What matters most is that a delightful cartoon period piece is getting renewed attention. Still, if anyone out there in cyberspace has definite information about the makeup of the band, please let us know by way of the comment link below.

Rifftides reader Bruce Tater came across a classic Warner Bros. cartoon from the Looney Tunes series. He called our attention to Three Little Bops, a perfectly preserved piece of 1950s hipness. Stan Freeburg is the narrator. Shorty Rogers did the music. Notice the stylized drawings of the nightclub audience. Don't miss Shorty's little sui generis muted solo near the end.

It's likely those nightclub denizens were drawn by assistant animator Bob Matz; most of the heavy lifting was done by Gerry Chiniquy, who was simply one of the most brilliant animators in the Friz Freleng unit and deserved this showcase.

Now, a music question: anyone know who else played on the session? The music was recorded on the Warner Bros. soundstage by the regular crew that recorded the cartoon scores. The bare music score exists and was released on one of the recent Looney Tunes DVD's, and it's slated by Milt Franklyn, who was one of the studio's two musical directors (the other being the legendary Carl Stalling).

Dave Mackey

I started Cryptogramophone in 1998 primarily to release the music of a friend and colleague who had passed away a year earlier at the age of 43, bassist/composer Eric von Essen. Eric was a first call bassist for many jazz artists who came through Los Angeles. He had solidified his reputation by working with such local luminaries as Jimmy Rowles, (with whom he recorded several CDs had a very special musical connection), pianists Alan Broadbent, Gerald Wiggins, and Lou Levy, as well as many international stars such as Bob Brookmeyer, Bud Shank, Shorty Rogers, and many others.

However, guitarist Nels Cline, drummer/percussionist Alex Cline, and I knew him in a different context; as composer and band member in our chamber jazz ensemble called Quartet Music, which we co-led for about 15 years. Quartet Music recorded 4 albums for Nine Winds and Delos Records, toured the west coast as members of the California Arts Council touring roster, and had the rare opportunity to perform two concerts of our own music with the Milwaukee Symphony, a once in a lifetime experience.

Despite working in LA for twenty years, recording numerous albums, and touring with companies like Jazz Tap Ensemble, Eric's notoriety as a bass player has faded over the years. Luckily we still have three volumes of his compositions performed by many of the artists he knew and loved including Alan Broadbent, Nels Cline, Alex Cline, Peter Erskine, Larry Koonse, Kate McGarry, Alan Pasqua, Stacy Rowles, and many others.

Eric died in Sweden after having accepted a teaching position at a small college there. He left behind a notebook containing over 120 compositions. I was familiar with about 1/3 of the pieces from my musical and personal associations with him, but even I was astonished at how large his output was. Eric tended to write for the musicians he played with, so finding the artists to record his music was easy in some respects, and incredibly difficult in others. Eric's musical friendships were many, and once word got out about the project, I received CDs and letters from musicians around the world whose lives Eric had touched. I finally decided to record 5 different groups to document the various styles of music that Eric had written. Eric's influences were many and varied. Having grown up in India, Connecticut, and San Diego, Indian music was never far from his sphere of influence.

His mother Medha Yodh was a well known South Indian Karnatic dancer who taught at UCLA. Eric also listened to and studied classical music, completing a degree in composition at UCLA before launching himself headfirst into the world of jazz. The music of Stravinsky, Mahler, and JS Bach, loomed large in his life, as did the influence of rock and roll. However Bill Evans was perhaps his biggest influences as both pianist, bassist, and composer (Eric was also an accomplished jazz pianist and chromatic harmonica player). The music of Miles Davis and John Coltrane also loomed large in his life.

There is much more to be written about Eric, but nothing says it as well as the three volumes of his music that I produced for Cryptogramophone. All three volumes include tracks by the 5 different groups we recorded, plus a few cameo appearances to round out the efforts. The series has been very well received, and in 2003 NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday ran an 11 minute piece on Eric and the series on the occasion of the release of Volume III.

