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I set up a Walter Piston Pandora channel just because his name has always amused me, like he lived in Detroit and wrote proto-Industrial shit in praise of Henry Ford AND the UAW, but the pieces of his that they play invariably please, tonalities that are ambiguously precise, if that makes any sense. Since the Internet is my "school" now, I'm asking for donations of knowledge, especially of the "what went into it" and "what came after it" sort of musical trails that are always fun to explore. Also, what "great pieces" are there, or are there any? I also see that Leroy Anderson was student of his, so, like, did Piston ever write for typewriter? Just kidding.

I had never heard of this pianist/songwriter until a few days ago, when someone mentioned that he wrote the song 'Along Comes Mary' for The Association in the 60s. Wiki and some other online articles said that he was born in 1942 in Minnesota, was able to play classical pieces by ear when he was four, went to a conservatory as a kid, but then started listening to Trane, Miles and Ahmad Jamal, and dropped out of high school to move to Chicago and become a jazz pianist. He then moved to LA, where he roomed with fellow jazz pianist/upright bass player Bob Bruno, and they gigged as a duo in clubs, until Almer got involved with the pop recording scene in LA of the 60s. After doing some things with Brian Wilson, he went to Washington DC for a film score, which fell through, and wound up staying in DC for the rest of his life. Anyone familiar with his music?

Anybody got a list of all the ECM New Series releases handy for sharing? Thanks in advance if so!

I get that there's a per-song flat fee, but doing research, it looks like there's also (or is it instead of?) a per-copy charge based on, I guess, planned manufacturing run. So let's say that I wanted to cover Bob Lob's "Throw It In There Easy" and it's owned by Mraeros Music and it's with ASCAP and I want to make up a run of 500 copies of an otherwise all-original album that will also include Maestro Lob's magnum opus. I know I need to get a mechanical license first. But more than that, I am confused, and have questions. The questions now are: Harry Fox first, right? Or someplace similar. What am I going to pay, exactly, and for what exactly? A flat fee plus a per-copy rate? If my 500 copies exceed expectations and I need 50,000 more copies made STAT, do I need to go through the process again? The mechanical license only covers front-end, right? Any and all royalties on sales go through different channels? Mr. Lob and I want to know these things. Can you all help us? Please? Thank you!