GA Russell

The Eskimos have cut Tim Cheatwood. I guess that's the end of the line for him. http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news...19-8fce58db9bfc ***** Former Detroit Lion Charles Rogers, the #2 pick in the 2003 NFL draft, is close to signing with the Alouettes. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home ***** Bryan Randall, who was a big star QB for Virginia Tech, is close to signing with the Bombers. http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/to...p-4758754c.html ***** Julian Radlein has retired. As I recall, he was very impressive as a rookie, but he never stood out after that. Since he was a running back, I wonder if injuries slowed him down. http://www.thespec.com/Sports/Local%20Sports/article/365788 ***** Here's a brief article quoting an anonymous CFL executive who says that Calgary, BC and Winnipeg had the best drafts. http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/spo...2f-a84c91b7008e

Tony, I haven't heard Trio, but it must be amazing if it is better than January. This new album blows me away. It's the best new piano trio album I've heard in years. There is one song, King Korn, whose title doesn't ring a bell, but I am sure that I have Mike Nock doing it. I'm struck by the balance of the three instruments. It reminds me of the Evans/LaFaro/Motian trio in that way. It's great to see that their tour later this month will be in major US cities where plenty of jazz fans will have the opportunity to catch them (if the fans are hip enough to know who they are!). I wish I could be among them.

Jim, I'm very sorry to hear of your loss. He'll be in my prayers tonight.

Bruce, I do blame the Great Depression on Calvin Coolidge! I think that history has given Herbert Hoover a raw deal.

I haven't tried this code yet, but it might get you two free CDs: Y8B1 PS - Nope, apparently it just sweetens the offer, but it won't get you two free CDs by themselves.

It's my understanding that Chet Atkins was the man responsible for that. He was not only a recording artist, he was also RCA's a&r man for Nashville.