Below you'll find links to songs from all three volumes, plus a link to the NPR piece about Eric above. As always happens, Eric's memory has faded over time, but the music still sounds fresh and unique. Those of us who learned from him will always count him as one of our most profound teachers. He was incredibly generous with his knowledge and his music, and at the same time both patient and unrelenting. I've performed one of his tunes at every concert my own band has played since he died 11 years ago. This was never a conscious decision, I just couldn't bear the thought of a world without his music. However, now it has become a tradition that will probably continue. I hope that these three volumes will enable others who aren't familiar with his work to discover the Music of Eric von Essen.

Silvana from The Music of Eric von Essen Vol. I (Alan Pasqua - piano, Dave Carpenter - bass, Peter Erskine - drums)

Petite Rayone from The Music of Eric von Essen Vol. II (Jeff Gauthier - violin, Nels Cline - guitar, Mike Elizondo - bass, Alex Cline - drums)

One Eye Laughs, One Eye Weeps from The Music of Eric von Essen Vol. III.
words by Kate McGarry (Kate McGarry - voice, Karen Hammack - piano, Steve Cardenas - guitar, Scott Colley - bass, Kenny Wolleson - drums)

“Let It Rock” is the latest single by Kevin Rudolf from his debut album In the City. It features rapper Lil Wayne. The track was produced and written by Rudolf. The song has climbed to #5 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, number #8 on the U.S. Billboard Pop 100, and #6 on the Canadian Hot 100.

Click Here to Download Ringtone

Let It Rock Lyrics

I see your dirty face
High behind your collar
What is done in vain
Truth is hard to swallow
So you pray to God
To justify the way you live a lie, live a lie, live a lie
And you take your time
And you do your crime
Well you made your bed
I’m in mine

Because when I arive
I bring the fire
Make you come alive
I can take you higher
What is this, forgot?
I must now remind you
Let It Rock
Let It Rock
Let It Rock

Now the son’s discrased
He, who knew his father
When he cursed his name
Turned, and chased the dollar
But it broke his heart
So he stuck his middle finger
To the world
To the world
To the world
And you take your time
And you stand in line
Well you’ll get what’s yours
I got mine

Because when I arive
I bring the fire
Make you come alive
I can take you higher
What is this, forgot?
I must now remind you
Let It Rock
Let It Rock
Let It Rock

Yeah!
Wayne’s world
Planet Rock
Panties drop
And the tops
And she gunna rock ’til the camera stop
And I sing about angels like angelock-?
And pay m-?
A-?
A-?
A-?
?
I’m in here up like b***h what’s up
Mechanic, me, I can fix you up
I can f**k you up
I can f**k you down
Shorty we can go wherever just pick a town
And the jewelry is louder than an A-?
Big xxx rocks like off the ground

Because when I arive
I bring the fire
Make you come alive
I can take you higher
What is this, forgot?
I must now remind you
Let It Rock
Let It Rock
Let It Rock

Because when I arive
I bring the fire
Make you come alive
I can take you higher
What is this, forgot?
I must now remind you
Let It Rock
Let It Rock
Let It Rock

Just Let It Rock
Let It Rock
Let It Rock
Let It Rock
Let It Rock

I’m back like I forgot somethin
I’m somethin
-? Rock rubbin’ rap runnin’
Miles like I’m trying to get a fat stomach
Like Wayne the personal trainer
My aim is perfect I’ll bang ya
Period, Like the remainder

(Kevin Rudolph)
I wish I could be
As cool as you
And I wish I could say
The things you do
But I can’t and I won’t live a lie
No not this time

Click Here to Download Ringtone

Let It Rock Video | Kevin Rudolf & Lil Wayne

WW: Have you seen—I don’t know how into YouTube clips you are—but have you seen Josh Groban at the Emmys?

Mando Blanco: Okay, I love YouTube clips! I spend hours on YouTube sometimes, it’s really awful.

What are your favorites?

