GA Russell

Jim, I first heard of him in '03 with his album You Inspire Me. I liked it. He has had three hits on various charts, I Wonder Why (1991), You're All That Matters to Me (1992) and Never Saw a Miracle (1992). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_Stigers

Episode Twenty-Two https://artpepper.bandcamp.com/track/straight-life-audiocast-episode-twenty-two?from=fanpub_nfnb_trk

I remember the time I was kidnapped, and they sent a piece of my finger to my father. He said he wanted more proof.

The Frontier League will try sudden death overtime this year. SUDDEN DEATH BASEBALL COMING TO THE FRONTIER LEAGUE – Frontier League

I guess it's time to get back to work. When I have more energy, I'll post a recap of the Grey Cup. Until then, I'll put up a few headlines. Big news today. Michael Reilly has retired. https://www.cfl.ca/2022/01/24/hanging-cleats-michael-reilly-announces-retirement/ https://www.tsn.ca/bc-lions-mike-reilly-retires-1.1750101 https://3downnation.com/2022/01/24/b-c-lions-qb-michael-reilly-retires-from-cfl/

I get my daily dose of mainstream news from bing.com, and they have something on BTS twice a month. Really creepy look.

The day I start cleaning my house will be the day Sears comes out with a riding vacuum cleaner.

Don Wilson, the last of The Ventures, died yesterday at 88. RIP. Don Wilson, guitarist with The Ventures, dies at 88 (msn.com)

Jim, that was my first thought as well! ***** Why do they have the back pain medicine on the bottom shelf?

I noticed throughout the past year that I never saw any stereo system components on sale except speakers. It appears to me that shops of almost every kind have been on the decline, presumably because of the internet. I wonder if internet shopping has resulted in a decline in driving. Agree 100%!

Curtis Stigers Keep Me From The Cold Format(s): AAA, Jazz, Non-Commercial, NPR, Smooth Jazz, Triple A CURTIS STIGERS This Life HITS AND CLASSICS REVISITED The Award-Winning Singer, Songwriter and Saxophonist’s New Album To Be Released On February 25, 2022 “Keep Me From The Cold” The First Single From This Life, Available For Airplay Now! “Inspired marriage of visceral clout and intellectual savvy.” - New York Times “I cannot think of another vocalist who creates such an exuberant combination of bebop artistry and raw emotion.” - London Sunday Times With a 30-year recording career and millions of albums sold, Curtis Stigers returns with This Life - a collection of new recordings of some of his biggest hits and other songs that are close to his heart. “I don’t tend to look back much, musically speaking”, Curtis Stigers states in the liner notes to his new album “This Life”. “However, this time I set out with a plan to record songs from my previous twelve studio albums that I now play live in concert in a distinctly different way than I recorded them originally. Songs and arrangements grow and evolve from their recorded versions over time, as we play them again and again for audiences.” “I’ve made a conscious decision throughout my life not to be confined, musically,” says Curtis Stigers. “For me, it’s all about the song, about the story.” For the award-winning singer, songwriter, and saxophonist, the story keeps getting better. His string of hit singles and millions of albums sold aside, Stigers’ commitment to artistic growth, and to bringing new tunes to the Great American Songbook, has become unparalleled in modern music. Barnstorming concert halls, festivals and clubs everywhere from Moscow to Manhattan, accompanied one night by his quartet, another by big band or orchestra, Stigers continues to release new work nearly every year, frequently collaborating with his musical heroes. Along the way, this musician who began his career playing standards in a Boise hotel lobby while moonlighting as drummer in a punk rock band has redefined the constitution of contemporary jazz singing. Find Curtis Stigers Online At: www.curtisstigers.com

In April, the Criterion Collection will release both 'Round Midnight and The Girl Can't Help It.

