gmonahan

I once heard him compared to a fine liqueur. Sublime when taken in luxuriously small sips. gregmo

BS&T was THE "rock" band of my jazz-oriented youth. I'm saddened by this news. RIP

Vocalion reissued some Phase 4's by big bands. I've got at least three can think of, "Stan Kenton Today," "The Golden Trumpet of Harry James," and "Benny Goodman Today." They're all pretty good records. gregmo

Brown always led high-quality outfits. I have the old Time-Life compilation. I like this version of "Love," but for my money, the best was the hit version by Red Norvo and Mildred Bailey! You're right about Capitol, though. The Mosaic Harry James/Gene Krupa Capitol set is further evidence of the expertise of that label's engineers from the period. gregmo

Nice piece. Thanks for posting it! gregmo

I like OP too. As for that last bit, well, that sounds kinda painful. Think I'll forego that. gregmo

Didn't Keepnews blame Grauer for signing Chet Baker? It seems like I remember seeing that somewhere. Keepnews had *no* time for Chet Baker and considered him nothing but a hustler. My issues with Keepnews have nothing to do with the people he recorded. He seems to have been honest with them and deeply devoted to the music. Rather, I always objected to how he did reissues. He wasn't always as sensitive to sound issues as he should have been, and he could be pretty odd in the choices of what he chose to reissue. That said, there is a LOT of great music on my shelves because of him, so I gratefully wish him a peaceful rest. gregmo

As one who taught at the college level for many years, I found this post on the mark. This guy wouldn't have lasted five minutes before he was "drummed" out of a job. I love J. K. Simmons, and he was very good in the role, but the notion that someone as verbally and physically abusive as this would actually be allowed to teach is ludicrous. I haven't seen such a silly representation of teaching on screen since Robin Williams in "Dead Poets Society" (though in his case, the silliness was a polar opposite of Fletcher in this flick). As for the fixation on Rich, that actually made some sense to me. I could easily see a young drummer fixating on a particular role model, and Rich was a great drummer. All the race stuff strikes me as nonsense. The "next" movie in which the music will figure is "Miles Ahead" directed and starring Don Cheadle. Hope springs eternal. gregmo

He took a role some would have run from, enhanced it, and gave it grace. A sad loss. gregmo

Did you put this together Jim?! Well, many thanks! It was great fun! gregmo

gregmo

Thanks for posting this. I've never been a huge Dylan fan, but I plan to listen to this record. I thought his answer to this question was really very good--honest and insightful: I noticed that Frank Sinatra recorded every one of these songs. Was he on your mind? A: When you start doing these songs, Frank’s got to be on your mind. Because he is the mountain. That’s the mountain you have to climb, even if you only get part of the way there. And it’s hard to find a song he did not do. He’d be the guy you got to check with. People talk about Frank all the time. He had this ability to get inside of the song in a sort of a conversational way. Frank sang to you — not at you. I never wanted to be a singer that sings at somebody. I’ve always wanted to sing to somebody. I myself never bought any Frank Sinatra records back then. But you’d hear him anyway — in a car or a jukebox. Certainly nobody worshipped Sinatra in the ’60s like they did in the ’40s. But he never went away — all those other things that we thought were here to stay, they did go away. But he never did.

I thought the first season of TNG was a bit derivative and stiff, but not terrible. And I liked the movies! Well, except for V, which was really, *really* bad! gregmo

Yeah, Carlin could get really mean as he got older. I knew a guy who scheduled acts at Indiana U in Bloomington, and I asked him once who was the worst jerk he ever had to deal with. "George Carlin, hands down" was the answer. I was disappointed (loved some of his midlife comedy a lot) but not too surprised. gregmo

This has brought back to me some of the interesting discussions we've had on the Board about the connection between the often-problematic personalities/personal lives of some jazz musicians and their art. I think what makes Cosby different is that a lot of his public persona came to be tied up with a moral and ethical mission. He made a lot of his study of child psychology, of the importance of family life, of working hard and all that, and these charges just blast a lot of that out of the water as hopeless hypocrisy. If his humor had been more like that of, say, Redd Fox, would people be more likely to give him a pass? Probably not, but it's an interesting question. gregmo

I'm a hopeless fanatic for all the series, despite occasional lapses in the writing ("Spock's Brain," anyone?!). I think what makes Trek different (and often, better) than so many other sci-fi series/movies is its innate optimism. Unlike the truly *endless* dystopian future movies that have appeared and continue to appear constantly on the big and small screens, Trek posited the rather daring notion that people might actually come together and accomplish things, that the future would not be a nightmare, but better than the present or the past. That said, I have the original series on blu-ray, and I have to say, blu-ray isn't very kind to mid-60s TV makeup! You can see the seams in Spock's ears, and too many of the alien "masks" look even cheesier than they did fifty years ago. If one can get by that, my favorites are "Corbomite Manouver," "Balance of Terror," and, of course, "The Trouble with Tribbles." The last showed that, while Shatner too often overacted in dramatic scenes, he was really a very good light comic actor. One of the reasons I really liked "Boston Legal." gregmo

Two stupids don't make a smart Steve! gregmo

Yeah, I had it on my Amazon wish list for quite a while before a copy suddenly showed up at a somewhat affordable price! gregmo

gregmo

That's a nice one, it was on CD before, but is still rare. I'm waiting for them to reissue 'Blues At Carnegie Hall' .... Me, too. That was a doulble butcher job by Collectables where they coupled it with the much more common and totally unrelated Art Blakey Atlantic album, and deleted material from the otherwise unavailable MJQ set to make it all fit on one CD. Blues at Carnegie Hall was issued whole by Rhine/Atlantic on an "Original Master Recording" disc. Spendy, but nice sound. gregmo

How's the album with Paul Bley? I'm not generally a big Paul Bley fan, but I kind of like this one. Baker needed a challenge, and Bley does that. I think it's one of Baker's better late-period efforts. gregmo

I always loved this group. Universal packed their first 11 albums into a cd box set back in 2005. Rather spendy to get today, but some fine music there for those who like that style: http://www.amazon.com/Best-Swingle-Singers/dp/B000BU99I8/ref=sr_1_5?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1421871006&sr=1-5&keywords=Swingle+Singers+box+set. gregmo

All excellent sets. The Farlow is something of a hidden gem, I think, and I really like the Jazztet set. gregmo

In medieval Europe, holidays (holy days) were all Catholic Saint's days. The secular United States had to create secular saints, so we made them out of "discoverers" (imperialist conquerors, in some opinions), presidents, and heroes. It's sort of an evolving process, isn't it?! gregmo

When I was working, we got Presidents Day. Then, when the King holiday came on, they traded them. So, I got the King holiday, and not Presidents Day. So it goes. gregmo