GA Russell

That obit makes me want to see some!

Happy Birthday 2013 Allison!

Jim, were you listening to CC and Lew Kirby on WNOE?

I have often been told by friends that big-time college athletics, particularly football and basketball, pay the bills for the entire athletic department, with money left over going to pay for research, etc.; and that the teams lead to significantly greater sums of alumni contributions (as well as increased freshman applications). Here is an interesting new Reason Magazine article which cites a number of studies which show that that just isn't true. Big-time college athletics are a financial drain on the student body and (regarding state schools) the taxpayers. http://reason.com/archives/2013/04/03/forget-rutgers-coach-mike-rice-college-s

Region 2: James Bond: 22 Film Collection - 49.00 GBP http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0093XXFZM/ref=pe_155291_35411421_pe_epc__1p_1_ti

Happy Birthday Allen!

Robert was the brother who founded Sabian cymbals. http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-robert-zildjian-20130405,0,6376622.story

Chris Williams wants to pursue NFL opportunities. He signed a two-year plus an option deal last year. The CBA requires each team to offer rookies a one-year plus option deal. So Williams is claiming that the Ticats never made the one-year offer, and that his contract should be voided. http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=419896

Here's his LA Times obit: http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-roger-ebert-20130405,0,5349930,full.story

Happy Birthday 2013 jazzkrow!

"Melba!," A Tribute to Melba Liston by Saxophonist/Composer Geof Bradfield, To Be Released by Origin Records April 16 Premiered in Chicago in 2012, Suite for Jazz Septet Features Bradfield with Victor Garcia, Joel Adams, Jeff Parker, Ryan Cohan, Clark Sommers, & George Fludas Bradfield to Reprise "Melba!" At Two Chicago Shows: The Green Mill June 1 & Millennium Park Aug. 30 April 1, 2013 Saxophonist/composer Geof Bradfield's new CD Melba!, which Origin Records will release on April 16, has been a long time coming. Bradfield's suite for jazz septet, a tribute to the great yet underheralded arranger/trombonist Melba Liston (1926-1999), received its premiere performances last summer in Chicago and other Midwest cities. It was supported by a commission from Chamber Music America's 2011 New Jazz Works program (with funding by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation), allowing Bradfield to research the rich Liston trove at Columbia College Chicago's Center for Black Music Research. And before that, there was a deep and long-standing personal connection with Melba's music. Bradfield had discovered her through such landmark Randy Weston recordings as Uhuru Afrika (1960) and The Spirits of Our Ancestors (1991). "When I came up in the 1980s and was learning to play, everything seemed to be about extreme instrumental virtuosity," he says. "The music of Randy and Melba was more complex. It had color and depth and a range of emotional expression. It had a real human element." For the concert performances and recording of Melba!, Bradfield called on trumpeter Victor Garcia, trombonist Joel Adams, pianist Ryan Cohan, guitarist Jeff Parker, bassist Clark Sommers, and drummer George Fludas. This is the same group (minus Adams) that appeared on the saxophonist's acclaimed 2010 Origin Records release, African Flowers, which itself was influenced by the Weston/Liston recordings. "I loved the way their music tied a lot of things together: African music and Duke Ellington and bebop harmony and the extreme use of dissonance, which in Liston's hands could suggest Stravinsky," says Bradfield. "Their music transcended craft. They created a path from one form of music, and one aspect of culture, to the other. They showed you how everything fit together." The movements trace the musical arc of Liston's life, from "Kansas City Child" and "Central Avenue" to "Dizzy Gillespie," "Randy Weston," "Detroit/Kingston," and "Homecoming." Closing out the CD, vocalist Maggie Burrell delivers a majestic version of "Let me not lose this dream," with text by Harlem Renaissance poet Georgia Douglas Johnson and piano-bass accompaniment. Perhaps in part because she was so private, Liston is not as familiar to average listeners as other great jazz arrangers of her era such as Gil Evans and Oliver Nelson. Bradfield hopes to help change that with Melba!, which illuminates what a remarkable individual she was in achieving such success as a woman in a man's world and as a bold innovator with her own style and methodology. "Through the course of six carefully composed movements," wrote Howard Reich in his Chicago Tribune review of the septet's September 2012 Green Mill performance, "Melba! evoked the spirit of Liston's times but still carried the hallmarks of Bradfield's musical language. The long lines, complex themes and meticulous structuring of this score pointed to the high craft of Bradfield's writing." The premiere of Melba! capped a banner year for Bradfield. One of a handful of saxophonists who brings the same intensity and edgy power to soprano as he does to tenor, he contributed memorable performances on both horns to standout albums by three of the Windy City's finest: bassist Marlene Rosenberg, trumpeter Tito Carrillo, and guitarist John Moulder. He also produced singer Rebecca Sullivan's well-received debut, This Way, This Time. The 42-year-old Houston native, who last year was named an assistant professor of saxophone and jazz studies at Northern Illinois University, continues the pace in 2013 with several projects. A new recording by Ba(SH), Bradfield's collective trio with Clark Sommers and drummer Dana Hall, will be released by Origin this summer. He plays bass clarinet on the third album by bassist and rising star Matt Ulery's Loom, out on Dave Douglas's Greenleaf label in June. Bradfield also contributes to forthcoming releases by Ryan Cohan (Motéma) and Dana Hall (Origin). With the CD release imminent, Melba! continues to occupy much of Bradfield's attention. He and his septet will perform the suite at the Green Mill 6/1 as well as later this summer at the Chicago Jazz Festival, which will present him at the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park 8/30 as part of a triple bill (with Wadada Leo Smith and Charles Lloyd). "I feel very fortunate to write for and perform with all of the musicians on this recording, each of whom brings a very personal voice to the group," Bradfield wrote in his CD notes. "Their creative input along the way transformed the dots and lines on the sterile page, "bringing Melba! to life" -- and Liston's soulful legacy to the fore. Web Site: www.geofbradfield.com Follow: Listen: Melba! featured on NPR's JazzSet

