GA Russell

Happy 50th John! Break out the black balloons!

I forgot about...Ike Turner

By coincidence, I'm listening to True Blue now!

I can't answer your questions, but I saw McNeill in the fall of '68 in DC. What a great concert. It was one of the first jazz concerts I went to. As I recall, Eric Gravatt was in the group.

Ron, thanks for the heads up about Your Music. I've added it to my queue.

Steve Marcus - Larry Coryell's Offering McCoy Tyner - Wayne Shorter's JuJu (controversial pick, I know!) Chick Corea - Stan Getz's Sweet Rain Joey DeFrancesco - Pat Martino's Live at Yoshi's John Coltrane - Miles Davis's Relaxin (I haven't heard the new Monk at Carnegie Hall yet.) Larry Coryell - Steve Marcus's Count's Rock Band Jim Hall - Paul Desmond's Bossa Antigua Paul Desmond - Dave Brubeck's Time Out Chet Baker - Gerry Mulligan's first album on PJ Scott LaFaro - Bill Evans' Sunday at the Village Vanguard

Reginald Veal (Nov. 5) also in music: Roy Rogers Art Garfunkel Peter Noone (Herman)

Now that I've had In Session about eight weeks, I find that I don't listen to it as much as I did at first, but I still listen to it more often than any other vocal album I have. Still like it a great deal. Sidewinder and Alfred, do you have any thoughts on the Mosaic box you got? Pleased with the purchase, or too much of a good thing?

I was always fond of Gordon Hathaway and "Hi ho, Steverino!" I think there was a gentleness of much of that era's humor that doesn't exist today. For example, I saw Ernie Kovac's name in the paper this morning. Kovacs' humor was nothing like Steve Allen's, but it was gentle nevertheless. I suspect, and you may disagree, that the main influence on comedy for the past thirty years has been Lenny Bruce, and that is why we are not seeing shows that try to be funny without pushing the envelope.

I believe that the #1 online retailer is http://www.minidisco.com

I've owned this one a month now, and I still play it almost every day. I'm starting to like some of Stephen Scott's solos better too. Any second thoughts from those who have it?

Congrats Bill! I am under the impression that retail stores will hire just about anybody willing to work for the low wages. As a result, it is not uncommon to have employees who will do just enough work not to get fired. So I recommend that you be ready for employees with bad attitudes. Don't let it grind you down!

I met Vitous when Infinite Search was just out, and we chatted for ten minutes. He didn't seem egotistical at all to me. This was about 1969, and he was playing with Herbie Mann.

BFrank, I have ordered from DeepDiscount DVD a few times. They are reliable, but a little slow. Edit: The Danger Man and Saint Early Years sets look appealling.

I don't think anyone has mentioned the Miles Quintet with Coltrane live date that was packaged with the Round About Midnight Legacy Edition. Does anyone have this? How does it sound? Is the performance any good? Or is this just for completists only? I see on the Your Music thread that it is backordered there, so they must have sold quite a few. I wonder how many more they would have sold if they hadn't bundled it with the other album that most folks already have.

Noj, when my order in May didn't arrive, they made me wait four weeks before they would consider my request to look into it. When the four weeks passed, they admitted that they had received the CD back, and they sent me another one without hassle, which arrived in three days.

Great news that they're carrying new ECMs again! Thanks for that heads up.

Nice effort! I don't think I would have included Headhunters. In the jazz rock fusion category, I might have substituted one of the two mentioned in his recent obituary: Steve Marcus - Tomorrow Never Knows or Count's Rock Band.

Bertrand, I'm working from memory, so if you're sure that you're right I'll go along. It seems to me that the Mosaic catalogues from the 80s often included references to tracks previously unknown. Maybe that was just a little hype. I think I have a catalogue from that era somewhere, but I wouldn't know where to find it quickly.

Mosaic's first release, the Monk Blue Note box, included the first release of the song Skippy.

SS1, I got the 2-CD release a few years ago and listened to the first nine tracks, which were the first session. I was disappointed. Smith hadn't perfected his hip stops sound yet, and what he did there was still for me too much like a roller rink compared to what he developed into. Your posting this reminds me that I should listen to the next session on the disc, if I can find it somewhere. (That's the problem with not keeping my CDs in alphabetical order!)

Soul Stream, same here! Now I'll be waiting for YourMusic.

Congrats guys! I'm listening to This is the Place as I type.

Happy Birthday Marcoliv!

Happy Birthday Brad!