Daniel A

Поздравляю с днем рождения!

Long live the Ghost!

I was thinking of a carbon fibre brush, but I remember those tubular brushes back from the 70s. One recently sold on UK eBay for a pound, but they don't seem to be generally avaliable. I recall a previous discussion about brushes, but as a search for it didn't come up with anything, I'm beginning to think it was perhaps back on the BNBB. A HiFi dealer tried to convince me that brushes did nothing but push the dust deeper into the grooves, and suggested that I "clean" the records simply by playing them, and then removing pollution from the stylus by using a special kind of green sandpaper (later identified as a part of "the Linn philosophy"). I get the impression that this is pretty much considered false outside of Linn circles. Since my cartridge is a (long discontinued) Shure V15-IV, which has a built-in brush, my records would - according to this theory - be more or less destroyed as I play them, something which I can attest is not true. The aforementioned dealer had a tough time explayning why it was still OK to use this cartridge - obviously he didn't want to imply that Shure V15-IV was useless, and I did point out that it had been designed for use with the brush, and that disabling it would affect the tracking negatively. Anyway, he somewhat hesitantly said that the pressure from the cartridge brush was so light it didn't have the same effect as a manual fibre brush. However, the brush of the cartridge actually collects a great deal of dust while the record is played, which leaves me with the problem of how to de-dust the brush. So, what is the right way of using a carbon fibre brush? And what are the brands to look for (I remember a cheap brush which spilled "hairs" into the record grooves all the time; apparently they were not attached well enough to the brush)?

Still no sign of problems on the Red Trumpet website. One would think that they lost many loyal/potential customers due to the attention their financial problems got at various Internet forums, so if efforts to keep up the business are in fact made they should have made some sort of official statement. Would anyone at all on this forum order from them at this stage?

Well?

How do you actually use a brush? I can think of two ways, neither of which produces entirely satisfying results. Either you hold the brush in a fixed position over a rotating disc for a couple of turns and then release it. The problem is that this leaves a string of dust at the point where the brush was lifted up. Or you could try and drag the dust out towards the edge of the record (which is till rotating). However, by doing this it seems as if most of the collected dust is only pushed right into the grooves of the LP when the brush moves semi-vertically across them. Are there better methods which I'm unaware of?

Thanks for all the input! I have a lot to check out here for sure. Re: the Jarrett analogy - as I'm a moderate rather than a great Jarrett fan, I'll probably start out with the earliest Bley stuff and work my way chronologically a bit at a time. When I'm through, maybe I'll get on with the collected works of Jarrett as well! As I haven't heard the recording in question, I couldn't really tell how spot-on the review is (actually I found it rather fun). But with that talk of Bley's pipes and "Bass? You Goofed!", it struck me as more than a bit weird. But I'd prefer him over Yanow any day.

I don't have any Paul Bley albums. In fact, I'm not even sure I know what Paul Bley's playing sounds like. 1. Should I be ashamed? 2. Where should I start? (I checked a couple of the AMG reviews of his albums. Eugene Chadbourne's - who's that, anyway? - review of Blay's Savoy album 'Footloose!' is patently absurd: *link*)

I think they (Sony) are afraid customers will be bugged if a tune does not start immediatly when they skip one of the many unlistenable tracks, and expect a new, merely lousy one.

And yes, I forgot to add: read "Raise Up Off Me"! It's a very personal, revealing, and ultimately saddening statement, which nevertheless should be read by anyone interested in his music. Since a few years it's once again available, now in an inexpensive paperback edition. On Amazon it's possible to search inside the book for specific words and phrases. "The Hampton Hawes Website" appears to be unavailable. It didn't contain that much besides a discography, but had some interesting suggestions under "Suggested reading" (still available from the 'wayback-machine' here) For anyone largely unfamiliar with Hawes, here's a piece which offers slightly more insight that the AMG.

