Daniel A

What does the band play on the Antibes recording, and how's the sound quality?

From what I can remember the large band setting didn't sound like Timmon's natural context.

To my knowledge, the OJC with the highest number that was never issued on CD was OJC 334, Billy Butler's 'Guitar Soul!'. It may still have been digitally remastered, of course. From Fanatasy's point of view it probably didn't make sense to remaster LPs and CDs differently once they had started to put out CDs. When did that happen, BTW?

People seem to want to bring the music with them at all times, which if anything may indicate that music is an even more important part of everyday life than before. The downside is the way music has to be mastered to be listenable through headphones on the subway - with a lot of compression. Those few who still listen to music in their living rooms are aware of the side effects. The MP3 or AAC file formats are not a part of the problem. People complaining that MP3:s sound "thin" have almost never bothered to do a double-blind test. I consider myself reasonably concerned with sound quality, although I don't spend a lot on stereo equipment. I've conducted a few tests with friends, who happened to be a mix of musicians, doctors, engineers etc. Above a certain bitrate (somewhere around an average of 192 kbps for variable bitrate MP3) most participants weren't able to tell the difference between CD and MP3. The truth is that the CD format is way better than most people "need". Remember all those worn-out compact cassettes which were customary well into the late 90s? To be truthful most MP3s sound much better than that.

Thanks for all the wonderful music, Hank. R.I.P.

I've got a Nord Stage 88. It's not perfect, but all in all it's a very good sounding instrument with a perfectly weighted keyboard. So far it's the best digital piano I've found, although I've still to test the Korg SV-1.

It was a bit of a surprise to see Blue Note release an album with as much real jazz content as this. Recommended!

Those two were the ones from this batch I got too! I suppose they used the 20 bit mastering from previous releases, in the case of McFarland MVCJ-19111 from 1998.

I suspect that the music played at Starbucks is heavily dictated from the top. Sweden's first Starbucks opened only a few months ago, but when I visited Scotland in 2008 three different Starbucks cafés were playing the exact same Blue Note sampler (presumably one of those that were put out by Starbucks themselves a few years ago).

The only reference to the Isradisc catalog number on the web is a Japanese blog found here: http://mojos-blog.cocolog-nifty.com/mojos_blog/2005/09/jimmy_smith__li.html Google Translator was not very useful, but apparently the tunes are played in a "Root Down" vein and the applause sounds dubbed-in.

I've negelected Chet Baker for too long. I've had and enjoyed his mid-60s Prestige dates and some other albums of the same period for a while, but I would like to explore his earlier albums on Pacific Jazz/World Pacific more. Let it be said that I'm not too keen on boxed or multi-CD sets. I've got a pile of them, but I've realized that 99 percent of the time I tend to listen to individual albums, both on CD and LP. Baker's early recordings have been released in a rather scattered manner so some of you may advise against it, but I've found that I'm always more comfortable with "real" albums (as they were originally released). For that reason I would welcome recommendations for Chet's PJ/WP albums. I'm not shy of hunting down LPs or Japanese releases, so feel free to recommend original albums (both with and without his singing) that would serve as a good starting point. I believe this is more or less what came out on Pacific Jazz and World Pacific (plus a few later CD releases): Gerry Mulligan - The Original Mulligan Quartet (Pacific Jazz PJ 1207) (1952-53) Chet Baker - Grey December (Pacific Jazz CDP 7 97160-2) (1953) Chet Baker And Stan Getz - West Coast Live (Pacific Jazz CDP 7243 8 35634-2) (1953-54) The Trumpet Artistry Of Chet Baker (Pacific Jazz PJ 1206) (1953-54) Chet Baker - Jazz At Ann Arbor (Pacific Jazz PJ 1203) (1954) Chet Baker Sings (Pacific Jazz PJ 1222) (1953-56) Chet Baker Sings And Plays With Bud Shank, Russ Freeman And Strings (Pacific Jazz PJ 1202) (1955) Chet Baker/Art Pepper - The Route (Pacific Jazz CDP 7 92931-2) (1956) Chet Baker And Crew (Pacific Jazz PJ 1224) (1956) Chet Baker Big Band (Pacific Jazz PJ 1229) (1956) Chet Baker/Art Pepper - Playboys (Pacific Jazz PJ 1234) (1956) Russ Freeman And Chet Baker Quartet (Pacific Jazz PJ 1232) (1956) Chet Baker/Bud Shank - Theme Music From "The James Dean Story" (World Pacific P 2005) (1956) Gerry Mulligan - Reunion With Chet Baker (Pacific Jazz PJ 1241) (1957) Chet Baker - Embraceable You (Pacific Jazz CDP 7243 8 31676-2-3) (1957)

It was a release from Japanese Universal, so chances are it used the same master as the CD release. If you want to try it Hiroshi Tanno of Early Records might be able to help you; it seems he has it in stock at the moment for 3500 Yen which is a better price than from Amazon.

