brownie

That 'Helen Sings, Teddy Swings' was recorded by Victor Japan in October 197O in Tokyo. Album details (from The Lord): Helen Merrill, vo, Teddy Wilson, p, Larry Ridley, b, Lenny McBrown, dr. - I Cried for You - Lover Man - I Only Have Eyes for You - East of the Sun - You Better Go Now - I Must Have That Man - Embraceable You Helen Merrill, Wilson, Kunimitsu Inaba, b, Takeshi Inompata, dr. - Summertime - I Cover the Waterfront - Pennies from Heaven Helen Merrill was very popular in Japan and she recorded dozens of albums there. Have not heard the Merrill/Wilson one.

Welcome aboard, Jeffrey. You seem to have hit an interesting list. Herwin, Biograph, IAJRC were specialists labels which unearthed rare items. At the price you quote, you could not get wrong with the first four items. I would also add the Uptown Joe Thomas-Jay McShann album which is very nice. The Jimmy Rushing album on Ghent is a reissue of a Colpix album that has recently been reissued on CD.

It does indeed, but it's a close race between it and Michael Powell's other masterpiece, THE RED SHOES. My favorite Michael Powell is 'Peeping Tom', the first movie of his I saw when I got interested in films. Missed on him as a kid when I was terrified by a showing of 'Thief of Baghdad'. And a film about dance by the name of 'Red Shoes' had no appeal for the boy I was. His other films were badly distributed in France. Got interested in his films decades later after reading articles about Powell (and Pressburger) by the likes of Martin Scorcese and Bertrand Tavernier. The films show up pretty often nowadays on cable TV over here. Was stunned by the number of masterpieces Powell and Pressburger concocted. Love 'The 49th Parallel', 'A Matter of Life and Death', 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp', 'I Know Where I'm Going'. And of course 'Black Narcissus'.

AMG probably did not like it because Hartman has Japanese musicians with him. But they do very well. And Hartman is superb! I'll also second Jim's mention of the Beehive album. Great tunes and great musicians all around (Joe Wilder and Frank Wess notably). I'm not bothering with AMG to find out if it's worth anything. That's another superb LP from Beehive!

Since nobody mentioned it, how about Ran Blake's first solo album? On ESP: 'Ran Blake Plays Solo Piano'. Witgh beautiful renditions of 'Green Dolphin Street' and 'Lonely Woman' among several gems. The one that got me started on that unique piano player. Before I found out about his much earlier duo album with Jeanne Lee. Another unique person.

That's a great photo of Hartman by Charles Stewart but the man died of lung cancer in 1983 All that smoking does not seem to have damaged his voice. I love Hartman. The album with Coltrane is a treasure island record. Another Hartman Coltrane-connected album that I cherish is the album he recorded in Japan in 1972 'For Trane'. This was included in the 'For Trane' CD that Michael Cuscuna reissued in 1995 for Blue Note. The only minus on that album is the absence of John Coltrane.

Sal, you just opened a dam. Before the flood waters of all the good Getz albums rush in, here are a few quick recommendations. The Complete Roost sessions with Jimmy Raney that was issued by Mosaic and is no longer available is out on a 3CD disc on Blue Note. Essential sides. From the quintet sides with Bob Brookmeyer (my own favorites), I strongly advise you get the 'Getz at the Shrine' concert that was reissued by Verve. The 'Captain Marvel' album is highly recommended. So are any Getz albums on Concord. All of them are excellent. A personal favorite is 'Spring Is Here', a quartet session with Lou Levy. Then there are those later albums with Kenny Baron. Duo and quartet sessions. All excellent; These were discussed recently on the board! But I love the quartet sides Getz recorded with Swedish pianist Jan Johansson that were reissued by Jazz Unlimited a few years ago. So many more great Getz dates. Warned you. The dam busted...

'Knife in the Water' is excellent. One of Polanski's best. And there is a very interesting jazz score by the late Krysztof Komeda. Film and music are very intense!

Paul, have not heard the Jerry Jerome Arbors albums. What interested me there - the sides with Charlie Christian - also appeared on the Charlie Christian Masters of Jazz series. Those Charlie Christian sides were his main claim to fame. He also appeared on several of the Lionel Hampton all stars sessions at the time. There is this Jerry Jerome interview on Charlie Christian which is worth reading: http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/hansen/Charlie/jerome.htm I have also seen elsewhere that Jerry Jerome became a businessman after he abandoned his career as a big band musician and that he was an A&R man for Apollo records in the mid-forties.

I have seen newsreels films of Marines sporting shaved Mohawk hairstyle when Eisenhower paid them a visit on the eve of the June 6, 1944 D-Day landing.

Hope he will have Stan Levey behind him on drums B)

Berigan, Stan Levey was Ella Fitzgerald's drummer on an European tour in 1963. He left the music scene in 1973. By then he had played with the musicians he cared about. He turned his attention to photography. That was our loss! Hope he is happy wherever he is. And Levey did some records after 1957. He was the drummer on the 1961 'Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie' by Ella Fitzgerald on drums.

