GA Russell

Sunset = Liberty Pickwick was an independent whose stock was often recommended on Wall Street Week.

I saw him at The Cellar Door about 1970. He was the warm up act to Herbie Hancock's band, and a friend who worked there told me that he felt that Herbie should have been his warm up. The jokes were funny, but often scatological. The crowd was 50/50 black and white. Half the jokes poked fun at blacks, and the whites laughed. The other half poked fun at whites, and the blacks laughed. Not too many jokes appealled to everyone at the same time.

No problem, Parkertown! As I said...

I got an album today that you might be interested to learn about. Charlie Peacock is a Christian music pianist who has recently come out with a jazz album. Love Press Ex-Curio is surprisingly avant garde for someone with his non-jazz experience. Did you ever hear an album that you liked, but you thought you were listening to at the wrong time of year? This album gives me that feeling. None of the songs have any melody (in the normal sense of the word). I enjoy this kind of jazz during the winter months, and I expect to like this album a lot more in February. For me, December is the month of Christmas and other laidback and joyful music, and this is by no means laidback. Players include Ravi Coltrane, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Kirk Whalum and Joey Baron. It has the sound of a lot of overdubbing and mixing. There is a pretty fair amount of electronic keyboards in the background, some of which is a new age contribution to the mix. But this doesn't make it any less of a jazz album. New Agers would hate this. Two reviewers each on both Amazon and CD Universe give this five stars. I think the synthesizer programming prevents me from giving it that, but I will probably give it four stars when I make up my mind. I'm going to put this away till after the first of the year, and then give it a serious chance. I expect that I'm going to really like it, but not till after Christmas.

CNN has had women anchors like Judy Woodruff for years. Fox has Laurie Dheus (sp?). I think Maureen is looking to start an argument where there isn't one.

When I was in college I bought a copy of Gerry Mulligan's Historically Speaking, which was a mid-60s re-titling of his early 50s album Mulligan Plays Mulligan. Inside was a copy of Soultrane. Soultrane had the proper labels, etc.; it was just in the wrong package. I didn't bother to complain. I never really came to like Soultrane, but the store didn't have another copy of Historically Speaking so the best I could hope for was getting my money back, which wasn't what I wanted.

Happy Birthday!

Michael Franks - Watching the Snow This came out the year before last, but I didn't learn about it until last year. I didn't buy it then (it was already getting late into the season). I bought it this year from Amazon along with a book I've been wanting for quite some time when I saw that BMG/YourMusic wouldn't carry it. Great record, if you're in a laid back mood.

The Beach Boys' Christmas Album My favorite "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire" is Johnny Mathis'. That was the one I grew up with.

Sounds dangerous!

My copies of the Dianne Reeves and Nnenna Freelon CDs are on their way. I'm going to treat them as Christmas presents to myself. I've read good things about both of them.

Happy Birthday Ghost! My records show that I bought my first CDs (for my new CD player, natch) on Dec. 9, 1988...The Beach Boys' Christmas Album and Manfred Mann Chapter Three's first album.

Charles Brown Sings Christmas Songs aka on CD as Please Come Home For Christmas

Various - Billboard greatest Christmas Hits (1955-Present) This came out in '89. Top 10, six from the late 50s.

What years are you talking about?

It looks like a number of us are on the same wavelength regarding the ECMs. My next up is: Tord Gustavsen Trio - The Ground I'm getting it because Doug Ramsey had some kind words to say about it on his Rifftides blog in October.

Here is the cut and paste of the list above of cable and broadcast networks which will carry the commercials for the Prestige Profiles series: Discovery, B.E.T., BBC America, CNN, and Fox News; NPR underwriting on Weekend Edition and Fresh Air. The ads were supposed to start Thanksgiving or so. Has anyone seen or heard them yet? Any good?

My new Collectors' Choice catalogue lists a new Dean Martin reissue called A Winter Romance. Two of the songs are Christmas, and the other ten are just about winter and snow. I have a couple of tracks from compilations, and they sound good, if Dino is your cup of tea. My own recommendation is Julie London. I usually open up one of her albums each January 1, and listen to it throughout the winter.

I have been plalying this quite a bit, and I have found myself not really enjoying the second half. So I did an experiment today and played tracks 6-10 first, and then tracks 1-5. I found that I really enjoyed 6-10 for the first time, and didn't enjoy 1-5 quite so much, again for the first time. So apparently fatigue is an issue. The album is 75 minutes long. Later today I'm going to burn two CDs, one with tracks 1-5 and the other with 6-10. I think I'm going to enjoy them both much more this way.

My copy of In My Time arrived in the mail today. I really enjoy it. It has plenty of youth and vigor. And I'm not saying that he sounds youthful for an old guy. They don't give a discount because Gerald Wilson is over 80. I don't cut him any slack in that regard. And he doesn't need any slack. This is a good album. It reminds me most of Buddy Rich's PJ band, but the brass section has a softer edge. The musicians include, among others, Jimmy Owens, Jeremy Pelt, Sean Jones, Gary Smulyan, Jim's buddy Ron Blake, Jerry Dodgion, Russell Malone, Lewis Nash, Peter Washington and Renee Rosnes. An all-star lineup. There are ten tracks, totalling 75 minutes. All but two are Wilson compositions. The two others are So What and Love For Sale. Wilson wrote a chart of Love For Sale in 1953 with Dodgion on lead alto, and now 52 years later he has Dodgion on a different chart of the same song. I liked New York, New Sound, but not with a great deal of enthusiasm because I felt the same songs were done better on Pacific Jazz. I like In My Time much more, and I recommend it.

