Jim R

I’m enjoying this disc. A pianofest was something I considered for my test #3, and pianists have been in the forefront of my collecting and listening over the past couple of years. That’s the good news. The bad news is, there are SO many great pianists that I feel like I’m still a novice when it comes to grasping the entire history and being able to easily recognize a lot of players. This is difficult to do, I think. At least I recognized some tunes... 1. Body and Soul. Very lovely treatment, with nice pianistic flourishes and harmonic understanding. This is a master player, and one with refinement and taste... and restraint (plenty of technique, but not flashing it around constantly). There are a lot of players who are capable of something like this, and right now no specific personality is coming through for me... so, four stars, and I wish I could name a couple of likely candidates. I’ll have to spin it again (and again)... 2. ? Before my time. 1920’s? I like it, but I guess I don’t love it. 3. ? This composition is very interesting, and sounds somewhat familiar, but I can’t name it. I like this better than #2, even if I’m just as lost. 4. Sounds like the 1930’s to me. Kind of reminds me of some of the Gershwin piano roll stuff. I like this one a lot. Gives me a warm & happy feeling. In fact, I’ll bet I own this one. 5. Satin Doll. Man, this focus on pianists is interesting- and fun! A nice challenge (wish I was up to it). I’m hearing just a touch of bebop phrasing on this one, which is throwing me a little bit. That drummer is really up front in the mix... wow. Overall, this performance is a little generic/dubious to my ears. I don’t hear a lot of personality in it, and that ending was a little weak. I guess I’ll have to try listening again. 6. Just One Of Those Things. Tatumesque runs, but without quite the harmonic adventure that Tatum was known for. Wow... there can’t be that many players who could execute like this, but I’m groping for ideas. Sounds like a 40’s or 50’s era recording/artist. Fantastic technique. I don't think I've heard Nat Cole wail quite like this... Teddy Wilson? (the touch seems more aggressive than Wilson...). More research/review required... 7. Lush Life. Strayhorn? 8. The Man I Love. I really like this, but again, nothing is jumping out at me yet in terms of being able to I.D. the pianist. 9. I feel like I should know the title... but I don’t. This one doesn’t do a whole lot for me (the song or the playing). Probably the rhythm, and the melody I find a bit hokey... (sorry). 10. Blackbird, the Beatles tune. I’ve heard this one before on KCSM, but I can’t recall who recorded it. I think it’s a fairly recent recording by one of the current heavies, like Mehldau or Rosnes... 11. Someday My Prince Will Come. Live. Hmm... I have recordings of this by pianists, but I don’t think I own this one. The moaning and groaning should be a tipoff here, but I’m struggling to match things up. Sounds like a relatively modern recording (say, post 70’s). Damn I hate these blindfold tests... Could it be Jarrett? I know he's a moaner... 12. I Should Care. Monkish, but not quite Monkish enough to be Monk... hmm... wow, it’s over already. That was short and sweet. 13. I don’t know this tune. Sounds like a post-bop Blue Note kind of tune... but the recording sounds (again) relatively modern. A lot of cats can play this style, but this player is really in command on this. Very fluid and in control, great technique. Not my favorite type of piano jazz, but I’m impressed nonetheless. 14. Pleasant, but doesn’t really grab me in any way. Have no idea who... 15. Body and Soul again. Creative arrangement, and fantastic piano tone. I strongly prefer the treatment on track 1, though. Wow, very well put together, Alexander. Really great stuff. There were no “gimmies” here, to my ears (no Tatum, no Garner, no Monk)... nothing really obvious to me. That makes it a lot more fun and challenging. This is the kind of test that I could enjoy working on for months (and it would probably take me that long just to narrow things down). Well, I’m going to go back and spin this sucker some more. Thanks for the great stuff!

Cinnamon's okay (high in oxalate, though, which is... well, I won't get into that). What about licorice? Licorice ice cream's been done, but a soda might be... well... hmmm... nah, forget it.

