GA Russell

Riders DE Eric Norwood has retired. http://3downnation.com/2016/12/04/riders-defensive-end-eric-norwood-retire-28/#comments ***** Let's look at the list of those slated to become free agents Feb. 14. http://www.cfl.ca/fa17/ http://www.cfl.ca/2017/01/19/cfl-cas-top-30-pending-free-agents/ http://3downnation.com/2016/11/30/top-ten-pending-cfl-free-agents/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/01/pending-cfl-free-agents-never-hit-market-go/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/04/ticats-free-agent-shopping-list/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/04/five-players-riders-target-free-agency/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/11/prioritizing-ottawas-free-agents/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/22/nine-players-ticats-try-hardest-re-sign/#comments

Thus far I've listened to only Disc One, which I've played a number of times and I've enjoyed very much.

This is another one I'm enjoying. Pretty mainstream, but that's what I like.

Freddie Hubbard - Artist Selects - $6.24 prime www.amazon.com/Artist-Selects-Freddie-Hubbard/dp/B000B66PNY ***** oldies.com has over 400 CDs on sale for 99 cents. Quite a number are jazz. http://www.oldies.com/collection-view/Clearance-CDs.html?sort=11

Anita Baker announced on Twitter that she has decided to retire. http://www.bing.com/search?q=Anita+Baker+retiring&filters=tnTID%3a"F3DA9B61-2BF9-418c-998D-824F3B592CA6"+tnVersion%3a"1779677"+segment%3a"popularnow.carousel"+tnCol%3a"26"+tnOrder%3a"3c3847a3-9849-41cc-aaa1-9c6224690a8b"&FORM=BSPN01&crslsl=2934&efirst=19

Henry told the Ottawa Sun today that he is leaning toward retiring. I've always liked the idea of a player going out on top, so it sounds good to me. http://3downnation.com/2017/01/18/henry-burris-lot-things-point-not-playing/#comments

Here is the 2016 All-Star team. http://3downnation.com/2016/12/07/west-division-dominates-cfl-star-awards/#comments ***** For those of you Rider and Tarheel fans who cannot get enough of Darian Durant, here is more to enjoy, in chronological order. http://3downnation.com/2016/12/19/devils-advocate-reasons-let-darian-durant-walk/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/01/05/madani-riders-make-new-offer-quarterback-darian-durant/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/01/06/riders-alouettes-engage-darian-durant-trade-talks/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/01/14/riderville-reacts-rider-fans-taking-trade-darian-durant/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/01/14/acquisition-durant-good-news-alouettes-future/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/01/15/chris-jones-darian-durant-relationship-doomed-start/#comments

Kremerata Baltica / Gidon Kremer violin Yulianna Avdeeva piano | Mate Bekavec clarinet Andrey Pushkarev percussion | Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla conductor “Weinberg has become a source of unlimited inspiration. No other composer has entered my own and Kremerata Baltica’s repertoire and program concepts with such intensity.” - Gidon Kremer This double album, recorded in Vienna and in Riga in June 2015, includes all four of the chamber symphonies written in the last decade of Polish-born Soviet composer Mieczysław Weinberg’s life, plus a beautiful new arrangement - by Gidon Kremer and Kremerata percussionist Andrey Pushkarev - of the early Piano Quintet of 1944, heard here in a premiere recording. Weinberg’s chamber symphonies are Kremer says, “the most personal reflections of a great composer on his own life and his generation, like a diary of the most dramatic period of the 20th century.” This new recording – the second Kremerata Baltica album dedicated to Weinberg - again underlines the importance and originality of Weinberg’s music and is, Kremer feels, “the most valuable landmark in the orchestra’s discography since its birth”. It is released in time for a major tour celebrating both Kremerata Baltica’s 20th anniversary and leader Gidon Kremer’s 70th birthday. In addition to an artist’s statement from Gidon Kremer, the CD booklet includes liner notes by Weinberg biographer David Fanning, as well as a personal recollection of the composer by Alexander Raskatov. Gidon Kremer/Kremerata Baltica In Concert Jan 19, 20, 21, 24 - Boston, MA @ Boston Symphony Hall Jan 26-28 – Washington, DC @ Kennedy Center Jan 31 - Shenandoah @ Armstrong Concert Hall Feb 1 - Chicago, IL @ Chicago Symphony Center Feb 2 - New York, NY @ 92Y Feb 3 - Princeton, NJ @ McCarter Theatre Center Feb 4 - Toronto, ON @ Koerner Hall Feb 6 - Quebec, PQ @ Salle Louis- Fréchette Feb 7 - Montreal, PQ @ Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Feb 9 - Calgary, AB @ Jack Singer Concert Hall Feb 10 - Stanford, CA @ Bing Concert Hall © 2017 ECM | ECM Records | Verve Music Group, 150 5th Ave | New York NY 10011

