a
"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 08 Nov 2008 20:09:31 GMT, the infamous "Harold and Susan
Vordos" scrawled the following:


"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
. ..
On Fri, 07 Nov 2008 05:37:41 GMT, the infamous "Harold and Susan
Vordos" scrawled the following:
snip---

For composers, it's hard to beat John Lewis, the pianist for MJQ.
Absolute
genius!

He's/They're good, too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmpLtYmSlvM

Can't thank you enough for that link. My DSL is new, not even a month
old,
so I have not explored much (too busy with the building project). I
had
no idea there was anything like that available.

Youtube is full of great music. Check it out. Also, several CD
mongers have 30-second samples of all music online, so you can get the
feel of a CD before buying it. AND, with the advent of MP3, they
started selling individual songs, so you can cut your own CD with only
music you like.


MJQ is amongst my favorites. Just before leaving Utah, they performed
at
Utah State College, a drive in excess of 200 miles for us. The front
three rows were unoccupied, so my bride insisted we sit up front, which we
did. Center, second row. For encores, they played all the songs I
shouted out. We felt highly honored to have them play for us. In
all
my years, I saw them perform only three times.

How cool was THAT? I'm jealous.


They did not venture to Utah much.

Ah reckon not, 'Arry. Not too many Mormon jazz fans, wot?

Surprisingly, Brubeck played Salt Lake City a great deal in his early
years. There was considerable support for jazz there, thanks to a dj named
Wes Bowen. A nasty individual, with a personality like a rattlesnake, but
excellent taste in music and a wonderful persona on the air.

Through the years we had many great names in jazz play in the Salt Lake
Valley. MJQ, Jacques Loussier, Oscar Peterson, Brubeck, Herbie Mann, Gene
Harris (with the Three Sounds), Clark Terry, Ray Brown, Sweets Edison,
Erroll Garner, Les McCann, Mose Allison, Eddy Harris, Lionel Hampton, and
more. Even the likes of Les Brown. All good stuff, Maynard.


They're all dead now, the last one dying about two years ago. A great
loss for the jazz community, to be sure.

Ayup, but it's a fact of life. Did you see my post a couple weeks ago
about the disease called "life"?

It's a 100% fatal, sexually-transmitted disease.

I did not. I haven't been reading much of late, with too much on my plate.
The last few days I've had to make time. Did I miss anything good?


Mom's saddened by all the people she knew who are slowly dying out.
She used to send out something like 140 Christmas cards each year. Now
she's down to fewer than two dozen.

Yep. Being 69, I am now the "old folks". I look back on my youth and
wonder how I got where I am today.

One of the things I miss the most is the gatherings of the old country
Greeks. As a group, we used to go to Butterfield Canyon, where a lamb would
be cooked on the spit. It was a big affair----with a huge turnout. All
dead now.

Harold