sidewinder

Half the population is still speechless over here, after the astonishing events in the 91st minute !

Art Blakey and Buddy DeFranco sounded pretty good.

Sure sounds like Wayne Henderson on the bone and the tenor is definitely Felder to my ears. And heck, that just has to be Sample on piano. Don't have this track though - and I have quite a few of the JC albums. Gotta know which one of their albums this one is ! I have a copy of the 'Powerhouse' LP coming in the mail, wonder if this might be a track from that one?

That must have been Michael Elton's recent exhibit of Francis Wolff prints held in the West End - superbly presented prints from Mosaic. Two of the best prints on show from a magnificent selection were of Coltrane - one of Coltrane/Morgan/Fuller from 'Blue Train' and another of Coltrane looking thoughtful with tenor from the same session.

Honest Jon's is still up there in Portobello Road, well worth a trip and the staff are pretty good too - both helpful and knowledgeable. Always good music playing in that store. I remember well the Camden Town Honest Jons of the late 70s/early 80s, when I lived just down the road. That place was always stocked with Sun Ra, Blue Note imports etc. An Alladin's cave. Quite recently I passed by for the first time in decades - the store was still open (just) but under another name, it had long since ceased to be an 'Honest Jons'. The whole area had also changed enormously from my days of yore - much more touristy now and WAY more pricey. The LP racks were still 'in situ' but there was hardly any stock at all and they were selling up - I think the store will become another Camden tourist outlet. Incredible that after such an absence I was able to call in litterally just before it ceased to be. A somewhat sad occasion - anyway they did have a cheap Sonny Fortune 'Awakening' on A&M Horizon in the racks so I guess that was to be my loyalty gift !

Yes, there's a few rows of second-hand Lps, including a 'Rare as Hen's Teeth' section. The latter can sometimes throw up the odd gem or two. There's a good new vinyl section next to it and to the right also a second hand CD section. The best sighting ever in the 'Hen's Teeth' section there on the visits I have made was a Debut 10" Hazel Scott. That one lived up to its name.

RIP - this is very sad news. It was only a few weeks ago that Ray was on the TV featured on that Clint Eastwood documentary made as part of 'The Blues' series. He was obviously not at all well when this was filmed, with breathing difficulties very evident. Nevertheless the great enthusiasm and soul of Brother Ray as he demonstrated the blues and reminisced with Clint shone through big time.

I heard that the main London Tower Records has (or is in the process of) closing town - I think either HMV or Virgin are taking it over. The jazz section of this store used to have a pretty extensive collection of CDs and the best in the UK for Japanese imports. They've bailed me out quite a few time for scarce CDs over the years so this is a real loss..

I've picked a few up 2nd hand. The Leroy Vinnegar 'Leroy Walks' and a Victor Feldman (can't recall the title). Goodness knows how they made their way across the pond ! B)

Wasn't there mention on the BNBB of a 'Jackie McLean Pizza Co.' pizza box delivery on one of the episodes of The Simpsons. That explains it, he must have snagged a McLean CD box set !

On BBC1 too . No doubt programmed right after 'Only Fools and Horses' or some other dross... Still - mustn't complain.. looks good ! B) Thank goodness I got my Freeview box in for BBC4 - well worth the $

I used to see 2nd hand vinyls of the Morgans and Shorters on the likes of Crescendo all the time. Especially during the 1970s. Funilly enough I never picked any of them up - the Mosaics were my introduction to this material. Sometimes its nice to defer these things ..

I've actually got two Blue label Bergenfield LPs of this one so you could say that it's a favourite (one is in somewhat better nick than the other) B) . 'I Can't Get Started' and 'There Is No Greater Love' are particularly inspired performances by the group (the whole album is great really). What a superb interpreter of the ballad form Booker Ervin was. I particularly like the way the latter tune ends on a somewhat inconclusive note on side 2, as if the band were disappearing up into the ether..

Too bad that we haven't been able to get any more of those 10% CD/20% vinyl deals of late. I was counting on another one of those !

Hi Dave - No, definitely not a Lanc. This one was a smaller aircraft, definitely twin engined and with the low growl of the WWII vintage bombers. Not sure about the tail config. My first reaction was that this might have been a Hudson, as they were used on coastal patrol by the RAF and they have the 2 engines as distinct from the 4 engines of the Liberators. No sign of such an aircraft on the Normandy TV footage though (only the Red Arrows, Spit, Mustang and Lanc seemed to be on show from what I could see) so it might have been nothing directly to do with the Normandy event. That RAF Lanc is a venerable old crate. Some years ago I was visiting the design offices of BAE Systems up at Chadderton, Lancs and one of their engineers was working with the original Avro WWII-era type drawings as signed off by Roy Chadwick ! The aircraft was getting some structural repair work done at the time. Having said that, I did hear a group of fast jets fly past a few hours earlier to that and this may very well have been the Red Arrows on their way out ! B)

PM on its way !

The commemorations have certainly dominated the media over here today - almost putting the news of Ronald Reagan's death into the background. I'll be checking out the TV highlights a bit later on. Interesting observation though from my back garden at about 6pm - military sounding prop aircraft heading Northish, possibly back from the coast. Difficult to tell but looked to me like a Lockheed Hudson - not everyday you see one of those. Possibly participating over in Normandy?

In order to avoid such incidents I swear by solid wood cubes, floor mounted on plinths and no stacking. I won't take any chances with that Maynard Mosaic LP set

Have just been listening to 'Outback' over the past week - CD reissue of a rare LP on Turtle. This one has the huge bonus of Harry Beckett in the lineup. Good stuff.

Freddie Roach 'Down to Earth', BN mono. Now there's a good candidate for a CD Conn..

BFT disk 12 has arrived (which I think must have been in that May 31 last batch). Thanks, Daniel. Some really excellent music on this disk...

No sign of 'Impressed II' or its siblings yet. Any idea of when they are due out? It'll be nice to get the chance to hear "Greek Variations" without having to take out an IMF loan for the priviledge..

Huge for Hiroshi. His service is up there with Mosaic, shipping to UK always seems to arrive within a week (amazing) and the packaging is accident-proof. Great guy, first rate !

Vee-Jay Kelly/Chambers disk 6. This one swings like the proverbial clappers !

I have a Danish Debut LP titled 'Live at the Cafe Montmartre'. It has a great photo of Cecil on the cover. Here's the cover of the first US Fantasy issue which has the same photo: