GA Russell

In my mail today were two CDs I have read good things about. What pushed me to get them were the recent Grammy nominations. Nnenna Freelon - Blueprint of a Lady Dianne Reeves - Good Night, and Good Luck I'm going to wait till Christmas to open them up. I'll probably listen to them on the drive home from my sister's. If they're as good as I expect them to be, I'll start a thread on them, and maybe we can have a discussion.

Happy Birthday Phil!

Monday morning I was at the McDonald's having a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper, and over the sound system came Charles Brown singing Merry Christmas Baby. It was a little soft, but it sounded like his 1961 King recording. I was a happy camper!

Happy Birthday Jim!

A regular on a cigar board a few years ago was a guy named Pimpslap Da Hoe.

I once spoke with Bob Purkey on the phone! I was a salesman working my way through school at the time, in Pittsburgh, and I called an insurance agency. It turned out that he was the head honcho there. I asked him about the following story, which I think I read in Baseball Digest: The story goes that Bill Rigney, the Giants manager, was tired of Purkey throwing at Willie Mays. So he said that the next time they play the Reds and face Purkey, he's going to bring Mays in from the outfield and have him pitch to Purkey. The Commisioner, probably Ford Frick, immediately put in a rule, that I believe still exists to this day, that no one may pitch unless he is designated to be a pitcher on the roster. (Various publicity stunts have had I think Cesar Tovar and Jose Canseco and others pitch; and I believe that the Commissioner's office has always been informed in advance of the intention to use them on the mound.) Anyway, I mentioned this to Purkey, and right away he denied ever throwing at anybody, and he was very forceful about it. Since he was a favorite of mine when I was a boy, I believed him, sort of!

I believe that the third baseman for the Cardinals in the Roger Maris trade was Charlie Smith, not Charlie James. Jazztrain, I think you're right. I'm losing my mind! Was there a football player named Charlie James? A running back for the Redskins or a quarterback for the Cardinals? Edit: I'm pretty sure that the Cardinals QB was Charlie Johnson. Now I'm wondering if the Redskins halfback was Dick James. I'm thinking in the early 60s timeframe.

Thanks Claude! I think I can see which one is me.

I remember a third baseman for the Cardinals named Charlie James. He was traded for Roger Maris.

Well, I did what I said I wouldn't do, and I listened to this one a number of times over the weekend. I guess you can't stay laidback every minute of December! To give you a better idea of what it sounds like, I would compare it to what Miles was playing in the early 70s. I can't recall a specific album it reminds me of, but it sounds like something Miles would have done. The CD is 9 tracks, 47 minutes long. Peacock deserves the credit as the brains behind the project. He wrote all of the songs, and produced the album. However, as the pianist he is the weak link. Two tracks feature piano solos, and they are both clunkers. I'm going to burn a copy omitting tracks 3 and 5, and enjoy the remainder.

Ten years ago I spent the winter in Quebec City. They have price supports there. I learned that the Quebec govt has enough maple syrup stockpiled to last for years if production were ever discontinued, which it never will be. I haven't made up my mind between Quebec and Vermont. I think I prefer Quebec, but I've had Vermont much more often. I've never had New Hampshire before. I think Ontario makes it too.

I read on AAJ some months ago that Valerie is the widow of Walter Bishop, Jr.

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