CJ Shearn

Soundmixes from guys who aren't jazz savvy bother me too. Last week I was at a Harpur Jazz Ensemble concert on campus with special guests John McNeil and Ron Vincent on drums, and the mixes at any jazz gigs at Binghamton University are horrible,at times way too trebly, at other times you cannot hear brass in the mix, reeds or guitar. When I saw the PMG last year at SUNY Purchase, the mix was amazing, with David Oakes at the controls. He really had a balanced mix, even for songs that get ear bleeding loud like "Scrap Metal", not once did the levels reach to the point of being uncomfortable. Another good mix was Jimmy Smith and Jack McDuff live at the Blue Note in January '98.

Danny, randissimo, interesting about the hearing loss. I'm 22 but b/c of the amount of music I listen to loud, and in headphones, I should cut it back b/c I'm finding sometimes in convos I'm talking to people like "what?" sometimes, but I know if I was a drummer I'd prolly use ear protection. I meanmost of the time in my dorm or at home mostly you'll hear booming through thre speakers: Miles, Metheny, Tony, Blakey, Joshua Reman, etc....... I should cut the levels a bit, in my dorm,I have the aforementioned in another thread Coby CD/DVD player hooked up to the crappy surround speakers and sub that came with it. with the computer fan running it's hard to hear the thing at low levels.

For any drummers in here In the 70's from right about the time of his death, even though Tony Williams used K's, I never liked the sound of them compared to his old K ride sound with Miles, the nice stick tones and beautiful dark ring, Tony's K's from this period (as heard on all the VSOP Quintet albums for example) were way too bright and splashy. Was this a consequence of his overall sound becoming more rockish at that point, the size of the sticks, or the fact that he often used the fat end of the stick to hit the cymbals? (as seen in the One Night With Blue Note DVD) Weren't K's being produced in America around the 70's as opposed to being produced in Turkey? Never really cared for Tony's dot heads either although I still love the playing. Those dot heads seem to just make the sound so damp and devoid of any snap and resonance, I think the dot heads of his sounded a tad better on live records as opposed to studio stuff. I recently read a Downbeat article last month with Jack DeJohnette where he was talking about thedryness of his Sabians (they remind me of trashcans sort of) and he said he lost about 25% of the hearing in his left ear from playing really bright sounding crash cymbals, that with a horn player in front on top of everything else it really has a huge effect on hearing. Of course that man just plays the hell out of his kit engaging in a constant, rolling dialogue with a soloist, also he's been one of the best at briging out really unique colors out of his kit. But do you think the choice of such a dry cymbal sound (specifically ride) is a result of something that isn't as taxing on the ears, once hearing has deteriorated from playing in a certain way or context?

wow, the interesting info coming from this thread, this is great! thanks everyone. I remember the "Bouquet" bit from the liners when I had vol. 1 on cassette. Was there any other reason given for not including "Mode for Joe" on the CD/DVD/VHS releases? it's a great tune. I could understand MC's feeling of "Maiden Voyage" being tired and overlong, the tunes the Hancock/Hubbard/Henderson et. al group did were quite long, makes up about 40 minutes of the DVD. Still, I'm grateful to have this document on DVD for the great music contained within. So, was the Mt Fuji Jazz Festival a direct outgrowth of the "One Night With Blue Note" event?

a modest system compare to most here but it sounds good to me: amp: Technics SU-G95 EQ: Technics SH 8017 Speakers: Technics SB A-36 radio tuner Technics ST-K55 CD/DVD player (currently at my dorm) Coby DVD 505. yeah it's cheap but it replaces my Technics SL-PD665 5 disc changer here at home which quit. I'll be bringing the Coby player home for the X-mas break. currently I'm listening to CD's on the computer. Technics RS TR 270 dual casette tape deck additional CD/DVD gear: Playstation 2 speaker cables: Monster cable

Connoiseur, I was thinking the same about Wayne, considering he has been quite forward thinking, and when he does revisit old stuff it is radically reworked. I still question the choice for Cecil Taylor to end that DVD though, was he really that big a part of the BN legacy, or was it more so that he brought an interesting concept that added a new wrinkle to BN. I've noticed when I've bought some RVG's from the mid 60's that the period of 1964-66 was some of the most adenturous in the BN catalog.. with titles like "Lifetime", "Mode For Joe", "Speak No Evil", "Maiden Voyage", "Search For the New Land", etc.....

