ADR

Wesbed: Glad to see you finally pulled the trigger on a nice pair of cans. In the end, what made you decide to go with the CD3000s over the Senns? - Just curious. Did you decide on an amp. as well? How are the Sonys working out for you - are they as good as you expected them to be? Did you audition any other cans before settling on the Sonys?

Good night Elvin. You kindness and generosity will be sorely missed. Your music will last for the ages. ADR

Wesbed: You really should try out the Sonys and Senns and see which ones you like best. I know that Headroom has a very liberal return policy to allow people to audition phones and return the ones they don't like. There probably is another vendor out there that sells the Sonys that would have an equally liberal return policy. Re: The Etymotics I can testify from first hand knowledge as to how wonderful the Etymotic headphones are. I've had my Etymotic ER-4P/4S headphones for about two years now and they are what I do almost all of my focused jazz listening with. The "in the ear" effect is something that you get used to very quickly after regular use of the Etys. The real strength of the Etys is the level of detail that they reveal. I have used a lot of different headphones and I would stack the Ety ER-4S up against any other headphone in terms of how revealing they are of fine details in the music. The bass is also incredibly deep, tight and realistic - if somewhat less visceral than with larger, over the ear headphones. About the only real drawback to the Etys IMO is that they have a somewhat reduced soundstage compared to open cans like the Senn.s and Grados. I don't find this to be that big of drawback though because I'm mostly listening to small jazz combos. If you listen to a lot of classical music with large symphonys, the small sound stage might be a bigger drawback. ADR

- Good call on "Missionary Man" by the Eurythmics. That's a great song.

"Once In a Lifetime" - The Talking Heads "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" - U2 "It's the End of the World As We Know It" - REM "Diamonds on the Souls of Her Shoes" - Paul Simon "Pink Houses" - John Cougar Mellancamp "Blister in the Sun" - Violent Femmes "The Boys of Summer" - Don Henley I could go on and on and on......... I graduated from high school in '88 - so the 80's music is my music.

Cary: You should definitely go IMO. You will always wonder "what if" if you don't . Ater all you don't always get a chance to see a living legend in their twilight. He might just surprise you with the robustness of his playing. From what I've read Bill Evan's performances at the end of his life when his health was declining precipitously were more agressive and physical then in his younger days. Even if his playing is sub-par it is still an opportunity to pay tribute to one of the all time greats. I'm glad to see that you are able to take advantage of your proximity to more regular jazz venues than are located in Charlotte. Hope you and the Mrs. are doing well. Send me an PM and let me know what you are up to - what kind of job you were able to find, etc. ADR

From everything I've heard - the HD-650s are pretty much widely acknowledged as being one of the top 2 or 3 dynamic headphones in the world. A dedicated headphone amplifier is a must if you are considering getting the HD-650s as they are very power hungry cans. Without a headphone amplifier you would be better off getting some other set of cheaper headphones like the Grado SR-80s that would sound better without an amp than the HD-650s would sound without an amp. Of course - with proper amplification, the HD-650s are world class headphones. The Corda HA-1 would be a good amp. for use with the HD-650s. The HA-1 is designed and sold by a German gentleman named Jan Meier who is a big audiophile and headphone enthusiast. He started out building headphone amps. as a hobby/sideline business and they ended up gaining such an international following for their audio excellence that he know has a thriving full time business. The HA-1 will give you as good a performance at approx. $500.00 U.S. as the HeadRoom headphone amplifiers that cost twice as much. You can visit the web site for the Corda HA-1 here: http://home.t-online.de/home/meier-audio/ The Meier audio website also sells the HD-650 and he sometimes offers a package discount for buying the HA-1 amplifer and the HD-650 headphones together. Enjoy your trip into audiophile headphones. ADR

Wesbed: Go check out the Headroom web site: http://www.headphone.com This is a great user friendly website that can guide you to the headphones you are seeking. They are a small audiophile mail order company specializing in headphones and headphone amplifiers. They depend heavily on repeat customer business since they are serving such a small niche market. For this reason, they have excellent customer service and a very liberal return policy. They actually encourage people to buy a pair of headphones, try it for a couple of weeks and then return it for a full refund if they don't like it. The Sennheiser HD-650s are currently the do-all and end-all in the headphone world. As others may have suggested already, you will need a pretty juicy amp. to power these headphones to anything approaching their full potential. Personally, I absolutely love my Etymotic ER-4P/4S headphones. These are in the ear canal sealed headphones that isolate you from outside noise and provide incredible detail and deep, audible bass. With the amount you are willing to spend you could pick up the Etymotics and still have enough money left for a decent portable headphone amplifier. Good luck in your quest.