felser, they were listening to you!

Kenny Stafford signed with the Bombers today. http://3downnation.com/2017/01/17/released-confrontation-cato-stafford-lands-bombers/#comments http://www.cfl.ca/2017/01/17/bombers-sign-free-agent-stafford-two-year-deal/ http://www.tsn.ca/blue-bombers-sign-receiver-stafford-1.651974 ***** A number of guys have tried out for NFL teams. http://3downnation.com/2016/12/12/redblacks-star-receiver-greg-ellingson-works-nfls-chicago-bears/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/12/argos-receiver-kenny-shaw-works-chicago-bears/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/13/ticats-dl-drake-nevis-works-new-orleans-saints/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/14/b-c-lions-all-stars-bryan-burnham-alex-bazzie-and-richie-leone-work-out-for-arizona-cardinals/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/20/eskimos-lb-deon-lacey-worked-green-bay-packers/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/29/bengals-workout-8-cfl-players/ http://3downnation.com/2016/12/30/five-cfl-players-workout-three-nfl-teams/#comments ***** And some of these have signed contracts. http://3downnation.com/2017/01/03/roster-moves-round-leone-lacey-nfl-bound/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/01/04/star-cfl-lb-adam-bighill-signs-saints/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/01/05/bighill-exit-leaves-lions-big-problem/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/01/05/esks-receiver-derel-walker-signs-futures-deal-nfls-buccaneers/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/01/07/stampeders-frank-beltre-signs-with-new-york-jets/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/01/07/bc-lions-defensive-back-inks-deal-in-new-orleans/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/01/08/grey-cup-champion-defensive-back-inks-pact-eagles/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/01/10/b-c-lions-alex-bazzie-signs-colts/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/01/14/riders-linebacker-jeff-knox-signs-tampa-bay-bucs/#comments

Happy Birthday 2017 VA NJ!

Matt Nichols re-upped with the Bombers today. I don't usually post when a free agent sticks with his team because that happens so often. But this year the Riders were expected to make a big offer to him because they now have no proven starter. http://3downnation.com/2017/01/16/bombers-agree-terms-qb-matt-nichols-contract-extension/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/01/16/bombers-agree-terms-qb-matt-nichols-contract-extension/#comments http://www.cfl.ca/2017/01/13/job-opening-who-will-be-the-riders-next-qb/ http://www.tsn.ca/bombers-nichols-working-on-three-year-deal-1.651523

The Als signed Kavis Reed to be their new GM. He chose Jacques Chapdelaine to become the permanent head coach. Here it is in chronological order. http://3downnation.com/2016/12/01/alouettes-interview-gm-candidate/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/07/what-the-hell-is-going-on-in-montreal/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/09/alouettes-considering-unique-structure-football-operations-report/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/10/cryptic-tweet-indicates-maciocia-may-mix-montreal/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/12/maciocias-decision-spurn-alouettes-makes-whole-lot-sense/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/13/qa-danny-maciocia-turning-alouettes/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/14/alouettes-promote-assistant-coach-kavis-reed-general-manager/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/15/alouettes-hope-new-trio-leaders-can-help-establish-winning-culture/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/16/kavis-reed-charge-alouettes-target-darian-durant/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/21/abrams-assistant-gm-montreal/#comments

