Daniel A

By no means complete, but they have a good deal of nice, rare album covers, and even a message board: http://microgroove.jp/mercury/ Sorry if this has been mentioned earlier, but even if that's the case a little more exposure won't hurt anyone! (Also note that all cover scans come from this (Japanese) guy's own collection. Original pressings only...)

I'm very sorry, Tom. My deepest condolences.

Reflective in this case means that it reflects the sound waves it's exposed to. A non-reflective surface is acoustically damped in some way; it could be a bookshelf full of books, a drapery, etc.

Jim, I don't know if you've changed the 'secret' address behind the fake eBay link, but if not so, you should perhaps change it to something more "innocent" so that noone accidently ends up there by clicking on the link in your message.

I made the same discovery as Jim and did not click on the link. Besides, I can't recall having moved to Manitoba...

I'm number nine, and I think it would be best for me to stay in that position, since I'm about to move to another part of the country in three weeks. I think I'll be ready to go in the beginning of March. Of course, I must have arranged some sort of Internet connection too; it would perhaps be less fun if I'm not able to monitor the guessing thread...

Actually I can't see anything wrong with having a dialog in the "guessing" thread. If someone has posted an AMG link or something that clearly gives the answer away I won't go there, but I like to be able to comment on what other people think they hear. If we did this test sitting in a room together it would probably be done like that; those who knew the answer would keep it to themselves, and the others would discuss what they thought was playing. One problem is of course that some will not be able to join into the conversation because they haven't got their discs yet. What I would like to see, though, are more comments about what people think about the musical qualities (as well as other qualities) of the individual tracks and performances, already at the "guessing" stage of each test. Otherwise those who haven't got a clue about most of what's on the discs might feel that they are somewhat out of the game. Besides, I think it's more interesting to see what people like and don't like (and why) than just their guesses. That's my opinion, of course...

The pleasure was if not all, at least partly mine! I wasn't home, but managed to record almost half of the show with a MP3 stream ripper. I'm looking forward to listening to it!

No problem, Chrome!

Producing such pornography was illegal before. In 1999 possesion of a piece of child pornography became illegal too. The Swedish constitution's regulations about the freedom of speech and freedom of press prevented laws criminalizing possesion of any books, pictures, etc., but in 1999 the constitution was changed to allow new legislation in this area. I believe possesion of child pornography was criminalized in 1990 in the US.

I wouldn't trust the paper Expressen on any subject. However, if "the same estimate" can be applied on any country, the US could have something to worry about too, considering the number of pets... While not criminalized per se, sex with an animal would - if proven - probably render punishment under the Swedish Animal Protection Act anyway.

Your English is excellent, ds, no need to apologize! And I understand you completely! If someone is playing in something that could be described as a given jazz style, as bebop, swing or whatever, that person has certainly been listening somewhat (or probably a great deal) to others playing in that style. Of course it could be possible to learn chordal improvistion from a theoretical point of view, and then cut loose on a set of bebop tunes, but the results would probably not sound too much like bebop. It has been pointed out again and again through the years that young jazz musicians should "know their jazz history" and things like that. Sometimes I wonder though, if not young players could do with a little less listening if we want to see something "new". With 1000 Coltrane solos in your luggage, how could they not affect you, either if you're playing in reference or in opposition to them? Regarding Gilbert Holmström, I think he was really in search of a voice of his own, and the similarities to Coltrane migh perhaps not been a result of him really studying Coltrane. However, if the result is sounding like Coltrane, noone will care if you've been copying Trane or your personal mix of influences from the whole of jazz (including Coltrane) just happend to make you sound a bit like him. Edit: Reading couw's post that slipped in between this and the post of ds, I realize that I shouldn't be too hard on poor Gilbert without having heard all of the album this topic about. I'll see if I can pick it up locally...

Obviously, I'm not Jim , but I think it's all for the best to have steady flow of new members. New perspectives, new knowledge, etc. And I don't think we'll have to fear that would water down the feel of the community.

