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I ordered the Cannes CD from amazon.fr and discovered that the database had my email/password/credit card information used on the U.S. amazon. So its actually pretty easy, except for the unpleasant ratio between the Euro and the dollar.

I recall seeing him c. 1975 with Carla Bley and Jack Bruce in a band that lasted a very short time. I really enjoy his guitar sound and style--my second favorite Bluesbreaker after Peter Green. I saw him with Mayall during a 1983 reunion tour, and in a small club engagement in Dallas a few years later. In the latter case, his signature sound was very much in evidence.

Mick Taylor's recorded output is surprisingly meager--he only has two studio recordings as a leader--the second one, A Stone's Throw, is highly recommended. A live date, Coastin' Home, has some pretty dynamic playing on it. A more obscure date which is outside the usual blues/rock style, is quite good--Miyuki, Mick and I. With the Bluesbreakers, there's also Diary of a Band--live recordings with somewhat primitive sound, but pretty good.

They are having a modest sale until November 19th--$5.99 per CD, with free shipping--you have to enter the promo code (599CDS) during checkout.

Coltrane Live at the Village Vanguard Again (Impulse, orange and black, mono) The Intimate Ellington (Pablo)

I was craving some unheard (by me) Sonny Sharrock, and today's arrival from dustygroove, Dance With Me Montana on Marge, is definitely hitting the spot. (It's a trio recording from 1982.)

You could get her an iphone, which also functions as a smaller ipod.

The automatic syncing is one of the best features of itunes--I see no reason not to maintain a complete itunes library--if there is not room on your computer, you can easily add an external harddrive and switch your itunes library to that external harddrive. And I think the Shuffle feature is wonderful--I use it most of the time.

My advice is to get the biggest ipod there is (currently 160 gigabites), since the thing is seriously addictive. I have the 120 gb model and have about 20 gbs remaining. I have just under 15,000 tracks on my ipod currently. The speed of transfer from a CD to itunes varies for reasons I have never understood. A typical ratio would be that the CD transfers in about 1/6 of its length--i.e., a 60 minute CD transfers in about 10 minutes or so. This process may be faster or slower--I've even seen transfers at less than 1 to 1 for some reason. Transferring songs to the ipod is simple--just plug the ipod into your computer and it transfers everything and updates the ipod automatically. Itunes also offers the ability to select the bit rate of the transfer among three rates. The default rate is the middle rate, if you do nothing (which seems fine for my purposes). The higher the bit rate, the more space in the harddrive each song takes up. The ipod has various organizational features on its own--by artist name, album title, song title and genre.

I recall Sonny Fortune's Awakening as a first rate recording--though I haven't listened to the LP in many years. I also really liked the Ira Sullivan LP.

Yusef Lateef--A Flat, G Flat and C (Impulse, orange and black)

The Jazz Record Center had a copy of Russell Jacquet, 1945-49, which I immediately snapped up. It's a nice one, especially the last two sessions from 1948-49. The 1948 session is on the Sensation label and is not that well recorded, but there is some superb Leo Parker (along with Sonny Stitt, J.J. Johnson and Sir Charles Thompson) on this four title session. The final session on King is a swinging nonet, with Bumps Meyers, Joe Newman, Henry Coker, Gerald Wiggins and Chico Hamilton. Love those late 1940s bebop sessions.

Sonny Rollins on Impulse (black and red label)

John Coltrane--The Last Trane (Prestige, blue label, mono)

I saw Buddy a few weeks ago at the House of Blues. It was pretty good, definitely the best Buddy Guy concert I'd seen in a good while, he mostly stuck to complete songs, and even played a couple from the new album (I wish he had played more from the new recording). I sure miss the three guitar band he used to have in the 1980s, with Steve Ditzell and Geoge Blaze, and Ray Allison on drums. That was a great band.

Bluebird is on the America/Paris sessions with Bobby Jones, McPherson, Byard, Eddie Preston. I've heard an extremely slow version or two of Duke Ellington's Sound of Love on live concert recordings (slower than the Changes One version).

I haven't seen her live, but can attest that her second CD is a good one.

9:30 to 4 a.m.! How many sets was that?

The new Jazz Icons 4 series notes say that they have now gained access to the INA film vaults and expect to make future releases.

And amazingly, you're still missing some really good stuff from early in his career, and some pretty good large ensemble titles from late in his career with the augmented Ricky Ford/Bob Neloms band. I second that emotion :tup I like all that material as well, of course. Mingus at Carnegie Hall also. And maybe I shouldn't have omitted Pre-Bird. And the Uptown collection of early Mingus is fascinating as well. (I've been a Mingus fanatic since 1974.)

I was lucky to get to see Tom Harrell this past Friday and Sunday at the Village Vanguard. He was playing at a very high level. as was his group. He played mostly flugelhorn for the three sets I saw--there was no inconsistency in his playing at all. I guess you would call the music hard bop, but it sounded completely fresh and without cliches. Every song they played was a Tom Harrell original (mostly from the new release, Prana Dance). A duet performance between Harrell and the pianist was a striking divergence from the quintet performances. The group was Wayne Escoffrey on tenor, Danny Grissett on piano, Ugonna Ukegwo on bass, and Johnathan Blake on drums--they were really in tune and sounded great in the Village Vanguard. It was a thrilling musical experience.

I was able to narrow my list down to a Top 30 list... Pithecanthropus Erectus The Clown East Coasting Tijuana Moods A Modern Jazz Symposium of Poetry and Music Blues and Roots Wonderland Mingus Ah Um Mingus Dynasty Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus Mingus At Antibes Pre-Bird Oh Yeah Tonight at Noon Black Saint Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Plays Piano Town Hall Concert (1964) Cornell The Great Concert of Charles Mingus At Monterey Right Now Music Written for Monterey Reincarnation of a Lovebird Let My Children Hear Music Mingus Moves Changes One Changes Two Cumbia and Jazz Fusion

Shafi Hadi with Mingus in 1972?

Friday: Tom Harrell at the Village Vanguard (with Wayne Escoffery on tenor, Danny Grissett on piano, Ugonna Okegwo on bass, and Johnathan Blake on drums). Two inspiring sets from this dynamic group. Saturday: Go Home at the Jazz Standard (Charlie Hunter, Ben Goldberg, Curtis Fowlkes, Scott Amendola). I didn't know what to expect, but rather enjoyed this group, especially Charlie Hunter. Pat Martino at Birdland (with Tony Monoco on organ, Jefftain Watts, and Eric Alexander). This group didn't entirely work; Martino and the organist sounded good, but I don't much care for Jefftain Watts; though I could have tolerated him if the group had been a trio; Eric Alexander was sonic wallpaper as usual. Sunday: Ron Carter Trio/Francisco Mela Trio at the Blue Note. The Ron Carter Trio, (Mulgrew Miller and Russell Malone), was very refined and elegant, and in fact very enjoyable. Cuban drummer Mela fronted an excellent latin jazz trio, with Cuban pianist (Arturo Rodriguez(?)). Finally, back to the Village Vanguard to hear the last set of the week from Tom Harrell--really excellent.

I also like Ben Allison's Think Free (and the Palmetto label in general).