Karen of San Francisco wrote:

I know a number of people who like jazz. My new boyfriend loves jazz. It's pretty much the only music I know nothing about, so he leant me some CDs - Chet Baker, Miles Davis. I wanted mellow stuff. However, I discovered that horns DRIVE ME CRAZY. Really, they make mewant to commit mayhem. Can there be jazz without horns? Can you suggest something that both of us will like??? Help! Thanks!

Karen:

There are many great CDs featuring solo piano, piano/bass, piano/bass/drums, piano/guitar/bass, guitar/bass, guitar/bass/drums, etc.; but some of these players can get pretty uptempo with a lot of fireworks, too. Try to stick to CDs of ballads to stay mellow. Don't give up on horns, try some Clark Terry (trumpet & fluegelhorn), John Coltrane's Ballads CD (tenor sax) and any Gerry Mulligan (baritone sax) small group CD for starters. Try sampling others CDs or borrow them from a library (assuming you have access to one) to get an idea of what you like.

Lane wrote:

Ken....have you ever heard the Pres do a vocal on the tune "Takes Two To Tango"? I could swear that it played on the local NPR station a few days ago. Help please in finding this recording. Thanks.

Lane:

This rare Lester Young vocal indeed exists and is present on the CD The President Plays with the Oscar Peterson Trio (Verve 831 670 2) as well as the boxed set The Complete Lester Young Studio Recordings on Verve (314 547 087 2).

Rosalyn Byrd of New York wrote:

There is a 4 record set which was recorded live at Town Hall in New York City in the mid 80's in late spring or early summer. I think Herbie Hancock was the host. Some of the artists that were there were: Miles Davis, The Laws Family, Michel Petrucciani, Stanley Turntine, Dexter Gordon and a host of others. I need the title of the album so I can replace it. I moved to California and lost all everything in the Northridge quake. I have written Town Hall several times an have received no answer. Thanking you for any help given in this matter.

Rosalyn:

There were 4 separate CD/LP volumes issued on Blue Note called "One Night with Blue Note Preserved" including the artists you mentioned and others. They have been out of print for some time, but a single CD compilation was reissued by Blue Note in 1998 called "Town Hall Concert; it is catalog # 4 97811 2. The original CDs or LPs will be tougher to find.

Ralph Coble of Arlington, Texas wrote:

There use to be a father and son who played the sax. The last name is Felder, but I just can't come up with their first name nor any of their recordings. The latter was well known in the 70's. ........ Felder Jr. Could you give me a name and some of their recordings?

Ralph:

Wilton Felder was a tenor saxophonist who was with the Jazz Crusaders (later known as the Crusaders) and has also made at least 8 albums as a leader. I've never heard of any of his musical relatives and I'm not familiar with his individual releases, as my taste doesn't run into the crossover/soul jazz blend that he favors. Albums include: Bullit, We All Have a Star, Inherit the Wind, Gentle Fire, Secrets, Nocturnal Moods, Forever Always, and Love is a Rush. He's also done quite a bit of recordings with others, including Bobby "Blue" Bland.

Daniel Nagel of Worms, Germany wrote:

I recently bought the Miles Davis record: Get Up With It and I read that it used to be a double LP. Now the playing time of the two CDs is over 60 min each, which to my knowledge is way too much for an LP. So was it really a double LP, or maybe a triple one? Did CBS edit the tracks to fit in on two LPs?

Daniel:

Since I don't have either the 2 LP set or the 2 CD reissue you're discussing I can't say definitively that the tracks were shorter on the earlier release. It definitely wasn't over 2 LPs the first time around. It is possible to squeeze 30+ minutes on an LP side, but the danger is that the walls to the individual grooves must be made thinner and there's a greater likelihood of damage that will cause skips, so most record companies avoided this problem by limiting an LP side to a maximum of 25-28 minutes. This was always a problem for certain classical pieces such Beethoven's Ninth Symphony; because of its considerable length (around 75 minutes), it was either spread over 2 LPs or occasionally squeezed onto one disc, with an irritating fade out and fade in during one movement.

Rich LePage of New York City:

As an engineer, I recorded a lot of the albums Harry Lim made for his Famous Door Records label in the 70s, including Warren Vache, Scott Hamilton, Red Norvo, Butch Miles, Carmen Leggio, Bucky Pizzarelli, Cal Collins, Marky Markowitz, quite a few more. Later on as an offshoot, a friend of Harry's, Howard Kenyon, started a small label called Dreamstreet and I did quite a few albums for him, too. Those included Glen Zottola and some others. Do you know if these are still available anywhere? Toshiba EMI released Harry's stuff in Japan back then, if I remember right- we made safety copies of the masters for them. I remember checking test pressings back then and the Japanese ones (from a 2nd generation copy master) were better than the US ones (from the original master). Thanks much in advance. I would love to know what happened to some of that great stuff.

