In response to the many e-mails, cards, letters, faxes and telephone calls I’ve received about the status of “Gene Krupa: The Pictorial Life of a Jazz Legend,” we offer the following update: 

Warner Bros. Publications, the company that first released the DCI Music Videos on Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich and the Legends of Jazz Drumming series, has been acquired by the Alfred Publishing Company. The sale was first announced December 16 of last year. 

These things happen in the book business, and in the music business, and in any business. Who was that philosopher who once said, “The only thing constant is change?” 

While I am indeed disappointed that my great friends at Warners are no longer with the company, I can tell you unequivocally that I have been welcomed by the “new regime” with open arms. “Link” Harnsberger and Dave Black have been wonderful during this confusing and complex time. They’ve welcomed my input and opinions and appear to be interested in pursuing my various ideas for new DVDs and books. Number one in that regard is the pursuit of the wide, commercial release of our”Championship Jazz” project (the un-aired television pilot that pitted the Gene Krupa Jazz Quartet versus The Dukes of Dixieland in 1962). The idea is to issue this rare program, along with another half-hour of vintage Krupa footage and/or another half-hour of never-issued film from some other drumming legends. 

For those of you unfamiliar with Alfred Publishing, they are no young upstart. This singular company has been around for more than 80 years, with offices worldwide, with artists and clinicians on a stellar roster that includes Louis Bellson, Peter Erskine, David Garibaldi, Steve Houghton, and arranger Don Sebesky. And that’s just a small sampling. Their instructional materials for percussion, band, keyboards, woodwinds, choir, brass, etc., are unparalled in this industry. I seriously urge all of our www.JazzLegends.com friends to visit www.Alfred.com on the web and take a look at their essential product line. 

While “Gene Krupa: The Pictorial Life of a Jazz Legend” represents something of a departure for Alfred, the principals are excited about it, and they do assure me that there will, in fact, “be a book.” And to tell you the truth, that’s all I need to know! 

God bless and keep swingin! We’ll keep you updated. 

Dr. Bruce H. Klauber

There’s no rhyme or reason to Verve Records’ reissue program, especially when it comes to Gene Krupa. It often seems, in fact, that Gene really gets the short end of the stick (pardon the pun) when it comes to putting out vintage product on CD. As an example, the famed “Big Noise From Winnetka” CD is available only as an import, as are the “Sextet Sessions” compilations. Basically, only “Krupa and Rich” and the “Original Drum Battle” are commonly available, and none of these projects have any unissued or alternate takes, and no one even bothered to write a set of updated linear notes. Many of us remember when the “Original Drum Battle” was released on CD, and we had all hoped for a bunch of additional, unissued material. Other than restoring Ella Fitzgerald’s vocal on “Perdido,” there was nothing else new. 

“Gene Krupa Plays Gerry Mulligan Arrangements” is no exception. Recorded in 1958 with an all-star group that included Phil Woods, Hank Jones, Kai Winding, Urbie Green and many more, the recording received four stars from Down Beat magazine when it was reviewed in 1959. It was and it is superb, albeit not particularly inspiring. Mulligan’s charts, most written in 1946, held up when this was recorded and for the most part still hold up today. Though a couple of the songs could have used another take or so, it is generally well done. Gene is not really featured on this date, other than for a few breaks here and there, and you can hear that he’s really devoted to playing Mulligan’s charts properly. The charts are the star on this recording, and as a matter of fact, Mulligan actually conducted four of the twelve tunes on this outing. The other “star,” if there was one, was alto saxophonist Phil Woods’ playing. Every Woods’ solo is an absolute gem. The stereo sound, by the way, is fabulous, and you can really hear everything that was going on. 

What is terribly disappointing, though, is the lack of out takes, alternate takes, updated notes or any “extras” that we’ve come to expect from CD reissues. Although most of the Krupa discographers only list the master takes to this session, there simply had to be others during the course of these two recording dates. It is unlikely that every thing else, other than the masters, was destroyed. Most of the other artists who are the subject of Verve reissues, including Tal Farlow, Count Basie and many others, get the “full treatment.” Why not Gene? It makes one wonder why they put this thing out at all. 

