Sound Minds

"Operates For Months on 3 Ordinary Flashlight Batteries!" [ahem] Let's hear if for Mad Ave. and its timeless ability to hedge its bets. From the November 21st issue of The New Yorker magazine.

"Here are five illustrious ladies, all of whom are in the class known as Peerless Performers. All are so expert at 'tickling the ivories' that they have won important places in the honor roll of American jazz. They are, to put it concisely, Queens of the Keyboard. Each one has her distinctive style, yet all of them have that pianistic manner which is characteristic and non-masculine..." Blah, blah, blah... Seriously, the whole back cover of this Decca 10"/EP drips with reassurance that women aren't stealing away Men's Sacred Manly Magic by daring to play jazz. Gah. Anyway, it's a lovely design, though it has diddly to do with the styles of music actually on the record. YouTube can help you hear what these talented women sounded like, all except Ann Jenkins. Sadly, there seems to be nothing readily available about her on the 'net. More details about the record can be found here.

Cover of a 45 RPM "single" with two short instrumentals on each side. Barbara Carroll penned them in her signature bop-meets-cabaret style. Born in 1924, she's still playing and singing today. You can find her homepage here .

Cover design by "Guldi, Trivas/Tri-Arts." "To call Mary Lou Williams the greatest woman pianist, arranger, and composer in present-day popular music is easy-- and accurate. But this qualified superlative seriously minimizes the importance of Miss Williams as an artist, for her talents easily override arbitrary barriers of sex and, indeed, of time..." -- Mike Butcher , from the writing on the back cover. Duke Ellington put it more succinctly: "She is soul on soul." She was.

"During the past decade, modern jazz has been the spearhead in widening the audience for jazz in general-- and as the head of that spear, the piano has opened ears that hitherto had been closed to what, to them, were the harsher sounds of the trumpet, trombone and saxophone..." -- Ira Gitler, from the notes on back.

"...And it perks your breakfast coffee if you desire." Just don't let your college-educated coffee pot know about this. Anything could happen.

Marian McPartland - Piano Dave Bailey - Drums Ralph Dorsey - Conga Drum Bob Crowder - Tambourine "This album is quite different from anything that I have ever recorded. One of the interesting and unusual features is the addition of the conga drum and tambourine to my regular group. We have been playing the Bossa Nova since Dave Bailey joined the trio several months ago and demonstrated this new rhythm that he and Ben Tucker had heard while on tour earlier this year..."

"...Mildred Bailey's contribution to popular singing is almost immeasurable. Her style, with its warm feeling, its matchless phrasing and its almost unbelievable ease, has become not only a standard in its field but also an inspiration for all the girl singers who have followed in her tonsils' steps..." -- George T. Simon

"This is Dedicated Jazz-- the jazz of musicians who are proud of their musical heritage-- of the music they made with men of great musical distinction-- and who dedicate these very very recently-recorded offering to the leaders under whom they served who helped them achieve their own current eminence in jazz..." -- George T. Simon, from the notes on back

"I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree. A tree whose hungry mouth is prest Against the earth's sweet flowing breast; A tree that looks at God all day, And lifts her leafy arms to pray; A tree that may in summer wear A nest of robins in her hair; Upon whose bosom snow has lain; Who intimately lives with rain. Poems are made by fools like me, But only God can make a tree." -- Joyce Kilmer

See this page for a better view of a similar radio. (I based the "circa" here on their info.) R: "Or you can vary the timing gears for different playing limits." Oh, I'm pretty sure that the motel managers were far too ethical back then to engage in such low-minded trickery! I hear nobody in those days ever got cancer or cheated on their spouses, either... Front and back sections of a fold-out promo.

Sure does look like one luxuriant, welcoming hotel suite. I've gotta' give 'em that... :/

I spent countless hours in my first two decades of life hanging around Asbury Park. I can't believe that nobody ever told me before how my neighbors by the sea were the geniuses responsible for bringing TRADIOS into the world! You can keep your waxen saltwater taffy and your Stone Ponies and all that jive. I now won't rest until I've made the mystic pilgrimage back East to claim a TRADIO™ of my very own! No expense will be spared! That retirement fund isn't doing squat where it is right now, anyway...

I've been to so many vintage shops, but I've never seen even one of these amazing action figures. :( From the November issue of Sunset magazine.

I don't think this tune really compares to Pete's original, but hopefully he made lots of dough off it. ;)

This thing was in really good shape. Someone didn't spend much time at their piano, I bet.

I only play Hair Metal Art Songs, but you do you. :P

"A velour musical pattern by Peter De Rose in four movements, inspired by the blaze of rich colors in the rainbow.The first of the four is the 'majestic' movement, which establishes the central melodic strain. The second, the 'jazz' movement, depicts the riot of colors outlined against the sunburst in the beautiful spectrum forming its arc against a sky of azure blue..."