Rooster_Ties

Getting back to my rant again, can you imagine there being multiple CD formats in the world, which would not play on players except in the countries where that music was "approved" for sale??? I know this is an insane example to give, but here it is anyway. Imagine, for a moment, that Japan has a differerent CD format the the U.S., and that you can only buy the Japanese CD players in Japan, and that there isn't any way to even import a "Japanese-only" CD player into the U.S., to play the Japanese format CD's. Iron-shut, nothing, no way at all to listen to any music released ONLY in Japan. And let's also assume that the various governments required to enforce such a thing were to crack down on any and all pirating of recorded sound of any sort, iron-clad, no low-fidelity cassette tapes even getting in or out of Japan, with any music not licensed for "consumption" outside of Japan. Now then, with those absurd assumptions in place, let's say BN/EMI releases the entire BN catalog, EVERYTHING, including a bunch of newly discovered unreleased sessions (including Tyrone Washington's infamous "Trainwreck" session - which it turns out is really amazing, and the stereo mixdown that Michael happend to listen to, were just fucked up.) There's a Herbie Hancock solo-piano date from 1966. There's three unreleased Woody Shaw BN albums from 1964, 65, and 66. You name it - skies the limit. Now, then, there's 100's of CD's that most of us would give our right arms and legs for, with NO way to get the music, and no way to even listen to the music. No way, other than to move to Japan, I guess. Yeah, this is a crazy proposition (especially with all the limitations I put, which are impossible to enforce), but if you take the idea of limiting the import of legally licensed product to it's insane but logical conclusion, then this is but one scenerio you can think of. As it is now, paying import prices for music is a pain in the ass, but that's the way it is. But to prohibit music (or any mass-produced artistic expression) from being available for purchase by some people, while other people have free access...... What else can I say that I haven't already said????

Reading much of this thread for the first time today, I have but one thought... Quick, somebody find Tyrone Washington!!! (Wishful thinking, I know.)

k.d. did a vresion of Porter's "So In Love" on the First "Red, Hot, & Blue" thing that was terriffic, and a live version on the Letterman show (a few nights after the airing of the RH&B TV special) that was stunning, full of the sultry melancholia that is often at the root of Porter's "best" songs but that most singers, for whatever reason, seem to overlook, and that the RH&B version only hinted at. Wish I had taped it. Yes, I have that RH&B CD, and that's exacty why I wish she would record a whole disc of Porter tunes. That one tune is stunning, and she has the voice of a godess, IMHO. (And that's coming from someone (me) who's not at all naturally drawn to female vocalists of that sort.)

I've heard very few Wynton sideman appearences (only one or two that I can think of), but a friend of mine played me one once (I'm struggling to remember who it was by - I'll have to ask him), and it wasn't half bad. It was something recorded less than 5 years ago, and there was a sort of fire to Wynton's playing that I've never heard on his own dates. Perhaps I need to pursue a few of his sideman dates, from what I'm hearing here.

or - take your pick... And read this (pretty please ), cuz I want some discussion about this... Either BN/EMI wants people to be able to buy these titles, or they don't. This shit about licensing music to be sold only through "certain" channels, and to certain people (in certain countries), really bites hard if you ask me. I mean, it's not like EMI didn't get paid for those titles to be released. (I presume, from what Kevin has said, that these are legit, from a legal standpoint.) So then, what the fuck is wrong with certain people (those very few of us in the U.S. who even know about these things) being able to buy a sorry-ass few of them over here!! (Rooster is really on a rant now, I'm afraid.) This reminds me of back in the early 90's, was it?? - When the Feds, or some government agency (who?) was supposedly going to crack down on the import of titles only released on CD in Japan or Europe (and not yet on CD in the U.S.), saying that it was illegal to import and sell them here, due to what I seem to remember as being called "parallel copyright law", or some such nonsense. I presume that went away, cuz now I see import titles available (at least on-line) 'everywhere', relatively speaking. Again, I get back to my original statement. Either EMI wants the stuff sold, or they don't!!! But let's not release something in one part of the world, and then get all pissed off when other people in other parts of the world want to buy it too. (And pay for it, it's not like we're stealing!!) I don't own any of these Spanish BN CD's, and there are only maybe three or four titles in the whole list that I'm in any way interested in. But to "crack down" of a few hundred of each these "slipping" into the U.S., and somehow eroding the future sales of those same titles at some "potential" future point in time... Who cares!!! Again, if the CD is legit, then EMI is already getting their money, no matter where the CD is sold, or what country the CD is imported into and resold. Sheesh... Does somebody want to explain this to me?? Is there some part of this that I'm not understanding?? I'm mean, these are legally licensed products!!! Is this somehow like the drug companies charging an arm and a leg for drugs in the U.S., and then selling the same drugs in Canada for less, and then getting all pissed off because (surprise, surprise!!!) people want to buy the cheaper versions of the same thing in Canada??? That may be one thing (and a topic better suited for the "politics" thread), but most of these Spanish BN titles (or at least the interesting one) aren't even in print in the U.S., and I really doubt we'll see vary many of them released here any time soon. As far as the common ones go, I figure that EMI is getting their cut, whether they're sold here or in Spain. WTF!!! [/rant] Whew, that feels a little better now... PS: [rant] I suppose this is like the multiple DVD formats that exist in the world, which only play on players in particular 'zones' of the world. I'm not talking about the difference between video formats, like PAL and NTSC (if I remember my acronyns right), but rather that there DVD's and DVD players are hard-coded to only play DVD's in the format "approved" for that part of the world. The sole function of this "feature" is to prevent importation of titles released on one continent, which are not yet "approved" for sale on another continent. Can you imagine a world 50 years in the future, where traditional books don't exist anymore (for new titles anyway), and everything is released for viewing on some sort of e-book appliance?? AND, the appliance has a GPS system in it, such that you can buy the e-book content, but you can or can't read it - depending on where you are in the world??? "Oh shit, I'm going on vacation to Italy, but my favorite mystery novel doesn't have it's licensing approved yet for Italy, so when I take my e-book with me on my trip, I won't be able to read it!!!" Laugh all you want, but that is what the DVD region encoding basically is trying to do, and trying to block to importation of legally licenced music is damn near the same thing, at least in principal. [/rant] And I don't even own a DVD player yet!!

