Dan Gould

And this one too It is happy music and it's why I like it so much.

Well I think it's definitely true that in the 20+ years between the first run with BN and his return to prominence thru his association with Concord, Gene's style had evolved to a much more aggressive brand of swing which I hear as more of an Oscar Peterson influence than was present earlier. But the blues has always been so prominent in his style. If you go back to some of the other Three Sounds records you may find you enjoy them more, at least for what Andy Simpkins brings to them. I do think that the Sounds was a true trio, while Gene's records as a leader for Concord were much more Gene plus supporting cast.

OK Peter then I have to ask: If everyone says that there is such a "sameness" to all of their records, at least all of the ones in their first BN tenure, then what it is about Babe's Blues that you like, and what do you dislike about all of the others? I can get it that people don't like it but I fail to comprehend how someone can dig one, typical album but not like any of the rest.

I have to say I disagree with this, unless you really mean 'the trio'. As I listened to the CD yesterday I was struck by the fact that Cables' comping behind Dexter's lovely playing didn't aggravate or distract. He supported Dexter's conception, as he's supposed to. But when Dexter stops and George starts blowing, it's something different entirely and IMHO it's unmelodic and un-ballad like. Mileage varies, Dex must have liked it, blah blah blah. Doesn't mean everyone has to approve. At least me and Mjzee don't.

Yes, I agree with John that this CD in particular concentrates the elements of Cables' playing that aggravates me so much. Of course it is true that Dex felt no need to tell George to change, and kept him in the piano chair for a period of time. I just prefer ballads to played as ballads and what George does to them is not remotely ballad-like IMHO. So when I say "ruins" the record it's not really hyperbole. When I got in the car last night and listened to the rest of the CD, I realized that if I take this one out again, it's only going to be in the car, where the 'seek' button is just an arm's length away, and I can make it as if George was hardly on the bandstand at all. Actually, listening to him in seek mode, it almost sounded like music. Kidding. Sort of.

Here's one that doesn't get a lot of attention but is really great, perhaps the best of the 'all-star' jam sessions: Absolutely love the version of "Just a Closer Walk with Thee".

The two Philip Morris Superband CDs collected on that one are fine, with a strong Count Basie influence in the arrangements. Not the best place to hear Gene per se but enjoyable.

Just when I miss a couple of days of posts, I miss my cue. Sorry 'bout that, CJ! :blush: Among the early BN records, the ones I hold in highest esteem are: Moods; Feelin' Good and Here We Come - I don't know if its a coincidence but I see according to AMG they were all released in 1960. Moods is number one though. Among the Concords that haven't been mentioned - you should consider At Last, which is the studio collaboration with Scott Hamilton; And I can't recommend strongly enough the Gene Harris Trio Plus 1, the one being Stanley Turrentine. Live at the Blue Note, if you think Blue Hour is sleepy well this one ain't, Gene and Stan wail on three blues, a gospel tune and a ballad. Tremendous record.

Sorry I'm late: :party:

Will they leave a white towel in the casket for him to gnaw on thru eternity? Seems like they should.

There. I said it. I held off a long time before getting the Uptown issue Night Ballads: Montreal 1977, because of Cable's presence. Nights at the Keystone had actually been disposed of because of George's performance on those discs, and I did that even though I am a proud Dexaholic! So for my birthday I asked for this disc ... guess I wanted to hear some 'new' Dex. And Dex sounds fantastic, more support (as if he needed it) to his reputation as a master of the ballad. Then comes Cables. Too-clever-by-half embellishments of the melody (on the opening track he works the melody in, in between his aggravating whatever. Clangy runs up and down the keyboard. Most of all: He doesn't play ballads like they're ballads! Like Sil Austin said, play pretty for the people. I was listening to this CD for the second time on the way to work and he was just aggravating the hell out of me, and what surprised me is that Cables was in the piano chair for the Jimmy Heath/Benny Golson/Javon Jackson concert in December in Fort Lauderdale, and I had very few problems with his solos. (Although I have to say that I told my wife on the way to the concert what my concerns were, and afterwards she actually stated that there was one tune, again a ballad, where she understood exactly what I had described.) </rant> Does anyone else hear where I am coming from? Anyone else agree? I'd love to hear someone explain why what Cables is doing to these songs somehow uplifts the music. Dex caresses these beautiful melodies. Cables sounds like he's got hoofs for hands and goes clanging up and down the keyboard. OK, now my rant is really over. Fire away, or tell me I'm right.

I'm the first SB commenter? Well I'll just say "from the luckiest MFs to the saddest MFs to the dirtiest no-class MFs in about 90 seconds. Stay classy Seattle. And eat shit and die Pete Carroll." Now all that's left is for the NFL to admit that the game time temperature changed the pressure in the footballs used in the AFC championship game and to profusely apologize to Brady, Belicik and the entire team.

I don't think they need Alexi to be 'not broken' so I am happy they are taking a flier on him.

No, not a Million Dollar secret. My Million Dollar Idea is this: License sports team logos for use on urinal cakes. Think about it. You're at Fenway Park and the Yankees are in town. You get to piss on the big interlocking N/Y! And vice-versa! This is why leagues should agree to it, for every time that your team's logo is the target, so is everybody else's, including your arch rivals. And for old stadiums with those trough communal urinals, the cross-streams would be awesome! Maybe if soccer hooligans could piss on the opposition, we'd have a tad fewer riots? And it would pay for themselves because drink sales would jump because everyone would want to go more frequently! I swear it's a win-win but nobody will listen. OK, maybe that's because I haven't mentioned this to anyone but friends and family. Anyone else with a brilliant idea?

This plot trope was riffed on by a long-forgotten comedian on an episode of SNL (if you don't know the reference, you should know it was a black comedian using the N-word so no one batted an eye): Anyone else remember this? As for the series, I was a fan but way too young to see it first-run so this division into quality-of-seasons just doesn't compute for me. Never gave a bleep for the subsequent series; I saw the first re-boot movie and definitely enjoyed it but haven't seen the second.

I remember stumbling across that album once, I saw The Three and excitedly pulled it out of the rack only to discover it had nothing to do with The Three Sounds or Gene Harris. Man was I pissed.

That may very well be but your team could very easily come out with the better and more useful pitcher. Ranuado may have struggled in his short time in the majors last year but his AAA numbers suggest that he'd figure it out and do much better eventually. The guy the Sox got is a useful reliever with a very spotty result as a starter. Useful relievers are much easier to come across than 25 year old starters who could be damn good. What bothers me is that the Sox have now given away two of their youngest starters, guys who might have stepped up in the absence of Lester, Lackey etc.

cd japan is also carrying them -- with a more English-friendly webpage. The Bastards also seem to be planning to stock them - not surprisingly.

From the last page: The full sourcing for this article can be found in the book’s endnotes. So I guess you'll have to get the book to judge the sourcing.

To get back to the original question, I spent the weekend in Naples enjoying the Gould family Christmas and didn't have to use a personal day to take yesterday off, as the insurance agency was closed. Unencumbered by his former partner's preferences, the boss is much more agreeable about taking Federal holidays off lately. Basically if we get a message from any carrier that they are closed, we'll end up closing too.

My brother and his girlfriend tried to convince me that almonds are some sort of extra-special nut, much healthier than peanuts (not that I've over indulged in peanuts anyway). So is there any truth to this?

I finally followed thru on this utilizing an Amazon return credit, and it's moved directly into the 'next' position on the stack.

+1

Happy Birthday Ann and congrats to Chuck for knowing a good thing when he saw it (her).