T.D.

For the record, I like Ms. Giambarini's vocals. I hadn't noticed that she was packing anything. What do you mean? Uh, the rather, er, buxom cover photo? [Disclaimer: Although I very rarely buy vocal CDs, I like the little I've heard of Ms. Gambarini, and have considered purchasing the disc in question.]

Excellent, thanks for the info. I think I'll preorder. I see the label also has a Roland Hanna CD "coming soon"!

Sam Jones "Down Home" on Riverside was a nice session, with larger ensembles, on which I like Zawinul's playing. Cannonball listed as producer but didn't play. Louis Hayes not on drums, surprisingly.

I bought this just before the $39->$44 price increase. You won't go wrong. The Gerald Wilson and Frank Strazzeri sessions are real finds. I enjoy the folk music session (which is problematical for some), and Harold Land is in great form there. Lots of Land in the box, if you're a fan...

What they said. This album has huge nostalgia value for me, since Hamp's version of "My Romance", which I heard on a compilation disc some years ago, was instrumental in turning me into a jazz (and piano trio) enthusiast. "Spanish Steps" is now my favorite cut, though. Sound-wise, I believe the remastering claim, as several cuts had previously appeared on 1201 Music "Hip Jazz-Bop" compilations, and I find the "remastered" sound a little better. There is a bit of distortion in places, however, so it's not perfect. For a long time, cybermusicsurplus.com (discount branch of Allegro distributors) was liquidating titles on the "1201 Music" label, including "Blues for Bud". Might be worth checking if you're looking for the disc. I paid something like $4 (20% off promotion from a base of $5).

Maybe the 1981 Uptown A Little Pleasure (CD on Reservoir) session with Flanagan. J.R. plays soprano on three of the tunes.

Ok, not worded so well...Apart from the big 2006 DL stay, Sheffield has constantly been playing through minor, nagging injuries during his Yankee tenure. And he does have a chronically bad knee IIRC (for which he took "flaxseed oil" or something ). Maybe the switch to DH will ease wear and tear, and he'll play 140-150 games for a couple of years. OTOH, maybe the aging process will continue and his playing time will fall off. I lean to the latter, particularly with a steroid-implicated player, but time will tell. I still think the Yankees got an OK return on the trade. They prefer Abreu in the OF, probably want to develop Cabrera, Giambi (who seems totally untradeable) will be shifting to full-time DH, and they didn't want to deal with a bench-riding Sheffield. I had a far-out theory that the NYY would try and trade Matsui to the Mariners or Dodgers, in hopes that the Japanese fan appeal would bring back some pitching. Doesn't seem to be playing out.

38, injured all the time, and a toxic clubhouse presence. I hope his professed good relationship with Leyland holds up...To Sheffield's credit (I'm not a big fan, to put it mildly), he does hustle and play hurt. I think the Yankees were so happy not to have to pay any of Sheff's 2007 salary (didn't the Tigers spring for a new 3-year deal?) that they were willing to go for quantity over quality, arms-wise. Not too bad a deal for the NYY IMO. Yanks would have released him if they didn't fear the Bosox stepping up (the one-year $13MM sign-and-trade ruse was crafted solely to avoid Boston). Even if Sheffield has a good year in 2007, the prospect of him fuming on the Tiger bench in 2009, at 40, isn't pretty!

Disc received, many thanks.

One thing about Caiman on Amazon, they've established a useful positive feedback benchmark. I've had one rocky experience, and Caiman is the subject of numerous complaints and rants on Internet forums, yet they consistently have 90% positive feedback. Based on this, I only consider buying from sellers with over (preferably well over) 95%. There are a number of large CD sellers on Amazon with feedback ratings, and presumably business practices, similar to Caiman.

I ordered a few items from Caiman via Amazon Marketplace, with no particular problems. Then I bought an item from Caiman's eBay store, via "Buy it Now". They charged my credit card, didn't have the item, and it took over a month, and a lot of hassles, to get a refund. I stopped buying from them after that. I might use them again (Amazon, not eBay) if they had an outstanding price on a non-exotic item, but the situation hasn't yet arisen.

PM sent on Cowell.

Bill Evans Conversations With Myself. Not sure how I'll react to the overdubbed material, but as a Sonny Clark fan I want to hear NYC's No Lark.

just a guess: what about live at the tender trap from that discography No, it's a Storyville release, listed in the discography as "Date: July 2, 1988 Location: Jazzhus Slukefter, Copenhagen, Denmark Label: Storyville J. R. Monterose (ldr), J. R. Monterose (ts), Hod O'Brien (p), Guffy Pallesen (b), Jesper Elen (d)" The album misspells J.R.'s surname as "Montrose", which may have caused problems with databases. Amazon.com also has a page: "Montrose" T.T.T.