“Gene Krupa Plays Gerry Mulligan Arrangements,” in terms of sound, is a 96KHG, 24-bit digital transfer. I’m not sure what that means, other than to report to you that the sound is great. Verve Records, now owned by an outfit called the Universal Music Company, informs that this CD will only be available until March, 2008. Presumably, that makes it a “limited edition,” which is another thing I can’t figure out. 

If any of our good supporters out there are having a problem finding this, let us know and I’ll make sure you get a copy. You should have it. I only wish there were more of it. 

Keep swingin’ 

Bruce Klauber

“Gene Krupa: The Pictorial Life of a Jazz Legend” is now in the final proofreading stages and we hope to have word any moment from Warner Bros. Publications. One of the reasons for delay on this and several other Warners’ products is because this division of WB was just sold to the Alfred Publishing Company. When the dust settles, which should be soon, Warners/Alfred plans to resume their full slate of video/DVD productions. The good news is that in addition to our extensive work for Hudson Music, we will be doing some rather special DVD projects with Warners/Alfred, including the possibility of a commercial release, with added footage, of the famed “Championship Jazz” television pilot with Gene Krupa and The Dukes of Dixieland, now available from us on “The Champ.” 

“Lionel Hampton:King of the Vibes,” our upcoming DVD tribute to the vibes president, will be released within the coming weeks by Hudson Music, and we will also make it available here. As previously mentioned, this is the first such project devoted solely to Hamp, and features footage through seven decades of swinging. We’re proud that our narrators are mallet legend Mike Mainieri, and in the section focusing on Hamp’s drumming, the one and only Steve Smith. 

Our good colleague Paul Testa has come up with another real “find” that we will be offering here very shortly. In 1968, Benny Goodman hosted a gala that celebrated the 30th anniversary of the legendary Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert. Many of the surviving players, including Gene, were in attendance that night and there was much media coverage of it. Paul has discovered many of the interviews done for radio broadcast that night, coupled with excerpts from the Carnegie Hall Concert itself. There was also a lot of jamming that went on that evening and we hope to be able to offer that on CD as well. 

Most all of our regular visitors are aware that we are now offering all of our VHS videos on DVD, in the DVD-R format. Please keep in mind, however, that we will continue to issue everything on VHS as well as DVD. 

Those net surfers out there know very well that Google is about the number one search engine out there, and that’s probably because they are about the best. Among the great programs they offer for those who have web sites like ours is called the “Google Ad Sense” program. This program automatically generates small ads that are appropriate to the page or pages surfers are viewing. In other words, on our pages that feature Gene Krupa merchandise, you’re likely to see ads for downloadable Krupa tunes, for Krupa items on e-bay, etc. Clicking on these ads, and there are many of them on most of our pages, really do help support us. No, no one has to buy anything. Just clicking on them helps keep us going, and who knows what other great stuff you might find? 

Finally, please feel free at any time to ask us for something on CD, books, video or DVD that you might be looking for. We have many, many items that are not listed on the site and we do, by the way, have access to pretty much everything by most of the drumming greats. That includes, by the way, the famed Tony Williams project that was very briefly issued on laser disc in Japan in the 1980s. Take advantage of this and please e-mail us at DrumAlive@aol.com 

In an interesting piece of business, we have found that the domain name–www.JazzLegends.com–is among the most valuable of its kind in the marketplace. Indeed, it’s “the only name to have in jazz.” We are considering changing the name of this site at some juncture to GeneKrupa.com (or dot org or dot biz), so if anyone out there knows anyone who would be interested in one of the great domain names of all time–JazzLegends.com–let us know. 

Let us take this opportunity to thank our customers, friends and supporters for your continued kind words, encouragement, and of course, your orders. We hope, pray and trust that you will continue to keep us going. 

God bless and keep swingin’ 

Bruce Klauber

There’s a wonderful article in the March 20, 2005 edition of the Sunday “Philadelphia Inquirer,” written in the first person, about a man who went into a major electronics store in search of a boom box that played CDs and tapes. Surprise! Those units are not made anymore. While you can certainly get tape players, they are no longer being included as a part of portable units. Reason? The kids don’t want, buy or need tape anymore. 

