Bill Nelson

Many I've left out: Joining the Newport Festival staff, I went onstage to chat-up John McLaughlin while tuning his guitar for Tony Williams' Lifetime, July 70. Boston's Jazz Workshop had such a tiny green room, yet I blazed in to rap with Stanley Clarke between sets. Also, Erroll Garner walked over from Paul's Mall to greet the Workshop's Mwandishi Herbie Hancock's sextet before their first sets. Jaki Byard and Alan Dawson were also at one of my Roland Kirk shows but didn't sit in (despite audience urging). Atlanta promoter Rob Gibson reunited the original Ornette Coleman quartet to honor Ed Blackwell on November 7, 1987 (on Black Saint CD). In '87, he also presented Astor Piazzolla in a sensational show at the Peachtree Playhouse. (It was one oof those "as serious as your life' shows' that left you shaking.) Tanglewood had George Shearing with Joe Williams 9/1/94 at Ozawa Hall and the next season we saw Steve Reich & Musicians on 8/9/95). errata: Moody had Mike Longo in '95 and Phil Woods was with Flanagan in '98. The National Black Arts Fest brought Little Jimmy Scott with Ruth Brown and her Hammond B-3 player on July 30, 1994 at the Center Stage. Very cool! And Atlanta's Variety had the grooviest show of Swing Out Sister in 11/94. Oh no, I've said too much.

After-concert meet-up with Duke Ellington (so gracious), Johnny Hodges (little to say besides "love your sound, man"). Miles July 5,1969 debut of 'Miles Runs the Voodoo Down' at Newport followed by one of last shows of orig. Mothers of Invention. My high school bio teacher/jazz hipster brought me to Boston's Jazz Workshop to see and meet Gerry Mulligan and Stan Getz. When 18 and flying solo, I caught Roland Kirk (3 times, front row), Elvin Jones (with Liebman), Return To Forever (w. Bill Connors, Stanley Clarke, Lenny White), and Herbie 'Mwandishi' Hancock's sextet (11/13/72). Moved to Georgia in '79 and got to see Sun Ra (twice), Max Roach w/ Odeon Pope (ATL Free Jazz Fest). Spivey Hall provided me Benny Golson (w. Curtis Fuller), Jim Hall, Joe Henderson, Gary Burton, and Ahmad Jamal. Little Five Point's Variety Playhouse brought McCoy Tyner Trio, James Moody w/ Tommy Flanagan, Phil Woods' sextet, and Joe Lovano with Mehldau and McBride (twice). The saying goes, "Youth is wasted on the young". Regrets? Bobby Hutcherson, Cannonball Adderley, Oscar Peterson Trio

The Dude abides -- DW has been around long enough to see the field, size-up the market, and green-light expanded projects of Dorham, Rollins, and Morgan. Recordings buried deep ("I've been told there's more somewhere.") Well, they're available now.

The marketing term for this: "a diminishing marginal utility for each additional unit".

... and made sure Miles got paid!

Lame endeavor. As Jimmy Durante said, "Everybody's gotta get into the act!"

Punters Take Note: Sealed LPs "direct from the warehouse"* are often returns which have been re-sealed and made available to discount distributors. Crate diggers joy and flippers' visions of sugarplum profits are contained by keeping the shrink-wrap intact. Upon eventual shrink opening, the reveal is a crap shoot. *the company 'warehouse' can be one of several lesser storage sites. "Factory direct" has become an inside joke.

Here's some black contemporary gospel from '79 by Andre Crouch. Crouch co-arranged with Michael O'Martian on keyboards plus LA session cats David Hungate-bass and Jay Graydon-guitar. Check the ending after 3:11 https://www.youtuve.com/watch?v=9uV87ld1eI0 Sorry, but it worked for me. BN https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uV87ld1eI0

The choice of chords on this gets my melting point:

Used to play this on Athens, GA's black-owned AM station:

Thundercat's 'Bus in These Streets' (chords would wig-out Clare Fischer).

When at a mom-n-pop record store in Anniston, Alabama, the owner mentioned a previous serious digger. "He bugged me about my back stock cause he was running the Capitol label." My quick reply was, "Well, I hope the guy has executive experience."

By the late 60's, Hentoff's liners were quite Byzantine. Not as LSD saturated as Ralph J. Gleason's.

Buddy DeFranco & Tommy Gumina Quintet (3 LPs on Mercury, 1962-64, and one on Decca, 1961). As Johnny Carson might say, "That's some wild, wild stuff."

Are all those box sets 'inbound' or 'outbound' for a new assignation?