wow, I was not aware that Horace was invited and declined. Perhaps he felt those days were firmly behind him? Another curious omission as Wayne Shorter. Wayne was signed to Columbia at the time I know. I also have been wondering why Donald Bailey was not asked to participate considering with Smith/Burrell/Turrentine, he was the drummer on "Midnight Special", where "The Jumpin Blues" was culled from in addition other classic Smith dates at the time. Grady Tate was Jimmy's drummer of choice from the mid 60's on pretty much, with the exception of Billy Hart being in his trio around then, maybe Grady was the easiest to get for that gig maybe? As for other stories surrounding that concert, I remember reading the Volume 3 liners and seeing that Jimmy, Kenny and Grover had about a 45 minute jam session eithe backstage or at a rehearsal(can't remember which) that went unrecorded.

hey Jim, I listen to Walter Wanderley. that cat could get as greasy as Smith, McDuff, Patton................. seriously tho........

hard bop mainly, borderline free or should I say inside-outside, fusion and mainstream stuff.

man, I picked it up late. a few weeks back at B&N, along with Let Em Roll. I honestly need more time on some of the earlier dates on the Patton Select, but GAGTG, really is very funky. Green and Patton really as others said go for it on all the tunes, and it seems to me that at this time Patton's lines were starting to reflect (as were Larry Young's) the influence/intensity of Trane. In addition, Big John always seemed to have a voice independent of Jimmy Smith, which is nice. My favorite Patton so far I think is "Understanding" though because that greasy mix with the free tenor of Harold Alexander is unique and also extremely funny at the same time. One more thought on GAGTG is that Green sounds very close to Benson on this at times, for my ear.

hi Joe G. Mainly schoolwork and I haven't been into posting all that much. Well, I was able to d/l a whole trio show from 11/1, via bit torrent. I haven't heard the whole thing, but there is a track entitled #13, that is being played on the electric sitar(!) (he hasn't pulled that sucker out in 10 years almost) but on this show I have it's on the Ibanez. Mike, the professor I TA under has the new DB with Pat on the cover, and he says that he said a few things that are very interesting: apparently he explains the reason why Wertico was bumped for Antonio, not dissing Paul, but talking about how limited he was in terms of the further concepts the PMG has been into, and also that the forthcoming PMG disc has been tracked, and is one of the deepest things he and Lyle has ever done compositionally. I wanna read that article myself, went looking for it at the B&N down the road from BU, and it's not in yet, as of two nights ago. Also would like the cover to hang on my wall or something.

I picked up "Let Em Roll" and "Got A Good Thing Goin" tonight, listening to "Let Em Roll" a second time. I really enjoy "Got a Good Thing Goin", I like the three other mid-late 60's Patton dates I've heard, which include that and "That Certain Feeling" and "Understanding". Damn, does "Latona" have a groove though, ouch!. Love the latin thing Grant is playing.

I think overall, the best performances have to be the Hancock/Carter/Williams set w/ Hubbard, Joe Hen, and Booby Hutcherson, "Appointment in Ghana", "Summertime", The Donaldson/Smith/Burrell/Tate/Turrentine set, though I agree as everyone else, the Cecil Taylor piece was a questionable way to end the DVD. Why not have ended it with that great Bennie Wallace performance or tunes from the Tyner/Shaw/McLean/McBee/DeJohnette set? I'm grateful for what is here, they could have filledit up some.

Taste= what most of my fav. players have, shredding for the sake of it has no real taste benefits in my book. People won't know the truth about jazz unless they have the patience to seek out the many rewards it offers.

yeah, I know what you mean GregK. I grew up on jazz and really, rock was never part of my cultural landscape like it is for others, I certainly heard it, just never really paid that much attention. The driver, his name is Tom, he's a nice guy but not that smart musically, I told him that I like harmonic complexity and high level improvisation and for me, jazz is where I can find all that, he said I should listen to Yngwie Malmsteem, I've heard quite a bit of him from other people, he's very accomplished technically but musically there is nothing there, and to say that Malmsteem is on a level with the likes of Montgomery, Burrell, etc is ridiculous, they have far more musicality and wisdom than Malmsteem will ever have...

true GregK, I suppose that's why I'm a TA for the Jazz in American Music class this semester because I wanna try to spread the word to get people into the wonderful music that is jazz, to show it's beauty or depth. Mike Carbone, the director of jazz studies here at Binghamton University is trying to bring that point home as well. I've known him since middle school where he also teaches at the school district I went to middle/ high school in.

