Date:	17-Mar-1999 22:05:51
From:	sangeeta michael berardi (geeta@ix.netcom.com)
	Hello Brett Primack: no questions, but do want to say how much i love your birdlives.com website..man, it's about time we have somebody and some place to speak out about the various and sundry shenanigans and charlatanesque chicanery that infests both the industry and some of the musicians and many of the critics. as a musician myself i've learned, exulted and laughed my ass off the chair on your website. i'd like to give a little back. if you tell me where to send them i'd like to send you some tapes for your listening pleasure. no safe, smoothy jive here, so i figure you might be interested. also since your head is clean as my own, hell, brother, i figure i owe you one just for that. i've got myself(guitar,composer)with eddie gomez, joe diorio, vea williams, rashied ali...standards and originals..some with vea singing my lyrics.. also with john esposito, piano, hill greene bass, jim finn tenor, peter o'brien drums from more recent times..more experimental sound, although i do play duo with peter on trane's 'wise one' and 'favorite things...' oldest i've got is with: archie shepp, roswell rudd, eddie gomez, mario pavone, rashied ali... i'd love for you to hear the music, and i sincerely want to give something back to you for providing me with so much pleasure, enlightenment, fun, on your site and in some of the articles i've read over the years...although these latter years i've not kept up on the jazz literature... in fact, like my friend pharoah, i don't even like telling folks, especially young ones, that my music is jazz...not as it's defined nowadays...seems to me to be a period of re-creation rather than creation as it always used to be...not a very dangerous music anymore, nor daring, nor forward looking...in my humble opinion anyway.. well, you're probably far too busy for any more of my rambling so...let me know if you want to hear and i'll gladly send you out some tapes... the only music i ever managed to get released was the session where archie played in my band...he told me, and others that it became a collector's item..certainly not for an unknown obscure animal like me, but for him and roswell i'm sure..this is not to say that the other music and musicians ain't happening...well, you judge for yourself.. sincerely, geeta.,....

 

Date:	06-Apr-1999 14:46:12
From:	Joe (jerjazmus@aol.com)
	Bret...hats off to you for your thoughts and your willingness to share them. The web will indeed level the playing field, and that is certainly a challenge to the record companies (and more so to their distributors). As someone who has made a living (albeit certainly not one to retire from!) in the record business for over 20 years, it is clear the web creates opportunity for creative artists and marketers as "individuals" the likes of which I haven't seen. The artists that can also understand how to cost-effectively market themselves globally and get their music heard on their own terms may find financial success, but more importantly, they will perpetuate the ingenuity and authenticity of the culture we hold close to our hearts...unemcumbered by those who have the need to promote a more tainted creative form. Keep up the good work, and best wishes.. Joe www.jerryjazzmusician.com

 

Date:	21-Apr-1999 21:50:47
From:	Thom Vourlas (jvourlas@infi.net)
	My friend is offering a $50 REWARD to anyone who can help him find an old jazz song. Unfortunately, details are sketchy at best. Here's what he knows: The cut was first heard by him on radio around 1973, so the album was likely no earlier than late 60s or early 70s. The album cover was all white, except for a "symbol" about 1"-2" big that was off-center on the front. The track was the last cut on the album and was about 7 to 11 mins long. The main component was a saxophone that was also hooked up to a voice-box, so that during the verses the guy would "sing" the song through the sax. A six-string bass guitar accompanied the sax, but he doesn't know what other instruments were on it. The fade-out was quite long. Not much to go by, but he had it on a tape that accidentally got erased, so that's why the reward. HE WANTS TO FIND IT!!

 

Date:	30-Apr-1999 09:39:50
From:	David Margolick (damarg@aol.com)
	Bret -- I'd like to speak with you -- e-mail is fine -- for a short book I'm doing on Billie Holiday and "Strange Fruit." It's an expanded version of a piece I wrote last fall for Vanity Fair. These queries don't always get through...is there some way you could write me at damarg@aol.com and let me know you've received this? Thanks. David Margolick Vanity Fair

 

Date:	07-Jun-1999 17:00:39
From:	Mark Rapp (Ology5@aol.com)
	What is the best way for an all original modern jazz group to get their independently released CD reviewed in Downbeat, Jazziz, Jazz Times, etc? By the way, this is for a New Orleans based group called QUINTOLOGY; liner notes by Nicholas Payton. Thanks for your time. Mark Rapp (trumpet)

 

Date:	03-Aug-1999 20:38:20
From:	nims Ryebaeck
	why is it all you americans will listen to anytning and call it jazz?That sun Ra is like a bad garage sale and what happened to the evolution of the music,has it been mugged?

 

Date:	19-Sep-1999 14:29:33
From:	uhlmann michael (miggu66@hotmail.com)
	dear bret, I would like to attend a jazzschool in california.I'm playing electrical bass. Which is in your opinion the best school in california,which one the best in the US? Thank you for answering these questions.

 

Date:	14-Jan-2000 09:51:53
From:	Florice Whyte Kovan (acdmpubr@mnsinc.com)
	Apart from your similar iconoclasm, what inspired you to edit and compile The Ben Hecht Show. As a Ben Hecht anthologist myself, I'd love to know.

 

Date:	14-Jan-2000 09:52:54
From:	Florice Whyte Kovan (acdmpubr@mnsinc.com)
	Apart from your similar iconoclasm, what inspired you to edit and compile The Ben Hecht Show? As a Ben Hecht anthologist myself, I'd love to know.

 

Date:	08-Mar-2000 19:52:57
From:	Milo Z (coo428@aol.com)
	Hi Bret, Haven't seen you since you showed up at a gig at Tramp's when it was still there. You were a great fan of ours and we love you for it. How came you don't list the Arabesque website among your acheivments? Surely, it is of this that you are most proud? Ziggide-do-dop

 

Date:	12-Aug-2000 17:39:06
From:	Marsha Hall (dandmhall@earthlink.net)
	Dear Bret, Am doing a massive Genealogy Project with the help of some other Primack relatives. Would love to know which Tree or Branch you've been shaken from. Mine is DovidRuven to Mary to Norman to me. Love to chat. Thanks

 

Date:	05-Apr-2001 03:24:45
From:	trevor graham (whrabbit@ix.net.au)
	check BOBVL reply to jazzwestcoast request for snail mail address of stanley crouch..this request is probably what is called,in the land of oz,a "possum stir" oh,but what a beautiful stir..am looking foreward to reading more replies...trevor graham

 

Date:	05-Jul-2001 12:23:31
From:	jeff (jonnyconquer@yahoo.com)
	I stumbled across that "livingston squat" play awhile back, along with a couple of other parody pieces he (or she, i guess), wrote about wynton and company.I sent an email offering to buy the author a drink any time, but never got a response.If you should bump into that notable satirist, please let them know that the offer still stands.Priceless.

 

Date:	05-Aug-2001 16:59:00
From:	Barry Wolk (b@TheXYZ.com)
	Bret: I don't know if you remember me, however, we used to hang out during you earliest 'Down Beat' days. You took me to the CBS recording studios on 52nd street to watch some french producer record Walter Bishop Jr. & we attended Eubie Blake's 100th Birthday party together at the Player's Club. Give me a call at 646-258-6619, or email me at: b@TheXYZ.com. I would like to see how you are. Regards, Barry Wolk