This development, which is really nothing new, might someday apply to VHS video tape. Certainly, VHS will always be “around” — just like LP records — so those who have VHS tapes will always need something to play them on. However, in terms of motion pictures and all other commercial product that you see in your local Blockbuster, VHS has been phased out and is pretty much gone. 

DVDs? They take a while getting used to, especially for those who were born long before the digital revolution. In the case of JazzLegends.com, though, there are distinct advantages. VHS is a mechanical medium, and because it is, things can and do go wrong. Copying a VHS tape always means losing a generation of quality. Consider the terrible quality of some of those Buddy Rich tapes that have been floating around for so many years. That probably wouldn’t have happened if the dupes were made from a top quality DVD. And of course, they take up less space, you can get to the programs’ “good parts” instantly, and they don’t deteriorate in quality. Just don’t scratch them. 

Warner Bros./DCI Music video is now in the process of putting most of their catalog on DVD. “Buddy Rich: Jazz Legend” and “Gene Krupa Jazz Legend” are already on DVD, “Legends of Jazz Drumming” will be shortly, and in the DVD process are the famed, “Buddy Rich Memorial Scholarship” concerts. All Hudson Music product has long been on DVD. 

We don’t know the age of our supporters at JazzLegends.com nor are we aware of how these friends of ours feel about the new technology or DVD versus VHS. What we do know is that the time has come where we have to offer our line of videos on DVD. These will be in the DVD-R format, which we understand is the most playable format in this country. They will not, we are told, play on foreign systems. So for our international customers and for those who want to continue with the good, old VHS system, will will continue to carry all our titles on VHS as well. And we always will. Let us know how you feel about this, and start ordering!

Through the years, we’ve gotten some interesting requests, including “the video” of the 1938 Benny Goodman Carnegie Hall Concert and “the video” of the 1952 “Gene versus Buddy” drum battle. But what people have asked for the most is more video of Buddy Rich on “The Tonight Show.” 

It is not totally common knowledge that for some years, Johnny Carson only owned “The Tonight Show” programs from 1980 on. It wasn’t until relatively recently that he made a deal with NBC, and that deal gave him sole ownership to every “Tonight Show” in existence. Although few programs exist on tape before 1969-1970, there’s plenty of absolutely prime Buddy Rich in the decade of the 1970s. We are in the process of offering some of it on Jazzlegends.com 

Our association with Mr. Carson and his office was always wonderful. When it came to Buddy, the Carson people were quite generous. Johnny Carson, by the way, was my first choice of narrator for “Buddy Rich: Jazz Legend.” I almost had him, but he decided against it. 

Taking all this into account, the good folks at Hudson Music, and yours truly, recently came up with what we believed was one heck of an idea. The concept? Buddy Rich drum solos from “The Tonight Show.” No music, no talking (maybe just a little), just Buddy doing solo after solo after solo. That is why we watched him, wasn’t it? And with over 60 “Tonight Show” appearances, there would be no shortage of material. What a DVD this would make. 

I contacted the same folks I dealt with in the Carson office years ago. Way back when, they were great, open, generous and helpful. After Mr. Carson passed, however, these same folk “turned.” Like curdling milk. They suddenly told us that “absolutely none of this material” was available for licensing, especially after they heard our idea. 

Wow. None of it. And no reason given, except mention was made of the fact that “it’s a shame that much of this music will go unheard.” Not only is that a disgrace, but it’s bull. 

I believe that while Johnny Carson was alive, he saw to it that all of the available “Tonight Shows” would be preserved–and viewed–exactly as they were aired. I’m sure he didn’t want three decades of timeless material cut-up, ala “The Best of Motown on Ed Sullivan.” Well, I get the very strong sense that’s going to happen, which is the only possible reason I can think of to flat-out refuse us the opportunity to license Buddy Rich footage. 

I remember years back trying to make a deal for footage of Buddy with The Boston Pops. They wanted $60,000 for two minutes’ worth of film. I told them that no one had $60,000 and that my fear was that the film that existed would eventually turn to dust. I remember this gentlemen’s reply. “Yes, it will turn to dust,” he said. 

If you want to see this material–and it must be seen–I urge you to log on to www.JohnnyCarson.com and e-mail the folks in charge. All you have to say is “we want to see Buddy Rich.” I know I do. 

