medjuck

I've been told that with Blu-Ray format doesn't matter-- it's the same everywhere. I don't know about regional coding though.

I agree with the last two posts. And even think cds sound better on a Blu-Rau player but I've been told that that's just wishful thinking.

I'm with Larry on proper usage. But changing the topic (sort of) recently I saw an ad for a porno flick called "Tiger's Got Wood".

Happy birthday. Hope. You got a black, brown and beige cake.

OK: "Happy Birthday to Randissimo!"

And many more!!!

Thanks. But what were "the 3 56/62 lps not on cd"?

Not sure what you're referring to here. What are "the so called complete 5 cd series" and "the 3 56/62 lps not on cd"? The correct (mono only) version of Up and Down can be found on a cd entitled" Ralph Ellison: Living with Music".

There's a great version by Van Morrison. I didn't know about Pops' version. I'll have to look for it.

Happy B'day to both of you. And many more!

Just got this for Father's Day. (I left more than a few hints.) Looks great but am disappointed that there is absolutely no documentation or information except that on the original films.

No wonder at all, considering the fact that decades of tireless scholarship and the more recent availability of all of Johnson's recordings have really not done much to wipe away that mystery and mythology (despite the heroic claims to that effect in a few recent books). Well, as they say in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance: "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend. "

Ray Crawford!!! I gotta get that. is this serious!? alas poor aric we knew him well. simply, have you not cranked the hell out of "Walk on the Wild Side" ?, yes, true it was just a jukebox single that was completely off the mark from the BNs before blah de blah - but Ed Freekin Shaughnessy slowly setting up Jimmy and skittering alongside the tension for one of the greatest organ solos everrr! Make that greatest covers everrr! hitch up the horses!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igXzNaCQwUE I love the Jimmy Smith Walk on the Wild Side. I once asked Elmer Bernstein if it was his biggest hit. He said it didn't compare to The Magnificent Seven. ( He may have been including his royalties form the Marlborough commercial.)

Happy b'day Ray and condolences for your mother's death.

Gotta admit-- I like the slowed down samples a lot. I've always found the pitch of his voice a bit distressing.

I used to have this set on Lazer Disc. Think I may have to get it again on DVD. Warner Bros. Big Band, Jazz and Swing" reviewed What Swing-Era Audiences Saw and Heard An essential DVD package of 64 music one-reelers from 1930 to 1947 by Will Friedwald Wall Street Journal, May 22, 2010 Some people cry at the end of "Gone With the Wind." Others lose it when Bambi's mother buys the farm. Me, I'm always moved to tears by the first two minutes of "Jammin' the Blues." This remarkable 10-minute film from 1944 is quite easily the most amazing visual representation of the jazz aesthetic that I've ever seen -- whether through painting, dance, film or whatever. Even the main titles of "Jammin' the Blues" (a collaboration between producer and concert impresario Norman Granz and director-photographer Gjon Mili) capture the spirit of jazz: We see what looks like the abstract image of two concentric circles, which tilt upward and are revealed to be the top of the porkpie hat worn by tenor-saxophone pioneer Lester Young. That's one of the things jazz is all about right there -- turning the abstract into the concrete and then back again. Young then puts the horn to his lips and plays a single chorus of the most exquisite blues you ever heard: so cool, so effortless, his fingers barely move across the pads. He even continues to hold a lit cigarette (I hope it's tobacco) in his left hand. His solo is incredibly restrained but so full of passion and feeling, the whole of the human condition in a mere 12 bars, that I find my cheeks are wet long before the director cuts to trumpeter Harry "Sweets" Edison for the next solo. "Jammin' the Blues" is merely the climax of the "Warner Bros. Big Band, Jazz and Swing Short Subject Collection," an essential package of six DVDs. To be sure, none of the other films included here can quite match "Jammin' the Blues" either musically or visually, but they all document brilliant music from a high point in American culture. As with "Jammin'," these films show that music in those days was almost as much a matter of image as of sound. Throughout the swing era, the big bands spent much of their time playing live stage shows in movie theaters. These one-reel shorts are a fairly good representation of what those performances were like, and show that the big bands almost always did more than just sit there and play. The 64 one-reel short films included here, from 1930 to 1947, show that dance, visual comedy and various kinds of shtick were always part of the presentation. The most valuable entries in the new package are the many films of African-American bands and singers of the '30s, even though the visual representation of those artists would hardly be regarded as racially sensitive by 21st-century standards. The 1933 "Smash Your Baggage" features a rather amazing cast, all costumed, alas, as Pullman porters, which makes the film somewhat embarrassing today. That aside, "Smash Your Baggage" is seven sensational minutes of sheer entertainment: Even the musicians (including the young trumpeter Roy Eldridge, trombonist Dicky Wells and drummer Sid Catlett) move like dancers as they play, while the dancers literally fly through the air, and blues shouter Mabel Scott moans "Stop the Sun, Stop the Moon" like a woman possessed. The short never stops moving, even to catch its breath. Those bands with dynamic high-energy front men, like Cab Calloway and Louis Prima, are the best served. Not all the ensembles here are quite so animated, but the music is always top-notch. The package could serve as a general primer and introduction to the Swing Era, and illustrates how the reach of the big bands extended into every nook and cranny of American pop, even in terms of ethnic markets. There are bands oriented toward straight-ahead swing (Jimmy Dorsey), the blues (Woody Herman), New Orleans jazz (Prima), European classical music (Jan Savitt), country-western music (Spade Cooley, Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys), Afro-Cuban music (Desi Arnaz), Hawaiian music (Ray Kinney), modern jazz (Stan Kenton), and novelty and comedy (Borrah Minevitch and His Harmonica Rascals). The 1942 short starring Minevitch is almost scary: This is a frighteningly funny ensemble featuring midgets, underage ballerinas, and the world's biggest tenor (not to mention black men and white women performing on the same stage at the same time -- virtually unheard of in 1942), all blowing into mouth organs of every shape and size. You never know who's going to turn up here, including such hard-to-see vocalists as Adelaide Hall, the Boswell Sisters, and a 7-year-old Sammy Davis Jr. singing with the legendary Ethel Waters. TV patriarch Ozzie Nelson is shown in his original career as the personable leader of an excellent, underappreciated swing band; Broadway dancer Eunice Healy (who was profiled here in the Journal last October) rates a specialty number in front of an all-female swing orchestra; Artie Shaw plays a clarinet solo with society bandleader Roger Wolfe Kahn in 1932 and then leads his own pace-setting ensemble seven years later. Even with six discs and 64 entries, there's still more out there, including two amazing films from 1929 featuring future stars Benny Goodman, Jack Teagarden, Glenn Miller, Eddie Condon and Pee Wee Russell in bands led by Ben Pollack and Red Nichols that, for some reason, were not included. Most of the set is, not surprisingly, straight-down-the-middle dance music, like the smooth and stylish sounds of Hal Kemp, which shows that even the so-called commercially oriented "sweet bands" (also known as "Mickey Mouse bands") of the period were highly innovative and musical. If you ever wondered what it would sound like to hear four clarinets playing into megaphones, or Latin percussion combined with oboe and bass clarinet, now you know. This is a Mickey Mouse band that could open for Sun Ra.

