mjzee

I'd recommend the duet album with Robert Plant, the Live double-album with Union Station, and New Favorite. Yes, just a beautiful voice. You probably can't go wrong with the greatest hits album, either.

1954 Vogue Paris date recorded for them in NYC. I have a lovely 10inch UK edition . Music is great Formerly reissued here and also on a Prestige LP: I have 5 tracks as part of this OJC release:

Off the top of my head: Elmo Hope Trio on BN Sonny Clark Trio, also BN Bud Powell...where to start? BN, Verve, ESP (1953!) Tommy Flanagan - Overseas Horace Silver BN

I use the Spin-Clean system. Fairly economical after the initial purchase, with satisfactory results.

There's a positive write-up in today's WSJ for the KEF Egg. See if you can open this link: http://blogs.wsj.com/personal-technology/2015/09/21/kef-egg-the-best-speakers-you-didnt-know-you-needed/

I remember an article in Stereo Review from the early '70's that discussed the topic of filing classical records, which is a much more knotty problem than rock or jazz (do you file by composer, conductor, pianist? what of compilations? etc.). Would love to reread that article today.

James Harrod discovered the alternate takes. He told us about it in this thread, and they can be downloaded here (scroll to the bottom of the page).

Note that the "Montgomeryland" material can be had legitimately on this: Amazon

Very sad to hear of your family's loss, Dan. We experienced a similar sudden end to our cat Maydele's life last year. Again, cancer, not caught until it was too late.

It's on Ebay now for $149: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mosaic-MD7-201-Complete-Mercury-Max-Roach-Plus-Four-Sessions-CD-Set-/121744564379?hash=item1c588aa09b

Over on dead.net, a poster named KeithFan2112 posted a very interesting analysis of the band, comparing when they had 1 or 2 drummers: The one-drummer / two-drummer conversations always interest me. I played with multiple drummers in my high school ensemble band, and as the lone drummer in half a dozen ill-fated high school and college bands. It's fundamentally impossible to play with the improvisational style that the '71 - '74 Grateful Dead did on numbers like Dark Star, The Other One, Playing in the Band, and countless jams titled Jam, with two drummers. One of them would have to be relegated to an auxiliary role, or the parts would have to be well arranged and rehearsed ahead of time; no room for improv. Take Dark Star circa 1972, for example. Changes within a performance were typically directed by Jerry, Phil, or Bill, with Bobby and Keith following (I don't hear much of Pigpen on these '72 performances - I suspect he sat out or played light percussion). If Jerry or Phil want to head in a different direction (i.e. play louder, softer, faster, slower, or introduce a new melody), one has to take the lead, the other has to follow, and the leader has to communicate with the other and the drummer, either through auditory, visual, or telekinetic queues (some argue that telekinetic queues are a more advanced form of auditory queue, but they're usually not musicians:) All of this has to happen with speed and proficiency to sound good, which is what the one-drummer version of the Grateful Dead did with pinpoint precision; they made the unrehearsed sound rehearsed. When they were on their game, they interacted like pistons in a musical engine, and Dark Star moved along with uninterrupted grace. Not to take anything away from Keith and Bobby; they played as much as anyone on these performances, they just weren't facilitating the changes quite as often (a notable exception is when Bobby ENDs Dark Star, typically with a teaser line from Sugar Magnolia, or whatever else was to come next). And that's just Dark Star. I haven't listened nearly as closely to the 1972 performances of The Other One; Bobby may very well lead more here, as it's his song. The unpredictability and originality that typified the jams of this period isn't possible with two full-kit drummers (they would end up competing with each other, which would not only sound awful, but it would also close off a good deal of the open space where the melody and color of the non-percussion instruments dwell); so a change was in order when Mickey returned. I suppose there are two ways they could have done it: one drummer could stand down and take an auxiliary role (i.e. augment the percussion sound with maracas, bongos, floor toms); or, they could go back to how they did it pre-'71, which is what they did. So, if you compare Dark Star from The Closing of Winterland (or a pre-1971 performance) to just about any Dark Star between '71 and '74, you have more of the changes revolving around melody and volume, rather than tempo and meter. Effectively, they returned to more rehearsed, tighter arrangements, and less improvisation. Take it easy folks. Whoa, whoa, whoa, but wait a second here...didn't they have difficulty finding room for TC when they had the beefed up, busy two-drummer rhythm section of 1969? You bet they did, glad you mentioned it; because TC isn't a chord player, he's a note player. TC's challenge wasn't so much having another organ player onstage in Pigpen, as it was finding the open space to PLAY in (and Pigpen was a chord player anyway, so their styles were complimentary). And if TC was a note player, and KEITH is a note player, then wouldn't Keith..have...the same problem....oh boy, I see where this is going - where is my boy Godchaux going to play with two mother-f@#ken drummers in the band? In retrospect, the demise was certain. With the resignation of the jazz-fueled, acid-drenched monster and pin-drop finesse of the 70s, and the onset of the hard-rockin' cock-swingin' machine of the 80s, Keith Godchaux's role was slowly diminished. The man could play chords in his sleep (which he eventually demonstrated:-), but he didn't thrive as a rhythm player, which was essentially what he was relegated to as the 70s wore on. Within the Dead's sonic landscape, he went from having huge open fields to run the ball in, to getting one or two at-bats a night. No doubt, the return of Mickey Hart was the snowball that started rolling towards Keith, gathering size and momentum with each passing year, until finally it swallowed him up and buried him under. How's that for drama. But yeah, Keith Godchaux, great piano player...