MB: There’s so many.

There seriously are.

MB: Did you ever see the break-dancing baby? That one freaks me out. There’s footage of a little baby break-dancing. Like a two-year-old like crazy break-dancing. That one’s crazy.

Have you seen Posh Spice’s son breakdance?

MB: No.

Alright. Cause he’s young too. He’s like three and he breakdances. I’ll send you that.

MB: Yeah, please. But this kid… I guess his dad was/is a breakdancer. He just does these somersaults and pulls himself up with his hands. It’s like crazy. That one’s pretty fun.

And ummm… my friend showed me one recently that’s pretty crazy. It’s some nature thing. It’s a bald eagle attacking a goat. It was the weirdest thing. It’s this eagle that swoops down, grabs the goat by it leg—I mean it’s awful, but it’s so memorable—and like pulls it down, pulls it off the cliff so the goat hits a rock and then kills it. I had never seen anything like that.

Well I just had one pop in my head and now…

MB: The Josh Groban one.

I will tell you that one, but there was one that I’ve just recently seen that clicked when you said “nature,” but I can’t remember. But anyway, yes—he was at the Emmy’s this year. It’s quite possibly the best thing I’ve ever seen while at the same time the worst thing. He did like 60 different theme songs in like a couple minutes—just doing quick soundbites. He does the South Park one, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and he does the Simpsons. It’s just frightening. I had to watch it over and over.

Soulja Boy—have you seen all those? The how-to in the pool and then all the crazy ones.

MB: Wait the Soulja Girl?

AR: No, she’s talking about the actual song.

MB: Oh the actual song? I haven’t actually. A big one for us though is the Soulja Girl. Have you seen that?

I’ve seen one of these girls outside singing about Soulja Girl.

MB: Oh no, we have to send you that one.

AR: It’s this girl that goes fucking nuts on a train and it was just randomly filmed. It’s this girl losing her shit on a train. She starts yelling at this old lady and she starts singing: “Soulja Girl” like “Soulja Boy” and starts dancing.

MB: She changes the lyrics.

AR: She’s changes ‘em to like insult her. It’s so crazy.

MB: It’s so awful. It’s kinda sad.

AR: It’s sad, but at the same time it’s really fascinating.

MB: Like still to this day—this came out a few months ago and it’s still a part of our vocabulary.

AR: Like we just quote her off-hand all the time.

MB: Even like after a few shows, we’d end our set with it.

AR: Or in the middle of a show, we’ll go like “Chill Shorty” and one of our roommates in the audience will be like quoting her too. It’s pretty funny. You have to see that one.

I seriously will. I’ll watch that one and you watch Josh Groban. It’s frightening. Then he does “Suicide is Painless” and has a chorus-line of dancing girl and it’s like, ummm, okay…

To bring our discussion full circle, here’s a clip that none of us discussed, but that I just found in the process of compiling these clips together. Yes, it’s Soulja Boy meets South Park:

Links:
Magic JohnsonSpace
YouTube

Photo by Nilina Mason-Campbell

Rocks Off will assume Dan Aykroyd needs no introduction to most of the English- and Canadian-speaking worlds. Every bit as passionate and knowledgeable about music as Harley-Davidsons, Aykroyd also co-founded House of Blues in 1992. In case you somehow hadn't heard, House of Blues Houston (1204 Caroline) is smack in the middle of its opening week, which climaxes at tomorrow night's invite-only show - click here for a chance to win passes - with Aykroyd, Jim Belushi and the rest of the Blues Brothers Band.

Around noon, Rocks Off sat down with the star of Ghostbusters, Grosse Pointe Blank and the forthcoming War, Inc. - and the first Saturday Night Live alum to be nominated for an Oscar, for 1989's Driving Miss Daisy - in HOB Houston's hyper-posh VIP lounge the Foundation Room to talk about as much as we could squeeze into 15 minutes.