3-LP VINYL RELEASE AVAILABLE NOW Live Concert from Oscar Peterson Quartet: A Time For Love: The Oscar Peterson Quartet – Live in Helsinki, 1987 Performance Recorded at Final Concert of 14-City Tour Beginning in South America and Ending in Europe, Captures Total Synergy Between the Band and Boisterous Audience Remarkable Quartet Features Joe Pass, Dave Young and Martin Drew “...the subtly swinging, jazz-classicist Canadian pianist was in full, expressive flower toward the tail end of the ’80s with this live effort being the proof of time spent in the studio and on the road…” — FLOOD Magazine "...the limited quantity on LP will go fast." — Variety "By ‘87, Peterson, guitarist Joe Pass, bassist Dave Young and drummer Martin Drew had fine-tuned the OP4 into an unstoppable swing machine, as heard on the forthcoming live release A Time For Love: The Oscar Peterson Quartet — Live in Helsinki, 1987.” — WBGO "This is simply classic jazz at its finest – an over-the-top, flawless performance." — Glide Magazine “...the music is the star here. The pianist is at the height of his musical prowess.” — DownBeat "In short, it’s as good as you no doubt assumed it was before you even started reading this review.” — JazzTimes "Oscar Peterson was one of the select few musicians, one of the last of a breed, who was world renowned simply for his talents.” — Jazz Weekly Listen to Kelly Peterson on Straight No Chaser For nearly 80 years, legacy has been the spinal cord of the glorious jazz tradition – but maybe never more so to its fans than during these challenging days of the pandemic. Unable to hear music in person, all of us have only been able to access new music through technology, resulting in many looking back upon what may have been missed. But when one can look back on something that is at the same time entirely new, that is a most special situation. And when that something new is coming from jazz immortal Oscar Peterson – even more so. And that is exactly what is in hand with A Time for Love: The Oscar Peterson Quartet – Live in Helsinki, 1987 from Two Lions/Mack Avenue Records. From this perspective alone, this is a momentous album – but it is far more than that. The final gig of a long international tour that began with 4 concerts in Brazil, this date was the 14th of a European tour that took the quartet all over mainland Europe and Scandinavia. Anyone with any knowledge of jazz knows that the magic of consistent performing only makes the synergy and empathy of an ensemble – both substances this quartet has in mind-blowing quantity – better and better. That always dwarfs the fatigue factor, and sometimes results in sheer magic on a different plane. That’s clearly what happened during this spectacular concert. As Kelly Peterson says: “Performing with joy and vivacity, they determined to make every concert better than the previous one. This night in Helsinki is a glorious example of that” – and a stunning addition to the continuing legacy of this beloved master of music. With a remarkable quartet of Joe Pass on guitar and the bass/drums tandem of Dave Young and Martin Drew – all of whom at the time of this recording were about halfway through their thirty-year affiliations with Peterson – the wildly enthusiastic Helsinki audience was treated to a marvelous performance that spans gorgeously poignant lyricism to blistering intensity and every stroke in between with flawless artistry and an exuberant sense of adventurous creativity. The live performance, presented in its unedited entirety, offers the actual being there experience. It graces listeners with the sweeping breadth of Peterson’s majesty as presented in the immediacy of the live concert. The first set consists exclusively of Peterson’s own compositions – an important focus in Kelly’s efforts to further enhance his immortal legacy. The scope of his exceptional vision as composer is on intriguing display through these five pieces, opening with the sauntering strut of the aptly titled “Cool Walk.” A pair of scorchers – “Sushi” and “Cakewalk” – vividly deliver the explosive power and consummate artistry that is so prominent in Peterson’s ensembles. Defining jazz as “instant composition,” he would occasionally compose a song during a performance. “Love Ballade” is one such piece, written spontaneously during an earlier concert. A