File 0699-1

Case #1

Hi Victor...it's Victor, isn't it?

Did Dianne Reeves ever record "Down Here on the Ground?" I heard a female version of this song about a week ago while riding in my car and it sounded like Dianne Reeves. This recording is not on her new CD, Bridges. Maybe she sung it on someone else's CD; if so, do you know whose?

—Renee Clark

Miss Clark,

You can call me anything you want, sweetheart, just not late for the show. I was out tossin' 'em back with my gal Friday (her real name is Lulu). She sprawled out into a mai tai with the umbrella—I had Scorsby's, neat (I am a specialist in, shall we say, inexpensive scotch).

Anyway, I asked Lulu if she had ever heard of a female vocal pass at "Down Here on the Ground." She peered out from underneath her mai tai and mentioned that she happened to be researching some Madonna/Baby Face gumdrop that sampled Grant Green's Blue Note guitar line from the same song. Lulu said there was one disc she came across, a dame named Marlene Ver Planck, called A Breath of Fresh Aire, for the powers that be at Audiophile. The last thing Lulu said before her eyes closed and she hit the table snoring was that this tune is knockout loaded and most likely what you're searching for, Renee. Boy, I'm gonna miss that gal.

This standard seems to be a favorite among guitarists and has been covered by Grant Green (Alive, Blue Note 89793), Wes Montgomery (Down Here on the Ground, A&M 396994) and George Benson (Weekend in LA, Warner Brothers 3139). Jimmy Smith smothered it in B-3 on The Cat Strikes Again (LaserLight 15154). That's what you call gettin' your money's worth, sweetheart.

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Case #2

Dear Sir Cool...

A friend and I (actually, he lives in Australia and I am in Sri Lanka -never was a problem for us!) have been searching for years (literally) for a Dave Brubeck re-release on CD, which we believe is around "somewhere." The vinyl disc in the olden days was titled Anything Goes. There was also another vinyl disc, with the same line-up and numbers, which was entitled The Dave Brubeck Quartet plays Cole Porter. OK, here are the original reference numbers BPS 233395 [released by CBS]. The other number was CL 2602. Along with this, there were some other disc numbers that we dug up, which refer to this same disc ("Amazing!," you say? We thought so too!), 9402 and CS9402. The vinyl disc IS with Peter in Australia. But, we have been searching for the CD. Apparently, it WAS released in that format. Can you tell us about it? Thanks, that would be marvelous.

—Arun Dias-Bandaranaike

a.k.a. "Monster Duke" on Capital Radio 100.4, Radio/TV Presenter Tin Tin Deo Productions, Colombo, Sri Lanka

Greetings, my exotic friend,

You are most exotic, good sir. I passed through Sri Lanka once a few years back, when I was tracking down some lost music of the Far East that had floated your way. Wound up in an open-air market where I bought figs, cigs, an American record player and a copy of Yusef Lateef's Eastern Sounds from a toothless man wearing a Green Hornet decoder ring. Needless to say, I fell in love with your home. Even stayed awhile.

My sources inside "All Music Guide" slipped me an envelope upon my return with the following information: Anything Goes: The Music of Cole Porter was originally released by Columbia (now Sony) in 1965 with the number CS-9402. It was released in 1991 as a cassette tape with the number PCT-9204. It appears that this recording has not been released on compact disc or if it had, it is no longer on the market.

But hang in there, Arun. Ya hear what I'm tellin' ya? Sony's re-release policy is among the most aggressive in the business. And ya never know what a little...persuasion may do. Ya know what I mean?

Continue: File 0699-2

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