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CJ Shearn
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Posts posted by CJ Shearn
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I definitely hear everyone's points. Lenny White lamented on the fact physical media is on the decline in our interview. He said essentially there was an experience and authenticity to browsing for LP's/CD's that is lost with streaming. The effort it took finding the latest Brad Mehldau Trio disc in Barnes and Noble with their current system was gargantuan to say the least. I can say for me as a collector it's a bit sad but I've gone to receive all digital media for possible promo CD's. In ECM's case the WAV files and digital booklets are as good as the CD. My HP Pavilion laptop (I have mine, and my mom's) I've used for 5 years, the disc drive pretty much quit opening/closing, and I had to use the paperclip in the pinhole method to open it. The last discs ever in there were the new Trane, when I backed it up on my external hard drive. For other interests I have like video games, I have a mix of digital copies, and physical copies. For series' I really enjoy like the Yakuza games, I have the special edition versions with steel books or art books, but for CD only bought maybe less than this year: the deluxe editions of the first four Phil Collins albums, the Miles Trane Bootleg Series, Vol. 6, the new Trane, and Brad Mehldau trio discs. I think as long as a stream/download is decent quality, and you can back the files up, that's some solace to me. Players to play physical medium will always be out there in some fashion.
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Very cool, looking forward to the release
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36 minutes ago, AllenLowe said:
I tried exposing myself to people for jazz, and it did not turn out well.
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This is a really cool homage to one of my favorite games of all time that I still play semi competitively occasionally, and the appearance of two pro Street Fighter players was pretty nice too, interesting how these two worlds intersect.
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4 minutes ago, Brad said:
It seems to me that you used Grace Kelly to take a swipe at the people here and I just don’t agree with your characterization of this place or that it’s not representative of the jazz listening public. How do you know it’s not. If somebody asks me how it is representative, I couldn’t answer the question any more than you can. We simply don’t know, unless you have polling data to the contrary.
As far as she goes, it’s a shtick but if that’s how she wishes to perform, who am I to question her choices. It certainly holds no interest for me. We hope that her act will attract viewers to check out jazz but we don’t really know if that will happen, do we? They may just be interested in her and there may no pass through effect. We are left with a lot of questions.
I hear what you are saying, Brad which is why I removed the article from here. Yes, it was a bit snarky in the board characterization, but for people to get so heated about her thing is silly, just move on if you don't like it. It's silly even in retrospect how I used to diss Herbie's disco and R&B stuff when I was younger and was so adamant that pre Sunlight Herbie was the real Herbie and vice versa. When I bought that Columbia box I really listtened, even to the stuff I didn't like and my attitude changed. I've noticed though that if there is something in jazz using a particular pop trend like Glasper, or Kamasi Washington, Kelly, it gets shot down by some here, and that's what I was trying to get at. I don't dig Grace's stuff that much either and it's fun and she should do it if it makes her happy. Clearly posting that here was a mistake, I admitted it and that's that, you know? Hey, I got a close friend who loves GRP, I don't love it, but he kind of changed my perspective not to just automatically trash it. I'm even more tolerant of smooth jazz than I used to be, doesn't mean I like it, but there is good smooth and bad smooth.
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Point taken. Originally I wasn't going to post that to the thread but I thought what was going on was pretty crazy so I had to say it. But, you are right, it was a mistake to post it here, but at the time I thought the outrage here was absurd. There are plenty of fine open minded folk here who have done a lot to help my listening habits, and awareness of things, but the truth is this audience is not who she's targeting. Take for example those here that don't dig the Robert Glasper Experiment:: Sure, the music isn't necessarily "new" if you knew the history and reference points, and I think the reactions were to PR of it being something new that was a trigger-- but hey, he's being a gateway to the music and it's great. I do think anyone would see the uproar over Grace's dancing, look at the board and be either very confused or turned off.
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Hey, that vid was good fun, and is harmless, it's nothing that's going to spark rage in me because it's only going to help expose more people to jazz.
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At least "Slow Blues" doesn't feature him hammering at a lick for 2 minutes
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I'll have to go for the Shepp!
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26 minutes ago, Scott Dolan said:
That’s cool. I’m glad you’re digging it. The only tune that stood out to me was Slow Blues. He really did some interesting things on that one.
I guess I’m just Coltrane’d out. I have his entire Prestige, Atlantic, Pablo, and Impulse! catalogs, as well as his lone Blue Note outing. I’ve heard everything he had to say hundreds, if not thousands, of times over again. It’s almost as though I’ve read the story, seen the movie, and digested all ten seasons of the tv show based on the movie. It’s become a contained and closed chapter in my life.
I hear you. I really enjoyed this one myself, nothing earth shattering but a nice addition. The way you feel about Trane now and how you digested is like how I devoured Jimmy Smith's work. Of course I still listen, but, the way I think of it is now different. "Slow Blues" is indeed interesting , how he fuses his almost Prestige era and Atlantic styles with what he had been doing, those short rocket blast "sheets of sound" phrases. I watched a YT vid of a gentleman reviewing the album which was sponsored by Impulse! (which tells you all you need to know really) he said Trane had been rather sensitive to criticism of that approach, so he wasn't employing it as much, I am not sure I buy that view, but the album is what it is, solid.
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4 hours ago, Scott Dolan said:
Which begs the question, when DID they hold back? I mean, serious. When? Because those tapes are yet to be released.
Whether Ballads was a “commercial concession” is a debate I’ll stay out of, but that album is arguably one of the best the Classic Quartet ever recorded. Bar none.
Now, I will humbly concede that if you hit me up for a spur of the moment “top five Coltrane Quartet albums” Ballads likely wouldn’t be mentioned. But it damned sure SHOULD be! It’s funny. They didn’t cut loose on that session, nor did they make any of those tunes their own. But somehow they made them “perfect”. Just. Fucking. Perfect.
