Daniel A

As a sad addendum to this thread, I'll post a link to a short bio for Björn Netz (in Swedish) on Swedish jazz journal Orkesterjournalen's site: http://www.orkesterjournalen.com/jazzbiografier/2683-netz-bjoern-tenorsaxofonist-floejtist-med-mera In short, it says that he was doing research for the Military Psychological Institute during the mid 60s, studying the effects of LSD. Apparently he performed experimental studies on himself (and also on fellow jazz musicians). Eventually, he succumbed to the side effects of the drug, which put an end to a brilliant research carrer, and he subsequently spent a large part of his life in jail. As a consequence, his musical activities were phased out and had more or less ceased completely by the mid 70s. The Staffan Abeleen albums 'Persepolis' (1964) and 'Downstream' (1966), on which Netz plays, are both available on Spotify. Both albums are well worth hearing, and at least the latter has never been reissued on CD (although it was remastered for the Spotify release).

I hear it in some churches. Where I've noticed it, it seems as if the echo from the organ is at a slightly higher pitch.

My list consists of Swedish jazz albums. Some of them would perhaps not be considered overlooked in Sweden, but to many American or even European jazz listeners I would presume that some of them are unknown. A couple of them are rare enough not to be mentioned very often in Sweden either. Forgive me for listing three Lars Gullin releases, but I believe that many who will enjoy these recordings have not yet heard them. Luckily, most of these are quite easy to obtain, if not as actual CD:s. Just before EMI was sold and split up their Swedish subsidiary remastered a lot of Swedish jazz recordings that were previously very hard to find and that in many cases has not been reissued on CD. This project is now seemingly kept alive by the Parlophone label. Production of physical copies was apparently deemed not cost effective enough, and consequently these recordings were released only on Spotify/Itunes and maybe some other streaming services. All but one from my list are available on Spotify and I'm including links for those interested. Staffan Abeleen 'Downstream' (Parlophone, originally Philips, rec. 1966) http://open.spotify.com/album/5jIAgrGlo2ceqIAbo42ouM Jan Allan 'Jan Allan -70' (Phono svecia, oriiginally Telestar, rec. 1968-69) http://open.spotify.com/album/1OnboKgGMCrBPzpTNV5jat Börje Fredriksson 'Intervall' (Parlophone, originally Columbia, rec. 1965-66) http://open.spotify.com/album/6l3WEMi8QXCFu8W9IW1X5p Lars Gullin 'Vol 9: Summertime 1954/56' (Dragon, originally EP:s on Metronome) http://open.spotify.com/album/6l3WEMi8QXCFu8W9IW1X5p Lars Gullin ''1959/60 Vol 4: Stockholm Street' (Dragon, originally EP:s on various labels) http://open.spotify.com/album/6uDu2ToKjkzFIpIYbRysa1 Lars Gullin 'Portrait of My Pals' (Parlophone, originally Columbia, rec. 1964) http://open.spotify.com/album/6l3WEMi8QXCFu8W9IW1X5p Bengt Hallberg 'Piano' (Parlophone, originally Odeon, rec. 1965) http://open.spotify.com/album/3qj74CivPldeii31QOxcnU Jan Johansson 'Jazz på Svenska' (Heptagon, originally Megafon, rec. 1962-64) http://open.spotify.com/album/6JAj80R40giQEAg3Le4CPE Nils Lindberg 'Sax Appeal' (Sonorama, previous reissue by Dragon, originally Barben, rec. 1960) Bernt Rosengren 'Stockholm Dues' (Parlophone, originally Columbia, rec. 1965) http://open.spotify.com/album/6OL6vtJXewdsBJUYY8v9TF

Happy birthday, Bob! Hope you make it to Stockholm again during the next 100 years! :-)

I thought it was a bit dishonest (or misguided) to prove that MP3:s are inferior by showing what information you "lose". The whole point with psychoacoustic compression is to discard sonic information that isn't audible because it's masked by other sounds.

And I should add that from a personal, subjective point of view, I'm more comfortable with an all analog LP production, even if it has no effect on the sound.

It's difficult to escape the effects of expectation bias when comparing LP and CD audio even in a blind test, as LP almost always gives itself away. One crackle from static or pollution in the groove, or slight rumble during a quiet passage is enough to tell you that you're listening to an LP. You will also find it hard to come up with a recording available in both formats in the exact same mastering. While not ideal, one way to do a blind test is to record the sound from the LP playback to a recordable CD player, or just convert it to 16/44 PCM. If there is no audible difference, you would have to conclude that a CD is able to sound like an LP, but of course not the other way round. From looking around the internet, it seems that a few people have tried this. So far, I haven't found a test with any degree of statistical significance that shows that the 16/44 digital signal is discernable from an LP. Is there any point in buying LP:s anyway? I do it myself because I like the sound, covers and general feel of LP:s. However, I wouldn't argue that they are sonically superior to CD, because much points to the conclusion that they are (at least technically) "inferior".

The article has a point in that information from companies putting out vinyl reissues is sometimes misleading or nonexistent regarding sources and mastering. However, it is misleading in itself when the author comes to the conclusion that a certain LP must be mastered from a CD because it sounds so bad. I agree with Porcy's post, while I also share Scott's scepticism when it comes to hi-rez formats. At the risk of sounding like a corrupted digital file, I advice anyone truly interested in finding out the merits of an audio format to organize a double blindfold test.

