GA Russell

It's been decades since I've watched an NBA game. I'm surprised to read that they call fouls now. Didn't used to. Do they still ignore travelling?

Speaking of Eric Crouch, here's an article about him in today's Globe & Mail: http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home

BC, Calgary looks to be improving over the off-season, don't they? ***** With the first pick of the draft today, the Ticats picked a receiver to replace DJ Flick, Chris Bauman. The Stampeders had three of the first six picks! http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home ***** The NFL's Roger Goodell has called a meeting of each team's doctors and trainers to discuss concussions. All players will be required to take a brain test before the 2007 season begins which will establish a baseline to determine how their brain activity has changed after a concussion. I would like to see the CFL do something about this too. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home

Lots of exciting news! I received the following press release today: Art Pepper's "The Last Concert," Recorded at Kennedy Center, To Be Released May 30 On 25th Anniversary of Art's Final Performance New CD is 2nd Release from Widow's Taste Records in a Series of "Unreleased Art" May 2, 2007 Art Pepper's stunning last concert -- of his last tour -- took place on May 30, 1982 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, as part of the Kool Jazz Festival. Ten days later, back home in Los Angeles, Pepper was hospitalized for what turned out to be a cerebral hemorrhage. He died on June 15 at the age of 56. The Kennedy Center performance will be released later this month, on the 25th anniversary of the concert, by Laurie Pepper and her Widow's Taste label. The Last Concert is the second in a series of "Unreleased Art" projects documenting the late alto saxophonist's prodigious output. With Pepper at Kennedy Center was a slightly modified version of his working quartet of the time: David Williams, bass; Carl Burnett, drums; and on piano, Roger Kellaway. Pepper's longtime regular pianist, George Cables, had recently taken a more lucrative job, as Sarah Vaughan's music director. To replace him, Laurie had chosen Kellaway, whom she describes in her notes as "an extraordinary technician and performer in the fiery, ornamental mold of [former Pepper pianist] Milcho Leviev." The show was taped for broadcast by Voice of America. Laurie Pepper writes that Benny Goodman, one of the evening's attractions, reportedly refused to have his set recorded because he believed that "VOA was staffed by Nazi war criminals." But Laurie recalled hearing Leviev describe how, growing up in Bulgaria, he had treasured VOA's clandestine broadcasts. After being assured by the VOA representative that Goodman's accusation was ungrounded, she consented to the taping. Pepper was prepared to play a 70-minute set that evening, but due to a misunderstanding or miscommunication, he was forced to curtail his performance after not quite one hour. His set consisted of three originals -- "Landscape," "Ophelia" (a "feeble attempt" to convey "a little of my feelings about women"), "Mambo Koyama" -- and the standards "Over the Rainbow," a favorite ballad, and "When You're Smiling," a clarinet feature dedicated to Zoot Sims, who was on the bill at the Kennedy Center that night and had visited Art in the green room. Widow's Taste: Music and Film Laurie Pepper founded the Widow's Taste label in 2006. Its name refers to both senses of "taste"; its mission is to highlight her musical choices from her extensive archives ("Art was recorded everywhere he went," she notes) and to counteract the financial ramifications of piracy and neglected contracts. The debut Widow's Taste release, in December 2006, was a 2-CD set entitled The Complete Abashiri Concert, recorded in Abashiri, Japan on November 22, 1981 with the George Cables/David Williams/Carl Burnett quartet. Two other projects are currently in the works. A 3-CD package called The Art History Project will document very early Art (with Shorty Rogers and others), middle Art (unreleased Contemporary Records material), and final Art (studio and live performances of his last years). "I want to show Art's development as an artist," Laurie explains. "There's always the lyricism, and there's the soulfulness he never was without -- the solid funky bottom to his sound that he always had, from his Central Avenue upbringing. And then, during the '60s, he went into a very outside sound like Coltrane. But later it all came together for him: you can hear that happen in The Trip and the Village Vanguard recordings." Laurie also has tapes of 1979 performances of Art at Ronnie Scott's. An album's worth of material from the gig was previously released as The Milcho Leviev Quartet (Art was under contract to Galaxy at the time) and "was a huge success in the U.K.," she says. "The sound quality was perfect." She plans to feature the Ronnie Scott's recordings in a fall 2007 or spring 2008 release. An ongoing related project is Straight Life, the film-in-progress based on the like-titled Pepper autobiography (written by Art and Laurie). The movie combines live action and documentary with fanciful animated footage to illustrate Art's stories -- told in his own compelling voice retrieved from taped, archival Straight Life interviews. Additional "narration" is supplied by Art's musical voice: his performances of his original autobiographical compositions. Clips are posted on YouTube as well as on the movie web site. Part 1 of this film is planned for video release in late 2008.

