clinthopson

I'm going to break out some of those Fats' discs for Al Casey. I thought he was a great, underrated player.

My first was T-Bone Walker, now I have a couple dozen. I would happily burn copies of T-Bone for copies of the Larry Young set. Since both are out of print, wotthehell.

We caught some of the lUcky Thompson tribute while we were in NYC. The music was great but doesn't Shaap ever shut the hell up?

I've been a Ruby Braff fan since he played with Benny Goodman. "The Essential Vic Dickenson" is one of my all time favorites with Ruby, Eddie Hall, Sir Charles Thompson, Steve Jordan, Walter Page and Les Erskine. You can't go wrong with Braff.

Vinnie Ruggierio? ←

I don't know if he has been mentioned here before (I'm too damned lazy to go therough the wole thing) but I enjoy Curtis Stigers' current work very much.

I'm looking forward to hanging out with Butch at the West Coast Jazz Party where he'sa regular. As I said, a very nice guy and a competent drummer. Jeff Hamilton (IMHO the top drummer today) and Joe LaBarbera are usually also on the bill. Of course, Butch suffers in comparison with those monsters. Joe isn't there this year, I'll miss hanging with him and talking about a certain thumper from Upper NY state. I stick by my comments on DeJohnette, I've heard quite a lot of him and he just doesn't do it for me. Zutty SIngleton is IMHO the most overrated of the two-beaters.

His work with Bill Evans is superb.

Dejohnette - not an ounce of sublety. He screwed up the Bill Evans at Montreaux big time. Butch Miles is a very nice guy, he's best in a big band - he woke up the Basie band a few decades ago. And talk about lack of sublety - Gene Krupa

I have an old lp of Billy May playing the Lunceford band arrangements. May pretty much copied the disc note for note, except the irrepresable Trummy Young and Willie Smith added a few of their own thoughts. Another tribute disc is John Lewis and the American Jazz Orchestra. Lewis expanded the original charts but still caught the feeling of that great band. A hoghlight for me is Doc Cheatham sweetly singing "My Blue Heaven." A few years ago we were sitting with Geral WIlson and his wife at a West Coast Jazz Party. In between numbers bu Juggernaut we chatted and Gerald reminised about the Lunceford band. That's where I learned that Gerald has never forgiven Kenton for not crediting him with that riff.

I liked Chetty's trumpet playing ever since I first saw him with Gerry Mulligan. But IMHO he was a lousy singer.

Count me among the big Lunceford fans. From what I've read, when the Lunceford band went against the other big bands in a "battle," it always won. Jimmy may not have had the large number of virtuosos that Duke had, or the relaxed swing of Basie and his soloists, but if ever there was a band that created excitedment and sheer fun, the Jimmy Lunceford band was it. The only other band I can think of that had that excitement and fun was Woodys'. There are two survivors of the 30's band still with us, Gerald Wilson and Snooky Young. Gerald wrote "Yard Dog Mazurka" which had the riff that Kenton stole for "Intermission Riff" and never credited it to Gerald.

You will give us an update this summer, won't you? It's not like my brain cells are going to remember this until then... ← The cd release date is Aug. 9. We'll be at the Knitting Factory in the apple for the party.

I think I would rather listen to Jimmy Rowles that just about any other poianist with the exception of Bill Evans. His style is all his own, with maybe a bit of Monk thrown in. I love the rumbling chords and the open spaces. And on top of that Jimmy was a helluva funny guy.

I'm not sure if he would be in the "cool" category, but Ken Peplowski is a gas.

It's running quite slowly here (and I have a high speed dsl connection), I can't get JC to open but AAJ is running fine. Is that a plot?

I'm a huge fan of Bob Dorough, have been since I first heard "Just About Everything" in the 50's. I think his version of "Baltimore Oriole' is the definitive version of that great Carmichael song. His 1987 "Songs of Love" on the Italian lable Orange Blue has one of his originals, "Just For Now," which I think is one of the prettiest ballads I've ever heard. His 2000 "Too Much Coffee, Man" is guaranteed to have you ROFLYAO. Bobby Dorough is of my triumvirate of great hipster singers along with Dave Frishberg and Blossom Dearie. I can't get enough of those cats.

Back in the 50's, I hung out at the Lighthouse and saw Stan Levey with the All-Stars many times. That band, with Stan, Pete Jolly or Stu Williamson, boss Howard Rumsey, Shorty Rogers, or Frank Rosolino, Bob Cooper,. Bud Shank, occasionally Bill Perkins and other West Coast stalwarts could ceate as much fun and excitement as any band I ever saw. I still time travel back to shose days at "the World's Oldest Jazz Club and Waterfront Dive." Stan is a dynamo on "Mexican Passport." Also check out "West Coast Jazz" led by Richie Kamuca and Bill Holman.

I finally got completely fed up with KKJZ's morning announcers and their top 40ish play list. I can't do anything about it in my car or at home but here in my office I've changed the music stream from KKJZ to WBGO. They have a much better, to me, music variety asnd what appear to be knowledgable aners. Plus they have NPR and local news. It's a kick to hear the weather in Central Park. I like 'em.

I wondered what happened to those discs.

My very first lp was the Cartnegie Hall concert. I wore it out. I then bought a later lp version which completely changed the order of the show. It plugged in the small group number all over the place rether than leaving them in the original order. I have delayed getting a new cd of the concert because I've heard mixed reports. What would you all recommend?

KKJZ (formerly KLON) has upped their power to 30,000 watts so their signal can be heard pretty clearly throughout most of SOCal. Unfortunately they still have the incompetent, blithering Joni Caryl on in the morning and the rest of the jocks stick to a pretty much "best of" playlist very much in the mainstream. Since I'm mostly a straight ahead guy, that doesn't bother me but I would think there was room for some of the more "out" stuff which they never play except for the occasional airing of "Love Supreme." Once I found out the exhorbitant salaries they were paying the station manager and other administrative types, I stopped contributing, which I had done since the beginning and the contributions have been very generous. AT least they don't play smoooooth.

I have both the albums and have enjoyed them over the years. I've heard stories of the tour and Monk's usual wierd behaviour and the guys keeping Sonny sober.

Anyone else here a fan of Brank Butler's work? I imagine because he worked primatily on the West Coast, he never got the recognition he deserved. A great example of his work is the Elmo Hope discs. He also is on drums on a lot of the Contemporary West Coast jazz discs. Forgotten,? I suppose the same could be said of Stan Levy and Howard Roberts. I love those guys too.

Madeleine Peyroux co-wrote a couple of the songs on my son's new cd - J.C. Hopkins Biggish Band "Underneath the Brooklyn Moon" due out this summer. I like her Billieish singing.