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CJ Shearn
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Posts posted by CJ Shearn
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Yeah I need to hear this.
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1 hour ago, bresna said:
I can't stand Bitches Brew either but I wouldn't create a whole video diatribe on it,
Neither would I. BTW Kevin sent you a friend request on FB
42 minutes ago, Dub Modal said:I can’t stand folks whining about shit that doesn’t matter. Giving guidance, advice and dropping knowledge and real critiques are one thing but complaining about records is ridiculous. I can’t watch more than a few seconds and then I’m done.
The YouTube orbit is it's own universe. Agreed that music is not a thing that people should make entire videos like it's a national emergency. Most YT content creators are doing content that monetizes, hence the overload of MoFi gate vids etc
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45 minutes ago, TheMusicalMarine said:
Wow, thanks for posting this, CJ. Didn't even know this guy existed. I don't collect vinyl, but I certainly have more in common (jazz and crazy collector wise) with him than anyone in my immediate life.
Sure. I thought his early videos on Jimmy Smith and Prestige and Argo were very good I just lost respect for him at his weird BB vs Red Clay video (you don't like BB, fine, just don't crap on it like he did... reminded me of when I was age 14) and audiophile bashing.
1 hour ago, Rabshakeh said:I watched a few of his videos during lockdown. I like his older videos on Bethlehem etc, which I didn't know that well before. Otherwise he's just a weird opinionated man who needs to wash his hair. You have to be impressed by the grinding commitment to putting out three videos a week to such a minute audience.
True
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Honestly I feel like he's an obnoxious guy at times after watching his Mo-Fi rant and his crazy Bitches Brew vs Red Clay video just as two examples. What I will give him credit for is exploring the history of jazz and getting people into it but what do people here think? I don't agree all jazz must have the blues, swing, his takedowns of free jazz and audiophiles is a bit much. There's one video with Ken Micallef where they shit on Miles and Jazz Shepherd says something like he could basically knock Miles out, it was incredibly immature and in poor taste.
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4 hours ago, Rabshakeh said:
It's a good article and a pretty good list, although I would not personally have chosen any of those records.
There is quite a lot of guidance out there already in relation to Blue Notes, including where to start, deep cuts, soul jazz, avant garde records, etc etc. I think that anyone who is interested in getting into jazz, whether out of musical interest or just for some good record sleeves, has quite easy access to this information.
True and fair enough, just wanted to put my spin and passion on what my fav. Blue Notes are, and what I'd recommend to others.
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1 hour ago, clifford_thornton said:
I was gonna say one might start where Blue Note started, with Meade Lux Lewis, but this is a pretty solid top five otherwise!
I gotta track those discs down they were issued in the 90s.
2 hours ago, Larry Kart said:Jacke McLean, "New Soil"
Hank Mobley, "Soul Station"
Horace Silver, "Blowin' the Blues Away"
Grachan Moncur, "Some Other Stuff"
Agree about the first 3 but "Some Other Stuff", I could have put on the list of 40, but for that level of out I chose "All Seeing Eye" and "Out to Lunch" instead. I would NOT personally recommend the Moncur to someone just into jazz unless they were into some form of avant garde or coming from another place like punk. "Gnostic", my favorite track on the album would be too strange for most people.
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1 hour ago, JSngry said:
I guess these days you would recommend a playlist instead of a sampler...unless your friend is old, in which case, tell them that vinyl sounds better and get busy brokering some deals that benefit everybody, especially you!
She is young my friend but has an interest in deep dives of genres through streaming but doing a separate article with a playlist might be cool. She has an interest in audio and would like to hear my system (mainly set up for CD/SACD playback) but my Schiit Bifrost 2 DAC is also connected to my laptop to streaming so laptop connection in through DAC and goes through the CD out of my preamp
1 hour ago, JSngry said:So, by jazz, you mean...what, exactly?
Or Blue Note, for that matter, but my hunch is that the first question answers the second?
People getting into the music might hear about Blue Note and wonder what it's about but I like your question by jazz what exactly do I mean? Kind of fuzzy because we could say music originated by Black Americans but now evolved and played the world over by everyone. Perhaps I'll change the title a bit and make it a bit clearer the goal of the article. Thanks!
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1 minute ago, JSngry said:
So, by jazz, you mean...what, exactly?
Or Blue Note, for that matter, but my hunch is that the first question answers the second?
People getting into the music might hear about Blue Note and wonder what it's about but I like your question by jazz what exactly do I mean? Kind of fuzzy because we could say music originated by Black Americans but now evolved and played the world over by everyone. Perhaps I'll change the title a bit and make it a bit clearer the goal of the article. Thanks!
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11 minutes ago, T.D. said:
Thanks, nice article but one thing is not completely clear to me.
