EyeSpeech

hmmmm. I think you agree with me that jazz fans shouldn't feel "ambivalent" about arguably the greatest jazz label, but you're getting too philosophical and abstract for your own good.

Well I'm glad you came along to help everyone who feels ambivalent about Blue Note, lest they fall into the evil clutches of megaconglommerates, madison avenue and Alfred Lion. We surely wouldn't want anyone to confuse buying a dream with buying a jazz record.

What exactly do you have against a knee-jerk dopamine release when the subject of Blue Note (or any favored label for that matter) comes up? Live and let live, man. Do you have BN confused with BP? I can agree with that, as some of my favorites such as the Hutcherson - Land collaborations were initiated then, but one could argue the label still had Lion's mark on it and was running on inertia from the past 20 years, as much as anything else.

Even in classical period pieces I much prefer piano, though I can totally appreciate people wanting to perform and hear pieces as they were originally conceived.

I am listening to Bobby Hutcherson - StickUp now and turned over the CD to find that both Bobby Hutcherson and Billy Higgins had signed the j-card (back cover) which I brought to Yoshi's to catch a Hutcherson show. I didn't even know Higgins would be in the band, but it was one of the last times I got to see him. That's what I love about getting my discs autographed. It not only gives me an excuse to meet the musician and tell him how much his music means to me but it lives on as a meaningful keepsake. When I pull these signed discs off the shelf I'm greeted with a memory and visual that puts my listening experience in a different, more personal context. In addition to autographs by Hutch and Billy, I have countless discs signed by Tyner, Herbie Hancock, Johnny Griffin, Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson, Elvin Jones, Lee Konitz, Kenny Burrell, Sam Rivers, Stanley Turrentine and others.

I dunno, I tend to think of a Liberty Blue Note and an EMI Blue Note, etc. Blue Note was only really Blue Note in Lion's time. It was subsequently owned by other labels that allowed Blue Note to keep its banner and operate (more or less) independently, depending...

Absolutely agree. Some of the '50s Blue Note stuff is too formulaic, but nowhere near as formulaic as a lot of other labels recordings from the same period. Anyway, can you imagine the legacy of Monk, Bud, Miles not to mention Andrew Hill, Jimmy Smith, Lee Morgan, Hank Mobley without their Blue Note recordings? Lion deserves a lot of credit. Well that's understood--how could it be "one thing" when it spans different decades and styles and artists as varied as Don Cherry, Clifford Brown and Hubbard just to quickly name horn players. Well, not to drag this into semantic debate territory but when someone like Lion, who loves the music on a level beyond 99.9% of everyone else walking the planet, heads up a label I think music love and label love are as close to synonymous as you can get. I think most jazz fans consider Lion's productions to be the "real" Blue Note and that kinda goes without saying.

Thanks for posting that interview, Kevin. Sorry to hear about Ruth Lion.

Shawn, I think SHM is used predominantly for Universal affiliated labels, so I doubt any BNs are gonna appear on SHM. I admire Lion's entrepreneurial spirit that sparked Blue Note, the fact that he paid musicians for rehearsing and got involved with the compositions, lineups, his rapport and long-term relationships with many artists he signed, etc. And yes, I like his stewardship of the pre-'67 Blue Note catalog much, much more than the post-Lion catalog. Let's put it this way: I'm more a fan of Lion than of Bobbi Humphrey or Keren Ann.

I was listening to Ben Webster - See You at the Fair and Roger Kellaway plays harpsichord on a couple tracks. It sounds ok on Lullaby of Jazzland but obviously piano, vibes and guitar are far more popular instruments in jazz ensembles. It's obvious why--the harpsichord is more nasal, tinny and lacks the resonances and sustain of the other rhythm instruments I mentioned that provide greater rhythmic and harmonic support. Not to mention soloing possibilities. It is interesting in a novelty kind of way to hear harpsichord in small ensemble jazz. But I don't like the sound. I know Lux Lewis worked on harpsichord and celeste too.

I have not heard the AP Blue and Sentimental, but if the other SACDs in this series are any indication it is worth getting. Blue Note remains my favorite label and Alfred Lion is a hero to me, not to mention artists like Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Bud Powell, Bobby Hutcherson and countless others recorded extensively by Blue Note. I honestly don't see how anyone can call themselves a jazz fan and be "ambivalent" about the Blue Note catalog. That's a head-scratcher for sure.

