Kevin Bresnahan

Even though I love the bari sax sound, I rarely play Gil Melle. I have the 2 CD Blue Note set but not this one. Is this material similar to the music he made for Blue Note?

I never did pick up this material on CD. I do have the LPs, and they'll have to do for now.

There are several videos of Jason Marsalis playing Lionel Hampton's music - everything from a quartet to a big band. I don't get "New Orleans" from either of these videos. The big band is clearly a swing band. I will say that the video of the quartet date, which highlights Jason's vibes playing, shows him to be a rather sedate soloist, which may be why the initial poster said it was bland. But just like his drumming, I've seen better vibes soloists & much worse.

I have several of Ellis' recordings but not that one. His last one, initially only available via pledgemusic, is pretty good. As is his trio recording "Heart of Gold" & his solo piano date, "Piano in E".

I have no problem discussing specific artists, except when it comes to Wynton Marsalis, which is where this thread is headed when someone posts: and it's followed up with: This looks like the beginning of a "Wynton Marsalis sucks" sidebar, which will probably digress into a all-out food fight. As someone who enjoys some of Wynton's musical output and a lot of Branford's, I hate when these Marsalis-bashing threads bust out here.

This is such a divisive topic... I would rather we don't have to weather another one of these threads. They suck. He sucks. They're great. He's great. This place is so much more enjoyable when this particular topic doesn't crop up. It's almost as bad as politics or religion. Maybe we can have Jim A modify the rules to include a ban on Marsalis threads?

There's an interesting show coming up at Scullers on May 30th. The Levin Brothers (Tony & Pete) with Pat LaBarbera and drummer Jeff Siegel rounding out the quartet. I've seen Tony live a few times when he was touring with Peter Gabriel but not as a Jazz bassist so this should be interesting. I haven't seen LaBarbera play live in decades. In fact, I thought he was retired since he really hasn't shown up on my radar in such a long time. There are plenty of tickets for both sets. I am going to the 7:00 show. 7:00 - https://www.ticketweb.com/event/the-levin-brothers-featuring-pat-scullers-jazz-club-tickets/14291203

I've been trying to buy this CD set locally since it came out but none of my area's Bull Moose stores have gotten it in.

Being an engineer, I always thought that the nut was way too thin for that sized bolt.

@Jim Alfredson might be able to help here.

Some consolidation in the microbrewing industry had to happen, since the IPA craze caused an insane number of breweries to pop up. Also, my friend who runs a liquor store tells me that a lot of his customers have stopped drinking alcohol completely and those that still imbibe, stay away from from the higher alcohol beers like DIPA & TIPA. His business is way down overall, not just beer.

One of my favorites in the "mellow" genre:

It's been many years since I've traveled to the UK, but I remember really enjoying Timothy Taylor's Landlord Ale. Good stuff.

I really like this date. It's something I play when I'm in the mood for some mellow Jazz. My only disappointment with it is that it's too short.

I've never seen Jason as a leader. I think he was the drummer for his dad's last tour and I saw him then. He seemed like a decent drummer. I've seen better and I've seen worse. From his discography, it looks like he's been touring with the Lionel Hampton Big Band for a few years now. Is that what you saw? I've never seen him play vibes so I can't comment on that.

I wish I had access to any pub near me that offered cask-conditioned ales. I really enjoy cask-conditioned ales and I miss being able to get one at a local pub. There was an English pub called the Coat of Arms in downtown Portsmouth, NH for many years but they closed. I do get that it seems like many beer makers are going all in on overly hopped IPAs but I can't really blame them, as it seems to be all the craze. That said, it's worse when beer makers go the other way too. Bland lagers & pilsners are no better than over-hopped IPAs. I'm more of a stout/porter man myself, with my preferred being a milk stout.

From the cover, I would guess "Soft Shoulder Miles".

I'm kinda with Jim on this one... what's weird about people stealing the most steal-able cars in the world? This might be for an "Interesting News Tonight" thread.

Some of this material made it to CD on the OJC label: I never did pick that CD up. I'm not usually a fan of the head/solo/head 2 & a half minute stuff from the 78 era. Looking at this, maybe I should re-think that.

I have to think that Ernie has retired from the Jazz scene. He hasn't recorded or toured since 2020. I consider myself very lucky to have seen him with Quartet West several times. Such a great player. I once owned this but I can't seem to find it right now. I'm pretty sure I had the XRCD version. I'm glad you're enjoying it. I think it was released to kick off the "rebirth" of the Prestige label but I don't think too many titles were released on it afterward.

Samara Joy's tickets are pricey in Austin too. My niece lives there and I was going to recommend that she check her out but then I saw the prices. Ouch.

Considering that this is from September 13, 2024, I would be curious as to how this list looks today.

Paul Motian Trio - One Time Out (Soul Note). Trying this one again and it's just not my kind of music. I guess the "out" part of the title is literal, as they swing out a lot more here than on any of the other CDs I have with this band.

Since I retired back in 2023, I've been hitting the elliptical daily and I'm up to about 3 miles/day now. I like the elliptical because it's less stress on my knees and ankles. So I am not relying on just diet & drugs to keep my weight down & hopefully slow/stop the plaque. My biggest problem with exercise near the end of my working career was that my work day was typically 6 AM to 6 PM when including my 1 hour commute. Those work hours made it nearly impossible to work out and keep a social life with my wife & children. Now I can get up and work out at my leisure and still have the rest of the day to do what I want. Before I moved up to Maine, I lived in NH and my main exercise was playing volleyball 3 to 4 times per week. I can't do that anymore so this elliptical is a lifesaver, particularly in the winter.

I really like that live Jazz Messengers date. I first heard it on that single RCA disc from 1992 but when it came out "complete" on 2 CDs, I had to get that too. They were on fire that night.