Fer Urbina

In Europe, Disky (a Dutch label) did reissue recordings licensed by EMI for a few years (don't know if they still do). Among those, there was a series of compilations called The Story Of Jazz which contained Blue Note and Capitol recordings (I remember seeing a Horace Silver and a Jackie Davies compilations). Also, at least in the UK, EMI launched a "HMV" collection mainly devoted to classical music, but also to jazz, country, easy listening, etc. F

Solo Scene is very good. Not as romantic as I expected, and quite a heavy touch, IIRC. About Fresh Sound and the RCA reissues, apart from doing his own reissues on Fresh Sound, Jordi Pujol has produced quite a few reissues for BMG Spain. He also did at least one ABC-Paramount LP for Spanish WEA (Vinnie Burke) in the 80s. F

Bill Crow still posts anecdotes (not all of them jazz, but mostly hilarious) in his Band Room column in the AFM 802 paper. See this for an index. This one is particularly funny, IMHO. F

This is well on the beaten track, but just in case anyone is interested, SonyBMG have released the following "Original Album Classics" 5-CD sets (in Europe, apparently - CDUniverse lists these as "imports"). They look like a repackaging of the latest CD reissues of the relevant albums, with extra tracks, in cardboard LP-facsimile sleeves, but without any booklets. Virgin have them at £14 each. George Benson Stanley Clarke Miles Davis Duke Ellington Mahavishnu Orchestra John McLaughlin Thelonious Monk Weather Report Sonny Rollins F

Soon. At the moment it needs some cleaning up and there are a few loose ends, but the first three years (1954-1956) are almost ready. I had some problems with BRIAN, but the rest is also beginning to look like something decent. Problem is, this is one of many items in my to-do lists. Thanks for the interest, Chas. F

According to the liner notes to the Konitz set it was Tristano who edited the Revelation LPs... so go figure. Actually, check this out (scroll down or search for "Revelation") http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/warnem...scography_2.htm Those 1990s Verve/PolyGram reissues were so goooooood... F

good point. Is it not possible to edit mistakes out from an overview list of performer names? Yes, it is possible to look over a list of performer names and edit. I'm not sure whether one could merge performer data or not if there was a misspelling. (I'm not a "power user.") I guess I'm not sure how one (and it is one person, who does this for free) would program the conversion of data to end up in all of the right places. The instrument abbreviations might be different between the 2 programs. Brian also associates a default instrument with a performer as well, though I guess that can be left blank. While having to reenter data is a drag and time consuming, my own experience with importing & altering dubious data (not with Brian) sometimes leads me to just start fresh & enter it myself, as after having to closely inspect & alter data it seems like not much time is saved. For what it's worth there are plenty of Brian users who are willing to share their data. I've never asked as I'm not a researcher, just someone who for a time was entering some of my collection into the program. So I felt a little funny about asking given my amateur status. Also just like with math homework from childhood, I thought I learned more about my collection & the sessions by doing the work myself, than if someone else had done it for me. When you import data, personnel for instance, if it's not already there in the database, it shows in red. I have imported personnel to a BRIAN database and, basically, if a name that I expect to be there shows in red, it means that there's some spelling mistake and it has to be mended. Tedious work. Problem is, software and computers are not clever, and any, almost invisible, spelling difference will be noticed by BRIAN... and bear in mind Lord is not consistent within itself. F

That's not the point, or at least, I wouldn't do that. I've checked data with Lord's discography for my own research, and there are some mistakes and a lot of inaccurate or incomplete things, as well as some things he doesn't have. AFAIK, what's in Mike's site is more reliable than Lord's. well, it is the point as you seem to have overlooked the word "edit" in my post. Get the bulk from Lord and then check it and correct it. Oops, sorry, I missed that, you're right. However, although I have used Lord for my research and have had to check and correct it, and I'm sure other discographers must have done the same, I don't think there are enough people ready to spend the time, effort, etc... especifically to make Lord better. To correct data he has in his discography while doing work on a certain artist, yes, but to take on a Lord-based project... don't think so. As for what Brownie says... well. it's a free world, I guess. I've very rarely needed Lord's (except for research purposes). If and when I buy something I'll go for the Bruyninckx. F

That's not the point, or at least, I wouldn't do that. I've checked data with Lord's discography for my own research, and there are some mistakes and a lot of inaccurate or incomplete things, as well as some things he doesn't have. AFAIK, what's in Mike's site is more reliable than Lord's. If you use Brian, there's a "hidden" field (something the user of the database can see but not the reader of the published discography) where you can (and should) indicate the source of the data for each session (more for provenance than anything else). For Pettiford you can use this http://themenschmidt.de/don.htm Also, the guys from www.jazzdisco.org have a lot of stuff that although it's not 100% reliable, it's good enough for an online, gratis resource, IMHO. F

Stichting Names and Numbers have just released the following. MICHEL RUPPLI & BILL DANIELS: The ABC Paramount / Impulse Labels. About 1050 pages, EUR60.00 (postage included) MICHEL RUPPLI, BILL DANIELS & ED NOVITSKY (with the assistance of Michael Cuscuna): The Capitol Label Discography. About 6500 pages, EUR120.00 (postage included) Two separate CD-ROMs. Files come in searchable pdfs. Very easy to work with. Research done from master files, artist files, session listings, catalogues (old and recent), album/CD liner notes, magazines/books of all kinds including discographies & record listings/reviews, artist discographies, etc. For more info, STICHTING NAMES AND NUMBERS Reine Claudestraat 15 1326 JC Almere THE NETHERLANDS Email: gehojazz(at)planet.nl (They take PayPal) Norbert Ruecker should have these too. F