Is this a list of (a) Your personal top five BNs, or (b) Your top 5 BN recommendations for someone just getting into jazz?
I'm inclined to think (b).
Its B
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This is a new Medium article I wrote, inspired by a friend who likes jazz but doesn't know much about it. It's designed to help people like herself who want to discover the music; not for us. Enjoy. https://bit.ly/3QL42dr
I'm sure my choices will be challenged ;-) Go ahead
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8 hours ago, Teasing the Korean said:
Exactly.
Hence a lot of the tired same ol same ol titles I see on the SACD lovers group on FB. I listen to music on my system because I love it, it just so happens I have many albums that are reference material.
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On 7/18/2022 at 8:15 AM, mikeweil said:
I ended up using the new Micromega player in my bedroom as it sounds better with the Micromega MyAmp amplifier than with the Marantz. With the latter I had to turn the volume up so much that the neighbours started complaining. In my (smaller) bedroom I am closer to the speakers (Focal as in the living room) and the higher frequencies are more prominent. And the CD-30 sounds excellent, very detailed, with the MyZic / Focal Spirit Classic combination. I'm satisfied.
I love Focal. I have a pair of Focal Chora 826's which sound fabulous with my Audiolab CDT6000 (which Lon recommended to me) Schiit Bifrost 2 DAC, Sony X700 blu ray player (for SACD and Blu ray audio) and Marantz NR1200 preamp and Marantz MM7025 power amp
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On 7/23/2022 at 1:16 PM, Jim Duckworth said:
I use Apple Music but utilize my physical collection most of the time. I've found Apple Music useful as it allows me to stream playlists etc. from my Itunes throughout my house-an essential feature for me.
I use Amazon HD but primarily to test drive albums but also if I'm a bit tight on money I'll listen to something until I get it but my CD and SACD's as my primary mode of listening
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On 8/7/2022 at 11:01 AM, hopkins said:
I'm an audiophile! But I'm not obsessed with getting the best versions of albums, especially considering how costly it would be. When I have the choice I avoid purchasing bad quality versions issued by "dodgy" labels - if I can find one from a known "respectable" label at a reasonable price.
I'll spend more for Mosaic box sets, and have quite a few, but it's really about the music offered (and the liner notes). I don't really care how the "manufacturing process" works, and I'm happy with CDs, I don't care whether it's digital or analog. In fact, I just received yesterday Mosaic's latest
But if you purchase one of these MOFi albums, then you are really paying for the quality of the manufacturing process only, not for the music or liner notes.
From an economic standpoint, I'd rather see money spend on preserving music, issuing unreleased material, and generally contributing to our knowledge of the music, than see people spend large amounts of money on one more version of "Kind of Blue". So I guess I don't have much sympathy for either side in this MOFi fiasco.
I'm with you on this. I like to get the best versions when I can, thankfully after the fire when I rebuilt my system and collection, my friend's dad gave me a bunch of OOP Japanese CD's, SACD'S and I'm very happy with. I have about 60 ish SACD and dig it
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On 8/7/2022 at 7:39 AM, jcam_44 said:
Esposito’s YouTube is a good watch most of the time and he does irritate a lot of people. I started watching him when he was dragging ERC for their quality. He made a good argument. The beef with him and Fremer was hilarious. Fremer is a tool imo. He’s the quintessential audiophile dork.
I just can’t believe Esposito is only 37… I would have guessed much older.
I know right? I'm 41 and look way younger than Mike Esposito, most people think I'm in my early 30's and transitioning to female and being on hormones, the youthfulness really comes out more, but I have good genes. I've been following this shitshow and my friend and I just make fun of Fremer and co. any chance we get. The fact Fremer wanted Geoff Edgers to revise his article because he was "misrepresented" shows he has really thin skin and a huge ego. He hasn't learned the ego is an illusion, a shell. I subscribe to Esposito's channel, 45 RPM Audiophile and Ken Micallef's but refuse to for Fremer because a) I don't deal with vinyl, b) it's too impractical for me and c) he's an asshat. I do have my issues with Micallef because he tends to always argue the superiority of original BN pressings (or Liberty and UA era) over Tone Poet's etc. I've heard many TP's sound spectacular. The other issue I have with Micallef (I have to respect he's done far more interviews than I have but I know how it works) he often looks very stupid because he does poor research at times, and has gotten embarrassed in certain interviewers. His beef with the Miles estate and him crapping on Miles with Jazz Sheppard (another buffoon) is ridiculous. I happen to be friends with Vince Wilburn, we are in Lenny White's Zoom chats most weeks, after the fire he checked on me several times to see if I was cool. The business side is one thing, the personal quite another, he's a nice guy. Lenny is great fun too, sometimes I'll just call him and chat. I think Jazz Sheppard (not the place for this) has white guilt and for some reason Miles is a threat to him... someone dead for over 30 years threatens you that much? You need help!
