jeffcrom

Great - thanks, Roi!

The Georgians (VJM) The first of three VJM volumes by an early jazz band featuring trumpeter Frank Guarente, who swapped lessons with King Oliver in New Orleans.

Okay, kids - time to sign up for blindfold test #94, which will begin on January 1, 2012. #94 will be my usual eclectic collection of music, from early jazz to stuff recorded this year; tubas and clarinets to swing bands to bebop to free improvisation. Something for everyone, but that also means that nobody will like everything - unless your tastes mirror mine exactly. I'm making my final selections now. I might even include a track which features a rapper. Lest that scare anyone off, that track also has a clarinet solo and a trombone duet. Sign up here and let me know if you would prefer a download or a CD. It should be fun.

Me, too - the Kansas City Revisited session.

Early in the Morning (Louis Jordan) Very Early (Bill Evans) Wake Me Up Early (Magic Slim) Early Autumn (Stan Getz/Woody Herman) Early Morning Song (Gordon Lightfoot/Bob Dylan) Next up: AWAY

The House I Live In (Frank Sinatra/Sonny Rollins) That's My Home (Louis Armstrong) Red House (Jimi Hendrix) Ain't Got No Home (Clarence "Frogman" Henry) Our House (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young) Next up: WRONG

Howard McGhee - Trumpet at Tempo (Spotlite)

I have been unsuccessful in my attempts to contact Berigan for confirmation that he's ready to go for BFT 94 in January. I'm therefore planning on moving the next few presenters up a month, so 2012 will look like this: #94 - jeffcrom - January, 2012 #95 - Hardbopjazz - February, 2012 #96 - Spontooneous - March, 2012 #97 - king ubu - April, 2012 #100 - Dr J, who presented the very first O forum BFT - July, 2012 down the road: BillF - September, 2012 Hot Ptah - November, 2012 Hardbopjazz, Spontooneous and king ubu, please post a response to let me know you're okay with this. I won't change the "offical" master list until I hear from you. And Berigan, if you're out there and you still want to do the January test, let me know right away. I'm planning on posting my signup thread this weekend. And we need BFT presenters for May and June, as well as most of the months beyond July. If you've never presented a blindfold test, read the FAQ and feel free to PM me with questions or concerns. I'll be glad to help any way I can. We try to make sure the same person doesn't present the BFT twice in a 12-month period, but otherwise, the available months are open to anyone. Post here and send me a PM if you'd like to be put on the schedule.

Donald Byrd - House of Byrd (Prestige twofer); disc two, originally issued as The Young Bloods. Al Haig's playing got to me most here.

Sigh....

Happy Birthday! By the way, have you ever considered starting a band called "Jim's Angry Quartet?"

My initial bout with Facebook wasn't positive - I ended up being "friends" with a bunch of folks I didn't particularly like. So I killed that account (with instructions found here) and started a new account under a pseudonym. Like Hot Phat, I control who I'm friends with, and don't post that often. I find it mildly fun and useful in promoting gigs.

I don't know about that particular nasty bug, but in the past I've had good luck with Spybot Search and Destroy.

Dexter Gordon - Gotham City (Columbia)

Cool bunch of records! You're definitely correct that the Dodds/Blake came out on Paramount, and I think you're right about the others, too.

Trombone Shorty Shorty Rogers Danny DeVito

Duke Ellington 1932-1940 Brunswick/Columbia/Master, disc 11. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.

The Complete Verve Tal Farlow Sessions - the session with Oscar Pettiford on cello. I woke up this morning wanting to hear this Tal Farlow session and wanting to read John Donne. I told my wife that, and she said I was weird. But I did both today.

