gmonahan

She was preceded by (at least) Ringo Starr, Harry Nilsson, & Carly Simon. Simon's Trust is actually a nice album if you can suspend disbelief about her vocals and just get into the accompaniment). Also, Motown had a thing about getting their bigger acts to do "standards" as part of the grooming for Vegas. Ronstadt has never struck me as a particularly bright person (but who am I to judge?) or singer (and although she got what was probably Riddle's most uninspired ever "high profile" work out of him and was by more than a few accounts more or less a total dolt about how to "get into" that material, hey, she had the desire and the money, and by god, she made it happen, so, good for her!)), but I always dug her for not letting that get in the way of her enthusiasm and curiosity (remember her doing "Pirates Of Penzance"?). I give a whole lot of the credit to her great run of great-sounding records in the 70s to Peter Asher (and yeah, the Greatest Hits thing is one of the fewer times where that's what I'd prefer over whole albums) but she had the chops to give him something to work with, right? Really, "harmlessly & pleasantly clueless" is perhaps the phrase that keeps coming to mind about her actual singing. She's always had, again, a good, at times great skill set to be clueless with. All of which is just to say that as a "singer", eh...., but as a "voice", somebody you couldn't miss no matter what the context, she's been there since "Different Drummer" and stayed there for all of my adult life, and even if I can't really take her seriously as an "artist", I still like her a helluva lot, and yes, this is sad news. I agree with this assessment of Ronstadt. I've always thought she was rock's version of Ella - nice singer, iconic, but brought little to an understanding of a song. Well, since Ella is the greatest pop/jazz singer of all time, I'm going to assume you're doing just a bit of trolling here. gregmo

She really started the whole "rock singers sing standards" thing with Riddle, didn't she? I remember being charmed by some of those efforts and impressed, at least, that she gave Riddle the work. I too am sorry to hear she's having so much trouble. gregmo

Few comedians could match Cosby in his prime. Great story. Thanks for posting it! gregmo

Perfectly put. gregmo

Those are the two I visit now and then. Music Millenium is far cooler, but has fewer used cds. Its new cd selection is better, though, IMHO. gregmo

I'm just glad to see SOME kind of reissue series coming. If it survives (a big if), less well-known stuff may eventually see the light of day. I have most of the Bethlehems I'd want. gregmo

Thanks for this. It looks like they're all alternate takes. I'll have to think hard about this one. gregmo

I never found myself mistaking Sarah Vaughan's voice for a man's, but to each his own. The Ellington Songbooks are among my favorite Vaughan performances, and my collection of Sarah is fairly complete. She does a wonderful job on every tune. Six more performances, especially if they are new tunes and not just other takes of older ones, would be very attractive, but for my money, this is very, very fine "late" Sarah. gregmo

Discs 5 and 6 for me. Fine set! gregmo

Hope you find a way to have a good one, Lon. Sending jazzy thoughts your way! gregmo

French CBS did complete sets on Ellington, Basie, and Lunceford. Can't recall ever seeing one on Goodman. Well, if *Jack* can't recall it, it didn't happen! Sorry Steve! gregmo

American Columbia never did anything like that. It's possible French CBS did, somewhere back in the day. I know they did a couple of complete Basie LP sets. gregmo

Enjoy Chuck!!

Freddie Green deserved a medal just for being Freddie Green, but I take your meaning! gregmo

Half of it is the BEST album he ever did. The other half sounds ancient by comparison. I just remember that I disliked it a zillion years ago when I had it on LP--actually traded it away, which was rare for me (I'm a hopeless hoarder). I'd like the opportunity to give it another listen some time and hear it with older (wiser???) ears. As for Three Shades of Blue, the version of "Empty Ballroom Blues" on there is fantastic with Hodges in full flight. But Jim's right, some of the rest...not so great. gregmo

I don't see any signs of Basie's "Afrique" on any of these sites. Definitely the oddest album Basie ever did. I wouldn't mind seeing the Hodges/Thomas/Nelson "Three Shades of Blue" reissued. gregmo

I sometimes wonder if there's a single other "great" American jazz artist who has been as badly served by reissues as Don Byas. gregmo

Mine too.

Very cool. He doesn't appear to be walking so well, but he can still blow the hell out of that thing!

My thoughts exactly. gregmo

Jeez, let the poor guy go. He has had a magnificent life. gregmo

OK -- you go first. As for myself, I don't think I'm a figure of much inherent interest, as I consider Stravinsky to be, but if enough people feel otherwise, I'll begin my account at the womb and move onwards from there. I think we can all somehow manage without that particular account, Larry! gregmo

I'm with you there, and very few of them have ever appeared on cd. Most is one of those lesser known guys who would really benefit from a box and probably will never get one, but I loved his work. RIP. gregmo

Oh my.

The Mercer is probably the least of a very, very fine lot. gregmo