Ken Dryden

Fred Cohen at Jazz Record Center will happily let you browse his store and be helpful, just don’t touch anything you find up front that isn’t priced. On one visit, he snapped at a customer for picking up a first edition 1950s Blue Note LP and asking the price, it was being prepared for auction. If a store reeked of tobacco smoke I would turn around and leave.

LOL!

Smoke is not a big club, even with the renovations. I’m sure Branford Marsalis doesn’t discount his fee much, though that is far more than I would pay to see him.

I worked a party where the local Steinway dealer hosted a reception in a private club to showcase Vladimir Horowitz's next to last Steinway grand piano. He traded it in for a new one a few years before his death and dealers had the opportunity to display it for a day. At least two idiots attending the party put their drinks down on it.

Gene Harris told me that he never listened to jazz, I am pretty sure he said he listened to classical music. I would have to check my tape, recorded a few years before his death.

I never got to see Alan Dawson in person, but he is well represented in my collection. You'll find that he was a talented vibraphonist, though he recorded infrequently on the instrument. Three of the tracks on his only CD as a leader feature him on vibes.

The Teddy Reig autobiography completed by Ed Berger after Reig’s death has some great stories.

Frankly, there are so many unheard CDs (I am guessing 1200-1500 at a minimum) in my library and a long want list of out of print or import titles that I'm seeking, I just don't have the desire to start listening to samples of artists getting some hype, thinking that I might want to add them to my want list.

I do, but not when I am unfamiliar with the artist, with any of the supporting cast and it is all originals. I don't even know how much I spend on music in a year, though I could probably get a good estimate if I put some effort to it. I might underestimate it a bit. I remember all the hype about Darcy James Argue. I got a couple of his CDs, didn't care for them and disposed of them. A couple of years ago, I bought two of his CDs, thinking I may have been hasty in my judgement. I listened to them and ended up getting rid of them, his music just doesn't appeal to me.

Jazz snobs can include the type of jazz fan, including journalists and broadcasters, who makes outrageous statements like one I heard when I was in charge of compiling member nominations for the annual Jazz Journalist Association Awards. A name you would know, both as a broadcaster and writer, made a statement like, "I don't see how anyone could omit (name omitted) from their nominations for (instrument omitted). My response in the thread was that not everyone is serviced with all the music as other members and if I recall correctly, the poster mentioned an artist who was based in his city. Needless to say, I had never received a single CD by the artist in question (and still haven't to this day with 36 years as a jazz journalist), even though I had been in both jazz radio and journalism for some 12 to 15 years at that point. Not to mention it is impossible to keep up with every artist's output, given the volume of promo CDs and purchases. I rarely if ever bother to sample download or streaming links.

Drummer and vibraphonist Alan Dawson had a lengthy resume during his long career in addition to heading the jazz department at the New England Conservatory. I produced a show surveying his appearances, including Japanese , European and US release, many out of print, led by Jaki Byard, Clifford Brown, Dave Brubeck, Booker Ervin, Terry Gibbs, the Great Jazz Quartet, Adam Makowicz, Chuck Florence, Charles McPherson, Ken Peplowski and Phil Woods. I have also included three tracks from his only slo CD as a leader, Waltzin' With Flo. Streaming at 3 PM EDT this Sunday at wutc.org, or available to stream or download at: https://archive.org/details/timeless-jazz-7-14-2024-alan-dawson

I'm glad I got a review copy of it when it was published. It's worth the read. I learned that Iola Brubeck's book wasn't suitable for publishing, it wasn't fleshed out with the kind of anecdotes and background that a biography needs. It was a family decision.

Among the issues I've had with media mail: A promotional order that had obviously sat outside in a puddle inside a bin. The carrier actually rang my doorbell and handed it to me, the traycard of the CD at the bottom was soaked. I sold a CD a few years ago and the tracking bounced around for two months as the package reached various cities, only to return to me torn open and empty. One genus carrier left a LP mailer between my mailbox and its flag on a hot summer day, rather than take a few steps to put is on our shady covered porch. This oop LP was warped beyond recognition. I have lost count of how many times the USPS has played pinball with media mail, bouncing it around across the country, down to Florida, sometimes getting to our regional post office only to go farther away instead of to our post office. On the other hand, the counter staff I've dealt with have been great and know their jobs, they have saved me from two or three misaddressed envelopes in the past year.

Chicago ranks down there as well. If you order anything from Dusty Groove via media mail, expect the distribution center to sit on it for up to four weeks while they play cards.

Sad news, indeed. 61 is far too young!

A post WWII anti-tank weapon, the French Vespa anti-tank Scooter. It looks like something created for National Lampoon.

I always marvel at the USPS' ability to screw things up, sending packages across the country instead of from New York to Tennessee, or reaching our local distribution center then sending my package to the Nashville or Knoxville distribution center instead of our local post office a few miles away.

I was unfamiliar with Chuck Wells, but duets with Dave McKenna, what could go wrong? A new purchase of an old LP.

I hate it every time Apple airs baseball, their announcers are the pits and I don’t need to pay for yet another channel, especially one that I would rarely watch.

That's a variation of an old joke where a Catholic priest with his arm in a cast and sling encounters two hillbilly boys. The priest is embarrassed and explains to them, "I fell in the bath tub." The first asks his friend after the priest passes by, "Jethro, what's a bath tub?" Jethro responds, "I don't know, Joe, I ain't Catholic."

It turns out that I was missing three of the LPs in this set, glad I ordered it and it arrived today.

Child abusers, especially those who distribute evidence of their crimes, should rot in jail in the general population without parole.

I got to see the David Grisman Quintet twice in concert, Tony Rice with Norman Blake twice and Mark O'Connor three times, once solo and the other two times with his Hot Swing Trio.

I tried watching it and gave up after a few minutes.