Photo by Jay Lee

Dan Aykroyd: Our keyboard and Hammond B-3 player is Glen Clark, who was a major collaborator with Delbert McClinton for many years; they wrote many songs together and Glen traveled with Delbert. Our drummer’s Tony Brownigal – he’s from Houston, and he is also the producer of the Phantom Blues Band and he produces Taj Mahal’s records.

Johnny Lee Shell is a Texas-born guitar player who played with Bonnie Raitt for many years. He was her right-hand man. J.J. Holliday is our guitarist from California. He’s played with Bob Dylan and also has his own band the Imperial Crowns. Fantastic artist. Larry Derma is from Texas I believe – he’s definitely from Texas, I don’t know what town. Dime Box, I think, or Farwell or some place. He’s a bass player who’s been in numerous records and bands over the years.

We have the Texicali Horns, Joe Sublett and Darrell Leonard, who were named by Stevie Ray Vaughan. They are two horns who sound like four. It’s just a compilation of the best studio cats around, and recording cats and producers and Grammy winners. It’s very strongly a Texas band.

Photo by Jay Lee

RO: Any guests? I heard Eddie Floyd might be around.

DA: Ahhhh. If he’s around, he’s more than welcome to jam with us. I love him. He’s great. We have Wanda King opening and Guitar Shorty, so that’s going to be very exciting, and I’m bringing Jeff Baxter from the Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan, one of the great world-class guitar players. He’ll be there as well.

RO: What was your first blues experience?

DA: Well, I grew up in Ottawa, Canada. It was a government town, an academic town, and there was a booker there named Harvey Black who used to bring the best musicians in the world to his club. I guess Howlin’ Wolf was the first artist I saw, and I saw him dozens and dozens of times.

Howlin' Wolf/ www.artsbycraft.com

RO: Did many people like that come up that way?

DA: Ummm… yep. We had John Lee Hooker, we had Howlin’ Wolf, we had O.V. Wright, we had Otis Spann, S.P. Leary. I jammed behind Muddy Waters one night onstage there. B.B. King, Paul Butterfield, Charlie Musselwhite, Albert King – saw ‘em all, because it was a university town, an academic town, a town that appreciated blues music and culture. And so as a kid I saw basically everybody – James Cotton, everybody.

RO: Which style of blues are you most partial to?

DA: My favorite movement in American music is the Stax/Volt movement. Eddie Floyd, Wilson Pickett, Sam & Dave, Otis Redding, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas. When Steve Cropper and Duck Dunn joined the Blues Brothers Band, that’s when we really became a legitimate act and when the music really became dominant. They were Otis Redding’s guitar players, and for them to recognize that we were doing a valid musical thing really, really put the stamp on the band as a real element.

RO: I wanted to show you this. This is something that just opened last week – it’s a local artists’ collective in the Third Ward that just brought in several artists to create – each house is like a different gallery. I just wanted to ask you about Lightnin’ Hopkins.

DA: Yeah, well, he is right there in the Texas pantheon. Lightnin’, T-Bone Walker, Freddie King. The thing about Lightnin’ is he sort of redefined electric guitar. He was a sharper player than many others, more of a lead player than say like Charlie Christian or some of the other players who were rhythm/acoustic players. Lightnin’ really plugged in, and he is responsible for influencing so many other guitar players. A massive influence.

RO: If he were alive today, do you think he would play House of Blues?

DA: Sure. If we paid him enough. Absolutely. He would be perfect. You know, we’ve had [longtime Howlin’ Wolf guitarist] Hubert Sumlin come and play, and we’ve had all the artists that are in the field today. They come. Buddy Guy – I jammed with him the other night. It was great. He played New Orleans for us.

Photo by Chris Gray

RO: What do you think of this venue, the Houston club?

DA: Well, it’s like the Dallas club in that it’s a big, jumbo, Texas-size club. Beautiful, beautiful big showroom – couldn’t be happier. Our preference when we build these House of Blues is to come in to a place and build a place that’s one-off, that’s purpose-built for the audience and the musicians to have an interface together. We’ve had to wedge ourselves into a couple of Woolworth’s stores – we had one in Cleveland, one in San Diego.