FWIW Joel Frahm used to be regular poster at the Jazz Corner BBS under the screen name "saxnova". Frahm is a tenor sax. player who has several albums under his own names on the Palmetto label and has toured extensively with Jane Monheit. Anyway, apparently Frahm and Mehldau go back a long way - they have known each other since they were teenagers. Moreover, Frahm's latest album is a duet album with Mehldau on the Palmetto label: "Don't Explain". So obviously Frahm is very well acquainted with Mehldau. I remember Frahm posting on the Jazz Corner BBS about Mehldau and indicating that in his early days of playing on the jazz scene Mehldau played in a swinging hard bop mode. Frahm compared Mehldau's style at that point to Wynton Kelly and opined that Mehldau sounded great playing in that style. He went on to state that while he certainly understood why Mehldau's playing evolved in the way it did, he kind of missed that swinging, hard bop Mehldau of old. Frahm himself is a great defender of continuing to play in the old style hard bop mode and thinks there is plent of room for creative expression in playing in older styles of jazz. I just thought these little second hand anecdotes might be of interest in this discussion of whether or not Mehldau plays with "soul". ADR

I came to jazz by a round-about and circuitous path. Growing up I listened to the usual mix of pop and rock. I also liked the film score music of John Williams which led me to an appreciation of classical music (Beethover, Bach, Mozart, the usual suspects.....). In college, one of my best friends and an incredibly cool guy would occassionally have a Miles tape or cd playing in his dorm room and I remember thinking "That sounds pretty cool". In graduate school I remembered how much I liked the sound of those Miles albums and decided to pick out a few cds to get my feet wet. Unfortunately, this was before I was hooked into the internet and so I really had no guidance or idea what I was doing. I got the UA/Blue Note "Best of" Miles Davis compilation cd, the Blue Note "Best of Thelonious Monk" cd - because I was fairly certain that he was an important jazz figure, and "Live at Blues Alley" by Wynton. None of these cds really did it for me at that time. Fortunately, I didn't give up and years later after I had settled down and gotten married I did some research on jazz on the internet and tackled jazz again with the "Miles Davis and his sidemen" entry approach. I picked up "Kind of Blue", "Round About Midnight", "Blue Train", "Sunday at the Village Vanguard", "Waltz for Debby", and "Somethin' Esle". From there, I was off and running and 600 and some odd jazz cds and countless hours of audio nirvana later - I haven't looked back ADR

This cd is currently available for listening to in its entirety for free in Quicktime streaming format at the jazzonline web site: jazzonline I agree with the Ben Ratliff of the NYT who said in his review that the album is pretty good with the exception of the two vocal tracks, which seem like concessions. I don't think I'll be buying the album - but it was nice to get to check it out online for free. ADR

I'm looking forward to picking this one up and giving it a listen some time soon. ADR

Favorite Studio Session as Leader - "Little Red's Fantasy" (Muse/32Jazz/Savoy) Favorite Studio Sessions as Sideman - Larry Young - "Unity" (Blue Note) Jackie McLean - "Demon's Dance" (Blue Note) Favorite Live Sessions as Leader - the HighNote Live Vol.s I, II, & III "Stepping Stones" (Columbia) Favorite Live Sessions as a Sideman - Bobby Hutcherson - "Live at Montreux" (Blue Note) Roy Brooks - "The Free Slave" (Muse/32Jazz) Mal Waldron - "The Git Go" & "The Seagulls of Kristiansund" (Soul Note) God I love Woody Shaw......

Vibes: $265.00 for the Blakey?!? Ouchh......... On the plus side - you've got yourself some fine music to listen to and it isn't often that you will find an un-opened/like new Blakey Mosaic up for auction. Hope you enjoy it.

The 1960 Jazz Messengers set has gone up to $233.50 - too rich for my blood for a set whose contents are mostly available separately (and in re-mastered form nonetheless). Cheers to the guy who wins the auction. If you're willing to pay that much - you deserve it. ADR

Thanks J.A.W. - that's about what I expected. I would think that there would not be quite the premium on the Blakey set as there is with some of the other Mosaics - since most (if not all) of the material is currently available on cd.