Hey Jim, which is worse?? --- Wynton, or Musicboy???

Jim said it better than I did, but I feel much the same way he does. Apart from the music (which I've heard some of, and it really doesn't do anything for me), it's also Wynton's "holier than thou" attitued that I've had it with. There are probably even a few Wynton CD's that I could honestly say I have as little interest in as Kenny G, and that's saying a lot. For me, it's like Wynton (and his followers) operate in a world that is entirely foreign to me. It's almost like, for them, that 30 to 50 years of music history never happened. This is something that I can't explain in words very easily, but which my ears seem to understand quite well. Most of wynton's music of the last 10 years (what I've heard anyway), just just nothing for me. That said, I did hear Wynton's recent first string quartet (At the Octoroon Balls: String Quartet No. 1), which I borrowed it from a former co-worker, and I actually found it to be fairly interesting (really!!!). And if I found it used or as a cut-out, I'm sure I'd probably buy it (money being tight for me now, I'm sure not gonna spend a bunch on any Wynton CD's, no matter how much I like 'em). But seriously, his string quartet, while not anything to call all the neighbors over to hear, it did seem like it was a little deeper than I had expected it to be. But for me, Wynton's jazz isn't even worth it to me, even at bargin-bin prices.

Just like Claude, I also voted for "J-Mood", although I probably like "Black Codes..." a little better... I think those are the only two Wynton CD's I own (at least of his jazz material). I've sampled a few others of his, but never have found enough to like to want to purchase them (even used). Like many others, I find Wynton's 'jazz' politics to not be in line with mine (putting it mildly), and I probably "hear" this into his recordings in such a way that I'm not very impartial, I'm afraid. I know, others will say it's my loss. So be it - there's plenty of other music that I'm passionate about, without trying to get overly interested in something that doesn't really float my boat. Sorry to be so negative. I usually am not that way on these boards. But I get so tired of seeing Wynton talk (seemingly on every jazz documentary ever made these days) as if he's the spokesman for all of jazz (and worse, for what isn't jazz). It'll be interesting to see if he changes his tune about the importance of Blue Note artists, now that he's on the label, since he's so rarely mentioned any of them in the past. It's like jazz doesn't exist for him past 1967 (when it comes to Miles), and not after 1960 (when it comes to anything even slightly progressive). That whole world of Wynton's (and of his followers, meaning other musicians working in that same style) is a sound-world my ears and brain have no interest in, plain and simple. My cards are on the table...

Damn voting 'radio buttons' won't let me vote for all of them...

Hi Neon, glad to see you posting here. Like a few others around here, I've never been much for vocal jazz. Not entirely sure why, but here are a few factors. I'm a singer myself ('classical', I'm a baritone in the Kansas City Symphony Chorus). But despite this, I am really pretty uninterested in both vocal 'classical' music (and especially Opera (yuck!!), although I handle 'art song' better), and I'm not really interested much in vocal jazz. I've sung material from operas a time or two, and both as a listener and as a performer, Opera leaves me cold. And I can't sing jazz at all, not even if my life depended on it. That said, there are a couple vocal jazz things that I have come to enjoy more than I care to admit.... I've heard a few things by Andy Bey that I've liked a lot more than I expected to, and Johnny Hartman's work (especially with John Coltrane) is also really quite beautiful. All that said, I still can appreciate the talent of some jazz vocalists, even thought that's not really my bag. For instance... There's Kansas City's own Kevin Mahogany, who I got to hear quite a bit (without really even trying) back when he still lived in K.C. in the mid-90's. (His wife is also an excellent photographer, primarily of jazz artists, I might add.) People go back and forth about whether Sinatra was a jazz singer or not. I won't comment, other than to say that I love what Sinatra does with songs. Again, I don't have much, cuz I'm naturally just not drawn to vocal music (outside of rock/pop/alternative), but since I'm a singer (and especially since I'm a baritone) there is no one I can think of who can sing that kind of material better than him. I have quite a bit of respect for Tony Bennett, for similar reasons. I have very little female vocal jazz, so I won't even try to talk much about that - since I know so little of the material. Although I will mention that I generally liked Norah's CD, probably because it wasn't like most of the vocal jazz that I have so little interest in. I think it will be interesting to see what directions she takes, musically, and if she ventures into any interesting teritories with that beautiful voice of hers. Oh, one other mention of a femail vocalist who I rather like, who I think has a lot of jazz-like qualities (sometimes), and that's k.d. lang. I've always wanted to hear her do an album of Cole Porter tunes, or something like that. I think she can sing the socks off anything.