Rich:

I had one contact with Harry shortly before he died and ordered Howard Alden's Swinging Into Prominence. Like you, I kept hoping that the label would be acquired and reissued. I have since learned that George Buck, who operates a number of independent labels under his Collector's Record Club in New Orleans, has evidently purchased all of the Famous Door masters. To my knowledge, he has only issued 1 or 2 titles to far, but I imagine that the pace will pick up. I have no knowledge of any Japanese issues currently available, but it is possible. I have no clue what happened to the Dreamstreet masters.

Tony Bacon of Ballyjamesduffco.cavan Ireland wrote:

Ken Burns' recent documentery on the history of jazz on BBC tv referred to the "Monk" as the most influential pianist; I would suggest Art Tatum. What is your view?

Tony:

This is one question that always will keep debates going. While I believe Tatum was the greatest pianist of all time (period) and Monk was more of an influential composer than an influential pianist, my personal choice as the most influential pianist would be Bill Evans, who the noveau jazz fan Ken Burns overlooked almost entirely. The list of modern pianists influenced by Evans is considerable.

Tom B. of the US wrote:

I am seeking information about a great tune called something like "The Airplane Song" apparently written by Bobby Durham or featuring him (although it really did sound like D. Frishberg to me). This song was written as an excercise based on the safety warnings printed on the info card for airline passengers. A really strange, great tune. Any info might help.

Tom:

I've never heard of this song and can find no record of its existence under that name. Did you hear a live performance of it, or a live broadcast, perhaps? I agree that it sounds like something Frishberg might do; I'm unaware of any compositions by Bobby Durham which have been recorded. Maybe a reader will give us a clue...

Bilal Mujahid wrote:

Please tell me, oh Cool Cat of Vision, if there are any plans to release a cd version of Miles Davis' Water Babies? I purchased a vinyl LP of this great recording more years ago than I can (or care to) remember. I was only able to "hear" fusionistic, soulful jams like Grover Washington Jr's. Mister Magic, and Herbie Hancock's Head Hunters at the time (call it my training-wheels) until I put that Water Babies album on the turntable. I could finally hear after several listenings that what initially sounded like a group of unbalanced amateurs were really finely tuned artists playing on a level far more intellectual than I had prepared for or even knew music could go. So Water Babies holds a special place in my heart, as it served as a vital launching pad for deeper understanding of other great sessions to cross my ear's path over the years. Besides, hearing it in the same sequential order as originally released would surely bring back fond memories I'm sure.

The purchase price of the box-set of Miles second great quintet consisting of Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams, wherein the aforementioned title cut can be had cost more than my meager budget could ever aspire; I'd just assume to wait on a miracle re-release of Water Babies.

I have slowly built over the course of affordable time, E.S.P., Miles Smiles, Sorcerer, Nefertiti, Miles in the Sky, Filles De Kilimanjaro and On the Corner. Water Babies would complete my collection of this era in Miles' illustrious career without dropping $100 from my already anemic wallet in one fatal swoop.

The only way I'm going to secure the Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel is to go with the box set; no way of building it slowly, but then that's another problem altogether. Anyway, back to the matter at hand, is there any word on when Water Babies may show up again?

Bilal:

Even with all of the boxed sets that Columbia is putting out, they usually follow up with individual CDs as well within the year. My guess is that Water Babies will emerge as a single CD some time within the next 2-3 years, since not everyone wants complete boxed sets and Miles remains one of their best selling artists long after his death.

PJB of Portland, OR wrote:

I just found an old copy of Ellington's early RCA box set 'Black, Brown and Beige' at a thrift store. There are two records, and they are 78rpm. The notes say that they are exerpts from a Carnegie Hall concert. It is obviously an original copy of this recording, and I'm having trouble finding info on it. The only consistent identifying number on all four sides is DC 39. Do you have any information on this recording?

PJB:

The Complete Black, Brown & Beige concert, which was debuted at Carnegie Hall on Jan. 23, 1943, was issued as a three LP set by Fantasy on the Prestige label in 1977 (with a few tracks coming from a concert in Boston a few days later because the originals were damaged or lost) and it has since been reissued as a two CD set by Fantasy, although some tracks may have been deleted to squeeze the music onto 2 discs. I was unaware that RCA had ever issued the 1943 Carnegie Hall concert, I thought that they had just released excerpts of the suite which Duke Ellington recorded afterwards in edited form. Do you hear any applause on the 78s? Let me know how they sound and what tracks are on the 78s.