But we don’t like that as much as being able to build from raw space. Here, we were able to work with the developer and get everything we wanted. Big huge, huge kitchen, massive loading-dock facility, great big stage, so I think this is perfectly, perfectly Texas-style. And perfectly jumbo for the community. Of all the clubs, I think the Dallas and Houston ones are the ones where we’ve been able to do everything we’ve wanted.

RO: Is this the first House of Blues that’s part of a big development like the Pavilions?

DA: No, we had one in Cleveland, the downtown Flats district. The one in Dallas is also part of the Victory development. Downtown Disney, the Disney West in Orlando, same kind of thing.

HOB Houston's Foundation Room

RO: How hands-on were you in the process of getting this thing off the ground?

DA: Well, I was an investor. I put money into it, and I put my name and, you know, the celebrity value behind it and the ability to get media to come to it. But it’s Isaac Tyworth’s concept. He is the genius designer behind what you see here – the décor and the food. He designed everything, right down to the Louisiana menu. The dining room, the whole concept. I was merely the mouthpiece and actually remain that today.

Photo by Mark C. Austin

RO: Did you get a chance to see any of Jay-Z’s show last night?

I did not. I was at a gallery viewing the works of my friend John Alexander, who is a Texas-based artist who has been a good friend of mine for many years. I went to this incredible, incredible gallery to see John’s work. He’s doing drawings of oil wells. They’re great. I forget the name of the gallery, but you should get over there. Great stuff. [Ed. Note: Elder Street Gallery, 1101 Elder, Suite 109.]

RO: Have you spent much time in Houston?

DA: I have kin here, actually. My wife’s cousin lives here. So we get down to see them. We played the Children’s Charities benefit last year. Jimmy [Belushi] and I did.

RO: Do you still do your radio show?

DA: Yes. We’re in the sixteenth year of production on that. Advertising new bands and treating the veterans with respect.

RO: Who are some of the newer people you’ve been playing lately?

DA: Well, of course I love Jonny Lang and Kenny Wayne Shepherd and [Blues Traveler’s] John Popper – they’re not so new-new-new, but certainly the next generation coming up. I love all the new artists: J.W. Jones, from Ottawa my hometown.

Dap-Tone Records

RO: Do you play stuff like Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings?

DA: Love Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings. We play her a lot, have interviewed her. I like Duffy too, that same kind of R&B sound. I hope that’s where live music is going. I think the Dap-Kings are heroes to me – they’re just great. They’re recreating that old Stax/Volt sound.

RO: Do you think music is getting more soulful these days?

DA: Certainly that type of music is, yeah. Absolutely. Sure. I don’t know – I don’t listen to radio too much. I just buy CDs.

RO: That kind of stuff seemed like it was gone for a long time, but now it’s really starting to come back. Why do you think that is?

DA: I think people are looking for more warmth in their music, and certainly horns give you that. A little more rhythm, and less of these staccato beats of rap and hip-hop. People are looking for something more warm and comfortable and soulful.

The original cast of Saturday Night Live

RO: As someone who’s done your fair share of both, what’s harder, music or comedy?

DA: Comedy’s the hardest thing to do. No doubt about it. It’s an exercise – you feel like you’re the astronaut who has to keep the ping-pong ball above the red line at all times. You have to continually keep an energy – stoke, stoke, stoke a performance. With comedy you can’t just lay back and sort of let it happen.

With music you can get in the groove of the song and the cradle of creativity, but with comedy, you’ve got to push it. You always have to push it. You have to keep it ignited, otherwise it disappears, it just no longer works. It’s got to be a focused, concentrated effort. You feel like you’re engraving when you’re doing comedy. For that intense time when the camera rolls and you’ve got three or four minutes to engrave that scene, and your energy has to be very high. I find it hard.

