Kevin Bresnahan

I haven't had any luck finding this CD. Jackson's label, Solid Jackson, doesn't seem to have any distribution set up and he hasn't brought any to his gigs in several years. I'm planning to see him March. Maybe I should e-mail him and ask if he can bring a few?

Wasn't some of it tied up with legal issues for a while? I thought I read that Joe Fields & Don Schlitten couldn't agree on a separation agreement. Something about Fields' Cobblestone stuff that was released on Muse maybe?

He said he's got a new one coming out soon so maybe he'll have that with him the next time you see him... although he did say that it's gotten really bad for CD sales at his shows recently.

1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 = un deux trois quatre cinq Of course, only non-French speakers would ever pronounce quatre as "cat" .

Last night, I bought two of Greg Abate's latest releases after I saw him perform at Arthur's House of Jazz in Methuen, MA. One is titled "Positive Energy" (Summit Records). He made it when he was on tour in New Mexico with a local rhythm section of John Rangel (p), Terry Burns (b) & Dave Rost (d). The other is a 2 CD set that I meant to buy from Greg the last time I saw him live but he sold the last copy before I could get one. It's Greg's live recording with Phil Woods "Kindred Spirits: Live At Chan's" (Whaling City Sound).

That sounds like a "dad joke" from France.

It looks like Ray Aichinger's "Guilty Pleasure" is only available for streaming here in the US. I wonder if it hasn't made it into his discogs discography because they list him as Raimund Aichinger and not as Ray Aichinger there? The below post was merged with the one above. They are not about the same recordng. Now playing on this cold winter morning here in Maine... disc 2 (of 3) of George Garzone/Peter Erskine/Alan Pasqua/Darek Oles - 3 Nights In L.A. (Fuzzy Music). This is not exactly what I expected from this group but it is enjoyable enough. That said, 3 discs might just be a bit more than is needed from this date. I don't know why they felt that this date deserved to heard in its entirety, but I suppose if you really like it, why not?

Someone over on the Hoffman forums was saying that he had to evacuate and he was worried that he may lose everything. I cannot imagine what those people are going through right now.

I only have one Gemini CD from Harry Allen/Totti Bergh/George Masso titled "Night Birds". It's a bit of a throwback musically, with a mostly swing-styled sound.

Pitchfork properly added that cover to its "Worst Album Covers Of All Time". (BTW - it's a peach)

I understand that Jimmy Rushing is an important figure in Jazz history but I just don't dig his singing. There are a lot of important singers and historic vocal recordings that I don't enjoy as much as instrumental Jazz. It doesn't mean they're bad, it just means that I don't think I'd ever find the time to play them. The last Mosaic I bought with all vocals was the Charles Brown set. I don't think I ever played all of those CDs... & it's not like I don't have a few thousand other CDs to spin at any given moment. Only so much time in the day.

I wish I were more of a vocal fan. I might pick this up for the instrumentals but I'm just not a fan of vocal Jazz so a lot of this box won't get onto my player very often.

It is amazing and it makes for a tough time finding some of them. His recording for the Japanese arm of RCA, "Day Dream", with Tommy Flanagan on piano, is probably my favorite date of his.

Harry Allen is a really good saxophonist on the scene today who doesn't seem to get mentioned very often. I think it's because his swing stylings, much like Scott Hamilton before him, isn't "current" so he's somewhat dismissed as a Prez/Getz/Zoot copycat. I dig the guy a lot and listen to him pretty regularly. I'm now digging one of his Japanese RCA releases titles, "Isn't This A Lovely Day", with Hank Jones on piano, George Mraz on bass & Kenny Washington on drums. It certainly makes this a lovely day. I miss seeing Harry play live. Before Covid, he used to play at Jocko's Jazz Club (now called Arthur's House of Jazz) in Methuen, MA pretty much once a year. One time he brought Ken Peplowski and another time he had Scott Hamilton up on stage with him. Those are some fond memories.

Stan Getz - Focus (Verve). My favorite "with strings" Jazz recording.

This was posted over on the Steve Hoffman forum and I thought some of you would enjoy it... "Pete and I were acid pioneers within the jazz community, and had dropped acid before going to Rudy Van Gelder’s studio in New Jersey. I remember being transfixed in Rudy’s bathroom. Rudy had blue water in his toilet! He was a germaphobe who wore gloves when he moved microphones, and he was also the first guy I knew who put a package of disinfectant in his toilet tank to turn the water blue. After I had taken acid, the blue water in Rudy’s toilet was the most remarkable thing I had ever seen. “One of the tunes on Basra was ‘Lazy Afternoon,’ a tender ballad. We were in full flight, mid-take, with our eyes closed, when Kuhn reached inside the piano to pluck a chord. There were immediate loud and abrupt noises over the P.A. Rudy came running out to the room in the middle of the take and angrily told Kuhn, ‘If you touch those strings again, this date is over.’ We were all sitting there pinned to our seats with our eyes bugged out. “Another song on the date is my piece, ‘Eiderdown,’ which is actually the first recording of one of my compositions. It’s also the only tune of mine that I don’t own. Alfred Lion snatched it right out of my hands. After the date had been done, I got a phone call from Alfred and he said, ‘Oh, by the way, “Eiderdown,” who is publishing that?’ I had no idea what he was talking about. I said, ‘Gee, I don’t know.’ Alfred said, ‘No problem.’ He then proceeded to offer me this ‘wonderful’ deal. He would publish it for me and take care of everything and I wouldn’t have to worry about a thing. I was so grateful. ‘Gee, Alfred. Thank you so much.’ I haven’t been able to get that tune back after all these years. Blue Note sold it, it’s gone around, and some big conglomerate owns it now. I keep trying to buy it back because it has been recorded fairly often. “That’s another kind of Blue Note story. It is a great blessing to jazz that Blue Note existed, but on the business side they were also sort of gangsters. “Basra has great soloing and a great groove, but what is behind all of that is Pete’s insistence on detail. Like a good performance by a Shakespearean actor, the effort behind that record is unseen. It’s extremely artful. It’s very much Pete’s album. Pete was insistent on countless details within that music. Rehearsals were grueling and lengthy. We seldom made it through a tune without him stopping and correcting us, to the point that the rest of us were on the verge of fleeing the room. It was terrible to rehearse with him, but the results were worth it. "

Brice Winston - Child's Play (Criss Cross).

Just finished: Walter Smith III - Still Casual (Whirlwind Recordings) Now up: Buddy DeFranco - Mr. Lucky (Pablo)

Is bandcamp having troubles? I bought an LP during the last bandcamp Friday and it came with a download card. I follow the instructions and the download page just sits there with "Preparing". I then went to try and e-mail them for some help - they don't have any way to contact them. No e-mail. No phone number. I went to their Facebook page and there is no "Message" button. There is literally no way to contact them. This is an odd business practice. I saw a comment on Facebook that I am not alone in this effort. Has anyone successfully contacted them?

Walter Smith III - Still Casual (Whirlwind Recordings). My last bandcamp purchase of 2024. I picked up the vinyl release.

I always wanted to see Leitch live but I don't think he ever toured through Boston. I enjoy the Reservoir CD "Exhilaration", with Pepper Adams on several tracks.

What Prestige LPs are in this box? Is there any material in it that wasn't released on individual CDs?

The Bills have their work cut out for them. When they play the Chiefs, they're up against a formidable opponent - the refs.

Does Terry tell the story of how he got Wally to record these dates? Were they done for commercial release?

Your best bet is to buy one through your cell phone provider or, if you don't have one, sign up for one that gives you a free phone. There are not many good phones for under $200, unless you shop the used market on ebay.