Big Al

Wait, how did I miss this the first time around: Lon's a Styx fan??? No wonder he's been avoiding me! Oh, and my love for "Sister Moonshine" is to the point now where I'm glad I shelled out the few bucks just to get "Crisis What Crisis" on vinyl JUST FOR THAT ONE SONG! In fact, I'm gonna go put it on right now!

Prices include first-class shipping to US or Canada. International we'll work something out. THE COMPLETE MODERN JAZZ QUARTET PRESTIGE & PABLO RECORDINGS $40 Brand new, outta the shrink-wrap, never listened. SOLD PASSIONS OF A MAN: THE COMPLETE ATLANTIC RECORDINGS OF CHARLES MINGUS $50 UPC code has a gash through it. Discs and book are in excellent condition. Price-checking against Amazon is encouraged. Post here first, then PM me. PayPal only. Thanks!

Before I begin, may I respectfully ask that all Mac-fans please refrain from stating that I "shoulda got a Mac?" Those comments drive me up a wall in conversations like this, as well as adding nothing to the conversation at hand. Last week, I was given (yes, "given," as in FREE!) a Dell running Windows 7, but I cannot run the following programs I've been using for video editing and audio editing: ArcSoft ShowBiz - used this for video editing/creating; I'm sure it came with a video camera I bought CakeWalk Pyro - bought this awhile back and found it very useful, but the latest version is getting across-the-board negative reviews Any suggestions for software replacements/upgrades/freeware/shareware/firmware/etc will be greatly appreciated!

My favorite so far!

"Now," thought Ellen, "NOW those guys over at the Hoffman Forums will finally take me seriously."

PM sent with question on the Eldridge

Drat, you're right! All this time I thought it was a Sunday!

Nice post, Hans! Really dug the clip of Kenny Poole, of whom I'd not heard prior to this! Any recommendations?

Don't get my hopes up like that now!!! With all the Jerrydome-related construction, that is a valid concern. Maybe I better get there on the third and pray that it doesn't rain between the 3rd and the 5th, one because I don't wanna chance another citywide power outage and two because I don't want my bass to get wet. GAAAAHHH!!! Really don't be getting my hopes up like that!!!

Here we go! No idea who anybody was, so this is all just general commentary! Track 1: Cool. Nice & swinging! Track 2: Gonna kick myself, I’m pretty sure I have this somewhere. OH, wait, I’m just confusing this with late 60’s unreleased Miles. Nice tribute, nonetheless! Track 3: Sounds like a natural progression from track 2. Nice! Track 4: See track 3. Really diggin’ the flow of tunes right now! Track 5: Sounds like something from Ron Carter’s WHERE. Again, keeping up with the nice flow of things. This is starting to sound like a freebop suite, and while I may not be digging individual tunes (like, I don’t imagine ever listening to track 4 again by itself), the programming of these tracks has, thus far, been the most enjoyable programme of tunes I’ve heard in a long time, both officially released and programmes of my own making (and I do mean BFT 73!) Track 6: Like I said! The sweet suite continues! But I wanna know what this is!!! Tenor sax and guitar is one of my favorite combos! If it was anyone else assembling this BFT, I might guess Joe Henderson with what sounds like John McLaughlin, but since this is Thom, this could be anyone and I can’t wait to find out who! Track 7: Ouch!!! That was a jarring switch! Suite’s over, I guess, but it sure was nice while it lasted. Let’s see where this takes us... well, after two minutes, I’m still waiting. Too disorganized for me. NEXT!!! Track 8: Now THIS would’ve been a nice follow-up to track 6. In fact, when I’m done here, I’m gonna re-program this, get rid of track 7, and see if the transition is as smooth as I imagine it will be! Track 9: What *is* it about this particular key that whenever anyone sings it, it drives me up a friggin’ wall? Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, who I’ve heard sing anything this high sounds either too delicate or too shrill!!! So, I’m gonna guess Flora Purim because, having spewed the previous rant, I don’t know of anyone else, male or female, who sings/intones like this. My own two cents, change offered as always. I’m sure others will like it, and rightfully so, but it’s fingernails on a blackboard for me. In fact, when there’s no singing/vocalising, there is some astoundingly beautiful piano playing! Track 10: Crud. I’ve always said that one of my biggest stumbling blocks to my enjoyment of jazz is my inability to identify obvious songs. Once I see the name of this song, I’m gonna go “Duhhhhh!”, despite the fact that I have no idea who this is. Not that it mattered: I didn’t make it all the way thru this one either. Too shrill a-sax blowin’ for me! Track 11: It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing. Translated: songs that spend the entire duration sounding like an introduction drive me batty, since I feel like I shoulda seen it coming and skipped to the next track before the time was spent waiting for something that wasn’t ever gonna happen. Track 12: And speaking of going nowhere, I think I’ve officially turned into an old jazz fogey. I don’t mind pianoless sax trios but when the sax player starts squawking for the sake of squawking and the bass player is electric... why am I even listening to this? And where’s my teeth? And whose kids are these on my lawn? I tell ya, in MY day, we had melody goddammit!!! ZZzzzzz..... Track 13: I need to listen to this again at louder volume, cuz here at work I can only listen so loud, and this sounds like Elvis Costello sounding like Chet Baker singing a Jobim tune. Intriguing to say the least! Must investigate further! And a nice change after all the racket that preceded it! Track 14: Double-you tee EFF?????!?!?!?!?!? NMCOT, HAFC, and DKDC!!!!! Track 15 - 18: I don’t know..... maybe it’s just my overall malaise with jazz right now and the fact that I really haven’t been in the mood for jazz lately that is causing me to be put off by these tracks. In another time, these tracks might’ve intrigued me or made me curious; now, they just seem to be irritating, which is completely my own hang-up (yeah, the typical “It’s not you, it’s me” argument). Who knows? Maybe once the answers are revealed my ears will become curious. Right now, it’s just not happening. But I will say that tracks 1-6 and 8 alone make this a great BFT, and tracks 9 and 13 make nice extras. I am positive others will like this BFT more than me, and that’s why I’m glad jazz is all over the map: I don’t have to feel like I need to be in all places at all times. Thanks again, Thom! Now to read everyone else's responses!

