tkeith

Al, you're cracking me up. I'm glad you dug the first halfish, anyway. Track 7 was difficult to fit in anywhere, so I used it to break up the similarity of the rest of it. If I moved eight down, I could have easily gone 1-6, 9-12, 8, 13, 14, 16-17 and called it a nice mixed tape, but my ear told me it was too much of a similar style (I guess this BFT was my mood at the time). I'm surprised by some of the stuff folks are NOT getting, but that may have more to do with who is NOT participating than anything else. Thanks for taking the time to listen. Reveal comes Sunday, if I'm not mistaken.

No, but I like where you're going. Bummer! Not sure what happened there. If you e-mail me, I'll send you the track, or you can listen through my website: BFT #75 (just scroll down to the Blindfold Test #75 folder) Odd... haven't heard this from anyone else; perhaps you had a download issue. I think you'll be surprised by this one. Definitely bari. And VERY greasy. No. This is the stumper -- it's not Horace, but a recitation in homage.

Wow! First person to get the tune! I'm surprised by this. This is one of the original Real Book staples that everybody giggles about the title until they play it and pretty much everybody agrees what a great tune it is. Well done! No, but the tenor player would be flattered. No on all counts. I think people will be really surprised by this, but when it's revealed, a few may kick themselves. It's a poem in his honor, recited by a guy view have heard of. He has that Morgan Freeman quality in his voice that makes you think you're listening to an event, even if he's saying "Pass the Cheerios." Glad you liked it!

Nice comments, Jeff. No matches, but I think you're going to be surprised come the reveal. You're guess on track 12 is the closest. Ironically, track 17 is the most "centric" I've ever heard this vocalist. In fact, when I saw this band live, she was not even out in front. She's such an understated part of this ensemble that I think that's what appealed to me about this track. When the reveal hits, you can judge that for yourself. This part of the test was tough to assemble, as it covers a wide variety within the genre. Track 15 is pretty standard, but given who and what it is, that's kind of what works about it for me. In fact, when I was listening to it in the car, at one point, he plays a line that he repeats three times. After the second time, I let out an involuntary, "Aaargh!" After the third time, he does the exact same thing. It was a nice moment. I agree with you about the electronics on track 17, but the tenor is so gorgeous, I just can't give it up.

More terrific comments! I like your Perry Robinson guess on three, but that's not it. I put this together mostly from stuff that has struck me from my current iPod list, and some stuff that I'd file away to use for a BFT at some point. There's some very tough tracks to ID in here. Thanks for giving it a listen, and I'm glad you enjoyed so much of it.

Niko, thanks for the comments. I like the way you hear and approach the BFT, but no matches... I hesitate saying that, because I suspect many are going to guess Shepp on track 10. Hope you got a smile or two out of the tracks.

Well, no.

I dig it, Jeff. Thanks!

SWEET!!!

Many thanks, Al. The Canyon was the "album cover" I set for all the albums; it's from my trip to the Grand Canyon. If you ever find yourself in southern Maine, Al, I owe you a cold, tasty sociable.

Okay, Bill. Stay tuned for a download link once we figure out the glitch with the id3 tags. <cursing microsoft as he walks away>

Yay Jeff!!!!

Good point, I guess "easy" is relative to taste, but I was thinking more in terms of the players.

Well, until we can get those files fixed, it's available to hear online at my blindfold test site. Just click the link, then scroll down to "Blindfold Test 75", click the folder, and you can click the tracks from there.

Gah! Curse Microsoft!!!!! Big Al, can you hook a brother up and mail the zips back to me? I'll take down the zip for now.

Jim, can you PM me with what information you saw? I've checked the files by looking at their info, checked the id3 tags in iTunes and downloaded a tag editor, and I'm only seeing the generic information I put in there.

Not sure what to say, Jim. I DL'd it and unzipped and I have no tags showing in iTunes. Not sure what else I can do to "wipe" them.

Should be, Jim. I was able to download it, but I haven't unzipped it and verified it.

Yes, I know, it's only been up long enough to download, but hey, why keep 'em waiting?

Al, preCISEly what I thought when I saw the message asking about where the BFT was! It's done and uploading as I type, but Comcast sucks, so it's been a slow process. For giggles and laughs, here is the link to the Blindfold Tests page on my website. Just navigate to the Blindfold Test 75 folder in the player, click, and you can play the tracks. Or, if you're not impatient, you can download it here (hopefully by 7PM GMT-5). Man, I listened to this, and I have to say I'm diggin' it. I didn't intentionally make it difficult, but there are definitely some that will be tough to get. A few obscurities, a few obvious ones, and hopefully stuff that makes your ears smile. Enjoy!

