GA Russell

I agree that teams should be at least decent to qualify for a bowl. Remember, two of those six wins were against early season Div. I-AA teams. And I agree that naming a bowl game after a corporation is distasteful - even more so when the corporations change every couple of years. In Charlotte the Belk's Bowl was the Continental Tire Bowl not long ago. But I like the idea of two evenly matched teams from opposite sides of the country (who would never otherwise play each other) getting together on a beautiful southern afternoon in late December, while the rest of America is taking the week off. It might be a good game!

Paul, I bet you remember fifty years ago a young guy had a nationally syndicated "column" called The Bottom Ten, ranking the worst ten college teams. As I recall, Northwestern was usually up there. Each week there was a highlighted "Crummy Game of the Week," which featured two conference cellar dwellers battling each other.

Mike, as far as I'm concerned, you're always welcome to inform us of Cal Tjader facts and trivia! The emails I receive from oldies.com suggest that Not Now and Real Gone are two labels of the same company. But I don't see that on the net. https://www.discogs.com/label/419015-Real-Gone http://www.notnowmusic.com Real Gone Music is linked with Warner, among others. http://www.realgonemusic.com

Thanks, guys! I've never heard a Membran, but I remember they were severely dissed here several years ago.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, and that Santa brought what you wanted! There is another (apparently) European pd label that looks interesting. I don't see a name. Here is an example, its Cal Tjader release: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071WV6NT3/ Let me say up front that the Not Now/Real Gone releases are just too low-fi for this fan. On the other hand, I am content with the Jasmine releases I have. Does anyone have an opinion of the quality of this label's sound? And by the way, what's its name? PS - OK, I now see that the label's name is apparently Documents or maybe The Intense Media.

Stefan, I see these headphones. I'll let you decide if they are good enough for you. Sennheiser HD 600 Open Back Professional Headphone - $249.00 https://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-Open-Back-Professional-Headphone/dp/B00004SY4H ***** Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 Wireless with Active Noise Cancellation- Black - $249.95 https://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-Momentum-Wireless-Active-Cancellation-/dp/B00SNI44CQ ***** Sennheiser HD 598 SR Open-Back Headphone - $112.02 https://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD-598-SR-Open-Back/dp/B06WRMZZ45

Rocky 1-6 Bundle - $18.30 prime https://www.amazon.com/Rocky-1-6-Bundle/dp/B01LWZH62B

Thanks, Jack!

Have Gun Will Travel (complete) - $40.14 prime https://www.amazon.com/Have-Gun-Will-Travel-Complete/dp/B07FDMXLRX

Now $117.61.

There is a Jimmy Smith 5 Original Albums set (I think the title should include "vol. 2"), which includes Home Cookin', Crazy! Baby, Midnight Special, Back at the Chicken Shack and Softly as a Summer Breeze. https://www.amazon.com/5-Original-Albums-CD/dp/B079229SL9/ What do you folks think of these albums? Are these as good as his Verve albums (which I think were recorded soon after)?

November 2019 marks 50 years since Manfred Eicher founded ECM Records, “one of the defining sound-worlds of the past half-century of recorded music” (Richard Brody, The New Yorker). The anniversary year is inaugurated with two nights at Winter Jazzfest. Michael Formanek (double bass) /Mary Halvorson (guitar) /Tim Berne (alto saxophone) Shai Maestro (Shai Maestro: piano; Jorge Roeder: double bass; Ofri Nehemya: drums) Ralph Alessi Quintet (Ralph Alessi: trumpet; Ravi Coltrane: saxophones; Andy Milne: piano; Drew Gress: double-bass; Mark Ferber: drums) Vijay Iyer/Craig Taborn (pianos) Mathias Eick Quintet (Mathias Eick: trumpet; Andreas Ulvo: piano Håkon Aase: violin; Audun Erlien: electric bass; Torstein Lofthus: drums) Billy Hart Quartet (Ethan Iverson: piano; Dayna Stephens: saxophones; Ben Street: double-bass; Billy Hart: drums) © *2018 ECM Records US, A Division of Verve Music Group. All rights reserved.

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I say "no."

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Mike Sherman is 64 today. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Sherman

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Marantz CD5005 CD Player - $257.68 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L1HMZ40/

Paul, I had no idea that Volume One was voted #3 in the Downbeat Readers Poll.

