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Nate Dorward

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Posts posted by Nate Dorward

  4. BFT #62

    in Blindfold Test

    Posted · Edited by Nate Dorward

    Did folks want separate threads for this & the bonus disc, or keep discussion to one? The bonus disc, are you'll see, is only 3 tracks, but one is very long.

    *

    OK, I've uploaded the BFT to RapidShare:

    http://rapidshare.com/files/192528716/BFT_62_download.zip

    http://rapidshare.com/files/192552159/BFT_...nload_bonus.zip

    I figured I'd start this thread even if people are still downloading and digesting the music. There's no particular reason to jump in at once--sit back & think about the music first.....

    I don't have a lot of introductory comments. There's no common theme; as you'll hear, it's all over the map stylistically, from the avantgarde to a straight-down-the-line organ+sax date. Unlike previous threads I have included some older tracks, rather than simply showcasing new releases. Mostly fairly obscure stuff, but (unlike my previous BFTs, which deliberately excluded virtually all "name" players!) there are some tracks with familiar players which I included because these particular recordings are fairly scarce & I thought people would like a taste.

  8. BFT #62 signup

    in Blindfold Test

    Posted

    In case people are wondering, I'm not very experienced with using ripping software &c, so haven't sorted things out yet after spending the last few hours at the computer....

    (the details:)

    I was using two programs to handle the audio files--the copy of NTI CD/DVD Maker that came with my computer & the iTunes software I have installed. The former offers a "convert audio" option but it triggers a request that I pay up for the software (fair enough, but it's a clunky program & I'm not entirely sure I want to pay for it), and the latter is just puzzling: it's supposed to offer an option to convert WAV files to MP3 but I can't seem to get it to do it--the help file is not helpful as it refers me to a nonexistent tab option, for some reason.

    Agh! Anyway, if anyone has suggestions I'd be very grateful. What I have is the original CDs, of course, & also the WAV files I created while making the CDRs. But I take it that I need to convert them to MP3 or else they will be far too big. (Will MP4 do? that's the default for iTunes. Not sure of the compatibility with everyone's players.)

    Somehow I'll get this all sorted out over the weekend.......

  13. BFT #62 signup

    in Blindfold Test

    Posted

    OK, have been struggling with my software but managed to create the BFT at last! CDRs go in the mail on Monday, the download will be available shortly thereafter.

    As always, a tricky problem, creating a single 80-minute compilation. I've fudged things this time with a partial bonus disc--not full length, but it contains one very long track on it.

  16. The Ultimate Frog

    in New Releases

    Posted

    Hope you still have your friend.... :)

    Actually (seriously) it's a pretty user-friendly inside/outside kind of disc. My wife even tolerates it when I have it on the stereo.......!

    A few other reviews have rolled in since the Ratliff--I especially liked Massimo Ricci's writeup for his site Touching Extremes (link).

  19. 1953 Massey Hall "Greatest Jazz Concert Ever"

    in Discography

    Posted · Edited by Nate Dorward

    I think this is really two separate questions: (1) who are the musicians? and (2) if it's the same/similar lineup as the one on the Massey Hall concert then is it actually from the concert?

    FWIW, if the sound quality is "excellent" then I would guess that it's not from the Massey Hall concert, which is fairly poorly recorded (including the infamously inaudible bass that was later overdubbed).

    I don't have the Miller book to hand but my recollection is that the extant album of the concert is everything by the trio & the quintet that exists, though there are some obvious edits within the tracks. The missing material was by a Toronto band, not the stars, & I believe that Parker guested with them at the end of the night (a performance now lost?). Anyway, I can check with the book if you like.

  21. BFT #61

    in Blindfold Test

    Posted

    Unfortunately I gather there are some rights issues surrounding the musical "outtakes" from Kansas City, so the second film of just the performances has been withdrawn. Amazon still lists it for sale, though.

  23. BFT #61

    in Blindfold Test

    Posted · Edited by Nate Dorward

    Ah well, with those hints... :) Mengelberg (unusually straightahead playing for him, actually) & est, obviously. I saw Svensson a few years back (about 2000?, Toronto jazzfest), it was nice in an it's-okay-just-not-my-thing style of expertly calibrated jazz.

  24. BFT #61

    in Blindfold Test

    Posted

    11: Nice swing-to-boogie version of a familiar tune. The stomping closing peroration is the best thing, & it shows that the bassist & drums aren't really needed! There's a wrong note near the end & I like how the pianist makes it sound "right" through the next phrase.

    12: "Solitude" for 2 basses. A little too lazybones for me--I mean, it's hard not to like this, but it's not making me jump out of my seat either, and the business-like piano just seems to be trying to avoid getting in the way. Hm.... the clarinettist sounds familiar, maybe Michael Moore judging from the tone, though I wouldn't expect some of those top notes from him.

    13: Vaguely Monkish tune on some familiar changes. The drummer sounds familiar, can't place him, I don't think I know the others. This style of alto sax definitely sounds European, it's not fashionable in the U.S., more like a Dutch sound. This sounds "different" without maybe being all that idiosyncratic. I liked it--the pianist actually did something with the Monkisms rather than just quoting them or toying with them knowingly--without its really hitting me hard.

    14: Bud Powell tune, I think. I must confess that I like this style of slightly "off" piano--the touch having that poking-the-keys flavour, the notes a little cracked, the lines dragging a little behind the beat--much more than the flavourless in-control sound of most contemporary jazz piano. Probably an older guy but recorded fairly recently. It's not exceptional--I don't get the sense of a cumulative building in tension between choruses, it just seems to amble along, & there's no "spillover" in energy from chorus to chorus (everything seems to be cut off every two or four bars)--but nice to hear nonetheless. No idea who it is--sounds like whoever it is ought to be picked up by the Smalls guys, if he/she hasn't been already.

    15: A familiar but not overplayed standard (I forget the title, though the flavour suggests it's Adair/Dennis; is it "Will You Still Be Mine?" Whatever....). Not crazy about this one for some reason.... I like the pianist most just because he keeps surprising me & because he sounds like he's pushing himself the hardest. The tenor is one of those players who just sounds like he's turning on a tap. No idea who anyone is here.

    16: A tromboney "Our Love Is Here to Stay". Amusing to hear someone's voice after that II-V passage on the head! (I initially thought one of the musicians, but turns out this is live.) I initially thought this would be painfully cute/cozy but the double tbn solo at the start really has its own knotty intensity, & while, yeah, the pianist does seem to be trying to tickle the crowd's fancy, that's fine, I like the glisses & pranks. Olde-style bowed bass solo, surely an older guy? Only Ari Roland plays bass like that now (& he's not as good). Yeah, this is nice, I liked the feeling, which is good-humoured but not two-dimensional or lazy.

    17: OK, a very fast "Evidence" done by some cool hands. The pianist starts out SO minimalistically, with all those pauses & the homeopathic doses of left hand chords, that you just know he's waiting to eat up the keyboard..... This is impressive enough but, in terms of music, I dunno, just seems to me one of those tracks where everything seems in the right place, but it's a kind of playfulness that doesn't invite me to come & play--it's jazz as self-enclosed playground.

    18: Good, got the vocals out of the way.... Sounds like Susanna McCorkle with less sense of pitch. The pianist is a little..... bouncy.

    19: Thanks!

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