Ken Dryden

It is published by the University Press of Mississippi and University publishers generally have higher prices on jazz books, but also tend to keep them in print longer.

Con Chapman used ample resources from European archives in order to write this biography. This is not a US-centric biography, at least for the part of Don Byas' life and career in Europe. I don't really want to talk too much more about the book, buy it and learn about this brilliant jazz musician's life.

just did a quick search of the text and I didn't read it this time like I did when I was indexing, for some reason I was thinking about the Amalia Rodrigues recording. Don Byas performed in both jazz and non-jazz settings while in Europe, though he would turn down jazz record dates if he thought they didn't pay what he merited. The recordings issued by Black Lion at the Club Montmartre were some of the first 1960s recordings that I heard by him and they tell me he should have been recorded much more. Pardon me for not remembering Luis Rovira, he was not a major name in the bio.

Since this book is more focused on Don Byas' career as a jazz musician, there is less focus on his non-jazz activities. Each publisher has different standards and the author and index compiler adjust accordingly. Bernard Hilda is mentioned in the footnotes, Luis Rovita is mentioned several times on a single page. There is no mention of "Estrellas de Ritmo y Melodía" after searching the pdf of the draft sent to me.

I just finished the compiling the index for Sax Expat and it is another excellent, well researched book by Con Chapman.

I had most, though not all of the music on the 2 CD reissue, but this LP set has even more music.

Just finishing my first hearing of Disc 3.

I am trying to get my backlog of unheard Mosaics played, most bought new when they were first released and not played until now. I am putting on LP 3 now.

I fail to understand the fascination with first pressings made from a faulty tape with the wrong speed. I quess the obsessive collectors hang them on their walls, I would rather invest in music that I don't already own. I already have Kind of Blue in at least two boxed sets with the correct speed, that's plenty.

A rollicking way to begin the day...

Heb Alpert gave a show in Chattanooga recently and the starting price for tickets was $95. I don't remember what it was for the best seats. Of course, I wouldn't pay $10 to hear him.

If it is a fundraiser for a legitimate 501(c)3, I wonder what portion of the admission is considered to be a donation by the IRS? Back in 2001, I gave $500 to attend the only videotaping of Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz at SCETV studios in Columbia, South Carolina, with guest Dave Brubeck. At that donation level, we received admission to the taping, which could have been done far better, as there were two retakes due to technical problems, not mistakes by the pianists. We also received a videotape of the program as aired, a limited edition of 50 or 60, though it can be found on youtube. It was a rather large sum at the time, but given how many comp review copies and comp concert admissions that I had gotten over the years of both artists, I felt the need to do it.

I think this broadcast was issed on DVD, I will have to look.

I think that was the tour where Desmond stayed out drinking late with Herb Geller, overslept and he missed the train to the next gig. That's the one that was issued as a trio LP, and reissued the next year on CD by Brubeck Editions. I would think that the Brubeck family would have recordings worthy of release and hopefully they will issue more in the near future. There's no telling what Columbia did with the session with Bill Smith (titled Witches' Brew) that consisted of Smith's compositions. I guess it is buried in the vaults.

This 6 track CD was made specifically for radio broadcast, none of this music has been included on CDs by either artist. I don't recall our station ever receiving a copy of it, unless the PD kept it. He usually passed on releases like this to me.