gmonahan

Yes.

Re Jim's comment--Jay Corre was indeed a very fine saxophonist, and I second his affection for Corre's work with Rich. As for James's commercial stuff, that's what put the dollar sign on the trumpet, and frankly, I love it. He had amazingly beautiful tone. I think I remember reading somewhere that James was one of Miles Davis's favorite trumpeters! He apparently liked James's tone too. It really is remarkable that he kept a band going as long as he did, and even more interesting that Buddy Rich apparently liked playing with him. I'm sure James paid him well, but the chemistry must have just been right. Edited to add that the version of "Walk on the Wild Side" on the video sounded so much like the Rich Pacific Jazz band that I pulled out those cds to see if he'd recorded it!

Yes, that's the comp album I was thinking of in my previous post. It had Buddy Rich on drums. Jim was more accurate than I was in noting that James recorded for MGM, not Verve. Verve *reissued* some of that early 60s MGM stuff. There's another compilation of MGM things in this one:

James made some great records for Capitol and Verve in the fifties. Mosaic gathered the Capitol material in a now-out-of-print set. The Verve stuff has never been properly reissued, though there's a pretty good compilation disc, and Avid put out a 2-cd set with four of the "off label" things, but you're right. Harry James seldom put out a bad record.

I still wish someone would put together all the Mercer recordings in one set!

I think the only people guaranteed to get a set in the first batch these days are those who preorder.

I've always gone back and forth on Wynton. On the one hand, like others, I did like his early stuff, and I do admire his deep devotion to the history of the music and his efforts at JATLC to make more people aware of it, but his hubris drives me away from his own projects. I recently tried watching the Burns series again, and found myself--again--fast forwarding through Wynton's endless babbling. He needs to put a small group together and go out on the road and just play. Maybe that would give him some much needed perspective??

As was I. A great series with some fine, fine music.

That's the period when she recorded several albums for Mainstream, and those aren't always easy to find. I liked the one she did with Jimmy Rowles for that label, and the 2-cd Live in Tokyo is pretty good if you can find it.

Excellent choice!!

The outside is the largest gun turret I've ever seen.

I think modern architecture can be lovely. I like the National Museum of Qatar with its multiple surfaces, but I've always detested brutalist architecture. It reeks to me of late Communist buildings. The Munch museum looks interesting, the National Museum in Oslo, not so much. I like the Guggenheim in Bilbao too.

As are the Capitols just before. It's hard to find "bad" recordings by the master.

I can relate--a rather expensive process, too.

Excellent doc. I used to show it in my college classes years ago.

I seem to remember talk a while back that they were going to do a Lee Morgan 60s Blue Note set. Many have all that material, though I am not one and would actually be interested in such a set.

It's a very, very good movie.

Well, yeah, Satch was THE jazz singer! Don't know about Bing. I'd have to listen again to the early things.

I take your point. I guess I differentiate between what I'd call a jazz singer and a singer who is occasionally "jazzy." Sinatra was often the latter. Ella, on the other hand, as you point out, was very much a jazz singer, improvising on the melodic line. Billie Holiday did that too, and so did a number of those Jim has mentioned. I'd call Mel Torme a jazz singer in that sense too. But Tony Bennett, for example, who loved jazz and often was backed by jazz group, was more a jazzy singer than a jazz singer, IMHO. Not that it makes much difference. I enjoy all of them. They were/are great artists, marvelous at doing what they did, and I listen to all of them often.

Ditto. Enjoying the first disc.

I absolutely agree that he made himself front and center with the big bands--he was never stricken with a sense of false modesty--but I can forgive it because he drove those bands so relentlessly. That drive is what makes the Pacific Jazz sessions of the sixties so compelling for me.

Nice! Always cool to see Nat play the piano. Was this from his short-lived TV show?

Sinatra loved Bennett. I recently read a story that I can't find now where Sinatra was in an Italian restaurant late at night where Bennett's music was playing and said something like "It doesn't get any better than this. A glass of wine, a good pasta, and my man Tony Bennett singing." I saw him live in late career when he appeared here in Portland at Edgefield. He was in good voice and gave a great show. As so many have said, it was obvious how much he enjoyed being before a live audience. He drew energy from us even as we reflected our affection and admiration to him. I feel privileged to have had that opportunity.

I did something like that with the Sinatra Reprise box, but in that case, I just printed out the original album orders and carefully taped them on the individual sleeves, so I could put the individual cd in and listen to the part I wanted in album order. In fact, I listened to the album "She Shot Me Down" just this morning doing that!

It is also possible that an owner would change out the old LP for a newer one if s/he had played the hell out of it. I remember doing that with my old 2-LP "Best of Count Basie" on Decca. I played that album so much I think needles nearly went through it. Got a new set and put the new rainbow MCA LPs in the old gatefold album because it had cooler photos and better liners and just because I'd developed an affection for it!