All Activity

The Walter Norris Quartet “Sunburst” Concord cd Bass – Larry Grenadier Drums – Mike Hyman Piano – Walter Norris Tenor Saxophone – Joe Henderson Recorded at Coast Records,San Francisco, August 13 & 14,1991

Mode Records MOD LP # 110 (reissue) - Stu Williamson Septet " A Jazz Band Ball" - rec. 1957 - Engineer: Dayton Howe

I had just asked him what it was like playing on the Teddy Edwards session with Billy Higgins. He thanked me for the reminder. No idea why he's pointing at me other than that it might be good for captioning ideas.

Mode Records MOD LP #119 (reissue)- Harry Babasin And The Jazz Pickers feat. Terry Gibbs - rec. 1957 - Engineer: Dayton Howe

JJ Cale - Stay Around (Because)

I a going to catch them at the Side Door in Old Lyme, CT tomorrow with George Garzone instead of Bergonzi.

Ogunquit is one town north of me. It's a nice little town. We go there often, particularly to visit their restaurants. We have been missing our Canadian friends lately. There used to be a lot of Canadian tourists visiting our beaches down here in Maine but not last year and not likely this year either.

When I was growing up in New Brunswick Canada people (not me) would vacation in Ogunquit which is down your way I believe.

Clearing the decks/shelves here; any o-board-ers interested can expect to receive a healthy discount and free US shipping, just message me here. https://www.discogs.com/seller/callen/profile will be adding more soon so check back periodically.

We actually downsized almost 10 years ago now. We were living in this big house in Atkinson, NH when I came in from clearing the snow after another blizzard dumped 2 more feet on us and I saw myself in the hallway mirror. My face was purple. I asked my wife where she wanted to retire and she said, "Here", so I said, "Then plan on being a widow, because this driveway is going to kill me". We started shopping that week. I wanted to move to a condo in a city like Cambridge, MA, Newburyport, MA or Portsmouth, NH when my brother decided to move up to his beach house in York, ME. I checked the prices and I checked the frequency of major snowfall and we decided to settle up here. We still get snow, not nearly as much as we got in the boonies of NH and the driveway is a hell of a lot smaller, so that part's been good. But I lost a lot of living space moving here. The biggest PITA was downsizing my wine cellar. I used to have a shelving system in my cellar in NH. The basement here is finished, so I had to buy a wine fridge, which holds a lot less wine than my wine racks did. The cancer thing only turned my hair gray. But then again, I didn't need chemo, so that was good. It's the heart stuff that I worry about. You're lucky that your profession actually rewards experience with improved skills. I retired after 41 years as an electrical engineer and near the end, the kids knew the newer technologies much better than I did, so it was getting a lot harder to stay ahead of them. My only saving grace was that I specialized in RF technologies and RF is RF like a B♭ is a B♭.

In preparation for seeing Artimus Pyle's Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute band tomorrow night, I'm currently spinning "One More For From The Road".

Utterly Glorious. Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks have never sounded better.

Tonight I'm heading to Jimmy's in Portsmouth to see Blues on the Corner: McCoy Tyner Legacy Band with Jerry Bergonzi, Benito Gonzalez, Esiet Okun Esiet & Francisco Mela. I'm looking forward to it but hope the sound guy does a better job than the last show I saw there. Tomorrow I'm hitting a rock show led by drummer Artimus Pyle of Lynyrd Skynyrd fame, who I have wanted to see for many years. He only plays small clubs and never seems to come further north than NH, so I'm off to the Tupelo Music Hall in Derry, NH to see his band. I recently watched his movie about Lynyrd Skynyrd and the plane crash, which was quite the bummer. It's not as uplifting as you'd think given the title.

Konosuke Saijo, Budd Johnson, Buddy Collette, Nat Pierce, Mundell Lowe, George Duvivier, Gus Johnson Blues For Friends

Song stylist Carmen McRae (April 8, 1920 – November 10, 1994) with musician Gerry Mulligan at the Chicago Orchestra Hall. 1955 (William Lanier and Ebony Collection)

“Happy Birthday Duke! Volume 5” Laserlight cd Recorded April 29, 1954

Della Reese - Della Della Cha Cha Cha This is a greatly underrated vocal pop record in my view. Just pure fun.

Spinning this one again because I was interrupted to run errands . . . . It's so good. Ms Cohen's playing on tenor and clarinet is excellent. Duduka Du Fonseca "Samba-Jazz-Jazz Samba"

I, too, am old. I turned 65 this year. All the doctor visits are getting me down. I blacked out a week ago and bounced my head off of the porcelain throne. Gave me the worst shiner I've ever had. So, I listen to music. I used to listen to Sun Ra but now find it's too much for me to comprehend. I love Mingus but that too, is problematic. It's interesting that my taste in music is for lack of a better term, "narrowing". Challenging music that I used to enjoy is difficult to follow now. I guess that's my version of Stolen Moments.

Allen, thanks for sharing your opinion. Unless I become aware of more positive reviews, I will keep my money in the bank. Too bad, as a "good" bio on Kenny Dorham would be appreciated.

Just turned 72; I would say the cancer thing aged me about an extra 10 years. It's strange getting old; I can out-play and out-compose most younger musicians, but the industry sees me as aged out, nearing some kind of unofficial retirement age. But after almost dying and then losing about 5 years I am just getting started. Though I am going to start liquidating my CD collection (though I don't know, yet, how). PTSD after 25 surgeries is the killer, night terrors, waking up; then being told that Chemo damaged my inner ear and is why I tend to get dizzy - so another thing is trying not to fall. Which is also a little scary, especially since I am in NYC a lot climbing subway stairs. But musically: fuck it all, there is a documentary coming out about me, I have a 3-CD set coming out, and a new group called the Avant Roots Quartet that is as good as any in the world. Really. So I am not going gentle into that retirement home. Gigging maybe 4 times a year, which sucks, but that's the way it's gonna be.