Alrighty, then... who's in? Please let me know here and let me know your desired method of listening: Download Online through a media player (a link) If you prefer a disc, it'll be a huge help if you download and burn. If you're unable, I'll cope, but you may be waiting for the disc for a bit.

A quick check of the list shows me this is on me. I'll have that up tonight. Sorry 'bout that. I'd prefer to do downloads and/or live listens. Either way, I'll start the thread when I get home from work.

Not much to offer on this one. Just threw out what I could -- feel bad about tanking on the second half of last month, but time has not been on my side. 1 - Mercy, Mercy, Mercy. Some shades of Maceo and DDBB. I'd guess the latter. 2 - 'Scuse me while I pour a Courvoisier. Or maybe Isaac can pour it for me. That's some serious reverb on that trumpet. Harold Land on tenor. Kind of like Jimmy Stewart appearing in a Lassie movie. 3 - More harsh reverb. Sounds a bit like Sonny Criss on alto to me. Now it's losing that feel. I'm going to be surprised by who the alto player is. No clue on the organ. 4 - Ain't Misbehavin', but no clue who it is. 5 - No clues. May recognize the tune, but it's not holding my interest. 6 - Holy mother of reverb infested vibrato. No idea. 7 - Green Onions. No clue. 8 - Can't remember the name of this -- learned this when I was a kid watching a guy play lead in the Seacoast Big Band... that dude is still around and still blowing his ass off, too. Arrangement is Earlandesque. Not sure on the alto -- again, the compression/reverb is killing me. 9 - Devoid of clues. 10 - Awkward arrangement of Night Train. Not really grabbing me. Almost sounds like it's either overdubbed or in the rehearsal stages. I generally take to this sort of thing, but this one didn't reach me. 11 - No idea. Can't really explain this other than to say the musicianship is missing. Tenor player is very scoopy, like a rock player. I assume it's South African due to the feel and the instrumentation, but it just doesn't grab me. 12 - Maiden Voyage. Lesser player trying to play like George Coleman. Big sound, at times tends to rush his lines a bit, a la Jimmy Heath, but it's not him. Second guy actually sounds a lot like George, but not as polished. 13 - No idea. 14 - No idea. 15 - No idea (finishing strong). Bonus B1 - Wailing alto, no clue. B2 - Attitude reminds me of Denise LaSalle, but no idea. Make a nice companion to Cleanhead's "She has it, she's got it, she sits right on it, she just won't give it away." B3 - Yikes. Gruesome. All the happiness is gone from this song. I like the tenor. Could be a subdued George Coleman, but definitely a Jazz guy and a bigger core than George. B4 - Totally lacking clues.

Finally got to listen to disc 1 -- way behind this month. I dug most of this a lot. It kind of lost steam at the end of disc 1. 1 - aaaah... Peter Schickele? 2 - Well, some old fart must've turned 40. 3 - Groovy. No idea, but fun. 4 - Again, no idea, but fun. So far this encompasses an entire segment of the genre that I'm woefully ignorant of, but I like it. 5 - Very much digging this. In a weird way, the drums remind me of a tune on Pharoah's album PHAROAH on India Navigation. 6 - That bass is killing me. Hate that sound. Otherwise, I'm much digging this track. I'll throw out the guess of Bernard Purdie on drums. Organ seems too tame to be Groove, but seems a lot like one of his 70s recordings. 7 - Stanley Turrentine on tenor, got that right away. I guess I could pretty safely guess BP on drums again. 8 - That was like George W. on a bender -- clueless, but fun. 9 - This is tasty. Maybe something from George Braith? Dunno. Recognize the alto, but... can't peg it. At times, there are ideas that have me thinking James Spaulding, but the tone is wrong. At times, there's some Carl Grubbs in there, but seems to constrained to be him. 10 - Chops to spare. Not entirely sure who it is, but a very clean sound. Heavy vibrato, so I'm guessing an older guy. This is plain fun. 11 - This one is just too flowery for my tastes. Sounds like a soundtrack to a movie I'm guiltily watching because I'm too vegetative to do anything else. Or waiting to have my teeth drilled. 12 - No clue. Pass, though... a strained oblique makes it painful for me to have my right arm raised, finger pointed, as I shake my hips....

Hook a brother up -- download, please.