The OJC edges out the DCC in some respects including realism, although the tone on the DCC may be a bit more solid. If I still have the DCC I can be convinced to part with it.

No, you just communicate online unless the seller wants to talk to you, which is often the case. Initially, though, Audiogon will alert you when someone is interested in your item.

Yes, incredible Shorter solo. Great Vic Feldman appearances on some earlier albums. Unfortunately I do not like anything Fagen & co. have done after Aja, including Gaucho and the Nightfly. I had the privilege of seeing SD perform a few years ago and had never watched Fagen live before. It's definitely worth checking out.

Edda - The Rumproller...would have loved to hear if Wayne Shorter recorded this. Bet he would have slowed down the tempo a bit. The melody is just so damn SANGUINE. It can uplift you.

To my surprise the JSACDs arrived today. I thought they would be lost or at least take much longer to arrive. I'm pleased with the My Favorite Things. It could not be more different than the K2 20 bit version. The K2 has a very superficial, wide soundstage with the drums hard left and the sax hard right. The SHM-SACD is mono. The instruments are relaxed with a more realistic quality in terms of the attack/decay. The bass is poor in both versions; that's just the way it was recorded. It's bloated and lacks definition. Tthe more you move toward treble, the better the definition gets--the sax, drums and piano were mic'ed right. When Tyner hits some of those high notes about 3:20 into Everytime We Say Goodbye, it sounds very well recorded indeed. Aside from the bass, the presence on the SACD is impressive. They did a good job on the K2, but this is better. Much of it depends on your preference for hard panning vs mono.

My hunch is that their choices reflect business decisions more than personal preferences. They probably chose an array that would have relatively broad appeal, especially for the first few batches. Maybe they will feel more confident about throwing in some less mainstream titles in the future if the series does well. At least one Wayne Shorter title would please me greatly, starting with, say Night Dreamer... Yes, I requested that among some other Shorter titles to Chad. He is a blues fanatic and produced many blues sessions at his own Blue Heaven studios in Kansas. I am 90% sure that he chose the soul-jazz/blues-jazz titles because of his personal blues/R&B preference. I think this is a labor of love for him. If he wanted to make smart business decisions he'd sign someone like Justin Bieber and forget about jazz.

I had great luck selling my speakers on CL. I didn't have the original boxes and the speakers each weighed 155 lbs. A friendly engineer and his father responded to my ad, came over to check out the speakers and enjoyed hearing them. They left and returned later in the week with a check for my asking price and a van. I gave them a blanket and we loaded them in their van (those guys were strong). It was sketchy, but everything worked out. I even sold my car on CL. That was more of a pain. I had quite a few lookie-loos come over and seem incapable of making a decision after I answered all their questions and let them take a test drive. The worst was one guy who called me from his office and ask me to meet him there. I wasted half my lunch hour waiting for him to show up. When he did, I confirmed with him that he knew how to drive a stick shift. He insisted he did and promptly stalled out three times on a test drive where he couldn't even make it down the block before I kicked him out of my car. You may get some flakes but keep trying.

If the first two batches are any indication, Chad Kassem favors the soul/jazz, blues/jazz, hard bop sub-genres. I don't think he'd go for avant garde records but stranger things have happened. I put in a request for some Shorter stuff.

I'm in the SF bay area and have good luck selling stuff on Craigslist and buying stuff on audiogon. It's always better to do business locally to save shipping costs.

Well you'll never guess what happened within hours of getting the "your order has shipped" notice from CDJapan...the earthquake and tsunami hit. It didn't occur to me to think of my order for several days after watching the news coming out of Japan.

Yes, agreed on Gee gee. I'm looking forward to New Soil and Hub-tones too, although Up at Minton's is probably at the top of my list for the upcoming Blue Note SACDs. Sam Rivers is just the tip of the iceberg of what I wish was coming. I could use most of Wayne Shorter's titles on SACD for starters. Chad Kassem told me "maybe" he'll produce a 3rd batch of Blue Notes, so let's cross our fingers for some Rivers and Shorter.

Yep, it's great. By the way it's called Out *of* the Afternoon. I just received the Ellington and Coltrane--can't wait to check it out. Which BN title did you get?

I wait until they go...often after 1.5 to a couple years. There isn't a linear degradation in sound quality. When the tube goes you'll hear the noise.

I would turn myself in. Think he made his way back east and died of a stroke if I remember correctly.