Christiern

I think this might very likely be true. Louis had no great love for Lucille and he would have left her in a NY minute, but he knew she'd raise all kinds of hell—with assist from her running buddy, PR woman Phoebe Jacobs. I was told this by several intimates while working on the Lil Armstrong book that I never finished.

It is not an album I would recommend—in fact, it may be his worst—but the late Martin Williams gave me an enthusiastic call shortly after Riverside released the Hines sessions I produced in Chicago (1961). I'm sure he felt as badly about the rest of the tracks as I did , but he was fascinated by Earl's performance on A Monday Date, and the fact that Earl was still able to come up with a fresh approach. I don't have the album, so I haven't heard it in decades, but Earl only agreed to the session if it featured his band, and he insisted on doing some vocals. Adding to the disaster was the fact that Bill Grauer needed to keep expenses down, so he gave me a couple of "engineers" whose expertise clearly lay elsewhere. I suggested not releasing the sessions, but Bill turned my request down.

No, there's more. I should have mentioned the NARAS charity efforts, but does that make up for the Academy's promotion of inferior artists and composers at the expense of talent that deserves to be recognized and rewarded? I don't think so.

A Grammy—like most trophies awarded for commercial success—might do the recipient some good if he/she immediately cashes in on it via promotion. Otherwise, it very quickly becomes just another nicknack to dust off and polish. It's all about an annual TV show that, sad to say, glorifies mediocrity and takes American music closer to the gutter with each year. Who among us thinks otherwise?

I'll never forget a trip to Trenton, back in 1971. I was having lunch on the train when Mingus said to me: "Could you pass the salt? I did, and the image of him picking up the shaker is still very vivid in my mind.

It's all nonsense.

Does not surprise me. I used to work with him.

We did not receive any metal from Bridgeport, but they obviously had the stampers, albeit often in horrendous condition. The people who worked at the plant looked upon 78rpm as ancient and, thus, not important, so no effort went into preserving them. We always ordered 3 or 4 vinyl pressings, because there was no consistency, hoping that one might be usable. Because even the test pressings were done in a less than careful fashion, we ended up using the best copies of releases that we could find. The sides George Avakian had used for the original LP reissues were too doctored up with echo to be of any use to us. This sort of frustration is why I made sure that straight transfers were placed in the vault for future use (guess I was naïve). As you probably know, many metal parts were given to the ear effort as scrap, but it was done without rhyme or reason. Thus some valuable material was discarded while less important stuff was kept—I remember in particular a love letter read by a doctor to his wife (a relic from Columbia's customs pressing sideline).

I appreciate the good words re the 2-LP set, but I have to say that I am embarrassed by the notes—they should never have been nominated for a Grammy, much less actually garner one. I am convinced that neither would have happened had the label not been Columbia. Record industry politics always comes into play and the big labels have a lot of pull (not to mention, votes). Were it not for behind the scenes manipulation, the annual Grammy lineup would be quite different. I feel better about my notes for the CD boxed releases—wish they had accompanied the LPs. BTW, Alex., if the interview you refer to is the one(s) I did with Ruby Walker, the CD volume is 5, not 4. The contents of that disc can be heard on my blog, along with much that Columbia did not get from me. Here's another photo of cards kept by me when Larry and I were working on the transfers. There is a card for each selection. Thought it might be of interest that"Looking For My Man Blues" was greatly enhanced by placing 6 imported honey drops on the stylus enclosure. They were Swiss, as I recall.

We, the late Larry Hiller and I (forget John Hammond, he dropped by twice and contributed nothing) spent two years, working 6 hours, 5 nights a week to get the best sound available with the day's equipment. We used as many as 4 78s to make one selection, and I spent a lot of time hunting for source material in good condition. Thanks to Clive Davis, Columbia never rushed us, and when we needed to have special styli made, or take trip to record a collection out of town, all I had to do was ask. That said, I really appreciate your comment, Lon. BTW, knowing that the transfer technology would be improving, I made sure that raw master transfers of every track were placed in the Columbia vault at Iron Mountain. Inexplicably, the people who produced the subsequent CD boxes never used those tapes! I have not yet figured out why that could be.

15? that's a new one...the lowest I heard was 16. Teenagers aren't as innocent and naïve as they once were believed to be. There are two, BTW, one sound like he might have it together, the other is the one I referred to as a gold digger. If these encounters actually happened, and they were consensual, what's the big thing?

Why did that little gold-digging pipsqueak wait so long? He was no child, he knew what he was doing when he did his online flirting. I hope he loses his lawsuit.

