Clunky

Very British humour, I grew up hearing "At the Drop of a Hat" on regular basis.

I should add that the record " Townhall concert-Vol 2" The Commodore Series (hmc 5002) gives the date as June 9th 1945 and Rosenkrantz as the producer.

I’ve only got Vol 2 ( of three) on LP Stardust (b) Stompin at the Savoy (a) Body and Soul (a) Limehouse blues (a) Perdido (c ) Bugle call rag (c ) Desert sands (c ) a = C.Ventura, Gene Krupa, Georgie Walters (pno) b= Bill Coleman, Billy Taylor (pno) Matty Chapin(bs) Specs Powell (drms) c= Stuff Smith, Billy Taylor Ted Sturgis (bass)

Sorting out my Ellington 78s as I was constantly getting muddled regarding what sides I had already. Some Brunswicks : Clarinet Lament/echoes of Harlem (ARC 27th Feb. 1936. Paduca/ Harlem flat blues (March 1st 1929)

Postal strike wouldn't have anything to do with it, would it? MG still waiting, I am getting convinced that this one is lost/delayed in transit. I'll give it a few more days before troubling the "new Cindy" (aka Fred) My order from November 2009 was lost in the mail (Artie Shaw, Boogie Woogie Select, Randy Weston Select). Fred sent me a replacement order which arrived today, but without the Weston Select which was deleted in the meantime... What happened to your package? AR John Patton Select never arrived, waited in vain, presumed lost. At least I had "Along came John " on CD and nice Liberty pressing of "Understanding", my fault for sitting on the fence till this crisis. Mosaic were of course a model of good customer relations and credited the set against my next purchase.

Keeping things varied- John Coltrane - Jupiter Variation Impulse. Stunning interplay between Ali and Trane, next up

How's the Asch, all of these that I've found (mainly Mary Lou Williams' sides) sound like ash,....even mint copies have high surface noise

Next up classic cover hommage from Billy Jenkins- a fine guitarist - a wild album , real collage of influences Scratches of Spain

Illinois Jacquet Groovin with Jacquet Columbia- Clef Series (UK)- peerless Jacquet - .........why oh why oh why did I ever let his Mosaic pass me by ? ....one day perhaps.. .

I rather like "The heatin' system" .Moreover, excellently recorded. Picked up The Heatin' System Concord ( from 1995) today, AMG gives it a very poor review. I'm not the biggest organ fan but this is solid and way better than 1 star !!!

from my local stockist today in excellent shape Teddy Grace - Love me of leave me/ Crazy Blues- Decca (2050) - nice vocalist who I've not heard before, good band with Jack T and Dave Barbour. Really only Mr T gets any solo space. Solid swing sides Henry Red Allen & Orchestra- Swing out/ Feeling Drowsy- Bluebird (10702)- Swing out drives quite hard- Pops Foster propels things forward

Just arrived today Mosaic Benedetti Bird box, first impressions are that the sound quality is way better than I expected but the fragmented solos are rather more irritating than I imagine and a there's very large booklet. Glad I got this at last, as it's an amazing piece of history and great music too.

A King release in the U.S. Recorded 8 July 1954 the day after the "Billy in the lion's den" session, without Leo Parker, but rest of band the same. I never knew Jug recorded for Decca. Highly envious. MG I picked up "Billy in the lion's den" as LP reissue just a few weeks ago, very fine indeed. I had only previously come across Jennings on few Prestige Hammond/guitar sessions.

A King release in the U.S. Thanks, found this on the Ammons Gene Ammons Septet Bill Massey (tp) J.J. Johnson (tb) Gene Ammons (ts) Sonny Stitt (bars) John Houston (p) Ernie Shepard (b) Bob Wilson (d) NYC, March 24, 1952

From my local stockist Bill Jennings Quartet - What's New/ Soft Winds- Parlophone (1955)- no idea what label this was on originally Mezz Mezzarow- Revolutionary blues/ Gettin Together - HMV UK 1946 issue- Mezz not too prominent, I'll need to work out who use is on these gently swing sides Illinois Jacquet- Music Hall Beat/Jumpin at the...- Vogue UK ( ex Apollo) Howard McGhee's Reboppers How High the Moon Parts 1 &2 and Etoile/Bill Will both on Esquire being recorded under water by Barclay in Paris in 1948. Despite limitation more life to the sound than heard on the JiP Cd "Bebop". Gene Ammons Beezy/Somewhere along the way- Decca- no date, no info re who's playing

Willis & Von- Lockin Horns (Live at Laren) Muse 1978. Happy music ,a strong set, Von not nearly as distinctive as he is now, none the less very attractive musis.willis Jackson is no slouch either. Von's Summertime makes for an interesting comparison with the version on Vonski Speaks

Joe Holiday- This is happiness- again another ex-Prestige UK issued Esquire. I'd not heard of him before picking this up. Pleasant cocktail-bop,which I assumed was English when ifirst heard it......it's that good!!!!!!

Fats navarro . Infatuation/ wailing wall ( Esquire, ex-prestige)10-309

Spinning this great album just , came in the mail the other day. Very fine , indeed much better than I had hoped, lovely varied playing with a slightly bluesy approach that I haven't heard before. Swingtime issue sounds really fine. Didn't have the $$$ for a King original.

The best Bluenote reissues on vinyl I've heard are Herbie's Takin' Off and Dexter's One Flight Up released a few years ago on the now defunct Cisco label, Amazingly quiet pressings and fabulous sound. This French series looks tempting. I feel that the MM 45 rpm series is just too expensive for albums that I have already got on decent sounding CDs ( mcmastered or whatever)

Keeping with Teo's concept albums from 1959 , built around show tunes ....next up John Carisi - New Jazz sound of Show Boat Columbia ( 6 eye mono) featuring ... Phil Woods and Bob Brookmeyer with Guitar Choir ( Which includes Barry Galbraith, Jimmy Raney et al)

You say "Phil Woods" a bit like it's a bad thing... Probably listening to Larry too much ,..... no I'm fine with Woods, his name in a line-up however doesn't quicken my heart in the way Hal McKusick's might but he plays well and gives the rather glossy arrangements a nice bit of behop roughness. The whole album recorded in Oct 1959 is clearly Teo Macero's idea of crowd pleaser- Sketches of Spain it ain't

Manhattan Jazz All-stars "Guys and Dolls"- Columbia 6 eye- pleasantly swinging , features Phil Woods a bit but Bob Brookmeyer gets space as does Nick Travis, Teddy Charles is the nominal leader

Bill Harris - Pye/Nixa - (ex Emarcy) solo guitar unamplified, very elegant stuff.

Very fine set, on a similar level to London Concert (Wave) , it was my first exposure to Warne and Lee when I picked it up in the early 90s. Sound quality is fine but nothing special. But not the same session, I presume. Thanks. The Pausa album is from a May 1976 session at Ronnie Scott's. The London Concert at the Shaw Theater is from a March 1976 gig. The Pausa LP was widely available when it came out. Can't say the same thing about the Wave 'London Concert'. Never ran into that one! Alan at Jazz House Records appears to have a copy of the London Concert for a reasonable price Jazz House Records