Laurie Pepper has put up on her bandcamp website a quiz which she calls Name Them Changes. Which of you will be first with the correct answer? https://artpepper.bandcamp.com/track/free-name-them-changes

The league has collected clips for Top 10 lists for eight different sorts of plays for 2016. http://www.cfl.ca/videos/highlights/

Happy Birthday hbj!

After 146 years, Ringling Bros. is closing The Greatest Show on Earth. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/01/15/ringling-bros-circus-plans-to-shut-down-greatest-show-on-earth-after-146-years.html

I remember one night they pulled a prank on her. (Garry Moore explained everything to the audience ahead of time.) A viewer had written in, saying that Betsy never correctly guessed the secret. So they brought a contestant out and started with her. Naturally, she failed to guess the secret. So when her time was up, instead of moving on to the next panelist, Moore said, "Well, I guess we'll never know what your secret is." And the contestant got up and left. Betsy was clueless as to what was going on and why the audience was laughing.

Some quarterback news this evening. The Riders traded Darian Durant to the Alouettes today. http://www.cfl.ca/2017/01/13/riders-deal-durants-rights-alouettes/ http://www.thesnap.ca/cfl-reacts-darian-durant-traded-mtl/ http://www.cfl.ca/2017/01/13/durant-this-is-a-very-emotional-time-for-me/ https://canadianfootballleague.exposure.co/durant-through-the-years http://www.sportsnet.ca/football/cfl/alouettes-acquire-rights-quarterback-darian-durant/ http://www.tsn.ca/durant-deal-adds-intrigue-to-the-cfl-qb-carousel-1.649515 http://www.tsn.ca/durant-deal-adds-intrigue-to-the-cfl-qb-carousel-1.649515 http://3downnation.com/2017/01/13/durant-trade-riders-wanted-stay/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/01/13/alouettes-darian-durant-agree-on-contract-extension/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/01/13/decision-deal-durant-chris-jones-ego/#comments ***** The Bombers released Kevin Glenn last Friday. http://3downnation.com/2017/01/06/bombers-release-qb-kevin-glenn/#comments http://www.cfl.ca/2017/01/06/bombers-release-veteran-qb-kevin-glenn/ ***** The Stampeders are shopping Drew Tate. http://3downnation.com/2017/01/13/stampeders-shopping-qb-drew-tate/#comments

Free Agency Day will be Feb. 14 this year. So over the next few days, let's catch up on what little news there has been. The only truly noteworthy occurrence was that Riders running back Joe McKnight was shot and killed in suburban New Orleans at 2:45 in the afternoon Thursday Dec. 1 in what police described as an apparent road rage incident. McKnight played his college ball at USC, and he was honored at the Rose Bowl Jan. 2. https://www.bing.com/search?pc=cosp&ptag=AD6C08C471A&form=CONBDF&conlogo=CT3210127&q=Joe%20McKnight http://3downnation.com/2016/12/01/riders-running-back-joe-mcknight-shot-dead/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/02/joe-mcknights-shooter-released-custody-without-charge/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/02/joe-mcknights-shooter-may-get-off-scot-free/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/02/sheriff-defends-release-shooter-joe-mcknight/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/02/mcknight-shooter-previous-arrest-road-rage/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/03/joe-mcknights-death-says-canada-cfl/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/03/nfl-star-reggie-bush-wear-cleats-honouring-joe-mcknight/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/06/shooter-joe-mcknight-case-charged-manslaughter/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/06/sheriff-angrily-defends-investigation-mcknight-shooter-arrested/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/08/funeral-arrangements-set-joe-mcknight/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/13/funeral-held-slain-riders-running-back-joe-mcknight/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/14/mcknight-family-meets-prosecutor/#comments