Bruce Klauber

The late and great Steve Allen, originator of the “Tonight Show” format, was well known as a jazz fan, friend to jazz musicians and a pretty decent jazz pianist. Few remember that Allen really went out on the television limb in the mid-fifties by booking folks like Billie Holiday, Lenny Bruce, Art Tatum, Charlie Parker and many others. 

Johnny Carson, who died Sunday at the age of 79, will be remembered as the quintessential talk show host, comic and interviewer, but Carson also continued Steve Allen’s legacy of using the power of television to further the cause of jazz. An amateur drummer since childhood, Carson was more than a fan. He supported the music and the musicians publicly and privately. 

As one rather spectacular example, it was Johnny Carson who helped jazz drummer Buddy Rich become a star again, at a time when a 50-year-old Buddy Rich and big bands were considered old hat. Carson opened up his program to Buddy and Buddy’s new big band, beginning around 1966, and helped garner an entire new audience of all ages for “Buddy Rich: caustic comic and world’s greatest drummer.” Rich always credited Johnny Carson for reviving his career, and as thanks, awarded Johnny with a brand new set of drums. Carson loved Buddy Rich as a person and worshipped him as a player. When I was in the midst, along with the Rich Estate, of writing and producing a video tribute to the great drummer, there was nothing Carson wouldn’t do for us. 

“The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” was, of course, an entertainment program. Hard core jazz fans, naturally, didn’t think it should be that way. Years ago, I vividly recall the jazz purists saying that Carson’s conception of jazz was Dixielanders Al Hirt and Pete Fountain, entertaining players who were booked frequently. But what my purist colleagues (yes, I was one) didn’t know, was that booked along side a Pete Fountain or Al Hirt would be someone like jazz singer Joe Williams (booked over 50 times), or Sarah Vaughan (booked over 20 times). 

The other argument, in line with television’s always-at-a-distance relationship to jazz, was that a program like Carson’s only booked the most “popular” jazz players, i.e., Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, etc. Where were the likes of the more creative players like Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Miles Davis, Clark Terry, Freddie Hubbard and the Modern Jazz Quartet? For the record, let it be said that each and every one of these players made at least one “Tonight Show” appearance. Dizzy Gillespie was on at least a dozen times. Wynton Marsalis made his first television appearances at Johnny Carson’s insistence. You can look it up. Gene Krupa was on two times that we know of, and rumors continue to abound that Gene and Buddy actually had their famed drum battle on the “Tonight Show.” 

Carson’s show was the last to feature what was called a “big band” as the house orchestra, with jazz as its common language. While players like Carl “Doc” Severinson and Tommy Newsome played the stooge on camera, the record will show that they were and are top, jazz-oriented players who staffed “The Tonight Show” orchestra with the greatest jazz musicians who ever lived, from Ed Shaughnessy and Grady Tate to Pete Condoli and Ernie Watts. Whether they were backing a comic, a vocal duo or Buddy Rich, the always swung. They’re still on the road and still swinging under “Doc’s” leadership. 

I doubt whether Johnny Carson ever thought he would be credited with these considerable contributions. But the record speaks for itself, and the careers of many jazz people would be considerably less were it not for him. The jazz world will miss him. 

Postscript: After reading this article, arranger John LaBarbara commented, “Few people really knew how good a friend Johnny Carson was to jazz and to jazz musicians.” 

“Tonight Show” drummer Ed Shaughnessy took a copy of this piece to Doc Severinson, while they were both on a “Tonight Show” band gig in Spokane Washington on Thursday, January 27th. Shortly after, Doc and Ed got a call from the David Letterman people, saying they were flying Doc, Ed and Tommy Newsome out to New York city to participate in a tribute to Johnny Carson that aired on the Letterman program last everning, January 31st. 

This article is now appearing on the web site of the Berman Music Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to the music and musicians of Nebraska, Johnny Carson’t birthplace; and it will also appear in the next issue of “Not So Modern Drummer” magazine. 

The piece was not written to gain attention, or publicity of any kind. Indeed, it was sent out privately to friends and colleagues in the music industry. I had no idea so many people felt the same way I did. 

