March 10th, 2001: Sorry for the recent lack of updates and unresponsiveness to e-mail. Life has been a bit crazy recently, and I don't expect it to get any less crazy over the next few weeks.

There are several new albums of interest; I'll report as soon as I get them.

Thanks for all the "In Walked Bud" help; I think we've got that sorted out now.

I've had two requests concerning "In Walked Bud" from Thelonious Monk's Underground: one for lyrics, one for proper credit for them. If anyone knows, drop me a line.

January 6th, 2001: Kurt Elling Live in Chicago is nominated for a Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album. (Actually, this is much less exciting when you remember this is the third or fourth time it has happened to him. Oh well.)

December 25th, 2000: George V. Johnson, Jr. is the main act for a New Year's Eve party, December 31st, at the Twins Lounge, 5516 Colorado Avenue, NW Washington DC, 202-882-2523.

Also, there's a bit of info on his new album, "LIVE @ JAZZINN". The release date is January 10th, and the world premiere will be the 1st on KUNM 12:00pm (2:00 pm Eastern Standard Time) and live on the Internet. Here's all the info.

November 21st, 2000: Finally got the first draft of my short Hendricks & Ross review up. One other interesting tidbit I picked up at the show -- Jon is now teaching at the University of Toledo.

A bunch of exciting news from George V. Johnson, Jr., too. Let's see "10th Annual LA Music Awards 2000 Nominates Jazz Vocalist George V. Johnson, Jr. BEST JAZZ ARTIST for the CD Next In Line!" The awards will be webcast live tonight (Tuesday November 21) at 11:30 Eastern, at http://www.lamusicawards.com/index2.html. (No indication if GVJ will be singing for it.)

Also, Friday December 1st and Saturday December 2nd, GVJ's 50th Birthday Party Celebration. Twins Lounge, 5516 Colorado Avenue, NW Washington DC $15.00 (3) sets 9:30 / 11:00 / 12:30 Limited Seating/RSVP 202-882-2523 http://www.dcjazz.com.

But best of all, it seems he's recorded a new live CD. More info as soon as I've gotten it.

October 19th, 2000: David Booth writes looking for information about a particular recording, he things of "Route 66". He thinks it sounds like Mark Murphy. Part of the spoken section goes as follows:

I only met Nat King Cole once... I went backstage in a roadhouse he was working at in a little town where I grew up called Syracuse, NY... I gave him my first album...he didn't look absolutely thrilled but I did notice that he looked kinda tired... you know now I understand why...cause when you are on the road you are always tired...

Going to see "Hendricks and Ross sing the Lambert, Hendricks & Ross Songbook" tonight. Report tomorrow.

July 11th, 2000: I've added the new Kurt Elling Live in Chicago -- Out Takes CD to his page, as well as some comments on his recent show at the Bird of Paradise. Word at the show was that he is this year's choice for Downbeat magazine male jazz vocalist of the year.

April 28th, 2000: Two quickies: I've ordered the debut CD of +4db, which contains acappella covers of "Cottontail" and "Those Clouds Are Heavy, You Dig?". More info as soon as I have it.

And I've learned that the duo of Hendricks and Ross will be performing at Orchestra Hall in Detroit on October 19th.

If any one has any more information on what those two are up to, I'll be happy to post it. (Or information on any other vocalese performer.)

February 15th, 2000: A month ago I posted a rumor that The Manhattan Transfer recorded Vocalese II last summer. Now I see the fan club is web page is reporting the next album will be a tribute to Louis Armstrong, with a tenative release date of August. Now, if it just turns out to be a tribute to Louis Armstrong featuring lyrics by Jon Hendricks...

February 8th, 2000: I've now got copies of Jon Hendricks' old album Love (recently re-released on CD) and LHR's Watermelon Man. The former is something to look for, the latter quite a rip-off. More info on the respective pages.

January 22nd, 2000: Kurt Elling's new album, Live in Chicago hit the stores on January 11th. Jon Hendricks joins Kurt on two songs, and it's got three new Elling vocaleses, so this is a must have.