RO: Did you ever get starstruck by some of the musical guests on Saturday Night Live?

DA: [Laughs] Yeah, well, the Stones. Definitely the Stones, and Linda Ronstadt. All the time. Absolutely.

Tina Fey as Gov. Sarah Palin

RO: What do you think of the show’s prominent role in this campaign right now?

DA: I think they’re doing the best political satire of anybody on TV, because [of] the impressionists and the writing, and I believe it has an influence. Either way, it’s got an influence. People are affected when they watch it. I don’t know if it’s going to swing any votes either way, but it definitely makes people think about the candidates and, you know, how real or how deceitful they can be.

RO: Do you think it does a good job spoofing both sides of the aisle?

DA: It does. I think it does. I think it’s fair. That’s always what Lorne [Michaels] wanted. He’s not coming out on the side of one candidate or the other.

Bill Murray, Aykroyd and Harold Ramis in Ghostbusters

RO: I keep hearing that Bill Murray’s in town. Have you seen him?

DA: In Houston? No. I don’t know why he’d be here.

Jay Lee (photographer): He’s supposed to be shooting a film.

DA: In town? Really?

RO: He was definitely at the Austin City Limits festival. Have you ever been to that?

DA: I haven’t. I hear it’s great, though.

RO: Last thing I’ll ask you: Do people ever come up to you and quote lines from your movies, and you have no idea what they’re talking about?

DA: Let me try to think. I usually know the references. I don’t think there’s too many that I wouldn’t know. – Chris Gray

 Following my post on Bill Evans' Alone, Again, in which I assert that the lesser-known 1975 album is the pianist's finest solo recording, Jan Stevens, host of The Bill Evans Web Pages, touched base and pushed back:

"I have to take issue with some observations you made. You called Bill's Here's That Rainy Day  "painfully slow," adding, "It's just a rainy day, not the Johnstown Flood." The humor aside, there are even slower versions, and with greater public prominence, such as Frank Sinatra's and those by various female vocalists as well.  It is a ballad, after all. And a woeful and sad tale of lost love, if you're familiar with Johnny Burke's lyric.

Evans creates that mood on Alone, running the tune in three keys with his patented tone colors in the harmonic movement. He plays with great control and feeling, but then even swings the middle chorus! So your meaning here is unclear to me. It is a celebrated performance among pianists and serious fans, and chosen for one of six complete note-for-note transcriptions for the Artistry of Bill Evans, Vol. 2 piano book.

The other Alone tunes you cite as being "virtually the same pace" as Here's That Rainy Day are also, of course, ballads. Never Let Me Go runs for over 14 minutes. That Bill was totally involved so expressively should be evident. It took up all of Side Two on the original vinyl release.

The reason Alone Again is largely forgotten is that the first Alone album is considered by many to be far superior to it, certainly by many jazz pianists, anyway. There are a few riches to be had in it, but the playing is aggressively harsh and void of his earlier attention to gradations in dynamics in many spots.  Besides, most of the tunes he had done before, and often better.

Please note: Bill's version of People has no improvisation at all. He just played the song several times in various keys (this was specifically cited by the original Down Beat review). It also has a somewhat perfunctory quality, compared to many other solo performances.

You also said Alone, Again "may be one of Evans' finest recordings of the 1970s," which is difficult to accept, even if we are staying with the specifics of the solo things. It would be very hard to compare it to the mesmerizing solo version of Duke Ellington's Reflections in D from the 1978 New Conversations recording, or We Will Meet Again, Bill's heartfelt tribute to his beloved brother Harry from You Must Believe in Spring (recorded in 1977) among others!

I also recommend you listen to Solo Sessions Vols. 1 and 2.  Recorded in late 1963 but released posthumously by producer Orrin Keepnews, these recordings show many other sides of Evans' solo work. Though some of it can be called meandering, and Evans is clearly working internally and even frustratingly on some things, tracks such as Airegin, Our Love Is Here to Stay and All The Things You Are are so engagingly "up" and swinging you can barely catch a breath.

