GA Russell

Sounds exciting! Looking forward to hearing it!

Happy Birthday!

MG, Groucho Marx hosted a quiz show called You Bet Your Life, which was a little bit of quiz with a whole lot of Groucho comments. If the contestants didn't win any money, he would offer them a consolation prize if they could answer an obvious question. Others that come to mind are: What do you shoot with an elephant gun? What was the occupation of the famous painter Rembrandt? (I remember the contestants having a problem with that one!)

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!

Paul, you beat me to it! I only knew about Grant's wife because it was a question once on College Bowl with Allen Ludden. Remember that show? It was popular on Sunday afternoons before pro football became popular. For those too young to remember, it was the basis of the high school Prep Quiz Bowls that became popular later. Speaking of pro football, not long ago I was listening to a tape of a 1956 radio show called X Minus One, a science fiction show. At the close, the announcer said, "Listen Sunday to the pro football championship game, right here on NBC!" I was struck by the fact that there was no mention of the NFL, just "pro football". edit for typo

Happy Independence Day! Today I've opened up a Beach Boys album, 20/20, to celebrate being an American!

Here's how I rank them: 1) Sonny Rollins - Definite recommend if you don't have Silver City and aren't going to get it. 2) Joe Henderson - Definite recommend, even if I don't like the last track. 3) McCoy Tyner - Lots of excellent music, but not a cohesive album. 4) Jimmy Smith - He's having a good time, but the music's not memorable. 5) Jimmy Scott - It's good, but it doesn't excite me.

This week a new Hi-Lo's set will be issued on the Jasmine label. It's called Musical Thrill. I can't find it at CD Universe, but Amazon has it here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FVQPV...2472843?ie=UTF8 It appears to be a 2-CD set of 50 songs, with a list price of only $17.99! I don't recognize many of the recordings, but the ones I do are all Spotlite or Trend, I think, and are owned by Universal now. I may get this one. If anyone picks this up, let us know what you think!

Milestone Profiles Bonus Disc Each of the Profiles discs comes with the same Bonus Disc. The eight artists are listed above in post #18. As you can see, each of the five artists profiled is included in the Bonus Disc along with three other artists. None of the songs on the Bonus Disc are also included in the Profiles discs. The Bonus Disc consists of 8 songs, totalling 44:58. Each of the bonus discs that came with the Prestige Profiles series had a theme. For example, the bonus disc that came with the Red Garland profile featured pianists. But this Bonus Disc has no theme. This is the sort of thing you used to see at Borders a few years ago for $1.99. Its primary purpose is to introduce the novice to the wide variety of acts featured on the label. The selections are pretty disparate. There aren't going to be many people in America who like all of them. For example, there is McCoy Tyner banging away, Flora Purim singing Dindi, and Hank Crawford with Jimmy McGriff and their soul jazz. I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, and the price is right - it's free! But for seasoned jazz fans like board members here, the Bonus Disc is not a reason to buy the Profile. I can imagine myself putting it on from time to time. If I ever burn a copy of a Profile for the car, I will add the extra selection contained on the Bonus Disc.

It looks like Concord/Fantasy's relationship with BMG/Your Music is history. Six weeks ago I put the Prestige John Coltrane Plays For Lovers in my queue, and two weeks later I received an email saying that if I wanted it I would have to buy it NOW. (Which I did.) Now I see that all Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk and Bill Evans Fantasy/OJCs are no longer listed. So it looks like that party is over.

Congratulations Jim!

Happy Birthday!

Jimmy Scott - Milestone Profiles Steve Allen defined a jazz singer to be one who either sings jazz or sings in front of a jazz band. Jimmy Scott is in the latter category. This CD has 11 songs, all standards, totalling 57:39. The liner notes list 4 Milestone CDs currently available. The 11 songs are from the 4 CDs. The time frame is 2000-2001. The sidemen are some famous names (including Hank Crawford, Cyrus Chestnut, George Mraz, Grady Tate, Eric Alexander, Joe Beck, Renee Rosnes, Lewis Nash, Wynton Marsalis, Larry Willis and David "Fathead" Newman), but nobody does anything particularly interesting here. I don't find any of the songs to be objectionable, but I don't find anything here to get excited about either. If you are curious about Jimmy Scott, this might be the way to go. Its price is low and you get the free bonus disc. If you're not curious about Scott, this one isn't essential.

Topping this for the AOTW. Monk's Music and With John Coltrane - What say you?

McCoy Tyner - Milestone Profiles This is a Sampler with a capital "S". The liner notes say that Tyner recorded "nearly 20" albums for Milestone over the course of ten years. He recorded in quite a variety of settings. The CD has 9 tracks, totalling 68:54. The 9 songs are taken from 9 different CDs. Tyner is heard here in solo, trio, quartet, septet, octet, big band (13 pieces) and sextet with strings settings. Because of that, although I enjoy all of the songs, I don't find this CD to be particularly satisfying as a stand-alone album. It instead offers a variety of sounds to give the listener a good idea of what albums he would like to purchase. The liner notes list 19 Milestone CDs currently available. I note that the song that I find most interesting (due to the big band's arrangement) is Search For Peace from the OJC 13th House. Yet the liner notes do not list 13th House as being available. Since I do not believe that any OJC has been deleted from the catalogue, I suspect that this is an error of omission. I can recommend this compilation for the curious who are looking for an idea of what Tyner albums to pick up.

Congratulations Chuck! Have a safe and happy trip!

What little I've heard from Donato I've loved. For a guy who spent twenty years in the US, doing studio work I guess, his CDs haven't been commonly found here. In 1971 I got an album of his on the Blue Thumb label called A Bad Donato. I still enjoy it from time to time. Not really jazz, but fun to listen to.

I guess even dogs are allowed celebrity status! Here's the link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml...27/ufrasier.xml

Jimmy Smith - Milestone Profiles This is my sixth JOS CD, but my first on Milestone. There are 9 songs here, totalling 64:56. The liner notes list 5 Milestone CDs currently available. The 9 songs are taken from the 5 CDs. The time frame is 1981 and 1989-93. Sidemen include Stanley Turrentine, Eddie Harris, Kenny Burrell, Phil Upchurch and Grady Tate. This is a good collection. All the songs cook except Mood Indigo (which I heard last night on Sirius). I know that many here are bigger fans of the organ combo than I am. I find myself tiring of the sound halfway through the album, even though there are no bad cuts here. I think what I will do is burn a copy of the first half and another of the second half to listen to in the car. Smith sounds like he is enjoying himself on every track. The sound is excellent on every track except the 1981 date with Eddie Harris, which was recorded live at Keystone Korner. If you don't have any JOS on Milestone, this would probably be a good place to start.

2PRCD-24295-2

Happy Birthday!

Sonny Rollins - Milestone Profiles Sonny's disc features 9 songs totaling 72 minutes. The liner notes list 22 Sonny Milestone CDs currently available, plus the 2-CD compilation Silver City, which came out in '96. The 9 songs are taken from 9 different albums, all of which are a currently available. I have good news, and I have bad news. The good news is that this is an excellent compilation. There's not a bad song on it. Great music for 72 minutes. The bad news is that six of the nine recordings are included in Silver City. The remaining three songs were released after '96. At the price, this would make an excellent gift for someone unfamiliar with Sonny's Milestone work. But if you're spending money on yourself, I recommend that you buy Silver City instead. CD Universe has it for $20.95. (After you have Silver City, you can get the three albums the other songs came off of.) Of course, I'm not taking into consideration the bonus disc that comes with this. That makes the Milestone Profiles more attractive. But I'm keen on Silver City, and if you don't already have it I think you should get it.

Happy Birthday!