Dan Gould

When I saw Jazzshrink's comment I was in total agreement. In fact, you might add another qualifier, that of best American singles band over the briefest time period. Their string of hit records only stretched about 2, 2 1/2 years, and its pretty amazing when you consider how many of them there were.

The message I've gotten from the stories is that he's a drunken lout, given to berating his audience, sometimes not exactly putting out maximum effort (letting his sidemen play much more than he does) but, bottom line, he's still Jimmy Smith and you should go see him if you have the opportunity. Frankly, I'd rather listen to Back at the Chicken Shack.

Up, for another reminder. Two days and counting!

Here's the e-mail I got: THIS WEEK ONLY!! All Storyville Records CDs on sale for 25% OFF MSRP. Storyville Records was founded over 50 years ago by Karl Knudsen. Considered by many to be the Blue Note of Europe, the label has recorded some of the most influential and creative jazz and blues players in the world. Storyville's aim is to present a diverse catalog of jazz & blues from Denmark, Europe and the World. Copenhagen and its jazzclubs have lured many a U.S. jazzman, including Stan Getz, Oscar Pettiford, Kenny Drew, Dexter Gordon, Ben Webster, Horace Parlan, Duke Jordan, Ed Thigpen, Doug Raney, Bob Rockwell, Chuck Israels, Thad Jones, Ernie Wilkins and more. This week, the entire Storyville catalog--nearly 400 titles--is 25% off, making the bulk of the catalog $14.23. Browse the entire Storyville Records label listing: http://www.allegro-music.com/label_search.asp?label=STC Lots of good stuff in there!

Congratulations, Vic, and I hope you do stick around.

In my opinion, she was obviously raised poorly and Peter is justified in being annoyed at her. I'd unload on her sorry, ungrateful butt. But then again, that's just me. And as you may know, I do have a reputation in these matters.

You know, this sentence works with or without the accent. Nice story, Jim.

Happy Birthday, John.

Hans, Courtesy of Carmell Jones completist PD, I have his 1982 recording. In fact, Billie's Bounce was used on my Blindfold Test. Its a nice album, the Gainesville, FL bandmates acquit themselves very well even though they're just a "local band" in an area where country music dominates. Didn't know Strazzeri had an LP, I do like his previously unreleased session that came out in the Carmell Select.

On the subject of Lockjaw pairings, Lock & Sweets was another great combination. In addition to Jawbreakers which is available on OJC, there're a couple of nice dates on Black & Blue, which turned out to be done in a single monster session-I guess they just split up the tunes and said, OK, on these, you're the leader, Lock, and on these, its you, Sweets! Another nice one is Sonny, Sweets and Jaws on the Who's Who label, recorded in Fort Lauderdale, FL at Bubba's, Lockjaw, Sweets and Sonny Stitt, backed by Eddie Higgins.

That's a very low-key recommendation, Dan I'd say, buy with the utmost confidence. I stand corrected. Actually, I've come to admire Simon Weil's gift for pithiness and felt that a qualifier was unnecessary.

I think its obvious that the biggest chance they recently took was signing Norah. It might not be the artistic risk you are looking for, but it was risky in its own way.

Buy with confidence.

EDIT: When I checked, Brad, the Times hadn't posted the obit but I guess it has now. Anyway, the MJT+3 was a fine band (and we can mostly thank that group for a good portion of the Frank Strozier that we have to enjoy) and I also recall that Eddie Higgins told me that the "first truly world-class rhythm section he ever worked with" was Walter Perkins and Bob Cranshaw. RIP.

That's OK, Jim, you've got my work address, so its safe, and we won't be in residence til March 14 anyway.

Damn-another one to scratch off my BFT list.

I snagged a Freshsounds reissue from the Groove (The BASTARDS) recently. Pretty nice, but not a blowaway album. Nice and mellow. (Hope I got that Dusty Groove interjection correct

Dave, She's already said she will handle the yardwork. She likes it. I got over that as a child. No wonder I love her so. Vajerzy, I don't plan to start watching those shows anytime soon, though we are getting DirectTV so God only knows what she will find off the satelite. But while I may be abducted into working on the projects, heaven knows I won't start watching those shows.

Tell me about it, Mark! Yesterday was spent stripping the wallpaper out of the bathrooms, a truly horrid job. I think that's what Bob Villa will spend eternity doing if he ends up on the express elevator south when his time comes. And to top it off, I went home to take care of the dog and left my wife with the last bathroom to work on, and she called to say that the sheetrock near the toilet was black with mildew, so now we've got our first repair job to deal with and we haven't even moved in yet! B3-er, I saw your tile thread but I have stuidously avoided it and intend to continue to studiously avoid it. Seriously, thanks for the good wishes, everyone!

Don't know if its in print, but yes, it has.

Happy Birthday, Paul!

I tried to give a hint that something was up by changing my profile "Location" to "We're Closing On Wednesday, so watch this space!", just to see if anyone noticed, but ... I guess I'll have to be a bit more direct! My wife and I just closed on a Townhome in the lovely city of Delray Beach, Florida. Here's the front (if you can't guess, we're on the left): And here's one of the best features, the actual backyard (most townhomes have less than a postage stamp spot to call a "backyard," this one, being built in the mid-80s when builders weren't quite so greedy, so they included a backyard instead of building a second unit!) That's a star fruit tree on the left, there're also papaya, mango and banana trees. Now we're going to have a Media Room with TT, Changer, all the CDs and LPs and a big comfy leather recliner. I may never leave! (my wife gets Direct TV, so she may not even notice that I'm upstairs

David, Its a great CD, with superior versions of Just In Time, You Make Me Feel So Young and the title track. Great find!

Sorry for missing your birthday, Jim! Guess I'll have to add on to that upcoming shipments to assuage my guilt.

Sorry I missed my cue I first traded for a cassette copy of this, purely as a favor to Bill Fenohr and his search for every BN issue up to the relaunch of the label in the 80s. But once I gave it a listen, I decided to track down an LP copy for maximum fidelity. Its not your original Sounds. There are strings and orchestra involved, and some vocals, though of the "ooh aah" variety, and hardly that noteworthy. What you do get is an enormous amount of funky, soulful Gene Harris piano. The "Soul Symphony" takes up all of Side 1 and was written by Monk Higgins, who actually started the composition while in college, and ultimately expanded it and adopted it for Gene specifically. It is an excellent piece, in my opinion, as it goes through various themes to capture the "Negro Experience": Soul Overture, Lonesome and Blue, Red Light District, Saturday Night, Sunday Night Program, Down Home. The music holds attention, and as I said, there's just a load of premium Gene funk and soul here. In fact, I am seriously considering taking a esson from Jim Dye and including a second disc in my next Blindfold Test to include tunes that just won't fit on the disc but that I'd like people to hear. At 26 minutes, there was no way I'd include Soul Symphony on a BFT, but I would like people to hear it. So, if you can't tell, that's a definite thumbs up for this album, assuming you are willing to hear something quite different from the original Sounds conception.