Before reading this obit, I would have said that his biggest hit was Make the World Go Away. I bet that there will be quite a crowd at the Ryman Auditorium. http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...96.story?page=1 Eddy Arnold, 89; country music's all-time hit maker Mark Humphrey / Associated PressCountry music legend Eddy Arnold in his memorabilia-filled office in Brentwood, Tenn., in 2002. Arnold died at a care facility near Nashville. He was 89. The elegant, pop-influenced singer, who once had 57 consecutive top 10 hits, helped transform country from 'hillbilly music' to mass appeal. By Randy Lewis, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer May 9, 2008 Eddy Arnold, the most successful country hit maker of all time, who played a crucial role in transforming what had long been considered "hillbilly music" from a rural phenomenon into music with broad-based national appeal, died today. He was 89, a week short of his 90th birthday. Arnold, an elegant, pop-influenced singer, died at a long-term care facility near Nashville, family spokesman and Arnold biographer Don Cusic said today. His wife of 66 years, Sally, had died in March and Arnold had broken his hip the same month in a fall at his home. Photos: Eddy Arnold: 1918-2008 Determined throughout his life to transcend the rural poverty he had known as a child in Tennessee, he carved out an identity as an urbane crooner unrestricted by the trappings associated with country music stardom. He has been called "the Garth Brooks of his time" for creating the template still followed today for country singers who reach beyond a niche audience to capture a broad following, a move that angered many traditional country fans. "He epitomized how someone could become a huge star in this genre," Kyle Young, director of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, said today. "He certainly set the bar: He sold 80 million records, had his own TV show, filled in for Johnny Carson as a 'Tonight Show' host. In some ways his career defines what it's like to end up at the top of the heap." Arnold had a nine-year run of 57 consecutive top 10 hits from 1945 to 1954, among them "I'll Hold You in My Heart (Till I Can Hold You in My Arms)," which spent more than five months at No. 1 in 1947, and “Bouquet of Roses,” which logged 19 weeks in the top spot the following year. Many of those songs, despite the twangy steel guitars and fiddles under his voice, appealed to large numbers of fans because of his mellow tenor, which was virtually free of a drawl. "More than anyone in the 1940s, he helped change the image of the music from 'hillbilly' to 'country,' " Robert Hilburn, The Times' former pop music critic, said today. "He ranks with Johnny Cash as one of the great ambassadors of country music." Arnold's music had a huge effect on succeeding generations of country performers. "When I was about 15 years old, the only stuff I sang was Eddy Arnold," George Jones said in a statement today. "He would be just about my whole show. I'd sing 'Bouquet of Roses' and 'I'm Throwing Rice (at the Girl I Love).' All I sang was Eddy until I heard Hank Williams." And Arnold acted as a mentor for countless younger singers. "He's given me a lot of advice," singer Josh Turner wrote in the liner notes for his 2006 album "Your Man," which reached No. 2 on Billboard's overall album chart, "but the one thing that stuck out in my mind when it came to making this record was when he told me, 'You go and record some love songs, because that's what people relate to.' He said, 'The relationship between a woman and a man relates to people better than anything else.' " Although Arnold's popularity dipped for a time in the late 1950s in the wake of rock 'n' roll's arrival, it rebounded in the 1960s, after a crucial change in the people guiding him musically and professionally. That led to another run of hits that crystallized what became known as "the Nashville Sound," typified by swelling orchestral backgrounds and female choir voices behind songs such as and "I Want to Go With You," both No. 1 country hits. "He always had a sense that his voice could carry him into the pop market," Michael Streissguth, author of the 1997 biography "Eddy Arnold: Pioneer of the Nashville Sound." "It really was a vision that he had of where his career could go." Arnold's career spanned seven decades, from the 1930s, when he hosted a radio show for five years in Memphis, until 1999, when he last appeared on the country singles chart with a duet with then-teenage singer LeAnn Rimes in a new version of his 1955 yodel-laden western hit "Cattle Call." "I don't know that that will ever happen again," Young said. "Think of it: 80 million records sold. That's a number that compares to Garth Brooks' total. He was the Garth Brooks, the Kenny Chesney of his time, and his time spanned many years." In the latest edition of Joel Whitburn's "Top Country Songs" volume collating Billboard's charts from 1944 to 2005, Arnold is ranked as the No. 1 country artist of all time, logging 146 records in the Top 100 of Billboard's country singles chart, 28 of those making it to No. 1. Richard Edward Arnold, born May 15, 1918, in Henderson, Tenn., grew up working on his parents' farm, only to see it repossessed during the Depression, after which the family became sharecroppers on what had been their own land. His father died when Eddy was 11, so the boy started singing at church picnics and other events, sometimes earning $1 a gig. "His childhood made such an impression on him," Country Hall of Fame director Young said. "I would say he was driven, probably until his last breath, because he was still worried that some day he might wake up penniless." As a boy he idolized "the Singing Cowboy," Gene Autry, as well as Bing Crosby, whose smooth, outwardly effortless style he would later emulate. He landed a regular role on a radio show at WTJS in Memphis, and in 1940 was hired as a singer for Pee Wee King and His Golden West Cowboys, which had a reputation for a more debonair brand of country dance music and was featured frequently on the Grand Ole Opry broadcasts. Arnold was hired by the Opry as a solo performer in 1943. Early on he'd been dubbed "the Tennessee Plowboy" and at first his recordings sounded in many ways like other country acts on the Opry. The difference was Arnold's voice, which had more in common with the easygoing delivery of Autry and Crosby. When he signed with Victor Records (which became RCA) and began his recording career, he was managed by Col. Tom Parker, who would later become Elvis Presley's manager. "All the things Parker did with Elvis," biographer Cusic said Thursday, "he got all those contacts from working with Eddy." Photos: Eddy Arnold: 1918-2008 When television arrived, Arnold was virtually the only country performer who began appearing regularly on national programs with Milton Berle, Arthur Godfrey and later Ed Sullivan. He also performed in Las Vegas showrooms before nearly any other country act. After Arnold fired Parker, he signed with a fledgling New York-based management company that strove to de-emphasize the bumpkin image often foisted upon him in those forums. When that company folded in the 1960s, he hired an ex-Mafia figure, Gerald Purcell, who insisted that he only appear on television and on stage in a tuxedo, and refused to allow fiddles or steel guitars on his records, solidifying his complete break with Nashville tradition. At the same time, he'd returned to Nashville after recording with less success in New York. He connected with Chet Atkins, one of RCA's leading country producers, who shepherded him into "the Nashville Sound" style that had been working magic in the '50s for fellow country crooner Jim Reeves. Reeves' death in 1964 in a plane crash opened a door for Arnold. Reeves' arranger, Bill Walker, gravitated to Arnold, and their collaboration resulted in the mid-1960s hits that revitalized his career. Where other country stars flashed their success with bejeweled cowboy outfits, silver-dollar-covered luxury cars and guitar-shaped swimming pools, Arnold remained the low-key country gentleman, quietly parlaying the money from his hit records into lucrative real estate investments in and around Nashville. "He was often called the wealthiest man in Nashville," Streissguth said. But you'd never know it from outward appearances. Critic Hilburn offered similar memories of Arnold: "He was a humble guy who didn't seem to care all that much about the razzle-dazzle surrounding the music business. He was just into going onstage (or into the studio) and singing his songs and then enjoying his hobbies and private life." Arnold is survived by his son, Richard Edward Arnold Jr., and daughter, Jo Ann Pollard, as well as two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Visitation will take place Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning at the Country Hall of Fame, followed Wednesday afternoon by a funeral at the Ryman Auditorium, the long-time home of the Grand Ole Opry.