Johnny "Guitar" Watson Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith Luther "Guitar Jr." Johnson

Heaven - Duke Ellington Heaven on Earth - Larry Young Heaven Help Us All - Stevie Wonder (My favorite version is actually by gospel singer Marion Williams.) When Did You Leave Heaven - Little Jimmy Scott, among others Stairway to... well, you know - Led Zeppelin Next up: GUITAR

I'm starting to agree with you. Today I played a bunch of hot '20's and 30's music. My favorites of the day: Ben Selvin and His Orchestra - Dancing in the Dark/High and Low (Columbia, 1931). Pop vocals on each side, but also solos by Joe Venuti and Mannie Klein. Benny Goodman is also heard, but only on a straight melody statement. Annette Hanshaw - We Just Couldn't Say Good-Bye/Love Me Tonight (Perfect, 1932). Sexy vocals, backed by a hot little band including Jimmy Dorsey and Mannie Klein again. The Mystery Girl - I'd Do Anything for You/I've Got a Feeling I'm Falling (Columbia, 1929). Record buyers were supposed to think that this was Helen Kane, but it's Kate Wright. This one isn't listed in any jazz discography, as far as I know, but the master numbers show that it was recorded immediately before an Ethel Waters date with the Dorsey brothers and Mannie Klein once again - and my ears agree that it's them. The Happy Six - Mystery (Columbia, 1920). I'm unaccountably fond of The Happy Six, a little dance band led by Harry Yerkes. They usually have minimal jazz content, in spite of the presence of New Orleans trombonist Tom Brown on most of the sides. This one has better jazz credentials, with some really nice clarinet by Alcide Nunez, who was Pee Wee Russell's original inspiration. The flip side is by the "Columbia Dance Orchestra," and it ain't such a much.

We lost some great blues guys this year: Big Jack Johnson Honeyboy Edwards Pinetop Perkins Hubert Sumlin

Blues Explosion (Atlantic) Blues night at Montreux, 1982, with John Hammond, Jr., Stevie Ray Vaughan, Sugar Blue, Koko Taylor, Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson and J. B. Hutto.

Today's best spins: Lucille Hegamin and Her Blue Flame Syncopators - He May Be Your Man (But He Comes to See Me)/I've Got the Wonder Where He Went and When He's Coming Back Blues (Banner) Lucille Hegamin and Her Bang Up Six From Georgia - I've Got What It Takes But It Breaks My Heart to Give It Away/Can't Get Lovin' Blues (Cameo) Love that band name! Lucille Hegamin - No Man's Mama/Dinah (Cameo) Lil Green - Give Your Mama One Smile/My Mellow Man (Bluebird) Lil Green - Romance in the Dark/What Have I Done? (Bluebird) Ted Lewis - Somebody Stole my Gal/Someday Sweetheart (Columbia) This 1930 disc is pretty good when Lewis shuts up and lets Muggsy Spanier, George Brunies and Jimmy Dorsey play. Claude Thornhill - Under the Willow Tree/Twilight Song (Columbia) Forgettable vocals on both sides, but "Willow Tree" is a killer Gil Evans chart. Billy Ward and His Dominos - Christmas in Heaven/Ringing in a Brand New Year (King) Nice 50's doo-wop. Clunky, do you play any acoustically recorded 78s? They sound better when I bypass the equalizer. I guess that makes sense - the recorded frequency range was pretty narrow, so the equalizer mostly modulates the surface noise. The three Hegamin records were better without the equalizer, RIAA curve or not. The Billy Ward also didn't need any EQ. Does anybody know if the RIAA curve was applied to 78s as well as LPs in the 1950's?

I didn't realize what damage the RIAA curve built into my amp was doing to the sound of my 78s. I just set up my equalizer (also an old 10-band Radio Shack) and found the settings to compensate for the RIAA curve online. I actually wasn't satisfied with the resulting sound, even though I could really hear the high end for the first time. So I did a little tweaking and came up with settings which I like. Bringing back the high frequencies to their intended levels also increases the surface noise, but my ears adjusted pretty quickly. After all, surface noise is part of the game when listening to 78s, and I'd rather hear all the music. And anytime I feel like it, I can bypass the equalizer with the flip of a switch.