GA Russell

Yes. I think it is just as good as the RCA sides, although I prefer the sambas recorded later among them all.

I signed up with Sirius on Friday, just in time for the Canadian Football League season. I listen to it at home on a boombox. I have been listening mostly to Ch. 72 Pure Jazz, and I've enjoyed it. I have heard a few things which I own, but mostly players both old and new that I should know more about and listen to more often. I suppose those of you in New York and other areas with good jazz radio are accustomed to hearing a wide variety of musicians, but my listening over the years has been limited to what I own, and this has been educational for me.

I think it was in '89 when Ron Carter and Jim Hall came to Atlanta and I saw them. Great! In the paper that day was an interview with Hall, and it mentioned in its introduction of him that he with Paul Desmond was the subject of a Mosaic box, as if that was proof of his greatness.

Happy Birthday!

Whenever I go to Toronto, during the season of course, I always take in an Argo football game. I've had a great time every time. The games are exciting and the tickets and beer are cheap!

This year's JJA Awards were announced Monday. Here's the link: http://www.jazzhouse.org/winners06.html Concord/Fantasy was named Label of the Year. Monk with Coltrane at Carnegie Hall was Album of the Year. The Cellar Door Sessions was Box Set of the Year.

Years ago I read a book by Red Auerbach, and he said that when an owner complains about the referees, it's like the owner of a restaurant standing outside the front door shouting, "My chef stinks!"

Marcos Amorim is an acoustic guitarist with a new album called Seven Chapels. The guitar is backed by bass, drums and sometimes flute. Of all of the albums in this thread, I would say that Seven Chapels is the prettiest and the least interesting. Amorim wrote all ten of the songs, totalling 50 minutes. He is an excellent guitarist, but I'm not impressed with his melodies. It's a very quiet album. I expect to play this on Sundays and late at night when I'm winding down. It's very romantic, and would be appreciated by a woman who doesn't have a passion for jazz. Very good background music, but doesn't fit the bill when you want to sit down and listen to something.

Hap[py Birthday CJ, Quincy and Adam! I remember being a little depressed when I turned 25, because Fred Lynn had just been named the American League's MVP and he was younger than me, and there I was with nothing to show for my life! Moral: Don't allow others' achievements to enter into your thinking of yourself as your reach a milestone.

I'm going to top this thread, just to make tranemonk feel better.

Go Canes! The first game my dad ever took me to was a Seattle Totems-Vancouver Canucks game in the Western Hockey League in November of 1960. We sat in the front row. In those days there was no plexiglass or chicken wire to protect the fans. It was about that time that Stan Mikita of Chicago was inventing the curved stick, which gave lift to the shots. So I suppose there was no need to protect the fans because the puck didn't go up over the boards. The goaltenders didn't wear masks either. I don't know when that league folded. It was an old man's league. The players were not for the most part on their way to the NHL, but many made more money than the younger NHL guys did. The next year my dad took me to see the Totems play the Portland Buckaroos, whose goaltender was the best in the league, Bruce Gamble. About 1969, the Totems coach Keith Allen became an executive with the Philadelphia Flyers, and one of the first things he did was obtain Gamble from the Toronto Maple Leafs. Sad story: Gamble had to retire when he had a heart attack during a game. But he didn't give up the game, and played in a recreational league. He had another heart attack during a game, and died. My college graduation present was season tickets to the new WHA team the New England Whalers in Boston. They won the Avco Cup that year. I saw them play the Alberta Oilers, though I don't remember who played for the Oilers then. So now the Whalers have moved to Raleigh, and here I am too. Honestly, I haven't been paying attention throughout the year, except to check the standings and see the Hurricanes on top throughout the season. But I've been listening to each of the Stanley Cup finals games on the radio. The Hurricanes' TV games this year were on a cable channel that is not listed in the newspaper! I think it is Fox Sports South, but I'm not sure. I don't get cable anyway. You would think that for the only pro team in town a Raleigh broadcast TV station would carry some of the games. edit for typos

Frank, I read Owen Cordle's rave review of this in yesterday's News & Observer. Congrats!

The Desmond is my favorite Mosaic box. I have never bothered to learn which songs go with which album, except to note that the sambas are on Bossa Antigua. I play all four of the discs regularly, even though I have owned them since 1989. Never get tired of them.