So if they merge, do they become AB-SAB?

Best I can tell, there was only one show: 9/24/88. Two songs: West L.A. Fadeaway and Little Red Rooster. Not commercially released, but easily heard via archive.org.

Attention JLH!

The only Solo Mosca I've heard is the one on Choice.

I guess the most "famous" gig from that tour was Barton Hall (5/8/77), which hasn't been officially released, but is easily downloadable from archive.org. You might consider "To Terrapin: Hartford '77" (5/28/77), "Dave's Picks Vol. 12" (11/4/77), "Dick's Picks Vol. 10" (12/29/77 & 12/30/77), and the aforementioned DP Vol. 34 (11/5/77). If you get DP 34 and Dave's Picks 12, between the two you also get an almost-complete 11/2/77 show (just missing 2 songs). One massive release I wasn't too impressed with was the box set of 5 May '77 shows; I found it kinda slow and sluggish, though it has its moments.

I have the Telarc disc, "Like Someone In Love." It's of a piece with the other titles from this gig. Just lovely stuff. If memory serves me correctly, sound quality may be a shade not as good, but don't know why. This group produced a vision, a sound, shimmering. I think of it in the same vein as the Jim Hall Live album on Horizon; it just puts you in a state. Look at the titles: Just Squeeze Me, Tangerine, Meditation, Nudges, Like Someone In Love, and (to send them home) Things Ain't What They Used To Be. Just Squeeze Me is especially lovely.

They announced they still have some CD boxes; ship date's been pushed to mid-October.

Review in the Wall St Journal.

Wow, I'm behind. Don't know why I didn't see these responses in my "New Content" feed. Ah well. So some of these may no longer be surprises. I'll put down my thoughts and then go back and read others' responses. 1) Cuban music meets "I don't need no wa-wa." Perez Prado? I see that was correct. 2) John Coates, Jr. school. Early Keith Jarrett? "The Summer Knows" - a very cheery rendition of the song. 3) Dominican version of Prince Buster backed by Art Pepper & Pepper Adams? I used to hear this stuff blasting from the cars on Broadway in Washington Heights. 4) Latin music played by some unholy cross of Cecil Taylor and Oscar Peterson? 5) More latin music, with English lyrics. Didn't make much of an impression on me. 6) More cowbell! Good tenor sax & organ against a latin beat. Houston Person or King Curtis? 7) Night In Tunisia. Tenor (alto?) backed by guitar and el-p. Nice, but nothing special. 8) Thrushes. Nice delivery & arrangement. No idea who. 9) Caravan. Violin & organ?!? Nice congas. Finally some grease! Ray Nance & Milt Buckner? A little too restrained for Buckner. 10) Something from the early days of Blue Note? But then sounds like Stuff Smith & Tiny Grimes. 11) Flying Home. Eddie Jefferson? Nice sax. 12) Alto has a nice, feathery tone reminiscent of Art Pepper. But the organ & bottom heavy reed section? Weird. 13) Boogie-woogie! Nice subdued trumpet & then livelier sax and trombone. The pianist doesn't turn out to be the star of the show - didn't predict that. 14) Things Ain't What They Used To Be. I'm guessing Wild Bill Davis. 15) Strong left hand. Boring, though - a little too cautious. 16) Guitar sound like Lonnie Johnson. Sax livens things up! Ray Bryant on piano? 17) Coleman Hawkins or Don Byas. A former co-worker would call this stripper music. 18) Mickey Baker? King Curtis? 19) A weird thought: Chuck Berry on guitar? Is this the Chess crowd? 20) Whoever this is, I hope she finds the man she's looking for. 21) By recording quality, sounds to be of more recent vintage. #20's daughter, perhaps? 22) The greater length allows for a more relaxed vibe. I'm picturing a South African version of Perry Como...who then takes a cellphone call while onstage and starts talking. Thanks, TMG.