I saw Bill perform live many times in New York and Boston in the 1970s and, with one exception, I recall him playing solo piano each time. Sometimes, it got the loudest applause of all!"

Alone, Again (Again). Reader Raul also suggested I give Bill Evans' Solo Sessions (1963) a re-listen to evaluate Vols. 1 and 2 against Alone and Alone, Again:

"I just read your piece on Bill Evans. In my opinion the Solo Sessions are far superior to Alone. Please pay particular attention to My Favorite Things on Vol. 1. Absolutely sensational."

Autumn in New York. I received quite a few emails last week in response to my two-part post on Vernon Duke's Autumn in New York. Some writers were surprised I left out specific versions while others offered up their own favorites that missed my list:

From Terry Teachout, Wall Street Journal drama critic and author of A Cluster of Sunlight: The Life of Louis Armstrong, due from Harcourt next fall:

"My favorite version is by George Shearing and Brian Torff, on their first duet album for Concord, which also contains Billy Taylor's One for the Woofer. In the coda, Shearing quotes from the slow movement of Rachmaninoff's Second Symphony, gorgeously."

From WKCR-NY disk jockey "Symphony" Sid Gribetz:

The Clifford Brown All Stars Jam Session (EmArcy, 1954) with Clifford Brown (trumpet), Herb Geller and Joe Maini (alto sax), Walter Benton (tenor sax), Kenny Drew (piano), Curtis Counce (bass) and Max Roach (drums).

Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and His Trio (Roost, 1958) with Shirley Scott (organ), George Duvivier (bass) and Arthur Edgehill (drums).

From jazz saxophonist, historian and writer Bill Kirchner:

"I have a special fondness for two versions. One is on George Russell's New York, N.Y. (Decca, 1958), featuring pianist Bill Evans. The other is by Jonathan and Darlene Edwards [comedic pseudonyms for pianist-arranger Paul Weston and singer/wife Jo Stafford]."

From Jazz.com's Alan Kurtz:

"Marc, I am flabbergasted (and, as Steve Allen used to say, if you've ever had your flabber gasted, you know how painful that can be) that you managed to pick 20 recordings of Autumn in New York yet overlooked what is both vocally and instrumentally the finest ever, by the immortal husband and wife team of Jonathan and Darlene Edwards."

From Jason Crane, host of TheJazzSession:

"Great selections all. My favorite is Mel Torme's version from Sunday in New York & Other Songs About New York (Atlantic, 1963)."

From reader Scott Silbert:

"I would add to your list the lovely chart that the late Gene Puerling wrote for the Hi-Lo's on the LP All Over the Place (Columbia, 1960)."

Shorty Rogers. Reader Chuck Diaz emailed his touching memories of trumpeter Shorty Rogers and Bob Andrews, a record store owner on the West Coast:

"What a blast from the past.  I just received West Coast Jazz, the four-CD Shorty Rogers box from Proper Records. Out of the clear blue it mentions Bob Andrews on page 15 of the booklet.  Bob Andrews is the man I met when I was 15 working at the Food Giant market in Hawthorne, CA.  He was managing the record department of a music store that was across the street.  I used to buy all my records from him.

"We became good friends and he is the person who took me to the Lighthouse the first time I went there.  He introduced me to all the Lighthouse All-Stars, and I became a fixture there for a while. In August of 1953 I turned 16 and had my own 1941 Ford and could get to the Lighthouse on my own.

During that same time period Bob opened his own record store on Redondo Beach Blvd. called Recordville. I painted the storefront name on the building on a sign above the building.  I was an art student and also used to paint posters of latest album releases to advertise them in his store. I especially remember one that I did for Shorty’s Cool and Crazy.

Bob also took me to the party that was held at the Lighthouse when Shorty, Jimmy and Shelly left and Bud Shank, Max Roach began. Bob had always treated me so kindly, and he was the primary influence or avenue that brought me to love West Coast Jazz and Shorty Rogers.

