Tom Storer

Congratulations! And most especially to your son!

I would say your cynicism is right on the mark in the light of this:

My favorite version is on YouTube.

If only more people would take that to heart. When it's a reasonable expectation that an argument with another poster is not going to go anywhere interesting or positive, the responsible thing is to stop arguing. On a message board, unilateral withdrawal from argument is the only sure way to end the argument. Whether they are "trolls," which to me implies a conscious desire to screw up the board, or simply immature assholes who revel in confrontation, problematic posters will go away if their needs are not met. Feed them your anger, your scorn, your mockery, or your meticulously constructed reasoning, and they will settle in forever and ever and never change. It's an addiction for them.

Any idea who was in her trio for this? Paul Smith?

Could that be because the compilation used tracks in the public domain? It's true the compilation is public-domain material, but they were prolific enough in the 50's to fill up a 2-CD compilation with the Heath/Kay version of the band alone. I think this shows that the compilers wanted to favor the Clarke version since it is worth being better known.

This I would strongly disagree with. It might not be assertive or extroverted enough for your tastes, but I don't think it is effete or namby-pamby. Nor can one say that music with crossover appeal has got to be watered down, which is how I interpret what you were saying. There's plenty of softly swinging jazz I put on in the background at dinner parties that is topnotch music. That doesn't mean the music was corrupt.

Coincidentally, I recently bought a two-CD MJQ compilation, one put together by André Francis and Jean Schwarz (the Trésors du Jazz guys) and sold with the newspaper Le Monde as part of an ongoing weekend series focusing on individual artists (now nearing the end of 40 straight weeks). Interestingly, almost half of the compilation is the early 50's MJQ with Kenny Clarke, including some of the earliest, under Milt Jackson's name, with Ray Brown on bass. The "genteel" aspect of the MJQ has always been what turns off a large part of the jazz public, whether it's John Lewis or Connie Kay who gets accused of lacking fire. I like them a lot, and got to see them once, in 1984, I think. For me the unsung member is Percy Heath. Milt was always swinging, but it's in the bass that the swing of MJQ arrangements resides, IMHO.

A little dongle do it. Welcome back, el magnifico!

I'm a fan of Do the Math. Doug Ramsey's Rifftides has thoughtful reviews. Agustin Perez has an excellent blog on early jazz, Mule Walk & Jazz Talk.

Even early Allison?

But I do like Georgie Fame.

That's sacrilege!

I'm an anti-Tom Waits crank. Pay no attention to me.

"Welcome to lala.com. Music for international listeners will be available soon."

I'm with Alexander on this one. Except for the Tom Waits part. Dylan is to Tom Waits what Coltrane is to Kenny G.

Thanks for the tip! I'll check 'em out.

Today I had an H. Upmann Cuban, not sure of the size but about 6 inches long. My first disappointment: it was badly constructed, I guess. Difficult draw from the start, so I had to puff more energetically than was comfortable just to keep it lit. As a result it started to smoke a little hot and the taste was adversely affected. Then towards the end of the second third, the wrapper began to unravel from the foot, making it look something like one of those exploding cigars. My cigar-smoking pal had an identical cigar; he reported that his too was hard to smoke, but at least it didn't explode.

So far I've been smoking on a full stomach and haven't had any problems. Mind you, I haven't smoked anything extremely big or extremely strong, either. Continuing my cigar odyssey, I have smoked: - Zino Classic No. 6 - Romeo y Julieta Romeo No. 3 - Partagas 160 Loved the Romeo No. 3. The Partagas turned out to be a bit dry. I realized that I had not sufficiently humidified the little humidor I bought. Those little humidifiers are tricky devils.

Cubans are readily available here, but all the advice I've gotten has been that it's better to start mild and work one's way toward stronger cigars. Apparently Cubans tend to be strong, or at least don't cover the mildest end, so I'll be patient. I've seen that fine cigars, like fine whiskies, are expensive; that plus the fact that I don't want to stink up the living room with cigar smoke (and nor does my wife want me to stink up the living room with cigar smoke) means that I will not be a daily smoker by any means. No porch, no balcony, no back yard, so to smoke I'll need fine weather. However, to get me through the winter there are a couple of fumoirs in Paris, bars or restaurants with a physically separate space where one can smoke a cheroot (no service inside, to respect the anti-smoking law, which is based on protecting employees from second-hand smoke). Today after lunch I will go out with a coworker and smoke my second cigar, a Domaine Avo robusto.

Yesterday I smoked my first cigar, an Ashton donated by a cigar-aficionado friend. I liked it, so I find myself at the beginning of a journey. Surely there are cigar smokers here. Can I get a witness?

I totally agree. That's what I was getting at, not as clearly as you did, several posts back when I said "he leads the audience into cheerfully accepting extremely brutal on-screen violence as great fun because it's against the bad guys." You're right, he found just the right scapegoats (universally condemned, symbolic of all that is evil) on whom to unleash his own sadism. "Whose side are you on, me or the Nazis?"

There's a site that is invaluable for situations like this: www.bleepingcomputer.com. The people at this site are guardian angels, I swear. They're very serious and tell you exactly what to do, step by step. It usually involves downloading specific antivirus or antimalware programs if you don't already have them, then sending them the log files with results of scans. They take you through steps in exhaustive detail until you've killed the virus dead. For a thing like this, be ready to spend a weekend working with them on it. I've used their services--it's free of charge--twice, each for exactly this kind of desperate infection. I was so grateful that I donated money. Seriously, they're lifesavers. Well worth trying.

I'll be seeing Bunky Green on Wednesday night, opening for Ornette in Paris!

Got tickets to see his quartet at the Salle Pleyel in October!