A place such as the one you describe had a crowd? Were they health inspectors? They should have been.

I think I like it.

His music teacher in Wilmington was Sam Wooding.

They were fairly small: about 15 x 15 with a good-sized desk. Each office had a secretary's desk and file cabinets in the corridor, just outside the entrance. Each floor also had a large conference room. There was one office between John Hammond's and Teo's—it belonged to a black A&R man who mostly produced white pop. I can't recall his name, I think it was Billy something. I know it wasn't Tom Wilson, who had a very good ear and interesting ideas.

Teo said to his secretary (you know, the one who didn't burn this stuff and the Louis Armstrong material Chris published a year or two back) 'Memo to John, Joe and Phyl, about the new Miles project, "Miles just called..."' And then he went on to the next jazzman to schmooze with. And the secretary, who wasn't like us computer people, but could type with all ten fingers and make up letters that were grammatical and easy to read, which Teo probably (well, maybe) couldn't, shoved it (and other things) under his nose just when he was going home, or out for a drink with Orrin Keepnews, and he signed it, just like that. Now, instead of serried ranks of secretaries, who got things done, we have serried ranks of database engineers, system programmers, project controllers, webpage designers to make sure that, if anything NEARLY gets done, the system falls over at the exact time you need it NOT to fall over. And they get paid an awful lot more than secretaries, so everything costs a lot more, too. But there's still widespread unemployment. In part, caused by the manufacturers of labour saving devices like hoovers, dishwashers, washing machines, steam irons, etc, who have persuaded people to substitute themselves for workers, and who, consequently haven't got the time to enjoy life. What the western world needs is a new initiative - The Ironing Initiative - to create more work and more leisure time. MG The Armstrong papers were sent to me by Liz Gilbert, who was John Hammond's secretary and should have kept them on file. Teo's secretary, Corinne Chertok, was one office away. She, BTW was married to Dave Chertok, the film collector.

There was a wonderful interview with him on New York's WNYC yesterday. It's probably in the NPL archive. This is also interesting"

Aside from his musical talent, Ted was a terrific person to know and be around. I hadn't seen him in a long time, but this comes as shack. It is always that way when people remain young and vigorous in one's memory.

Amazing how some people still don't het it. This was not just another "nasty, scary, bigass storm."

From my windows, I expected to see some felled trees or broken branches in Central Park this morning, but everything looked normal. Well, almost, for there were no lit windows across the park. The electric power must have been off on the Upper East Side and, of course, there was no traffic on the Triboro Bridge—reminded me of the days following 9/11/01.

The dear departed. They get a warm Christmas thought.

This does not at all surprise me. I saw something similar happen when Alberta Hunter died. Her estate was worth a great deal more (she had accounts in 4 different banks, each with a large balance, and there was around $100,000 in cash under her mattress. I saw the cash and Alberta showed me her bank papers when she told me that I was one of 4 people who each would inherit one of the bank accounts. She also showed me her will, which bore no resemblance to the one that left everything to her pianist, Gerald Cook, and his sister. That will was a rewrite initialed by Alberta toward the end, when she was suffering senility. By the way, Alberta did not like Gerald and she did not know his sister. I probably should have done something about this, but—being one of the beneficiaries—I thought it would look like greed, so I left it alone. The others in Alberta's original will were Harry Watkins, a wonderful old entertainer whom she had known since 1918 and always referred to as her "brother"; singer Jimmy Daniels, who was also a lifelong friend and with whom she shared one of her apartments; and a distant nephew who lived in the midwest and was the only relative she knew of. None of us received a anything, thanks—in large part—to a crook named William Krasilovsky. This was a slick lawyer who came to Alberta at John Hammond's recommendation—she believed that he had her interest at heart, just as she put her faith in Barney Josephson and John. I'm sure that this sort of thing as quite common—money has a way of turning even nice people nasty, but there was nothing nice about this cast.

The view from Mansfield is very misleading. So, it would appear, is your view of the very near future (a few hours). As I look down on Central Park, things are anything but normal. No wind? Did your live cam also show the pigs that periodically fly through the canyons of Manhattan?

Considering what is happening on the East Coast, this is a very stupid thread with an even dumber header. Even if you don't live in the impact area, as I do, you will probably be affected. This could have a serious impact on the election, for many reasons, one of them being the likelihood of an extended period without power in some areas. That, flooding, and other factor will change the vote. Then, too, if Obama does it right and takes full charge, he will take the spotlight from Romney.