Interesting that you should bring up Holmström's Coltrane influence, ds! I remember there was quite some discussion about that on a Swedish message board some five or six years ago. Some people were claiming Holmström had in fact developed his style on his own. The fact that he actually did sound a bit like Coltrane on some recordings was waved off as a mere coincidence... I'll try to ask a friend of mine who was active in the discussion if he remembers more (I believe there were some more specific talk about Holmström's improvisational philosophy). Anyway, the one Mount Everst LP I have (recorded three years later, in 1978) sounds nothing like the sound clip. It features Holmström together with Ronny Johansson on piano, Matz Nilsson on bass and Anders Kjellberg on drums, and is in a lyrical post-bop/fusion vein.

I think the Conn was remastered by someone else, his name escapes my mind right now... but from what I can remember Rudy did not remaster CDs for BN back then. However, I think the Conn sounds very fine; never understood the criticism this particular remaster got from some back at the BNBB. The Rare Groove CD issue of 'Sweet Honey Bee' however, taken from vinyl as it is, sounds muddy to me. I believe some noise-cancelling device is partly to blame for this. I think the mid 90s Japanese TOCJ of this title sounds much better. Still from vinyl from what I can tell (as the new RVG, too; remember Kevin B asking for mint LP copies? Unfortunately I was on vacation then - I've played my Liberty LP only twice since breaking the seal) but much better done.

I remember 'On Green Dolphin Street' as played ridiculously fast on the Affinity LP; is it performed in the same manner on the bootleg?

To add to the picture: Today everything seems normal, but during the last couple of days this site has been loading slow over here.

No doubt Farrell found a tenor voice more of his own during the seventies. I love his playing with the original Return to Forever group, but actually I find him even greater on flute than on sax on those albums. I admit he still must have been more under the influence of George Coleman and others at the end of the 60s, but strangely enough I dig his tenor playing on those Elvin dates more than most of what came after! Could it be that he (Farrell) was adapting very much (some would say too much) to the various situations he played in back then? I think he sounded different with Corea in 1966 ('Tones for Joan's Bones'), and then again different with Jaki Byard in 1965. Now, I'm not particularly involved by Byard's playing so it's been a while since I listened to those albums, but I remember I thought Farrell played much better on the Corea album.

Some comments regarding track 3: I thought it was Joe Farrell - and not George Coleman - who did the tenor solo. I admit that they sound somewhat alike to me, but someone who knows his George Coleman better than me perhaps could help me out here... I compared the track 'Mr. Jones' (which was track #3 on John's disc) with 'Whew', which is the only other track from that session on which Farrell plays tenor. I'm not quite certain (obviously), but to me it sounded as if soloist number two on that track is Coleman, and the first soloist is Farrell. The tenorist on 'Mr. Jones' sounds more similar to Farrell, and is located at the same place in the sound mix as Farrell is on 'Whew'. The liner notes for the Mosaic (unfortunately I don't have the LP releases of 'Poly-Currents' and 'Mr. Jones' so I don't know what they say) which are written by Dave Liebman states that it's Farrell soloing on 'Mr. Jones'. Of course Liebman may be mistaken on that point. What do you others think? Calling all George Coleman fanatics!

Just sent you a PM, Adam!

Swedish Radio, Channel 2, is airing a recorded Martial Solal solo concert right now! Click on this link: http://www.sr.se/p2/ then click on 'Webbradio' in the upper left corner. First you'll have to choose the player of choice from a drop-down menu: Windows Media Player (broadband connection), Windows Media Player (dial-up) or Real Audio Player. Click OK, and then choose 'P2 Musik' to listen to the webcast. Still 45 minutes left of the concert!

Thanks guys! As Claude said, buying from the US can sometimes make a better deal than the record store around the block, considering the dollar rate... Anyway, a sealed copy at a decent price wouldn't be a problem, I suppose.

Audiophile International seems to have a pretty good selection of vinyl. http://www.audiophileusa.com/ Does anyone have experience from dealing with them? Are they reliable, and does the gradings of the LPs generally seem fair?

Rockefeller center, what MP3 encoder are you going to use, and what encoder settings? Just curious...