Shrdlu

Sorry to hear about the stress, Lon! Stay cool! The way things are anymore, even doing nothing is stressful. I can't believe the pressure on us all these days. From waking to hitting the hay, it's there all the time. But that's one reason we get into music!

Ah, printers! An ongoing pain, and, as you put it, Jim, getting new cartridges is like having to buy a new printer. And the no-name generic cartridges wreck the printer. We had an HP 610-C. Admittedly not a high-end deal, but the paper feed mechanism was terrible, and it was really hard to get a page into it. The cartridges cost two arms and two legs. We now have an Epson C42UX. It is reasonable, but I'm always cleaning out black ink with Q-tips, to get rid of streaks. But we can't afford anything fancier right now. It's a bit like living with a dog. Ya love them but they crap in the yard.

I've not heard a stack of The Police's recordings, but I dig Sting and Copeland. Don't forget Gil Evans and Sting recorded together. I saw a video with one long performance, a Hendrix piece I think (been awhile, tho I still have the tape someplace). Gil looked happy with the proceedings. Copeland is a genius. Those "Equalizer" scores are awesome, and really groove. I even found a rare CD of some of them in a used CD store, in Huntsville, Alabama, of all places. Wish I could get all the sound bites from the TV show.

There's Lon! Right on the button. Como estas, hermano? Hey, I'd like to check out that Mex restaurant, too!

Now ya made us all sad, JS! I try to come up with new stuff. But if ya want to get into McMaster vs TOCJ again, I'm outta here, ha, ha! Did the RVG of "The Gigolo" ever come out ...

Ooh, yeah! That Japan album is awesome. And that LP side with Leonard and the orchestra goes down well. Not on CD yet, as far as I know. Side 2, the trio and quartet tracks, is no slouch either. Another nice Brubeck: "Jazz Impressions of Eurasia".

Well, for jazz in Austin, you know who to ask!

On Wynton, I think .... Naw, never mind!

Right on, Jim! Pity they didn't show more than a brief clip. Puts the kiddies in the shade! I still remember being knocked out by my first organ LP: I got a secondhand copy of "Back To The Chicken Shack". Wooowee! That's still my favorite. Groovy cover, too, with the dog and the rooster!

I think he's awesome. One of my earliest favorites, especially the quartets with Desmond (another giant). And you couldn't meet a more friendly guy. Some people said he was commercial, after he hit the big time, but he never was. He had always played the way he wanted, long before he was really famous. It's great that he didn't just stick with well-worn things, but, instead, kept exploring and giving us something fresh. He can play funky, root blues. Listen to "Jazz Goes to Jr College". You can even hear him singing when he digs in. I don't like some of his heavy-handed solos as much - from the early 50s. But he could play with a very light touch. Try "Time Further Out"; I love the way he ends some tracks on that. Real moving. And on "Maori Blues", dig how he and Joe Morello go in and out of different times!

Bud was one of the great tenors, with his own sound. Ya gotta hand it to a guy when you can always tell it's him as soon as you hear him. I got to rap with him in 1964 after the show when he was on tour with Eddie Condon. Real gentleman! I remember he told me that he used a Rico #2, brown box, just like little me! In the interview in Paris on the Verve box set, Pres said that he was influenced by Trumbauer, but not by Bud.

This is a longtime favorite album. I love all the new takes that have surfaced, but the original album is just a classic! "Blues Minor" is the best track, for me. A real cooker that makes the hairs stand on end. It stands out in the same way as "Vilia" and "Softly As In A Morning Sunrise" at the Vanguard. Makes you want a lot more! (That "Vilia" track kinda frustrates me, as it's the only released cut from its session, and it makes you wonder what the other selections from that date sounded like.) Re the comparison with "Ole", I much prefer Rudy's engineering. The Atlantics sound as if the guys are in cardboard boxes, especially the cymbals. If only Rudy had recorded that album!

Big apologies, CJ! Didn't know that, especially back then. I just thought he was greatly immature and acting the fool too much. Thanks for letting me know. Opinion updated! I have a bipolar (aka manic depressive) daughter, so I know what that is like. She's doing very well right now, I'm glad to say. Having a very close boyfriend has really made a big difference to her! Other guys messing her around didn't help her a couple of years back.

