, dead. In a narrative as unique as the subject itself, Grange (Haig) Rutan of Montclair, NJ, boldly tells all in a cathartic account of Al Haig's life that is as unflinching as it is objective, leaving the reader able to experience from an omnipresent vantage point the humor, triumphs, tragedies, and the many sides and contradictions of Al Haig. Direct link to search/order system http://tinyurl.com/2v2r86 "The Lady knows!" Dan Morgenstern - Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers "I thought I knew all about Al Haig, and this page-turner tells it all. To me, Al Haig was one of the best on jazz piano, and if Diz and Bird say so, who am I to disagree?" Phil Urso - veteran jazz artist 544 pages including photos, full discography, and an index List Price = $35.00 Your price = $28 + shipping (item = 28 ounces)

South African jazz enthusiasts might be interested in the article below. I wil be going "home" to Cape Town this coming December for the first time since 1990. I have no doubt that I will witness an enormous change in the "Rainbow Nation" this time. http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/07/02/travel/02surfacing.html

This article from the NYT says it all ... I wonder what other hybrids are likely to emerge in the near future? ... Has anyone tried any of these systems yet? http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/15/business...amp;oref=slogin

I am a big fan of Joe Temperley and I have many of his albums. There are several fine sessions from him found on the Hep label, but one his best is a duo album with Dave McKenna on Concord, "Sunbeam and Thundercloud" ... highly recommended. He is one of the "gentle school" of bari players ... more Mulligan than Adams.

Another one of my teenage heroes leaves us. Her album "The Late, Late Show" was a staple item at parties during those years ... although I can't but help feel that she never really achieved the level that that early promise suggested. Ah! the memories ....

I've always been curious to hear this -- even brought it up in another thread one time. Has anyone here ever heard this before?? I've heard snippets on the radio and had a somewhat 'neutral' view of it. But really must listen to the whole thing before giving a full opinion. The trouble is that the sublime original causes everything else to pale into significance. I have this album, as well as the Clark Terry revisiting of the "Porgy and Bess" materal. Both are very good, and would have been even better if we did not have the originals to spoil the comparison ... The dynamism of the originals is lacking but the performances are excellent. Jensen, in particular, creates her own solos away from Miles, while Terry is Terry ...

I have these cuts on LP and CD before.. BUT, my question is whether this is available on a full-length DVD with decent sound? God! I hope so ...

I first became personally acquainted with Tony Scott on his famous and ground-breaking tour of South Africa in 1957, when I wrote an article about him for Metronome Magazine. He and I corresponded occasionally over all these fifty years! His death is a personal loss for me ... His likes will never be seen again, but he lived the grand life, and left his indelible mark on the history of jazz. Here is a signed picture taken during that famous tour in 1957 ... Tony is at the mike, the pianist is Dave Stockton, and the bass player is my good friend, George Kussel ...

Here are sites for used copies of these books .. they can still be had for under $500! http://www.bookfinder.com/search/?ac=sl&am...387739_1:31:116 http://www.bookfinder.com/search/?ac=sl&am...387739_1:31:114

I've looked forever to find this one at a decent price. From what I know, a good copy will go for anywhere between $500 and $1200. Good lord. I tried a Google search, and it appears that you're correct- one seller even has it at $1,750. These are paperback books! I better start handling mine more carefully. While searching, I found another nice place to view covers: The Album Art of David Stone Martin Looks like you might be able to see large scans if you register (I didn't). I guess that I will have to be much more careful with the two Manek Daver books on album cover art that I have (The DSM book, and another one "Jazz Album Covers: The Rare And The Beautiful .. which is a hardback.)... Doing scans bends back the spines. I knew that these books had become collector's items, but I did not realize how valuable they now are. I wonder if there is any consideration for a reprint?