Wolfgang's Vault is offering a set by Chet Baker from Newport '55. Here's their description (edited): "Chet Baker - trumpet, vocals Russ Freeman - piano Bob Carter - bass Peter Littman - drums Special guests: Gerry Mulligan - baritone sax Baker is accompanied here by a strictly West Coast lineup of pianist Russ Freeman, bassist Bob Carter and drummer Peter Littman. They open their set with a cool rendition of "Walkin'," a modern 12-bar blues introduced a year earlier by Miles Davis on a Prestige recording of the same name with his All-Stars.... Baker's trumpet playing is bright and rhythmically assured while Freeman offers some soulful piano work on his solo. Carter adds a laid back bass solo before Baker returns with a bold attack in his spirited eight-bar exchanges with drummer Littman. The melancholy torch song "You Don't Know What Love Is" is a fitting showcase for Baker's tender, emotionally-charged vocals, which increased his popularity among the masses but alienated hardcore jazz fans. Inveterate jammer and former partner Mulligan joins the quartet on a rousing rendition of the baritone saxophonist's boppish romp "Five Brothers," which Mulligan had recorded in 1949 with Stan Getz and again in 1952 with Baker. Sparks fly toward the end of this energized number as the two principal soloists exchange eights with drummer Littman and intertwine their horn lines simultaneously before returning to the jaunty head." I'd add that it's interesting to compare Baker's set with Miles Davis' "comeback" performance which took place at the festival that same year.

Happy Birthday! Happy touring!i

I PM'd you about Staccato. (Elmer was a friend and for a while a neighbour.)

IIRC Crosby had recorded I'm an Old Cowhand for an album of cowboy songs he did with the Andre Sisters a few years previously. So the song was in the air. Newk probably never heard the Dave Pell record.

I listen constantly at work (if I'm in the office, not on a set) and constantly in the car. I drive between Santa Barbara and LA a couple of times a week and choosing what cds to take is part of my routine. This weeks it's Alan Lowe's Really the Blues? and Jack Teagarden's Mosaic Roulette Set. Last week is was Miles Davis and Sun Ra.

Happy b'day young man! And many more.

I'm not into this type of music but I hung out with Ronnie Dio one afternoon about 30 years ago. He was doing a song for an animated film we made. Seemed like a nice guy.

Slowing down a bit and starting to buy almost as many downloads as cds.

Happy B'day and many more!