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Phil Grenadier


jazz1

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About "Playful Intentions," Phil has a great sound (bottom to top--and there is quite a top at times), he'll follow an evolving line to the ends of the known universe no matter what and make it work, he has no licks I can detect, he writes and picks nice tunes, and the album is an album, not just a collection of tracks. Also, everyone else is in fine form, especially Bill Carrothers, and it all feels unusually "open" -- little or no sense that anyone is presenting themselves, strutting their stuff.

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Thank you for that Lawrence!Your thoughts and writings are on my mind!

You touched on one of my "intentions"--not showing off or recording songs that serve strutting...You know--playing Giant Steps might be impressive,but not on my cd.

"Open" is another intention--I'm so glad that's coming through for you.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I tried to purchase another copy of this CD through amazon.com several weeks ago, but I've been having horrible luck because amazon keeps delaying their ship date. Has anybody else experienced problems with amazon; and if so, would anyone know where else I could order this?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

JazzKitten :)

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I tried to purchase another copy of this CD through amazon.com several weeks ago, but I've been having horrible luck because amazon keeps delaying their ship date.  Has anybody else experienced problems with amazon; and if so, would anyone know where else I could order this?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

JazzKitten :)

I got a copy from Amazon Uk this week, it took a couple of weeks (i ordered on the 23 July).

Have you tried from this site in Spain ?

http://www.freshsoundrecords.com/catalogue...abel&label_id=1

Im playing it now , for about the third time & I'm enjoying it more & more with each listen , nice one Phil.

Edited by Gary
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Have you tried from this site in Spain ?

http://www.freshsoundrecords.com/catalogue...abel&label_id=1

I'm a U.S. guy, and I've been "this close" to buying from Freshsounds directly, on-line -- but I'm a little shy about buying from an overseas on-line resource, or at least one that I've never dealt with before.

Anybody from the U.S. bought from Freshsounds before?? What are their shipping rates like?? Can you pay with a credit card?? Do they automatically convert from Euros to Dollars, and is the transaction fairly seamless without any nasty conversion charges?? Did they package stuff up appropriately for being sent across the pond?? How long did it take to get to you - only a week or two?? - or more like a month or more??

Frankly I've had several items "in my basket" on their site, probably three, four, maybe five times -- but they don't even tell you a single word about shipping rates or currency issues, without you first creating an account with them. So I keep saying "why bother", and I'll just keep trying to find those Freshsound discs somewhere else.

Am I just being a chickenshit, or what??

Phil, I'd already have your CD by now, probably two or three months ago, if Freshsound had a slightly more user-friendly website, or at least a good customer FAQ. Or is there another good U.S. source for Freshsound titles??

(Sorry for the tone of this post - I've been battling my phone company this morning over billing problems on their end, so I'm kind of in the mood to bitch right now, if you know what I mean.)

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Thanks couw!!! I never did notice that little help.gif symbol on their site before now.

Youch, they want $8.50 in shipping for one disc, $12.50 for two, and $16.00 for three or four discs (I've converted the Euro values of 7.50, 11.00, 14.00). That means shipping costs of between $4 and $8.50, per disc. :blink:

At this point, I think I'm only looking to get Phil's disc, and probably Jeremy Pelt's too, so maybe I'll hold off until I have a bigger order, and/or see if anybody else I know in Kansas City is interested in going in on an order together - to save on shipping.

Edited by Rooster_Ties
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Thanks couw!!! I never did notice that little help.gif symbol on their site before now.

Youch, they want $8.50 in shipping for one disc, $12.50 for two, and $16.00 for three or four discs (I've converted the Euro values of 7.50, 11.00, 14.00). That means shipping costs of between $4 and $8.50, per disc. :blink:

At this point, I think I'm only looking to get Phil's disc, and probably Jeremy Pelt's too, so maybe I'll hold off until I have a bigger order, and/or see if anybody else I know in Kansas City is interested in going in on an order together - to save on shipping.

I asked them about the shipping as I thought it was high too and they said it's because they FedEx them, it's the only way they trust there so it's costly but you get them fast. Cadence is fine as well but you can get the new stuff from Fresh Sound much sooner than Cadence gets them. There's a lot of great stuff on that label that's right up your alley Rooster Ties.

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  • 2 weeks later...

It was with great anticipation when I put the cd "Playful intentions" into my player, after all I waited weeks to get it.

Well, what can I say I am really disapointed, the first track sounds like a "dumb" tune, then there is that horrible sounding electric guitar.