Anyone know the going ebay rate for the Blakey Mosaic set? I'd really like to get my mits on that one but I don't know if I have enough $$ on hand to nab it.

I listened to this disc while I drove out to pick up my son at my in-law's house last night. I can understand the mixture of feelings about these sessions expressed in this thread. For me it sounds like Sonny was in a state of grace when he made these sessions - he could do no wrong, and he knew it. He is absolutely relaxed and utterly confident. The ideas just seem to come flowing out of his horn. The pleasure of listening to this type of performance is very different from the pleasure of listening to an artist who is reaching and struggling to attain the unknown. Listening to Trane on "Giant Steps" or Jackie McLean on "Let Freedom Ring" or Miles' second classic quintet on the "Live at the Plugged Nickel" material, one is mesmerized by the palpable thrill of discovery. Honestly, most of my favorite jazz is of this type. In contrast, on something like this Stitt material, we get to hear an absolute master at the peak of his powers, confident of his abilities and with nothing to prove to anybody (including himself). There's certainly nothing wrong with that Other random thoughts: - Kudos to Barry Harris. Several times while I was listening I found myself laughing out loud in pleasure at particularly savory comping lines by Barry behind Sonny. - One amazing thing about Sonny Stitt is that (to my ears at least) he was equally accomplished on both the alto and tenor and this is vividly demonstrated on "Endgame Briliance" - particularly on "I Got Rhythm" where he plays both horns. There are so many horn players that play multiple instruments and IMO with the overwhelming majority of them you just wish they would stick with their primary axe. This is not the case with Sonny. I really can never make up my mind which instrument he is more adept, fluid, and expressive on - the tenor or alto. About the only other jazz musician I can think of who I enjoy equally on two instruments is Eric Dolphy on the alto and bass clarinet (his flute playing, while very good - I don't find to be on the level of the other two instruments).

I'll second Joe Henderson's take on "Beatrice" on "State of the Tenor". Also - "I Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry" by Dex on "Go". ADR

And you are surprised that when you called them and alerted them by phone that they indicated it was a mistake and that they would fix it? Perhaps if people had kept ordering by the website instead of calling them and alerting them to the fact that they had a 2 cd set listed for 23 cents, it would have taken longer for them to catch the mistake. Not opposed to sticking it to BN a little bit these days, ADR

Joe Henderson had two great sideman appearances on Mulgrew Miller albums which (unfortunately) are both now out of print: "The Countdown" is a Landmark album from the late 80's with Henderson, Miller, Ron Carter and Tony Williams. How's that for a lineup?! "Hand In Hand" is a Novus album from circa 1992 that features Joe on 5 (out of 9) tracks. The album also features Kenny Garrett, Eddie Henderson on trumpet, Steve Nelson on vibes, Christian McBride on bass, and Lewis Nash on drums. I highly recommend both these albums not just as good examples of Joe's late era work as a sideman but as great all around albums. It's a shame both of these are OOP - but they are definitely worth tracking down. ADR

Drimala is a great on-line vendor for Okka Disk and other indy jazz labels. They have great service - check them out. ADR

In no particular order Andrew Hill Jason Moran McCoy Tyner Kenny Barron Keith Jarrett

Most of the recommendations so far have been of the "energy" or "loud" free jazz subgenre. I would recommend also taking in the revolutionary recordings of the Jimmy Giuffre trio with Giuffre on clarinet, Paul Bley on piano, and Steve Swallow on bass. ECM has recently reissued two great verve studio albums ("Thesis" and "Fusion") of this group as a twofer cd entitled "1961". There are also two amazing live albums by this trio on the hatArt label entitled "Empahsis, Stuttgart 1961" and "Flight, Bremen 1961". This was a short lived group but was incredibly influential on the subsequent developments in free jazz. The music they played was way ahead of its time (maybe this is the reason it didn't find much of an audience in the early 60's) and as you listen to it you would swear it was recorded at the Knitting Factory a few years ago instead of in 1961. The Giuffre trio takes a "quiet" or "soft" approach to free improvisation and the interaction among the three of them is amazing. Check it out. ADR

ADR - another BN boat person, reporting in here.