GA Russell

Here's her LA Times obituary. http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...0,6929714.story Chris Connor dies at 81; big-band and solo jazz singer She was known for 'All About Ronnie,' which she did as part of the Stan Kenton Orchestra. She became a soloist in the 1950s and had hits with 'Trust in Me' and 'About the Blues.' By Dennis McLellan September 1, 2009 Chris Connor, a smoky-voiced jazz vocalist who gained renown for her recording of "All About Ronnie" and other singles with the Stan Kenton Orchestra before going solo in 1953 and having success with songs such as "Trust in Me" and "About the Blues," has died. She was 81. Connor died of cancer Saturday at Community Medical Center in Toms River, N.J., said her longtime companion and manager, Lori Muscarelle. In a more than 50-year singing career that began in the late 1940s with the Claude Thornhill Orchestra, Connor recorded with bandleader Herbie Fields and sang with Jerry Wald's big band before joining Kenton in early 1953. Known for what has been described as her "warm, cello-like tones" and using little or no vibrato, she achieved her greatest acclaim beginning in the mid-1950s singing with small groups made up of established jazz musicians. "She, along with Carmen McRae, really pioneered jazz trio singing where they'd stand in front of a mike and, supported by piano, bass and drums, created enormous intimacy," said jazz historian and journalist Marc Myers. Connor's first album, recorded in 1954, was "Chris Connor Sings Lullabys of Birdland," with the Ellis Larkins Trio."What you begin to hear with Chris are breathy vocals and a slick-chick delivery that was both sexy and savvy," he said. "You never got the feeling with Chris that she was a helpless female, but you never got the feeling that she was bossy, either. And, as a result, almost everyone who heard her fell in love with her." The interesting thing about Connor, said jazz critic Don Heckman, was that "she came along at a time when there was a concept of coolness coming into jazz -- the Miles Davis 'Birth of the Cool' recordings and the general sense of coolness that was associated with West Coast jazz, which was becoming very popular. "The clear sound of her vibrato-less vocals and her cool onstage manner always reminded me of the detachment of the [Alfred] Hitchcock heroines of the time." Connor was born Mary Loutsenhizer in Kansas City, Mo., on Nov. 8, 1927. Although she studied clarinet for eight years, she later said that she always wanted to be a singer. "I never took lessons," she told the Buffalo News in 1996. "I like a natural singer better." While working as a secretary after graduating from high school, she spent weekends singing with a Kenton-influenced college jazz band at the University of Missouri. In 1949, after moving to New York City, she joined the Claude Thornhill Orchestra as a member of the four Snowflakes, Thornhill's singing group. Connor was singing with Jerry Wald's band when former Kenton vocalist June Christy heard her on a radio broadcast from a New Orleans hotel and recommended her to Kenton. As a singer, Connor was often compared to Christy and Anita O'Day, who preceded them in the Kenton band. But, Myers said, "she didn't set out to be like them. It so happened her voice had similar characteristics." In a 1986 interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune, Connor acknowledged that she "went to school" on O'Day but also studied the style of Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Christy. "I may have spent more time studying Anita and June because I made up my mind early on I wanted to sing with the Kenton band," she said. Connor's recording of the ballad "All About Ronnie" and other recordings with Kenton brought her national acclaim. But tired of the grind of performing on the road, she left Kenton in mid-1953 and soon launched her solo career. After a year and a half with Bethlehem Records, Connor signed with Atlantic Records, where she recorded from 1956 to 1962. Although her career took a downturn after leaving Atlantic, she continued recording for other labels until 2003. Her last appearance was at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City in 2004. In addition to Muscarelle, Connor is survived by a nephew.

Here is the French publisher Hachette complaining about Amazon's $9.99 price for best sellers. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0df31226-958d-11...144feabdc0.html ***** Today (Monday) the new Astak EZReader Pocket Pro ships to those who pre-ordered it on their website. This is the one I have settled on for the time being. I still have bills to pay before I can think about buying an eBook reader.

