patricia

Six LPs of prime Billie and Duke for six bucks? Fabulous indeed. I was almost as stoked as I am when I find a Jazz Tone that I don't have.

The Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington, Time/Life Giants of Jazz, 3 record boxed sets. Mint condition. Books still there. Three dollars each. Just a couple of weeks ago I bought the Jack Teagarden 3 record boxed, same series, at my favourite vinyl emporium for twenty dollars. I think I got a fabulous deal today.

Bongos on a blues record. That IS unusual. At least I've never heard them on a blues record. Now I'm listening to "Spotlight On Ray Charles" - Ray Charles and his trio with the George Brown Orchestra - Stereo-Spectrum label recorded in 1962.

Jimmy Smith - Keep On Comin' - Electra Musician label With Kenny Burrell, Johnny Griffin and Mike Baker. and Jimmy Smith and Wes Montgomery - Further Adventures of Jimmy and Wes - Verve label. Grady Tate on drums and Melba Liston playing her trombone, along with a flotilla of talent. Great album.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BERIGAN!!!!

Count Basie and Oscar Peterson - Night Rider - Pablo label.

It's almost impossible to protect yourself from car break-ins. In fact, often the owner of the car is blamed for the crime, by not taking all the precautions available to protect themselves. A case in point: Recently, my daughter parked her car in a well-lighted theatre parking lot to attend a movie. She locked the car. She parked under a light standard. She put all her valuables in the trunk. Her CDs were out of sight. Her mistake, according to the police, whom she immediately called? She didn't remove the plate from the front of her CD player. So, the impression my daughter got was not that a crime had been committed, the broken window, the stolen CD player, the stolen CDs, but, that she had been remiss in failing to remove the plate, thus encouraging the theft!!! So, she had to shoulder the cost of the repairs and replacements. Is it not wrong to destroy and steal anymore, if the victim has not built a wall around their possessions and merely thought that the fact that their car was locked and in a seemingly safe location should have been enough? Whew!!!

I've noticed that all the posts on this thread are, as far as I can tell, by my male friends on this site. While all have made good points, I feel that I may have a slightly different perspective. Having been raised to be responsible for my own well-being, it was never my practice to depend on a lover to look after whether or not I would bear a child before I was ready to do so. So, as a single woman I never assumed that my partner would be the one to prevent a life-changing, for me, pregnancy. Because I would be raising the child, it was, in my view my responsibility ultimately, whether or not the father contributed support. Few fathers actually are assessed the total financial resposibility for raising a child. My view is that assuming he would would be insanity. I didn't want to be a single parent and I always assumed that if I was not talking marriage with the man, I would not be marrying him. Not to diminish the quality of the relationship, but the sex would be purely recreational. Even after I married, I chose when I would have children, having discussed the possibility with my then husband. Having said that, I am every bit as appalled at the described "entrapment into parenthood" of the man in question. It is difficult enough to obtain financial support from ex-husbands for children born to couples who are married and even more difficult to do so for children born to single mothers, whether the father admits the child is his or not. So, this decision, even if it favours the mother and the unwanted-by-the-father child will have about the same chance, in the long run, as those of other single mothers. So, good luck with that. I do have an example of a woman who found herself pregnant, not deliberately, but unwisely, having assumed that the father would leave his wife and children and marry her, having been told all the lies and more by her lover. This is a situation that is much more common than women deliberately becoming pregnant to somehow gain financially BTW. She was in love with him and believed him when he told her all the lies married men tell their naive girlfriends. Most married men having affairs will not leave their wives. That's the simple truth. In fact, many times the affair is what keeps them in their marriages, providing what the marriage doesn't. Most walk away from their girlfriend's pregnancies, either by paying for abortions, or breaking off the relationships. Instead of pursuing any of the avenues provided to her for acknowledgement, or support of her son, my friend, not wishing to have an abortion, or put her son up for adoption, carried him to term. She registered him under her own name and has raised him alone, often at considerable sacrifice on her part, not just financially, but personally. He son is now twenty-seven years old. He has had no contact with his father at all. He is a handsome, 6'6" man now. He graduated in the top 10% of his class and is now a commercial pilot. His father's legitimate children can't hold a candle to him. My friend has never regretted walking away from her former lover. In fact, it was the defining moment of her life when she took control. Though she did not become pregnant deliberately, she didn't exercise the control that she had and the result was that she experienced a rude awakening. So, to ease the fear of men out there who are worried about being trapped into either parenthood, or marriage, there are more women who handle this alone, either because the fathers don't support the results of their actions, or in more and more cases, don't even know they are fathers. This case is being publicized, mostly because it is unusual. There are many more cases in which the men didn't care one way or the other that sex is primarily to propogate the species. They just wanted to get laid and justify their carelessness about birth control by assuming that all women are now able to look after themselves. While that may be true, they should never assume that she is, just as women should never have assumed that the man was, before The Pill.

