Good 'ol Snail Mail Issues

In the wake of all the telemarketing and Internet spam complaints we hear about lately, I think we've lost sight of one good old fashioned pain in the ass: junk mail. Lately I've been drowning in it.

Recently, Asurion (the phone insurance partner of T-Mobile) has ass-uredly crossed into the realm of the ultimate boneheaded company. Aside from the T-Mobile rep signing my daughter's phone up without her permission, Asurion has been stuffing our mailbox with a steady torrent of welcome letter packages. Not just 1 but 6-10 DAILY for over a month. I contacted them after the Thanksgiving holiday about this problem. After 3 transfers and redial to the ultimate responsible dept, I complained to a representative who assured me the problem would be fixed. It wasn't. With the holiday mailing season, Asurion's collective brainfart, our mail carrier's devil-may care delivery schedule (she's like Newman, she doesn't believe in creeds) and the recent snow problem, all my mail has been backed up. I'm now fortunate to receive all the backed up mail from December a day at a time. A few days ago I called and gave them an earful and they obviously knew about the problem and said the "glitch" was fixed just last week (that would be the first week of January). Given that I have received 6-10 pieces daily up until Dec 22. I may have as much as 6-10x6x2=72-120 pieces of mail coming before the paperworks shuts off. Fun.

Mailing lists. Remember them? They are much harder to prevent and get off of. Plus getting your post office not to deliver is a bit more involved then a click on your spam filter. By some inexplicable means, my wife has gotten on an expectant mother mailing list. (FYI - we are both about 50 with a college student daughter). It started with Babies-R-Us discount postcards. Then various mail with the baby-centric theme. Then Baby-Talk magazine. After the second came, I sent them an email to stop the unwanted magazines. I think the effort just initiated a form of junkmail virus cell division as we then started receiving American Baby magazine - 2 at a time. The next day, a UPS package of Similac formula. 2 16 oz jugs.

With all the fighting I have done over the years to fight & right dumbassed wrongs over customer service issues, I'm really losing my oomph for engaging in new mindless battles. I have enough to worry about.

What do you think?

*update Thu, 1/13/11 6pm.

8 Assurion letters received today. All dated Dec 13th

The letters



The pamphlets



So perty. Can't wait til tomorrow...

More on Ronnie Singer

Felix Lemerle (son of the late Jimmy Gourley's bassist, Dominique Lemerle) has referred me to a new blog page about Ronnie that incorporates some of the prior archive website data along with some never before seen photos. I'm hoping the amount of info will increase over time as more facts become known about this lost legendary bebop guitarist.

Ronnie Singer page

The "Real Jimmy Raney" circa 1952

Hold on to your hats folks.

This is the Song Is You 2 Chorus Jimmy Raney Solo referred to in previous post.

Time to rethink what you knew about Jimmy Raney Getz period playing. There was (or since??)no other player on earth besides Jimmy that could create a bebop solo with this amount of chops, articulation and clarity at this tempo in 1952.

Jimmy Raney- The Song Is You

BTW the key is Ab not the usual C.

Also note the tempo stays absolutely locked to the metronome for 1 chorus and 8 bars. Pretty astonishing. It moves slightly during a particular bar but the tempo is still pretty locked to the speed 314 bpm. Interestingly enough the tune starts around 296 and gradually speeds up thru Stan's chorus (not featured here). It locks during Dad's solo.

As a point of reference, Parker's speed anthem, Koko starts about 312 or so, and slows down immediately on the 1st chorus then hovers between 298 and 304. Max completely jacks the tempo up at least 20 points during a short drum solo and then comes back to about the start tempo on the outchorus.

Jimmy Raney, Ronnie Singer and the Birth of Bebop Guitar

There's one guy that (if he had lived) might've given Jimmy Raney a run for his money as top 50's bebop guitarist. His name was Ronnie Singer and my father would often talk about him. Ronnie Songer's death was an apparent double suicide. What a horrible thing. My father got wind of these recordings (shown below) when I was staying with him around 1985. A friend had them and asked Dad about them (thinking Dad was the guitarist) and Dad exclaimed, "No that's Ronnie Singer!!" We both listened to them. They were not officially released until after Jimmy Gourley (the original possessor of the tapes) died according to available information.

The offical story is that the two Jims and Ronnie met each other in the 40's inChicago. According to Gourley the two looked to Ronnie as the most developed. Dad did mention seeing Sonny Stitt in Chicago and that Ronnie had played with them. So if Ronnie was playing with Stitt that means he was the most advanced of the 3 at this point because my Dad was still not playing with the top bebop artists at that point. My father's comment was that Ronnie sounded a lot like Sonny Stitt in his approach. This site posts 3 cuts. They are quite amazing considering the date of them which looks like it should be 1950 or 1951 if the date of death is correct.
Ronnie Singer

There is a lot of similarity sound and time feel in Jimmy's first recordings in 1948 with Al Haig but I would definitely say Ronnie is more developed here. The Storyville records also sound similar but Dad was already starting to play more legato with a lighter touch and with less boppy Bud Powell and Charlie Parker quotes and feel by that point.

The truest document of Dad's capabilities with the Stan Getz Quintet are not Live at Storyville but rather Birdland Sessions 1952 Featuring Jimmy Raney. I think Dad is given more solo space on it too. The audio quality, given the nature of the recording method is poor. It's my recollection (from Doug) that John Scofield was first to mention the release of the Birdland bootlegs in 1989. In fact my copy may be one that John gave to my Dad although I'm not completely sure. Someday I will ask him...

IMO The most astonishing cut from Dad on that is the Song Is You. Dad plays an unbelievable solo. They take it at a much faster pace than at Storyville. Dad was also exploring a lot darker notes on this one.

So I wonder what the landscape and the language development among guitarists would've been like had Ronnie lived and also the Live at Birdland Getz music was available.

**Note. I just corresponded with John Scofield. Apparently I've created a fish story. Please don't repeat it lol. The copy I have was rescued from his house in 1994 but it was NEVER owned by John Scofield. He doesn't remember the recording.

The youngest Raney is getting old. What can I tell you...
**Note #2. In some subsequnet quick notes to John he said, it's possible he had a copy of the recording or at very least heard about them through a guitar aficianado in France. So maybe I'm not quite ready for brain transplant yet.