The Best of Lonnie Liston Smith (RCA Victor) 1978 compilation Suddenly It's The Hi-Lo's (Columbia mono) 1956, 1981 reissue The Dave Clark Five - Gigantes Del Pop (Sp. Polydor mono) 1978 compilation The Mahavishnu Orchestra - The Inner Mounting Flame (Columbia)

In the top of the first, Toronto's first, fourth and fifth batters all hit home runs. But Cleveland beat them anyway.

Ed Reed is a 78-year old who has a regular Tuesday night gig at the Cheese Board Pizza Collective in Berkeley, CA. With the encouragement of Tootie Heath and Sheila Jordan, he founded a record label for himself (called Blue Shorts) and has recorded an album of ballads called Ed Reed sings Love Stories. There are 11 songs totalling 63 minutes. The songs include Sleepin' Bee, Bye Bye Blackbird, Daydream, Goodbye, Motherless Child and even Ask Me Now. Even though he is well past retirement age, his voice is still in great shape. I hear a lot of guys on the jazz radio stations here who don't sing as well as Reed does. Reed is backed on the album by Gary Fisher on piano, John Witala on bass and Eddie Marshall on drums. I assume but can't say for sure that this is the same Eddie Marshall who played with The Fourth Way with Mike Nock, Ron McClure and Michael White. Peck Almond often augments the rhythm section with a variety of wind instruments, most notably the flute. Reed has led an interesting, if often sordid, life. He grew up in Los Angeles. When he was a little boy, his father was a waiter for the Southern Pacific Railroad and active in the union. A. Philip Randolph often came to the house to discuss union politics with his dad. Later he lived across the street from the sister of Charles Mingus. At age 11 he received his first music lesson from the then-teenaged Mingus! As an adult Reed was a heroin addict for forty years, and spent the years 1951-1966 in prison. While at San Quentin, he was the vocalist for the Warden's Band, whose saxophone player was Art Pepper! We've mentioned more than once here, most notably on the Plays For Lovers thread, that I like ballads albums. So I may be a bit predisposed to liking this album because it is an hour of beautiful songs. But even so, I feel that this is an album that deserves plenty of radio airplay. The CD is available from CDBaby. 4 stars

Tom Poston died today. He was 85! I remember him well each week on The Steve Allen Show. I also remember him as a regular on To Tell the Truth. From time to time the guest would be someone related to jazz. Poston would never fail to ask the contestants, "What instrument does Miles Davis play?" Then, when each panelist would reveal whom he voted for, Poston would say EVERY TIME "Miles is a friend of mine." Here's his obit from the LA Times website: Tom Poston, a master at playing clueless sidekicks, dies at 85 From the Associated Press 1:44 PM PDT, May 1, 2007 Tom Poston, the tall, pasty-faced comic who found fame and fortune playing a clueless everyman on such hit television shows as "Newhart" and "Mork and Mindy," has died. He was 85. Poston, who was married to Suzanne Pleshette of "The Bob Newhart Show," died Monday night at home after a brief illness, a family representative, Tanner Gibson, said Tuesday. The nature of his illness was not disclosed. Poston's run as a comic bumbler began with "The Steve Allen Show" after Allen plucked the character actor from the Broadway stage to join an ensemble of eccentrics he would conduct "man in the street" interviews with. Don Knotts was the shaky Mr. Morrison, Louis Nye was the suave, overconfident Gordon Hathaway and Poston's character was so unnerved by the television cameras that he couldn't remember who he was. He won an Emmy playing "The Man Who Can't Remember His Name." But when Allen moved the show from New York to Los Angeles in 1959, Poston stayed behind. "Hollywood's not for me right now; I'm a Broadway cat," he told a reporter at the time. When he did finally move west, he quickly began appearing in variety shows, sitcoms and films. His movie credits included "Cold Turkey," "The Happy Hooker," "Rabbit Test" and, more recently, "Christmas With the Kranks," "Beethoven's 5th" and "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement." On "Mork and Mindy," which starred Robin Williams as a space alien, Poston was Franklin Delano Bickley, the mindless boozer with the annoying dog. On "Newhart," he was George Utley, the handyman who couldn't fix anything at the New England inn that Bob Newhart ran. And on Newhart's show "Bob," he was the star's dim-bulb former college roommate. "These guys are about a half-step behind life's parade," Poston commented in a 1983 interview. "The ink on their instruction sheets is beginning to fade. But they can function and cope and don't realize they are driving people up the walls. "In ways I don't like to admit, I'm a goof-up myself," Poston continued. "It's an essential part of my character. When these guys screw up it reminds me of my own incompetence with the small frustrations of life." Goof-up or not, Poston was a versatile actor who made his Broadway debut in 1947 playing five roles in Jose Ferrer's "Cyrano de Bergerac." One role called for him to engage in a duel, fall 10 feet, roll across the stage and vanish into the orchestra pit. Other actors had auditioned and failed but Poston, who in his youth had been an acrobat with the Flying Zepleys, did the stunt perfectly. He went on to play secondary roles in Broadway comedies and starred at regional theaters in such shows as "Romanoff and Juliet" and "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum." For 10 years he was also a panelist on the popular TV quiz show "To Tell the Truth." He made guest appearances on scores of television shows, including "Studio One," "The Phil Silvers Show," "The Defenders," "Get Smart," "The Bob Newhart Show," "The Love Boat," "St. Elsewhere," "The Simpsons," "Coach," "Murphy Brown," "Home Improvement," "Touched by an Angel," "Will & Grace," "Dream On," "Just Shoot Me!" and "That '70s Show." Poston and his first wife, Jean Sullivan, had a daughter, Francesca, before their marriage ended in divorce. He married his second wife, Kay Hudson, after they met while appearing in the St. Louis Light Opera, and they had a son, Jason, and daughter, Hudson. Poston and Pleshette, who had appeared together in the 1959 Broadway play "The Golden Fleecing," had had a brief fling before marrying other people. Both now widowed, they reunited in 2000 and married the following year. Their paths had crossed on "The Bob Newhart Show" in the 1970s. Poston made several guest appearances on the sitcom in which Pleshette played Newhart's wife. In 2006, Pleshette underwent chemotherapy for lung cancer that her agent said was caught at an early stage. Born in Columbus, Ohio, on Oct. 17, 1921, Thomas Poston moved from city to city as a child as his father hunted for work during the Depression. As a teenager, he made money as a boxer. Following two years at Bethany College, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps and flew troops to the European war zone during World War II. Hunting for a postwar occupation, Poston read an interview with Charles Jehlinger, creative head of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and was inspired to sign up for a two-year course at the Academy. Besides Pleshette, Poston is survived by his children, Francesca Hudson and Jason Poston. A private service was planned for immediate family. Details of a public memorial service were to be announced later.

