riddlemay

I find it pretty reliable. It comes up empty some of the time, when you're hearing music that no one in the history of the world has inquired about except you--and sometimes with classical pieces, it will identify the piece correctly but give you an incorrect artist--but it's pretty amazing by and large.

I got this album on Verve's budget label VSP as a teen in the sixties, loved it immediately, and it's been a "desert island disc" for me ever since. Only it was a long time before I knew that it was originally issued as a Ray Brown date. As you can see from the cover, VSP presented it as co-led by Brown and Adderley, with Cannonball getting (slightly) top billing. And changed the title to that of one of the tunes.

I liked his charts for Vikki Carr's early albums, like this one:

I don't get to the Half Price in Skokie very often, but I have fairly recently, and it seemed to me that prices on used CDs the store was selling were not appreciably lower than before. It makes sense that demand for CDs is down, what with streaming, digital downloads, and the resurgence of vinyl. But then you'd think the sales price on used CDs ought to be something more like a dollar. And it isn't.

Wow--I don't remember the Crossroads label (apparently a tiny little division of Columbia) at all! I well remember their budget classical label Odyssey, which had lots of good repertoire in good performances in good sound on good pressings, but not Crossroads. I love the Seymour-Chwast-meets-Peter-Max graphics, too.

In that video (and on the record they're lip-synching to), it's my strong suspicion, just based on sound, that Lani is double-tracked and Karen isn't singing at all. Karen is there because Brasil 66 had two girl singers and it would have looked weird if she wasn't. (And for the additional eye candy.) Karen was a good singer; I just don't think we're hearing her on this cut. But I could be wrong.

Much as I love Sinatra's original recording of Cahn-Van Heusen's "All My Tomorrows" with Riddle's arrangement, I think Costa's arrangement on the remake inspired one of the greatest Frank Sinatra recordings of all time.

Well I'll be. Her husband Artie Schroeck arranged on Jackie and Roy's Grass.

"Now there's a gal who can sing." Except I'd put money on her lip-synching to a session singer who isn't her.

If anyone's using the PayPal link for the first time, don't type a $-sign onto the indicated line on the Organissimo page--just a numeral, including a decimal point followed by zeroes. I kept getting error messages until I figured that out.

Had a good title song written to promote it (not sure if it was used at any point in the film) by Harry Warren and Harold Adamson. Eydie Gorme made a recording of it.

I occasionally stream music via Apple Music through my Apple TV into my stereo. I notice that I always quickly lose interest, and I think it's because of, not in spite of, endless choice. Somehow, when practically the entire world of recorded music is at my fingertips, no one piece of music matters; and my mind quickly turns to wondering what else I could be hearing. When I actively choose a physical disc to play, I listen.

ClipGrab lets you download videos from YouTube and has an audio-only option in the drop-down menu under "Format." I've found the app to work simply and well.

I too am sad to hear Larry's story. I once saw Roy handle a situation with amazing grace. They were booked into the ballroom of the Fairmont Hotel in Chicago in the nineties, which at the time was trying to make it as a music venue. The opener was a sixteen-piece big band, then J & R. In that huge ballroom, two tables were occupied--ours, and the one next to ours, both in the front row. A total of eight people. The show went on. Jackie & Roy came out and went right into their first number. Then Roy addressed the eight of us. Facing the situation head-on, and sidestepping the fact that he and Jackie were humiliated, he expressed concern for us instead. "Don't be embarrassed or uncomfortable," he said. "Pretend that Jackie and I have had you all over to our house for dinner, we've had a wonderful meal, and now we're in living room, where Jackie and I go to our piano and entertain you for a while."

I sympathize, but one thing to keep in mind is that Dusty Groove has no way of knowing that one item is the one you really want and that the other four are an afterthought. Only you know that. All they know, without being able to read your mind, is that you ordered five items. It would be reasonable for them to proceed as if all five were wanted equally--there's even the possibility, for all they can tell from your order, that one of the non-Clooney items is the one you prize the most!--on the supposition that you'll be delighted to receive the ones they're able to ship.

If you'll forgive the tangent...Hefti wrote another tune for Harlow that is just as marvelous as Girl Talk, and sounds just as much like it could be a song (it's clearly structured as one), but which has never had a lyric. It's a shame that Mercer or someone like him never got to it. (For some reason I hear Mercer more than Troup here.)

Ringo Lorne Greene Marian Lorne

A Basie album on Verve that's missing from that list is Basie Picks the Winners. A Byers-arranged album that I like a lot. For some reason, the CD reissue (Japanese import) was in mono, even though the album is definitely from the stereo era. And the version of the album that's on iTunes is also mono. And so are various YouTubes of the album's contents. (Like the one below.) Did the stereo master get thrown out by mistake a long time ago? I wonder. I would be interested in the Verve set you're imagining, especially if it included the stereo mix of this album.

Rosemary Woods Cynthia Nixon Robert Moog

Lord Mountbatten Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon Leon Thomas

Heywood Broun The Brown Bomber Louis CK

I agree with you right down the line, Larry, and add that (unless I missed something, which is possible) some of the basic storytelling was incompetent. I have in mind the scene near the end when Ron Stallworth tears off in his car after Connie Kendrickson--who we know is about to plant a bomb, which Stallworth has no way of knowing. What motivates him to do this? If the essential information about her purpose was at any point communicated to him, I didn't see it.