I'm late... but I hope your birthday was good enough!

Happy birthday, Kevin!

So ... what ARE the typical prices like at his place (above the typical level at the BIRKAJAZZ online shop, for example?), and what if it transpired that the customer does NOT care for free jazz? Would the customer still get some sort of service if he were on the lookout not for avantgarde but for some not so commmon items of swing, cool or (in particular) Swedish 40s/50s jazz? Just curious ... You would certainly get service. Common artists are not frowned upon, but expect opinions if your taste is "lightweight". For the most time one tends to agree with him. As for the price level, it's like Birka Jazz or slightly above. I should add that he has a genuine passion for many older styles as well, from the very beginning of recorded jazz up to the (free) jazz of today.

Some more pictures here: http://matsgus.com/discaholic_corner/?p=111

Not to my knowledge. However, Andra Jazz is also cash only. The owner started out with a bookstore at an other location, but shifted towards records some time in the 80s. I first visited that shop around 1990. The owner, now in his mid 70s, had a reputation of making customers who didn't have a clue, who complained about the prices or those who simply showed bad taste in music to feel uncomfortable. He had strong views and wasn't afraid to discuss them. Usually, you might not want to mention that you were looking for CTI albums or an Oscar Peterson "best of" collection.. On the other hand, if you showed real interest and had an open ear for things outside the mainstream, he'd help you expand your horizons. He's gotten more mellow through the years, though. During my years as a student when I had more time on my hands, I usually got stuck there for hours every time. There would often be guests, chatting about music and conducting endless blindfold tests. I've never seen anyone beat the owner when it comes to recognize anything jazz related ever put out on vinyl. At other times there would be a game of chess going on, with concentrated, quiet men, smoke from hand rolled cigarettes lingering over the shop and some unexpected free jazz record in the speakers. That shop cannot survive without its owner, and when it folds Europe will have lost one of its greatest jazz shops. Visit while you can!

I can think of two Scandics in that area. Both are merely steps away from the closest subway station. A 10 minute ride will take you to S:t Eriksplan, a few hundred meters from the shop.

Happy birthday! I hope it's as good as an SHM CD!

There's an older thread about Stockholm jazz shops; see if you can find it. There's really no decent shop left that sells new CD:s, but we still have northern Europe's greatest vinyl jazz store, 'Andra Jazz'. They do have some CD:s, particularly free-ish labels, but the vinyl selection is the main attraction. Mats Gustavsson used to hang out there, I suppose it was when he still lived in Stockholm. Send me a PM a few days before you arrive and I'll check if it's open while you're here. Otherwise, there are a few places where it might turn up something of interest, but as far as newly released stuff goes everybody is ordering from the internet there days.

That's the spirit! You're getting it because you have already run out of space.

Yes, the web archive is a great resource, but it doesn't really work for message boards. Here's a classic I remember: http://web.archive.org/web/20020318092812/http://www.bluenote.com/bulletinboard/ubb-cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?f=19&t=000433&ubb=get_topic

I got this reissue based on the praise for this album in another thread and my experience from Jonathan's previous reissue of Clare Fischer's 'Extension'. The overall quality of the reissue regarding sound and gatefold sleeve matches the best that has ever come out from Japan. It's hard to believe that this was recorded more than 50 years ago! As for the music it's by far the best I've ever heard from Steig and it's progressive within the boundaries of standards based jazz in a way that few other dates I've heard are. Discouraging as it may seem, I find Zeitlin's first recording to be one of his best. While there's something pre-conceived and scholarly to his "free" playing, he comes up with some terrific voicings that sound very forward-looking. Recommended listening!

If there's some kind of splice, digital or analog, maybe some adjustments were by mistake applied only to one of the two sources?

Official (Blue Note) reissue of 'Lighthouse '69' with previously unreleased material was planned and IIRC even announced, but was pulled. There's a thread about that somewhere here. I seem to recall something about an inordinate cost of remastering the multitrack tapes that had numerous edits. It's a good album - has Buster Williams on bass and features one of his compositions which is always a plus. Can't remember I've ever seen another recording of 'Ruby P'gonia'!

Well, if the timings were identical (as were - I would assume - the artist and title info) nobody would have needed to submit a new entry to the CDDB for the Definitive release. In that case the info regarding the previous release would just keep on popping up whenever a copy of the Definitive release is inserted into the player.

One aspect of releases from PD labels is that they are often making the product available through streaming services like Spotify. The administrative cost is low, and the (albeit diminutive) proceeds are seemingly going right into the pockets of these shady businessmen. When these releases are sitting side by side with the legitimate ones it gets very clear: by clicking on this track it's three cents to the company that remastered this and made it available, by clicking on that same track as released by a PD label it's three cents to the shady businessmen.

This may not be as bad as it appears. The CDDB, which most media players and ripping software use, ID:s the disc solely on basis of the TOC (number, length and order of tracks). Therefore the players can't separate two releases containing the same track timings. Of course, Definitive may have copied the previous release anyway.

It's on the Mosaic set, no? From those mentioned so far I've heard the suites of Russell, Graettinger, Mingus and Albam and I prefer the Russell. Haven't listened to the Albam in ten years, but I think I found it a bit pretentious and too film score-ish.