Keep swingin’ 

Bruce Klauber

Most of the letters and emails we have received over the years thank us for making this material available. Many of those notes, by the way, have been sent to us by Gene’s friends, family and personal and professional associates. Nothing could make us happier. The goal of JazzLegends.com is, simply, to make this material available. 

On the other hand, since we’ve been at this, we have received about a good half-dozen complaints from customers who are not satisfied with the audio quality of some of our titles. “This sounds like it was taken from an LP record that is 50 years old,” read one e-mail. Well, in many cases, that’s because it was. 

This specifically applies to our “private edition/limited circulation” LP titles from the 1950s-1960s. We will be right behind you in line at Tower Records, or wherever, to purchase “Burnin’ Beat,” “Great New Quartet,” “The Gene Krupa Story” and the rest, when they are issued commercially released on Compact Disc, and are digitally remastered complete with alternate takes, unissued takes, etc. Until then, just in order to make this material available, we have transferred the original LPs to Compact Disc (in many cases along with additional material), with all the squeaks, pops and surface noise we know and love. Yes, it will sound like a 40-year-old LP. A lot of folks think that’s actually a pretty pleasant sound. 

Regarding the practice of remastering and digitizing, presumably most of you eagerly anticipated, like I did, the “Live at the Inn Club” CD with Gene, Eddie Shu, Dave McKenna and John Drew. This had been listed in Gene’s discography as a “stereo recording” for years, and all of us just couldn’t wait to hear it. What was done to it was a disgrace. It was digitized beyond any musical sensibility at all, which is when we decided to make our transfers without any digital interference. And again, those of you who expect 2005, state-of-the-art digitized sound should look elsewhere. 

Finally, whenever one or more of these titles become commercially available–“The Drum Battle” and “Krupa and Rich” for example–we remove it from our listings. Everyone who listens to Gene and appreciates his music is entitled to the best quality available. If we’re offering something at JazzLegends.com, though it may not be state-of-the-art, you can presume we list it because it comes from the best–or only–source material available. If we don’t offer it, that’s because there are better sources elsewhere…or like the “video of the 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert,” it just doesn’t exist. 

Keep swingin, 

Bruce Klauber

For those interested in such things, the good offices of Hudson Music are located within New York city’s famed “Manhattan Center,” a concert facility and suite of production offices that has just been overrun by the Arts and Entertainment Network. The whole gigantic building is attached to another venerable New York city institution by the name of The Hotel New Yorker. That’s where I just spent three days, helping to edit the forthcoming Hudson Music DVD that bears the working title of “Lionel Hampton: Jazz Legend.” 

The New Yorker was once among the city’s hotel showplaces. Every big band played there. It’s now own and run by Ramada and caters mostly to foreign tourists, transients and even has a floor or two set aside for student housing. For those who actually read the dictionary, it’s listed in Websters under “F” for fleabag. I could swear I was bitten by two or three of them during the night. I got the sense that those fleas might have been the same ones that were there when Tex Beneke worked the joint. 

The experts will tell you that making a film–or in our case, a documentary or “performance-oriented retrospective”–is about as exciting as watching paint dry. It’s actually a bit more exciting than that, especially when one has an editor as talented as Phil Fallo (“Great Day in Harlem,” among many others) at the helm. Phil can make anything look good. Plus, we had the participation of one of the great mallet artists in history, Mike Mainieri, and a gentleman and scholar who is also the world’s greatest drummer by the name of Steve Smith. These fine people not only narrated our project, but had considerable input into the script. In line with that “considerable input” is the fact that Mr. Fallo and I needed to somehow translate everyone’s additions, corrections and opinions… to what actually appears on the screen. That’s not always easy. 

As an example, take a section about how Hamp just happened to play jazz vibes on an October, 1930, record session where the Les Hite band backed Louis Armstrong on “Memories of You.” No film exists of this, the story is long and involved, and everyone seems to have a different take on exactly what happened almost 75 years ago. Words are great, to be sure, but this isn’t a book. What do you put on the screen? Ken Burns? Where are you when we need you? I’ll take Ralph Burns at this juncture! 

Without giving away trade secrets, let’s just say that I found some vintage film of Pops and Gates together, though not from 1930, and a number of still pictures of them both. Phil Fallo worked his magic with this material, and you’d swear it was, indeed, Louis and Lionel in 1930. Ah…the magic of film. 

