Kevin Bresnahan

Last one for a while... Various Artists - The Broadway Scene (Moodsville MV38). Original green label Van Gelder pressing. This one's going into the trade pile. I expected not to have as many tracks on this compilation as I do.

Zoot Sims - Zoot Sims Plays Four Altos (MCA rainbow label) To my ears, it sounds like 3 altos more than necessary. Probably going into the trade pile. I picked it up mainly because Steve Hoffman mastered it and I can always sell it over on his forum.

Always liked this session. It gets better every time I play it.

Andre Previn and His Quartet (Play Jazz Version of) My Fair Lady (Columbia CL 2195 - mono 2 eye)

Willie Williams - House Calls (New Note). Bought this sealed and the cellophane was a bitch to get off. Actually, it didn't come completely off. It looks like the record has the mange. For a debut recording, very well done! Liking this one a lot.

Geri Allen - The Printmakers (Minor Music)

Case in point - I was playing a vinyl of this vintage of 'Time For Tyner' yesterday, Transamerica Corp. blue Label. Great LP and music but the pressing absolutely sucked ! Is that the one where one side is a Van Gelder cut and the other isn't? I agree that one it isn't the best. However, it seems to be an exception. In general, I've had good luck with these pressings when they have Van Gelder in the deadwax. Not so much luck when they don't.

I've said it before so I'll say it again, Mosaic could do some great boxes if they could license some Bee Hive sessions. A complete Nick Brignola Bee Hive maybe? I've talked to Michael about it a few times and he's more than interested but says that label owner Jim Neumann won't do it. Shame that this great catalog goes unheard by so many of today's Jazz fans.

As I view this on my laptop running Linux (Ubuntu), I smile. Of course, my work PC is still vulnerable, but I don't use that one to surf much and when I do, I always run Firefox with NoScript.

Harold Mabern - A Few Miles From Memphis (Prestige green label Van Gelder)

Shelly Manne - Perk Up (Concord). You would think Manne could have gotten Bill Perkins to play on this one. Same cut corner as this picture too.

I have this CD and is in a mini LP sleeve from Japan. The catalog number is COCB-50307 and it appears to have been issued in August of 2000.

The availability of Widmer (and Redhook) should be no surprise - Anheuser-Bush is a part owner and they have control over many distribution networks.

Damn! All these years and I thought "Rescue Me" was Aretha's work. D'oh! RIP Fontella. I always love it when "Rescue Me" comes belting out of my speakers.

Johnny Hodges - The Complete Johnny Hodges Sessions 1951-1955 (Mosaic) LP1. Yaaaaay, I finally got one! Merry Christmas Kevin.

If these weren't ~$85 a piece, I might own a couple. If they were closer to $25 a piece, I'd own a bunch.

A joke my German friend told me: Why is drinking Coors Light like making love in a canoe? They're both fucking close to water.

I used to drink Michelob all the time back in the day. The last time I was in a store looking for a non-microbrewed beer for a party, I looked around for it but only found some weird low carb version. Michelob Ultra maybe? No way I was buying that.

Mistletoe Magic - Holiday Jazz Improvisations (Palo Alto Jazz Records)

Bobby Timmons - Holiday Soul Jack warned me that he's looked and there aren't any clean pressings of this and I have to agree with him that this is pretty noisy. The last two tracks of Side 2 sound awful - Rice crispies galore and what sounds like an out of tune piano. Great music though.

I can't imagine how I would be right now if one of my girls was senselessly killed in this tragedy.

Why wouldn't she get her DNA tested? There's got to be money in that estate.

I wish I got a chance to see him live before this but he'll live on in my music collection. I am listening to a beautiful raga right now ("Homage to Mahatma Ghandi").

Michael Connelly's latest Harry Bosch novel, The Black Box, takes Connely's/Bosch's love for Jazz to a new level. Not only does he listen to the latest Art Pepper live CDs put out by his widow, he even mentions the label by name and describes in detail which tracks he really likes. Let's put it this way, I'm buying Art Pepper: Unreleased Art Vol. III, Croydon Concert because of his write up. Harry Bosch also gets into a little challenge with another character to see if they can name a Jazz artist that the other hasn't heard of. Harry's pretty bad at it, naming somewhat well-known names like Gary Smulyan and Grace Kelly. The other guy comes up with Danny Grissette (singling out his recent CD Form and the track Let's Face The Music And Dance) & Michael Formanek. It was pretty fun to read this one just for these Jazz mentions. They're sprinkled throughout. Later, Kevin

One part of me says that what Marvin Miller did was great for professional sports (athletes) and yet another part of me, the part that has seen so much labor strife in every major sport since Miller's breakthroughs, wishes he never did what he did. Every time there's a strike by these multi-millionaries today, I find less & less sympathy for them. The door has swung too far the other way, as is often the case in businesses that get unionized.