mikeweil

It takes two, baby ..... as Jim said, the "the perfect co-dependent couple".

I read somewhere that this was supposed to have a title with some Carribean place instead of Tunisia, but can't remember exactly.

The first version that really made me take notice of the tune was Herbie Mann's on the Atlantic LP The Common Ground. Still enjoy it. Bird's with the famous alto break occupies the # 1 position. Recently I liked the vocal version of Maria Rivas a lot, Noche en Tunez, from her CD Café Negrito. I find a chronological listen of the ealiest versions of Bird, Dizzy, the Boyd Raeburn Orchestra, and Sarah Vaughan (Interlude) very inspiring.

Happy Birthday!!! Hope you spend it with your loved one and forget about us old dudes here on the board!

What do y'all think of the booklet layout of the Prestige RVG's? Obviously copied from the Blue Note RVG's ....

That must have been the Jeremy & The Satyrs LP - never saw or heard this one.

Forgot to post that I got me this: A very nice take on the 1960's Blue Note sound! The Ron Carter tune especially shows an obvious Andrew Hill influence!

Yes they might - but I doubt they are!

They'd be crazy if they changed anything about the way they run the business and should keep the team - these guys know what to sell.

Being a percusionist like you, I don't find that kind of line-up strange - one of my last bands was flute or soprano, guitar, and percussion; the next had a violin for the reed player. Try to play/write original that suit yout particular strengths, especially as far as rhythm is concerned, and try to conceive new arrangements of familiar tunes - some suggestions: Ellington's "in a sentimental mood" at bossa nova tempo and feel; Duke's "It don't mean a thing" over Bembé type rhythms; try Cal Tjader tunes, Monk tunes, anything. Try to keep each tune different from the others, make the set as variable as possible, and give all members equal solo space - and let the guitar and bass play riffs behind your percussion solos! Maybe on a bell or whatever - I trained my fellow musicians to do so. Don't be afraid to throw in pieces that only two of you play - in any combination. Good luck, and let us hear the results!

I have the German Intercord/Spiegelei pressing of the Freedom version - spinning it right now. The volume level is rather low compared to most other LPs of the time that I own, the mix is okay, but not the least bright or tinny, rather too weak on the treble end of the frequency spectrum. Maybe the US Arista engineers tried to enhance and made it sound worse that way. The copy I have sounds like it would be best to transfer it to digital on a 1 to 1 basis - unless you had the original multitrack tapes to do a sensitive remix. The drums are a little low in the mix, but the sound of the individual instruments is okay. Not brilliant, but okay, as Chuck said - I have heard many an LP that sounded much worse.

Now we must know Trane's real name, in case he decides to sell the now deflowered booklets. How perverse! I have mine cryogenically frozen. Didn't ya know polycarbonate discs will dematerialize to a cloud of dust when defrosted?

That's what Michael Cuscuna wrote in his commentary to the extended CD reissue of Grantstand - but he was mistaken: Brother Yusef also played on Art Blakey's The African Beat, recorded January 24, 1962, for Blue Note, released on LP 84097.

Too bad my scanner won't work - I'd love to give you an original size repro of that look!

Thanks for the warning - the same happened to the recent remastering of "Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus" on Candid that Black Lion manufactured

Yeah - his version of John Lennon's "Imagine" is something to hear. Cowell can become pianistically busy in the Tatum tradition without getting too much to bear.

No wonder, when you are searching for a Douglas recording ..... these were produced by Sonny Lester and first issued on Groove Merchant, and reissued on a Capitol double LP, two cheapo Italian LPs, and then in part on that LRC CD you have - well, at the time Denon manufactured the LRC CDs, so ...... The Steig albums before that were all Sonny Lester produced, and released on Solid State, except for the last one, which was on Blue Note after Liberty had bought that label. They had hip covers, mostly designed by Steig himself: He even painted his wife Judy's legs!

That's a great one! Roy Haynes plays killer groove on the second session here!

Well, you can't compare the sonics of a CD and an LP if you play them back on different systems, especially when one is in the car! Technically, the dynamic range of an LP is limited by that of the analog souirce tape. The dynamic range of a digital recording is much wider than that, of course. I suppose the Stan Freeberg album is an anlaog recording - thus the playback system may simply be more adequate than the car hi-fi, which never can be as good - though Pioneer is a good brand (I have a Pioneer amp and CD player in my living room and really love 'em!). Not to dampen your enthusiasm - I recently upgraded my Thorens turntable with a better cartridge and enjoy vinyl more than ever - but saying analog is more dynamic is not correct from a physical point of view - it depends on the playback equipment, the mastering and, most of all, your listening habits. I know LPs that sound better than their badly remastered CD counterpart, and vice versa.

Al, would you mind giving specifics of the equipment you have? I mean, including the CD player, amp, speakers, turntable and pickup? Thanks!

Available here: http://www.plugrecords.org/Plug-01/MidweekBlues.shtml

Are these the tracks with an enlarged horn section? If so, it was a pity if they were destroyed ..... at least i'm extremely curious about those Silver mini big band tracks.

Well, maybe I mixed up something here: I dug out my old 45 of Fantastic Johnny C's "Hitch it to the Horse", and that turns out to use the instrumental track of Cliff Nobles and Co., "The Horse". Turns out I don't have the Nobles LP anymore to check it. Recycling backing tracks was pretty common in R&B circles, methinks ...

Happy Birthday, and stay in the groove!

I haven't seen any new Fantasy items on their website or in their shops for weeks, so I doubt that there will be more coming up. And they are now offering the new Prestige RVGs distributed by Universal in Europe ...