paul secor

This is probably pretentious and presumptuous, coming from a middle class white guy, but for me the blues are a form, a feeling, and a genre. The form will probably always be with us. The genre, to me is dying and on it's last legs. The last generation of blues musicians is passing all too soon. The younger musicians who are playing that form are playing for a white audience and, to my ears anyway, fall into a category of general popular music. Blues as I hear it, was made by black singers and musicians for a black audience. If white people came to it, they generally came to it at a later time. I realize that there may be exceptions to this, but I don't imagine that there were many white record buyers listening to Blind Lemon Jefferson and the Memphis Jug Band in the 20's, or to Leroy Carr and Blind Boy Fuller in the 30's, or to Big Maceo and Muddy Waters in the 40's, or to Elmore James and Howlin' Wolf in the 50's. White people came to these musicians and/or their recordings some years later. Black audiences had, in the meantime, moved on to other musics. Most, if not all, of the black musicians playing blues today are playing for primarily white audiences. When that last generation passes, the genre will probably exist only on records or as an imitation. The blues feeling will probably always be with us. Though listening to some of the younger jazz artists makes me wonder if that's so. Some of them sound as if, as Miles once said, they had to learn to play the blues. As far as rap goes, for me it's a form of r&b. I feel that r&b has always been popular music made by black artists for a black audience, but at the same time there has been a contempoary white audience also. And that white audience has increased as record companies have realized that there's money to be made there. As I say, this is just one middle aged white guy's opinion.That's all.

Amen on the collector's mentality comments. I'm sure that there are few of us on this board (myself included) who don't fall into that category at some time and to some degree. And it's not a totally bad thing - most of us who have posted here have gathered or given information that's come from a collection. Personally, I want the records in my collection rather than need them. I'm 57 years old, and I'm sure that even if I have another 30 years, there are records in my collection I will never listen to again. That's a good probability, and by that standard I don't need those records. (If I knew which ones they were, I'd probably get rid of them.) As you can probably tell, the collector's side of me comes into conflict with the pure music lover side of me more often than I care to admit to myself. I can imagine that for some the two don't come into conflict, but for me they often do. This might make a good topic for a separate thread. Perhaps someone who's a better writer and more articulate than I am might want to start it. As for the Benedetti box, it was a marriage made in heaven - the completist compiler met the completist record company.

Off the top of my head: Jimmy Yancey Otis Spann Monk Red Garland

Congratulations! Spread the gospel.

A very late addition. Not all that much to add, but Getz' solos on P'ra Machucar Meu Coracao, So Danco Samba, O Grande Amor, and Vivo Sohando have always seemed to me like some of his best. It's always puzzled me why Tommy Williams wasn't mentioned in the original liner notes. Thanks for choosing this, Ed. I bought it when it was originally released, and it's always seemed to be a perfect record. I hadn't played it in many years, but when I played it the other night it sounded as good as the first time I listened to it - probably better, because I hear more in it now.

Berrigan, It seems like you've gotten a lot of advice here. All I can add is take what you and your family feel comfortable with and go from there. Last month I lost a very good friend to cancer. However, I'm not posting this in a negative way. She loved life and was the strongest person I've ever known. For seven years, she underwent various treatments between remissions - chemo, radiation, laser surgery, steroids, even drinking poison ivy tea (which her doctor recommended, and which seemed to do her some good). In May of 2001, her doctors said her cancer had spread to her brain and gave her a month to six months to live. She lived for over two more years, and was able to enjoy her life and spend it with her family and friends. Try and give your mother all the support and love that you can, and help her to enjoy life as much as she can. It sounds like she's already gone through more than anyone should have to. She must be a very strong person. My prayers are with her.

DeFord Bailey: Country Music's First Black Star (Tennessee Folklore Society) Skip James: Rare and Unreleased (Vanguard) Lazy Lester: I'm a Lover Not a Fighter (Ace) Various Artists: Jazz the World Forgot Vol. 2 (Yazoo) Zoot Sims/Bob Brookmeyer: Morning Fun (Black Lion) The Best of Eboa Lotin: Vol. 2 (T.J.R. Music) Various Artists: Sax Appeal (VeeJay) Louis Myers: I'm a Southern Man (Hightone)

I tend to agree with Jazzmoose - I think you said it pretty well. However, I have a friend who is into one genre of music - blues/r&b. He may be missing something by not listening to a wider variety of musics, but he knows that genre and his collection better than I know mine, simply by virtue of having less to listen to. My way is mine and his is his, and I make no judgements on either. People do things in their own ways.