Go to Google, type what you're searching for, and follow it with site:organissimo.org That works well.

I never saw that Flanagan album before.

I'm now on disc 3. I love it. Moreover, I think the presentation (complete sets, stretching out at length) really help the music, gives it context. I heard Our Man In Jazz as almost a psychodrama, with Cherry trying to pull Sonny to the Ornette side, and Sonny alternately finding it seductive and fighting against it. Listening to this, it's just 4 guys jamming and improvising like crazy. Cherry's a good foil to Sonny, and really plays far more "inside" than is evident (at least to me) on Our Man In Jazz. I'm enthusiastically looking forward to listening to the rest of the box. P.S. Yes, two big thumbs up to Cranshaw and Higgins. Of course!

Here's a pretty comprehensive telling of the story, courtesy of http://fivecentsplease.org/tv/peanuts-tv.html#HISTORY How Did The Specials Get Started?In 1963, Lee Mendelson, an independent television producer, contacted Charles Schulz with the idea of producing a documentary about Schulz and Peanuts. While Schulz had received several offers from Hollywood for a feature film or TV series, none of the offers had appealed to him. But he'd seen and enjoyed Mendelson's 1963 documentary on Willie Mays, so he agreed to meet with Mendelson. They decided to include some short trial animations in the documentary (titled "A Boy Named Charlie Brown," a title that was later reused for the 1969 theatrical movie). These sequences were created by Bill Melendez, a friend of Schulz's who had done the animation for some Ford commercials starring the Peanuts gang. Unfortunately, Mendelson and Schulz were unable to convince any network or sponsor to buy the documentary when they were done. But in May 1965, Coca-Cola, remembering the animated sequences from the documentary when it had been shopped to them, expressed an interest in sponsoring an animated Peanuts Christmas special. In the next six months, Schulz, Mendelson, and Melendez worked hard to create the special which became "A Charlie Brown Christmas." Several important choices were made during the first show's development that have influenced all shows to come. Schulz, Melendez, and Mendelson decided to have real children perform the voices of the show's characters, instead of the customary practice of adults pretending to be children. They also decided, with the exception of Charlie Brown and Linus, to use amateurs with no previous experience. (Charlie Brown was voiced by Peter Robbins, and Linus by Christopher Shea, who were both established child actors, although arguably they are now both best known for their voices on the first five Peanuts specials.) Since the children's voices change as they grow, every few years a new set of voices needs to be found. Melendez tries to match the original voices as closely as possible. New voices have been siblings of the previous actors, children of the production staff, and children chosen from auditions held at schools near the production offices in Northern California. Snoopy presented something of a problem. Originally the animators considered showing thought bubbles with words, as in the strip, but they realized young children would be unable to read these. They considered using a "funny voice" to verbalize the thoughts, but it didn't seem right either. In the end, they decided to play Snoopy in pantomime, "emulating the great Harpo Marx." When Snoopy does make a noise -- a bark, a howl, a grunt -- he is performed by Bill Melendez in all shows so far. (Melendez also performs Woodstock's "voice.") Schulz, Melendez and Mendelson also decided to hire jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi to write the music for the show, and this was so successful that he wrote and performed the music for the first 14 specials (until his death), and his music has greatly influenced the music for shows after that. Once "A Charlie Brown Christmas" was complete, CBS previewed it, and expressed apprehension. The show's slow pace (compared with other cartoons), the religious message, and the amateur voices didn't sit well with them. But when "A Charlie Brown Christmas" was aired, it was an immediate critical and popular success - it received a 45 share (meaning almost half the televisions on that night tuned in to it)! Four months later the show received the Peabody Award for "outstanding children's and youth's program," and another month after that, an Emmy award. Thus a whole series of specials was launched, each written by Charles Schulz, produced by Lee Mendelson and Bill Melendez, and animated by Melendez's studio. The original documentary ("A Boy Named Charlie Brown") was updated and broadcast in 1969. For a more detailed history, see the book "A Charlie Brown Christmas - The Making of a Tradition", by Lee Mendelson, HarperCollins, 2000. [Most of this section was adapted from the book "Charlie Brown & Charlie Schulz," by Lee Mendelson, published by The World Publishing Company in 1970.]

Here, judge for yourself (the ones on the far left are still to do):