Z-Man

Picked one up at the Virgin Megastore in Times Square this afternoon.

Is there really a dramatic difference in fidelity with these 45 RPM reissues? I'm a big fan of Classic Records and Analogue Productions vinyl reissues, but I've been drawing the line at spending the big bucks for the 45's. How much better are they?

Thanks, Late. Note to DrJ: They also have LOOK FOR THE BLACK STAR for $5.99.

How did you luck into them?? Not many left in the USA. Wolff, it was like winning the lottery. A friend of mine runs a cable access station in Westchester County, and one day while I was there doing some work for the station my friend introduced me to his boss. We hit it off, and we talked for a long time about audio engineereing, jazz music, audio gear, etc. It turns out the guy had been an audio engineer for CBS, had done work for Lincoln Center, and has a garage full of audio treasures of yesteryear (Telefunken mics, old tape machines, etc.). About 3 months later my friend called, and told me that his boss had found two old MC-75's in his garage and he was wondering if I wanted them. I don't need to tell you what my answer was. I drove up the next day, met the guy outside the garage, and he put the (rather dirty) amps in my car. I asked him if I could pay him, and he said no. I thanked him profusely and drove home. When I got back I called McIntosh to ask them where I could have them checked out, and they recommended Audio Classics in Vestal. I drove them up there, the bench tech opened them up, and told me they were all original, with consecutive serial numbers, and were indeed a rare find. For $900 they cleaned them up and brought them both back to life (better than factory spec). Let me tell you, they sound incredible.

My wife and I saw Cassandra Wilson at a live show in Battery Park during the summer, and I was blown away. Her lower register gives me goose bumps, and the musical rapport she has with her band is spectacular. She's definitely the real thing.

Due to the lucky acquisition of the McIntosh amps pictured in my avatar, I have a strange mix right now: System 1 (living room) - Sony SACD fed directly to two McIntosh MC75's, driving Magnepan MMG's. Linn interconnects and homemade speaker cables. System 2 (bedroom) - Rega P3 tt w/Elys cartridge & Cal Audio Labs CD into Marantz amp with early 80's-era JBL's (I'm too lazy to walk in there right now and check the model number. As soon as I find an affordable (?!) tube phono preamp good enough for the MC-75's, the Rega will go into system #1 and the rest of System #2 will be sold or given away.

The Lucinda LP was actually released simultaneously with the CD. I've had it for a couple of months, and it's a great LP, both musically & sonically. A couple of clunkers, but the good stuff is truly great.

"Law Years", "Civilization Day", and "Street Woman" from Ornette Coleman's "The Complete Science Fiction Sessions".

Thanks for the info. I'm really into Dewey's playing lately. I've always been a fan of his work with Ornette, but I really got hooked a few months back when I picked up the ECM LP "The Struggle Continues". I was disappointed to learn that the bonus tracks on "The Ear Of The Behearer" CD are actually four of the seven cuts from "Coincide". Now I have to hunt for that LP also. The search begins...

$37 is a great price for this set (about the same price I paid for mine), and anyone without it should pick it up without delay. The TOCJ sounds great, and the music is essential. That version of "I Didn't Know What Time It Was" never fails to put a smile on my face.

In their review of the 1998 Impulse CD reisue of this album, allmusic.com makes reference to the omission of an "alternate take of Interconnection that was included on a different set". Has anyone ever seen this or know where I can find a copy? Man, it's rough being a completist....

Alan Saul (the host of this quiz) has a great Dolphy discography, as well as CD cover images, sound samples, interviews, and more: Dolphy Discography He also has other light reading such as: Effects of adapting on spatiotemporal receptive field structure in cat striate cortical simple cells

$40-$60 is an absurd price for these. They are routinely available on eBay and at various vinyl emporiums for between $20-$30. Acoustic Sounds really pisses me off sometimes with prices like that. (The few that I've heard sound great, by the way...)

Sidewinder is right, the Mosaic LP set is indispensible. If you're a completist (like me), however, you need the Minor Move Conn (or the TOCJ Blue Trails compilation) for the alternate of Minor Move that was left off of the Mosaic.