Medjuck, I believe that Disc 3 of the Complete Prestige Monk box fits the bill.

My condolensces, Jim.

Thanks for that, SJ. I had forgotten that Trane was on Monk's Music.

Happy Birthday!

I received an email today regarding what Concord has scheduled for the next few months. I'm excited about a number of these. Some of what they plan are: NEW RELEASES: February 7: Chick Corea - The Ultimate Adventure (Stretch) - An exotic blend of passionate flamenco melodies, North African and Middle Eastern grooves and adventurous improvisation, Corea’s latest score was inspired by L. Ron Hubbard’s romantic novel based upon the ancient tales of “The Arabian Nights.” The CD features Frank Gambale, Hubert Laws, Airto Moreira, and Steve Gadd, among others. February 14: Sergio Mendes - Timeless (Concord Records / Starbuck Hear Music) - featuring Justin Timberlake, John Legend, Stevie Wonder, Black Eyed Peas, Indie.Aire, Jill Scott, Eryka Badu and others, putting a new urban spin on such classis Mendes tracks as "Mas Que Nada," "The Frog," and "The Look of Love." Doris Day - The Love Album (Feinery) - These lost recordings from the 1960s present the legendary Doris Day in her vocal prime, singing a selection of her personal favorites, including "Are You Lonesome Tonight," "A Faded Summer Love," "For All We Know," "Street Of Dreams" and "Let Me Call You Sweetheart." February 28: Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz with Shirley Horn (The Jazz Alliance) March 21: Joey DeFrancesco - TITLE TBD (Concord Jazz) - straight up jazz recording with Bobby Hutchinson and others March 28: Karrin Allyson - Footprints (Concord Jazz) - Allyson adds lyrics to classic jazz instrumental tracks from John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Sonny Rollins and others. Jon Hendricks and Nancy King are the featured guest artists on this bold new CD. BACK CATALOGUE: January 10: Tony Bennett - Sings For Lovers (Concord Records) Sarah Vaughan - Sings For Lovers (Pablo) Stan Getz - Plays For Lovers (Concord Jazz) Dave Brubeck - Plays For Lovers (Fantasy) Miles Davis - Plays For Lovers (Prestige) John Coltrane - Plays For Lovers (Prestige) Chet Baker - Plays For Lovers (Prestige) Bill Evans - Plays For Lovers (Prestige) February 14: Red Garland - At the Prelude: The Complete Sessions (Prestige) (2CD) March 21: Booker T & The MG's - Stax Profiles (Stax) Eddie Floyd - Stax Profiles (Stax) Johnnie Taylor - Stax Profiles (Stax) Little Milton - Stax Profiles (Stax) Rance Allen - Stax Profiles (Stax) Carla Thomas - Stax Profiles (Stax) Albert King - Stax Profiles (Stax) Otis Redding - Stax Profiles (Stax) Rufus Thomas - Stax Profiles (Stax) Kenny Burrell & John Coltrane - Kenny Burrell & John Coltrane (Rudy Van Gelder Series) - (Prestige/New Jazz) The Modern Jazz Quartet - Django (RVG Series) - (Prestige) Sonny Rollins - Saxophone Colossus (RVG Series) - (Prestige) Red Garland - Red Garland's Piano (RVG Series) - (Prestige) Kenny Dorham - Quiet Kenny (RVG Series) - (Prestige) Gene Ammons - Boss Tenor (RVG Series) - (Prestige) Eric Dolphy - Out There (RVG Series) - (Prestige/New Jazz) Coleman Hawkins - The Hawk Relaxes (RVG Series) - (Prestige/New Jazz) John Coltrane - Lush Life (RVG Series) - (Prestige) Miles Davis - Relaxing with the Miles Davis Quintet (RVG Series) - (Prestige) March 28: Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane - Complete Monk and Coltrane (2CD) Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders - Best of (Fantasy) April 4: Miles Davis Quintet featuring John Coltrane - The Legendary Quintet Sessions (Prestige) (3CD/DVD) VA - Hef's Favorites (Playboy Jazz) Among the new albums, I'm looking forward to hearing the Chick Corea, Doris Day (!), Joey D and Karryn Allyson. I've really come to like Karryn Allyson, although I have one album of hers that I don't think is very good. Doris Day recorded for Columbia, and I've never liked their 60s pop - the arrangements are too vanilla; but I'm curious as to what they have found. I'm a little skeptical of the Chick Corea. From what I've read in the past, his works that have been in someway linked to scientology and Hubbard have all been mediocre. There are quite a few from the back catalogue that I will want, starting with the Miles Quintet box. In 2003 Fantasy issued a series of Plays For Lovers CDs, and now they are putting out a second batch. I will want the Tony Bennett and Bill Evans for sure. What do you think they have of Monk and Trane that will fill two CDs? I'm only aware of the one album for Riverside/Jazzland. From the RVGs, I think I'll order the MJQ's Django. Any thoughts?