Stefan Wood

That makes two of us. Let's form a club? We'll call it the 'Let's Throw It Overboard Without Pausing To Seek Counsel From The Learned Club' Geez, this from a fella who has a custom made box for his Japan import Pink Floyd collections! The Sam Rivers would do you some good -- at the very least, stretch out that stereo of yours.

Still buying. Not as bad as in years past, but still adding to the "archives." Dusty Groove is a bad habit to kick. Been getting back into vinyl, filling in gaps (thanks Dan!), and dumping dupes and such on ebay. Upgrading my speakers has made music listening so much more enjoyable (Dahlquist 9s and Infinity RS4B).

Ordered.

Got this from Dusty Groove over the weekend, and on first listen I am disappointed! This is mostly a throwback to the classic 70's Afrobeat sound that he helped create, and for the most part he is playing as well as ever. But in many ways it isn't; despite the strong political lyrics to most of the tunes, they sound downright sunny or lighter than one would expect. Not exactly highlife sunny, but it feels more commercial -- a celebration of Tony Allen's sound rather than a progression of where the music has gone since his days with Fela. And that's the main reason why I am disappointed -- I loved his previous "Live" cd from Comet, which is more progressive, thoughtful and improvised than this album. Perhaps I am comparing apples to oranges. Tony Allen sings on several of the tracks, but has guests - mostly female vocalists - on the others. For the most part the cd invokes classic Afrobeat, while stand out tracks -- "Celebrate" and "Pariwo" -- go a little beyond that framework, more in keeping with what Allen has done recently -- a little jazz improv on the horns, Allen guiding everyone ever so subtly. I'm sure many will enjoy this latest effort, but I was expecting something more.

Dan Simmons' "Drood." Really engaging and thoughtfully written, though I have some character questions......

Middle of the road? When I saw his group play at the Library of Congress a few years ago they were on fire. No easy listening that night.

RAM? Do you mean some other abbreviation.....? I'm assuming because RAM = Random Access Memory.

The entire catalog is solid. You can't miss. For starters, try B is for Barbara or Live at the IUCC or Lighthouse discs. The Jesse Sharps and Nate Morgan discs are excellent as well.

Jonas Kullhammar Quartet - "The Half Naked Truth"

Nothing wrong with RAM.

Back to PE, I was really pleased by their last cd, "How Do You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul?" A fine effort. Also, Q-Tip's "The Renaissance," and Tanya Morgan's "Brooklynati." There's a lot of vigor still left in the genre, and it's not going away.

Life got in the way, so I only have had time to listen to one disc. The sound on all of these were mastered from vinyl, not source tapes, as they could not be located. So there's a slight boxy sound, but the music is very good - very intelligent compositions and strong playing for such a young group. Different than the Bobby Hutcherson/Joe Chambers Blue Notes, but similar in that they are grounded in the bop tradition yet pushing outward, spiritually and in sound.

That's one crappy looking cover.

I pulled the trigger on this set on Dusty yesterday. From the Stones Throw website, describing the third album Winter Winds: P.E. Hewitt’s Winter Winds is one of the rarest damn-good 70s jazz albums you could ever hope to come across. That’s a subtle, but important distinction. There are many rare jazz albums in every imaginable subgenre – funk, free, fusion... But Hewitt, a composer, arranger, vibraphonist, pianist and pilot, helmed a crack group of musicians and recorded a damn-good album ... Without ever taking the time out to name his record company. His three albums – pressed in a maximum run of one hundred pieces per album – recently surfaced after Bay Area collector Chris Veltri re-discovered an old find and sent music detectives on the hunt. You see, Hewitt’s “Winter Winds” album so damn-good that neither a micro press nor forty years of silence could suppress its reemergence. Hewitt was only sixteen when he recorded his first album Jawbones in the auditorium of the Community School of Music and Arts in Moutain View, California, where he was an artist in residence. Part of his mission involved using music as a healing tool for those with degenerative neurological conditions. Another part, no less personal: the incessant need to document the songs and ideas welling up in his own young brain. Jawbones, pressed at Custom-Fidelity Records in Hollywood, California in a run of fifty pieces, paved the way for a second album, Since Washington, so named because the band had traveled to Washington, DC, to play for Richard Nixon. For his sophomore album, Hewitt pressed one hundred pieces. Winter Winds, his third album, is the most “accessible” of the three Hewitt records. This is not to say that his previous albums are esoteric, just to say that this album appeals to those who might want to dance while having their consciousness expanded. Of the series of 4/4 numbers contained within, “Bada Que Bash,” a modal piece in a latin-tinged bag, stands out. Vocalists Sonia Valledeparas and Nina Scheller seem as if they’re speaking in an exotic language, amidst the band’s cavernous roar. “This is actually organized scan singing,” Hewitt clarifies. “Instead of incessant, skittly “do wap du bop,” I provided rhythmic words that sounded like a language.” Hewitt was not yet twenty when “Winter Winds” saw its small press run disappear into the ether, awaiting rediscovery decades to come.

No, but 5 NFC championship games isn't the mark of incompetence, either. It's a win for the Eagles only if Kolb can perform.

Actually, I think they have learned. This means they'll draft Okung with their first pick, and rebuild the offensive line, which is crucial. I'm already happy with their loading up the RB position, forcing Portis to actually have to work for his starting position for a change. A good move. I don't know what Philly was thinking.

OK, how about this one? Francois Rabbath's New Sound of Jazz/1st lp. I had the Philips lp waaaaay back when I was collecting exotica/strange music, and gave it to my best friend at the time, a musician who was enthralled by the wild cello sounds that Rabbath achieved. I found the cd a month ago and the music is as inventive and creepy as I remembered it. Rabbath

Last December, as a Christmas gift to myself, I bought this player - the Emotiva ERC-1. It is the best player I have ever heard, and built like a tank. http://emotiva.com/erc1.shtm

Lpgear for the needle. I've dealt with them and they are very good.

Actually, these weren't OJCs but the last recordings of Red Garland, volumes 1 & 2 ("My Funny Valentine" & "Autumn Leaves"). I had been looking for these forever.

Not Venus, but the seller.

Been listening to some Ed Bickert lately -- in particular, the one with Bob Thompson on Sackville. Like his guitar playing. But I got an lp yesterday that I have never seen -- Victor Feldman's All Stars plays the World's First Album of Soviet Jazz Themes. With Nat Adderley, Harold Land, Joe Zawinul, Frank Butler, Bob Whitlock, Herb Ellis, Carmell Jones.

Great, yet another friggin rabbit hole you guys led me down! Couldn't pass up on the Red Garlands.

Before the box sets were announced, I picked up these: Don Pullen/Chico Freeman/Fred Hopkins/Bobby Battle - Warriors Chico Freeman - No Time Left Diedre Murray/Fred Hopkins - Stringology Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre Quartet - Peace and Blessings Colson Unity Troupe - No Reservation

Picked up a few discs that I wanted to share here. All latin discs, all excellent music! The Festival in Havana in particular is a great disc of pre Castro Cuban music. If you like Cal Tjader and Mongo Santamaria, then the Benny Vallarde disc is recommended, as it is west coast latin jazz.