Larry Kart

I was particularly taken on Side 1 (just got my set yesterday) by Hemphill on tenor. What a voice he had on the horn, so speech-like, not only in term of vocalization but also in the sense that one almost hears actual speech. Reminds me in this of one of my favorite younger players, Keefe Jackson. I'll have to ask Keefe if he knows Hemphill on tenor.

That's a very Webster Hall-sounding album, I think. Bought the LP back in the day and have always liked it. Some of the best Schildkraut, interesting if somewhat low-key Eager, and fine Ernie Royal.

Re-listening to and weeding out a good many LPs, I was a bit surprised by how much I liked Ormandy's Sibelius 2 (the circa 1957 Columbia recording) -- a piece that has a special meaning to me. My performance of preference has long been Hannikainen's, and I'll stick with that, but there's a rhythmic sweep to Ormandy's reading that is hard to deny -- one feels that the Philadephians found that their virtues and the nature of this piece were a perfect match. Another vintage gem was the Concert-Disc recording of the Mozart (K. 452) and Beethoven Piano Quintets with Frank Glazer and the New York Woodwind Quartet (David Glazer, Arthur Weisberg, John Barrow, and Jerome Roth). I have about five recordings of K. 452 (a favorite piece), and this one IMO is the best.

IIRC there are some tapes of Joseph and Fruscella playing at length together at the Open Door. And there is Joseph's final excellent Uptown album. Fortunate to get him in the studio (RVG, I believe) in good shape with a fine simpatico band -- Al Cohn, Bill Triglia, Red Mitchell, and Joey Baron.

Same tour no doubt, Peter. IIRC the Basie Band and Sarah Vaughan were also present. The Basie Band knocked me flat.

And Boatwright's husband was an interesting composer.

Peter Mennin From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigationJump to search This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Peter Mennin" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Peter Mennin Birth name Peter Mennini Born May 17, 1923 Erie, Pennsylvania, United States Died June 17, 1983 (aged 60) New York, New York, United States Occupation(s) Composer, teacher Peter Mennin (born Mennini) (May 17, 1923 in Erie, Pennsylvania – June 17, 1983 in New York City) was a prominent American composer, teacher and administrator. In 1958, he was named Director of the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, and in 1962 became President of the Juilliard School, a position he held until his death in 1983. Under his leadership, Juilliard moved from Claremont Avenue to its present location at Lincoln Center. Mennin is responsible for the addition of drama and dance departments at Juilliard. He also started the Master Class Program, and brought many artists to teach including Maria Callas, Pierre Fournier and others. Archie Bleyer From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigationJump to search Archibald Martin Bleyer (June 12, 1909 – March 20, 1989) was an American song arranger, bandleader, and record company executive. Contents 1Early life 2The Godfrey years 3Cadence Records 4Selected records 5References 6External links About Don Joseph as a trumpeter, listen to his contribution to this lovely Gerry Mulligan arrangement of "All the Things You Are" (don't miss Joseph's coda). And his solo (below) on "Mullenium."

Don't know the truth about Don Joseph as a Staten Island high school teacher, but he was a lovely trumpet player, akin to his friend Tony Fruscella. I believe the composer's name is Peter Mennin. And it was Archie Bleyer, not Blier. I heard the Birdland All-Stars in concert in Chicago in maybe 1956. At age 14, this was the first time I heard any of those guys in person. They made a good impression. That Tony Scott story is a good one.

Fischer-Dieskau's three DGG boxes worth (three LPs each) of Hugh Wolf Lieder with Barenboim from the mid 1970s. Thanks be I paid about 4 bucks for each of these boxes used because I pretty much hate these over-emphatic often speech-sung performances that border on outright yelling at times. I don't dislike D F-D under all conditions, but this stuff -- yeesh. And Wolf was supposed to be in his wheelhouse.

Order placed.

"Rusalka" -- the Fleming/MacKarras recording, although I also have the Chalabala on LPs. What a lovely opera.

And for this one (dig the whole thing but the coda especially):

I think arranger Bob Freedman (since deceased I believe) deserves a big shout out for "Hot House Flowers."

Beethoven Violin Concerto. Their 1961 recording. Francescatti is still in top form, and Walter, while close to the end for him, is really energized.

Woods at his early best.

Listened again. In truth, Dodgion for the most part only decorates the themes lightly, albeit tastefully. His tone on "Isfahan" is lovely though.

Dodgion is nicely showcased IIRC as the only horn on "Marian McPartland Plays the Music of Billy Strayhorn" (Concord, 1987), with Steve LaSpina and Joey Baron.

Marshall Allen (in his 90s!!) leading the Sun Ra Arkestra. rec. 2020, in terrific sound and beautifully played. The freshness, the intensity, the sheer varied accomplishment and sense of control without the least feel of holding back. Are all the electronics Allen’s doing via EVI? If so, praise to him. And the vocals are so good. Due no doubt to lack of attention on my part, I had no idea that the latter days of Sun Ra could have been incubating anything like this.

Schumann Piano Trio No. 1 -- Adsnes, Tetzlaff, Tetzlaff's wife on cello. Delicious work and performance likewise.

The longstanding and ongoing Netflix series "Grace and Frankie," in which Grace (Jane Fonda) and Frankie (Lily Tomlin)) are women who have been divorced by their law partner ex-husbands (Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston) who are now married to each other after 40 years of concealing their mutual love. Grace, a rather uptight age 70 former cosmetics company owner, and Frankie, same age, something of a perpetual counter culture figure, are now contentiously living together in an attempt to make the best of things. Fonda is surprisingly (to me) good, and Tomlin is out of sight. The scripts are very witty at best (one feels that Tomlin writes a fair number of her own lines), and the episodes average about 35-40 minutes, which is ideal for watching several at a stretch. Supporting cast is excellent -- Grace has two grownup daughters, Frankie two grownup adopted sons. Setting is San Diego. The tug-of-war chemistry between Fonda and Tomlin is increasingly delicious and often rather salacious. Grace's daughter Briana, explaining to her young sister Malorie why she's been spending time with a male escort who charges her $300 a pop, says, "His penis has abs."

The election(s)?

What a loss Egorov's early death was.

Don't know about Chris; hope he stays. The area he covers does have more of a reach to it than jazz or architecture. OTOH, why any Trib employee choses to stay or go in this climate probably depends on what buyout offer, if any, has been made to them and what other job prospects they might have. Reich and Kamin are not spring chickens, have been well compensated over the years, and probably could get by on what they've managed to save and invest. Also , they're both enterprising and may have future projects in mind.

Probably in light of the looming total takeover of the Chicago Tribune by a hedge fund that typically denudes the papers it controls of much of their staffs, Reich has taken a buyout offer, which almost certainly means that there will be no more jazz coverage, such as it was, in the paper. The Tribune's Pulitzer Prize winning architecture critic Blair Kamin has also taken a buyout offer.