As happens often, I’m usually away on vacation on Doug’s Birthday, Aug 29th. Just back from New Orleans. So another belated one. Be that as it may, let’s celebrate my brother’s return to jazz scene. He’s playing better than ever despite the wear and tear he’s been thru the last few years. He’s featured on a new record out under bassist’s Jesper Lungaard name, celebrating the music of Horace Parlan, with whom he’s recorded several albums (Horace can no longer play due to illness). See my sidebar for details. For those of you who may only be familiar with Jimmy Raney, Doug is one of the smoothest most natural swinging…

August 20th is Jimmy Raney’s birthday. Although I’ve largely given up on how and why Jimmy’s true stature has been largely minimized in the jazz community, I can’t help but be reminded of this around his birthday. Where is his radio retrospective on NYC jazz radio stations? Or a couple of tracks at least? For my part I would have to admit that being Jimmy Raney’s chief spokesman here is proving more and more challenging for me because of changes in my personal/business life but I will try to do a better job of it since it is important to keep the flag flying in the Raney Camp given the…