Aggie87

Miles Davis - Saturday Night at the Blackhawk Miles Davis - Miles Smiles Steve Lacy - NY Capers & Quirks Charles Mingus - Oh Yeah Art Pepper - Art Lives Hey Leo 463 How is the Marc Ribot disc? I have the first Cubanos disc and dig it. Been eyeing the second one, but haven't pulled the trigger yet. -Erik

I've got the "Buy 1, Get unlimited at 80% off" sale again... Newish titles: Dave Brubeck - Park Avenue South Christian McBride - Vertical Vision Miles Davis - Complete Friday Night at the Blackhawk Geoff Keezer - Sublime: Honoring the Music of Hank Jones Leo Kottke - Best of the Chrysalis Years

Steven Bernstein - Diaspora Soul Miles Davis - ESP Charles Mingus - Live at Antibes Horace Parlan - Up & Down Art Tatum - The Complete Pablo Group Masterpieces Bjork - Greatest Hits Peter Gabriel - OVO

Free For All - I am indeed an Aggie (*insert gratuitous Aggie joke here*). After doing some research online, I tend to believe that this is indeed an urban legend. However, BEVO was indeed stolen by the Aggies on a number of occasions. The first was in 1916, when the nameless cow was stolen and branded with the score from the previous Aggie win, "13-0". The Longhorns ended up modifying this brand into the letters "BEVO", and the name stuck. There are some Longhorn sites that actually deny this happened, and that they named BEVO for the Czech word for beer, "PIVO", but I'm pretty much convinced this is wishful thinking. One time in the 1970's, some Aggies successfully kidnapped BEVO and actually cut its horns off, I assume in the spirit of the Aggie War Hymn, part of which includes the lines "Saw Varsity's Horns Off" (Varsity being an old nickname for the Longhorns way back). On another occasion in the 1970s, some Aggies with WAY too much time on their hands actually enrolled at UT, and charmed their way into the good graces of BEVO's handlers, and successfully kidnapped him. UT students were successful in kidnapping A&M's mascot "Reveille" (a collie) also, though as far as I know this has only happened once. All of the other mascots from the old Southwest Conference were also kidnapped at various points in time. Apparently this was considered quite fun back in the old days. And yes, back when Bush was first campaigning for the presidency, and when he first took office, I had quite a number of conversations with German friends and colleagues about his background, and (primarily) the death penalty in Texas. Most of them only knew about that because of Bush. I had to explain that it has been going on in Texas for a long time, through both Democratic and Republican governors. It's pretty much an inconceivable idea for most of them. -Erik Gig'em Aggies!

Big Al - The answer is it depends on whatcha lookin' for. Sco has played straight-ahead, funk, acoustic, trio settings, etc. Not to mention any of his sideman appearances. If you liked "Works for Me" I'd check out this year's "scolohofo" recording. Also his BNs with Lovano are great! I like "Works for Me" but find it a little on the tame side. I wish they had pushed each other just a little more, or something. If you like the groove stuff (and I'm guessing you do!), "a Go Go" is a great collaboration with Medeski Martin & Wood. It's follow up "Bump" is in the same vein, but with mainly different musicians, and is also good. Last year's "uberjam" and the recent "Up All Night" are also funky and alot of fun! And b3-er's suggestion of "Groove Elation" and "Hand Jive" are great collaborations with Larry Goldings. "Quiet" is a nice mellow acoustic album, which includes Wayne Shorter on a few cuts. And another BN date that I like alot is "Grace Under Pressure", which is his collaboration with Bill Frisell. I like this one better than the one with Metheny, "I Can See Your House from Here". b3-er - no good news on "Live Three Ways" as far as I can tell. I think it was simply a mistake by CD Universe. I hope it gets released on CD at some point though. -Erik

At the risk of sounding like an SACD plugger (which I'm not - I don't even own a player!), if you purchase the hybrid SACD of this, then you'll get the SAME cd remaster (I believe) as the RVG, and you get the "bonus" SACD layer as well. This comes in handy if you have an SACD player or if the next CD player you purchase happens to be SACD compatible. On the downside, I don't know why they didn't include the "bonus" CD-ROM material from the Ultimate disc on the new RVG and SACDs. This would have been a nicer way of upgrading Blue Train, and would allow us to pass on our existing Ultimates.