mesmerizing extended solo piano opening of filigreed beauty. and an excellent guitar-like Young solo highlight this captivating offering. A lifelong fascination with Johann Sebastian Bach inspired Peterson’s stunning 20-minute “A Salute to Bach.” This enchanting three-part excursion maintains full jazz integrity in its homage, allowing him to dig into his early classical training. The second set features Peterson’s enthralling exploration of time-honored jazz and songbook classics, including two virtuosic solo performances: Pass’ exquisite rendition of the iconic Disney tune “When You Wish Upon a Star” and Peterson’s delightful take on Bill Evans’ “A Waltz for Debby.” Also included are Johnny Mandel’s lovely ballad “A Time for Love,” the deeply grooved swing of Benny Goodman’s “Soft Winds” and “How High the Moon,” a blast-off point of departure in so many of the legendary Jazz at the Philharmonic jams of Peterson’s past, given a gentler, jaunty take. The monumental climax – before the explosive encore of Peterson’s “Blues Etude” – is the “Duke Ellington Medley” featuring six Ellingtonia classics – “Take the ‘A’ Train,” “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore,” “Come Sunday,” “C-Jam Blues,” “Lush Life” and “Caravan.” A solo piano and ensemble tribute to the transcendence of what Duke represents to the legacy blending elements of swing, blues, barrelhouse, stride, boogie-woogie and every other color in Duke’s – and Peterson’s – endlessly creative palette. This incredible adventure is the perfect symbol for this entire album, touching upon the ultimate essence of jazz expression allowing Peterson to pay homage to his own fathers: Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson, James P. Johnson and Nat Cole by weaving them into a maelstrom of brilliance that is all Oscar Peterson. The perfect definition of the living and ever-expanding legacy of this profound art form. For those not totally aware of Peterson’s importance within the jazz legacy – as unimaginable as that may be – the Canadian-born of West Indian heritage pianist held court as an ultimate master for nearly 60 years. A recipient of numerous honors and awards (including eight GRAMMY® Awards) and the subject of various documentaries, Oscar Peterson was the embodiment of the history of jazz piano. blended with a superb command of Western Classical knowledge – all of which contributed to Ellington bestowing upon him the title “the Maharajah of the keyboard.” With over 200 albums of his own, Peterson’s amazing ability to temper his own magnificence as a leader and soloist to be able to provide totally empathetic and subtle accompaniment to other musicians and vocalists – simply and eloquently explained by Dave Young as “he listened” – made him a contributor to hundreds of other outstanding recordings, most notably as the virtual “house pianist” for his longtime manager Norman Granz’s Verve and Pablo Records. A professional since the age of 14, Peterson passed away at the age of 82 in 2007, leaving an unparalleled legacy that is as timeless as jazz itself. A Time for Love is available in both a double-CD format and as 180-gram vinyl in a 3-LP set. Both versions are beautifully packaged and include two sets of inside-view liner notes by quartet member Dave Young, Peterson protégé Benny Green and Oscar’s wife and producer of this album, Kelly Peterson. This is Mack Avenue Music Group’s second collaboration with the estate, following 2017’s re-release of Oscar, with Love. The release will also be available everywhere digitally. The recording is ideally summed up by Green in his liner notes: This live concert recording of Oscar in his epic prime is a heaven-sent time capsule of beauty and serves a glorious addition to the Jazz pantheon itself, a stunning testament to the music for which he honestly, humbly and fearlessly dedicated his life as a peaceful warrior, a hero to us all for the ages. I’m thankful for the gift of this concert and that Oscar’s spiritual music will play on for us today and tomorrow, as we need it more than ever before. Oscar Peterson · A Time For Love: The Oscar Peterson Quartet – Live in Helsinki, 1987 Two Lions/Mack Avenue Records Release Date: November 26, 2021 (CD & Digital) · January 21, 2022 (Vinyl) MACK AVENUE · the road to great music · mackavenue.com # # #

