Teasing the Korean

I want to talk more about the would-be Sinatra album "Let Freedom Swing." I imagine it coming out circa 1966, Vietnam in full swing (pardon the pun), Frank is on Reprise and putting on weight. Side 1 opens with "My Country Tis of Thee." It starts out very slow, solemn and straight: My country tis of the thee Sweet land of liberty Of thee I sing Then there's this huge WOLLOP with a snare hit and screamin' brass: Land where my ol' man died (saxes answering in portamento thirds, a Billy May trademark) etc. God, I wish this album would exist.

"Let Freedom Swing" would have been a great concept for a Sinatra album of patriotic tunes! Arrangements by Billy May.

Let's hope Wynton never gets into politics. I can only imagine what his brand of "democracy" would look like!

Lots of people think that Kenny G Is jazz. All of you are entitled to your opinions.

We can all agree that it was BAD bossa nova. But GREAT jungle soul.

John Dankworth/London Phil - Collaboration - Roulette (mono). A bunch of longhair stuff, including Igor's Ebony Concerto.

Thank GOD they changed the name. It was so embarrassing how clueless United Statesians threw around the phrase "bossa nova" in the early days. I am assuming that the title was the work of some marketing hack. Anyway, I will gladly trade my LP cover of "Bad Bossa Nova" for a "Jungle Soul" LP cover, which is so much more appropriate, given the music.

Typical liner notes of concept/exotica albums, of which MV and E I could be considered examples.

Great line from the "Experiment in Terror" liner notes: Throughout the picture there are several sequences depicting modern teenagers.

I missed this thread - Happy belated GA! "Several Shades of Jade" is such a great album - it is more of a Lalo Schifrin album, though, than a Cal Tjader album. It falls someplace between a late 50s/early 60s exotica album and a mid-60s spy soundtrack - which IS EXACTLY WHERE I CHOOSE TO LIVE MY LIFE!!!! Great about the Charde/Experiment twofer. They're both gems. The instrumental version of "Charade" is one of my favorite spy themes ever. "Experiment" is one of only two Mancini soundtracks from this period (the other being Arabesque) in which Mancini included some of the film's dramatic underscore on the album version. He later said that he regretted the approach he took with his soundtrack albums to highlight mostly pop/jazz content. Either way, all of those Mancini soundtracks from that period are fun listening. Happy birthday again!

This is why I love the interwebz.

I get what you're saying, but I'm not going to hold the artists accountable now just because of how they may be marketed, or mis-marketed, decades and decades later. Edit: Also a big fan of Schwartz & Dieitz. Jo Stafford's version of "Something to Remember You By" on Columbia is amazing, though it's not among their best songs.

Have you ever noticed that the only stuff you can find on the radio in the morning is either talk, news, or these godawful folkies?

My experience, for what it's worth: The so-called "Great American Songbook" - I don't love the phrase, but I don't know what else to call it - was largely my introduction to music. I knew all these songs through my parents. I have gone for years at a stretch without listening to any pop/jazz/song-stylist vocalists, largely because I've been more into instrumental and oddball music for the past few decades. Still, I recognize that, for better or worse, these are at the center of my musical universe, regardless of whether I listen or not. I do most of my listening these days on my computer, at work, and stick mainly to jazz, classical, soundtracks, and electronica - all instrumental. Words distract me while I'm working. I realized recently that I haven't listened to standards for years. So, lately, I've made a habit of playing the great vocalists in the car during my commute. I skip past overplayed stuff like "The Lady Is the Tramp," and concentrate on the more atypical tunes, like "Night Bird," "Autumn in Rome," etc. I especially pay attention to the neglected verses. Anyway, I still get a lot out of this era/style of music. I've reconnected with something relevant. Even if that is not your experience, I think that Sondheim's trashing of these lyricists is worth noting.

I think there was also a lot of complexity, along with simplicity, in the works of the earlier lyricists. I'm not sure that Sondheim has that level of complexity in his lyrics, but then again, I'm not a fan, so I'm going only by the songs I know.

Not directly jazz, but certainly jazz-related when a songwriter of Sondheim's stature rips lyricists such as Lorenz Hart, Ira Gershwin, Hammerstein, and others. It's in his new book, "Finishing the Hat." http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/stephen-sondheim-rips-all-the-dead-lyricists-but-only-one-live-one-himself/article1775255/ I find Sondheim to be tedious and not in the same category as the greats from earlier- to mid-20th Century.

I used to have a CD of this decades ago - forget what the cover looked like - that was mastered from pristine vinyl because the master tapes were trashed. My trashed vinyl sounded better than the CD. What is the best sounding version of this currently available?

Boyd Raeburn is like the missing link between Stan Kenton and Les Baxter!

The Best of Chet Baker Sings - Capitol/Pacific Jazz (mono) Late 80s reissue.

Agree with the recommendations thus far. I would add "Afro Cuban Influence" on RCA.

Julie London - Julie at Home - Liberty (stereo) One of my favorite Julie London LPs.

Boyd Raeburn - Jewells - Savoy (mono) Twofer reissue. How have I missed this guy all these years?

Well, that makes sense now that I think about it. They were probably embarrassed into making the name change. Are the liner notes the same on both issues? The liner notes on my copy (Bossa front cover) reference the jungle but they don't talk about bossa at all.

When I look at a disc that I've bought sealed and played sparingly, I'm sometimes amazed by seeing a significant number of scratches. They are usually superficial. I play CDs in my car, on my work computer, and on my CD player at home. I handle them pretty well. Do you think one or more of the players is scratching them?

The only Randy Weston LP I've ever unloaded. No regrets.