Daniel A

I'm all for this idea! MP3s through a server would be the ideal means of transferring the music (no CDR costs), given that it wouldn't be considered illegal.

I'm sure this has been discussed at some point on several other jazz boards, but not (yet) over here... Which is the best way of keeping LPs dust-free, besides any expensive vacuum gear? I'm following the recommendation I was once given to just 'play' my records clean (my LPs are fairly clean) so that the small amount of dust which is present on the surface is collected on the needle. I'm beginning to worry that this may damage the needle, so I though I would get a definitive statement from the vinyl collectors around here once and for all. The reason I'm not using a soft cloth or something similar (perhaps with a small amount propylene acohol and destilled water added) is that it is my experience it adds a some static electricity to the LP, which will be heard as pops, even though the surface looks perfectly clean. Perhaps this is wrong? What do you think?

Oh, I forgot the box itself! Mine is considerably more rusty than those in the pictures above. And I've scratched several of the discs when trying to get them out from the useless sleeves.

'Alone' was re-released last year with a complete additional session which was not known at the time the box was put together. While the tracks that made up the original LP surely are the the definitive takes, the newly discovered alternates were very interesting to hear for an Evans enthusiast like myself. The only drawback of the new release is that a wonderful alternate take of 'A Time for Love' - which appeared both at the box set and the previous CD release - was omitted due to time restrictions. Personally, I think the Riverside box is more consistent - or rather: thouroughly excellent. Besides there are not much additional material to the Verve studio trio sessions, which perhaps would have been what one wanted to hear more of. But there are almost two CDs woth of live material with Philly Joe Jones and Eddie Gomez which haven't been available separatly. It was good to hear it once, but I don't return to those discs particularly often. Hence my - of course very personal - opinion is that the Verve material probably could be boiled down to some five or six excellent separate CDs for the non-Evans fanatic. But I wouldn't want to be without the box myself.

What? Are you suggesting Tom Clancy isn't a source as good as any for idiomatic Russian?

Ya dumayo shto ti gavarish ochen chorosho, Rooster! Bil v Rossie?

I'm going to Thessaloniki in Greece between the 19th and 25th of August to play with a somewhat mediocre big band on a similarly so-so festival. If there are any board member who knows anything about where jazz can be heard, bought or otherwise encountered in this city, don't hesitate to post about it here. The city has about a million inhabitants, so I think there must be some jazz club of any sort, however unknown in this community.

Agreed! I think the Morgan album which as a whole features the most interesting compositions is 'Search for the New Land'. Much variation within the set, and not a trace of the formulaic album concepts of the next half of that decade.

Didn't 'Soft Touch' also appear two years earlier on the Jackie McLean album 'Consequences' as 'Slumber'? I wonder which title is correct. Paging Bertrand...

Today is Hank Jones's 85th birthday! Happy birthday Hank!

Herbie played with an all-Swedish group at the ongoing Stockholm Jazz Festival last Saturday. While not exactly under-rehearsed, the group did not convince in their covers of Hancock's early 70s tunes like 'Butterfly' and 'Hang Up Your Hang-Ups'. The nominal leader - Peter Johannesson - perhaps isn't one of the top drummers in Sweden. The reason he occasionally performs - and even records - with Herbie is that they became friends when Herbie toured in Sweden many years ago, Johannesson then still in his teens. Anyway, Hancock himself seemed particularly unfocused. His playing was a mere bag of gimmicks, and he appeared to have some problems with his timing. His whimsical introduction of the band made it seem like he was high. Or was he just jet-lagged in the extreme? What are the recent reports of Hancock's live appearances. Is he losing it?

What does the Real Book give as the changes for 'Dear Old Stockholm'? Is it trying to make it resemble some Getz or Miles version or the actual traditional song it's based on (In Sweden it's called 'Ack Värmeland du sköna', which means something like "Oh, beautiful Värmeland")?

I think the RVG of 'Capuchine Swing' was an improvement over the JRVG. Again, somewhat less harsh-sounding. But the difference is not significant enough for me to trade away my JRVG. But then I almost never upgrade for sound quality, just for bonus material. I even still have my RVG of 'A Fickle Sonance'...

Except possibly the distributor...

