Rooster_Ties

How young was Monk here? He looks even younger than I think I’ve ever seen pictures of him — but maybe the profile angle is playing tricks on me.

CD… https://www.dustygroove.com/item/992327

3-4 years ago I somehow stumbled on an episode of Magnum P.I. on one of the nostalgia channels on our cable box (Antenna maybe) — and who’s the special guest star but Old Blue Eyes. So I hit record on the DVR to skim thru it later and catch a little Frank on the little screen (in what I later discovered was maybe his very last acting appearance). And if memory serves, it was a two-part episode, so I DVR’d the next night too. Anyway, not that it was anything great, but I seem to remember it being good enough that I actually watched both episodes in full (had only planned to sample 10 minutes total) — and all in all, it was “a lot less insubstantial” than I was expecting (to damn it with faint praise). I remember Frank getting/being angry a bunch in it, and convincingly so.

I’m not into traditional vocal jazz much at all (virtually none in my collection). But I am curious to see another seemingly new label (the label’s not new I know, but this sort of venture seems to be new for them) — delving into releasing an historic recording from decades ago.

https://www.dustygroove.com/item/991567 And samples of every track can be heard here… https://magicsoundrecords.com/music/1577621189/comes-love-lost-session-1960-sheila-jordan

Glad you may have gotten one! — pending order confirmation, of course. DG seems to have this series coming in and out of stock periodically, but hard to say for how much longer — so I was gonna suggest creating a product alert so you’d get an email the next time they got it in (though that’s no guarantee, if you can’t move fast enough sometimes). Also very glad you saw my feedback about the bonus tracks, so you made your purchase decision fully informed.

Why, the one with that awfully spiffy previously-unreleased alternate take of the title track from Mode for Joe — but of course!

Addendum: The main 4-track original album of Brilliant Circles sounds amazing, but the 2 bonus tracks sound a lot like the Black Lion version. Lot clearer sound on them, but Tyrone is still buried in the mix (just like the entire Black Lion CD, entire session), but the rest of the band sounds a better on those 2 tracks -- you just can't hear Tyrone any better than before (just on the bonus tracks). Still, the main album does sound pretty fantastic, so the glass is 80% full I guess.

I managed to score two copies of Brilliant Circles from Dusty — for Bertrand and myself — which arrived over the weekend, and I’m finally getting my first chance to really listen to more than a minute or two just this morning. The sound quality is LIGHT YEARS better than the Black Lion CD issue I’ve had for 15 years, and quite a bit better than the burn of some LP version that board member Spontooneous made for me years ago. I feel like I’m finally hearing this session almost for the first time, reason especially being that I could barely stomach listening to the Black Lion version much all these years. Was it worth $25? Probably not, but no regrets at all now that the money’s spent and gone. And certainly absolutely NO regrets in terms of the upgrade in sound quality — which is like night and day. That Black Lion CD version had to have been the very worst-sounding studio recording I’ve ever heard.

FWIW, skimming through the entire Capri catalog of about 150 titles — of which I seem own about 9 or 10 — I’m not noticing any that precede the formation of the label in the mid 80’s.

Interesting this is coming out on Capri. Has Capri released any other historical recordings? None that I’m thinking of off the top of my head, but I don’t know every nook and cranny of their catalog.

I’ve never owned a copy either, and I only have a smattering of Brubeck dates, maybe a half-dozen. My favorite Brubeck is Jazz Impressions of Eurasia — and I’m just now seeing this from the Wikipedia entry entry for Eurasia… >> Brubeck composed the six pieces for the album—along with "Blue Rondo à la Turk," which appeared on the group's signature album of the following year, Time Out—while on tour across Eurasia.

I met June once, the one time I heard Ra with the Arkestra in ‘91 — and she was just the sweetest. Not gratuitously so, quite the opposite. She had a charm and presence — almost with an air of genuine regality (in the good sense). Pure class.

