Bill Nelson

This is my first (and only) response to the neophyte thread-starting polls of cannonball-addict: COULD YOU COOL IT, DUDE? Just get some recent issues of DownBeat with the critics and readers poll results. You'll have all your answers at your fingertips without bugging the rest of us.

Blimey, how true! A quick search of my stacks confirmed both had been pulled to sell at the Atlanta 'Skid Show about 2 years ago. I recall Milt's 'Statements' rang fairly hollow. Given the cats on the Impulse date, it shoulda been more happenin'. Perhaps Milt was just coasting with mallets toward no one.

What is it with Blue Note/EMI anyway? They ignore some of their later deep-catalog titles and yet allow RVG carte blanche to RE-MURDER their earlier classics for the 2nd or 3rd time. Most anything that says 'RVG Re-master' is the kiss of death and bleeding ears. As I said in a previous thread, RVG is the Joe Paterno of jazz re-issue industry. And like 'Joe-Pa', he shoulda quit in 2002 while he still had a grasp of reality. Even Johnny Carson realized this almost too late -- "It's all in the timing." Should we take a poll on the timing of Rudy's final exit?

Well, the above 'Attached Image' is a scan of Hank Jones' Capitol LP, 'The Talented Touch' and it does NOT involve Tyree Glenn. So, is this another bogus Roulette mobster rip-off or what? For starters, why'd they have to rip the cover image from Hank's Capitol LP?

Sorry, you requested more than I gave: Stanley Turrentine - The Common Touch Side 1: Buster Brown (D. Burns-W. Daniels) 5:20 Blowin' In the Wind (B. Dylan) 5:45 Lonely Avenue (D. Pomus) 8:02 Side 2: Boogaloo (S. Scott) 6:20 Common Touch (S. Hurt-D. Burns) 6:15 Living Through It All (D. Burns-A. Goodman) 7:15

Stanley Turrentine - The Common Touch Side 1: Buster Brown Blowin' In the Wind Lonely Avenue Side 2: Boogaloo Common Touch Living Through It All from orig. Liberty vinyl BST-84315

RE: "Other charlatans and poseurs to the throne" Upon further review -- seeing the name of Keith Jarrett to be rated as a jazz vocalist is bizarre. I suppose his 'humming along' with his piano is perhaps easier on the ear than, say, Oscar Peterson's grunting. I'm sure neither of these keyboard geniuses would claim they are attempting to sing as jazz vocalists. In my previous comment of 8:20 PM, let me affirm there is no knocking of Keith Jarrett whatsoever.

Of course, it's a pointless thread topic and it demeans us all but... With the exception of Mark Murphy, I haven't heard any of these other charlatans and poseurs to the the throne. Is there a suggestion I suffer these other fools gladly to pick the worst one? BTW, Mark Murphy is very legit and a real survivor in a field of top-drawer vocalists which has diminished rapidly these last few years i.e., Joe Williams, Jackie Paris, Mel Torme.

And to think I laughed when I saw a used copy for $7 the other day. I just called the store owner at home to have him hold it for me. ** Hopefully he'll just watch Monday Night Football and go to bed. ** I was real casual and said my dad was raving about it at dinner.

Two viewpoints messin' up my mind: 1. Glenn (chitownjazz) has alerted us to some genuine quality CDs posted elsewhere for sale. As I don't spend much time trawling Ebay, I appreciate the 'heads up' from a fellow member. 2. If a member's ONLY postings consist of links to his regular jazz auctions, then this site is obviously BEING USED for enriching one's wallet. Organissimo Jazz is a collective consortium and interactive community. It ain't cool for someone to just use the 'coupon' for free classifieds and immediately toss the 'magazine' away, so to speak. I can dig Glenn when he writes to point us to the unusual and interesting stuff he's selling. He's obviously intelligent and writes well -- maybe he can follow-up with some picks and pans within the jazz market or aspects of the scene. That way, we get something in return and it evens out.

The same thing happened in 1955 for 'Man With the Golden Arm'. Once again, Decca/Coral reduced Shorty Rogers to "jazz arrangements by..." credit while handing the job of composer/conductor to Elmer Bernstein. Not dissing Elmer here -- his writing is legendary and opened up the whole field of 'Crime Jazz' scoring and arranging -- but on 'Man' it was Shorty who got a single paycheck for his charts and no taste of future royalties. In the 50's, the studio system had tight control of the few composers granted the opportunity to score films. Elmer Bernstein, along with Henry Mancini, Johnny Mandel, Alex North, et al, were lucky to get their breaks. When the studio mogul empires began crumbling around 1958-59, Shorty would get his 'chance to score' along with fellow arrangers Neal Hefti, Billy May, Shelly Manne, Nelson Riddle and others.

The box set is NOT ESSENTIAL unless you are a Joe Pass fanatic. The 'sameness' refers to his 'almost-nylon' string sound and his solo runs up the neck and nearly identical way of resolving them. You've got Joe covered if you own vinyl copies of: The Complete 'Catch Me' Sessions 1963, (LT-1053) 'For Django' 1964 (LN-10132) 'Joy Spring' 1964 (LT-1103 "Simplicity', 1967 (WPS-21865) 'Intercontinental', 1973 (MPS-20738) 'Tudo Bem', 1978 (Pablo 2310-824) I've seen him perform live twice (once in duo with Jim Hall). As I don't play guitar, I really don't have an axe to grind. And I don't need the Mosaic box.

In the words of Ricky Riccardo: "Lucy...you got some 'splaining to do!" It defies credulity when your formerly esteemed co-worker manages to apply the same 1-inch gash to EVERY record he cleans by hand. I mean, wouldn't he FEEL it while wiping it? Sounds like there was a Moose on the Loose or some Malice in the Palace.