The Lions have traded Khalif Mitchell to the Argos for Adrian Awasom and the rights to a neg list player. It never looks good when two teams owned by the same man exchange players; and when the trade involves an all-star, I think it looks even worse. http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=419700

Thanks very much Susan! I'll look forward to these!

Happy Birthday 2013 Claude!

I take it that both the deceased and the author of that obit worked in a language other than English!

Jerry, your post got me to thinking, and I found it here: http://www.amazon.com/Thelonious-Monk-Straight-No-Chaser/dp/B000053VC9/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1364943824&sr=1-1&keywords=straight+no+chaser

One of these days I'm going to get All Music by Warne Marsh, and Asha by Lloyd McNeill.

Does anyone remember this Rod Taylor show from 1971? I was a Rod Taylor fan back in the day, but I've got no recollection of this one, which lasted only three months. Bearcats! The Complete Series - $13.99 http://www.amazon.com/Bearcats-The-Complete-Series-Taylor/dp/B00BCMT3TO?SubscriptionId=AKIAJ7T5BOVUVRD2EFYQ&tag=camels-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B00BCMT3TO

I'm really enjoying this one. A gem. Not only is the playing terrific, but so is the selection of songs as well. I could do without Chuck Mangione's Land of Make Believe, however. I see this one as an Album of the Year candidate.

Happy Birthday Kyo!

I've been enjoying this one today, and I see that it is now up on Spotify. Search for "New Tricks".

This looks interesting for fans of the old TV show Secret Agent aka Danger Man. It's a 5-CD soundtrack box. Danger Man: Original Music from the Hour-Long Episodes - 31.64 GBP (about $49.99) http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001S3OKWW/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Happy Easter 2013 everyone! May you all have a joyous day!

Thanks Alan!

I've read the name Phil Ramone quite a number of times in the past few years, but I never knew that he was A&R Studios. I'm guessing that he was the R of A&R.