I saw him in the summer of '68, a few months after he fired everyone in Brasil '66 except Lani Hall and thus replaced them all. It was very enjoyable pop music. By the way, the new second singer was named Karen Philipp as I recall, and in 1972 she had the role of Lt. Dish in the pilot of the TV show MASH. I never read why she wasn't included or replaced in the cast once the show was picked up by CBS.

Tempus fugit. I remember when he was 17, and "Stevie". The collection of his songs with Spencer Davis is in my Your Music queue.

If it had been Sangrey, I wouldn't have been able to guess who it might be. But since it was TTK, I figured right away it was Mathis!

Don Matthews has become associated with the group which has been granted the conditional expansion franchise in Ottawa! http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home

May 5 has come around again, and tonight I am listening to Solar Heat.

Happy Birthday!

Thanks MG! I never heard the Hello Dolly! album, but I wouldn't call that single a jazz recording. Strictly adult popular in my book. I've never liked George Benson, so I've never heard Breezin' either! Were most/all of the tracks vocals? I wouldn't call his vocal recordings jazz, just pop with a brief guitar line. But the world's mileage may vary on all of that! edit for typo

As I hope you have read elsewhere, the AotW for the last two weeks of this month will be Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd - Jazz Samba. I went to Your Music to see if they carry it (They don't.), and learned two things: 1) A new Stan Getz is forthcoming. 2) They now carry a Sadao Watanabe album from 1967 called Jazz Samba to go along with his album Bossa Nova '67.

I want to give you a heads up that the AotW for the last two weeks of May will be Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd - Jazz Samba. This was the record that started the bossa nova craze. I have read that it was the last jazz record to be #1 on the Billboard Top 100 Albums chart. I have a vague recollection of bossa nova hitting the scene, but perhaps someone else here remembers it more specifically. Jazz Samba was recorded Feb. 13, 1962. My recollection (and I could be wrong) is that Cannonball's Bossa Nova (with Sergio Mendes's group) was recorded in December of that year. So I am going to guess that Jazz Samba was #1 in the country around November of that year. Maybe one of you has a reference book of Billboard charts and can look it up. Jazz Samba is available from Newbury Comics for $9.79. http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00...9684&sr=1-1

ECM has released an unusual duo album by pianist Ketil Bjornstad and electric guitarist Terje Rypdal called Life in Leipzig. It was recorded live in concert in Leipzig. Bjornstad sounds like a classical pianist who hasn't moved all the way to jazz yet. Rypdal is still doing his thing after all these years. I think my first ECM album nearly thirty years ago was a Rypdal album. He still plays long single notes, never chords. The mix of the two styles is quite startling. The two have been performing together for a while now, so they must enjoy each other's work. I would like to see a concert of theirs, but I'm not sure I would buy a lot of their albums together. They seem to be more interested in creating a work of art together than in playing music people would look forward to hearing often. I enjoy it, and would recommend it to someone who wants something different to add to his collection.

ECM has released an interesting album by a quintet I haven't heard of before led by guitarist Jacob Young called Sideways. Young plays both acoustic and electric guitar here. The electric sounds like a hollow body to me. I don't notice Young playing chords, only long lines of single notes, often in unison with the trumpet. The other instruments are trumpet, tenor sax (or bass clarinet), bass and drums. All of the songs are ballads, but the album swings more than the usual ECM does. It's an unusual sounding group.

Ghost posted the press release to the new James Carter album Present Tense on another Carter thread here: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...34082&st=15 I got a promo of this in the mail yesterday, and I like it so much that I think the CD deserves a thread of its own. Highly recommended. Every one of the ten songs is palatable. There is one I don't like too much, but the disc is 63 minutes long, so no sweat. A couple of the tunes remind me of Horace Silver. Only three of the songs were written by Carter. It would be a stretch to call the others standards, except Tenderly. Trumpeter Dwight Adams gets a fair amount of the spotlight. As the press release states, this is issued on the EmArcy label, which is now part of the "Decca Label Group" of Universal. Does anyone know of a reorganization within Universal? I wonder if the decision makers at Decca are different from those of the Verve Music Group, and whether the creation of the Decca division is a result of a decision to issue more jazz than they have lately (which hasn't been much). At any rate, this isn't a fancy production, but it does sound lilke major-label care went into it. I guess producer Cuscuna should get some credit for that. I'll be surprised if Present Tense doesn't get a fair number of votes for Album of the Year in the Readers Polls.

