medjuck

Do you have any unused video inputs into you tv? Looks like you have an unused s-video input. If so, why not run the spare DVD player's sound into one of the amp inputs you're not using (eg SACD) and use an s-video cable into the tv/monitor?

Lance Travis. They're hardly great literature but I like that he gives the provenance of the songs and points out how briefly some were in the band's book. But what does he have against "I Ain't Got Nothing but the Blues"?

Moosehead is indeed from New Brunswick-- as am I. However I think it's owned by the Olands who are a Nova Scotia family and make Olands beer in their home province. When I moved to LA I was shocked to see Moose advertised as a gourmet beer. I think it was the only one you could buy in NB when I was growing up. An American writing a book about Canada used the fact that you could buy Moosehead in every state but in only 4 provinces to exemplify the independence of provinces vs the feds as compared to that of states vs the feds.

Can I get dibs on it?

Anyone ever see it around? Was it issued under Strayhorn's name?

Topsy Part 2 was one of the only records by a Black musician played on the only radio station in my home town when I was growing up. And I don't think it was racism-- they played Mugsy Spanier's version of Party Doll instead of the Buddy Knox version. I think they just had a very limited music library. (They mainly played country and western music.)

I saw Petra with The Foo Fighters.

It's a term I heard as a teenager and I recently came across it again but not not in a context that explained what it meant. (It was in reference to a rock n' roller who had formerly been in a "show band".)

The Bruce Conner film I remember was "Cosmic Ray" which used Ray Charles on the soundtrack.

Buddy Collette has spoken highly of these sessions on which he also played. I tried to track down the original Ellington score. Never did get it but was able to obtain a a couple of cds of the music which was finally used in the film. Some of it is pure Ellington, some EKE with overdubs and some just studio musician playing music not by EKE. It would be great if Shank has a copy of all the original Ellington material.

There's the Ruby Braff session that remained unreleased until it appeared on the Mosaic Columbia Small Groups box set.

It seems to me that most of these stereotypes are now archaic which takes the sting out. What are the new offensive Jewish stereotypes?

The Masters of Jazz Charlie Christian series added a Volume 9 made up only of new discoveries.

Rhapsody has begun offering mp3 downloads for sale. Pricing is about the same as iTunes Store. So-so selection. However they are offering one free album download to the first 100,000 people who register. I was looking for some Ivie Anderson material and found the cd I most wanted "Raisin' the Rent" was listed as a single, so I got a 24 cut cd for 99 cents as well as a free download. I don't know if they made this mistake anywhere else and I feel a bit guilty taking advantage of them (and telling others about it) but at least I'm helping to publicize the the service as well as (I hope) helping out some short-on-money jazz fans.

Bobby Charles: "The Tennessee Blues".

Having spent more time with the Ellington Box set I highly recommend it. You can't beat the price. However I do worry it might scupper a Mosaic set. There's only about 2 cds worth of material from the period missing and most of it is vocals and alternates.

I run into Bones Howe now and then. I'll ask him about it.

Not to mention Tim Hardin. All that was after Granz but was it during the Creed Taylor period?

Not to mention Tim Hardin. All that was after Granz but was it during the Creed Taylor period?

The recordings were made to match the playback equipment and sounded fine, back in the day. Many current cd transfers are only pale reflections of the originals. So the bass would sound just as present as it does today?

In his notes to the new "Original Masters" Ellington 4 disc set Bruce Talbot mentions that "improved sound retrieval on these rather murky mid 30s recordings" allows us to better appreciate Duke's pre-Blanton bassists. I had started thinking about this when listening to the Mosaic Basie set. Were record listeners at the time of the music's original release able to hear the bass the way we do know when many of us have large speakers and even sub-woofers?

Did you notice the positioning of the piano on the Evans tape? I thought that the piano was centered in the original release but off to one side in the newest cd box set. (Though I guess the tape wouldn't necessarily indicate where it actually where it was in the room.)

I'm old enough to remember the impact of Little Richard, Ray Charles and Elvis. Rocked my world. I was a jazz snob and didn't listen much to rock in my 20s. (I just didn't get Led Zepplin or Cream. I was introduced to Jimi Hendrix by Gil Evans.) Then I heard The Clash and Elvis Costello and started listening again. Now I have an 18 year old son who's into The Arcade Fire and the Broken Social Scene groups. Sound good to me. OTOH he wishes he was a teenager in Seattle in the late 80s.

Wow, tough call. I do like the Birdland material with Fats and Bud. And the Rockland. BTW On what cds is the Open Door material found?

I was asked by SONY to write a short overview of the material, and I wrote assuming that they would be printing the personnel, as they had supplied me with all recording details including matrix and issue numbers in a neatly formatted state. Obviously the personnel details are readily available but it would have improved the listening experience if the details had been in the booklet. Bruce Recording dates would have been more useful than personnel since EKE often recorded the same tune for different labels. You're right that once you know which version we're hearing the personnel is fairly easy to find. BTW Your notes are a fine introduction to the '30s band.