gmonahan

Good choices. For me it would be: New Orleans Suite Newport '56 70th Birthday Concert First Time: Meets Count Basie Such Sweet Thunder. I also like Jazz Party. Jimmy Rushing is having SUCH a good time! gregmo

Ellington Brunswick Big Band set, disc 11. It's been a great ride listening to these! gregmo

Watch the fly-by footage. It's exquisite. gregmo

It's an old theme on this board, really. To what extent do the personal lives of musicians bear on the music, and to what extent are they anyone else's business? Those uncomfortable with the thread see it as voyeuristic--oh really, HE was *GAY*?? Wow!--and find that distasteful and--perhaps to coin a new word, "tabloidesque." Others feel that the discussion is itself important to supporting those who have suffered appalling discrimination and may also argue as some have on past threads, that the personal lives and experiences of the musicians help to deepen our understanding of their music. I'm thinking here of past, often heated and controversial, discussions on people like Stan Getz. It's an interesting conundrum. I find myself caught hopelessly in the middle. I understand the discomfort, but I also can see Chris's point of view as well. I wonder whether it isn't at least somewhat similar to the whole issue of race and much older arguments about how racial discrimination informed the music and how much it mattered that a given musician was or was not African-American. Or not?! gregmo

LP sequencing can be important if the artist and the producers meant the LP to be sequenced that way, if, in other words, they were consciously creating a concept. I'm thinking here of Sinatra's concept albums, but there have been others. If that's the case, reshuffling the music into precise recording order reeks havoc with the original intention, and I do have problems with that. I'm not arguing that's the case here. The Half Note stuff has always been problematic. gregmo

I just got hold of the Retrieval NORK set, and it sounds pretty good to these ears. Roppolo was something of a revelation for me as I listened to this set. gregmo

Lunceford, disc 2. What a great band this was. gregmo

I'm blowing hot and cold on this one. Verve did a fine 2-cd compilation years ago ("The Jazz Sides on Verve"), and I have several of the individual cds, but I don't have the Jimmy Smith stuff. And it's spendy. Hmmmmmm. gregmo

I imagine most people at Sony don't even *know* they own it. Still, Mosaic has been busy with Sony-owned material, so maybe we'll see some Mosaic Mainstream sets down the line. That would be nice. They could do a Sarah Vaughan box, maybe a Maynard Ferguson one. gregmo

The proposed album cover was definitely a winner! gregmo

Paul Chambers led a few for Vee Jay. gregmo

Holy Shit! That really is a goofy amount of money! When this thread came up again, I decided to get out disc one and listen to it again. The music is good, and the sound really is remarkable (but then, Capitol was high-tech from the beginning), but it ain't $888 good! gregmo

The continuous availability of the Hank Mobley set (not part of this sale, by the way) is even more remarkable. Yes, I wish I understood exactly what kind of license they have (no time limit, only quantity?) and why they can't produce more of the LP version. They'd probably explain it to you if you wrote them. They're pretty good about responding to emails. gregmo

What struck me is that he gave Basie NINE minutes on network TV. Carson loved jazz too, but I don't know that he ever gave a jazz musician or band that much air time just to play. Different era, for sure! gregmo

I'm still interested in what "chuckies" are! Followers of Chuck? Count me in! gregmo

Greg, you may be able to tell me if Bennett's "Sings A String Of Harold Arlen" has been on CD. I have always liked that particular disc...great tunes, fine arrangements, good singer. EDIT: Shoulda done this first (sorry, lazy today)...It was issued, and new copies on Amazon start at $92. Must have been even better than I remembered. Ted, I had that one on my favorites list on Amazon for about a year before a used cd copy showed up at at a more or less acceptable price. It is a good record, and I'm very happy to have it. Particularly nice versions of "Come Rain or Come Shine" and "Let's Fall in Love." If you stalk the Amazon sellers long enough, maybe one will show up! gregmo

Agreed. I'm a little concerned, given the title of book, that it may be more of a social commentary than a straight up biography. Something along the lines of Douglas Henry Daniels' book about Lester Young. My concern with the original title would be that it would be a bit too sympathetic. Grantz has always struck me as a fairly complex figure. Certainly deserving of a good biography! gregmo

Interesting news. If it truly is *complete* I might be interested. I already have just about everything that's been available on cd. Love Tony! gregmo

You're the man, Lon. Have a great one! gregmo

Professional football players often die young. RIP. gregmo

He didn't walk on water? gregmo

Yes, I think the gist is that the Vee Jay stuff is well worth having, and it is good to see that it's being reissued by somebody somewhere. gregmo

Number 487 of the Lunceford sets arrived yesterday. Disc One is very nice. Great sound, fun music. gregmo

Don't know about Fresh Sound's new issues, but I guess I must be alone on the Board in liking the Blue Moons. Leaving aside the (probably big) issue of provenance, they had pretty good sound (to my old ears), included alternate takes, and even offered the original album covers. And they appear to have reissued most of the Vee Jay jazz catalog at a pretty good price. Since no one else did it (until Mosaic put a few out on two sets), it was nice to have them, and I still do, and I still listen to them. gregmo

Doesn't get much more oxymoronic than that, does it?! gregmo