I didn’t mean the slipped under the door literally. When they deliver his morning paper each day around 6 AM, they actually open his front door and put the paper on his dining room table and they included the letter on top of that. Their normal procedures probably also include checking on every resident in the morning, since so many of them are pretty elderly. Or at least they check on the ones that are 85 years old and up, or something like that. Since he moved in, we’ve gotten to know the owner/operator pretty well. I guess not super well, but I’ve had quite a number of extended conversations with her, and I’m sure she is caught between a rock and a hard place in all this. She’s good people. She did provide her residence a list of all the retirement facilities in the entire county, which is the same one that I have to work from off of an online web listing. I made some key calls yesterday morning, and the facility that we liked best two years ago does have space. It is more expensive than my dad wants to pay, but I think it will be the best for him in terms of quality and our peace of mind in terms of his care. The wheels are just barely starting to get in motion, but I should know more on Monday when I can talk to the business manager of the facility that seems to be the most likely contender. The big thing is that my dad actually had a crazy amount of space in his current living situation, in the place that’s now closing. He lived in what was previously to efficiencies, where they had cut a doorway between them and turned it into a really rather large two bathroom double efficiency if you will. He actually has 20 more square feet (now) than my wife and I do here in Washington DC! The upshot is that he is going to have to slim down his footprint from 650 ft.² down to about 450 ft.², or if he isn’t willing to pay the higher cost for the standard one-bedroom unit, then he will need to take a 350 ft.² efficiency, which is still going to be $1000 more per month than where he is currently living. His asset base, while not enormous, is decent enough for him to take either option. But he is incredibly concerned about not being able to leave some money to the Masonic organizations that he has been devoted to for 50 and 60 years of his life. To be clear, both my wife and I think he will end up spending down all his savings and assets down to some thing that is functionally zero, if not literally so. But he really wants to leave a couple hundred thousand dollars to the Masons and it pains him to not be able to do that ultimately, as would appear to be the most likely scenario. he’s also incredibly, incredibly cheap. Of course that is entirely the reason that he has the savings that he has, so I should not be complaining one tiniest bit. Sorry this is so incredibly long, I’m walking to work, and dictated all this into my phone. If you think I’m wordy when I type stuff, you should see when I have to do it this way!! Also, gosh only knows what errors are above because of the dictation mode.

I would give the nod to Elvin Jones over Blakey for a list like this, but perhaps I’m undervaluing the importance of Art’s band-leading. And maybe too the sheer volume of quality material released under Art’s leadership. But imho, Elvin was a significantly more skilled player in terms of complexity, and probably the GOAT on his instrument — and I say that as someone not steeped deeply in the Coltrane catalog.

Best as I can tell from my Dad’s interpretation of the letter he got under his door this morning, the entire place needs an entirely retrofitted (new) sprinkler system — and the owner isn’t able to finance it. When I visited him week before last, it appeared that their total number of residents were about half that of when my Dad first moved it. I do know the owner hadn’t been allowing any tours/visitors of any sort during the Covid lockdown, until all her residents were 100% vaccinated (2nd shots), plus about a month more. There may have been other factors at play too, I really don’t know.

Just found out about 2 hours ago that the retirement community where my Dad lives outside of St. Louis is closing their doors Oct 10th. Have to suddenly figure out a new place for him to live, repack him, get him moved again and resettled in the space of about 6-8 weeks — from 1,000 miles away. Good thing we already had tickets to go see him the week right before Labor Day — but I’m sure I’ll have to fly back twice more after that, before Oct 10. I guess 9 weeks warning is better than 4 — but I’m still freaking out more than just a little bit.

Biggest surprise, and biggest letdown too (at least for me).

I want a Dark Magus throw-pillow.

I ‘acquired’ this as probably a 3rd generation VHS dub back around 1992 or early ‘93. Even back then, I just thought it was “ok”. I mean, it’s still ok (and it really was ok) — but it was “just” ok, ok?

Ha!! That's what I get for double-checking the snail-mail address of Mosaic from the actual Mosaic website!!! -- and my cut-n-paste of the misspelling THERE!!! (And I didn't even notice the error until your pointed it out, Chuck.) Don't believe me?? Click, and look for yourself... https://www.mosaicrecords.com/contact/ Mailing address: 425 Fairfield Ave Suite 421 Stanford, CT 06902

Just stumbled on this in the SHF's general Mosaic thread (from a post dated March 30, 2021 -- by SHF member J.A.W.)... https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/the-mosaic-thread-news-and-opinions.667563/page-58#post-26511287 Anybody got any more info?? What timeframe is this likely to be from? Any other speculation? -- or does anyone have an inside scoop to share?

What about Chuck D?

10+ years ago my favorite secret chili ingredient was unsweetened cocoa powder — a couple heaping tablespoons full (sort of like Mole sauce has chocolate in it). But since we moved to DC, I often make chili with a spicy Ethiopian Berbere spice blend (instead of traditional chili powder) — berbere is sort of the Ethiopian or Eritrean version of curry (a spice blend, which varies from region to region). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berbere Washington DC is home to over a quarter of a million(!) Ethiopian immigrants (and their progeny) — and there are a few dozen Ethiopian restaurants in DC and certain inner-ring suburbs (esp. Silver spring MD) — and plenty of neighborhood corner markets with berbere. I’m on my 3rd or 4th small tub of the stuff since 2011 when we first moved here from KC. Berbere spice is also great sprinkled on scrambled eggs in the morning, served atop leftover Injera — which is the spongy pancake-like bread served in every Ethiopian restaurant (with every meal), which is as sour as the strongest sourdough bread you can imagine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Injera TL;DR: Berbere is Ethiopian chili powder.

Speaking of “Summertime” — here’s just about THE hippest version I think I’ve ever heard.