I forgot to mention last night that Byron Parker and PK Sams have returned to the Argos from the NFL camps. Sams scored two TDs. Parker was the guy cut by the Eagles to make room for Michael Vick. ***** Sam Etcheverry has died. His league passing records lasted for years even though they didn't start keeping track of stats until after he had played a couple of years. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/foot...article1269623/ ***** Edmonton Eskimos 31....Hamilton Tiger-Cats 30 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/foot...article1269680/ What a game! The Ticats led for the first 59 minutes! Quinton Porter bruised his knee the last game, so Kevin Glenn got his first start of the season. He was good. He hooked up with Arland Bruce for a couple of TDs. The Eskimos got the first INT of the year!

Calgary Stampeders 23....Toronto Argonauts 20 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/foot...article1269210/ Boring defensive struggle in the first half, with the halftime score tied at three. The game became very interesting in the second half with exchanges of FGs and TDs. The Argos had a chance to tie it on the last play of the game with a long FG attempt, but they instead opted to go for a Hail Mary which failed. Henry Burris passed Doug Flutie's Calgary team record for completed passes.

Happy Birthday 2009 kh!

David Naylor Week 9 preview http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/week...article1267581/ ***** Augie Berenechia is out for the year. The ER doctor found two blood clots in his lungs!

Gregg Xenakes Week 9 preview http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform.../AJN4249982.htm

Listening to Clifford Anderson - Decade. I usually like to slow the music down at this hour, but not tonight.

Top Ten Reasons why the Kindle won't be another iPod! http://www.openculture.com/2009/08/top_ten..._for_books.html 1) When you buy an iPod, you can transfer all of your current music onto it. With Kindle you have to start buying all new books. 2) The paper-form book (aka “dead tree version”) is still the best technology for reading: fully portable, a nice thing to own and put on shelves, great for sharing, good in bed, at beach, etc. If you lose it or get it wet, no big deal—easily replaceable. 3) Music has constantly found new formats that improve on the old. Same for the iPod. It’s unquestionably better than that bigger, skipping CD player. Books haven’t been able to improve on the form for centuries. 4) Holding 100 albums in your hand is great. Holding 100 books? Not as much. 5) How often do you really go away for so long that you need 10+ books? (Bookstores are everywhere.) 6) Kindle is too expensive (see #1) and too big. 7) Books take much longer to consume, don’t work well in individual (shuffled) parts, and we often only read them once. 8.) Now that you can carry music on your phone, and the iPhone has bundled music, email, internet, and telephone in one small size, is anyone really willing to buy a bigger iPhone or Kindle just to read books on it? 9) Most of us spend more time listening to music than reading. We just do; it’s easier to do while we’re involved with other things. 10) Books: they’re better!

Lala: Herb Alpert & Lani Hall - Anything Goes

I sure wish there was a list of the hits and albums The Wrecking Crew was on. Here's Larry Knechtel's LA Times obituary. http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...0,3190712.story Larry Knechtel dies at 69; bassist, keyboardist for '70s soft-rock group Bread Knechtel played keyboards and bass with the Wrecking Crew, a group of L.A. studio musicians, before joining Bread in 1971. His arrangement of 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' won a Grammy in 1970. Knechtel won a Grammy for his work on "Bridge Over Troubled Water." (Los Angeles Times) By Keith Thursby August 24, 2009 Larry Knechtel, a member of the 1970s soft-rock group Bread, who had a wide-ranging career as a studio musician, has died. Knechtel died Thursday at Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital in Yakima, Wash. He was 69. A hospital official would not release a cause of death, but a report in the Yakima Herald-Republic said he apparently suffered a heart attack. Knechtel played keyboards, bass guitar and harmonica as a member of the Wrecking Crew, a group of Los Angeles studio musicians that included future headliners Glen Campbell and Leon Russell and session drummer Hal Blaine. Knechtel played with Elvis Presley, the Beach Boys, the Byrds, the Mamas and the Papas and many others. "It just snowballed. I was in the right place at the right time," Knechtel told the Yakima paper in 2004. "It was a lot of fun. We were all young. I was making big money and hearing myself on the radio." In 2007, members of the Wrecking Crew were inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame in Nashville. Knechtel, who was born Aug. 4, 1940, in Bell, first played with Kip Tyler and the Flips and in 1959 joined Duane Eddy, a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame guitarist. He won a Grammy in 1970 for his arrangement of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon and Garfunkel. Knechtel also played the piano on that song. In 1971, he joined Bread after the group's second album, when Robb Royer left. "We needed somebody to play bass and keyboards and provide a strong instrumental element that we had been lacking," singer David Gates told The Times in 1977. "Larry was just what we needed." Knechtel played on the Dixie Chicks' "Taking the Long Way" album and toured with the group in 2006. He had been living in Yakima since 2003. According to the Herald-Republic, Knechtel is survived by his wife, Vickie; son Lonnie and daughter Shelli Kokenge; his mother, Edna Knechtel; brothers Don and Bob Knechtel; and three grandchildren.

