Teasing the Korean

Thanks for the reminder. Ages ago I picked up a huge haul of pre-recorded reel-to-reels, and included in the haul is Urbie Green's Persuasive Trombone album. I agree with you that most Command albums are lousy, which is why I unloaded many of them years ago. However there are some real gems on Command/Project 3, including The Private Life of a Private Eye, Strange, Interlude, the Dick Hyman Moog and organ albums, Spaced Out, Permissive Polyphonics, and of course everything by Free Design. EDIT: Just finished Persuasive Trombone and it is very good for that kind of album.

Love his work with Jobim. RIP.

Wow, this is incredible!

I'll take Michael Daugherty.

Seriously?!? He had a big resurgence in the 1990s. He recorded a number of percussion albums in the 1950s and early 1960s, mostly for small labels like Tampa. Best bang for your buck is the CD compilation on Dionysus. It organizes the music into his three basic categories: Exotica, Africana, and rock 'n' roll, the latter of which is basically Preston Epps "Bongo Rock" kind of the stuff. Alternately, you may prefer Dionysus's reissue of Eye of the Spectre, aka Night of the Spectre, which is more along the lines of what Dionysus categorized as "Africana."

THIS has been on my want list for quite some time. I have Phil Moore's similar Portrait of Leda album on Columbia, but not this. Phil Moore's other exotica masterpiece, Polynesian Paradise, on the obscure Strand label, has similarly eluded me.

Even a record by the great CHAINO!

I read a fact-checking piece on the film, and apparently, it is very true to what really happened, based on what Shirley and Vallelonga told the filmmaker (Vallelongo's son). The main creative liberty that was taken was that a year-and-a-half's worth of real-life events were compacted into a two-month tour for the film. Shirley apparently told the filmmaker that he was fine with the making of the film, as long as the filmmaker stayed true to what both he and Vallelonga reported to him, and that the film was made after Shirley died. SPOILER ALERT: It has been speculated that the reason Shirley did not want the film to be released while he was alive was because of an event suggesting that Shirley is gay.

I saw the film tonight. It combined buddy, white savior, and magical negro tropes at different times, but still, it was very enjoyable. I wrote elsewhere that I have the Don Shirley album on Cadence with the blue cover, and the version of "I Cover the Waterfront is stunning.

All true, but all of the Monkees were all gifted in their own way. If you can find me a singer as good as Mickey, he's hired. As for Mike, I think he's more important than Gram Parsons, and the three albums he did with the First National Band on RCA - the red, white, and blue albums, respectively - are brilliant. If those were the only things he did, he would still be remembered.

Yes. Neither Duke nor Gordon had anything to do with the writing of the tune. The artist and the publisher wanted a slice. I'll tell the whole story in a separate thread when I have time.

Those are great, thank you! I think this would have been the era when my Dad was working with Dave Lambert, so it is possible. Forgive my ignorance, but were those two tracks east coast or west coast dates? My parents were only east coast. My parents also did some dates with the arranger Howard Biggs, and they back up Johnny Hartmann on one session.

I'm not certain which records of Dave Lambert's my Dad was involved with. The details on the singers are usually sketchy. Dave, like most group leaders, used a pool of singers that varied from one session to the next based on who was available that day. I'd like to hear that Charlie Parker date! I've never heard it. The Duke song is a 1938 track with Ivie Anderson on vocals, called "You Gave Me the Gate and I'm Swingin.'" I have long wanted to write down the story of how they crossed paths, and I will be happy to share it here in a separate thread if anyone is interested. I am slammed between now and Christmas so it may be week or so.

You're welcome!

They were session singers. You wouldn't know them by name. They sang on jingles and did Oohs and Aahs for Perry Como, Gordon Jenkins, and others. My Dad's brushes with jazz include work with the Dave Lambert Singers; writing a song recorded by Duke Ellington; and having Mundell Lowe back up my mom on the demo for an album he wrote (which never got past the demo stage). Back to Laura Leslie: She is on the excellent but hard-to-find LP Voices from the Apartment Below by the Eddie Thomas Singers. Dusty sells a copy every now and then.

Every musical artist I've ever cared about is in his/her 70s, 80s, 90s, or dead!

She was a New York group singer, who worked with my parents, who were also in the biz. Laura was married to session guitarist Bill Suyker, who was Burt Bacharach's A-list guitarist. When Bacharach would do concerts around the US, he would always take his New York rhythm section with him, including Bill. The piano, in case you were worried, sounds great. It needed regulation. I like to play very quiet, fat chords, and there was too much play between the hammers and strings previously.

Currently having my piano tuned by Laura Leslie's son. Note that Miss Leslie decides to stay after all at the end of the record, turning the song into a proto-women's empowerment anthem.

It is indeed Nesmith singing. Most people in their 70s don't sound like they did in their 20s.

My wife is a Monkees fan and she thinks it's really good. I've heard only "Snowfall," though I'm sure I will end up hearing the whole thing over the holidays.

No worries. We don't have time to obsessively follow the Monkees like we did in the 1960s.

Nesmith's son did nearly everything but the lead vocal! This album was released this year.

I couldn't even imagine how it would sound when I'd heard he recorded it, but it is pretty nice, and unusual!

I like the fire and drink part, but these days, I'm re-exploring Jackie Gleason's vast catalog.

File under: Things you never expected to hear.