Thanks, Bob! I read somewhere that someone compared the Japanese and UK CD reissues and concluded that they were identical; Anyway, ”100% Proof” was in boxy-sounding mono on both. Original vinyl will be out of range or me, so I’ll probably go for the UK version of ”Mexican Green” as it still seems easy to get hold of and the 70s LP reissue of ”100% Proof”. I’ll keep an eye for the Laurie Johnson album as well.

I always meant to pick up ”100% Proof” and ”Mexican Green” but never came around to do it. In fact, I still have to hear hem for the first time. Considering the (lacking) availability of different issues, what would be the way to go with ”100%”? Is the 70s Philips reissue OK? At least I suppose it’s in stereo…

I remember a strange incident from the time when I played in a student big band. Someone wanted to book the band for a private party. Just a quick phone call, and then everything was settled. Unfortunately quite a few of the regular members of the band couldn’t make it this particular night, so we had to hire six or seven would-be professionals from the Royal Academy of Music, to fill out the band. When we got to the dining hall where the party was supposed to take place about an hour before we were scheduled to play, the place was completely empty. Not only weren’t there any guests, but also no staff, just a big, empty place which for some mysterious reason stood unlocked. One of the hired guys - these days one of the better-known jazz trumpeters in the country - stepped out on the empty bandstand and looked out in the dark. And suddenly the floor is collapsing under his feet! It turned out that below the bandstand there was some kind of storage space, accessible through a number of top-hinged doors. All the doors had been left open, so the stage appeared to be a few feet wider than it in fact was. When he stepped on one of these doors it instantly collapsed, he dropped his trumpet - which was in a soft case - and almost in slow-motion we watched him land on the floor; on his feet, but also on his soft case. He opened it and took out the trumpet. The bell was completely flat. He panicked and started to try to bend it into shape. It didn’t look good at all. Meanwhile, someone made a few phone calls to try to find out where the party was. It turned out there was in fact no party at all. The organizers disputed that there had been an agreement. They had realized that the concept was too expesive and had scrapped the whole thing. So the hired guys got their 50 Euro each for turning up and everybody went away to have a lousy Friday night at home. Afterwards I learned that the trumpeter had his horned fixed, but somehow thought it was never the same and eventually got himself a new instrument.

I wouldn't be surprised if putting up countless subsidiaries (presumably with complicated ownership relations) makes it easier to escape responsibility for copyright/IP infringements. Why would they do that? They have nothing to fear as long as they abide by the EU regulations regarding the 50-year copyright limitations! I may be wrong, but I'm under the impression that it's unclear if these labels have cleared the rights for covers, are paying royalties for compositions etc., rights which are not limited to 50 years after the release of the recording. Also, several of these labels have also been releasing stuff recorded after 1960.

I wouldn't be surprised if putting up countless subsidiaries (presumably with complicated ownership relations) makes it easier to escape responsibility for copyright/IP infringements.

As far as Venus CD:s are concerned (I don't have an SACD player), I totally agree with Claude. If you're a fan of the featured artists the music is mostly fine, however.

Nice find, Aric. Hank deploys a somewhat un-funky organ sound on that album, but his solos are nice (although only two on organ from what I can remember). He has played organ on a couple of other sessions through the years, as well as electric harpsichord and a few other oddities. You may find some of these sessions in the AAJ Hank Jones discography here: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician_discography.php?id=8166

I would buy Soul Station again if they'd use the ugly Liberty cover with the train station.

Yesterday I opened the set and found some five or six discs with glue residue; the sleeves for those discs were also the ones which had splitting seams. Double-CD sleeves fared better. Anyway, I used a microfiber cloth and some isopropyl alcohol solution and managed to remove the residue.

Hej från en huvudstadsbo till en annan! It seems I had perhaps overstated this issue, but I just learned from the person who did these comparsions that at least two 4xxx titles were identical with the McMasters, Art Blakey's 'Indestructible' and Staley Turrentine's 'Look Out'. As far as I know a bunch of 4xxx titles were tested but far from all, and there isn't (yet) an overview.

You're a wise man as always, Lon. Not really thinking about it, I just assumed that it would be worth more if it's sold as sealed, but this time it's probably the other way round!

Thanks! So if it looks like the Glenn Gould box it's likely to be rotten?

Is there any way to identify the defective sets by looking at them from the outside, without breaking the seal? I got a sealed one as part of a deal, and I'm still not sure if I should keep it or re-sell it. Wouldn't want to sell it and then learn that it was one of the bad sets, though.