lol, well, he said jazz just doesn't move him theres "no melody", etc. But he was very uneducated about jazz Originally the convo arose out of his talking about his stereo in his new pick up truck I asked him what music he listened to, he replied rock and roll. So I then said that I wanted to eventually get a stereo system with analog tube equipment eventually for serious jazz listening, asked him if he had any Japanese imports of albums (I was testing to see if he was an audiophile) and he said yes to a Grand Funk Railroad album but that it paled in comparison to a US remaster because there was "no hiss" :-p I've had a tape hiss argument with one of my friends before who said it automatically makes an album sound bad. I said that Japanese discs of anything are superior to much US product even though US remasterings are great nowadays, but they pale in comparison to much Japanese product. Lol, well he replied that Americans are the "best technicians for sound especially rock and roll" I respect the opinion but still they were pretty ignorant comments, basically he turned some of my comments into a pissing contest re: jazz and why it's inferior to rock, needless to say we won't talk about that again, nice guy but very stupid.............

I was riding back to campus when I got into this discussion with a bus driver about jazz vs. rock, in short he claimed that "rock had way more differences than jazz because jazz is just guys playing up and down scales all the time", and that Jerry Garcia was the greatest jazz player ever..... I listened to the guy's opinions, guess he's a casual guitarist or something, we got into this weird discussion about Stanley Jordan where he said that he stole the tapping from Van Halen, and that Eddie's record sales prove he's a better guitarist. He also felt he could play anything Stanley does if he heard it for a few mins.. I listened to the guy and said respectfully that his views on jazz were sadly mistaken, but anyway just a funny story.

sorry if I misworded it, they just use the original recording for background music. Dissapointing isn't it? The DVD is well done, great sound, nice film transfer, altho if you use the search function on your DVD player you may see some after images that don't appear in the film itself. Were the VHS releases widescreen? cuz the footage shown in the "Blue Note: The Story of Modern Jazz" documentary is wide screen. Overall the DVD is excellent and worth repeated viewings. I watch most my concert DVD's to death anyway.

ConnoiseurSeries500, on the DVD they include "Song For my Father" as bookends for the intro and closing, perhaps to make up for Horace's absence. I also notice Wayne was not present, he was certainly a HUGE part of the BN legacy. I believe between the original 4 LP's/CD's/VHS and now the new DVD all the music has been released save for "Maiden Voyage" which as I recall from the original volume 1 liners was "tired and overlong". I still don't see why BN did not include the 4 or 5 performances from the albums, missing from the DVD, perhaps there were technical problems which prevented their reissue on it?

nope Matthew you aren't the only one. I said to myself the first time I watched, "is Freddie high?" but his playing is great. I love the moment on "Moanin" where he plays that riff for several bars, pulls the trumpet out of his mouth and grunts "unnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" then proceeds to play a run, classic stuff.

yeah, I noticed that too Soul Stream with the out of sync parts. Especially with the drummers, I noticed several instances where shots of Bu, Jack D. and Grady Tate were out of sync with what they were playing. Sometimes DVD players can do that. I am also a little dissapointed with some of the camera work focusing too much on faces, they had a limited source to work with I guess. Overall this DVD is a great addition to my collection, I'm just happy to have the music available again where I couldn't find it for years.

I'm watching it right now, great version of "Summertime". Grover swings his ass off. Is it just me or does it look like Tate and DeJohnette are sharing a kit?

my Patton Select was shipped USPS and I received it within 2 days. Airborne Express handled my Jimmy Smith Mosaic, lucky that sucker arrived ok about 7 years ago.

Soul Stream, I can't wait either. I ordered it from my local B&N, I went over there earlier tonight, it came in except they told me to come back tommorrow since they could not break the street date :-p I really am looking forward to this DVD since I have been waiting for a lot of this music to resurface. I will hop a bus after class tommorrow to go get it before my TA job for Jazz in American music. We are gonna discuss hard bop soon, we're finishing bop, since I am going to help in discussing hard bop I wonder if a portion of this DVD could be shown? although honestly the differences between bop and hard bop will be lost on these kids just like last semester when I was a student in the class and nobody got it. I've been reading "Hard Bop" by Rosenthal to assist in my lecture but I wonder if it will totally work.