medjuck

A friend of mine in Toronto was driving cab one night and picked up Amram with Ramblin' Jack Elliot! One of the highlights of his cab driver career. He recently ( well, several years ago-- at my age everything is recent since Elvis died) did the music for a film a friend of mine made.

I have a bunch of the Azure Tapes that were done by Sjef Hoefsmit. Let me check if i have that one.

A bad morning: First I hear about Carl Reiner, then Johnny Mandel. I saw him lead a big band in a small local club a few years ago. My friend Ira Nepus was in the band and was kind enough to introduce me to Johnny. RIP

Best celebrity encounter I ever had: I went up to him once at an event and said I thought he and Mel Brooks were the funniest people alive and he acted as if he were completely delighted and nobody had ever said that to him before.

A friend of mine in Toronto was driving cab one night and picked up Amram with Ramblin' Jack Elliot! One of the highlights of his cab driver career. Plus he's mentioned in a Rafi song and did the music for Pull My Daisy. An icon ( to use a word I hate).

Oh, I didn't know that. I think I never heard them and always presumed they were like Weather Report (who's work I wasn't that familiar with either).

What Chick albums were his populist ones? Who was in the group?

You bet!

I first read many of these stories 60 years ago. Most of them hold up.

Is that the one with liner notes by Nat Hentoff?

I once saw a a tv piece on Tommy Lipuma (sp?) in which George Benson told how great it was to find a producer who would let him sing. Is it possible that Nat, George and even Ramsey liked the kind of music that coincidently made them rich just as much as they liked playing jazz? Hangin a very little bit with Benny Carter I realized that he appreciated a much wider range of music than I did. (OTOH I remember reading a piece where someone talked about how embarrassed Wes was by his more popular later recordings.)

Well since they're cdrs you might as well get them as downloads which I just did.

What are the two missing cuts?

Yes he takes great solos on La Nevada on both Great Jazz Standards and Out of the Cool (though he only plays on 4 cuts of the former).

Thanks.

I really like Ray Crawford on Katanga, Out of the Cool and the record he did as a leader on Candid. Are there other recordings that feature him besides the ones with Ahmad Jamal? (Just listening to the Jamal Quintet record which I don't find very interesting and on which Crawford doesn't get much solo space.)

IIRC Ben Webster and Roy Eldridge play on a couple of cuts of Belafonte Sings the Blues. (Does not show up in the extensive Ben Webster discography book.)

Well I love hat record.

He's safe and sound in Toronto and curious about the reaction to the Mosaic Desmond of which he got number 001! (He thinks that was through the intervention of Don Thompson.)

He was involved in a discussion on the Duke-LYM list-serve about 10 days ago so I think he's ok but I'll e-mail him.

I don't hear it. I hear a sustained note on the vibes over which the solo begins. But I do think I hear two flutes in unison at the beginning of the head. So maybe Lasha plays during the melody and kept playing while Dolphy began his solo.

I Know who he is. He sometimes publishes under his real name but hiding behind the pseudonyms he often wrote misogynist bullshit. And at least once it was aimed at a friend of mine.

Just name them. Just name them.

Wow. Were you trying to make a record with him? He made too few.

Yes but Ray Crawford afterwards is even more interesting.