I've got one... Seriously, do you want help with some cleanups, Dmitry? Some people would of course claim that the ATRAC compression of the MiniDisc format will degrade the sound (just like MP3s the format is based on data reduction), so the ideal choice would be to just burn the LPs on a CDR burner - preferrably on rewritable CDRWs, then let someone do the cleanup and finally burn the music once again. But I can attest to that perfectly decent results can be had through the LP>MD>CD procedure as well.

Actually, I think I recall it was a Donald Duck cartoon.

Thanks for your input! And thanks Mike for linking to that review. That Lord doesn't allow you to copy and paste seems like a huge drawback. Is Bruyninckx categorized as the printed editions, or is just a plain A-Z? The latter would perhaps be preferrable since I suppose it at least allows you to list everything under a certain artist's leadership at once.

The seller's own explanation to the price:

Given that the complete Bruyninckx jazz discography is said to be released on CD-ROM later this year (or is it out already?), there seems that there are two main options for those who want a fairly comprehensive and easily searchable discography. The price mentioned is EUR 400, a bit more than Lord’s (which is around USD 300) but perhaps not that big a difference. Aside from the more practical aspects, like how user-friendly they are – I suppose not much is yet known about the CD-ROM Bruyninckx – which of the two is the most comprehensive? I know I’m probably supposed to get them both, but that’s out of my budget for now. My interests are primarily in fairly mainstream jazz from the 50s and onwards, and perhaps also some music that borders on fusion.

Bah! Since Corea's lawyers are more daring (one unissued track from the 'Sweet Rain' sessions did appear on his own Stretch label) perhaps he should try to license the whole album and then put it out. And we all know that Verve willingly will license anything out...

One little discographical note about the '58 sessions CD: As with some other releases in the 'Columbia Jazz Masterpieces' series, there was some kind of mixup, this time when assembling the 'Stella by Starlight' cut. It was a composite take, and if I remember correctly the wrong first half was used for the 1991 CD release, so that in fact this particular version is not available anywhere else, not even on the Miles/Coltrane box set. I'm beginning to get used to the occasional surprise when upgrading my 'Jazz Masterpieces' CDs. Earlier this year it was 'Miles Ahead'...

Have you heard any of the other volumes in the Anagram Gullin series? (A Gullin Discography can be found here: http://www.gullin.net/lgdisco.htm - do a word search for 'Anagram'). The man behind the Anagram label, I think his name is David Reid, is quite a character. He runs a record shop, Anagram Records, just two blocks away from me. I've made many fantastic finds at his shop, but unfortunately it seems to be closed 9 out of 10 times I'm passing by.

I'll bring the booze with me for sure, since we'll rent out our apartment, and there will be at least one babe - my girlfriend, who will be working hard to earn us some money while I'm back at the house reaching for yet another CD, fruitlessly waiting for inspiration... But I hope I've gotten somewhere by the end of July, because then my parents will move in, too. Unfortunately it happens to be their summer house we're occupying... Sorry, catesta, I've reserved the right to use my parking space during the summer, since I may have to get into my 1975 Volvo and go the 80 miles back to Stockholm to do some researching a couple of times.

Thank you for your encouraging words! I'm sure you'll see me again if I'm still of sane mind after the summer! The subject of my thesis will be plagiarism disputes within the music business, with focus on the varying consequences for originators of different stature. (I might even have to ask a few of the board members for input on a few matters...) And Hans, should you consider putting 'Sweet Honey Bee' on eBay, let me now first... I may have worn out my copy by then!

Hi folks! Just in case you'd start to wonder whatever became of your resident Duke Pearson enthusiast, I thought I should announce that I'm moving offline for a while. I'll spend a good part of the next few months working on my final thesis in a small house at the countryside - without any internet connection. I'll be making some visits at various libraries and other institutions, but I figured that I'd minimize the distractions as much as possible to get the work done, so therefore I'll stay mainly invisible to the world. In late August I'm leaving for Greece to play whith an amateur big band at a festival in Thessaloniki, before I'm finally returning to Stockholm for my last courses before graduation. So, after three months on this wonderful board (which is now pretty much my only board) it will be three really long months out in the cold. I look forward to talking with you all again after the summer. Take care! /Daniel