Dan Gould

Actually when you use the Washington/smallpox example, you are ignoring the context: A fledgling army, in a state of war. He didn't mandate variolation against smallpox across the community, or that community would have declared his orders liberty-destroying, just like King George, to try to force everybody to try this newfangled method of smallpox prevention. At that time, most people probably thought all you needed was a "good bleeding" to get over the pox.

Masking does nothing to prevent you from getting infection. That's been known for at least a year. It's to prevent you from infecting others. It's just like in a surgical suite: surgeons and nurses where masks and gloves to avoid infecting open wounds on people. Not because the patient has cooties and might give them something. The layers in the mask function in one direction only: outward. I will go out on a limb here and trust that Kevin is wearing KN95s or better masks but cloth masks are far more common than the actual useful kind, and cloth masks had what, like a 5% effective rate in studies?

Mr. Felser said that his goals included "enraging" listeners, did he know that he'd do it indirectly, by eliciting comments like this? Mileage, and all due respect, and blah blah fucking-blah, Billy Higgins "ruins a few otherwise fine Blue Note dates" for you? Now I have heard it all. Well, everything except a compelling argument for why Kenny G should be the subject of a documentary about his brilliance.

Nothing you have shared Kevin remotely contradicts what Steve R. stated. That's a death rate of .007. If you think that the only acceptable death toll for kids is zero, then try to figure out how to make it so. Rational people aren't that likely to agree with you, though, considering the social and educational costs for remote schooling, or rational hesitancy to not agree to vaccinations for children not that susceptible in any significant way to serious illness.

Moderna says booster increases anti-bodies for Omicron 37x. I'd provide a link but that was in my Boston Globe news email and I don't subscribe.

I found this because of Teddy, quite enjoyable but IIRC kinda short on the track timings. (And hey, more Ron Feuer, of the infamous Hammond Cheese LP with all those West Coast stars including Smilin' Billy.)

https://www.ebay.com/sch/carolinasoul/m.html?item=384587826307&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.m3561.l2562 Email from Carolina Soul below. I can certainly vouch for their standards, one of the best sellers on Discogs for sure. And some of these items look pretty cool even though I won't be bidding. Holiday gift idea: treat yourself to a piece of Jazz history! This week it is our pleasure to offer a very special collection, chock full of classic titles in wonderful condition, with more than half autographed by Jazz greats. All 700 albums ending on auction on Sunday and Monday once belonged to the late Lew Keck of Durham, NC. A lifelong jazz enthusiast and avid concertgoer, Lew met countless jazz performers after their shows and asked them to sign the jackets of albums that they played on. What's more, by carefully affixing ticket stubs to many of the jackets and saving the concert programs, Lew effectively created a document of the concerts and his encounters with the musicians. Don't miss this opportunity: all of these listings end on Sunday, December 19th, and Monday, December 20th.

I am told this is an unplanned outage and that it will be looked into. So I would expect the College of Jazz Knowledge to be back up pretty soon.

I am trying to contact one of his assistants who has been helpful in the past, if he sheds light I'll let everyone know.

I disagree ... people can be careful and they get infected and have a terrible or even catastrophic result. And its not true that everyone who isn't careful will inevitably get infected/sick/ER.

I am most curious to know the cause of this so-called collapse in record sales in 1979. Does anyone know the details of that? And it was apparently industry/genre wide? Oh - I guess I know why, this must have been the same time cassette tapes became prevalent and you didn't have to buy that record you could get a copy made by your buddy. And the industry answered by trying to convince the world that cassettes were evil. Do you think they had any clue what was coming in barely a decade's time?

I was defining immunity as from infection. The gist of what seems to be the case is that Omicron possibly infects nearly everyone exposed, and makes them capable of infecting others, vaccinated/not vaccinated. That's why its so rampant in most places. And perhaps, that is reflected in the study I linked, if it replicates easier in the bronchus, do sufferers expirate more virus, making it more infectious?