Second Volume of "The Poetry of Jazz," Much-Lauded Collaboration Between Saxophonist/Composer Benjamin Boone & The Late U.S. Poet Laureate Philip Levine, To Be Released by Origin Records January 18 "The Poetry of Jazz" Received Raves From Both Literary & Music Press, Voted #3 Jazz Album of 2018 in DownBeat Readers Poll Recorded at the Same Sessions That Produced The First Album & Co-Produced by Boone & Pianist Donald Brown, New CD Features Boone's California-Based Band December 12, 2018 Saxophonist/composer Benjamin Boone's The Poetry of Jazz, a collaboration with the late U.S. Poet Laureate Philip Levine, was recognized as a milestone spoken word/jazz project immediately upon its release last March. Praised in leading musical and literary publications, featured on NPR's All Things Considered, and voted the #3 Jazz Album of 2018 in DownBeat's annual Readers Poll, The Poetry of Jazz established Boone as one of the most captivating and compelling voices among contemporary artists exploring the intersections between poetry and jazz. The Poetry of Jazz Volume Two, recorded during the same sessions that produced the first album, will be released by Origin Records on January 18. A nonpareil artistic achievement on both musical and literary fronts, Volume Two features an impressive cast of California players, relying particularly on bassist Spee Kosloff, pianist Craig von Berg, pianist/arranger David Aus, and drummer Brian Hamada, who died in 2018 (the album is dedicated to both Levine and Hamada). Karen Marguth contributes wordless vocals on two of the four instrumental tracks. Boone and pianist Donald Brown produced. Levine (below right), who died in 2015 at 87, was one of America's most celebrated poets: he won the National Book Award for Poetry twice, and the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his 1994 volume The Simple Truth. Appointed U.S. Poet Laureate by the Library of Congress in 2011, he was an avid jazz fan and found an ideal collaborator in Boone, a fellow professor at California State University, Fresno. Working closely together in the three years before Levine's death, the two men forged a connection in which the rhythm and cadence of Levine's recitations inspired and informed Boone's music. The poet essentially became part of Boone's band, with an unerring sense of where to pause and let the music come through. The Poetry of Jazz Volume Two focuses on Levine's poems with timeless and topical humanist themes such as the immigrant experience, the aftermath of war and conflict, and the downtrodden working class (Levine's works inspired by and dedicated to jazz artists were a focal point of the first album). Interspersed among these are atmospheric vignettes like "Belle Isle" and "An Ordinary Morning." Boone also includes instrumental versions of "Yakov" and "They Feed They Lion," poems recited by Levine on the previous album, as well as "Godspell" and "The Simple Truth," recited on Volume Two. A lifelong jazz fan born in Detroit in 1928 and raised there when the city was an incubator for a brilliant generation of bebop-inspired improvisers, Philip Levine often wrote verse about jazz and the musicians he loved. Boone, an award-winning composer, instrumentalist, and educator, took things further, drawing inspiration not only from the subjects of Levine's poems but also from the musicality of his language and his wry, emotionally restrained recitations. Over the course of his career Levine collaborated with musicians in a variety of settings, but felt the results weren't always salutary, making the connection with Boone all the more satisfying: "He can tell just where the music needs to carry the moment, or the language has to climb over the instruments. His compositions seem to grow directly out of the thrust of the language." Born in 1963 in Statesville, NC, Benjamin Boone grew up in an intellectually stimulating family. "I learned a great deal about science, literature, visual art, and music from my four older brothers," he says. While he could have devoted himself to any number of pursuits, he concentrated on the saxophone and started improvising at an early age. "I've always gravitated towards interdisciplinary projects like this, where I can create an artistic statement that addresses history and topics relevant today." A respected performer and composer in jazz and new music circles, Boone often sets texts to music. His compositions have been performed in 29 countries, heard on more than 25 recordings, and have been the subject of several NPR stories. He has conducted musical research in the former Soviet Republic of Moldova as a Fulbright Senior Specialist Fellow, and just finished a year living in Ghana, performing and composing with African musicians as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar. "Ghana's music and culture transformed me musically and personally," says Boone. "Music is part of the fabric of life and everyone participates and has a role. It's a beautifully communal way of thinking and being. Accra has an amazing music scene." While there, Boone also co-founded The New Global Ensemble and recorded an album with the Ghana Jazz Collective. Boone traces his fascination with the music of spoken language to a hearing condition "that makes it hard for me to understand words," he says. "When I hear people speak, I hear it as music, a melodic line. This certainly informed how I conceived of Phil's narration and how it related to the band. I think that is partially responsible for why people hear such synergy between the music and the poetry." Photography: Joe Osejo (Levine), Mark Crosse (Boone) Cover Painting: "Distant Soul" by Frank Arnold The Poetry of Jazz Volume Two Web Site: benjaminboone.net