Maybe Brandford was right when he said that electric guitars should be banned in jazz.

Most of the original composition are really weak, why compose such weak tunes when they are so much great stuff around.

To me the band never seems to get going, no oomph, swing is not the language either.

There is some nice playing by the trumpeter and the piano player, but I am still trying to figure out how to get rid of the guitar.

All this unison stuff also seems too arranged, maybe this is one of the reason why

the musicians sound comatosed.

Actually the title of the cd is to the point "Playful intentions" this is all it is.

Sorry, it is only my opinion

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I must admit that I changed my opinion slightly after further listening.

I still stands with what I said about not liking this particular electric guitar sound,

and that some of the compositions are weak and repetitives

To me why must a musician bother playing weak original compositions when there is so much good stuff around.

Secondly, I was so disapointed when I listened the first time round that I stopped

the cd after track 6. put on another cd that did keep my interest.

Then tonight while having a drink, I've decided to give it another try.

First track, I can still hear this "dumb" tune, then this horrible sounding guitar.

listen, skip, listen skip, then surprise, surprise, track 8 does sound great, even the guitar sounds less doctored, then track 9 Yeah, no guitar, everybody seems to wake up, now this is my "cup of tea" actually I am on my secong glass of Sauvignon blanc.

10 is OK, 11 not much to comment about.

I will definetely listen and enjoy to some of the second half of the cd, to my ears the first half of the cd the musicians are "not loose" they take themselves too seriously.

This is my opinion second time around, maybe a few more spins and I will hear some other things that I like.

I want to make it clear that it is my personnal point of view.

I am sorry if I offended anybody.

Just like Down Beat, one rewiever give a cd 4 stars another 2 stars, to each his own.

Jazz Kitten, if you had to pick your favorite track, which one would you choose??

Hope we can still be friend??

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I don't have this cd yet, so I can't comment, but having listened to some of kurt rosenwinkel's other recorded performances, I can say that the word "horrible" never once entered my mind. Some of The Enemies of Energy struck me as a little over-produced, but the playing was still good. And The Next Step is, to me at least, totally sublime. Makes as good an argument for the guitar in jazz as any album I can think of. If indeed that argument needs to be made...

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To me why must a musician bother playing weak original compositions when there is so much good stuff around.

Obviously Phil didn't think they were weak, or else he wouldn't have recorded them. I know you said in your post that you're just expressing your feelings about the disc, but this statement sounds quite matter-of-fact, rather than mere opinion.

There is the essential aspect of art known as "the process". It's very important that artists have the courage and patience to work things through, in private or in public. It might be that the next batch of originals Phil records will totally knock you out, and it would be in large part due to what he learned from making this record. So have a care before disparaging someone's efforts at crafting a personal musical statement. Be honest, yes. But tossing out vague descriptive terms like "weak" and "dumb", which are difficult to defend against, do far more harm than good.

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I couldnt disagree more with Jazz1. Bud's opening number is a beautifully simple theme. Bud's BN recording doesnt take it far but Phil and co. show how something with mere playful intentions can be crafted into something more profound. Nothing repetitive here to my ears either on this track or the rest of the album.

Each to his own I guess.

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We got one comment on our CD about weak compositions, too.  It's fine.  Like jazz1 said, it's just his/her opinion.  No harm.  Can't please everybody.

The difference there was that we got an informed explanation as to why the listener thought the compositions were weak. He didn't just say they were dumb, he said that he wanted to hear something more harmonically involved to support the melodic developments in the solos. Or something to that effect. Be specific, is what I'm saying. :mellow: But hey, I'm cool... B)

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As I said I do enjoy 3 or 4 numbers and will play them again

the reality in life is that on the majority of CDs their is always a few tracks that I never play, this one is no exception except that it is more than the norm

I wonder how much I can get from half.com?

If anybody is interested 8$ + shipping and we have a deal (!/2 my cost)

I am just not a fan of this type of guitar sound, I would rather have a root canal

it makes me cringe. And let me tell you I am not the only one, even my wife commented on it in passing.

Make no mistake they are modern guitarist that I like, one of them coming to mind is Andrew Cheshire on the CIMP label.

Maybe I am old fashioned when it come to electric guitars , I can appreciate all the old masters, like Jimmy and Doug Rainey, (my 2 fav) Jim Hall Kenny Burrell etc.

Once again IT IS ONLY MY OPINION

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