I'm looking for a cologne that will overpower women. I'm sick of karate.

Arkadia Records Reinvents Itself for the Digital Age Bob Karcy's Acclaimed Jazz Label Marks Its 25th Anniversary With Digital Releases of Its Entire Back Catalog & Its First New Music in Years, Preparing to Release the Debut Album of Brazilian Singer-Songwriter Tetel Di Babuya Plans in Progress for Arkadia Concerts, A VOD (Video on Demand) Jazz Channel January 21, 2022 Twenty-five years after its first CD release, Arkadia Records emerges in 2022 from a long quiet spell, revitalized and recalibrated for a changing music industry. The jazz label founded and run by Bob Karcy has embraced the digital musical landscape, releasing its complete catalog on the full gamut of online streaming platforms and preparing its first releases since the 2000s—including the newly recorded debut album by Brazil’s Tetel Di Babuya (right), due for June 24 release. The burst of new activity is not a “rebirth” per se: That would imply that Arkadia had undergone some sort of death. “We never went away,” Karcy stresses. “We’ve always been here to distribute our physical products—CDs and DVDs—and licensing the music to various TV shows and films. But we’ve recently heard from the streaming services, and they all said, ‘Hey, how come the Arkadia catalog’s not out there on our platforms?’” That the streaming services would desire Arkadia’s archive is unsurprising. It’s a treasure trove including over 100 albums, with works by such revered artists as Benny Golson, Billy Taylor, Dave Liebman, and Joanne Brackeen as well as the entire discography of the Grammy-nominated Arkadia Jazz All-Stars. It also includes the full catalogs of Arkadia Chansons, an imprint Karcy founded to distribute his holdings of classic French popular music, and Postcards Records, an adventurous jazz label that Arkadia purchased in 1999. Yet Arkadia’s renaissance is not just a celebration of its backlog. The archive also holds multiple albums’ worth of never-before-released recordings, including sessions by Brackeen, saxophonist TK Blue, and the Arkadia Jazz All-Stars. Even more exciting, however, is the fact that this glut of releases begins with the label’s first new album in over a decade: Meet Tetel, the debut recording by Brazilian singer-songwriter and violinist Tetel Di Babuya. “She’s certainly not in the ‘classic’ way we know jazz, with scatting and bebop; she has a more contemporary, singer-songwriter feel,” Karcy says. “But she’s in the jazz pocket—you couldn’t call it any other genre but jazz. It’s accessible, original, and really exciting.” More developments are in the works. In the coming months, Arkadia will unveil Arkadia Concerts, a VOD (video on demand) channel for jazz concerts and documentaries from Karcy’s extensive catalog featuring artists such as Herbie Hancock, Nancy Wilson, and Joe Williams. Don’t call it a comeback: Just say that Arkadia has resumed its place at the front lines of jazz’s evolution. Arkadia Records began in the mid-1990s when Bob Karcy (right)—a lifelong music lover, musician, producer, and entrepreneur—decided to establish a recording hub that some of his favorite jazz greats could call home. The label’s first release, 1997’s The Music Keeps Us Young by piano legend Billy Taylor’s trio, marks its 25th anniversary in 2022. The company features three label imprints: Arkadia Jazz, which offers music that runs from the straightahead to the avant-garde; Arkadia Chansons, which distributes historic recordings of French popular music from the likes of Edith Piaf and Charles Trenet; and Postcards Records, a collection of snapshots from jazz’s outer edges. Arkadia also holds an extensive video archive of jazz-focused programming, including concert performances as well as documentaries and other programs. Arkadia’s catalog features acclaimed and award-winning gems from such iconic jazz artists as Billy Taylor, Benny Golson, Dave Liebman, Reggie Workman, and Paul Bley, as well as lesser known but superlative talents such as saxophonist TK Blue, pianist Paul Tobey, and Brazilian bands Nova Bossa Nova and Pé de Boi. In 1998, Karcy brought together several of the label’s artists to form the Arkadia Jazz All-Stars. Arkadia’s new signature band made a number of acclaimed recordings, including the Thank You series of tributes to John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, Joe Henderson, and Gerry Mulligan. The Arkadia Jazz All-Stars’ Thank You, Gerry! (Our Tribute to Gerry Mulligan), which features Lee Konitz, Bob Brookmeyer, Randy Brecker, and Ted Rosenthal, will be released worldwide in digital format on April 8, 2022. Arkadia has earned four Grammy Award nominations and numerous other accolades. Karcy, however, has always operated the label according to his own knowledge and eclectic taste, rather than fodder for awards and accolades. Artists who can “make strong and important artistic statements,” he says, can find a home at Arkadia Records. Arkadia Records Web Site ‌ ‌ ‌