I hope this was meant as a joke. No, not at all! What I meant was, that Russell can do a "conventional" big band sound (e.g. on NYNY) and I wonder why he didn't record more in that vein. I realize that the "different" things that he did are what makes him stand out, of course. But I'm a big Manny Albam fan. And I have the likes of Bobby Brookmeyer to back me up on that one. (Got that "West Side Story" LP, btw. Nice.) NYNY has a lot of the same guys that Albam used.

I know you weren't. No problemo, hermana!

Funny, I just dug out a couple of their albums a few days ago. My favorite WR albums are "Tale Spinnin'" and "Black Market'. Al Johnson does such a lot for those. The level of the compositions and performances are outstanding on those albums. Can't hear them enough! I saw WR in Ottawa, Ontario, in either 1977 or 78. I was amazed to see that Joe could do everything live without overdubbing (which I had assumed he did at the recording sessions). Jaco's onstage antics really pissed me off, and I never liked him afterwards. He was a phenomenal bassist and also an idiot. The guy actually died after a street fight! Oughtta have been able to take better care of himself.

The accompaniment was much better than the vocal performance, especially the drummer. Then again, I don't even like this song when Peggy Lee sings it so I carry a negative bias. The keyboard was great on that, too. I didn't mean that I thought that he was the greatest singer ever, but he was pretty good. Ya ever hear JOS and Kenny Burrell play that tune? The CD has a great outtake as well; when they did the master, the melody wasn't even played.

It's a drag when some stupid critic pans a guy for earning a living, isn't it? So he did a commercial date or three? He's still awesome on "The Composer Of Desafinado Plays", to pick one at random. A guy's gotta eat. I tuned the last Pope's cousin's TV for him (really!). Does that make me unhip?

I've got that MCA twofer set too, Shrdlu. Will try to find it later. Well, as mentioned, it does not give the full personnel. But Bill Evans is on every track, so you just need to look at a discography of Bill. I was surprised to see that they list a bass sax on "Big City Blues". Surely it's a baritone. It's hard to tell for sure. The only way to settle it would be to check whether it goes below the low Db (or C) of the baritone.

Clementine, I didn't intend any era bias when I started the thread. I mainly wanted to share what a groove the "New York, N.Y." album is. I have not heard much Russell, and certainly not any of his later stuff. Would like to. That said, I do tend to concentrate mainly on jazz pre 1970, as there is so much fantastic stuff. But I do like quite a lot of post 1970 albums, e.g. Weather Report, Chick Corea ("No Mystery", mwah!) and so on. The kids often fire new stuff at me (Techno, etc.) and it's often very interesting. An MSN contact transferred a cut by a guy called Lange a few days ago. Real nice chord changes. If it's a groove, then it's a groove, babe!

Thanks, Free For All! And that Blakey album is a big favorite. Talk about high energy!! Thanks for the tip, Brownie. So, it's Bill on the right. He hardly ever plays a lick that gives him away. As I listen to "New York, N.Y.", I keep wondering why Russell wasn't used all over the place to write charts. I mean, he's up there with the likes of Manny Albam and the rest. Anyone know why there's only a little big band stuff by him on record? He can get a very conventional sound, as well as experimental.

I don't often watch, but I just saw them throw out a guy who then sang "Fever" as a farewell. He was great, and the accompaniment was real groovy. What a waste!

What's not to like about Klaus Ogermann? Who doesn't like him? I'll soon fix that!

J J really cooks on Neo, and also on the jazz waltz track. I've never heard him burn as much as that on any other album. The LP sound, and Rudy's engineering adds a lot. What a great rhythm section, too! The extra quartet track is a short ballad, "Gloria" (by Bronislaw Kaper of "Green Dolphin Street" fame), which survived the 70s tape destruction at Impulse because it appeared on one of the three "Definitive Jazz Scene" LPs. (All the masters of the issued LPs were kept.) I only knew about the two tracks on the 45 because I had the Jepsen discography. But now, there is a complete Impulse discography online http://www.jazzdisco.org/impulse/

You may be interested to know that several Prestiges were issued in (West) Germany in the 60s, by MPS or SABA, I think. They were magnificent pressings, in the Deutsche Grammophon vein; thick vinyl, with plastic-lined sleeves, way better quality than what Bob Weinstock put out. It's been awhile, but I think the cover art was different from that on the U.S. releases.