September 4, baby!!! WOO HOO!!!! Pearl at Commerce! (Scroll to September)

Put me down for a download, and I am always able to mail out discs!

Oh man, how sweet THAT would be!

My wife and daughter are running in a mini-triathlon in Austin this weekend, so we'll all be down there. My son and I are gonna hit as many music/vinyl shops as possible. Clifford & I are gonna meet somewheres to be determined for either a drink or food, and want to extend the invite to any Org-Bored members in the Austin area (or anyone who just wants to drive to Austin for a weekend!). Post here so we can make plans, etc. Thanks!

Damn, that's sad. Looks like he kept a generally pleasant attitude in the midst of and in spite of his struggles. RIP. I hope and pray that he does.

Beautiful article. Really makes me want to hear this now.

And a fantastic show it is, too!

I would buy two copies and keep one in a safe deposit box as an emergency backup! I like Latin Bit but I love Feelin the Spirit and Goin West! I'm glad I have all three, though!

Hank Crawford MR. BLUES I should be listening to (and burning) the I WANT TO LIVE soundtrack LP, seeing as how it was generously given to me by The Magnificent Goldberg (who is VERY magnificent, BTW!).

I bought the extras disc at Target and had no plans to buy the remaster. That is, until I heard the alternate take of "Soul Survivor." This take is nothing more than the instrumental track we all know and love with Keef slurring different lyrics over it. When it started, I noticed two things: 1) the clear separation of the instruments 2) details I'd never heard before These two things are THE two reasons I'm such a sucker for remasters (and also likely makes me the antichrist for audiophiles everywhere). Now, as much as I love EXILE, it's not as big a part of my life as much as, say, folks who've had the album since day one. I can appreciate their frustration with the cleaned-up sound: I get it that part of this album's greatness lies in its sloppiness. But hearing the clarity of this one track makes me want to hear the rest of the album in this way! So yeah, I'll probably get the remaster now. And I'll probably love it as much as I enjoy the sloppy old vinyl. Hopefully, when the audio armageddon comes, those fighting on the anti-loudness side will have mercy on me and forgive me my obsessions and curiosities.

I dig the extras, and will probably just go the Target route. Nothing on the disc holds a candle to anything on EXILE, but by finally completing these songs perhaps the Stones will remember they were once an awesome band, get Taylor back in the fold (at least in the studio) and conquer the world again. A man can dream.....

I was thinking more along the lines of Warren G. Harding - plagued by scandal and dying halfway through my term. I'm already working on my first scandal. But then your successor would be Calvin Coolidge--and a person of very few words would never fit in at Organissimo! Not to mention the fact that both Harding and Coolidge were Republicans. Actually, mikeweil preceded my reign of terror, so that would make him Washington, me John Adams, and Jeff would be Thomas Jeffcromerson. Make of that what you will, but I do like the scandal-plagued idea! Who did you have in mind for me to be caught with? And thanks again, Jeff. MUCHAS MUCHAS gracias!!!

For anyone who wants it: Eddie Henderson's INSIDE OUT on Capricorn. It's pretty beat up (vinyl and jacket), but I figured for a couple bucks it was worth the gamble. It's okay, but I doubt I'll ever listen to it again. All I ask is just pay for the postage. If you're local (D/FW area), pick a place where we can meet and I'll just bring it to ya. If you're between here and Austin, I'll be down there in a couple weeks and I'll bring it with me. Post here first, THEN PM me. Thanks!

Well, I never really was a wild music collector, despite the fact that I'm moving away from, or have moved away from, mad collecting, but I'll be a mad buyer of music until the day I die. Or at least I still am right now. Especially since I've been buying so much of your old vinyl latety!

An absolutely mesmerizing tune!