Thank you.

No question, Clunky, that we need both a turntable AND a CD player. Add to that an I-Pod. But, I must take issue with you regarding the death of vinyl. As Mark Twain said in a different context, news of vinyl's death has been widely exagerrated. Vinyl is still out there, waiting be be taken home and played. It may not be newly minted, but something new is not the point. Nothing is new, after the first glow. As soon as you crack the seal and play it, it's used. Vinyl is the only form on which you can hear the original work of the artist in many cases. Although there have been many, many re-releases on CD of collections which were originally on vinyl, they are not the same and much of particularly jazz artists' work still exists only on vinyl. Luckily, people who collected jazz over the years usually took very good care of their records. It's not unusual to find a disc that was cut in the thirties, still is almost new condition. There is something alive and vital about jazz on vinyl. Much of it was recorded in one take, not manipulated, with everybody in the room at the same time, without the separate track recording technology which is standard now. It sounds the way it did when the artists, all in the same room, played it and recorded it, live. I like the idea that I AM THERE.

Peter Gunn - soundtrack album - Henry Mancini Soul Meeting - Ray Charles - Milt Jackson--on Atlantic. This is one of the recordings Charles made when he was still Jazz. Nice Downside - bit of a serious warp on the first track. Otherwise, terrific sound. After this is over, more Ray. Spotlight on Ray Charles and the George Brown Orchestra Vol II- Pickwick label- Design Stereo Spotlight Series. Then will come Jazz number II - also Ray Charles with the Ray Charles Orchestra. Tangerine label. No liner notes. And finally on the pile is Count Basie and Oscar Peterson - Night Rider - on the Pablo label from 1980.

Thank you.

Hey, that's cool. My childhood was a little schzophrenic in that my mother adored classical music and my father was a huge jazz listener and record-collector. Of course, I rejected both as a teen in favour of rock, then folk, then reggae and flamenco guitar, moving back to jazz only within the last ten years or so. All good music is based on what pleases the ears of those who listen to it. My mother used to say that the classics we listen to today, which were written a hundred years or more ago were the compositions which survived. She always reminded me that there were many times as many compostions which were of the moment then, as now. They just fell into obscurity. The true test of a composition is whether it survives. Jazz and classical and ethnic music, as well as some classic rock has survived so far. We won't be here to know how many are still being listened to in a hundred years. I like to think of jazz on vinyl as being history, in a pleasant form.

Thank you so much. I wondered about the turntable part. It would seem to me that any flat surface would make sense. I never quite understood why I couldn't just set up the whole works on a table, since I am perfectly capable of applying the process manually. I just may compare notes with you. Thank you again.