On 8/7/2022 at 3:50 PM, bresna said:I've been reading about this over on the Hoffman forums and I've tried to hold back on posting about it because I'm afraid my attitude might upset a few posters. I think this is awesome. It finally shut up all of the golden eared music listeners who claimed that only AAA can sound good and that they can "hear" analog.
I've been saying for years that analog in and of itself does not guarantee great sound but nothing I've said has had any effect on most of them and the Hoffman forums' rules preclude anyone from calling them out on it. Mobile Fidelity finally showed them that the emperor has no clothes.
Michael Fremer would never concede embarassment, LOL.
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2 hours ago, mjzee said:
Ditto for The Cellar Door box.
Need both! And a decent priced copy of the Plugged Nickel box to rebuy.
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Wow I gotta check this out!
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20 hours ago, Rabshakeh said:
I had not clocked that record before. I listened to volume 1 last night and it is really exactly what you'd hope for. It is also nice to heard Whalum getting a chance to really wail, which you don't always on the more cuddly records designed for radio play. Are the other volumes as strong?
I'm not sure... the overly religious connotation kind of steers me away, but that's who Whalum is and have to accept him for it, but the music can be enjoyed regardless . He also really stretches on the Mack Avenue Superband albums and "Impressions" on Joey Defrancesco's Live at the 5 Spot
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5 hours ago, clifford_thornton said:
Cool -- will check this. Have you read Francis Gooding's piece on reevaluating smoov jazz in We Jazz Magazine? Available for purchase here: https://wejazzrecords.bandcamp.com/merch/we-jazz-magazine-spring-2022-tetragon
No because its behind a paywall so have not read it.
15 hours ago, Teasing the Korean said:Thanks for posting.
A couple of thoughts:
- I completely agree with your opinion of CTI between 1970 and 1974, although I am not fond of Bob James. But any of these albums from that period with either Deodato or Don Sebesky contributions are very worthwhile. I associate the 1974 cutoff date with the arrival of disco in late 1974, not that I'm knocking disco, but that early-70s introspective, urban, minor-key, black-consciousness aesthetic was largely traded in for a forget-your-troubles-and-shake-your-booty ethos.
- The cultural shifts at around 1974/75 are fascinating. Disco arrived in a big way. Jaws created a new paradigm for the summer blockbuster film. Ennio Morricone stopped working with Bruno Nicolai, marking the end of Morricone's great period.
- When discussing Creed Taylor, don't forget his early work at ABC/Paramount, in particular with the great and underrated Kenyon Hopkins. These albums were released under Creed Taylor's name for contractual reasons. They include The Sound of New York; 3Lonelyville; and the trilogy of Shock, Panic, and Nightmare.
Then obviously like an idiot I forgot the huge omission of the release of Deodato because that record really set in motion EVERYTHING that set them forward after in terms of big plans. I need to check out those Kenyon Hopkins albums! I was unaware. Thank you.
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1 hour ago, Teasing the Korean said:
Thanks for sharing. I never heard of this guy. I need to check him out.
He has a killer solo on Stanley Clarke's title track "East River Drive" which is quite anthemic. The album is a mix of R&B, film music and jazz funk. It was given to me after the fire by the brilliant professor Dr. Bill Banfield. I'll probably replace the copy he gave me which is in poor condition but plays perfectly in my Audiolab transport.
6 hours ago, Teasing the Korean said:Thanks for posting.
A couple of thoughts:
- I completely agree with your opinion of CTI between 1970 and 1974, although I am not fond of Bob James. But any of these albums from that period with either Deodato or Don Sebesky contributions are very worthwhile. I associate the 1974 cutoff date with the arrival of disco in late 1974, not that I'm knocking disco, but that early-70s introspective, urban, minor-key, black-consciousness aesthetic was largely traded in for a forget-your-troubles-and-shake-your-booty ethos.
- The cultural shifts at around 1974/75 are fascinating. Disco arrived in a big way. Jaws created a new paradigm for the summer blockbuster film. Ennio Morricone stopped working with Bruno Nicolai, marking the end of Morricone's great period.
- When discussing Creed Taylor, don't forget his early work at ABC/Paramount, in particular with the great and underrated Kenyon Hopkins. These albums were released under Creed Taylor's name for contractual reasons. They include The Sound of New York; 3Lonelyville; and the trilogy of Shock, Panic, and Nightmare.
Then obviously like an idiot I forgot the huge omission of the release of Deodato because that record really set in motion EVERYTHING that set them forward after in terms of big plans. I need to check out those Kenyon Martin albums! I was unaware. Thank you.