What Lord does is a collating job, not research, or at least, not primary source research. As long as we're clear with that, I don't have a problem. Actually, if you go to his website, there's a large bibliography (http://www.lordisco.com/tjd/help/author/v.jsp et al). What I'd have a problem with (if I bought Lord's work) is the sloppy job he does at collating. From what respected users and reviewers have said, he seems to be quicker turning out new updates than actually implementing the corrections that would give some meaning to said updates. That doesn't work for me. Arguing that any discography is bound to have mistakes, in this case, sounds like a pre-emptive excuse to me. Also, sometimes I have the impression that what Lord does is provide a user-friendly database, fills it up with info from the bibliography above *without checking*... and the gracious readers are expected to provide corrections (and effectively do the checking for Lord)? As for ripping off previous authors, one thing is to use previously published material for your own research. What Lord seems to have done is selling an old book with new covers, tackling the same (or almost) project as Jepsen did and Raben was doing. The frustrating thing is that Raben was doing a sterling job and Lord does a so-so job. Raben has had to give up and Lord keeps on putting out updates for sale. A triumph of style over substance? Personally, I don't like the discography by genre because of the grey areas (there'll always be someone disappointed). I find it more interesting (and easier) to make it by artist (and see what one person was involved in) or label (to have a cross-genre picture, something that Allen Lowe's Devilin' Tune has helped me appreciate more, BTW). At the end of the day, what Lord does very well is being visible. I googled "Stichting Names & Numbers", the publishers of some serious stuff discography-wise. Not only they don't have an internet site, which is bad enough, but Google's first hit was actually Lord's site (the link to his bibliography). As they say, you not only have to be good, you have to look like it. F PS Doing a discography properly is a daunting, boring, unrewarding task and works wonders in making you look like a complete nerd or an idiot without a life. Still, I use BRIAN and completely support Mike Fitzgerald's approach. [Edit for very obvious second thoughts on rippings other off]

IMHO, the main problem with Lord is that his proofreading and fact-checking is substandard, especially for the money he charges. F

Thanks! It looks like a repackaging of already published CDs, though. There's stuff from the 1950s that's never been reissued on CD (AFAIK). F

As far as I know, Black Lion's Alan Bates is still reachable here Also, da music, German label that releases Black Lion albums can be contacted here. F

Hi Greg, Could you post a link to that 13-CD box, please? (Can't find it myself) TIA. F

Hi Is this the recent Empire Musicwerks reissue? Thanks, F

CD received alright. THANKS! F

First time I saw Amy Winehouse was in Jools Holland's show (BBC), before or just when she released her first album. She sang and played guitar (bass line with thumb, chords with rest of fingers, probably nothing too complicated, I don't remember well, but still, for a 19/20 year old...) and she was impressive. I liked her first album very much (still play it sometimes, some of the lyrics I like), and I enjoy her take on Moody's Mood For Love, as well as the Mr. Magic which is hidden in the last, long, and untitled track. I saw her live a while after the first album was out and didn't like her that much. Looked that success had gone to her head. Living in the UK I'm completely bored with the media brouhaha around her and have lost interest. When I frist saw her I thought she's got a lot of potential, but I'm not so sure now. F PS If the news that she's recording a duo with Pete Doherty is true, I give up completely.

Holy Ghost, IIRC, there's some relevant stuff for you in the recent Lee Morgan biography. F

Thanks Brownie and Daniel A. I was asking because there's a bunch of "jazz" guys who were regulars in the studios in the 50s, doing pop, radio jingles, played in TV orchestras or whatever they were called for, people like Jones, Hinton, Osie Johnson, Joe Wilder, Danny Bank, Hal McKusick and a very long etcetera... and then studio hands who had big band experience and were able to jazz things up, like Bernie Leighton, Moe Wechsler... These people are bound to appear in any record made in those years, but because there's not so much interest in pop and more commercial music discography (as opposed to jazz) we will probably never know the actual input these guys had in recorded American music. F

The Shin-ichi Iwamoto Hank Jones disography (only including dates up to the year of 1989) lists over 970 sessions!! Does the Iwamoto list *only* jazz? A discography of Milt Hinton would probably be even longer. F

Rather than unusual recording, an internationally recognised artist in an unusual job (this was before his big break). THE DI MARA SISTERS with ASTOR PIAZOLA [sic] & His Orchestra MEMORIE DI ROMA (ROULETTE R 25096), 1958, U.S.A. F

PM-ed for Sylvie Courvoisier/Mark Feldman/Erik Friedlander - Abaton (ECM) 2cd's no slipcase, $10 F

CD arrived. Fantastic, thanks. F

PM sent on Woody Shaw – Stepping Stones– Live at the Village Vanguard (Columbia – BMG Club edition) - $3.75 Andrew Hill – Judgment! (Blue Note RVG – BMG Club edition) - $3.75 F