brownie

The bridge is scheduled to open to traffic in December. I'll be hitting the road to southern France in September and drive thru Millau and its traffics jams once more. Not sure yet when I'll be going that way next year but I am looking forward to the drive over the bridge. Not sure my wife feels the same way!

With the exception of the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000, of course. Which make these disappointments so painful France has plenty of excellent players but they gather to make a great team all too rarely. Let's hope we have a good coach to replace Jacques Santini. He will not be missed. Neither will be Marcel Desailly who has been team captain for too long!

Bet he'll overcome this. French soccer fans have a long history of major disappointments with their national team

Well, I guess I'd have to be in the back seat cowering under a blanket!!! You'd be real wrong. The view from up there is bound to be spectacular! The area is just beautiful. I can't wait...

Thought couw was Super Bad for quite a while

Wild guess: the alto player looks like Joe Harriott??

Tom ignored us. I'll ignore him

I've been waiting for the completion of that Millau bridge for years. Driving through the small city of Millau can be nightmarish. A real bottleneck which can be passed in a few minutes when there is not tto much traffic which is pretty seldom. Usually the queue of cars extend for several miles. I'll drive over the bridge as soon as it's allowed!

France is out. The French team won't be missed The Greeks have good reasons to celebrate!

A google of my rare real name (Guy Kopelowicz) reveals various activities, many jazz, many non-jazz related

We are miles away from the brilliance of yesterdays Portugal-England confrontation. The French team is at its near worst. An addition of individual talents - too many of them not very good - renders in a very visible way the fact that France does not have a real team right now. Confused defense, absent attackers. Thank God Fabien Barthez keeps the goalmouth safe so far. The frustration of all this. The 0-0 score at halftime is a good reflection of the non quality of this game...

I remember searching for a record back in the '70s while in the States and could not find anything.

Brashear's first major gig was in the trumpet section of the 1970's Basie orchestra. He was a member of Bobby Hutcherson's group in that decade, and can be heard on some of Bobby's Prestige LPs of the time, maybe also on the Bayété LPs. There are a few Black Jazz sessions he solos on with his trademark fiery tone, e.g. Henry Franklin's "The Skipper" and "The Skipper At Home", where he plays good solos. After that he did mostly section work in Hollywood studios, with an occasional fiery solo; one is on Joe Henderson's funky "Black Miracle" album on Milestone/OJC. Brashear is also on the Blue Note album by Bobby Hutcherson 'Inner Glow' that was originally released in Japan. Brashear is heard on that one along Thurman Green on trombone, Harold Land, pianist Dwight Dickerson, Kent Brinkley on bass and Larry Hancock on drums.

Don't have the Roulette album with me right now. But I seem to remember that Zoot Sims played all the tenor saxophone solos.

I'll second Dan on the Sweets/Clayton date. I'm also a big fan of Henry Allen. The 'King Oliver' album was not really his best but it is pretty enjoyable.

Though uncredited, Zoot Sims takes the tenor saxophone solos on that very nice 'Life Is A Many-Splendored Gig' album.

More trouble for Cofidis. David Millar was questioned in southern France for two days. Accorsing to the sports newspaper L'Equipe in their edition today, Millar confessed to police having used EPO, the banned substance. From the Guardian today:

Marcus, it's not Great Britain playing, just England! The british team is not in Euro2004. I'm worried about the French team. They have failed to impress anyone so far. Patrick Vieira will probably be out of tonight's game because of injuries. Trezeguet has played one bad match after the other. Will coach Santini have the guts to replace him with Louis Saha to beef up the attack? I'm afraid he won't. Greece has nothing to lose. They will be difficult to play. This evening will be very, very long...

Absolutely. One of the best soccer confrontation in a long, long time. And I liked the fact that the Portuguese goalie Ricardo scored the decisive penalty shot. Feel sorry now for the England team. They played very well. England should not complain about the 'missed' goal. Euro2004 is played under UEFA rules and, as couw explained, it was NOT a goal.

Dan, you list four albums by Terence Blanchard, but only three from this giant: That's a very strange balance to me Time to invest in some essential albums.

Earl Bostic? The Classics label is in the middle of an Earl Bostic series in their Blues & Rhythm series. They have released the fourth CD. Everything Bostic recorded under his name until 1953 and more to come... I'll second the Clifford Scott Select. Time to reevaluate (and reissue) his Pacific Jazz contributions

Beautiful goal by Portugal in overtime!

Both teams deserve to go further. Portugal nicely came back to equalize, shade of the England-France match last week....

Very good first half. Fast, lively, exciting. Nice to see Owen back in good shape!

Will be looking for that one... Nice to have fresh Arno Marsh music!