Podcast: Random Rollins

This week’s theme: Random Sonny Rollins, circa 1956, 1957, 1958. Other featured artists include Max Roach, Clifford Brown, Ray Brown, Shelley Manne, Richie Powell, George Morrow, Kenny Dorham, Abbey Lincoln, Hampton Hawes, Barney Kessel, Wade Legge, and more.

The Artificial Intelligence Version of JazzCollector.com

Have any of you tried ChatGPT for artificial intelligence? I have been using it for a work project, and it’s been a pretty fascinating experience. I can see that the type of work of been doing for the past 16 years, basically writing about the convergence of business and technology, will likely be almost completely taken over by AI within the next few years.  I am using ChatGPT 4, which is the most sophisticated version. I am bringing that up because my system stopped responding for a few minutes this morning, so to get it restarted, I typed in a topic I know quite a bit about: Jazz Collector. I asked two questions: What can you tell me about JazzCollector.com? Who is the main person responsible for JazzCollector.com. The response came back in less than one minute. I thought you might all be interested, below. BTW, the picture accompanying this article has nothing to do with the article. Just thought I’d post a picture of one of my favorite covers, so as not to mess up the format. Anyway, here’s what artificial intelligence has to say about Jazz Collector and me: Read more

Podcast: Jazz-y Blues, Blues-Y Jazz

This week’s theme is blues-influenced jazz and jazz-influenced blues. Artists include Lavern Baker, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Horace Silver, Billie Holiday, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Roy Eldridge, Jimmy Rushing, Big Joe Turner, Count Basie, Lambert Hendricks and Ross, Joe Williams.

And Now, On Tenor Sax, We Bring You the Great Booker Erwin

Did you know that Booker Erwin is the tenor sax player on the album Mingus Ah Um? Or that it is the tenor saxophone that Sonny Stitt plays on the album Saxophone Supremacy? Or that John Coltrane wrote the song Afro Blue on the Impulse album Live at Birdland? I didn’t know any of this because none of it is true. Except that’s what it says in the liner notes or on the labels. In the process of doing my weekly two-hour radio show/podcast I’m discovering a surprisingly large number of typos and misinformation on liner notes. I was playing the Verve Dizzy Gillespie album Sonny Side Up with Sonny Rollins and Sonny Stitt. I looked at the liner notes for On the Sunny Side of the Street. It said quite clearly that Rollins has the opening solo and then Stitt has the solo after Dizzy. Listen to the record. Read more

Jazz Vinyl: Where’s the Action?

Things have been hectic around here, to say the least. My wife, known to many of you as The Lovely Mrs. JC, had a retinal detachment in August and has since been through three surgeries and two laser procedures. We’ve been driving back and forth between New York and The Berkshires almost every week. Fingers crossed that the third surgery was the charm. In the meantime, I’m thankful I’ve been able to continue doing my radio show on WTBR-FM Pittsfield, which are also the podcasts that appear on the Jazz Collector web site. I have never done anything like this before and it’s giving me a lot of enjoyment. Plus it’s getting me back into the music, even more than the records, which, IMHO, is always a good thing. But there are still records out there and, I assume eBay is still in business, so I will swing over there now and do my first search in well over a month. And what do I find? Read more

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