I would have preferred it to be all OJCs. I like samplers and compilations, but as a matter of priniciple I won't spend more than ten bucks for one. I think full retail price should be reserved for the "real" albums, not the samplers. But I'm not at all sure that the Starbucks customer is of the same mindset. Those people spend four dollars for a cup of coffee. If they like the music, maybe they don't care what the price is. Regarding developing new customers, it appears that the execs at Concord are committed to samplers and compilations as a business model. That has been most of the jazz they have put out in the past year. So long as they keep the OJCs in print, it's OK with me, although like everyone else here I would like to see more new OJCs issued. I agree, Ray. I'm delighted by the prospect that customers of Starbucks will be listening to OJC music while enjoying their coffee. I read an article in the paper about Starbucks just the other day. As I recall, it said that there are 2500 Starbucks in the US alone. That's a lot of people listening to OJCs. I wasn't thinking about ballads, Dave, but I sure expected music more relaxed than Coltrane's Russian Lullaby. I'm not sure that most people are going to want to listen to that as they converse over coffee. I don't know what you're talking about Chuck. I sure as heck don't consider an hour of OJCs to be crap.

On Monday all the tobacco plants bloomed. Yesterday it rained all day thanks to Alberto. No problem here, but some flooding in Raleigh.

I received this press release today. Starbucks will sell a Concord/Fantasy sampler. I assume that means that they will be playing the CD in all of their coffee shops. XM Satellite Radio is in on the action, promoting their jazz channels. No word on the price. Due out June 27. Maybe it will introduce a few people to some OJCs! Beverly Hills, Ca. and Washington, D.C., June 14, 2006 – XM Satellite Radio, the nation’s leading satellite radio service with more than 6.5 million subscribers, and Concord Music Group, one of the world’s largest independent record labels, today announced the release of Blistering Licks – Red Hot Riffs From the Giants of Jazz. The CD is the first in a series of co-branded compilations created with the best music from Concord’s historically rich catalog and designed to reflect specific XM channels and original XM music shows. The record will be available at Starbucks Company-operated locations in the U.S. and Canada beginning June 27th, 2006. Blistering Licks – Red Hot Riffs From the Giants of Jazz features the true masters of instrumental jazz from the past 50 years, playing exhilarating, accelerating pieces. All the tracks, carefully selected for their sheer energy and virtuosity from classic Milestone, Prestige, Riverside and Contemporary sessions, as well as from more recent outings on the Concord Jazz, Pablo and Heads Up labels, can be heard on XM’s flagship Jazz channel, Real Jazz (XM 70) or the popular Beyond Jazz (XM 72), two of the five commercial-free jazz and blues channels offered by XM. “You don’t have to be a jazz fan to be amazed by the incredible, jaw-dropping virtuosity of these jazz greats,”said compilation producer and Concord VP of Jazz and Catalog A&R, Nick Phillips. “These guys burn from the first note to the last.” The intensity of the CD is palpable, with pieces by extroverted jammers Johnny Griffin and Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis alongside masterful pianists Oscar Peterson and Art Tatum, who display their stunning skills in strictly up-tempo mode. Tenor titans Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane provide plenty of sparks, as do jazz guitar immortal Wes Montgomery and trumpet idol Miles Davis. The late tenor saxophonist Bob Berg, trumpeter Randy Brecker, Hammond B-3 killer Joey DeFrancesco, drummer Dennis Chambers, and Django-inspired guitar marvel Frank Vignola also add scintillating solos to this audacious mix. Along with some of the notable bandleaders in jazz history, Blistering Licks features a supporting cast that is bar none, including solos by Red Garland, Max Roach, Tommy Flanagan, Barney Kessel, and Shelly Manne. “This new compilation reflects the XM music experience, which is all about discovery and exploration of different genres,” said Lee Abrams, XM’s Chief Creative Officer of Programming. “The quality, intensity and musicianship of the performances in this collection is overwhelming and represents just a small sampling of what both the Jazz universe and the XM musical landscape have to offer.” The track listing for Blistering Licks – Red-Hot Riffs from the Giants of Jazz follows: 1. Sonny Rollins—It’s All Right with Me (From Worktime on Prestige) 2. Oscar Peterson & Clark Terry— Shaw ’Nuff (From Oscar Peterson & Clark Terry on Pablo) 3. Wes Montgomery—Airegin (From The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery on Riverside) 4. Johnny Griffin/Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis—Tickle Toe (From Tough Tenors on Jazzland) 5. Miles Davis Quintet—Salt Peanuts (From Steamin’ on Prestige) 6. Hampton Hawes—Up Blues (From the album Four! on Contemporary) 7. Bob Berg/Randy Brecker/Joey DeFrancesco/Dennis Chambers—Oleo (From JazzTimes Superband on Concord Jazz) 8. Jaco Pastorius Big Band—Kuru/Speak Like A Child (From The Word Is Out on Heads Up) 9. John Coltrane—Russian Lullaby (From Soultrane on Prestige) 10. Bill Evans—Woody’n You (From On Green Dolphin Street on Milestone) 11. Art Tatum with Roy Eldridge—This Can’t Be Love (From The Tatum Group Masterpieces, vol. 2 on Pablo) 12. Frank Vignola—Appel Direct (From Appel Direct on Concord)

There haven't been any Mosaics that I have disliked, but two that I like less than the others are the Charles Mingus Candid and the Curtis Fuller.