1 hour ago, Teasing the Korean said:Thanks for sharing. I never heard of this guy. I need to check him out.
Oh yeah he definitely was the next big post Grover guy and he could play.
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3 hours ago, JSngry said:
Two words are missing here - George Howard.
True. I couldn't fit in everything! I was like damn I need to include George Howard. Another edit. Dancing In The Sun was a huge early seller in GRP history and I had ended up with two copies of this once. I didn't like the album at all but hey, he was a huge name in the field and if we talk authenticity he was all about that.
3 hours ago, Teasing the Korean said:Thanks for posting.
A couple of thoughts:
- I completely agree with your opinion of CTI between 1970 and 1974, although I am not fond of Bob James. But any of these albums from that period with either Deodato or Don Sebesky contributions are very worthwhile. I associate the 1974 cutoff date with the arrival of disco in late 1974, not that I'm knocking disco, but that early-70s introspective, urban, minor-key, black-consciousness aesthetic was largely traded in for a forget-your-troubles-and-shake-your-booty ethos.
- The cultural shifts at around 1974/75 are fascinating. Disco arrived in a big way. Jaws created a new paradigm for the summer blockbuster film. Ennio Morricone stopped working with Bruno Nicolai, marking the end of Morricone's great period.
- When discussing Creed Taylor, don't forget his early work at ABC/Paramount, in particular with the great and underrated Kenyon Hopkins. These albums were released under Creed Taylor's name for contractual reasons. They include The Sound of New York; 3Lonelyville; and the trilogy of Shock, Panic, and Nightmare.
Then obviously like an idiot I forgot the huge omission of the release of Deodato because that record really set in motion EVERYTHING that set them forward after in terms of big plans. I need to check out those Kenyon Martin albums! I was unaware. Thank you.
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3 minutes ago, Rabshakeh said:
Thanks for this interesting article.
I actually enjoy a lot of this music. Those Grover Washington, David Sanford, Hank Crawford and George Benson records are great (presumably not a contraversial perspective around here). But even a lot of the records from the "bad" era of smooth jazz generally have a good single or two (albeit they are maybe better seen as Quiet Storm / R&B records designed for smooching or root canals, rather than jazz).
Two comments on areas that I think the articles don't pay attention to, which could also be included:
(1) The quiet storm / smooth jazz intersection - the article touches on Sade and Kirk Whalum, but I think that this 'section' of the smooth jazz genre: instrumental urban contemporary pop, is the most interesting. A lot of modern gospel music also draws very heavily on this sort of smooth jazz. I think that in ten years when the taint of Mr Gorelick has finally worn off, some enterprising Gilles Peterson type DJ is going to make his or her name by "discovering" this stuff. It will be the new "rare groove" or "yacht rock".
(2) What about the New Age music of the late 1970s? Surely artists like Shadowfax and George Winston are also part of the development and maturation of the smooth jazz genre?
Interesting points. That can definitely be a followup article or even an edit when I have time. I agree with you that there is good music in the genre as I stated, I just think after 1984 a lot of it is devoid of substance. I mean Harlequin is a genre classic I just think after the first two tracks it settles into that signature GRP thing. The first two cuts are great MPB. Kirk Whalum definitely took things to another level with his Gospel According To series and while that is not my preferred religion that is music full of meaning, passion and a neat injection of the Texas tenor thing with gospel music.
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I just had to do it because in earlier times I labeled it all of garbage (even my beloved Pat before I was there yet) A long read, Part 1 is linked in the article. This is not us much for us, as it is people curious about jazz history... Enjoy https://bit.ly/3b6zQdw
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On 7/18/2022 at 4:33 PM, Eric said:
Agree, this is a very nice one.
I gotta stream that and his latest. Joel Ross is a beast
On 7/18/2022 at 0:21 AM, Eric said:Interesting- seems more 1982 than anything. Not super-impressed with those either. How about something with photos of the artists? Sincerely, Grumpy Old Man
Haha. Well retro is in for millennials, my generation though I was born in 1981 but I agree a lot of recent Blue Note covers are nondescript but at the same time, I think we have to move on since the Reid Miles era... that said, the last iconic Blue Note cover of the last 40 years for me is One Night With Blue Note Preserved
On 7/17/2022 at 6:20 AM, Eric said:Too bad the album cover is completely unimaginative.
I kind of like it but his daughter designed it apparently. I guess for recent BN covers Melissa Aldana's and Gerald Clayton's are more interesting
Unusual trios
in Miscellaneous Music
Posted
Many of the ECM's I had and reviewed from a few years ago had unusual lineups, one trio was Florian Weber on piano, Markus Stockhausen on trumpet and a bassist I think. Although not a trio, Kit Downes on pipe organ and Tom Challenger on tenor sax was another.