I still have a copy of Bobby Rydell Salutes the Great Ones that I bought when I was about 15. I keep it to remind me of my roots, so to speak.

Brownie - Is this a recent issue? What's it like? Thanks in advance.

Freddie was always trying to get me to use him on a jazz date. I heard him a few times in jazz based groups he led on the south side and he sounded more like Sid Catlett or Cozy Cole than PJJ. Damn fine drummer and good spirit anyway. By coincidence I used his old partner Louis Myers on a Wadada Leo Smith date later. Not to get off track from the main topic, but a friend of mine and I had a chance to speak with Louis Myers during his break at a club date. He was playing very well and seemed to be a truly nice guy, but he was very tired (it was just a few years before he died). However, his face lit up and he seemed to come to life when I asked him about Earl Phillips. He spoke very highly of Earl Phillips, but said that he hadn't seen him for a while, and thought that he was in a nursing home. Earl Phillips is my favorite blues drummer of all time. He recorded a number of sessions for the VeeJay label with Snooky Pryor, Eddie Taylor, Billy Boy Arnold, and on many of Jimmy Reed's records. He also played on some of Howlin' Wolf's Chess recordings. He was a great drummer - could really drive a band. His trademark was that he loved to throw in some cymbal accents here and there. I believe I read somewhere that he played with big bands at some point in his career. He also had one 45 issued on VeeJay, but I've never heard it. Back to Louis Myers, another wonderful musician - check him out on Little Walter's and Junior Wells' early recordings, on his his own date, I'm a Southern Man (Advent, reissued on CD by Hightone), and solo on an anthology, Chicago Blues at Home (also Advent, Hightone). I've wondered how he came to record with Wadada Leo Smith on Procession of the Great Ancestry. If Chuck wants to give some background and details, I bet it's an interesting story. And to answer the question posted, I don't have as many blues recordings as jazz recordings in my collection, but it's damn close.

Some of my favorite Pablos have already been mentioned, but I'd like to add: Benny Carter & Dizzy Gillespie: Carter, Gillespie, Inc. Oscar Peterson & Clark Terry

Not to forget the N.Y. Contemporary 5. Of the three listed, I voted for Ben.

I'm an Archie Shepp fan, and there's no way I'd call this "Prime Shepp". I bought the Sackville LP when it was released, and sold it shortly thereafter. There's plenty of great to good Shepp out there, but to my tastes this doesn't fall within those assessments. I'm somewhat surprised that Hatology is reissuing this.

Harp of a Thousand Strings - All Day Singing from the Sacred Harp (Rounder) Times Ain't Like They Used To Be Vol. 3 (Yazoo) Warne Marsh - Sal Mosca Quartet Vol. 2 (Zinnia) Paul Plummer - Ron Enyard: Trio & Quartet (Quixotic) Michael Hurley: Snockgrass (Rounder)

Recently finished reading Drew's Blues by Drew Page. The subtitle is A Sideman's Life with the Big Bands, which is an apt if too concise description of this book. Drew Page was born in 1905, began playing professionally at 18, and continued to play professionally into the mid 1970's when he retired temporarily to write this book. He played primarily with big bands, among them Harry James, Ben Pollack, and Phil Harris, and with many territory bands. He led a fascinating life, coming into contact with literally hundreds of performers (some well known, some not) over the course of his career. One of the problems with the book, to my mind, is that too many people are mentioned, and it's difficult to keep track of everyone. I realize that as a history, these names are necessary. It's only as a reader that they tended to annoy me. Over the course of the years covered in the book, jazz giants (Art Tatum, Jack Teagarden, Ben Webster, Roy Eldridge), jazz legends (Hix Blewett, Jack Purvis, Peck Kelley), and show biz performers (Lili St. Cyr, Lord Buckley, Amos and Andy (Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll), and Rita Hayworth (when she was Margarita Cansino) all pass through. Drew's Blues is a fascinating book in many ways. For example, Page writes about changing his playing style from being a pop- dance musician to becoming a jazz (or at least jazz influenced) musician during the 1920's. I also received an education as to what the music business (Page's part of it, anyway) was like over the course of 50 years - in some ways it didn't seem to change all that much. It was especially interesting to me since I once worked with a man who had a similar musical career to Drew Page's. He played in territory bands, big bands, pit bands, did studio work, and ended up playing lounges and shows in Nevada (in his case it was Reno, in Page's case Las Vegas). My friend grew tired of the music business after 30 years or so and left it for other fields. He never went into details when he spoke about his life in music, except to hint that he wasn't enthralled with music as business, and this book gives me a sense of what he might have experienced. If my friend was still living, I'd send him my copy of Drew's Blues. I feel sure that he'd be able to identify with it and would enjoy it.

