GA Russell

<br /><br /><br /> Thanks for the memory, FFA! I had American Flyer trains when I was a boy. My dad like them the best because their tracks had the realistic two rails while the Lionel had the third rail. I used to take the train from Pittsburgh to York and back to visit my sister, and I remember riding the Horseshoe Curve!

I've regretted that I never got to see him when I was growing up in New Orleans. His Big Chief, Part 2 was a hit when I was in high school.

1) I've read that it was Louis Armstrong, not Cab Calloway, who called bop "Chinese music". Anybody know for sure? 2) I never like Paul Whiteman, and I never liked Rhapsody in Blue either.

Happy Birthday 2009 zanonesdelpueblo!

Big day for the Bombers yesterday. Lyle Bauer decided that he couldn't get along with the new Board Chairman, so he resigned. Then the Board fired Mike Kelly. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/football/bombers-coach-kelly-arrested-fired/article1404604/

I got a new Christmas album this year that I can recommend. It is by a group which has been around for twenty years called The Hot Club of San Francisco, and is called Hot Club Cool Yule. It's a fun album with great musicianship. Its sound is sort of a combination of Reinhardt/Grappelli and western swing. I see that the band is booked for Yoshi's in Oakland on the 23rd, and in Hampton, VA, for New Year's Eve. I bet that's going to be a great time New Year's Eve.

Tenor Saxophonist Jacques Schwarz-Bart has an interesting new album called Abyss. I've had it a couple of weeks, and it has been growing on me. This is basically a sextet album with a number of guest artists. What makes the album remarkable is that there is no drum kit. Instead, two of the six musicians are percussionists who play African drums I am not familiar with called the marke and the boula. One of them sounds like a deep bongo. This experimentation really works - the album swings throughout. Pianist Milan Milanovic is very good in support.

I heard a recording today on the Sirius 50s channel that I had never heard before, and in fact never knew that it existed - Bumble Bee by Laverne Baker. I had no idea that The Searchers' hit was a cover of it. The Searchers' version was a note for note copy, but with a completely different sound. Laverne Baker's had horns, and of course she was an alto. Quite a contrast to The Searchers' guitars and high-pitched voices.

A British bookmaker is now laying odds on the size of Tiger's divorce settlement. It's 25-1 that she'll get more than half a billion dollars. http://www.theglobea...article1404091/

‘Why would I own it, because I have access to everything?’ Don't these guys ever consider anything going out of print? Thanks for that link, Brad. I still have my doubts about the subscription model. Lala's model of paying a low price one time makes more sense to me.

Happy Birthday 2009 Phil!

Happy Birthday Jim!

The Argos fired Bart Andrus today. Will Adam Rita be next? http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/argos-fire-bart-andrus/article1399477/ ***** I have changed the thread title for the off-season.

Looks great! I'm looking forward to getting used to it!

LBJ thought that those narrow-brimmed hats made you look like Robin Hood!

Happy Birthday 2009 ghost!

You can listen to Fly's Sky & Country at lala here: http://www.lala.com/#album/432627039264011...Sky_%26_Country

I didn't know that your first name really is Clifford!

We can expect a Lala app for the iPhone soon. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/1207...tion-5-big.html http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/n...ba219d411851a05 Here's an article that notes that Lala's inventory is now over 8 million songs. I remember that when it started it offered 6 million. http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/n...ba219d411851a05 http://www.pcworld.com/article/183804/what...87:b29233028:z0

Amen! Infinite Search is one of my favorite albums, although part of that could be based upon sentimentality. I assume that you are referring to the release that paired it with Tones for Joan's Bones. In that case, a good song was omitted, while a bonus track (that I thought was no big deal) was added.

Thanks, chewy! That is my first experience with Google Books.

Chewy, Sonny recorded for Blue Note, Riverside and Contemporary in the years immediately prior to signing with RCA. What was big news was the contract - $60,000 for five albums, as I recall. RCA had hired George Avakian to give its jazz program a kick start, so Avakian signed Sonny, Paul Desmond, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and Joe Morello. Chuck would know much more about this than I do.

I've been listening to this every day this week. Very enjoyable. Very laid back compared to the other Carla Bleys I have heard. Twenty years from now this may prove to be ECM's best seller of all time. (Of course, the appeal of The Koln Concert has always been a mystery to me.) I can definitely see this selling each year.

Greg, last year was the first year it was on cable/TSN. As I recall, TSN got a five-year deal.

It's that time of year again! Time to review what has come out in the past twelve months that is the creme de la creme for you. Here are my 10 picks, in the order in which I got them. Bill Henderson - Beautiful Memory Clifton Anderson - Decade Art Pepper - The Art History Project Kobie Watkins - Involved John Surman - Brewster's Rooster Mark Levine and the Latin Tinge - Off & On John Abercrombie - Wait Till You See Her Quartet San Francisco - QSF Plays Brubeck Here Comes The Nice Guy Trio Dana Hall - Into the Light Honorable Mention: Enrico Rava - New York Days Al Hood - Just a Little Taste What say you?