medjuck

I remember Esquire mostly from the '60s when Robert Benton and David Newman were there. They had amazing covers (Sonny Liston as Santa Claus etc). To quote Wikipedia "In the 1960s, Esquire helped pioneer the trend of New Journalism by publishing such writers as Norman Mailer, Tim O'Brien, John Sack, Gay Talese, Tom Wolfe, and Terry Southern. In August 1969, Esquire published Normand Poirier's piece, "An American Atrocity", one of the first reports of American atrocities committed against Vietnamese civilians.[7] "

I've only known Esquire since the late 1960s, by which time it was reputable fare found in doctor's offices and such. But other than the Vargas Girls, etc things, how "racy" was it, ever? Esquire was into jazz before my time but I do have an old Esquire Jazz Yearbook that gets pretty heavily in to the moldy fig/bop controversy. People forget that the Great Day in Harlem photo was taken for Esquire. Not only that, but it was part of an issue devoted to "The Golden Age of Jazz"-- by which they meant right then:1958. I'm sure people laughed at that but they were right, it was a golden age and people rarely know when they're living in one. . Though Bird had died, The Sound of Jazz had just been broadcast and many of the older greats were still alive and working. Miles in '58 had Trane, Bill Evans and Cannonball in his group. The list goes on. I don't have a copy of that issue and I forget what else is in it. (I think an article on John Hammond-- IIRC he went on and on about how much he hated Artie Shaw.) Remember the Esquire jazz polls and concerts? I don't know when they started covering jazz or when they stopped but for a time they were a force for the music.

Lester , , , then James P. . . . good things ahead for we who wait. Is Lester first? When?

Then Miles began doing live performances of Teo's version of It's About That Time.

I probably don't want the 18 disc set (though I'm embarrassed to say I already have a lot of it with crappy sound) but this is from what might be the most creative 18 or so months of creativity in music history. I'd love to be able to buy just disc 18-- it at least has some new music.

I think George Avakian (whom I greatly admire) also edited and sometimes even dropped in notes to get a better Lp. and that was back in the day when you had to cut tape by hand.

IIRC I was watching the film On Golden Pond and in a birthday celebration they sang For He's a Jolly Good Fellow and I thought "Holy shit, someone must own the copyright on Happy Birthday."

I've been told that he only plays sax when he was feeling good.

Wow! Sounds great. I've seen Van about 5 times over the last 45 years (I may also have seen Them opening for The Yardbirds in the summer of '65) but this sounds as good if not better than any concert of his I've attended.

I got mine today from Amazon. I've heard part of it and it's very good. However I've read all the notes and in three essays no-one mentions the man who recorded "what would have been a private bootleg recording". It was the late Will Thornbury a wonderful d.j. whom I was lucky enough to hear when I first moved to California. The only credit he gets is in very small letters as one of two after "originally engineered by". He was also an actor (model for the Marlborough Man) and a screenwriter. Oooops. I just noticed that on the back of the package he does get credit for doing the interview that's at the end of cd 3.

They seem be avaialbe on one cd: http://www.amazon.com/All-American-Jazz-Midnight-Paris/dp/B00BWS4TF6/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1442444229&sr=1-1&keywords=Duke+ellington+All+American

Apparently The Nutcracker will also contain The Girls' Suite and I'm guessing that Peer Gynt will have Suite Thursday.

Anatomy was one of those that were remastered in 1999 with many "bonus tracks. Jazz Party on the other hand could definitely use a remaster.

What's the Ellington/Strayhorn? I got this on the Duke-Lym list serve: "Ellington Jazz Party Anatomy of a Murder Festival Session Blues in Orbit The Nutcracker Suite Piano in the Background The Peer Gynt Suites Numbers 1 and 2 Unknown Session Piano in the Foreground The Count Meets the Duke: First Time! I’ve checked the track lists against my copies of older discs. Discs 1-4, 6, and 8-10 appear to be the same as those issued on CD by Columbia in the last couple of decades. The contents of the older CD Duke Ellington Three Suites is spread over discs 5 and 7. Disc 5 also includes the “Girls Suite” which was originally coupled with “The Perfume Suite” on vinyl and on a European CD. The latter suite appears to be missing here, according to the list." Perfume Suite was on Indigos in the first box.

Wow! Thanks.

I couldn't find this before but they just included it in an e-mail blast. Listened to it this morning. Really good.

One I'd also very much love to see: The Complete Non-Album Ellington, compiling all the Columbia recordings (starting in 1947, running to 1962) that has not been either on albums or added to expanded Legacy reissues later on - now that one I'd buy without blinking the eye, and I'd buy it full price, too! That's the one I've been waiting for. How else am I going to get The Asphalt Jungle Twist.

I have all except for Jazz Party (have a digital version) and The Girl's Suite & The Perfume Suite. Has the latter title ever been released on CD? All the other titles have been. I just got a cd of it in Canada. It was one of those "'Jazz Originals' : Henri Renaud" releases.

I don't think AH issued any, but several labels experimented with 3-inch "EP" CDs. I've got half a dozen: one by Louis Armstrong and two by Bo Diddley on MCA, Joe Williams and the Timeless Allstars on Delos, and one by the great rock/fusion band the Dixie Dregs. The Dregs CD was a limited edition promo produced by Ensoniq keyboards to promote their new (1988) keyboards. It includes a five-inch adapter, but check your CD player - it might just have a three-inch "slot" in the CD tray. I've got one of Sting with the Gil Evans band (the reason I got it), one Frank Zappa 3 inch and one with 3 Billie Holiday songs that came with an Italian book. The problem is that I don't think I have any cd players with a 3 inch indention in the tray anymore.

Yes. I saw Brubeck in concert a couple of years before he died and his piano playing was quit different than what I had heard on his records and when I first saw him more than 50 years ago. Even when he played Take Five (as I guess he had to do in every concert) he sounded more a generic jazz pianist and lest distinctive than he had earlier. I certainly don't mean that as an insult-- I liked his later playing a lot but I probably wouldn't have been able to identify him in a blindfold test. Earlier Brubeck was always identifiable even if I didn't always like it. And Jim is right : Brubeck Plays Brubeck is a great record.

Norman Loyd is 100. He was just in Trainwreck.

Happy Birthday Newk! Speaking of whom (and I think I told this story before) I was at a club in LA once to see Jimmy Smith and thought I saw Sonny in the audience. Then Jimmy announced that there was a celebrity in the house and introduced Don Newcombe.

A friend of mine was playing trombone with her when I saw her. He told me to look for the bag under her piano. Sure enough there was one that she took with her whenever she left the stage. He told me that she always got paid in cash before performing and kept it in the bag. Must have learned from Chuck Berry.

I saw her a few years ago and was underwhelmed but she played The Bowl here recently and I heard/read that she was much better (both physically and musically).

Thanks for that link. Here's the Top 10 for my birthday: 64 - African Waltz - Cannonball Adderley Orchestra (jazz made the charts!!!!!) Not only that - but John Dankworth Orchestra had a UK hit with their version of that gem ! IIRC written by Montreal's own Galt McDermott (sp?) who went on to write the music for Hair.