Atlas has a great reputation, but I would like to see him carry a mattress upstairs.

ORNETTE COLEMAN BOX SET GENESIS OF GENIUS: THE CONTEMPORARY ALBUMS SET FOR RELEASE MARCH 25 Continuing Craft Recordings’ 70th Anniversary Celebration of Contemporary Records 180g 2-LP and 2-CD box sets contain newly mastered audio by Bernie Grundman of the legendary jazz saxophonist’s albums Something Else!!!! and Tomorrow Is the Question! Includes expanded booklet with archival photos and extensive new liner notes by GRAMMY® Award-winning music historian Ashley Kahn Continuing Contemporary Records’ 70th anniversary celebration, Craft Recordings is proud to announce the release of the new box set, Ornette Coleman – Genesis of Genius: The Contemporary Albums (2-LP, 2-CD and digital formats out March 25). The sets feature two seminal releases, 1958’s Something Else!!!! The Music of Ornette Coleman and 1959’s Tomorrow Is the Question! The New Music of Ornette Coleman. These albums transformed an unknown jazz visionary from the hinterlands into the talk of the New York scene. Both albums were originally recorded by legendary engineer Roy DuNann, the man responsible for the famously pristine sound quality of Contemporary albums, and have been newly mastered for this release by Bernie Grundman, who himself got his start at Contemporary, mentored by DuNann. The 180-gram vinyl set, which will be pressed at RTI, has been cut from the original analog tapes to lacquer, with the original tapes also used for new hi-res transfers and mastering by Grundman for the 2-CD and digital editions. The deluxe box sets include a 32-page booklet with archival photos and extensive new liner notes by GRAMMY® Award-winning music historian Ashley Kahn. The LP jackets also replicate the original tip-on versions. SACD versions of both albums, Something Else!!!! and Tomorrow Is the Question! will also be made available exclusively via CraftRecordings.com on the same date, March 25. Largely avoided by his colleagues on the L.A. jazz scene in the late 1950s, Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015) found an open door at Contemporary Records, where the label’s founder Lester Koenig was intrigued by his melodic sensibility and unorthodox approach to phrasing. After his Contemporary albums, Coleman quickly went on to New York City and turned the jazz scene on its head, but it was Koenig who provided the first glimpse of the saxophonist’s new approach to rhythm and harmony. “These two recordings are the accessible gateway to Ornette Coleman’s music,” says Nick Phillips, the producer of Genesis of Genius. “He’s expanding on the bebop vocabulary and at this point he’s using traditional forms for most compositions, 12-bar blues and AABA song form, but doing something totally different. With Ornette and Don Cherry’s trumpet in the front line, the way they play and phrase and shift rhythms together, it sounds very loose but very tight.” Featuring Coleman’s working band with Don Cherry on trumpet, pianist Walter Norris, bassist Don Payne and drummer Billy Higgins, the album Something Else!!!! sounds less radical today than strikingly individual and steeped in the blues. With nine Coleman originals, the session introduced several tunes that became standards, including “The Blessing” and “When Will the Blues Leave?” Featuring Cherry, Shelly Manne, and either Percy Heath or Red Mitchell on bass, the emphatic, pianoless follow up Tomorrow Is the Question! made it clear that Coleman’s concepts were both insistently innovative and tethered to bedrock African American idioms. Consisting entirely of Coleman originals, the album introduced several more tunes that became an essential part of the jazz canon, including “Tears Inside,” “Rejoicing” and “Turnaround.” More than a seminal improviser and composer who exponentially expanded jazz’s rhythmic and harmonic frontiers, Coleman embodied the playfully heroic duality-erasing ideal at the center of African American musical innovation. Radical and rootsy, avant-garde and populist, philosophical and visceral, genius and trickster, Coleman was born and raised in Ft. Worth, and the wailing Texas blues was woven into his sound. By the time he settled in Los Angeles in the mid-1950s he’d spent years on the road playing blues and R&B, imbuing a gutbucket sensibility that he carried with into every musical setting. L.A. beboppers often treated him with disdain, perceiving his unorthodox note choice as lack of chops, but he slowly found a brilliant cadre of musicians who embraced his musical vision, including pianist Paul Bley, drummers Billy Higgins and Eddie Blackwell, bassist Charlie Haden and Don Cherry. The Contemporary albums paved the way for Coleman’s fall 1959 triumph in New York City, with Tomorrow Is the Question! hitting stores the same month that his quartet started an extended run at the Five Spot, arguably the most consequential and controversial gig in jazz history. Alternately championed and denounced by his musical peers and critics, Coleman found a new home at Atlantic Records, where he continued expanding his gorgeous, searing, utterly human approach to music. But it was Lester Koenig who first recognized Coleman’s genius when he walked into his Melrose office at a time when the saxophonist wasn’t even welcome on most bandstands. “The Contemporary discs were the foundation of Ornette’s career and the bellwether of a new age, arriving at the close of one decade, and the onset of a brave, new one,” writes Ashley Kahn in the Genesis of Genius liner notes. “Embraced or derided, the music challenged long-held ideas of what jazz—what music—should sound like.” Genesis of Genius Players 2-LP box set LP1 - Something Else!!!!: The Music of Ornette Coleman Ornette Coleman – alto saxophone Don Cherry – trumpet Walter Norris – piano Don Payne – bass Billy Higgins – drums LP2 - Tomorrow Is the Question!: The New Music of Ornette Coleman Ornette Coleman – alto saxophone Don Cherry – trumpet Percy Heath – bass (Side 1) Red Mitchell – bass (Side 2) Shelly Manne – drums Genesis of Genius continues Craft Recordings celebration of Contemporary Records 70th anniversary, a campaign that launched in December with six digital On Contemporary compilations focusing on individual jazz giants who recorded extensively for the label: Art Pepper, Hampton Hawes, Barney Kessel, André Previn and Shelly Manne plus The Saxophonists – Various Artists, offers a tantalizing glimpse at the depth of the Contemporary catalog with an array of era-defining horn players. 2022 will see lots more to come as the label celebration continues.

Grandmother used to take my mom to the circus to see the fat lady and the tattooed man. Now they're everywhere.

Dan and mg, I think everyone including Jim interpreted it that way!

Of course. Otherwise, the joke wouldn't make any sense, would it?

Jim, Canada Post is too controversial for me to weigh in on. I'll pass! ***** At Microsoft, a minority employee is a guy who has a girlfriend.

Joe, going from memory, I think they did not offer CDs until 1991. I remember that the Gerry Mulligan #102 was one of them, and probably both Chet Baker PJs as well. I'm going to guess that the first boxes available as CDs from the get go were Count Basie #135, Holman/Russo #136 and Larry Young #137. Anybody want to correct me on this?

In California, some high schools are requiring students to wear uniforms. They say uniforms create a safe and stable environment. You know, like the post office.

My girlfriend always laughs during sex, no matter what's she's reading.

I wouldn't mind being the last man on earth. Just to see if all those girls were telling the truth.