Thanks for the heads up!

Here's a great (IMHO) article about the "explosive growth" of eBook sales. http://www.idealog.com/blog/ebook-growth-e...ound-the-corner

I haven't heard this one but his previous three albums with Feldman and Barron were real mellow. 7/4, compared to the rest of the world, this too is "real mellow". But compared to all of the other Abercrombie I have heard, then maybe not so much. This one never bores me or puts me to sleep.

I listened to Reel Life on lala when it was first re-released some weeks back, and I didn't think much of it either. I believe, but I could be mistaken, that it was Bobby Broom's first recording with Sonny, so you may want to listen to it for that reason.

I heard this for the first time today. I like it. What I have heard from Abercrombie sounds like he has been making the same record for over thirty years, but this is the first by this quartet that I have heard. It swings more than any other Abercrombie I have heard before, although it still is pretty laid back. Maybe Joey Baron should get the credit for that. Mark Feldman on violin is a major part of the album. I can definitely recommend this one for when you want to relax. The release date is Sept. 8. The band will promote the album at Birdland in New York Sept. 30 - Oct. 3.

Here's something I didn't know: "(O)nly eight NFL teams enter this season with the same head coach and offensive and defensive coordinators who began last year, including the defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers. There are 11 new head coaches, 11 new offensive coordinators and a whopping 22 new defensive coordinators since this time a year ago. Even special teams coordinators weren't spared, with 12 teams making changes." http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/foot...article1261008/

Happy Birthday ham!

Happy Birthday Tom!

Montreal Alouettes 34....Saskatchewan Roughriders 25 http://64.246.64.33/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=s...aspx?id=4249290 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/foot...article1260902/ See-saw battle for the first half. The Als were the better team, but the Riders played tough. I learned tonight that the Als sell Jack Daniels shots in the stands! ***** Winnipeg Blue Bombers 37....British Columbia Lions 10 http://64.246.64.33/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=s...aspx?id=4249333 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/foot...article1261013/ The Lions couldn't stop Fred Reid. He ran for 260 yards, third best in league history. The Bombers o-line completely dominated. Everyone expected the Lions to miss Cam Ward, but apparently they miss him even more than they thought they would. The Bombers' second back Yvenson Bernard ran for 112 yards. Jarious Jackson apparently suffered a concussion in the second half, banging his head on the turf. You will recall that that happened last week to Buck Pierce, so the Lions are down to their third string, and play the Als their next two games. If the Lions had won tonight, Wally Buono would have tied Don Matthews for most coaching victories.

David Naylor Week 8 preview http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/week...article1259382/ Gregg Xenakes Week 8 preview (easier to read this week) http://64.246.64.33/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=s...aspx?id=4248983

Jesse Lumsden underwent surgery, so he is out for the year. All teams get a bye once in the next two weeks. This week's schedule is a Friday doubleheader. Ben Cahoon's father-in-law is the new governor of Utah! http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/New...496351-sun.html

Lala: Miles Davis with Sonny Rollins - The Classic Prestige Sessions 1951-1956, disc 2 The Swingle Singers - A Celebration of the Voice

I mentioned the other day that I listened to music from the festival on Sirius all weekend. I heard only two songs that were better than mediocre - by the Keef Hartley Band and Santana.

Happy Birthday Laurie! In your honor I'll play the Art History Project today!