First of all. Welcome to the asylum, Kenneth. I smiled when you said that you weren't planning on making any purchases right now. Good luck with that. I don't know about the rest of my fellow vinyl addicts here, but I can smell vinyl and am helpless to it's siren call. I went back to vinyl about seven years ago, though of course I still have my audio-tapes and CDs. There is something about the whole vinyl experience that cannot be duplicated, IMO, by either the CD or a tape. The moment I hold an LP in my hands, the romance begins. I look at the cover, turn it over, read the liner notes and when I take it home I slide the record out for the first time with what can only be described as ceremony. I then place it on the turntable with reverence and wait for the first strains and close my eyes to luxuriate in the experience of the first strains of magic. The saving grace is that this addiction, and it will become an addiction, is completely socially acceptable. There are those who will puzzle at your romance with vinyl, but to heck with them. I, as do many vinyl fiends, also have a loaded I-Pod. Music is what the thing is. I know that there are many who talk about the technical aspects of their record-playing equipment, but I pay little attention to that, since I am a tech-moron. My joy comes from the music. One thing. Jazz record collectors for the most part treated their records like the treasures they are. I almost never am disappointed in the condition of even my oldest discs, some of which are from the thirties. I think that you will find more than enough vintage to grow your collection, although there are companies who are re-issuing again on vinyl. I suggest that you check out the gently used first. BTW, I was gifted with an Orbitrac 2 at Christmas, which seems to clean old discs very well, now that I figured out the rather vague directions which were included. So, a warm welcome to you, Kenneth. We're all crazy, but it's a harmless crazy.

Chuck, could you explain to me what a fold-down is? [to those of you who know, I won't if I don't ask.]

Vol 3 Then Came Swing - The History Of Jazz- on Capitol compilation includes The International Jazzmen Benny Goodman Al Casey and his Sextet Rex Stewart's Big Eight Big Sid Catlett's Band This is a 10" LP that was recorded in 1940 and the music stands up really well. Then, another 10" LP, Sarah Vaughan Sings - MGM label Track list: My Kind Of Love Body And Soul I Don't Stand A Ghost Of A Chance With You I've Got A Crush On You You're Blase' A Hundred Years From Today You're Not The Kind I Can Make You Love Me Very nice.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JON!!! You are wise far beyond your years.

Finally out on DVD. "Once Upon A Time In America". The original long version, with additional footage, making it even longer. Sergio Leone directed this epic Jewish gangster film, told in flashback. It starred Robert de Niro, James Woods and a huge cast. This is among my favourite films of the genre. It suffered a drastic re-cut, right after it's release, in which it was cut by over an hour and made chronological. If the butchery that resulted were an indictable crime, it would be a capital crime. Two Discs. Well worth watching, including the extras.

The Complete Benny Goodman - 1936 - 1939. Two record set on the Bluebird label. The record label helpfully tells us that these are Electrically Recorded Phonograph Records. Who wouldn't feel reassured. This has tracks that include the great Dave Tough on drums. I love these records.

Soon, Jim will be celebrating his birthday every 7 years, which makes a lot of sense to me. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JIM!!!!!!

A pregnant woman lurches out of the market with two bags of groceries. One of the bags gets caught on the automatic door and falls on the concrete right in front of a drunk sitting on the curb. The eggs fall out and two of them break. The drunk looks blearily at the two of the broken eggs and says to the woman. "Don't feel bad, lady. It wouldn't have lived anyway. It's eyes are too close together."

I try to do that and I have an additional helpful hint. Hanging with bigger-headed people works in the same way that we can always look young, if we make sure we hang with people who are at least ten years older. That was an offhand suggestion that my dad made years ago and I've always remembered it. Now, it actually means something to me.

"Bashin'" is the favourite Jimmy Smith album in my collection, mostly because it has the track that lured me to jazz on it, "Walk On The Wild Side". That was the only part of the totally forgettable Barbara Stanwick/Laurence Harvey film from the sixties that has stuck in my mind since I saw it. The soundtrack for the film was Elmer Bernstein, but there is hardly a version of the tune that doesn't make me prick up my ears. It's playing now. Wonderful.

The Kings Of Swing - Usual suspects on one of those Reader's Digest compilations on RCA. Say what you like about low-end compilations, there are few better ways to introduce someone to the jazz of a particular period than through these. They are much better than individual vintage albums by artists that a newbie has never heard. They also narrow down what individual albums such a person might want to start with. Even better are the ones on which each artist has only one or two tracks, I think. I introduced my young assistant to jazz by playing my Jazz Tone discs while we were working. I became interested in Dixieland and jazz from the forties and fifties through those Jazz Tone compilations and still collect them. This 2 record RD set devotes each side to one artist. They are Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman. There are also nice little thumbnail bios on each of the men involved when you open the gate cover. Pristine condition, so whoever had them didn't play them much, which seems typical. Nice collection.