GA Russell

Happy Birthday!

Uh oh. Those are all Concord/Fantasy titles. I had mentioned earlier that I have not noticed any new Concord/Fantasy titles being added since Concord bought Fantasy. One thing that Concord did was retain a different distributor. It looks to me like this new distributor is going to discontinue Concord/Fantasy's relationship with BMG/Your Music. Hope I'm wrong!

And speaking of death wish, I suppose you saw that the amateurs of American Idol clobbered in the Nielsen ratings the "stars" on the Grammy Awards show. Our discussion on the Grammy show was about how bad it was. But for American Idol to do so well suggests to me tht most Americans didn't bother to tune in to the Grammys in the first place. The people are speaking, and they don't want the stars even for free, apparently.

Chet had one hit with this studio band - a cover of the Statler Brothers' Flowers on the Wall. I remember Dick Clark playing that song once on American Bandstand, and saying "Chet Baker" as if everyone had heard of him. LOL! Only kids watched that show, and we didn't know Chet Baker. Anyway, I have two of the LPs you listed, both of which I picked up used for a buck - Hats Off!! and In the Mood. In answer to your question, yes, they are just Herb Alpert ripoffs. But in my view they are excellent rip offs. They are adult pop music, not jazz. They get sneered at because they are what they are, not because they were done poorly. If you like Herb Alpert and Chris Botti, I think you will like these too. edit: By the way, another song, included on In the Mood I think, became more widely known than Flowers on the Wall, and that is the closing theme to The Dating Game, which as I recall was written by Chuck Barris.

Thanks Ron!

Congratulations Duke City!

Sal, tell us more! When was it recorded? Who's on it?

But the climate is always changing, isn't it? It's either getting warmer over the long term or getting colder, right? My understanding is that the real dispute is over the extent to which the change is accelerated and increased by man's actions. And from what I read there is no consensus among the scientists. There are plenty on the pro side and plenty on the con side. Most of the talk seems to come from the politicians, not the scientists. That said, it is my opinion that there wouldn't be pollution if somebody weren't making millions of dollars by creating it. edit for typo

Thanks for that!

CD #3 of the Miles 65-68 Quintet box.

I can recommend The Best of the Roulette Years: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000002UZ...5Fencoding=UTF8 But for the same money, I would go along with the suggestion of picking up a few Roulette items from Your Music.

That surprises me a great deal. I would have thought that the Coltrane and 65-68 Quintet boxes would have far outsold the IASW box. I suppose that the IASW box is the best seller because it is only three CDs, and therefore the most affordable. Anybody think it's because of the music?

CD #2 of the 65-68 Miles Quintet on Columbia.

I got a terrific little album yesterday that's brand new, and might appeal to those of you who are Phil Woods fans like I am. It's called Let's Groove! A Tribute to Mel Torme by the Jimmy Amadie Trio with special guest Phil Woods. Here's the Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CQNJV...5Fencoding=UTF8 The bass and the drums of the trio are Steve Gilmore and Bill Goodwin, who for many, many years were members of Woods' quartet. So this is like a Phil Woods Quartet album, with Jimmy Amadie sitting in for Hal Galper on piano. Amadie played with Torme in the 50s, as well as with Charlie Ventura and Woody Herman. The liner notes don't say what he has been up to for the past forty years, except to mention two books he has written, and the fact that his career has been derailed by medical problems with his hands. The album is eight songs totalling 55 minutes. There are five originals by Amadie and three standards which Amadie associates with Torme: Lover Come Back to Me, What is this Thing Called Love and How Deep is the Ocean. Woods sits out on one original and one standard. So you can see that it is a bit of a stretch to consider this a tribute to Mel Torme. But that doesn't get in the way of my enjoyment of the music. Amadie is more sophisticated than a cocktail pianist, but has that sort of easygoing vibe to his playing and compositions. This is good music to relax to. Everyone is in good form for both of the recording dates, November of '04 and March of '05. The album is on a label I am unfamiliar with, TPR Recordings out of Bala Cynwyd (suburban Philly), PA.

They were predicting heavy thundershowers and maybe a little snow for us here in eastern North Carolina, but we got nothing like that. Drizzle most of yesterday, clear skies today. Predicting 60 degrees Wednesday and Thursday of this week.

Please don't call me Shirley. Actually, I'm a believer in being prepared for this, just like for Y2K. Unlike Y2K, however, I'm not sure what sort of preparations would help. I suppose stocking up on some food for awhile so you don't have to leave the house would be beneficial, but what else? One thing we saw in New Orleans: When the police are busy somewhere else, the looting begins.

LOL! No Mister Rogers for me!

Can't say I remember Joe Negri. I remember Spider Rondonelli with Eric Kloss at Sunny Daye's, and Harold Betters. What I mostly remember is how none of the record shops carried any jazz except CTI. It was a lot easier to find imports from Britain of prog rock like the Canterbury scene. edit for typo

Don't forget Ahmad Jamal! I lived in Pittsburgh from '74 to early '82. Many people were very nice.

Happy Birthday!

Looks like all of Vince's efforts are for naught!!!

I'm listening to the CD of The Amazing Bud Powell, vol. 1, which was part of the Bud Powell Blue Note box.

I wonder how many more copies a big band album would sell if the record companies agreed to be carried by BMG/Your Music. Maybe Chuck can shed some light on this.

I notice that the website refers to it as "Doug Flutie drop kick convert". "Convert" is the Canadian term, "conversion" being the American term. Is that a Canadian website, or maybe Red Mosquito is just a Canadian who posted the clip. Canadians are interested in Flutie due to the number of great years he had up there. I saw him play twice - once in '95 in Baltimore for Calgary, and once in '96 in the Grey Cup game for Toronto. edit for typo

My girl friend shares the candy I give her with four relatives, leaving not much for her. I say to heck with that, so this year I am giving her a sweater from LL Bean. We live in different cities, so dinner is not part of the equation. But you can bet it would be if we lived in the same town!