neveronfriday

That sounds like one I just have to get. God, doesn't it ever end?

Do you guys carry tiny lists around (font-size 4 to 6) so you don't by accident buy one you have already?

I don't need CDs for that.

Looking forward to it. Actually, the Montmartre club existed for many more years, but it wasn't really (only) a jazz venue anymore. It became a folk/Danish Pop club with the occasional jazz concert (plus some World Music) with dj's (or whatever they called themselves end 70s/beginning 80s) spinning discs after midnight on weekends. Still, some of the finest musicians of the time could be seen at the club. And lots used to hang around there a lot later than '74. Today, one can consider the "Copenhagen JazzHouse" an adequate replacement. From their website: Other good ones are the one in Christiania (that infamous free state which has been an in-spot for quite a number of years now, "Christiania Jazz-Club", and, especially, "La Fontaine" (smack dab in the center of town, in one of the nicest streets, Kompagnistræde 11, not far from the town hall square), a tiny club with some of the hottest jam sessions if a) you can get in and b) you study the programme (and c] you don't mind standing squeezed up next to the piano/organ or trying not to knock the cymbal stand(s) over) . The latter is THE place to go if you know any of the people playing there. There are many other really small venues ... you can find a list of them here: Copenhagen Jazz Festival (venues) (pretty much all the places in the greater Copenhagen area that offer jazz on a more or less regular basis [plus some venues which usually just have jazz for the festival]). Cheers!

Cheers!

And why aren't you in MY band? Cheers!

Exactly! Cheers!

Hm. I only glanced at the other responses (this is about soloing, after all), but next to staying true to yourself and having the music rule a solo - and not the other way 'round - there are other considerations, I think. From a drummer's point of view, speaking of course for those who have a point of view, there are a whole bunch of things that are thrown in the mix to generate what I would call a "good" solo: a) You gotta have chops. There are faaaaaaaar too many drummers around who simply don't have any and build a solo around the same three things they know and have tried out a million times. Also in jazz. Ever heard a Simpon Philips solo? Not jazz, but that should show you what I mean. b) Don't forget the audience. The audience is a major factor when it comes around to soloing. A solo that started off mediocre (from the musician's point of view) can develop into something quite different depending on audience response. You've got to be careful not to be swept away by an audience that wants too much of the simple boom-bang stuff, but an appreciative audience certainly helps. c) There's got to be tension in a solo. I'm so tired of people showing off nothing but chops, boring the audience and the other musicians to death. Let me give you an example that most people would laugh about. Harry Connick Jr., who's quite an able panist (if he allows himself to really let things rip), has some totally unexpected twists and turns in his solos, from disjointed Monk chords that might sound like he isn't concentrating on getting things right to simply adding percussive parts to his solos using the piano as a percussion instrument. No matter what, there's always enough in there to make the audience notice that the guy knows exactly what he's doing, and that creates lots of tension (and fun). d) Re the question if one needs to grab the audience from the get go: I would say yes and no. It really depends on how you grab them. I think making things interesting and maybe challenging can grab an audience right from the start. I'm not a fan of listening to people who come out guns blazing and all, but sometimes that's what's necessary. Most of the time, I think picking up on the current mood of a tune and then toying with it and expanding on it is a pretty safe bet. e) My last 2 cents worth: for me, especially a drum solo must be melodic. Especially in jazz you can find countless drummers who are excellent at using the drums as a melodic instrument, thereby continuing what others in the band have played before and not bashing it to death. But, there are also representatives of the latter group. Cheers!

I don't listen to jazz.

Oh yeah, I forgot about British food ... I ate leek pie once and discovered that leek ain't nothing but a word misspelled. Cheers!

Top Ten Best Sound DVDs of 2003 An OK list. Reference Grade DVDs Another OK list (Master & Commander has one hell of a soundtrack).

What do you want to test? 5.1? 6.1? THX?

Yeah! They sell those at selected supermarkeds in see-through plastic bags, all squishy and stuff. Fun to play with.

Ain't THAT the truth.

BFT discs got here in mint condition. Won't have time to the weekend to listen to them in more detail. Thanks!

In my experience, beer is not nearly strong enough to overpower the taste of Lutefisk. I'd suggest these fine liquids: Linie Aquavit Jule Aquavit [note: the latter is just great stuff [ice-cold] and is sold once a year around Christmas time, the bottle design alternating every two years. The bottles, BTW, make nice oil lamps ... I have the whole house full of them )

I'll just add one more, which was all my fault. Once in a while I would race my brother home from school because my parents had had some big lunch and often there would be wonderdully creative ice-cream dishes left for us in the fridge. One day, naturally, I was fastest and threw the fridge door open, found a bowl of what looked like hazelnut icecream or whatever and just as my brother ran into the kitchen, I took this huge spoon, grinned my widest grin, shoved it into the "ice-cream" and with a loud "YUM" I shoved a generous helping into my mouth. Duck grease (fat). A full bowl of it. Needless to say, I've gotten a tiny bit more cautious since then. Cheers! P.S.: I swallowed all of it to entice my brother to eat some as well, but already then he wasn't dumb enough to do it ... I guess my best attempts at a smile and satisfied face expression failed somewhat as the stuff was slowly sliding down my throat, a series of gag reflexes pushing it back up repeatedly.