You can handle a raw habanero? My hat's off to you, sir! Though if that's tame enough for you, a mere jalapeno shouldn't even cause you to break a sweat!

For anyone interested, Fresh Sounds is having a sale on some Tete Montoliu titles, alot of them for €6.50. Fresh Sounds Website, then click on the "Promos of the Month - Tete Montoliu" link.

Tina Brooks - Minor Move John Coltrane - Blue Train Grant Green - The Latin Bit Joe Lovano - Flights of Fancy Charles Mingus - Blues & Roots Thelonious Monk - Monk's Dream John Scofield - Bump Blue Oyster Cult - Workshop of the Telescopes

Well, I'm glad to see there is a good box in the U.S! (Maybe it's similar to the situation with the ZYX boxes here in Germany versus the normal Fantasy boxes in the U.S?). At any rate I didn't mean to speak for all markets, but just assumed that the German/European box I picked up was the standard everywhere. Apparently it's not. Mine looks like this, but is simply a flimsy slipcover around the two 2-disc sets:

Happy B-D, Bird! ...excerpted from the famous Barnes & Noble interview

Picked up a personal "nice find" the other day - I found a copy of Sco's "East Meets West" on CD! This is his very first leader date from 1977, and is on the Blackhawk label. It's largely a trio date, with Clint Houston on bass and Motohiko Hino on drums. Terumasu Hino sits in on two tracks on trumpet. Scofield was on tour in Japan with Terumasu, and apparently went into the studio there to record this one. It's definitely EARLY Sco, but it's him. I only have two more Scofield leader dates to track down to complete my collection, "John Scofield Live" from 1977 also, and "Bar Talk" from 1980. Anyone out there got a spare copy of either of these for trade/sale? PS - Joe, if you didn't catch it already, Up All Night is available from BMG now (as is scolohofo). -Erik

Ran Blake - Something to Live For Kenny Burrell - Introducing Kenny Burrell Teddy Charles - Word from Bird Wayne Horvitz - 4+1 Ensemble Irakere - Babalu Aye Keith Jarrett - Up For It Rodney Jones - Soul Manifesto

There is no difference in the content. The 4 disc set is merely the two 2-disc sets with a flimsy cardboard cover around it.

Art Blakey - Meet You at the Jazz Corner of the World Uri Caine - Goldberg Variations Bill Frisell - Ghost Town Gregorio/Gustafsson/Nordeson - Background Music Charles Mingus - The Clown Art Pepper - APQ Jimmy Smith - Groovin' at Small's Paradise John Surman - Stranger Than Fiction

Cannonball Adderley - Fiddler on the Roof Bireli Lagrene - Bireli Swing '81 Charles Mingus - Pithecanthropus Erectus Hank Mobley - Poppin' Art Pepper - One September Afternoon John Zorn - New Traditions in East Asian Bar Bands Yes - The Yes Album

Gary Larson is a neighbor of Bill Frisell's also. They are apparently buddies, and Bill ended up doing the music for the short-lived "Tales from the Far Side" tv show. Some of the music is on his album "Quartet". Here is the cover that Larson did for Jim Hall's "Something Special" album:

Art Blakey - A Night at Birdland, Vol II Donald Byrd/Doug Watkins - Transition Sessions John Coltrane - The Standard Coltrane, Bahia, & Stardust Bireli Lagrene - Routes to Django (this guy recorded this at 13 years old??) Lee Morgan - The Last Session Art Pepper - Winter Moon Taj Mahal - Taj Mahal Adrian Belew - Belewprints

Clifford Brown - Jazz Immortal John Coltrane - Settin' the Pace John Coltrane - Black Pearls Kenny Dorham - Round about Midnight at the Cafe Bohemia Jimmy Giuffre - Free Fall Stefon Harris - The Grand Unification Theory John Patton - Accent on the Blues Jimmy Smith - A New Sound...A New Star Vol I-III

