GA Russell

I like this one! One of my few Mosaic sets which I've heard all of. The last two CDs bore me a little bit - they just don't seem as exciting as the first few. But I listen to them all at least once a year.

Stan Getz with Cal Tjader (Fantasy OJC) The Flowering of the original Charles Lloyd Quartet (Atlantic) Charlie Byrd and Cal Tjader - Tambu (Fantasy)

Thanks for your input everyone! Last night Song For My Father was in first place, but today Jazz Messengers has taken the lead. I've noticed that Father hasn't received much enthusiasm among the comments despite its many votes. Thanks for your comments, Quincy. I didn't expect that this would become a referendum on my collection. Actually, I have five Silver discs plus some sideman work with Miles and Getz. My database says that I have (along with the date purchased): Silver 'N Percussion (1978) Best of Vol. 1 (1980) Best of Vol. 2 (1990) The Hardbop Grandpop (1997) Jazz Has a Sense of Humor (1999) I saw Silver and his group in the spring of '69 in DC at a Left Bank Jazz Society concert. It was enjoyable, but not memorable. I don't recall the names of any of the sidemen. I find a sameness to all of Silver's work, which is why I haven't been buying more of his records over the years. I enjoy them, but I guess not enough to spur me to go and get more. Obviously I'm in the mood for a new one now. I've just finished listening to The Hardbop Grandpop. It's a good album, but not a must-have. Anyway, I appreciate everyone's comments and suggestions!

I agree with Guy's nomination of Headhunters. From this past year or so I definitely would say Chick Corea's The Ultimate Adventure and Neenna Freelon's Portrait of a Lady.

I had forgotten that Jack was the drummer on Infinite Search! That's one of my favorite records. I've got to vote for that one!

Well, since it's one of my favorite and oft-mentioned discs, I'll go with Al Foster on 1978's In Out & Around by Mike Nock with Michael Brecker and George Mraz. For Jack DeJohnette, maybe one of his sessions with Charles Lloyd. I'll say The Flowering of the original Charles Lloyd Quartet from 1966 with Keith Jarrett and Cecil McBee.

Ever heard their Latin album on Capitol? That's a good one! Voices in Latin! I have the CD of that, which is coupled with The Freshman Year. I got it four years ago, I think from Collectors' Choice. I enjoy it too.

My last Horace Silver was Jazz Has a Sense of Humor which I got in 1999. That's been quite a while now, so it's time for another. Your Music has eight available. Whatever the group chooses, that is the one I will put at the top of my queue. I already have his Best of volumes 1 and 2, so I suppose that I already have his very best songs and hits. I don't plan on this being my last Horace Silver purchase, but I won't plan on making another one for a year or more. Please feel free to discuss the merits or demerits of the albums you are familiar with. Because there are so many available, we might as well make this a Horace Silver corner. Deadline for the poll is 11:59 pm eastern, February 6. PS - Please vote only once. I'm looking forward to seeing which one this group likes the best!

Four Freshmen and 5 Trombones (Capitol) The Four Freshmen - Voices and Brass (Pausa) Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath (RCA Neon)

Our Sunday paper lists the top ten sellers in both contemporary jazz and smooth jazz, but never for modern jazz (the sort that we like). As far as I know, Billboard does not have a chart for it. Does anybody know where, preferably on the internet, one can look up the sales chart of the sort of music we like? I ask because today is the CD release date of Sonny, Please. I'll be curious to see how the sales are for this album. I read recently (I think it was in the lengthy Houston newspaper article that was linked in another thread) that almost all of a CD's sales occurs in the first two months of its release. Of course, the article was about music in general, so that means pop music. It doesn't surprise me that teenagers want a new album right away or not at all. Adult fans of modern jazz I assume are much more willing to wait. I say that because of the great number of us here who will wait until an album is available at Your Music. The release of Sonny, Please has been the nuttiest thing I've seen about this. First it is available from the fellow's website without advertising at a price ten dollars over the eventual list price. Then it is available for about two months only as a download, and then not even from eMusic. Finally it is available today at stores. So this policy has flown in the face of the industry's experience of promoting a new release and getting all of the sales proceeds promptly. I imagine that Sonny, Please will do well on the Soundscan chart, but I have to think that they have missed out on sales because on the first day of its "release" it is no longer a new album. So anyway, anybody know where to look up modern jazz sales?

Right you are David! I always thought it was Parker, but a google search shows that you are correct. By the way, it also says that the poem, entitled Reflections on Ice-Breaking, was written: Candy Is dandy But liquor Is quicker.

Candy is dandy, But liquor is quicker. - Dorothy Parker

Wow and congrats!

I wonder if there is a correlation among the religions - for example, are most Buddhists happier than most Christians?

I just noticed that Tony Dungy looks like Barak Obama.