Bunny Berigan!!!

Shit, here's a whole board where everyone speaks in Engrish!!! (OK, they speak Engrish just in one topic area.) Here's a music-related thread: wHo bring to nice pleasure in Music? Maybe we can send Musicboy over to their board!!! Hee, hee, hee!!!!

How much ($$$) are they worth to you???

One of my least favorite reviews on AMG: Greg Osby: Symbols of Light (A Solution)

You all are not gonna believe this, but as you know - I started a duplicate version of my "Race" thread over on the Norah board. There's been a few replies, and the discussion is going reasonably well. Well, one of the replies I just got is from the same moderator who has the Bob Jones link on his own personal web-site. Well, here was his reply to my thread... Also, he and I have traded a couple PM's, and he seems like an OK guy. Sure, I'm positve he and I don't see eye to eye on religious matters (and that's maybe putting it very mildly, to be sure) -- but just because he has a Bob Jones link on his web-page, doesn't appear to automatically mean that he personally believes in everything that they stand for (or at least stood for). As Spock on Star Trek would say, "Interesting..." Here's a link to the entire "Race" thread, over there: Racial Interaction, How to foster more/better communication? - and clearly you might want to take Musicboy's posts in the thread with a big ol' grain of salt. After all, he and I were both pretending that none of the shit he stirred up here had ever happened. PS: I also gave him ("CT") a link to the "Race" thread on our site, and invited him to join in our discussion. No idea what might come of it, but he seems like a relatively reasonable sort of guy - at least for someone who believes "The Bible is God's Absolute Truth!", per his signature on the Norah Jones board. (That's not a 'dig', just an observation.)

For many of the reasons you gave, I also prefer the AMG. The most important reason, though, at least to me - is that the AMG includes all titles, and the Penguin only includes titles in-print. I'm way beyond needing just to know the quality of what's in print. At least 25% of what I buy (maybe closer to 50%??) are OOP titles.

I lost my job in January, so I haven't been buying much at all. I had already slowed down quite a bit back as early as October or November. Still, much of what I was buying was OOP titles on eBay - stuff I would have loved to have bought 'new', if I could have. Also, I tend to buy 'used' as much as I can. For jazz, that means not very many titles, cuz I don't find much of a good selection of used jazz in this town. But I try to get all the rock and pop titles I can used, whenever I can (or at least the major-label stuff). I'm always buying locally produced stuff (the true independents) whenever I can - and I have even bought a few of them after the job loss. Every sale counts for those folks, and I'm glad to try to do my part.

Even if I wanted to argue with you about that, how could I? Where would I even begin?? (Not that I want to argue about it, mind you. ) Me?? I often forget to turn off the Memorex "clock-radio/cd combo" player (that I got at Target on close-out after Christmas, for only $10!!). Doesn't seem to affect the sound quality either way, come to think of it!!

If it's any consolation, I know how you feel. Not about getting a virus, but my hard-drive crashed completely in February, and I lost everything. Had to reinstall everything from scratch, and I lost a ton of stuff. (None of it really important or anything, but a whole bunch of stuff I would have rather not lost.) Good luck getting back to normal. It's a pain in the ass, for sure...

Lot's more like this one, at: http://www.arouse.net/jesus/

Ken-taco-hut!!! That what we's who are "in the know" call 'em here... Nothing quite like the combined smell of fried chicken, pseudo-mexican, and pizza.... (By the way, I'll take Popeye's over KFC any day.)

There was a sociology course taught one of the years I was in College, that my then girlfriend too, on the subject of "The Black Family". I seem to remember her doing her final project on images of Black families in the movies. I think she took a look at 4 or 5 movies, but the only two I can remember were "Superfly", and Spike Lee's "Crooklyn" - which I recently saw again for the first time since it came out, and found to be really a wonderfully entertaining movie ("Crooklyn"). I also remember, at the time, thinking how much I would have liked to have taken that class too. I'm pretty sure it was after I got even my 2nd degree (that last year I was still in that college town, before moving to Kansas City), and I was working nearly full-time at the time. I'm sure, now, there would be a number of Black-Studies courses that would greatly interest me, especially those that focussed on either current issues (or culture), or relatively recent historical areas (meaning after 1900). I know. I know, the 1800's and before are critically important to the whole discussion of Black History, but in gneral, I've always been far more interested in the history of about the last 100 years.

Thanks, John B!! Appreciate the info. Man, I do hope I can somehow make it to this show. Got my fingers crossed.