I don't have much of Miles' live stuff. I have the new Blackhawk discs (love em!!!), as well as "It's About That Time", and "Four and More". I used to have the Carnegie Hall set, but traded it in a while ago - for some reason it didn't register for me at the time. I'm thinking about pulling the trigger on a couple of these, since they're priced right: Agharta At Carnegie Hall 61 (worth reconsidering?) At Fillmore - Live at the Fillmore East Black Beauty - at Fillmore West Dark Magus In Concert Live Evil Pangaea The Complete Concert 1964 Which of these are the standouts? Should any be avoided at all cost? Also, how is "Big Fun"? It's also on sale. Thanks, Erik

Kenny Burrell & John Coltrane John Coltrane - The Last Trane John Coltrane - Soultrane Eric Dolphy - At the Five Spot, Vol. 2 Clifford Jordan/John Gilmore - Blowin' In From Chicago Franz Koglmann/Lee Konitz - We Thought About Duke Thelonious Monk - At the Blackhawk Thelonious Monk - In Europe, Vol I-III Art Pepper - Straight Life John Scofield - Electric Outlet

According to some of the reports in the German news, this has been the longest, hottest summer in Germany (or at least southern Germany) in something like 120-130 years. I'm not sure how the government would have been able to prepare for something like this. It is rather hard to believe so many have died from the heat. But if you've ever been over here you'd see that air conditioning simply doesn't exist in most homes, businesses, or offices. It's the exception more than the norm. I don't know much about heat-related deaths, but I'd guess that many, if not most, of them have been the sick and elderly. It's not a localized epidemic either, so doesn't seem to have been a concerted, focused effort to do anything about the heat. It has cooled down a bit here in the past 4-5 days, though, and there has been a little bit of rain, so it's certainly more comfortable than it was.

These discs have been in the zweitausendeins stores for about two weeks now - the clerk there told me it wouldn't show up on their website until the new catalog came out. I've picked up the Shipp titles, and like all of them. I also like the Billy Bang/Dennis Charles "Bangception" disc. And the Dave Douglas Tiny Bell Trio "Constellation" is well worth it! I also nabbed a couple of the Lacy discs, the Ran Blake tribute to Horace Silver, the Eskelin, and the Konitz/Solal live disc. Haven't listened to any of these yet, so I won't pass judgement. I may go back and pick up some of the others, without knowing too much about them. At these prices, how can you go wrong?? They've also currently got almost all of the Zappa discs, for €9.99 apiece. Where's a good place to ease into his work?

Bev - Glad to hear you are so impressed with Magnification! I really think it's about the best thing Yes has done since the "classic" era. Not sure whether that's due to the absence of a keyboardist or not, but I really like the different feel of this album, perhaps due to the presence of the orchestra. I saw them on the Symphonic tour, and they did have a keyboard player in tow (Tom Brislin) who was actually a pretty good player, but he didn't have all that much to add. I also saw Yes in June with Wakeman back in the fold (reviewed the show earlier in this thread), and looking back on the show, I'm not sure he's that "forward thinking" anymore. He played his parts and did alright with them, but seemed to treat the gig as a job, the more I reflect on it. I think the tour has been successful mainly due to his presence again, because most people want to see the "classic" lineup, playing the old material. But as far as making new, interesting music, I'm not sure he'll have very much to add. I liked the four-piece lineup. Hopefully they'll prove me wrong. Also, check out the "Keystudio" album. It's a midline reissue of the studio tracks from Keys to Ascention I & II, which were from 96/97. It's got Wakeman on there, but he's not too heavy handed. There are some very good moments on there as well. One criticism I hear of this one is that they may have been trying too hard to play in their 70's style, but I still enjoy it.

According to the article I read, the girl's father is a prominent member of a local Hell's Angels club. They were invited backstage guests at the Dead concert. Apparently some of Hell's Angels guys found Gordon with the girl, and may have dished out a little of their own brand of justice until the police arrived. The article I read also mentioned something about Gordon and Phish trying to resolved this issue (payoff the family?) outside of court...