brownie

I am a great fan of those two but the best one for me is the Jazz in Paris series from Universal France. The only one of those labels that had access to the original masters/tapes. Plus Jazz in Paris made splendid use of vintage photos for their covers and inside notes. The other labels had no access to the original masters and had to rely on copies from record collectors.

Good idea to revive this previous thread!

The Bobby Jaspar Quartet 'At Ronnie Scott's - 1962' (Mole Jazz) with René Thomas, Benoit Quersin and Daniel Humair

Frank Wess 'Southern Comfort' (Prestige, mono, yellow label) with arrangements by Oliver Nelson!

That's going to be his second appearance ever at the VV. First time he played there was a few days after September 11, 2001 and the city was not in the right mood to enjoy Solal. Hope nothing like that is going to mar his return visiit to the club!

Big Al is a monumental disappointment to me! Me too!

The latest version of the Lord lists 140 recorded versions of the tune!

Lester Young 'The Complete Verve Studio Recordings box', disc 3

Dreyfus Records have a new batch of Dreyfus Reference releases out this month. Among them...

Until a few years ago, the easy (and rather reasonably priced) way would have been to purchase the ten CD box 'The Complete EmArcy Recordings' which had all the great albums he recorded with Max Roach in the mid-fifties. Understand the box can now be purchased at rather astronomic prices! The BN/Pacific Jazz box is a musthave item in any collection. So are the two CDs from the Art Blakey at Birdland date.

John Lewis 'A Milanese Story' (Atlantic, mono, white mono label) wth Bobby Jaspar and René Thomas....

Big Al is a monumental disappointment to me!

Don't overlook this one: A Telarc CD that has additional material from the 'Paul Desmond Quartet Live' sessions from Toronto. Some of Desmond's very best music was recorded at that Bourbon Street jazz club!

One of my favorite McFarland albums, and one of the few that successfully blends his "serious" jazz writing and arranging with his more accessible "pop" qualities. Most of his other albums tend to be in one group or the other. Yes, one of his very best. I am now discovering some of is later recordings ('America the Beautiful', 'Does the Sun Really Shine...') which I ignored when they came out. Thought they were very lightweight at the time. Now that they have been reissued, I find quite a number of special moments in those... Now spinning: Howard McGhee 'Maggies' Back in Town' (Contemporary, mono original)

Last minute bidding brought the price over to $1,026! Which is about $40 per LP. Not that bad a deal! Judging from the covers conditions, the descriptions from the seller were very brief but seemed honest. No mints but many vg-...

Bob Altschuler was very helpful when I was writing articles a long time ago and needed to get material (and albums) that were very hard to obtain in pre-internet days. He was working at Riverside then and could not have been nicer. Sad to hear he is no longer with us!

Brew Moore Quintet (Fantasy/OJC, mono)

Hope French TV will play the series (the Burns Jazz did not air over here). 'The World at War' remains the best series on WWII so far. The fact that Burns hired Marsalis to record the soundtrack does notbide well!

Louis Armstrong 'Intégrale, volume 4' (Fremeaux) disc 1

Gary McFarland 'Point of Departure' (Impulse, stereo) great lineup of Willie Dennis, Richie Kamuca, Jimmy Raney, Steve Swallow and Mel Lewis

Back in the early '70s when there were no speed limits on highways I drove my Alfa Romeo 1300GTV coupé at 100-110 mph a number of times and was often outpaced by BMWs and Mercedes. When I later acquired the Alfa Romeo 2000GTV coupé, there were speed limits on French highways but not on German highways. When traveling in French Alsace shortly after I got it, I decided to check it really could go up to its 130mph limit. It did! And very few BMWs went past the Alfa! Those Alfa GTVs (GTV stands for Gran Turismo Veloce, a fitting name!) were amazing cars. I was sorry to give up on them when our son was born! My driving habits have slowed down with age (and with the rise of the speed limits). I stick to enjoying the formula 1 Grand Prix on TV these days.

Back at my favorite record shop today. Picked up the following: Johnny Hartman 'Boston Concert 1976' (Gambit) Intégrale Louis Armstrong, vol. 4 'West End Blues 1926-1928' (Fremeaux) Intégrale Django Reinhardt, vol. 15 (1947) 'Gipsy With a Song' (Fremeaux) with several unissued radio broadcasts, Ran Blake/Jeanne Lee 'You Stepped Out of a Dream' (Owl) The Armstrong vol. 4 is scheduled for release next week but it was already available as a brand new secondhand copy at €17, 70 for the 3CD set!

With eyes like that, you're bound to run into problems when the Paris police checks your card You'ld better bring dark sunglasses along:

Volume 4 is out! It goes up to the May 1928 Savoy Ballroom Five session.

Ted Curson 'Blue Piccolo' (Trio) with Jim McNeely, Cecil McBee, Steve McCall