T Theo Bleckmann voice | Shai Maestro piano | Ben Monder guitar Chris Tordini double-bass | John Hollenbeck drums Beyond being a vocalist of rare purity and daring, Theo Bleckmann is a sound painter who creates what JazzTimes has described aptly as “luminous webs” in music. The German-born New Yorker – after appearing on two ECM albums by Meredith Monk and another by Julia Hülsmann – makes his striking label debut as a leader with Elegy. This album showcases Bleckmann as a composer as much as a singer, with several instrumental pieces voiced by what he calls his “ambient” band of kindred-spirit guitarist Ben Monder, keyboardist Shai Maestro and the subtle rhythm team of Chris Tordini and John Hollenbeck. Highlights include Bleckmann’s sublime rendition of Stephen Sondheim’s “Comedy Tonight” (“tragedy tomorrow… comedy tonight”), as well as the mellifluous vocalise of “Elegy” and achingly poetic “To Be Shown to Monks at a Certain Temple.” IN CONCERT February 7 - New York, NY (Jazz Standard) February 9 - Santa Cruz, CA (Kuumbwa) February 10 - Arcata, CA (Redwood Jazz Alliance) February 11 & 12 Denver, CO (Dazzle) February 13 - Los Angeles, CA ( EDYE) March 25 – Knoxville, TN (Big Ears Festival) © 2017 ECM | ECM Records | Verve Music Group, 150 5th Ave | New York NY 10011 There is an excellent interview with Theo Bleckmann about Elegy here: https://youtu.be/nAtyLP6Gpng And there is a short video here with an excerpt from one of Theo’s songs: https://youtu.be/Wu3D06j212Q

