crisp

Impressions of Cleopatra (Columbia, 1963). Paul Gonzalves also did the score in the same year for Impulse, released as a bonus on the CD version of Tell It the Way It Is.

Here's a handy list. This was definitely a late Fifties/early Sixties phenomenon, coinciding with the boom in Broadway shows and cast albums. The downside is that in any show there will be a song or two that doesn't adapt to jazz; the upside that, occasionally, a song that might have been overlooked forms the basis of a good performance. I've often wondered whether Scott Hamilton put I've Just Seen Her from All American into his repertoire because of Duke Ellington's recording of it on his album of the whole score. It's a beautiful melody that hardly anybody else seems to have done. Have any other songs become artist favourites by this means?

White Christmas on the CD edition of Booker Ervin's Structurally Sound. We Free Kings on Roland Kirk's album of the same name (not a Christmas album). The Christmas Song by Dexter Gordon on The Panther.

Yeah, but they are long-gone and, as neveronfriday says, pricey to collect today. For those of us who missed the boat on those (and I've been buying jazz CDs since the late Eighties), this is a useful collection.

Haven't read it, but I'll add it to the list. I have Alyn Shipton's recent biog of Jimmy McHugh (Field's first regular writing partner I believe) and that looks pretty good. BTW today's Guardian has helpfully published Sondheim's comments on lyricists online here.

It's amazing how many people (critics and musicians) don't get Gordon Jenkins. If pressed, and much as I love Nelson Riddle and Billy May, I would say Sinatra's Fifties and Sixties albums with Jenkins were my favourites, September of My Years especially. I'd probably say the same for Nat King Cole, too.

Hip-O Select is planning a three-disc box of early Norman Granz-produced Stan Getz. Details on this page. Hip-O's home page says it will be out next month.

Just gave Cheesecake a listen courtesy of Spotify. Could hardly stop laughing. It's a long way from Potato Head Blues to this and yet, somehow, not.

But that's the point where his writing usually becomes very funny. His description of Bono's duet with Sinatra is especially hilarious.

This piece is rather disingenuous. I've had a flip through the book, and he's far from scathing of all dead lyricists, offering admiration for Frank Loesser and Dorothy Fields among others. Bearing in mind that Sondheim is something of a pedant (evident in both his art and his criticism), I don't see much to object to here. That Lorenz Hart and Ira Gershwin were routinely technically clumsy is beyond doubt. That they didn't exactly ruin the songs they wrote suggests that the human ear is willing to overlook clumsiness if there are sufficient good ideas in the writing (and Hart and Gershwin were brimming with good ideas). As Loesser and Fields tend to be overlooked in favour of Hart and Gershwin, I welcome anything that redresses the balance.

My main objection to the packaging is that it takes up so much space. I also suspect it adds to the cost. I like attractive packaging, but you can take these things too far.

Where did you get the Peterson, King Ubu? I assume the offer is long-gone, but if there's a place I can add to my one-to-watch list...

Agreed: too expensive and ridiculously packaged. However, it's good that the music is coming out, and discounts must occur eventually. A while ago I got the Ella set for about 20 euros on Amazon France, and that's the sort of deal I'll be looking out for.

Just came across this. I really liked Friedwald's Jazz Singing book; this looks like more of the same in a format similar to David Thomson's Biographical Dictionary of Film. He talks about it here. Anyone here got it/looked at it yet?

This four-disc set looks interesting -- released next week. According to the blurb, it's "Dinah's pre-LP singles, all 107 in one place for the first time".

Can't find any discussion here of this set. It's been out for nearly a couple of months and looks more interesting than it sounds. It's three albums based around three of Satchmo's late-career hit singles.

Ellington's 1936-1940 Columbia Small-Group Sessions on Mosaic Duh. Of course. I must be working too hard...

At the risk of appearing a complete dolt (not for the first time in my life), is this just orchestra tracks, no small groups? Were there any Columbia small group tracks made during this time-frame?

Another new release has come up, a further Brubeck set: details here You know, I think Sony should just do a complete Brubeck mini-LP sleeve set, like the recent one they did for Miles. Surely all of his albums have been digitised at some point somewhere in the world.

There's another batch of five-disc sets coming on October 25, including a few jazz titles: Al Di Meola Miles Davis George Duke Soft Machine

Ah, but even in the Swinging Sixties there were plenty of over-forties more inclined towards buying Ken Dodd records than the Beatles, otherwise why was Ken the third-biggest selling artist in Britain during that decade? And today there are over-forties who "are still locked into a concept of physical discs in fancy packaging" -- me for one! I think the record companies are working to a tighter budget than before, but as ever, they know what they are doing -- middle-aged people always have more money than teenagers. I'd prefer it if EMI would put out the OOP Mosaics (Ferguson, Basie, Shearing etc) as budget boxed sets, a bit like the Sony Billie Holiday set that recently came out. Would legal issues prevent that, I wonder (ie does Mosaic own the remastering rights)?

Looks like the old Brubeck Time box is to be reissued in this series. Amazon UK's price must be a mistake.

Sony's relentless repackaging of extant CDs continues apace. I just came across this French boxed set of 25 previously released jazz CDs in replica CD sleeves. I have about half the titles, but it's such a nice package (and cheap), I'm tempted. It gets a UK release on October 4. Le programme: 1. Louis Armstrong : Plays WC Handy 2. Sarah Vaughan : Sarah Vaughan In Hi-Fi 3. Art Blakey : The Jazz Messengers 4. Billie Holiday : Lady In Satin 5. Miles Davis : Kind Of Blue 6. Dave Brubeck : Time Out 7. Duke Ellington - Count Basie : The Count Meets The Duke 8. Helen Merrill : Parole e musica 9. Charles Mingus : Tijuana Moods 10. Chet Baker : Chet Is Back! 11. Thelonious Monk : Monk’s Dream 12. Sonny Rollins : Sonny Meets Hawk! 13. Martial Solal : At Newport '63 14. Paul Desmond - Gerry Mulligan : Two Of A Mind 15. Benny Goodman : Together Again! 16. George Benson : It's Uptown 17. Nina Simone : Sings The Blues 18. Art Tatum : Piano Starts Here 19. Erroll Garner : Concert By The Sea 20. Herbie Hancock : Head Hunters 21. Stan Getz : The Best Of Two Worlds 22. Jaco Pastorius : Jaco Pastorius 23. Weather Report : Heavy Weather 24. Wynton Marsalis : Standard Time Vol. 1 25. Charlie Parker : Bird

Especially that tasteful TV show Big Brother.

I'm all for rockers (and others) singing the GAS if it keeps these songs alive and brings them to new listeners. If Mona Lisa can survive Conway Twitty, then Autumn Leaves can survive Clapton (although I agree with those here who find him boring). And British rockers singing the standards can sometimes be lovely, eg Joe Brown doing I'll See You In My Dreams. We still have the other versions.