I find it amazing that the tapes he made have survived the decades and I’m now hearing them again for the first time in over 50 years. I don't know how old Bob was at the time, but I thought he was in his 30s. Do any of your readers know what happened to him and if he's still alive?"

Sonny Rollins. Reader Alan Kaplinsky asked last week whether I had seen this clip of Sonny Rollins with Leonard Cohen. I hadn't. But here's yet another example of what makes Sonny so special. From The Rolling Stones to Cohen, Sonny comes to play. Bret Primack tells me the clip is from Night Music, a late 1980s TV show that was co-hosted by alto saxophonist David Sanborn.

Billy Taylor. Video maestro Bret Primack sent along links to four juicy segments featuring pianist Billy Taylor from the 1958 TV show The Subject Is Jazz. The links are here, here, here and here.

Benny Golson. Reader David Langer passed along a tip about a recently issued CD featuring two classic Benny Golson albums:

"You've had some great posts lately; I've just been crazy busy and haven't had the chance to tell you. I especially liked the Benny Golson interview, as he is one of my heroes (I play and arrange jazz). A couple of small things: One of the coolest sides Benny was involved with was recently reissued—Brass Shout by Art Farmer, for which Benny wrote some of the most gorgeous brass choir charts for Art. Indeed, this gorgeous record must be heard to be believed. 

To sweeten the deal, Blue Note packaged it with the sister Art Farmer United Artists' album from the same period, The Aztec Suite with compositions and arrangements by Chico O'Farrill. You can see it here."

English recollections. U.K. reader Brian Hope sent along this email:

"I'm sure that I'm too late really in offering my thanks and congratulations, you have already received thousands I'm sure. I have been a jazz fan since about 1943 when I used to run home from school (3 miles) to listen to Duffle Bag on AFN Europe. It was mostly swing then but the bug bit deeply, and I'm still what my children always called a jazz freak. Not a day goes by without my listening avidly (like now, Gerry Mulligan playing Blues Going Up). The depth shown and the contacts made at JazzWax are delightful. May you go on for a very long time. My children increasingly ask me to fill their iPods so it has finally got through, and now I add selections from your columns whenever appropriate. In the past few days I have been reading In the Spirit of Jazz by Otis Ferguson and, like you, he draws me back and expands my education. Wonderful, thank you very much."

Count Basie. Last week (October 6), Michael Steinman, host of JazzLives had a superb post entitled "Basie's Bad Boys," about a four-tune Chicago recording session on February 13, 1939. The tracks appear on Mosaic's Lester Young/Count Basie Sessions 1936-1940 box set.

Johnny Green. David Brent Johnson, host of WFIU's Night Lights, just featured a two-parter on composer Johnny Green (Body and Soul, Out of Nowhere and I Cover the Waterfront) and jazz interpretations of Green's [pictured] songs. As always, the programs were superb. Listen to the podcast for free here.

Clifford Brown's birthday. Mark your calendar. WKCR-FM will celebrate Clifford Brown's birthday on October 30 by playing the trumpeter's recordings for 24 hours. WKCR can be accessed anywhere in the world on the web by going here. In New York, the station is at 89.9 on the FM band.

Oscar Peterson. As part of my monthly series of on-air interviews with disk jockey Ralph Benmergul of Jazz.FM91, Canada's largest jazz radio station, Ralph and I discuss Oscar Peterson and Mosaic's Complete Clef/Mercury Recordings of Oscar Peterson box set. To hear a podcast of last week's radio segment, go here.

(My voice sounds like I'm talking from a shoebox buried inside a linen closet, so I'm researching headsets and other phone gear that will deliver my voice more clearly. If you have recommendations, please email them along.)

Jazziz. I forgot to mention—if you pick up a copy of this month's Jazziz magazine, don't miss Birth of a Blog, the endpager I penned on how JazzWax got its start back in July 2007.