DMP

Kenny G, kind of an easy target, don't you think?

Anybody on Blue Note.

Is he playing in tune?

I'll have to go back and look at the "Stepping Stones" notes (CJ Shearn recalls it correctly, I believe), but I'm not sure how you can restore the original LP sequence by leaving out a tune that was on the album and substituting another that wasn't.

In the notes to the Woody Shaw "Stepping Stones" CD, Cuscuna (who I very much admire) says he left out of of the tunes from the LP and substituted another - the one that was omitted was "commercial." Hey - let me hear some "commercial" Woody Shaw for a couple of minutes!

I'm struck how much Foster sounds like Wayne Shorter on the second session. And disappointed the "obligatory funk" opening tune was left off - hey, those kind of tunes are what a lot of people looked forward to at the time! (The notes say it was "Buster Brown," think Stanley Turrentine did a version on Blue Note)

Off the top of my head, the box has that one cut from some "funk" session that also showed up on the "Lost Sessions" CD. (THAT CD looks better all the time - is it still available?) And not sure if all the alternate takes on the box are on the individual RVG's, either.

Picked this up this morning... $10, good notes, very good sound, and the extra material... So, while I have most of this on previous issues, this is a nice package and a good buy. When it's out-of print in a couple of years, you'll wish you had it.

I think he played drums for Peggy Lee at some point, and she would feature him as a vocalist. A wonderful drummer - it seemed like he was on half the jazz records I bought in the '60's, with "Organ Grinder's Swing" a stand-out.

Does anyone know anything about this (out this week)? I'm assuming it's Impulse material that's been out, but maybe all in one place? (The '63 Newport "My Favorite Things" - the one with Roy Haynes that originally appeared on "Selflessness" - is maybe my favorite version of the many available.)

Right, "Tomoorow's Promises," thanks. The first cut could almost be on some Prestige soul album - until Pullen shows up for the last solo.

The only "Contemporary" title I've bought is Freddie Hubbard's "Super Blue" - and, using the web site's search function, I couldn't find it. Deleted already?

The Don Pullen album on "Atlantic" (can't think of the title at the moment) - that first track is hard to beat. And Archie Shepp's "Kwanza."

Anyone ever heard his "classical" music?

Good point about Cal Tjader. As a kid, his material from Monterey was the first time I'd heard of it! (The other name I associate with that festival is Dizzy Gillespie - how does he fare in all of this?)

My guess is that most of us who got the original LP's didn't pay much more than a dollar for them - and sometimes less! And some of this stuff was reissued in the early days if CD's (LCR label?) and they didn't go for that much more! Still, hard to resist Ramon Morris...

Can anyone figure out the Keepnews put-down of "Urgetsu" (to me, one of the strongest of all Messengers albums) in his notes to the new "Caravan" reissue? He never finishes his point - not like him to miss an opportunity for an anecdote.

Bob Porter's notes in the last reissue of "Black Talk" mention that Caldwell wasn't a professional musician, but Houston Person knew him from Newark, where he owned a convenience store. Musicians liked him because he had a feel for the music. Apparently he used only one conga drum.

Where's the thread on pseudonyms?

Thanks! The outside notes and original liners don't let on - "The rhythm section is headed by Cobb's old Houston organ sidekick Strethen Davis..." Wild Bill is the George Lane of the organ world.

Strethen Davis - he's on Arnett Cobb's "Blow Arnett, Blow" (also issued as "Go Power!!"). One of the sets of liner notes on the OJC reissue refers to him as "Wild Bill Davis." Could they be the same person? I can't tell by listening... Anyone know something about this?

There were some pretty sad Impulse LP's near the end... Oliver Nelson playing "Flowers On the Wall," those albums with the "California Dreamers"... And Blue Mitchell had a bad run in there about that time. But who didn't? (I always wondered what Lee Morgan might have done if he'd lived a little longer - would he have gone the Donald Byrd route?) And I never cared for Charlie Parker with voices ...

Okay, then, how about Joe Farrell's disco album on Warner Brothers?

I think the worst was Kai Winding's "More," on Verve. Bought the single (remember those?) and my heart sank. I did own the McLean (and still have the 12" single from it), there were 2 okay tracks.

There WAS a "seriouly funk collection" - that "Original Jam Master" (or something like that) which came out within the past year or two. Or have they already been deleted?