Hot Ptah

Or we could just buy this collection, enjoy the music, and not care so much about the title. I mean, who cared about the titles of a lot of albums and collections. We just bought the albums and listened to them and never pondered what the titles meant. I didn't, anyway. Just a few examples. "In the Court of the Crimson King". Who is this king? why is he crimson? what is his court like? is he an imperialist colonizer of native peoples, an oppressor of indigenous societies? Crimson has often meant bloodshed in the Bible and literature. Is this king a mass murderer, a Pol Pot kind of brutal monarch? We had better not listen to the album at all. "After Bathing at Baxter's" What is Baxter's? do you bathe there? Does that mean a private bath in a bathroom with a door with a lock on it, or is it some kind of public nudity pool or spa of some sort? Why are we "after" this bathing? It all sounds like it could be too kinky, or maybe the public nude bathing is exploitative of children or women who had been kidnapped into sex trafficking. Better not ever listen to it. "Blood on the Tracks" This title minimizes the brutal treatment of minority workers who built the Transcontinental Railroad. It seeks to profit from their suffering without providing necessary acknowledgment and monetary compensation to their heirs. To even look at the album jacket is to join the oppressors who degrade the workers' legacy. Don't even look at this album.

Do you have a copy left for me to buy Allen?

I am late responding to this Reveal. I am really glad that you presented this Blindfold Test. You shared music with us that many have not heard before, and that many are unfamiliar with. It was a welcome breath of fresh air. I am ordering several of the albums which you have identified in this Reveal.

We have mjzee to present October for us now. But thank you for volunteering. I have been trying to have everyone do only one Blindfold Test a year. You can do one in 2020 for sure!

Honda’s customer service told me that for the 2016 Accord, the designers had deliberately decided to discontinue the use of older iPods. I am sending you a PM.

These two comments in your longer post interest me. Do many people still make mix tapes for friends, with so much music so readily and cheaply available for everyone? Or is it more of a hobby for the one making the mix tape, than a pleasure for the recipient? I used to make mix cassette tapes for friends, then burn CD-Rs for friends. Some of them recently confessed to me that they had never listened to any of them. (Just like the mix tapes in Nick Hornby’s novel “High Fidelity.” The fact that many mix tapes are never listened to was emphasized more in the book than in the fillm.) Second, you can use an old iPod in your car? When I got s 2016 Honda Accord the music on my old iPod would not play when I tried to access it with the USB. I called Honda customer service and they said that only iPod models after 2013 would work in the car.

There are jazz albums not on Spotify, but most artists have deep catalogues of albums, even obscure artists. For example John Hicks has a very long list of albums on Spotify. Sun Ra has an immense number of albums on Spotify, including many which I, a long time collector of his albums, do not own. Those are just two random examples which come to mind. I use both Spotify and my CD collection in the car, grabbing a CD when something is not on Spotify and I want to hear it. Use of a steaming service does not mean that your physical music collection magically turns to dust. You can use both. I agree. I can easily see my daughter trying to sell my collection when I am dead, despairing over the amount of work involved, and just having a trash service pick it all up to take it to the dump.

If Taylor Swift or ECM disappear from Spotify that only leaves about 395,000 more albums on Spotify that I will never have time to listen to in the rest of my life. I can grab a few ECM CDs if that ultimate tragedy occurs. It is much better to cook all dinners in the back yard over an open fire, than to use an indoor stove and oven. What will you do if the power goes out? It would be an unimaginable horror. Thus it is best to never get an indoor stove and oven.

It is $10 a month for Spotify Premium, which gives you many hundreds of thousands of albums without any ads. I have never seen anything deleted off of Spotify Premium. The question, "what happens if the music disappears off of Spotify?" Is not a real concern at this point. It just does not happen. By turning on the Bluetooth setting on your smartphone while in your car, which takes about three seconds and is so easy to do that even a tech dunce like me can do it, Spotify Premium starts playing in the car. For $10 a month, you then have a larger music collection available in your car than any collection owned by any of us. No data charges are incurred in this process. We may not like it, but a huge percentage of the population now wants to listen to music that way. They do not want to mess with CD cases or even sticks for a USB port in their car. I have found that younger people are mystified by anyone who does play music over physical media. To them it is just like someone refusing to drive a car today, and insisting on a horse and buggy on the highway. Sure, you can find a few older people in Amish communities who still do it. ____________________________________________________________________________ When I got divorced, most of the contents of our house were sold in an estate sale in 2015. I came back to the house the day after the estate sale. A salvage company was picking up what had not been sold. The owner of the salvage company told me that his business was picking up whatever was not sold at estate sales and taking the items to large swap meets and swap markets, where he sold everything for $1.00 each. He told me to take anything I wanted, for free, that was still in the house. I was surprised that most of the books which had been purchased by my ex-wife were still there. The salvage company owner told me, "oh, I get so many books from every estate sale. No one wants to buy books at estate sales any more."

Thank you Tim. You have November!