Here's his obituary from today's LA Times: Tommy Newsom, 78; 'Tonight Show' band member, Johnny Carson's foil By Dennis McLellan, Times Staff Writer May 1, 2007 Tommy Newsom, the former longtime saxophonist for "The Tonight Show" orchestra who regularly subbed for bandleader Doc Severinsen and earned the tongue-in-cheek nickname "Mr. Excitement" as the famously low-key butt of Johnny Carson's jokes, has died. He was 78. Newsom, who had bladder and liver cancer, died Saturday at his home in Portsmouth, Va., said his wife of 49 years, Pat. Newsom became an NBC staff musician in 1962, having recently finished touring with Benny Goodman's big band in Latin America and the Soviet Union. Shortly after joining the network, he was assigned to "The Tonight Show," where he remained until Carson retired in 1992. "He was, of course, a fantastic arranger, composer and saxophone player — that goes without saying," Severinsen told The Times on Monday. "He was one of the sweetest guys that ever came down the pike, a gentleman through and through." Newsom, who wrote arrangements for the "Tonight Show" orchestra and played lead alto sax — Severinsen credited him with helping "make that band what it was" — became assistant music director in 1968. As substitute bandleader, Newsom's plain wardrobe and unassuming demeanor offered a stark contrast to the outgoing and flamboyantly attired Severinsen. "Johnny blanched when he saw me" leading the band for the first time, Newsom recalled in a 1992 interview with The Times. "I was such a contrast to Doc, who was dressing like a demented flamingo, while I just wore my other suit — I had a limited wardrobe. I don't think I said a thing." Newsom's self-described "cardboard-cutout style" quickly proved to be a perfect foil for Carson, who called him "The Man from Bland" and "the cover boy for Oatmeal Illustrated." How dull was Newsom? He was, according to Carson, so dull he "wants to come back as a plant, so somebody will talk to him" and "was the only person to reach puberty and senility at the same time." But occasionally, as Newsom told the Virginian-Pilot newspaper in 2001, "I'd get a zinger in." When he uncharacteristically wore a loud yellow jacket on one show, Carson cracked, "Look at that big, dumb canary." To which Newsom replied: "You'll know what kind of bird I am when I fly over you." Carson sidekick Ed McMahon recalled another time that Newsom's dry wit surfaced. Noting that the wardrobe department would pick out what they would wear on the show, "although you didn't have to wear it," he said that Carson walked out on stage one night wearing a tan jacket and dark brown pants when he noticed that Newsom was similarly attired. "We're wearing the same outfit," Carson said to him. Deadpanned Newsom: "I had no choice." "He'd come up with those bons mots that would just devastate the audience," McMahon said. The son of a pharmacist father and a kindergarten teacher mother, Newsom was born in Portsmouth on Feb. 25, 1929. He received his first saxophone for Christmas when he was 8, and he was playing in local bands by the time he was 13. After graduating from high school in 1945, Newsom attended the Norfolk division of the College of William & Mary (now Old Dominion University), then spent four years majoring in music education at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. Joining the Air Force after graduating from Peabody in 1952, he toured with the Airmen of Note, an Air Force jazz ensemble. He then moved to New York, where he earned a master's degree in music education from Columbia University and freelanced as a musician, both on the road and in studios, as well as playing with the Vincent Lopez band for a couple of years. Newsom won a Clio Award for an American Airlines commercial and shared Emmy Awards for his musical arranging on "Night of 100 Stars" in 1982 and the 40th annual Tony Awards in 1986. Newsom, who recorded several CDs, did arrangements for artists ranging from opera singer Beverly Sills to country singer Kenny Rogers. He also did symphonic arrangements for Severinsen. Newsom, who moved from Tarzana to Portsmouth after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, continued to do occasional gigs until March, as well as writing arrangements until a few weeks ago. In addition to his wife, Newsom is survived by a daughter, Candace Liebmann. His son, Mark, died in 2003. A memorial service in Woodland Hills is pending.

