Spontooneous

That's a tune on the Jimmy Smith Christmas album, isn't it?

Rod's correct. The beer trick works every time. On slugs, and some people I know.

Phil Proctor Kenny Gamble Leon Huff

Employee training a clueless new employee in the classical department (back when there was a classical department): "Just tell them you recommend the Karajan or the Solti. That's all you have to remember."

It's just an attempt to "improve" on the 1955 mono sound. (Remember the "Electronically reprocessed for stereo" version?) But if I'm in the same room as people who think the 1955 mono sound is a roadblock to their enjoyment, I'll move to another room. I've heard the Zenph disc. The "re-performance" (who made up THAT word?) didn't creep me out. I'd be interested in hearing Zenph take on, say, Schnabel in Op. 111 or the Schubert D. 960.

In a related story: One of the fine jazz concert presenters here in Kansas City just announced their 2007-2008 series. There isn't a single African-American among the leaders. Or among the announced sidemen.

Correct. I thought it was to keep the disc from slipping under the pressure of the cutter.

Hey, Nate Archibald was NOT forgettable. OK, everybody else on the team was. But Tiny was the coolest.

Now get busy rounding up the matching Scully lathe with the Westrex cutting head.

Latest appearance I know of is on Randy Weston's "Spirits of Our Ancestors." Chops are a little frayed there, but the ideas are definitely not frayed. Anybody know of later recordings?

Kansas City, Mo., has Mary Lou Williams, Ella Fitzgerald and Basie streets. All very short and in a very violent part of the inner city.

Leo Parker Live at the Shady Meadows Rest Home -- Let Me Tell You 'Bout My Operation Ronnie Foster -- Two Headed Frappe

Lou Donaldson and the Ministry of Silly Walks

Lou Donaldson, "Everything I Play From This Point Forward Shall Be Immaculate"

Up, because I'm enjoying this one right now. Definitely an "on" night. At the end of "Dark Silhouette," the moment of deep, moving silence before the applause says it all.

"Undun" works a lot better than that Michael Franks tune at the beginning of the disc. Even Kurt sounds disgusted with that one.

Anybody know if there's a reissue series going on here? Or is it simply a case of "we got a distributor again"?

Maybe it's in one of his books, maybe it's in liner notes. Somewhere Ira Gitler maps out Doug Mettome's name: MET-oh-me.

A live performance of the Brahms Op. 38 sonata back about 1981 stands out in memory as one of the few really perfect concert-going experiences. When you guys are done with all this Shostakovich, put on the Britten Cello Symphony.

Once my dad sat next to Orville Redenbacher on a plane.

When I was a young newspaper clerk, I picked up a phone call for an entertainment writer. It was Warren Zevon.

At the same pawn shop where Timothy McVeigh bought his Glock, I bought a used copy of "A Love Supreme." (True story.)

True story: My 78-year-old father saw a copy of the Beastie Boys' "Paul's Boutique" in a thrift store and bought it simply because he found the cover so fascinating. (He probably threw the record away.) Gotta admit, the gatefold LP cover is striking inside and out.

The Clifford Jordan-Junior Cook "Two Tenor Winner" on Criss Cross has some very fine Junior.

Wonderful. Anybody have any idea as to who was doing the REAL bandleading here?