Teasing the Korean

JSngry, if you don't already have it, pick up the King Cole Trio Snader Transcriptions DVD. Joe Comfort was the trio's regular bassist by this point. Amazing that this stuff survived. "On The Road to Mandalay" was stripped from the UK issue of "Come Fly With Me." The Kipling estate didn't like Frank's irreverent reading. Every time Sinatra played England afterward, he would ALWAYS include it in his live sets.

The season with John Lithgow was the best.

I left the hat with one of the greeters so as not to call undue attention to myself.

Do I see that they are including "The Beatles Story" in that box? That is too cool!

I've set foot in a Walmart only twice in my life, looking specifically for an item that I could not find anyplace else. It was like a tea party rally. Everyone kept looking at me, they could tell that I was not one of them.

Leonard Feather always makes me laugh, especially when he tries to insert himself into the story. Very funny stuff.

"For Sophisticated Swingers" - Bob Thompson, "On the Rocks," LSP 2145

So I'd always assumed that those Prestige two-fer reissues in the 70s were done after Fantasy owned them, but before the OJC identity had been created. I guess I was mistaken. Thanks for clarifying.

Well Liberty owned them, and then UA, but they still continued to function under the Blue Note name and releasing new stuff through at least the mid-70s.

Maybe you're right. All I know is I was buying 50s/60s Blue Note albums in record stores in the late 1970s.

Maybe this is common knowledge, but I was thinking about how Fantasy managed to stay in business because of CCR, and all these other labels (Prestige, Riverside, etc.) went under, and everything then became part of OJC. What did Blue Note do differently that allowed them to stay in business? Obviously, there was very high artistic quality, but there's no direct correlation between artistic merit and sales. Is there a simple answer, or were several factors involved?

My preference is analog recordings, but I'm hep to hip digital recordings, if they're done by hip orchestras and hip conductors! JSngry, I get where you're coming from, but considering the numbers of available interpretations of certain titles, this kind of input is helpful.

My knowledge of Beethoven is limited to Vince Guaraldi and Walter Carlos. Please suggest a good interpretation/recording of the 7th, preferably from the analog era, and preferably with nice cover art.

"Bouncin' Ballet" - Shorty Rogers, "The Swingin' Nutcracker, RCA LSP 2110

The difference between Jews and African Americans during the periods you're discussing is that Jews could assimilate into mainstream US culture in way that blacks could not. As a result, Jews then - as now - could place at any point on the spectrum in terms of their "jewish identity" or "American identity." Geographic location and density of a Jewish population could play roles, but they are still not determining factors. So there is no single, identifiable Jewish community, then as now. Demographers cannot even accurately assess Jewish populations; they are all estimates.

Yes on all counts. RIP, El Chico!

Don't the space hippies on "Star Trek" sound remarkably like It's a Beautiful Day?

Thanks for posting.

I have had the CBS News real-time coverage of the JFK assassination playing in the background this weekend. I see that on Saturday night there was a Philadelphia Orchestra performance, and on Sunday the New York Philharmonic. Does anyone know what was played? I have searched online and cannot find any info. Thanks in advance.

Nice to see that boring jazz musicians/writers can agree with the tea party on something. Maybe this is a new untapped jazz audience.

Cool story! I love Shorty's stuff from the period you describe. Curious, are there any specific techniques you could describe from either of those two scores that made a particular impression on you?

I wish someone would release an expanded version of "Death Wish" that includes all of the cool music in the film that did not make it to the LP.

Been snapping up the Brazilian comps on Soul Jazz. Some common stuff mixed with stuff I never heard, or at least that I didn't have on CD.