Thanks for posting this, Guy. It looks like greed may catch up with some people, the ones buying the riskiest tranches.

Pet Clark - My Love (Warner Bros. mono) 1965 The Beau Brummels Sing (Post) 1965 (70s compilation of their Autumn albums) Sounds Incorporated (Br. See For Miles) 1983 compilation of their two mid-60s albums The Very Best of Bobby Vee (United Artists) (Today is his birthday.) Blossom Dearie - Once Upon a Summertime... (Verve) 1958 (1987 reissue)

Mike Ricci announced today that AAJ is starting a new download store. All the songs are DRM free. It appears that the albums go for $12.00, while each song goes for $1.20. Obviously, you would want to download the tracks individually when there are fewer than ten tracks, it seems to me. I haven't heard of most of the labels, but CTI and Cryptogramophone are included. http://forums.allaboutjazz.com/showthread.php?t=20945

I lived in Boston in September of '72. I'm sorry I didn't go to see this.

Happy Birthday .:.!

Not to beat a dead horse, but let me point out, TTK, that the records for the bonus tracks session were so poor that they do not know who the personnel were. Because of the poor record keeping, I don't think a conclusion can be fairly reached regarding why the discrepancy you mention exists. The CD liner notes say, "Two selections with possibly the same stellar line-up as 'Afro-blue', Monkey Beams and Ming..." The use of the word "possibly" indicates to me that they don't know for sure who is even on the record. If they can't get that right, why should we expect them to get anything else right?

Three times I have gone to a club, sat at the front, and have the entertainer come sit down beside me and chat between sets: Bob Shane of The Kingston Trio Vince Guaraldi Mark Murphy

Return To Forever - Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy (Polydor) 1973 I've had this album for 24 years, but never played it very much. I'm hearing now for the first time the influence this had on Hugh Hopper.

Phil Kelly (SGUD Missle) reported at AAJ today that Tommy Newsom died yesterday of liver cancer. He was 78. I'll post the LA Times obit when it comes up tomorrow. http://forums.allaboutjazz.com/showthread.php?t=20914

I remember well those senses of discovery and revelation when I was in college and getting into jazz by buying $1.99 cutouts of Riversides and Prestiges; and later when I was getting into Canterbury prog rock which were only available as import LPs. But in both cases there were two factors: The music was new to me, and there was a shortage of what was available in the record stores. Nowadays, I'm not aware of any new music trends that excite me. And the ability to easily purchase all of an artist's catalogue currently in print is a definite improvement to me. Plus, even though I am on a strict budget, I have more money to spend on music now (especially with Your Music!) than I had when I was a student; so each individual album is not going to be as precious as it was then. And also, I'm more than thirty years older than I was in those days; and maybe with time the thrill of the hunt wears off. But I think that it would return if I discovered a new type of music which excited me.

Happy Birthday Joe!

Happy Birthday Niko!

Durium, I think the guy is amazing! I've raved about him in this thread: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...mp;hl=Adventure Hope you get to see him.

The Searchers - Love's Melodies (Sire) 1981 Gerry & the Pacemakers - Ferry Cross the Mersey original soundtrack (United Artists mono) 1964 Gary Farr - Addressed to the Censors of Love (Atco) 1973

What's his name? Should I know him?

Cat Mother and the All Night Newsboys - The Street Giveth...and the Street Taketh Away (Polydor 24-4001, US Polydor's first release) 1969