Mose Allison Sings is a compilation of vocals. I got it in college. It has been available for about two decades as Greatest Hits. You can get that at Your Music.

This month's pick is Donald Fagen - Morph the Cat. Usually something that appeals to me becomes available the week after my monthly shipping date, but this time it came up two days before! I've got quite a bit of Steely Dan, all but two I think, and both of Fagen's other solo outings, so I'm looking forward to this one. Released only three months ago!

I remember reading many years ago, probably in the late 70s or early 80s, a letter to the editor in Downbeat lamenting the fact that it didn't look like Kenny Dorham would ever be elected to the Readers Poll Hall of Fame. I haven't avoided Dorham over the years; his name just never seemed to come up. I'm pretty sure that the only thing of his I had was a few sideman recordings included in the Charlie Parker Live Savoy box. The last week of April Doug Ramsey in his Rifftides blog wrote at some length, giving the highest praise to the new RVG remaster of Quiet Kenny. Ramsey gave a couple of sentences to the other RVGs as a group, but went on and on about the Dorham album. So I decided to get Quiet Kenny, and I've been listening to it for the past ten days. I wouldn't go overboard about it, but I will say that it is exactly the sort of album I liked best when I was in colege - no frills, unpretentious and low key. I enjoy it a lot. The sidemen are Tommy Flanagan, Paul Chambers and Art Taylor, so that's a good start right there. From the title I expected it to be a ballads album, but it's not. There are a few uptempo numbers, but all the cuts are relaxed. Since I know so little about Dorham, I thought some of you here could suggest other recordings of his that you like. The liner notes say that he played with Art Blakey and Max Roach during the 50s. Anybody else have an opinion or comment about Kenny Dorham?

Apropos, I see that tomorrow's Gospel is Mark 12:35-37, which deals specifically with Alexander's original question.

I expect to be away from my computer tomorrow, so I'll say now that tomorrow is my fortieth anniversary! No, not that anniversary. It was forty years ago tomorrow that I bought my first jazz record. It was Hang On Ramsey! by the Ramsey Lewis Trio. It was the brand new follow up to his In Crowd album, and included two radio hits, both of which were given much more airplay in my hometown New Orleans than The In Crowd was - Hang On Sloopy and A Hard Day's Night. After buying a Ray Bryant album and listening to some jazz radio, I bought in October my first hard core jazz album, Groove Holmes' Soul Message, and I was on my way. What I have learned over the years is to trust my judgment. The jazz community includes quite a number of people who would like to be The Thought Police, and it took me awhile to realize that there is nothing inadequate about my tastes just because I don't share their preferences. The avant garde is a good example. Back in the 60s the Impuse! New Thing albums always got five stars in Downbeat. There was no such thing as a mediocre free jazz album, according to them. Even as a kid I could see that that was suspicious. Today I look for joy in other people's comments, whether they be record reviews or bulletin board posts. There are quite a number of people who discuss jazz with a "No dissent will be tolerated" attitude. Forty years ago these people had me thinking that there was something wrong with me for liking 50s jazz. Now I know that the problem is with them - no joy. I see this often from the Cecil Taylor and Anthony Braxton crowd. Over the years my LP and CD collection has grown to a substantial amount, although it is still quite small compared to those of many of you here. I consider the money spent to be a great bargain. In the 70s the record industry put stickers on LPs which said something like "Music - your greatest entertainment value". I believe that that was true then and is still true today. It's hard to calculate how few pennies have been spent for each time I listen to a CD. And the fact that I often go back to play CDs I purchased over fifteen years ago is another indication of a worthwhile investment. I've learned a great deal about many artists since becoming a regular here, and I expect that to continue for as long as there is an Organissimo board. It's great to be part of a knowledgable group of people with enthusiasm for my favorite art form. edit for typo and grammar

Perhaps you know that Edie Brickell recently signed with Concord!

Thanks Brownie!

These are out today. CD Universe says: List Price $11.98; Their Price $9.15; Pre-Order Price $8.39.