Fortunately, Lionel Hampton was among the most filmed and recorded of the jazz giants. That he was eminently photographable and always the showman certainly helped. In “Lionel Hampton: Jazz Legend,” we present film of Hamp in each decade from the 1930s (with the first clip emanating from 1936) to one of his final extended performances with “The Golden Men of Jazz” in 1993. Needless to say, in addition to playing vibes, Hamp plays drums, piano, jumps up on the tom-tom, and mixes it up with the likes of Benny Goodman, Teddy Wilson, Gene Krupa, Milt Buckner, Al Grey, Betty Carter, Billy Mackel, Woody Herman and many, many more. 

Lionel Hampton was an artist who, along the way, played with everyone from Armstrong and Tatum and Gene and Buddy, to Mingus and Chick Corea. And, as we say in the narration, “he swung them all.” Watch this space for release date. 

Book update: “Gene Krupa: The Pictorial Life of a Jazz Legend” (Warner Bros. Publications) will go on press shortly after some last minute proofing and design tweaking. It’s quite a package at 170-plus pages of photos and commentary, measures the size of a coffee-table book, and will come with a CD of unreleased Krupa gems. JazzLegends. com friends take note: I insisted that this be priced in the $16.95 range. When it’s released–and you’ll be among the first to know–be sure to buy early and often! Keep swingin and all my best for the New Year and beyond. 

Bruce Klauber

We are pleased to announce that the first “galley proofs” of the long-in-progress “Gene Krupa: The Pictorial Life of a Jazz Legend,” have landed at this desk. As wonderful as the 100-plus pictures and commentary may be, I must give all due credit to the design department of Warner Brothers Publications, specifically to Ed Uribe, for a layout/design that is just spectacular. The book will run in the neighborhood of 170-plus pages that cover Gene’s life and music from the 1920s to the 1970s.

Foreword is by Gene’s one-time pianist, the late, great composer Bobby Scott (“A Taste of Honey,” “He Ain’t Heavy He’s My Brother”). Bob was a dear friend of mine and had just about completed his autobiography about two years before he died. He asked me to help him get a publishing deal, and though I tried, it just wasn’t possible then. But the chapter he wrote on Gene is a gem, and that serves as this works’ intro. I’m glad that Bobby’s heartfelt work, at least some of it, will see its way into proper book form. Most of you know that Bobby loved Gene, whom he called “The Old Man.”

There will be a companion CD that comes with the book, a great idea dreamed up by Warners’ book editor Ray Brych. The CD is composed of a bunch of unreleased tracks from the 1930s to the 1960s, mainly from television and radio. Our regular visitors and supporters of JazzLegends.com probably have most of the tracks already, but for the public at large, the CD-with-book idea will give buyers something extra and hopefully special with their purchase.

Perhaps the most gratifying element of this project focuses on a great, great group of contemporary drummers who have shared their thoughts about Gene and what Gene meant to drumming, exclusively for this book. Peter Criss, Carmine Appice, Ed Shaughnessy, Peter Erskine, Dave Garabaldi, Steve Smith, Phil Collins, Carl Palmer, Alex Acuna, Alphonse Mouzon, John Blackwell, Kenny Aronoff and several others really have meaningful and touching things to say about Gene Krupa. After reading this section, I’m certain you’ll agree that Gene is literally as “contemporary as ever.”

I was insistent that the price of this book be, as they say, “competitive,” and I am told that it will likely not be more expensive than $17.95 (the book and CD package) tops. When I first produced videos for DCI Music Video, I was never thrilled that the prices for these VHS tapes clocked in at $39.95. That’s what’s so wonderful about Hudson Music projects: They’re not only great, but affordable. I did insist that this book be affordable, and I’m happy that Warners agreed.

Currently, the project is going through the editing/proofreading/design-tweaking process, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it would be ready for release around the first of February. Believe me, those who visit Jazzlegends.com will be the first to know. And I will make sure that the book –autographed if you want — will be available here in addition to, as they say, “everywhere books are sold.” Stay tuned, and a happy and swingin’ holiday — and beyond — to all those, all over the world, who have supported us through the years.