Both my teams lost. Oh, well. I grew up in New Orleans. My family was from Boston, so the Boston Patriots were my favorite team. My senior year in high school, New Orleans got its own team - the Saints. I thought it would really be something if the two teams from my youth playeed each other in the Super Bowl. Wait till next year!

If I may mention a blues item in this thread...In '92 I picked up a 1989 album by Charles Brown on the Alligator label (I think he recorded it for somebody else, but I'm not sure.) called One More for the Road. He still sounded great that late in life, and I've enjoyed listening to the CD without ever getting tired of it.

Nirvana is one of my desert island discs, though I don't play it very often. I got it first on tape and then on LP.

Until I read the obit in this morning's paper, I didn't know that Denny was the lead singer. I thought it was John.

1) I don't know why liberals make up so much of the new media. 2) The Washington Times has a national weekly edition, but I grant you that the leading newspapers in the country are liberal. In fact, that was part of my initial point - that these guys would be selling more newspapers if they weren't so liberal. 3) As I say, I don't read the Wall Street Journal, so I can't comment on it. Mty comment above was merely to repeat what others have told me. However, I suggest you not be so quick to assume that stock market investors are conservative. There are many big contributors to the Democratic Party. Bill Clinton had a lot of friends on Wall Street, even before the late 90s bubble. 4) Finally, I like you, Guy, but if you don't think that the New York Times is liberal, then you and I are on different planets!

Here's the link to an article about the record industry threatening to sue ISPs over illegal file sharing: http://news.independent.co.uk/business/new...icle2162919.ece The last paragraph adds this tidbit: "During 2006, global digital music sales doubled to about $2bn on the back of an 89 per cent surge in music downloads to 795 million. The success of the digital music market has been underlined by bands like Koopa which is expected to score a Top-40 hit this week despite having no record label or any physical copies of their CD on sale." It looks like the future is here.

Well, I haven't seen numbers for specific newspapers, but I've read nothing to indicate that the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and the Washington Times are hurting. In regard to what makes a newspaper liberal, I think it's clear in the news articles when a paper consistently puts up front criticism of the Republicans and praise for the Democrats. By the way, I don't read the WSJ, but I have read a number of times the view that its neoconservative editorial page is nothing like its news articles, which are said to be much more liberal than the WSJ's reputation would have one believe. I do remember for years seeing the WSJ's Al Hunt on talk shows, and he was treated as if he were representing a conservative point of view. That ended when he went on the Capitol Gang and he was labelled a liberal.

Guy, I would expect that in New York City and Washington, DC, a liberal newspaper would do very well. But when I lived in Pittsburgh there were two papers (the Press and the Post-Gazette) and they were both liberal. Today Pittsburgh has a conservative paper, the Tribune-Review. When I lived in Atlanta there were two papers (the Journal and Constitution and the Daily News) and they were both liberal. It just seems to me that in a country where only 27% identify themselves as liberal, the liberal newpapers in a one-paper town are not giving the readers what they want to hear. edit for typo

I received Dec. 11 an advance copy of a group I've never heard of before called the Brad Shepik Trio entitled Places You Go. This is an SACD 2+5 CD. I decided to hold off until Christmas Day, and give it to myself as a present, since none of my family ever gives me music for Christmas. I've been listening to this a lot in the three weeks since, and I really enjoy it. Shepik is an electric guitarist, with Gary Versace on the Hammond B-3 and Tom Rainey on drums. All three musicians are quite good. Shepik takes the lead role as a soloist, but Versace on organ gets plenty of solo time too. I suppose with any organ combo there is at least a hint of soul jazz, but here the primary influences are two sounds of the 70s: the quiet ECM sound blended with the Canterbury prog rock style. There are ten songs (all written by Shepik) totalling 57 minutes. All songs are good; but none of them are hummable, so I don't expect that any will become jazz standards. The CD is on the Songlines label, which is out of Vancouver. I found its website which is impressive. It appears that the company was founded about ten years ago to release "cutting edge" jazz. You can read an interview with Shepik and download an mp3 of one of the songs here: http://www.songlines.com/ A google search shows that Songlines CDs have been available from CD Universe in the past, but it's not clear to me that any are available from them now. If 2005 was the year I discovered Adventure Music, and 2006 Cryptogramophone, 2007 may be the year of Songlines for me. The website says that the US release date is Feb. 13; but it appears that the CD can be ordered now from the website for $15.99 (Canadian dollars?). 2007 is starting off as a good year!

David Asper presented his proposal to take over the Bombers on Sunday. I don't think anything will come of it. It's very possible that Asper would develop the property better than any community board would, but as I understand it the Bombers have plenty of money in the bank and the board doesn't feel any need to step aside. The board's spokesman says that he prefers that the club be community owned, and no one is quoted to disagree. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Win...388608-sun.html