Here is the 2019 schedule of Blindfold Test presenters. We have had extraordinarily good Blindfold Tests this year. We do not have anyone to present Blindfold Tests in October and November. I hope that we have volunteers to keep our great year going. Thom Keith and I will help you through the process, if you have not presented a Blindfold Test before. January Dan Gould February Hot Ptah March Hardbopjazz April Jeffcrom May Dmitry June Ken Dryden July Thom Keith August kh1958 September Pim October mjzee November webbcity December Felser

This is truly a memorable, excellent Blindfold Test. I have listened to it many times. I cannot begin to identify anything or anyone, but then I am not that good at it. It strikes me that some of the music must be quite recently recorded, which is great because we don't get enough newer music on the Blindfold Tests (in my opinion). I can't wait for the Reveal, and I am going to go out and buy some of these albums. Thank you for this most enjoyable collection of music.

Noj has told me in private messages that he is too busy to host a Blindfold Test these days. Years ago, on another music board which I used to belong to, and which Noj belonged to as well, he would often write about his life as a single man who did not have anyone to date. His lonely social life was kind of a running thing that his friends on that other board would comment on in a supportive way. Now he has a wife and children, is not lonely, and is very busy. Maybe when all of his children are off to college he will come back here, in the 2030s.

Some impressions: Track 9 has a “McCoy Tyner in the 1970s” vibe for me. McCoy is obviously not on it, but it has that feel (which I love). The tenor sax player is a very high quality player. I can’t identify him. The bass and drums have listened a lot to Ron Carter and Tony Williams. The drummer plays with that Tony Willams style that Miles Davis called the “Rat Patrol” sound (after a mid-1960s TV show and its music). Track 10 is on the edge of post bop and avant garde where so much music I love resides. The trumpet player is very distinctive and soulful. The guitarist plays a nearly avant garde solo that holds together in a compelling way, full of tension. This group plays with a nice groove. I like this a lot. Track 11 features a really good alto sax player playing a compelling solo. It reminds me of an anecdote about Lester Young on a JATP tour bus in the 1950s. A young bop saxophonist walked up to his seat and blew wild, fast bop licks in Lester’s face. Lester said “that’s nice but can you tell me a story?” The alto sax player on Track 11 is telling a story. Track 12 is a really together ensemble playing with feeling and with a nice groove. There is a sense of purpose here that is too often missing in jazz recorded after 1985, to pick a random date.

Yes. There is a pinned topic, “How To: Setting Up a Blindfold Test” which mentions that. You can send Thom Keith a private message to obtain his mailing address. His private messaging address is tkeith Thanks for doing this! I am looking forward to listening to your selections. Pim, you have September!

If any member of this forum does not own this music, these are among the greatest highlights of all of recorded jazz, of all time.

I have that Tougher Than Tough box set and if you don't have it and have any interest in reggae, it is top notch.

Andy Vargas and Ray Green (who also played trombone). https://www.santana.com/players-current-lineup/ Some jazz things I liked: an extended section of the recording “Sssh/Peaceful” from Miles Davis’ “In a Silent Way” was played over the sound system as the opening visuals were shown and the musicians came out onstage. It ended when the musicians played their first notes of the evening. At the end of “Evil Ways”, the album cover of John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” was shown on the big screens and the band played a section of “Acknowledgment” from that album. Carlos spoke between songs about the Kansas City jazz history, calling Charlie Parker a genius and praising Count Basie.

This is a wonderful Blindfold Test, Thom. I will have more reactions after listening some more. Miraculously I actually know one of the songs. Track 4 is Malachi Thompson, Miyako, from his Delmark album, “47th Street.” I used to receive Jazz Record Mart’s monthly magazine/catalogue. I received it for many years. I ordered a lot of Delmark albums from it over a long period of time. Including several by Malachi Thompson. I enjoy his approach to trumpet playing, which is always thoughtful and never routine.

I saw Santsna live on July 11. I have seen Santana live several times since 1976 and this was the best live performance I have witnessed by the group. Cindy Blackman was incredible on drums, but the entire band was excellent. Only one song from “Africa Speaks” was performed and it fit in well with the rest of the program.

I will buy it. Private message coming to you.

I am curious about this. It is an interesting phenomenon to me. Why did several members quickly jump onto this thread when it was first posted and make negative remarks, apparently without hearing the album? Has this board developed a bit of good old boys club mentality where we sit around and poke fun at things for our private amusement? That can be fun if there is any real content to the negativity. This puzzles me.

We do not have anyone signed up to present the next Blindfold Test for August. If you are interested in presenting a Blindfold Test, Thom Keith and I will help you. I hope someone steps forward!

I am looking forward to the Masaya Yamaguchi book. I found the Troupe book to be disappointing and am interested in any new information about Miles.

It is in the top ten of his career for me. No commercial pandering, just tough, intense music. His wife Cindy Blackman’s drumming is excellent throughout. What you are saying illustrates why I like to pay $10 a month for commercial free Spotify Premium. I can listen to virtually anything and decide whether I want to buy it. That is what I did before buying this album.