The thing is Guy, that "immunity" hardly seems to exist for Omicron, whether from vaccinations, being boosted, being sick before, being sick before + vaccinated and boosted. What I wonder is whether Omicron shows so many variants on the spike because it really did go from humans back to the non-human species and then back to humans. Who is to say that in that process, something also changed for virulence? That's the idea I am clinging to.

My thoughts are that you are not following the science. You are boosted. Moderna's results have been proven to be the most robust, in all studies (I believe). I suspect your doctor is going to tell you to take a chill pill. But if they say "fine" and it floats your boat, have at it. I read today that there is a new study showing that Omicron replicates in the lung much less efficiently than it does elsewhere, which might explain far fewer Omicron patients being on oxygen or respirators or having Covid pneumonia? I'll cop to worrying about what the coming weeks and months may bring in terms of spread but I am still hoping for a milder set of symptoms. But its true that a very small percent of a huge number could be a catastrophic # of deaths. Edit to add link to the study I mentioned https://www.med.hku.hk/en/news/press/20211215-omicron-sars-cov-2-infection

Jim Hickman (my favorite Cub, per my Mom, when I was a child) Ron Santo Ferguson Jenkins

OK, as long as I can still hear "Ain't Misbehavin'". Seriously though it is funny how many of these tunes I have multiple Percy France versions, none of which are less than good and most are kick-ass (especially Percy w. Budd Johnson on .. Ain't Misbehavin'. )

Is this really getting played/recorded that much in the first place? I received a tape from the Smithsonian that had this tune, but I wouldn't have named it in a thousand years and needed Jim to tell me what it was. It just sounded medium-familiar to me. And Percy blew most enjoyably on it.

Duly noted for BFT purposes. (But what purposes, he asked himself.)

In the course of my Percy France project I've heard a lot of performances of some of these tunes ... he surely played a lot of "A Train" and "Cottontail" just to reference examples among the particular tunes ID'd as overplayed by the OP. But all I can say is that I haven't at all grown bored with those performances, proof perhaps that in the right hands (and your choice of the right hands may vary from mine) even standards you've heard again and again don't grow old, boring or stale.

Nope, and it's not a middling Smith album either.

I have to say that for me, this one ties with Plays Pretty Just for You for last on the Jimmy Smith BN playlist. I wouldn't say terrible, just not a favorite.

Almost slipped right past me ... Dec 11 was six month anniversary of launching of site. Traffic: 576 site sessions / 429 unique visitors I think all things considered that's not bad.

Why is Richard Gere a punchline?

His records as a leader start in 1982 and up until 2010 were out at a very regular clip (now its about 4-5 years in between shitting out a new one). Given the fact of this documentary being produced and aired now, and that a major part of it is a change in critical approval, I would hardly say that he "barely exists" culturally. And OMG, check out the AllMusic review of his latest With 2021's elegant New Standards, saxophonist Kenny G wryly inserts himself into the pantheon of American Popular Songbook composers performing and writing songs that feel as if they were written during the heyday of traditional pop in the '50s and '60s. The album is G's first studio production since 2015's Brazilian Nights and while it certainly hews to his distinctive crossover style it's steeped in a lush orchestral atmosphere that evokes the classic traditional pop of artists like Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mathis, and Ella Fitzgerald. Of course, these aren't swinging big-band numbers, but hushed and intimate ballads with just enough R&B keyboard, bass, and guitar textures to keep things contemporary. What's particularly notable about New Standards is just how effectively G has managed to capture the sound of traditional pop. While solely instrumentals, tracks like "Emeline," "Blue Skies," and "Paris by Night" are nonetheless harmonically sophisticated songs that have the cozy, martini-soaked vibe of Tin Pan Alley and Brill Building standards. One could easily imagine a companion album with lyrics and guest vocalists added to the mix. That they are all G's own newly penned original compositions makes them all the more impressive. Even the one guest appearance here, a somewhat dubious, digitally crafted duet between G and his late idol, saxophonist Stan Getz (or more specifically "the sound" of Stan Getz), does little to distract from the overriding aura of relaxed, old-school romanticism.