Shrdlu

Verve is, at times, a rather frustrating label when it comes to discographical details. They were a little miserly when it came to personnel listings on their LP covers. And either they did not keep the full details in their files, or some of these files have been lost. Two examples. (1) Who is the drummer on Jobim's great album "The Composer of Desafinado Plays"? The best guess of a very knowledgeable friend of mine is Milton Banana, who was, as he put it, "a member of the Jobim entourage at the time". (2) Who plays on Gary McFarland's "Soft Samba Strings"? The piano, bass, guitar and percussion are all superb, but no information is given. I am guessing Ron on bass, and possibly Jobim himself on guitar - he was on two tracks on the earlier "Soft Samba" album; otherwise maybe Kenny Burrell. That is a short, but very good album. (It was made by various overdubs, and, sadly, the tape speeds were not quite right as the piano is a bit sharp. It really needed to be re-done, but I guess the budget did not allow for too many attempts.)

Just a small point: it's "Bachafillen". I mainly know because a pianist that I used to play with brought a chart of it to our gig one night, in the early 70s. We felt our way through it that night and enjoyed playing it. It is a brief, 16-measure structure. Using the "AABA" kind of notation, it is just "A".

Yep! Not a movie, but did you see him on Wiseguy TV show years ago??? He was outstanding on that series of Wiseguy. I have it on tape. :smug:

I used to enjoy him on Conan. Canadian, right?

Right on! I'm about Blue Noted out, at least for awhile. I don't think I even want the label to re-open their board (seems unlikely now, anyway). Entire sections on "The RVGs", "RVG Vs McMaster" are not exactly hot off the press anymore.

There won't be any alternates, Mike, I'm sure of that. But the albums would be great to have. Thanks for the list. There is a very strong case for "Hip Vibrations", because it is not only a fine Tjader collection, but also is a great straight-ahead jazz album, with a superb cast of major musicians and top-notch arrangements, mainly by Benny Golson. It wears well, too - I had the LP when it first appeared, and I have heard it countless times. If the old Verve bulletin board still existed, I could lobby there for its reappearance to the three or four people who used to hang out there. By the way, the current Verve website's "record player" still makes my computer crash!

That pretty much says it for me, too. I'm getting tired of all the CD upgrading (or getting them to hear if they're an upgrade), though I don't begrudge anyone else's right to do that. Plus, those who missed the box have only the new RVGs available, of course.

Tup, tup, tup! I hope that they reissue Cal Tjader's "Hip Vibrations" album, as Chris's notes for that are great.

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Durium, also known as Hans Koers ( ), has a little gem listed: Benny Goodman's 10" LP "Let's Hear The Melody". This is as rare as an igloo in Death Valley. I only know about it because a French friend of mine, who has a huge Goodman collection, found a copy about a year ago and sent me a minidisc copy. Benny sticks pretty close to the meoldies on these songs, but it's a very nice set to hear.

Swinger, I strongly recommend Weather Report's albums "Tale Spinnin'" and "Black Market". They sound great (and are available on recent CDs that are upgrades on earlier CD reissues) and the music has a lot of depth. There is an absolutely magnificent duet by Zawinul and Shorter called "Five Short Stories". I like the "Heavy Weather" album, but it is one of those that they always list, and I am sick of hearing about it. It has been thrashed to death.

All the best, Greg. (The party smilie has been out a lot, so I won't add any more.)

ASNL, I recommend the TOCJs of "Star Bright" and "Soundin' Off". The Select series would be the way to go if they were well remastered, but McMaster has a monopoly.

Jim, how are the finances doing right now? (This question is based partly on comments on the AAJ board during our recent vacation there.) Michigan not known for technology, ha, ha. The auto industry that bad, now? I remember the first time I drove up to Detroit from the South end on the Interstate. The first auto plant was Toyota, I think. Ulp! (Not that they don't make great cars.) At least you have Kellogg's!

I am still using 98 (after a horrible experience with XP, which is about to be superseded anyway), and everything works dandy with it. There has been talk about it slowly becoming less and less usable, because Gates isn't supporting it anymore, but so far, so good. It is superior to XP in one very important sense: a lot of recent viruses etc. attack XP but not 98!

Tell that to our Church members!

Late best wishes, Maren! There was a reason why I couldn't post this earlier, but I forget what it was.

Lucky Thompson, soprano to boot, and Tommy Flanagan. Now that would be nice to hear! A perhaps similar one for you, Tony: "Lucky Strikes" (Prestige), with Hank Jones, Richard Davis and Connie Kay. (1964)

You might also want to read the liner notes for "Empyrean Isles" and "Maiden Voyage". Those have much more panache.

All the best, Catesta!

Yes, very best wishes, Daniel!

(Mes, bien sûr!) Yes, happy birthday, Brownie. Sorry I missed it, but there was this problem with the board ...

Isn't it the case that all of the "Blue Note Works" TOCJs are derived either from vinyl, or from LP masters? This is what makes them so good - rather like my comment in another thread about CDrs taken from LPs (those sound better than Japanese 24 bit CDs, surface noise being a possible drawback, of course).

Hope you get a good copy, as it's a great album - very atmospheric. Zawinul is a one-of-a-kind.

Thanks for all your hard work with the crank handle to get the old bus going again, Jim. I'll tighten the radiator cap, and we might just make it up to Old Zeke's before the crick rises. And I don't have to look at the barfing smilie on "that other board" anymore. Who needs constipation when they can have that?