This morning's paper says that both Dick Dale and Ron Carter are 71 today. I went to see Dale in '96. At that time his group was a trio, with only bass and drums backing him up. He had a toddler son set up offstage with his own drum kit playing along to the band! After the show, Dale mingled with the fans and signed autographs. I got him to sign the tee shirt I was wearing!

Well Dave, if you're sure you are right, I guess a victory over the French can't be all bad!

As I understand it, Cinco de Mayo is a Mexican holiday celebrating the Mexican army's victory over the American army in a particular battle. If that's the case, it should become more well known in the US that that is the case, and obviously it should be discouraged although not outlawed of course.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,354086,00.html ST. CHARLES, Ill. — There will be no indoor smoking at a large convention for pipe smokers in Illinois. A new Illinois law bans smoking in public places. That's taken some of the steam out of this weekend's Chicagoland International Pipe & Tobacciana Show in St. Charles. The event draws 4,000 pipe collectors from more than 60 countries. Organizers tried to get around the new law by arguing their gathering was a private club meeting. Police and health officials said no. Instead, a large smoking tent has been set up 15 feet away from the Pheasant Run convention center. Convention-goer Al Shinogle of Denver likens it to a wine tasting without the wine.

Here's his AP obituary: http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...0,6146788.story From the Associated Press 8:01 AM PDT, May 2, 2008 BERLIN -- Philipp Freiherr von Boeselager, believed to be the last surviving member of the inner circle of plotters who attempted to kill Adolf Hitler in 1944 with a briefcase bomb, has died. He was 90. The German military said in a statement today that the former army major died Thursday night. It did not give a cause of death. Von Boeselager was part of a group of officers who tried to kill Hitler on July 20, 1944, supplying explosives for the operation led by Col. Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg. The von Stauffenberg plot is the basis for the upcoming Tom Cruise film "Valkyrie" in which the American actor plays the aristocratic colonel. Von Stauffenberg placed the bomb in a conference room where Hitler was meeting with his aides and military advisers but escaped the blast when someone moved the briefcase next to a table leg, deflecting much of the explosive force. Almost immediately afterward, von Stauffenberg and many of his cohorts were arrested and executed in an orgy of revenge killings that saw some hanged by the neck with piano wire. Though many of those rounded up by Nazi officials were tortured in the hopes they would give up other conspirators, von Boeselager's name was never divulged and he was never found out. Still, he carried a cyanide capsule with him until the end of the war in case his secret was revealed. Von Boeselager, who lived in Altenahr, near Bonn, was first recruited by von Stauffenberg coconspirator Maj. Gen. Henning von Tresckow in 1942, he told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in an interview three weeks ago that was published today. He said he knew that Jews were being systematically killed and that Germany was waging a war of annihilation along the Eastern Front with Russia and that he never considered declining taking part in the plot. By 1942, he said that "It was no longer about saving the country, but about stopping the crimes," the newspaper quoted him as saying. Assigned to the army high command as an aide to Field Marshal Gunther von Kluge, the plotters first arranged for von Boeselager to try and shoot both Hitler and SS-chief Heinrich Himmler at a meeting in 1943. Von Kluge, who committed suicide a month after the 1944 attempt on Hitler, called the assassination off at the last minute after learning that Himmler would not be at the meeting. Von Boeselager followed von Kluge's orders, but told the FAZ the decision to do so never ceased to haunt him. "I always see Hitler from here to the fireplace in front of me and think 'What would have happened if you had shot him?"' he told FAZ, describing a distance of about two feet with his hands. He also recalled when he joined the von Stauffenberg plot: his brother called him in the spring of 1944, asking for his help in providing explosives. Von Boeselager recommended English-made explosives as the best, and -- as part of his assignment to an explosives research team -- was able to acquire them without drawing suspicion. He delivered them to Maj. Gen. Helmuth Stieff, packed into a suitcase. Stieff was later executed for his role in the plot, and von Boeselager's brother was killed in fighting on the Eastern Front. Had the bombing succeeded, von Boeselager said he was assigned to lead a 1,000-man unit into Berlin to secure the capital. Von Boeselager told FAZ that in the years immediately after the war, he spoke with his wife, Rosa, about his role in the resistance, but otherwise said little else. "There was nobody one could talk with about it," he said. "They were all dead, and with others it would just have been bragging." There was also the fact that immediately after World War II, the July 20 plotters were widely viewed as traitors, a label the Nazis gave them that stuck for years. "For a long time, it was not believable to normal Germans that the government was criminal," he recalled. "And as soon as one thought they had pushed that out of the way, then people just didn't want to know."

I was over at Wikipedia today reading about the proposed United Football League which may have a team in Raleigh, and the links took me to the CFL. You might enjoy seeing what they have to say about the league and the history of Canadian football. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Football_League