You mean Stan was -- ...catching a limo in the bronze-handled sedan? ...waiting for a call in the pine phone booth? ...serving a 'major' in the oblong penalty box? ...wearing a turf tuxedo and hanging with the stiffs at Club Mud?

Possible CD Reissue Album Title Addenda to: Conrad Gozzo: "The Middle Years" Eddie "Gates" Lester: "The Nobody Years" Herbie Nichols: Living Large, The Good Years (1919-1963) Rolly Bundock: When 'Fat Boy' Looked Mighty Pretty Lennie Tristano: The Bossa Nova Years (with The Happy Horns) Stan Kenton: Just Coolin' Out, The Quiet Years (post 8/25/79) Sonny Rollins' Milestone Era: Just Coastin', Best of 'The Comfortable Years' (note: permission pending sale to Concord/Universal)

To follow up on the various artists box concept: RCA could simply re-issue the Jazz Workshop series of LPs. LPM-1161 The Jazz Workshop (Al Cohn) also titled: 'Four Brass, One Tenor' LPM-1211 Manny Albam LPM-1269 Billy Byers LPM-1366 Hal McKusick LPM-1372 George Russell All were given 'The Jazz Workshop' as album title with a unique logo on the front covers.

What else could be boxed from RCA? 1. The three LPs by Rod Levitt from 1965-66 2. Everything they've got involving Lenny Breau. 3. Bill Dixon's 'Intents and Purposes' from 1967 (single disk). 4. A complete set of Harold Vick.

When the record company directive was passed down to a record distributor or warehouse manager, 'RW' was a polite way of saying 'Record Withdrawn'. Similarly, many Verve LPs were stamped 'NR' for 'no return'. (As in,"Don't even TRY returning this for credit.") This hand-stamping of jackets was probably too labor-intense and the ink got messy, so the guys resorted to more drastic methods of jacket mutilation via electric drills and jig-saws and even the somewhat kinky -- brass rivets, usually in the upper left corner (Warner Brothers). Anyway, that's my guess on 'RW', but I could be wrong.

The Way It Goes Dept. -- In 2 weeks your 'Pete Fountain & the Dukes of Dixieland' LP will appear as a New Arrival at (Those Bastards) Dusty Groove -- "New Copy, $8.99". This will effectively undercut the demand for your soiled 'Holy Grail' item. (The other customer might still send you a PM with his highest offer. Until then, Junior will have to wait for those new shoes you promised.)

My copy of 'LBBJ' consisted of black 'composition' vinyl -- even the dead space between tracks was noisy. I'd say Chuck's red vinyl was a first pressing. In the early 60's, Crowns would most likely appear in grocery stores and gas stations -- in cheapo stock bins with the likes of Coronet, Spinorama, Design, and Pickwick. All would be shrink-wrapped in the same crinkly cellophane used for lettuce heads. I avoided them -- I'd go to Woolworth's and score as many 57-cent mono cut-outs as I could. (More than any other label, MGM massively dumped their Verve overstock with corner cover punch holes, but the pressings were always nice.)

Given the notoriously wretched quality of recycled PVC in Crown's vinyl -- there was no telling what blips-n-blobs you'd find embedded in each LP -- how'd the master tapes manage to survive the 45-plus years of various owners, bootleggers, and media mogul creeps? (Who owns the tapes now?) And so, while it may be nice to see 'Little Band Big Jazz' in CD format -- y'all are begging my question: How good is the remastering to CD and who did it? Is the sound clear, clean, and crisp in detail? Is it in true stereo? Or has it been compressed with more bass? Shall I call the Consumer Reports test kitchen?

Like DTMX, I was completely blown-away by Joe Lovano's Nonet performance at Spivey Hall last night. Most of the tunes were previously recorded by the Lovano Nonet on '52nd Street Abstractions', (Blue Note, 2000). In addition to Lovano, the solos by John Hicks, Kenny Washington, Dennis Irwin, Steve Slagle, and Barry Ries were especially well-received by the 250-plus attendees. With four saxophones and two brass, they comprised a horn section very capable of 'big band' unison passages. In particular, the 3-part suite from 'Birth of the Cool' (arranged by Gunther Schuller) was incredible with the desirable, complex nuances and chords -- on a par with the original recordings -- which earns them my vote for best large ensemble/big band.

I'm impressed that Phil remembered a lifeguard from a year ago -- I can't remember any of mine. Also, this means you should refuse comp tickets from Phil cause he wants to 'roast' you in front of a large crowd.

I bought all EXCEPT the Horace from (those bastards) Dusty Groove and the CONNS arrived witihin 48 hrs. The only ones I already owned were late-pressing LPs of 'Contours' and Hutcherson's 'Now', both which I consider to be five-star albums. I'm impressed with the clean 24-bit remasterings by McMaster and relieved EMI kept this project AWAY from RVG, who's been murdering his last few batches of 24-bit BN reissues, unless you dig loud bass and smeared drum cymbals. (Like Joe Paterno, RVG should've checked out while he was on top of his game at the end of 2002.) Back to the good news -- I'm very happy with the new CONNS.

More on the Austin Fest scene: next day (Sun. 9/19) catch Antibalas at Zilker Park. Just saw 'em last night. Eleven musician ensemble (w/ 4 horns) who can really pound out Fela Kuti like no one else (incl. 'Semi' Kuti). A very solid and tight group held together by an incredible bass and two funky guitars, Antibalas is serious in respecting the mantle they're running with: politics and groove. They'll destroy any floppy-goofy jam band that shares the bill during the Sunday show. Antibalas is sure to play at a theater near you, as they're on-the-road for the next two months.