Tom 1960

Very good news!

The thing I remember about Jack Sheldon is that he played in talk show host Merv Griffin's Orchestra. At the time(early 1970's) he appeared to me at least, a real corn ball and horribly unhip even with his shoulder length hair. Come to find over 30+ years later when I began listening to west coast jazz from the 1950's, I found he played on a number of dates. A competent player. Certainly not top tier, but someone who definitely could hold his own. Sorry to hear of his passing. I'll dig out some of those sessions in the coming days in his memory. The Sheldon disc sited by many here is definitely on the list.

Happy Birthday,Parkertown!

Happy Birthday, BruceH! Hope you have a good one.

Happy Birthday,Paps!

The past few days I've been listening to a few of his releases from the Criss Cross label and getting a great deal of enjoyment from them. Seeing there hasn't been a prior discussion here, are there any other fans of this jazz trumpeter?

A huge part of the sound of Bruce's early albums. To be honest, I've had little interest in Springsteen's music without Clarence and the E Sreet Band. RIP Big Man.

PM on Wynton Kelly 'Someday My Prince Will Come".

Oh yeah!! And it gets even better after disc 1. A monster set, no other way to put it. Overall, I think this was the best writing and band of Toshiko's career. No kidding! Now listening to disc 2. Onto disc 3.

I started out as a New York Mets fan in the late 60's/early 70's only to move onto the L.A. Dodgers in 1974. Been a fan ever since. Growing up I had this crazy romantic idea of wanting to one day live in L.A. I was an L.A. Rams fan for awhile also until Georgia(team owner) moved the team to St. Louis. Now I'm a San Diego Chargers fan.

Oh yeah!! And it gets even better after disc 1. A monster set, no other way to put it. Overall, I think this was the best writing and band of Toshiko's career. No kidding! Now listening to disc 2.

This is great news! I love the last 3 albums Gigi recorded with Richard Williams. The Rat Race Blues, The Hap'nins, and Sayin' Somethin'!

PM coming your way.

Toshiko Akiyoshi - Lew Tabackin Big Band - Disc 1 Fantastic stuff. Anyone else enjoy this collection?

Let me also add since I own the above releases, "Radio Waves" is a very fine outing. Mark Feldman recommended it to me. Brian Lynch, Ralph Moore and Gary Smulyan are on the front line.

Somebody grab those Tina Brooks titles! You wont be sorry.

Has anyone mentioned the John Fedchock New York Big Band? I'm presently enjoying the album Up & Running on Resevoir Music. Any other fans???

Happy Birthday, Pete!

Ok I'm obviously a big fan of the VSOP/Mode label. I own a decent number of releases. That said, this is another release which I was unaware of till now. Any thoughts on this one? I see Phil Woods, Thad Jones, Idrees Sulieman, Marty Paich, Curley Russell and Art Taylor are on the session.

PM sent.

I just came across this release on the Mode/VSOP label featuring solo perfomances by Carl Perkins, Jimmy Rowles, Paul Smith, Gerald Wiggins and Lou Levy. So how is it? Worthwhile addition? All Music Guide

This one has been sitting on my Amazon wishlist for quite some time. Any thoughts?

Hope you had a great birthday, Chuck!

I had the opportunity to meet Mark Feldman for about 75 minutes yesterday. Since we both live in the same town, I emailed him the night prior about ordering some discs and the possibilty of meeting to complete the transaction. Since we were both off from work yesterday, we got together at his office and had a very pleasant conversation. Mark is a very nice guy. He exchanged some very funny stories about musicians he's dealt with in the past. He spoke of shows he attended in the past which was pretty cool from my vantage point. He also showed me some great black and white photos he had on his office wall. One especially cool featured Lee Morgan and Hank Mobley at Slugs in New York. He said to say hello to Chuck Nessa, Allen Lowe and John Tapscott. As for the matter concerning Reservoir Records, he did state he longer would put out any new issues. Just too costly these days. As for the present catalogue he did state that some titles will go OOP. He does still maintain the Reservoir Records website for any future purchases. I didn't get the impression that he was closing things down there at any future date. He did however state he had some sort of agreement to sell some of the catalogue through I Tunes which he felt was the wave of the future. I ended up purchasing 10 discs from him. More than I probably should have at this point in time. But money well spent in my mind. Can't wait to hear it all. All in all, it was great having the opportunity to sit down and talk to Mark. I hope we can meet again in the future.

And............? I've had the opportunity to hear the album twice in the past few days and really enjoy it. As stated by others "Alamode" is probably the standout track although I also really enjoyed "I Hear A Rhapsody". Good stuff as you would expect with the front line of Morgan, Shorter and Fuller. Is it essential? Depends where you're coming from. For the casual fan perhaps other releases are more noteworthy. But if you're a Blakey diehard like myself, you wont want to be without it. What makes this especially sweet for me is the fact I paid only $4.98.