The Vanguard catalogue was reissued about ten years ago by the French stores FNAC on their own label. And they did those Mel Powell Trios right when they issued the Ruby Braff and the Paul Quinichette sides on one CD: 'Mel Powell Trios - Borderline - Thigamagig'. Sound was good but probably not as good as a mint Vanguard originals. The CD came with the following recording information: 'These analog recordings from 1954 were made directly into acetate discs and were not transferred onto tape before 1957. Despire the restoration of the tapes by Cedar treatment, there are still some inherent flaws such as hissing, distortion and analog dropouts'. The FNAC label reissued quite a large part of the Vanguard jazz sessions but they probably did not sell enough. Those FNAC CDs are not available anymore.

About Beehive records, I understand owner Jim Neumann refuses to have the sessions he produced released on CDs. Told he still has a number of albums (a numer are now out of print) from his catalogue and he is selling them to askers. Another adherent to the 'Vinyl Lives' motto. Unhave a link to him. Beehive produced quite a number of great albums when the label was active.

I'm glad I bought that box when it was available. I already had most of the Stuff Smith material that Verve had released but loved the music so much that I wanted to have the box with the additional music. Didn't regret it. This was one of the best and one of the most overlooked Mosaic box. And probably one of the worst seller.

Deus, when you get that box, make sure it has the small CD disc that came with the original set. That disc was not listed in the accompanying booklet. It has a wonderful early take by Brown, Rollins and the Roach quintet of 'Flossie Lou'.

Deus, had to step in on that one. Will be brief. GET THE BOX! The music is brilliant, the sound is good, the price looks right.

Never mind the out of tune piano at the Five Spot when the Eric Dolphy quintet with Booker Little appeared there. Mal Waldron manages to make the best of it. Except for the wrong piano, everything and everybody were just about perfect that evening. One of the great moments of jazz. Those Five Spot albums are a must. Most of the essential Booker Little have already been mentioned. Let me just add three albums with remarkable contributions by Booker Little: - Fantastic Frank Strozier, a quintet date that came out on VeeJay and should still be available on reissues, - Percussion Bitter Sweet, the Impulse album by Max Roach, - The Museum of Modern Art concert appearance by Teddy Charles where Booker Little and Booker Ervin teamed up. This was release by Warwick but reissues should be available. Booker Little had a short career but his music was pretty well documented and he made quite a number of excellent records. Look around for them. You won't be disappointed.

Skipping the caption bit. Just a thought: where's Jayne Mansfield now that we need her? Jayne played the dumb blonde to perfection and in several dumb films. But there are plenty of reports indicating she was a very intelligent person. With the right assets. She never should have lost her head...

Yes, let's really hope that the Stuttgart concert gets reissued in better sound. Ubu, I picked the Great Concert of Charles Mingus on the day it was released. At long last, it is presented in its entirety including the presentation of Johnny Coles' trumpet by Mingus to indicate the absence of Coles who was still at the American Hospital in Neuilly. And the sound is slightly better. No high fidelity here but there is nothing to prevent one from enjoying the music.

Fred Beckett solos on 'I Wonder Boogie' (Hamp's Boogie Woogie) that was recorded for V-Disc in March 1944. It's on the Lionel Hampton 1942-1944 Chronogical Classics CD.

Ubu, I understand the Stuttgart concert tapes were edited on the Unique LPs, but not 'Fables of Faubus' which was on both sides of a single LP. I am waiting for a reissue with decent sounds and complete versions. Whenever. The Stuttgart concert was one of the best from the tour. I don't have the Mingus-Cat Anderson bootleg. I had to have the Mingus/Taylor Ozone bootleg. Features Pepper Adams, Jaki Byard and Charles McPherson. Plus a good trumpet player Eddie Armour who has made very few appearances. Sound is plain lousy.

When I get home and my feet need a rest, I put on a pair of espadrilles cord footwear, instant Lou Donaldson's 'Light Foot'!

Amir, I have the original LP issue of that Town Hall concert. It came out on the Charles Mingus label (JWS-005) as 'Town Hall Concert, 1964, volume 1' with only two long tracks 'So Long Eric' and 'Praying With Eric' on it. This was reissued by Fantasy. In his liner notes to the album, Mingus mentions the following tunes that remain unissued: 'ATFW YOU', a Jaki Byard piano solo, 'Sophisticated Lady', a bass Mingus solo. Mingus mentions they 'are temporarily spliced out due to time space'. 'Orange was the color of her dress, then blue' also is listed elszewhere as having been played at the concert. These unisssued tunes were probably scheduled to be included in Volume 2 but that one never saw the light of the day. That Town Hall concert was held on April 4, 1964 just before the group left for Europe. Mingus lists the musicians in his liner notes: Dolphy, Coles, Byard, Richmond, Jordan, me (Mingus) and Mrs. Dupree White as (NAACP) coordinator. Mingus dedicated the album to Dolphy and Mrs. White.

Kenny Dorham wrote for Down Beat in the mid-sixties. Mostly record reviews.