TRAITOR!!

I'll second that. Welcome!

Well, speaking for myself (and since I'm the one who mentioned "Greatest"), the answer is... because I've owned "NY Scene" in one form or another for about 25 years...

Yeah, just hearing the beginning of Hancock's intro is enough to stop me in my tracks. That is DEFINITELY a good example. Too bad I didn't think of it first...

Not even in JAPAN (as far as I know, at least). I don't get it...

I'm sure there are a lot of classics- by Sonny and many others- that we sort of take for granted and don't discuss very often. I think NEWK'S TIME (Wynton Kelly, Doug Watkins, Philly Joe Jones) is one that doesn't get mentioned often enough (no doubt in part due to the aforementioned "default status" of his 50's work).

I'm pretty sure it was available at one time (don't recall now whether I saw a domestic or an import), but I can't recall for certain. Someone here will have an answer soon, I'm sure... Speaking of Dizzy material, here's a great one that I've still not seen on CD: It's overdue!!

I was tempted by a whole bunch of obscure discs I saw in the "new arrivals - vocals" section at Musty Groove... and I ordered... NOTHING!

I've been cooling it for about six months now, and it has felt very good. I've always gone through phases too, but right now I feel like my mega-binging days are behind me. I've been doing more playing (guitar) than listening lately, and now when I do turn on the stereo it feels more purposeful, instead of routine. I don't regret having bought so much in the past, because it's wonderful to have so much music available for enjoyment, study and reference... but more and more I feel like I have nearly (leaving the door open here ) enough... at least in terms of jazz. I may start collecting soundtracks or something if I'm not careful, though...

I don't necessarily disagree, Mark, but my final comment about policing was less about the jerks who end an auction early and then take it off-site (but actually HAVE an item to sell), and more about the latter crook I described. Maybe we can expect them to find ways to prevent that sort of thing (or at least much more difficult to pull off), and ideally maybe even try to go after some of those people. The common theme here, though, is the fact that it's so easy to just end an auction any old time and disappear. I wish they had never provided that option (I could have done without "buy it now" too). I thought eBay was working great before they started making all those changes. ============ BTW, Hal, I may not have bought anything from you, but you still get a big from me in terms of your opinions and attitude about selling. Sorry if I hijacked your topic a bit!

I've only participated (and only as a buyer) sporadically at eBay over the last 5 years, but I've been getting a sense that corruption is on the increase. I've never had much faith in eBay's ability to "police" itself (which is a separate issue from the feedback system working reasonably well, which I think it does). BTW, I agree with Brad regarding the percentages and the level of trust I'm willing to employ. Especially for prolific sellers, anything below a 99 spells danger, IMO. A 95 may sound like a reasonably high number, but you've got to be either inept or crooked to earn a 95. Anyway, I have a question and a comment. Earlier in this thread it was suggested that one should "be careful" about breaking eBay rules, whether explicit or implicit. While I agree that people should take the high road, follow the rules, and use good judgement regarding feedback if they want to be active there and keep a good reputation, I'm not sure I understand how things currently work vis a vis rules violations, reporting people, etc, and whether it's realistic to expect results if you report trouble. I guess I had the impression that eBay had gotten WAY too big to handle the everyday, relatively nickel & dime stuff (and yes, I would consider the $92 box set discussed here in that category, relative to some big ticket items I've followed in the past). If a person clearly violates eBay policy (in a situation where it can be proven) these days- especially if the item is fairly inexpensive, are they really at risk of getting into trouble with eBay? It was also mentioned above that sellers can and do switch identities when things go bad. Well, I'll take that a step further... I'm confident that there are more and more sellers who have no intention of "making a good name" for themselves in the first place. Sellers that are baiting people, and deleting their identities quite casually after yanking their bogus items or ending their auctions early (in the case of "real" items). In the past year, I've contacted two different sellers regardiing their items- both of which were expensive guitars ($5K to $10K items). In one case (a rare guitar that I believe the seller actually had in his possession), the seller ended the auction early and tried to start a bidding war via e-mail. I still don't think eBay ever should have allowed sellers to end auctions any time, at their own discretion. The other day, I saw an expensive guitar listed, which looked fishy (long story, but I recognized it, and the description didn't match the photos). After a couple of e-mails, it became clear to me that some guy had taken photos and descriptions from a couple of different online vintage guitar dealers' sites which I recognized, and was actually trying to pretend he had them for sale. This fool actually e-mailed me after he had pulled the item from eBay, and in his broken english attempted to get me to send him $5K for the two instruments (whose real value is about $15K). Bizarre stuff, and I'll bet it goes on all the time now. Is anybody policing that?