My two favorite Mosaic sets are the McLean & Plugged Nickel LP sets. Both musically and sonically, they're incredble. The Horace Parlan LP set also sounds wonderful on my system. I would love to get my hands on a MD/Gil Evans LP set - it sold out right before I became a Mosaic addict. I bet it sounds great. Someday, someday...

It's been said many times before, but it bears repeating: Hiroshi is the man. Great inventory, super-friendly, and lightning-fast shipping. Highly recommended.

Another yea vote for "The Vinyl Frontier". We need a vinyl forum!

Last year I bought what I believe is an original Pacific Jazz pressing of Art Blakey's "Ritual", and stuck to the front cover with old yellowed cellophane tape was a note saying "To Rick, Here's hoping we became great tonight - Art Blakey". The LP was way underpriced because it looked like the note had damaged the cover, but the tape was so old and brittle that it came off cleanly with no damage to the LP cover or Blakey's note. The only other autograph I posess is from Leonard Bernstein. In what I consider to be one of the great achievements of her life, my sister-in-law picked it up while she was working as a waitress at a restaurant across from Lincoln Center that the maestro frequented.

I'm with you, Brad. I normally pride myself on having a very high tolerance for the experimental and even self-indulgent artistic expressions of others. Believe me, my collection includes some pretty off-the-wall stuff. This festival, however, I just don't get. One morning I awoke to the "Sound Poetry" segment, and it sounded to me like people just making mouth noises, with no unifying theme or underlying purpose. I'm going to try to listen to some of the solo percussion stuff tomorrow, but as far as I'm concerned, the sooner we get "Bird Flight" and "Out To Lunch" back the better. On top of this, WNYC is having their fund drive, so it's been an especially dismal radio week here in the Big Apple.

First - get out of the theater district. Then check out this website: Jazz New York That will give you the lowdown on all the live music happening around town. For restaurants, it all depends on how much you want to spend. For pizza, I'd recommend Lombardi's on Spring Street, just North of Little Italy (NoLita in real estate jargon). If you are bringing a significant female other, she will enjoy walking around that area and checking out the trendy shops. My favorite thing to do for lunch is to sit in the tavern area at Gramercy Tavern on 20th between Park and Broadway (quite pricey, but well worth it). For less expensive dining, check out some of the Eastern European places in the East Village - they can be a lot of fun. Vaselka is a good one. There are also several small used CD/LP emporiums in that area. In you're into LP shopping - check out Academy's LP store on 10th and University Place - good selection, fair prices. IMHO, no visit to NYC would be complete without a trip to the aforementioned Downtown Music Gallery. It's certainly not for everybody, but you will definitely walk away with some new listening ideas.

The Riverside Bill Evans box lists some sessions as having been recorded at Sound Makers in NYC, while several Blue Note CD's (Ken McIntyre, Kenny Dorham, B. Evans/J. Hall) in my database list the studio as Sound Mixers. Bill Schwartau was the engineer on all the sessions (1962-63). Does anyone know the correct name of the studio?

I saw Billy Harper at the Up Over Jazz Cafe in Brooklyn a few years ago and was absolutely blown away. Harper's compositions are always interesting, and the kind of passion that he and his band members bring to the music is very rare these days. Anyone unfamiliar with his music should pick some up without hesitation.

What a great way to spend a Sunday. Free, in Battery Park, Cassandra Wilson played a 90-minute set in which she reinvented tunes ranging from "Skylark" to Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay". Very tasty playing from a top-notch band of her usual players, and Cassandra really nailing it with the vocals. Anybody else catch it?

I think Chuck's right about this. The day could come when EMI decides that this Blue Note stuff just isn't as profitable as they might like, and that guys like Cuscuna are running a reissue program that puts artistic merit before the bottom line. Wait until they shit-can the whole thing, then we'll be pining away for RVG remasters and Blumenthal liner notes.

Essential Rollins, in my opinion. It meanders in spots, but the high points are priceless. The intro to "Blessing In Disquise" gets me every time.