I bought a couple of LPs in a used record shop today, and got Hampton hawes Trio Live at Montreux (JAS Records, 1971), which was missing the cover, for free! I must say that it contains some of the most adventurous playing I've heard from Hawes - consistently excellent. The trio with Henry Franklin and Michael Carvin are not particularly well-known or -documented, but I think it's a good one. Side one of the LP contains a 31+ minute rendition of the unpromising title This Guy's in Love with You, but the playing is very "progressive". No commercial givaways, unlike some of his later albums. Strongly recommended!

Clare Fischer 'Easy Livin'' British Jazz Workshop pressing, originally on Revelation. Recorded in 1963; this pressing, made in 1967, is mono. Pretty late for dedicated mono issue, isn't it? Perhaps the original recording was in mono.

A friend has supplied me with a copy of the Wheeler album Windmill Tilter. It's a wonderful record - the arrangements are just beautiful! Not all of the soloist are up to Wheeler's playing, but this one absolutely deserves CD reissue. If the rumours about the lost master tapes are true, it's a great, great shame. Anyone know what the LP usually sells for?

Those are the favorite discs of my favorite Mosaic set! Johnson and Jaspar sound so good together, the rhythm sections are perfect, and Hank Jones and Tommy Flanagan are always consistently enjoyable, both as soloists and accompanists.

Aren't there similar problems on Joe Henderson's "Inner Urge"? On the McMaster the cymbals sound bad right in the beginning of Joe's solo.

Wasn't Bemsha Swing on one of those Bob Belden wax cylinders?

I think it will fit on 2 CDs (the previous US CD reissue Red Garland at the Prelude, Vol. 1 had 13 tracks and 76 minutes playing time, Stretching Out featured six tracks from the show which make up around 45 minutes of that CD. This leaves four tracks, which mustn't be over 38 minutes together). I don't have this material myself, but my speculation is that the Japanese released it on three CDs because Garland's Prelude appearance consisted of three sets - one set per CD.

So, therefore I'd suggest...

I know. I just wanted to point out that there may be cases where some people feel that a certain presentation of a couple of sessions works better, while not being the "original", and the Mobley albums just sprang to mind.

I just listened to that cut, and I agree that the tenor sound is very similar to Joe Henderson's. Sometimes I think the timing is just slightly less perfect than Joe's, though. But this is not how I thought Junior Cook sounded like, and I'm surprised in a positive way; I must dig out some more of his recordings... He sounds good on the other tracks as well, where he plays like "himself"!

Yes, Bertrand, it grows on you! One of the high points is Chick Corea's solo on 'Tones for Joan's Bones', which I think is one of his earliest significant solos (recorded just a few weeks before the first album under his own name, IIRC. Incidentally, an album which also has that tune, but with a rather more cautious solo from Corea). Pearson's arrangements are - what do you call them - functional? But it amazes me that they do not sound worn out after a couple of listens; behind the simplicity there's something which holds your attention.

Of course, the original track sequence of a certain album does not always have to be most desirable for everybody. (Example - have been discussed on other forums in an ancient past: Mobley's No Room for Squares, The Turnaround and Straight, No Filter, I prefer to listen to the tracks from a certain session; I remember Jim Sangrey thinks otherwise )

http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2005-11-22-dog_x.htm

Probably this distortion is now present at the master tape. I checked my copy of 'Boss Horn', it's from the Spanish Blue Note Collection with blue covers, and the distortion you mention is there, too. Now, what kind of remastering this Spanish version really is beats me - most of the other releases in this series are in fact the same as the Japanese TOCJ releases of the 1990s, but Boss Horn was to my knowledge never released on CD in Japan. I checked another CD from this series (Tina Brooks' 'True Blue'), which has ©(p)1993 Capitol Records, Inc. on it, which I believe is the year of the Japanese release. 'Boss' horn has ©(p)19xx... A secret remaster? Just to be thorough, I also checked my vinyl copy, a black label Liberty pressing, where - of course - there was no distortion...