Fer Urbina

I like what he does with the theme of Move http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4tG7929O3I. He may be 90, but not the oldest surviving member of the group: John Levy, on bass, is 96. (Chuck Wayne on guitar, Don Elliott on vibes, Denzil Best on drums). F

Set received - THANKS ALEC! :tup F

Completely unrelated, as far as I know. Disconforme is a group based in Andorra allegedly. Definitive and Jazz Factory are part of it. Their reissues not always comply with the 50-year rule (or are straight rip-offs, like what they did with the Early Mingus CD on Uptown). Ocium shut down one or two years ago. They were based in Barcelona (Spain) and did comply with the 50-year rule. F

Correct. No more unlicensed reissues while owned by Universal. Some of their stuff was pretty good. F

Black Lion was founded by Alan Bates, current owner of the Candid label. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Lion_Records As far as I know their reissues were licensed. F

There's a bootleg version of "Angel" with just Hendrix singing and playing guitar with no effects that's pure magic. This man had ears. The BBC Recordings are a favourite (his guitar playing in "Killing Floor" makes me think his brain was wired up differently to the rest of us). F

Well spotted. IMHO it's a mixture of his personality (laid back and easy going), that he was not being particularly interested in building a *jazz* career or somewhat not preoccupied about the extramusical stuff involved in that (publicity, etc), and especially that he became busier and busier as a studio musician. In spite of his age, he had a growing family (three kids) and I gather he was reluctant to travel outside the NY area. I think he was very unlucky with his House of Blue Lights LP being released by Dot, a minor label with little jazz interest. I agree he's magnificent in SHELLY MANNE's 2, 3, 4. I've been told Manne was mightly impressed, and their interplay on "Lean on Me" is something to be heard (possibly my single favourite Eddie Costa recording). A question for Chewy: what do you mean with . Have you heard Eddie playing with Julie London? Where? Thanks in advance. F

We discussed those McKusick reissues a while back here. F

Allen I just received the Mingus and the Blackwell (different thread). THANKS! F

Indeed. I've actually got it. I guess the cheaper set can always be combined with the Fats Waller pages of the IJS site. F

Cannot check at the moment, but IIRC he did a more than decent job with brushes on a very fast I Know That You Know with Nat King Cole in the After Midnight album. Also, he's been reported to be 91 when he died, but have read elsewhere that he was born in 1914. F

Not exactly. The cheaper version is missing one tune from "If you got to ask...". See here. I agree re: booklet, but as a taster of the *music* in excellent sound, the cheaper version is surely unbeatable, IMHO. F

PM on its way for the Mingus. F

I don't have access to my CDs right now to check, but didn't the Blue Moon label cover all of these Getz/Brookmeyer early Verve albums about 8 years ago in their Stan Getz series? Yes, that seems to be right, although I think these are from earlier, mid-to-late 1990s. - The Complete 1952 - 1954 Small Group Sessions Vol.2 1953 - The Complete 1952 - 1954 Small Group Sessions Vol.3 1953-1954 These two were also put in a box together with this one. And these are live: - Live at Hi-Hat, 1953, vol. 1 - Live at Hi-Hat, 1953, vol. 2 I can't quite remember who did a single CD with some Brookmeyer-Getz recordings too... but in any case, I think that a reissue with access to primary sources would sound much better than any of these reissues. F

Different people: John "Star Wars" Williams did do jazz recordings... there's a couple of four-piano LPs with Marty Paich and... Well, see http://www.freshsoundrecords.com/record.php?record_id=2097. and http://www.freshsoundrecords.com/record.php?record_id=1668 F PS And then, there's John Williams, the classical guitar player. PPS Where do I sign for a Mosaic Select of the Getz-Brookmeyer quintet?

PM on its way for the Otis Blackwell. F

It's good enough, not top drawer Costa but well worth hearing but don't lose sleep over this one... I agree. If you want Costa in a quintet, I'd go for the Mode/VSOP Eddie Costa Quintet (Art Farmer with Woods at the front, Paul Motian on drums) or the Hal McKusick-Art Farmer Quintet (originally on Coral, most of it on GRP's Now's The Time, all of it on a LoneHill reissue, IIRC). F Thanks! I know the VSOP (great stuff!) but not the McKusick-Farmer. I'll be sure and check that one out. I strongly recommend the McKusick-Farmer. The 11 tracks with Costa are superb! Just read your blog comments on Costa's "Anabelle" and "Diane". Very illuminating! Thanks! As long as I make some sense... thank you Hope you could hear the audio clips too. Apparently they don't work on Internet Explorer, but they do with Mozilla/Firefox. F

Another quintet with McKusick is Triple Exposure (Prestige, "triple" because McKusick plays clarinet, alto and tenor), with Billy Byers on trombone, Costa on piano, Paul Chambers and Charli Persip. Although, to be honest, it's been so long since I last listened to it, that I cannot comment on it. What I do remember is that all tracks are first takes, except Saturday Night. F

It's good enough, not top drawer Costa but well worth hearing but don't lose sleep over this one... I agree. If you want Costa in a quintet, I'd go for the Mode/VSOP Eddie Costa Quintet (Art Farmer with Woods at the front, Paul Motian on drums) or the Hal McKusick-Art Farmer Quintet (originally on Coral, most of it on GRP's Now's The Time, all of it on a LoneHill reissue, IIRC). F

I'd go for the latest Japanese reissue. There's a LoneHill too (it includes the previous Jubilee LP with Vinnie Burke), but I suspect the source is the 1995 Japanese reissue. I have the 2003 and it sounds better to me. F

I explain the difference between the mono and the stereo versions of House of Blue Lights in my blog. The audio clips work fine with Mozilla/Firefox, but there seems to be a problem with Windows (cannot check now). Enjoy! F

Shocked too. I think I first noticed him in Sting's Nothing Like The Sun (of all places ) for his solo on Hendrix's Little Wing (song arranged by Gil Evans). You can hear it here RIP F

A picture (not a very good one) from the book launch. F (Edit to add that the one on the right is Mike Hennessey, author of the biography)

Bill Kirchner selects his best of Gary McFarland Gary McFarland’s life could be the subject of a movie screenplay. Until he was in his mid-20s, McFarland (1933-1971) was a musical illiterate. By the age of 27, after two summers at the Lenox School of Jazz and a short stay at the Berklee School of Music, he had moved to New York City to pursue a career in music. In the next decade, he became one of the most acclaimed and recorded new composer-arrangers in jazz; writer Gene Lees called him an “adult prodigy.” But suddenly, he was gone—the tragic victim of a prankster in a bar who furtively poured liquid methadone into McFarland’s drink. For years thereafter, McFarland was a virtually forgotten figure: his recordings were out-of-print, and his music was (and still is) mostly unavailable for performance. But in recent years, that situation has improved. A number of McFarland’s records have been reissued on CD, albeit often only as imports. A comprehensive, labor-of-love website maintained by Doug Payne is now devoted to his work. And in 2006, filmmaker Kristian St. Clair released This Is Gary McFarland, a 75-minute documentary. At its best, McFarland’s music is a rare blend of simplicity and sophistication, with melodies and harmonies that stay with the listener. He’s been a profound influence on my own work as a composer-arranger, and when I expose students to his music, I invariably find that they are startled by its enduring freshness. At least in this respect, time has been kind to Gary McFarland. http://www.jazz.com/dozens/the-dozens-esse...-gary-mcfarland F

Who will conduct? F