Teasing the Korean

A seller can classify titles in any manner that can move product.

Johnny Lytle - Swingin' at the Gate - Pacific Jazz (stereo, black and orange label)

Andy Williams - Under Paris Skies - Cadence (stereo) with arrangements by Q and Billy Byers. Surprisingly swingin' album, coming from a guy who later said that Obama was a socialist.

"Julie is Her Name" has strings - exactly 10 of them: 6 on the guitar and 4 on the bass. That's all the instrumentation on it. Most of her 1950s albums are on the jazzy side of the spectrum and few have strings. "Julie at Home" is a great little jazzy date that was supposedly recorded at her home. Somewhere around the early 1960s - when her hairstyle changes - her records get into more contemporary pop territory - "End of the World," etc. She continued to do jazzy albums along the way, though, like the "Cole Porter" album from the mid or late 1960s. I'm a big fan. I often felt that she didn't get taken seriously as a singer because of the cheesecake nature of the record covers and her pinup image. But the proof is in the grooves of those records. I'm happy to see that so much stuff has made it to CD.

Morricone 2000 (Dagored)

Art Farmer - Something You Got - CTI

Bobbi Humphrey - Dig This! Blue Note (blue label with black 70s logo)

Eddie Harris - Bossa Nova - Vee Jay (stereo, rainbow label). With THEE GREAT LALO SCHIFRIN! VJ stereo jazz sessions from this period had some of the most natural sounding and least annoying stereo separation of any label. Contemporary Records also. IMHO.

Yes, is that the one about the beat poets? IIRC, it has a similar approach to Fred Katz's "Little Shop of Horrors," which is a definitive example of what I'm talking about.

Chico Hamilton - Man from Two Worlds - Impulse! (stereo, Capitol pressing) with THEE GREAT GABOR SZABO.

Various - Amarcord Nino Rota (Hannibal) Hal Wilner project, maybe the most consistent of all of them.

Debussy - Prelude to the Afternoon of a Fuan; Jeux - Columbia (Great Performances series, stereo) Boulez/New Philaharmonia

Ormandy/Philadelphia Orch - Ports of Call - Columbia (grey label Masterworks, mono) Collection of exotic stuff by Ravel, Debussy, Chabrier and Ibert. This was my Dad's album. Partially responsible for my heading down the exotica path.

Adolph Marx - Harpo at Work - Mercury (black label, stereo) Arrangements are by Harpo's son, Bill Marx.

Nino Rota - Fellini's Roma - UA (70s tan and brown label) This is the only copy of this LP I've ever seen. I wonder how rare it is. Or not.

I always heard that this album was uneven at best, not very good at worst, so I never sought it out. Then I ran across a used CD copy. I was surprised to find out that, with the bonus tracks, there is a whole album of the Lee Morgan/Oliver Nelson date. And being that I love Oliver Nelson, that was enough for me. First I listened to the album as released, and I did feel that it was all over the map, not in a great way, but not in an awful way either. Then I listened to the four bonus tracks with Oliver, which liked. I then played around with the programming, and I think if you listen to the 6 Oliver Nelson tracks together, they form a pretty solid record. Likewise, if you listen to the 4 quintet tracks by themselves, they are also pretty solid. So, if the original album was kind of jarring, on the CD you get one-and-a-half good, if not really great, albums. I was puzzled by Bob Blumenthal's description of "Yesterday" as a "rock tune," but whatever.

I hate to get all technical, but the chord is either a C7b5 or a C7#11. Part of the differentiation is functional, and part of it may be completely arbitrary, even if the latter is never admitted. In most practical situations, you're generally safer using the latter; although depending on how it's used in the context of the tune and the melody note, the former may be more appropriate. But I've never encountered the #4 designation - that I can recall, at least.

Last night: Martial Solal and the European All Stars - Telefunken (mono)

Maybe, but if it works in the context of the tune, it doesn't matter. If it sounds good, it's worth incorporating into the arrangement.

I don't have an answer to your question, but: If it's your arrangement, why not go with what you like? It's not at all unusual for an arranger to incorporate improvisational elements from a famous earlier recording of a tune (s)he's arranging.

My current keyboard (Alesis QS8) is more than 10 years old now and I'm thinking about an upgrade. Any consensus regarding a good, portable digital piano for regular gigging that has both a realistic action and good built-in piano samples? At this point I'm not really interested in other features or samples - just something that I can lug around that sounds and feels reasonably like a real piano. Thanks!

My exotica combo does a version of "Mating Call" - vibes, piano, acoustic bass, and two percussionists.

Various - Blue Brazil, Vol. 2 ("Blue Note" - actually Odeon).