sidewinder

Cool ! Nearest I got to a whale was when a killer whale and her pup went right under my dive boat off of the Canadian West Coast. Also on that coast I snorkeled with a pack of Pacific white-sided dolphins who came at me from all angles with sonar clicking like crazy - dozens of them. Got both of those occasions on VHS film. Anyway, back to hi-fi...

Humpty Dumpty Simple Simon Chicken Little

If it's any consolation I'm sneezing my head off today - and I'm on holiday !

Kate Bush Emily Bronte Branwell Bronte

Wow ! For real? The late Basil Kirchin used Nagras for his 'Worlds Within Worlds' recordings, which mixed jazz improvisation, Swiss autistic children and wildlife/insects etc. recorded at low speed. I believe that the Nagra was found to be essential for these recordings.

Did you see that performance he did at 'Jazz Britannia' with the Quartet with Chris Lawrence, John Taylor (I think it was he and not Gwilym - not sure) and John Marshall? Fantastic. Will be sure to check out 'Brewster's Rooster' based on recommendations here. Chewy, you don't know what you are missing !

Definitely my favourite "Keith Jarrett as sideman" performance ! How is the US ECM pressing quality? I have a couple of Canadian pressings (e.g. a copy of Priester's 'Polarization') and the sound isn't quite as good as German pressings, a bit more noise.

Oh no - what a tragedy ! Such is life... Reminds me of my folks accidentally wiping a heap of BBC jazz broadcasts I had on VHS including Jazz 625s, the Swedish jazz film 'Sven Klang's Combo' and film of Lester Bowies Brass Fantasy at Bath Festival with footage of me in the audience standing on seat. Of course, none of that was ever repeated.

Talking about false dawns in Hi-Fi, didn't SABA in Germany do an early tape-based in-car machine that you bolted between the driver and passenger seat back in the 1960s. There's a brief mention of it in the 'Beyond The Black Forest' DVD.

Late Happy Birthday from me ! Hope you get well soon. I've never known a year like this one for severe colds which are difficult to shake off - irrespective of all the fuss about swine flu. Some nasty stuff being passed around in the air.

I remember the 'Rare as Hen's Teeth' section of their racks but never the 'Rocking Horse' one. Picked up the Hazel Scott 'Relaxed Piano Moods' Debut 10" LP out of that selection on one occasion.

I've got the slipcases on the Stitt, Wynton Kelly, Hank Jones and Lalo. There may be others too - haven't checked them all. That Meade Lux Lewis is exceptional ! One of my very favourite disks from the whole series. Strong buy recommendation, for anyone lucky enough to see a copy.

Ditto !

Jack McDuff 'Rock Candy' (UK Prestige, 2LP) Can't go wrong with these 24000 series twofers. Time to dig that gem back out of its lair..

Very Prog !

Mindy Mandelslime Prince of Darkness

He did indeed. I recall him as the vocalist (and, I think bass player) on King Crimson's 'Lizard'. Don't think he liked the experience much...I get the impression he was more of a balladeer. The music he had to sing on 'Lizard' was verging on free jazz (well, polytonal jazz!) and the lyrics were bonkers....'See the slinky-sealed circus policeman, bareback ladies have fish.' I have the feeeling that I might have passed him in the street in Shaftesbury High Street a few weeks ago. A Dorset man through and through ! Anyone see that repeat of the 'Prog Rock' night programmes on BBC4 last night? Still chuckling over the disco dancing to 'Atomic Rooster' on TOTP and Rick Wakeman in witches hat live open air at Tintagel Castle. Those were the days !

Yeah, great stuff. I think this particular concert has been 'up' on dime in the past.

He still lives near at Ashmore near Shaftesbury, I believe. Had a bit of a comeback a few years ago with a chart single. I bought quite a few jazz samplers in the early/mid 70s. My vaourite is an MPS/BASF one with some killer tracks on it by the likes of John Taylor ('Piano Power Vol 2') and naff cover art with an Earl Hines lookalike in pimp suit smoking a cheroot. Sometimes see the occasional Vertigo 2LP sampler album in the racks. Usually though they are totally trashed !

Ed Thigpen 'Out Of The Storm' (Verve, mono)

Nice find. And it is indeed fantastic. Where else can you find prime Satchmo, Jimmy Smith and Tal Farlow on one disk?

Ah - interesting. Not sure it mentions that on the UK LP, will have to check. We've been duped !

Yeah, a nice arrangement. Very similar to the one on Don Ellis's 'Underground' LP from the same vintage. Wonder if Ellis contributed that chart?

No - that's 'Alive And Well In London' (MF Horn 3?). I was thinking of the UK CBS LP called just 'Maynard Ferguson' that I think was just 'MF Horn 1' in the US. The track I'm thinking of was indeed a version of MacArthur Park by Keith Mansfield - which in turn lifts heavily from the Jim Webb original. Certainly, this one is the best 'MacArthur Park' I ever heard (and no soggy cakes either).

Yeah, exactly. I was listening to the never ending single of that one on the radio last week and noticed the similarity - also with the track on the Maynard LP too.