Along with Crescent (due to it being overshadowed by A Love Supreme in the ‘64 canon), Ballads is THE most overlooked and underappreciated albums that band ever recorded, IMO.
I used to have the deluxe edition of Ballads, I preferred the original album over the alternates. Whether that album was a commercial concession I do not think so personally, but listening now to disc 2 of Both Directions At Once, just the first spin, but the alts are of value, especially "Impressions" takes 1 and 2, in a very condensed space, Trane really goes for it, nothing we haven't heard already, but nice nonetheless. This album is not earth shaking the way the PR said, great marketing of course, but it's a nice supplement to what this band did best. Those are my first impressions (pun intended).
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5 minutes ago, Stefan Wood said:
Clearly he had expectations that just was not going to be there. It's not like finding a previously undiscovered live date.
Exactly. When I review, I try to see the music for what it is, not what it isn't.
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7 minutes ago, Stefan Wood said:
Yes, there's nothing revealing, just hard playing and creatively executed. Even the filler is killer.
Brody must have been drinking when he wrote the review. Low boil???????????? No way in hell.
Well, it appears the review, though he praises the music on one level, his expectations were that the music was going to be on the same level as the live performances of the period which I think, is unfair.
" Whatever reticence a listener might experience with the new album isn’t musicological but emotional: the spiritual temperature of the music is lower, its moments of glorious invention have a logical and inviting air that never quite matches the self-exploring, self-transcending volatility of Coltrane’s very best recordings, whether made in concert or in the studio. (It’s impossible to know whether the quartet just didn’t reach its heights of inspiration that day, or whether, under the influence of Thiele and related commercial considerations, they deliberately restrained their most extreme energies.) “Both Directions at Once” is a marker of Coltrane’s work at the time rather than the very best of it. It’s as if the band were displaying what it is that they do when they do it, without quite doing it. "
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41 minutes ago, Scott Dolan said:
Going to listen to it in the morning. Hopefully without jaded ears.
I too hope to listen with unbiased ears when the discs arrive later today. I have the feeling the music will be good, but as you said earlier in the thread nothing we haven't heard already. I hope this is truly a worthy addition to the canon.
22 minutes ago, Stefan Wood said:The whole group is coming out swinging. Nothing held back.
Interesting, because the New Yorker review I read, it seemed the reviewer Richard Brody felt the music was on low boil. He felt Bob Thiele was appealing to commercial concessions, in the vein of Ballads and John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman, but I don't see how that's accurate judging from hearing the link of "Untitled 11383"
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2 hours ago, OliverM said:
I have two of these (Wayne Shorter and Blakey& Jazz Messengers) and they use RVG masterings.
I guess there is no point then in these. It looks like the CD's have no bonus tracks either, which for Home Cookin' especially, they are quite nice. Thank you.
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I see scheduled for release tommorrow there are 5 original album sets released for Jimmy Smith, Kenny Burrell and Freddie Hubbard. I have no need for the Smith or Burrell unless the masterings are greatly upgraded, but I could fill in holes with Open Sesame and Goin Up from the Hubbard set. Anyone know who might have some of the other sets in this series if they use new masterings?
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Thanks everyone!
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Very sad, RIP
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4 hours ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:
Regarding the Club Baby Grand recordings... according to Cuscuna: "I really don’t remember, but I think I never found the Baby Grand outtakes. Most likely, the material is not in the can. Whatever I got for discography listings probably came from Alfred’s session notes".
I wonder if the takes of "A Night In Tunisia" consist of that nutty Monkish head that characterizes the Crazy! Baby version. Jimmy played that arrangement up through 1965 to my knowledge if the bonus track from the Salle Pleyel Mai 28th 1965 set on Laserlight that I have is any indication. I always wonder if the Laserlight/RTE/Trema releases of those are legit because if not, I wonder if Zev Feldman could release that or perhaps the 1962 French show that ORTF recorded. I've asked him about contributing a liner essay to a Jimmy Smith package because one of my goals eventually is write a Jimmy Smith bio. I connected with Joey D. after his Jazz Standard gig 2 weeks ago to get in touch with him to yak about Jimmy, get leads on who to talk with who knew him.
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10 hours ago, Gheorghe said:
Yes, this one is great, it´s even better than the live date from Small´s Paradise, just incredible.
Those early Jimmy Smith albums from the historical 1500 Series is the greatest. I only have the japanes cardboard reissue of this album, and as I noticed then, it seemed that they didn´t release alternate tracks or unissued material , they kept strictly to keep it as a CD version of the historical original LP....At
At Club Baby Grand is every bit as good as the Smalls date, they are just different. What I love about the Smalls date is the added intensity due to Jimmy's percussion switch not decaying, almost adding a Trane-ish quality to the sound, indeed his ideas then were more in line with the harmonic approach Trane was investigating at the same time. The additional Baby Grand takes haven't survived, thus why they were not included. I just pulled out my TOCJ of vol. 1, was listening to Awase by Nik Bartsch's Ronin but decided to play the JOS. The other thing about the Baby Grand sets is that it's the first to debut Jimmy on record with the first three drawbars out with the third harmonic percussion on and with soft decay. This sound which marked the majority of his career wasn't heard again on a record until Home Cookin' in 1959, so that IMHO is quite significant. He was heard without percussion, with the "paradise switch" (percussion not decaying), and with the last drawbar pulled out in the interim.
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Happy birthday!
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Just ordered the deluxe edition
Kamasi Washington - Heaven and Earth
in New Releases
Posted
This. Which was the point I tried to make in my article but it did not come off well.