Bruce Klauber

Visitors to this site over the past several months have certainly noticed some changes. We know they are for the better. JazzLegends.com has never looked better, it approaches “state of the art” but in many ways remains simple to use. Our resident genius, Terry McKyton, is responsible for all the artistry on these pages. As The Stooges would have said, “He’s the best web designer whoever web designed.” I urge each and every one of you in the musical community to get in touch with Terry. He will, without doubt, take care of business in your behalf, no matter how simple or complex. 

New products and/or “discoveries” are being added regularly, not only by Gene Krupa, but from those associated with him through the years like Jo Jones, Charlie Ventura, Anita O’Day, Eddie Shu, and various others. We hope to expand in this area as time goes on with product by other drummers–look for some Cozy Cole soon–and other instrumentalists. Gene was a great, great talent scout. Let’s remember all those he started over the years, from Anita O’Day and Charlie Ventura to Bobby Scott and Dave Frishberg. At the same time, we’re always on the lookout for “rare finds” by Gene. 

A great example of this, and how difficult it can be to actually get something out to the marketplace, is something we’re currently working on. This discovery comes to us from the great drummer, great friend and researcher extraordinaire, Las Vegas’ own Paul Testa. Paul discovered the actual existence of an unaired television pilot from 1962, entitled “Championship Jazz.” Years ahead of its time in terms of “reality television,” the program planned to pit two jazz groups against each other, with the winner receiving a cash prize. This pilot, hosted by the Voice of America’s Willis Conover, featured–are you ready for this one?–The Dukes of Dixieland versus The Gene Krupa Quartet. Wow! Getting a copy of this “find,” isn’t that easy, however. In order to release a copy, the archive in which it is located requires written permission from the copyright holder, or, if it is not copyrighted, written proof from the Library of Congress that it was indeed never copyrighted. This is a time consuming, frustrating and expensive task from this end. Even though JazzLegends.com has done much on behalf of the Krupa Estate over the years, and even though we do have written permission and blessings of the good folks who own the “name” The Dukes of Dixieland, that is still not enough. We know about proper channels and respect them. Rest assured that this “Championship Jazz” program will see the light of day on this web site. 

In other news for the fall season, look for an upcoming Hudson Music release of a “Tribute to Steve Gadd” DVD. This tremendous program is not only a docu about Gadd’s life and many accomplishments, but a presentation of the live show that took place last September at the Berklee School in Boston, sponsored by Zildjian, with Bill Cosby, Paul Simon, James Taylor, Vinnie Coliuta, David Sanborn, and many, many more. I am proud to have been associated with this remarkable drummer and what I know is a remarkable production. That evening was an unforgettable one, and getting to “hang” with Louis Bellson, Steve Smith, Freddie Gruber, and especially Elvin Jones, was an evening I’ll cherish forever. Elvin Jones will be missed by all of us. In the course of musical history, few artists could be called true innovators. Elvin could. One of our great sponsors, Drum Radio, has a wonderful Elvin Tribute on the DrumRadio.com web site. Please tune in. 

Also in the works is a Hudson Music “Tribute to Lionel Hampton” DVD, to be narrated by vibist Mike Mainieri and the “world’s greatest drummer,” Steve Smith. Fortunately for us, there’s a lot of great Hampton footage out there, and we will be able to present film from the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and yes, the 1990s. We look forward to working with Mike Mainieri on this project. Mike, of course, was the vibist with Buddy Rich’s great small group of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Though he virtually pioneered what we now know as “fusion,” Mike could outswing just about anyone when he wanted to. 

Those of our supporters who have chosen to order with their credit card on the web by using PayPal, have noticed that the system has finally become very, very simple to use. No one has to join PayPal or sign up for anything in order to buy products with your credit card. Safety? In five years of using this system, JazzLegends.com has never, ever had a problem. 

Please let us know what you’d like to see on this site in terms of products you’re looking for, suggestions for ease of use, or any thing else you may have on your mind. Contacting us via e-mail is easy and we respond to each and every question or comment. Note that if you don’t see a certain CD or video by Gene, Buddy or someone else on the web site, that doesn’t mean we don’t have it. Chances are we do. Just ask. 

Bruce Klauber