Areni Agbabian - Bloom Digital release date: February 15 CD release: February 22, 2019 Areni Agbabian: voice, piano; Nicolas Stocker: percussion Improvising vocalist, folk singer, storyteller, pianist: on her ECM debut Areni Agbabian focuses the range of her skills in music that casts a quiet spell. A sparse music in which voice, piano and the subtle percussion of Nicolas Stocker (last heard on ECM with Nik Bärtsch's Mobile ensemble), continually shade into silence.  The California-born Agbabian, who came to international attention with the groups of Tigran Hamasyan, draws deeply upon her Armenian heritage, reinterpreting sacred hymns, a traditional tale, a folk melody transcribed by Komitas and more, and interspersing these elements among her own evocative compositions. Bloom was recorded in Lugano in October 2016 and produced by Manfred Eicher. ECM Giovanni Guidi - Avec le temps Digital release date: February 15 CD release: February 22, 2019 Giovanni Guidi: piano; Francesco Bearzatti: tenor saxophone; Roberto Cecchetto: guitar; Thomas Morgan: double bass; João Lobo: drums Italian pianist Giovanni Guidi's core trio with bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer João Lobo opens Avec le temps with a deeply-felt interpretation of the title track, the song of love and loss by Léo Ferré, and closes the album with "Tomasz", dedicated to Tomasz Stanko. In between, the band swells to quintet size, with saxophonist Francesco Bearzatti and guitarist Roberto Cecchetto contributing to Guidi originals and group improvising in a program of strikingly contrasting energies and colors, with outstanding playing by all participants. Avec le temps was recorded at Studios La Buissonne in November 2017 and produced by Manfred Eicher. Larry Grenadier - The Gleaners Digital release date: February 15 CD and Vinyl: February 22, 2019 Larry Grenadier: double bass Larry Grenadier's The Gleaners is a profound and highly creative album, harvesting influences from many sources, its title inspired by Agnès Varda's film The Gleaners and I. In between his own pieces here, including a dedication to early hero Oscar Pettiford, Grenadier explores compositions by George Gershwin, John Coltrane, Paul Motian, Rebecca Martin and Wolfgang Muthspiel. "The process for making this record began with a look inward," Larry writes in his liner note, "an excavation into the core elements of who I am as a bass player. It was a search for a center of sound and timbre, for the threads of harmony and rhythm that formulate the crux of a musical identity." The result is an important addition to ECM's series of distinguished solo bass albums. The Gleaners was recorded at New York's Avatar Studios in December 2016 and produced by Manfred Eicher.

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Actually... (but who's counting?!!!) I think they recorded two albums for Decca, but the second was not released in the US. https://www.amazon.com/Zombies/dp/B00008NRLJ/ ...and maybe... https://www.amazon.com/Zombies-Clear-Vinyl/dp/B01G68ZJGY/ Thirty years ago there was a Spanish LP series called "Gigantes del Pop." I bought The Zombies' LP, which included 20 Decca recordings. Then as we all know, they moved to CBS and recorded... https://www.amazon.com/Odessey-Oracle-LP-Zombies/dp/B00YZ6MWJC/ For Christmas next week, I will receive this 2-CD set... https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DMDI4S6/ Also, consider their Decca EPs: https://www.amazon.com/Ep-Collection-Zombies/dp/B00000767N/ref=ntt_mus_dp_dpt_13

I'm as politically incorrect as anyone else below the Mason-Dixon line, but I've long felt that the lyrics here are creepy. I don't think that the feminism of the past fifty years has anything to do with it.