29-Jan-1998 -- Eliseo Cardona writes:

First of all, my congratulations for your wonderful publication. Now I can't live without reading it! I'm writing trying to find information on a Puerto Rican pianist by the name of Roger Ram Ramirez (the author of "Lover Man"). Nobody seems to know him. A couple of years ago, producer Michael Cuscuna edited a compilation of pianists for his Mosaic label and he included Ram in it. Well, I'm journalist and jazz critic working for The Miami Herald; since listening to this anthology I wanted find out more about Ram in order to write a long piece or, who knows, maybe a book. I was born in New York of Puerto Rican parents, and as you can imagine, this is very important for me. If you happen to know about Ram or could give any reference, including critics, books or anything, please let me know. I believe Mr. Stanley Dance wrote something on him but I haven't been able to find it.

Eliseo, you're right - it's tough to find much material published about the composer of "Lover Man," made most famous by Billie Holiday. Roger Ram Ramirez was born in Puerto Rico on 13 September 1913, and passed away in New York on 11 January 1994. Ramirez grew up in New York City. He grew so accomplished on piano so early that he became a member of the musicians' union around his thirteenth birthday. By the time he was 20 he appeared in such NYC big-band Ballrooms as The Empire with Rex Stewart and Big Sid Catlett. He led his own groups between 1940 and 1945 in between stints as accompanist to Ella Fitzgerald and with Frankie Newton, John Kirby, and occasional returns to Big Sid. Sometime in the 1950s Ramirez began to play electric organ, and in the late 60s he toured Europe in bluesman's T-Bone Walker's band. Ramirez settled in as a member of the Harlem Blues & Jazz Band in the late 1970s into the 1980s. Stanley Dance published a collection of jazz musician interviews called "The World of Swing" in 1974, a legendary anthology which includes the Ramirez piece to which you refer. It's not in the catalogs of most online book retailers; others list it as not available, or with limited availability, but with some poking around you might find it.

28-Jan-1998 -- Mark Hudgins writes:

I've been looking all over the place for the live Don Ellis album "Fillmore". I was wondering if you know if it was ever put out on CD, and if so how/where can I find it?

Mark, Columbia released that on vinyl in 1970, but they don't seem to have issued it on CD.

26-Jan-1998 -- Jim Smith writes:

Here's a curious one for the people out there -- Do you recall ever hearing of a recording session in which Andres Segovia played with a group of jazz guitarists playing jazz standards. I have a vague recollection of seeing an album sitting on the shelf in a general store somewhere in Borneo in 1964. This being not the centre of Jazz as we know it, I can't be sure I wasn't under some influence!

Jim, we can't be sure you weren't under some influence either; regardless, if that did collection did exist then, we haven't been able to find it now. It doesn't appear in either Segovia's classical or non-classical discography. Can any "AAJ" readers help Jim out?

16-Jan-1998 -- Valery Kotelnikov writes:

Is it possible to find recordings of the Neil Hefti band of the 1950s, with "Coral Reef," "Girl Talk" and other Hefti original tunes? Where is Mr. Hefti now?

Valery, most anything is possible - but that is probably not going to be easy. Despite the fact that Hefti composed and played trumpet for the likes of Woody Herman, Earl "Fatha" Hines, Charlie Barnet, and Count Basie (Hefti originally composed "Coral Reef" for the Basie band under the title "Ours Alone"), the only music currently in print in America (believe it or not) seems to be his music for the "Batman" television series. Hefti pretty much moved away from writing and playing jazz toward composing for television and film beginning in the late 1950s. You're going to have to rely on discovering sold old vinyl at an auction or sale, or through a dealer.