It's been years since I've seen it, but to the best of my memory, there was a scene in the film Bird where Chan and Charlie Parker are listening to the radio and King Pleasure's version of "Parker's Mood" comes on. Chan's character hates the fact that words have been added to Bird's music. Bird's character says he doesn't mind the words. I have a musician friend who can't stand the lyrics that Jon Hendricks added to "In Walked Bud" on the Underground Monk record, though he likes the rest of the record. I'm sort of in between. I don't mind the lyrics when I hear them, but I get annoyed when I hear an instrumental version of a tune and also hear the lyrics in my head. I can't listen to an instrumental version of the above tunes, "Sister Sadie", or "Song for My Father", to name a few offhand, without hearing the lyrics. Anyone else here have any feelings or thoughts about this?

We need look no further than "Cow Cow Boogie!" The whole Ella Mae Morse saga is an interesting study in and of itself. Clem, I have a friend who does a great 40s-60s radio show called "Rhythm Ranch," devoted to country, r & b, and pop from that period. (He writes for AMG, too, and did the review of the Bear Family Morse set.) If anybody knows of a good Capitol set, it would be him. I'll drop him a line and report back. I'm not a fanatic country collector or any kind of expert in that genre, but I have a Charly LP, Boogie Woogie Fever (Charly 30215), with Capitol recordings from the likes of Tennessee Ernie Ford (early stuff - not his pop TV-type material), Gene O'Quinn, Ramblin' Jimmy Dolan, The Milo Twins, Jess Willard, Merle Travis, etc., which is a good listen if you like country boogie. I don't know if all of it was originally recorded by Capitol, or if some was purchased by them from other labels. I also have a CD, Hillbilly Music - Thank God! (Capitol CDP 7 91346 2), issued in 1989, which is a compilation of Capitol artists (Gene O'Quinn, The Farmer Boys, The Louvin Brothers, Hank Thompson, Rose Maddox, Merle Travis, Jimmy Bryant & Speedy West, Skeets McDonald, etc.). I don't know if it's still in print. Gene O'Quinn and the Farmer Boys, who recorded country music with a beat, for want of a better description, both have single Cd's issued by Bear Family, and both are truly fine, if you like this kind of thing.

Sal Mosca-Warne Marsh Quartet Vols. 1&2 (Zinnia) John Fahey: Red Cross (Revenant) Harp of a Thousand Strings - All Day Singing from the Sacred Harp (Rounder) Michael Hurley: Snockgrass - expanded CD (Rounder) Skip James: Rare and Unreleased (Vanguard) Roscoe Holcomb: An Untamed Sense of Control (Smithsonian Folkways) O Gospel, Where Art Thou (Morada) - 1949-52 sessions from Bob Shad's archives, remastered by Steve Hoffman

Sorry to hear about Paul Plummer's dental problems. I hope that he's able to play again at some point. The Detroit Opium Den LP has been reissued along with a second LP, Acoustic Jazz Trio (Plummer, Enyard, and Lausche) on a CD, Paul Plummer - Ron Enyard: Trio & Quartet (Quixotic 5005) - available from Cadence. He was a very good tenor player, and I do hope he can return to playing his instrument. I believe that Dave Baker had a problem with his jaw and had to stop playing trombone back in the 60's. I thought that I read somewhere that he had begun playing trombone again recently. Does anyone know if this is so?

Sorry to sound pedantic here, but I believe Neon Bible was published whilst he was still alive (as opposed to the posthumous Dunces). I might have reworded that, but it seemed to make sense! The Neon Bible was published in 1989, twenty years after John Kennedy Toole's death in 1969.

Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings (disc one) Duke Ellington 1930-1931 (Classics) Ry-Co Jazz: Rhumba 'Round Africa (RetroAfric) Red Rodney Quintet: Modern Music from Chicago - Roy Haynes! Joseph Spence: The Complete 1958 Folkways Recordings Charlie Rouse: Unsung Hero Otis Clay: Got To Find a Way

Have a great birthday, Lon. I hope all the good things you've sent out come back to you a thousand times. Happy birthday, guy!

There were also two Percy Mayfield LPs. I have one of them, My Jug and I, and it's always sounded to me like Ray Charles plays organ on some tracks.

Yeah! You've "said" it all, Lon.