Steve McQuarry's Mandala Nonet & Orchestra To Perform the Music of Gil Evans Saturday, March 4 At the SFJAZZ Center's Miner Auditorium McQuarry to Use Evans Scores From 1947 through 1973, Some Not Discovered Until Recently January 9, 2017 Oakland-based keyboardist-composer Steve McQuarry has long been in love with the unique music of Gil Evans, the late, largely-self-taught Toronto-born composer, arranger, and keyboardist best remembered for his numerous collaborations with Miles Davis. "The whole way he thought about orchestrating using instruments and also pushing those instruments in different ranges is really fascinating," McQuarry says of Evans. "I remember talking with Maria Schneider about this. She said he would write the trombone parts really high and things like that, which academically trained arrangers are told not to do, and how that changed a lot of textures and tone quality in the sound." For a program of a dozen Evans arrangements drawn from his early days with the Claude Thornhill big band through his later work with Davis, Kenny Burrell, and his own ensembles, McQuarry has expanded his 19-member Mandala Orchestra to 25 pieces to accommodate instruments Evans sometimes used to enrich his voicings, including French horn, English horn, oboe, bassoon, and cello, as well as downsized it to nine to play three pieces from Davis's legendary 1949-1950 "Birth of the Cool" sessions. McQuarry's Evans concert will take place on Saturday, March 4, at the SFJAZZ Center's Miner Auditorium, the scene of his highly successful tribute to Carla Bley in June of last year. No transcriptions from recordings will be performed. The musicians will instead play from original Evans scores -- some written in pencil by the composer himself -- supplied by composer Ryan Truesdell. An associate of Maria Schneider, Truesdell had gathered arrangements from Evans's family, musicians who had worked with him, and from the archives of bandleaders for whom he had worked, among other sources, and recorded 10 of them for his critically acclaimed 2012 CD Centennial: Newly Discovered Works of Gil Evans. The earliest Evans composition on the program is "The Troubadour," first recorded by the Thornhill orchestra in 1947. Another Evans composition in the set is "Dancing on a Great Big Rainbow," written for Thornhill in 1950 by not recorded until 2012 by Truesdell. The Mandala Orchestra will also perform "Blues for Pablo" and "The Maids of Cadiz" (both from Davis's 1957 album Miles Ahead) and "Greensleeves" (from the 1964 Kenny Burrell album Guitar Forms), as well as "St. Louis Blues," "La Nevada Blues," "Punjab," and "Eleven," all from various albums made by Evans's own bands. And the Nonet will play "Budo," "Israel," and "Boplicity" from Birth of the Cool. Although born in Canada, on May 13, 1912, Gil Evans resided in the United States from the time he was a boy. He became enamored of the music of Louis Armstrong and other early jazz greats while living in Berkeley in the mid-1920s and formed a nine-piece swing band in Stockton a few years later. He spent most of the 1940s as a staff arranger for the Thornhill band, whose distinctive style greatly influenced that of the Miles Davis Nonet that made the sessions that became known as Birth of the Cool. He recorded in subsequent years with various vocalists and instrumentalists and with bands of his own, but it is the four classic Columbia albums he made with Davis -- Miles Ahead (1957), Porgy and Bess (1959), Sketches of Spain (1960), and Quiet Nights (1963) -- that Evans's reputation most strongly sits in the minds of many. He died on March 20, 1988. Steve McQuarry, who was born in Denver on August 17, 1959, took his first arranging class at age 17 at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, with Oakland-born composer-arranger Russell Garcia, renowned for his work Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Stan Kenton, and many others. McQuarry also studied at the University of Colorado at Denver, Berklee College of Music, UC San Diego, and Alexander University. An Oakland resident for the past decade, he has performed as a pianist at Yoshi's San Francisco with his own trio and with flutist Gerald Beckett's quartet and has broadcast with his chamber octet Resonance over KPFA in Berkeley and KKUP in Cupertino. He currently records for his own label, Mandala Records, with his piano jazz trio and the jazz ensembles Resonance, Steve McQuarry Organ Trio, Art-Jazz-Rock group, Echelon; Afro-Cuban Latin Jazz band, Tribu the electronica group Synsor; and the new age group Agharta. "I named my record label, the octet, and the orchestra Mandala after meeting the Dalai Lama and some Tibetan monks drawing mandalas on Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley some years ago," he says. The Mandala Orchestra members are pianists Steve McQuarry and Laura Klein; trumpeters Justin Smith, John Worley, Niel Levonius, and Henry Hung; trombonists Keith Yee, Tim Phelan, Joshua Sankara, and Christian Manzana; French hornist Winston Macaraeg; tuba player Portia Njoku; flutist Gerald Beckett; saxophonists Ruben Salcido, Amelia Catalano, Corey Wright, Georgianna Krieger, and Hermann Lara; oboe and English horn player Glenda Bates; bassoonist Wendell Hanna; cellist Nancy Bien; guitarist Mason Razavi; double bassist Ted Burik; drummer Greg German: and tabla player Jim Santi Owens. Steve McQuarry Presents Gil Evans Tribute, March 4 Steve McQuarry Presents Mandala Nonet & Orchestra Performing the Music of Gil Evans Saturday, March 4, 8:00 p.m. SFJAZZ Center, Miner Auditorium 201 Franklin Street San Francisco Tickets: $25 RSVP to mcquarry.org Photography: Irene Young Web Site: mcquarry.org Follow: Like:

In general, I'm not interested in sportswriters' votes on anything. But I make an exception regarding the Gold Glove. I think that that is a VERY important award, and is not sufficiently appreciated. Two people are tied with winning the most Gold Gloves (I think 16): Brooks Robinson and Jim Kaat. Robinson is already in, of course. I think that that statistic alone is enough to make Kaat worthy of induction. The fact that he also won 280 games makes him one of the best pitchers in my lifetime IMO.

Happy Birthday 2017 7/4!

That's my understanding of it. They're talking about a Mendoza Line player.