I saw a used "Silver and ..." (forget which one) LP at a record store a while back. I'll check back over the weekend. If they still have it, and it's "...Brass", I'll send you some info.

Went with the "no single place" category. But almost all (probably over 90%) online, with eBay, Amazon Marketplace and yourmusic the leaders. Concord really skewed things this year! J&R has occasional sales (OJCs $6.99, Blue Notes $7.99) which get sporadic moderate orders. I'm in a rural area, but try to support the one semi-local (independent) shop worth visiting.

Can Britney even make her own crap sell 1 million any more? Maybe worldwide, but not domestic US. I'm not really up on such things, but got the impression she jumped the shark a few years ago.

Thanks for the Lateef info. I already own the OJC, and didn't intend to "upgrade". Now I won't kick myself for the decision.

Nothing for sale on the site. If you go to the sales section it refers you to Amazon while they move their warehouse. Guess everything is going to LA. I have to wonder, will the estimable Action Jackson also be moving to LA? Seems questionable, but let's hope so...

Yeah, I've read just about all of GVH's novels, plus the baseball book (The Passing of the Seasons? OK but nothing special). I strongly prefer the relatively early underworld/Southie oriented novels. Never thought Coyle was as good as its movie-inspired reputation, but dug The Digger's Game, The Patriot Game, Cogan's Trade, the Jerry Kennedy novels (Penance for Jerry Kennedy, Kennedy for the Defense), The Rat on Fire, maybe a couple others I can't recall right now. He did write some clinkers, though. In later novels, he cultivated an extremely polished style, albeit mixed in with his trademark dialogue, but the results tend to be extremely boring (The Mandeville Talent was stupefying). Only intermittent winners, to my taste, from this period, eg Trust. There was a very late novel about a sports agent (I forget the title), that was interesting but very sloppy compared to previous work. Perhaps GVH was having health or personal problems at that stage. Funny thing, I once had to review a number of courtroom transcripts (surprisingly interesting reading), and it hit me (duh) that Higgins, a former lawyer, likely developed his dialogue writing through courtroom experience. If you wanna go the British route, I recommend Bill James's "Harpur and Iles" novels. Great mixture of police procedural/comedy of manners. The earlier ones are better, but they're all decent. Later ones easier to find, of course... I've read them all, loaned most out.

I once owned a copy of the Penguin Guide, but became disillusioned (too many rosetted recordings that I didn't like, and puzzling preferences for certain British ensembles, eg "Lindsays") and gave it away. I preferred the Gramophone, but it doesn't cover as many recordings as the Penguin (also gave a copy away). I listen to a lot of "modern" or "contemporary" classical, and didn't find either book to have good coverage (granted, one couldn't really expect such). I used to consult Gramophone's online reviews. Nowadays use Classics Today or Usenet (like above poster). There are some classical bulletin boards around ("Good Music Guide"?), but I haven't visited any recently. Some people rave about Jim Svejda's Insider's Guide, but I've never seen it, and am not sure it's in print.

Excellent, 'cause that's next on my queue!

McPherson's Con Alma was recorded Aug. 1965, so I'm not sure it qualifies as "late '60s." I recently got his From This Moment On!, rec. Jan. 1968, which is more hard bop with slight soul overtones. Barry Harris's Bull's Eye is bebop/hard bop, recorded June 1968 (nice album, but CD has horrible sound, which I blame on original engineer Richard Alderson). For bop, definitely this, rec. Nov. 1969:

I bought a remaindered copy of Balliett's Collected Works: A Journal of Jazz and read almost all of it (skimmed in places). The guy hates hard bop, and constantly throws in such digs at the genre. I don't feel confident enough to say "fallible," but his tastes are sufficiently different from mine (I listen to lots of hard bop, for instance) that I wouldn't go by his recommendations. I wonder if he still feels the same lo these many years later. Digging up my copy of the book, Balliett wrote a 1995 column on the "Young Lions", entitled The Young Guns, in which he absolutely lambasted the hard bop genre. He certainly wrote many columns praising Sonny Rollins, though. Mobley is barely mentioned (3 times in passing, no comments on his playing) in the 800+ pages, and Monterose not at all.

I bought a remaindered copy of Balliett's Collected Works: A Journal of Jazz and read almost all of it (skimmed in places). The guy hates hard bop, and constantly throws in such digs at the genre. I don't feel confident enough to say "fallible," but his tastes are sufficiently different from mine (I listen to lots of hard bop, for instance) that I wouldn't go by his recommendations.