Spontooneous

Hmm... They didn't have problems finding the masters for Hawkins, Strayhorn and Buddy Tate for CD issues in the 1980s. Have I mistaken Universal's incompetence for evil, or its evil for incompetence?

Zach Whyte Alphonso Trent Boots Douglas

Nice jackets are the very soul of jazz. I just got a promo copy of the fine new Jazz at Lincoln Center production, with a prominent Brooks Brothers logo right on the front.

Pink Anderson Floyd Council Floyd the Barber

A bunch of copies of Andrew Hill's "But Not Farewell" on Blue Note were actually some hair-metal album. This is turning into the "EMI's Crappy Quality Control" thread, isn't it?

I've rescued some discs with a product called Novus #2 Plastic Polish. (There are three grades, #3 is too coarse, #1 is too fine.) Takes a lot of rubbing, but it works.

Can't say I was ever a big Pigpen fan -- but my recent re-immersion in all things Dead has given me a much higher opinion. Check out 2-19-71, the first show after Mickey's abrupt departure. Jerry sounds a little confused, forgetting lyrics like it's 1993, and at first it sounds like everybody's trying too hard. But Pigpen rallies the band and saves the day. Would you believe "Smokestack Lightning" is a highlight? I never thought I'd say that. But it is. And Pig's even better in the second set. Greg K: The last Dick's Picks from before the hiatus are #31, August '74, and #7, September '74. Haven't heard either. I'm tempted by #12, from June '74, because the shows I've heard from that month are among my favorites.

Just because digital tools are available doesn't mean they have to be misapplied, as RVG is doing to mess up his own historic recordings.

The most surprising omissions of all: The warmth of the horns. The stereo spreads. Sorry, but I'm consistently revulsed by what I hear on RVGs. It's a cold audio wasteland of digital trickery, and I don't want to go there anymore.

The packaging makes it look like the Charlie Parker masters set they did a year or two back. A small gain in sound quality over the previous editions. But DUMB packaging. I felt ripped off, and I didn't pay anything close to full price. Get the complete Billie set or one of the compilations from it instead.

It might be a great work. But every time I hear it, I wish I was hearing Stravinsky's "Les Noces" instead. "Noces" tickles my brain ten times as much, in less than half the time it takes to hear "Carmina." Try it, y'all.

I am sooooo totally bidding on Jerry Berry's toilet...

What Chuck said. Gotta admit I'm not a big fan of the piece, but that performance makes it bearable for me. So does one on London/Decca conducted by Antal Dorati, on a budget reissue disc that might still be around. Where others stomp, Dorati dances.

KC friends: A hearty recommendation here for the Woodyard Bar-B-Que, 3001 Merriam Lane in KCK. (But it's closed Mondays, as Tom and I found out the hard way.)

Several folks around Kansas City play Pat Metheny's "Always and Forever," but maybe that's just a KC thing.

I'm disappointed that the "Lyle 'Spud' Murphy Plays for Lovers" release has been pushed back.

I'm currently stuck on 12/6/73. It's a little bit out of whack vocally (not Donna's fault -- she wasn't even there), but it's just about everything you ever wanted instrumentally. Also in the deal, maybe my favorite China > Rider.

I plugged in "Cecil Taylor." The first two "similarities" were Leon Thomas and Doug Wamble. Yeah, right.

But it's never heard of Anton Webern...

I'd be especially wary about Yemen. (Haven't been there myself, but I've read enough bad stuff in the papers.)

I fear for "Idle Moments" if it became a standard. It would just get sped up, and that would sap the tune of its life.

I was afraid this day would come. Wish I'd gotten DSL a few months earlier, instead of waiting until September of this year.

"Pigpen, did you say f--k?"

We look good in blue!

The packaging is consistent with the packaging of other A&Ms from the moment (Cherry's "Multikulti" and "Art Deco," Blakey's "One for All," Sun Ra's "Purple Night"). The whole short-lived series had a "look."