Don't knock Streisand, man. You're just asking for trouble with the ladies. You don't want to do that, njet. Just say "Yeah, she's recorded some good stuff", mumble something with at least some sort of positive-sounding intonation and invite whoever it is out for dinner ... all in one breath ... and you might be in the clear (just maybe). Cheers! Where's that "guilty pleasures" thread in which one can at least admit having (been forced to buy) Streisand recordings? Must go and look ...

I think it is time to add Mosaic to the "Bastards" list. You've got my vote. Cheers!

Inspired by some other thread which mentioned Japanese liver cake, I'd like to open up a new one listing the most disgusting thing I've/you've ever eaten. Don't misunderstand me - I like trying new stuff, and many things other people might consider offensive I actually liked (usually after turning my brain off ... or soaking it in various alcoholic liquids), but ... Dish numero uno: "Lutefisk": [stolen from some site:] "Lutefisk (dried cod treated with lye) must surely be the strangest culinary effort credited to the Norwegians, but what a treat when prepared properly. Everyone of course is not a devotee of lutefisk, but those who are defend it vehemently. Others go to the opposite extreme and claim it's a national disgrace. In years past, the homemaker had to go through the complicated task of treating the dry fish with lye, but now, even in America, frozen lutefisk is readily available at selected fish markets and at Scandinavian delicatessens." I refer you to this site for a humorous (but very accurate) encounter with this "national treasure": http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~atman/ic/lutefisk.html Excerpt: "How to describe that first bite? Its a bit like describing passing a kidneystone to the uninitiated. If you are talking to someone else who has lived through the experience, a nod will suffice to acknowledge your shared pain, but to explain it to the person who has not been there, mere words seem inadequate to the task. So it is with lutefisk. One could bandy about the time honored phrases like "nauseating sordid gunk", "unimaginably horrific", "lasting psychological damage", but these seem hollow when applied to the task at hand. I will have to resort to a recipe for a kind of metaphorical lutefisk, to describe the experience. Take marshmallows made without sugar, blend them together with overcooked Japanese noodles, and then bathe the whole liberally in acetone. Let it marinate in cod liver oil for several days at room temprature. When it has achieved the appropriate consistency (though the word "appropriate" is somewhat problematic here), heat it to just above lukewarm, sprinkle in thousands of tiny, sharp, invisible fish bones, and serve." Dish numero two-o: "(Faroe Islands) Sheep brain fried in unshaven and untreated sheep skull (or placed therein afterwards ... what do I care ...)": I have yet to find a site describing this encounter, so I'll have to resort to my own limited abilities: I visited the islands in the 80s and was invited for a Christmas dinner. The hosts were very proud of having arranged a very traditional meal, most of which was enjoyable and excellent (especially the booze). Little did I know that the frequent intake of alcohol was meant to numb any visitor's sensory perception, as the main course was, well, a sawed-open sheep's skull with boiled brain inside. I did not have the nerve to ask about the why's and how's of that dish (I would not have been able to eat it otherwise), but it was just a vile dish. There was some sort of salt water in there along with everything (if you have eaten fresh oysters in southern France, usually served as-are, you know that salt water can lead to a solid gag reflex which needs to be overcome to enjoy this otherwise very (!) fine food), and the glazed brain didn't look all too inviting either. You had to spoon the stuff out, and it stank like, well, stuff, ... but I managed, only to vow to myself never to eat the stuff again. Needless to say, I was simply bombed out of my skull at both dinners offering the lovely dishes described above, and I've often wondered if getting drunk was the sole purpose of serving this kind of food. Having lived in Scandinavia for many years, I think that is/was actually the case. Cheers! P.S.: I have more food stories, for example my encounter with strange jellyfish food served in London's Chinatown, tiny live eels (or somesuch) which had to be guzzled down with a soup ladle (Japanese), Tarantula legs (which are actually excellent and taste like tender chicken meat (you can find this dish in northern parts of Venezuela and it stems, I believe, from Yanomami cook books), etc. Maybe I'll chime in with more.

If I know my Japanese specialties correctly, isn't that one supposed to rot a bit before it is considered a delicacy? I recall going into some Tokyo supermarked with a friend about 20 years ago, and he held up this bag of rotten sprouts and smacked his lips. Now, I've eaten anything from sheep brain to bull's testicles (covered in yummie chocolate), but the sprouts kept me away from Japan for nearly two decades. Cheers!

Yes.

It's been a while since we talked about some of the absolute crappola remasterings offered by Zyx germany. I really love that Count Basie / Oscar Peterson session and by chance I stumbled across a new copy in its JVC XRCD version (cost me under 20 Euro to get it from the US including postage) ... what a difference! Besides the fact that the JVC remastering (produced by Akira Taguchi and mastered by Alan Yoshida) is a bit older (I don't feel like running next door now, but I think it was early 90s, around '93 or so), the packaging is far superior and the sound is about a million percent above that @@**@@ Zyx thing. In fact, just to justify the purchase, I hooked up my second CD player (1st: Marantz; second: NAD) and switched back and forth between the Zyx and the JVC, switching players as well. Summary: Zyx = shite, shite shite, to the umpteenth power! Crappola to the max. It sucks royally! I have no idea how such a disgusting and vile remastering job could make it through any sort of quality control. Well, I guess they don't have any of that at Zyx. Cheers!

Sorry, but NOT true.