Not a big deal of course, but lately I've noticed some topics showing up here in the Discography forum that don't really belong here. So, just a friendly FYI... "Discography" doesn't refer to anything having to do with (compact) "discs". "Discography" is a term that refers to the data that is kept relating to recording sessions (personnel, dates, song titles, etc)...

For the non-computer savvy (me), what software is being used for their sound samples? I just tried to listen to some of the new Dexter CD on Steeplechase ("Loose Walk"), and I couldn't get it to work. I'm on a Mac, with Real Player and Quicktime...

BTW, Charlap appears on those Phil Woods discs that came up in the search.

Jo Jones Sextet / Boulevard Distribution, Inc. Boulevard / Contact info

Cadence (NY) sells Venus CD's for $20. http://216.73.15.27/cgi-bin/FMPro?-DB=Cade...nd=Begin+Search

Dexter (over 90) Miles Chet Burrell Coltrane Monk (about 50)

This one was harder for me than the 60's poll, where Soul Station stood out (for me). However, I think I would also say Peckin' Time, perhaps followed by Curtain Call.

I do love a few of those others, but I've gotta say Soul Station.

I can't stand the sound of new strings, so I put off changing them for as long as I can. Depending on how much I play a particular guitar, that could range from a year to even longer. I wipe mine down every time I finish playing, and they last a long time. As long as they play in tune, I'm happy. I just don't want that really bright sound you get with new strings, in fact it can take weeks for a nice "broken in" feel and sound to occur for me. I've bought some used guitars that had disgustingly grimy fingerboards and necks, so I know some people don't wipe them after they play. It's just a good habit to get into. Generally, I like flatwounds, although I have some roundwounds on one of my guitars, for a change of pace. I prefer about a 12-52 set, but I've gone with 11-50 on occasion.

I've had a lot of amps (surprise ), including some Fender tweeds (the original Bassman with one 15" speaker, for example, which I sold for $400 20 years ago...), and an old tweed Gibson with a 15" JBL. Right now, I have a '64 Twin Reverb and a reissue 4X10 tweed Bassman. The Twin had been messed with before I got it, and it's never been a very good amp. The Bassman gives me the sound I like, although I should probably start looking for something lighter. Anyway, I don't play professionally, so I don't have to move it that often. BTW, its about tone for me with this baby, not volume. I don't think I've ever gotten it above "4". AB, I remember when I got my first carved-top Gibson (a '64 Super 400CES). It didn't hurt that it had been owned (and "played in") by Robben Ford, but there's something about a spruce top, and an ebony fingerboard, and pearl inlays, and gold plating, and... Hmm... I think I'll go play.

SWEET! Those are wonderful, comfortable guitars. They may be light, but they bite! I used to have a 1960 ES330, which I found locally via an ad in the paper for (drumroll...) $200. Clean, with the original brown Lifton case. I sold it a couple of years later for $450 (circa '83 or so), and was so proud of myself. Now those go for about $3K. I might add that I've always kind of shared Duke Robillard's philosophy (as stated in a Guitar Player magazine interview years ago). He likes to enjoy a guitar for awhile, and then try something different and let other people enjoy the ones he's played. The only problem with that is, you sometimes allow yourself to let go of something that you really regret later.