Jim Alfredson

Yeah, that's crap. McDuff, Holmes, and Earland all had filler material on their albums (and some albums were all filler). You could easily make that argument against any of the jazz organists in the 70s.

UP for Chuck. Still waiting for your recs!

Although this video claims the opposite, I had read somewhere that The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy was originally composed for glass harmonica. Aha, wikipedia comes to the rescure: "One of the best known pieces is the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy from the ballet The Nutcracker. Tchaikovsky's first draft called for glass harmonica, but he changed it to the newly-invented celesta before the work's premiere performance in 1892." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jN-kTaKEvo

Good gracious! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGkqnTMHBs0

Hell yeah!

Dude, you must get the Solid State recordings of "A Bag Full Of Soul", "A Bag Full Of Blues" and "Cherry". Oh, and the stuff from the early 80s on JAM is bad-ass, too.

Kevin, thank you for the story. Today I practiced tuning on Joe's piano. It took me about three hours and though I'll let Joe have the final word, I think it sounds pretty good. My dad's technique is something he came up with (adapting other techniques to his own style... that was his mantra) and its relatively quick to set the temperment. I'd like to say my skill helped today, but Joe's piano is a nice Yamaha that "knows" where it wants to be. All I had to do was get it there. I'm using my dad's tools. I don't know how to describe the experience. I can hear him talking to me if I relax and let my ears guide me. It's almost like playing jazz; relax, let your ears communicate directly with your hands. If I'm not sure I can hear my dad say "try again" or "it's a little narrow". I'm still in shock. I've been having nightmares lately. I totally fucked up the key job we were supposed to do together the day he died. I attempted it yesterday, but botched it pretty bad. I had to order another set of keytops and I'll start over. Live and learn. I wish he was here to teach me more. I keep thinking he'll call and say, "Hey, Jimmer!" I miss him.

Here here. Who's left of the old guard now? Dr. Lonnie Smith, Leon Spencer, and who else? Man... I love McGriff. If I could get that percussion tone he got on the Solid State stuff, I'd be in heaven.

That was more like it.

The supply and demand argument is bullshit. If demand is so high and we supposedly don't have enough refineries, why is there no gas shortage?

Paid $4.16 coming back from South Bend to Lansing on Sunday. SWEET!

Plus it looks like I'm smoking Randy's cymbal, like a big fat spliff! It was great to hang with you. I'll send a copy out on Tuesday. It's sounding really good.

It's a model of Hammond organ.

Played "All About My Girl" tonight in tribute to Jimmy. I'm bummed.

Damn... Jimmy was a true gentleman. I met him in Detroit back in '97 or '98 (maybe earlier... my memory is fuzzy). We talked for quite some time and he was very generous and gave me some great advice about taming the mighty B3. The Giants of the Organ in Concert LP with Groove Holmes (which I pilfered from my dad's collection) was in constant rotation on my turntable when I was learning the instrument. RIP Jimmy McGriff. Much love and respect for your art.

Ross, nice to meet you and your wife as well. We'll be back on August 29th with a new CD in hand!

I can get with the beer part. That's about it.

Dibs.

5. Chuck Nessa doesn't use microphones to capture sound. He uses his bare hands. Happy Birthday (late), Chuck!

NO, it's not mine. http://annarbor.craigslist.org/msg/689511706.html

If any board members are in or around Kalamazoo or South Bend this weekend, here's your chance to see organissimo in action! Thursday we'll be at Bell's Eccentric Cafe in Kalamazoo, starting at 9:30pm. The following night we'll be in South Bend at the newly opened Trios Restaurant and Lounge. Both are great venues for seeing live music. Don't miss it! Thu - May 22 9:00 PM - 12:45 AM Bell's Eccentric Cafe 355 E Kalamazoo Ave Kalamazoo, MI 49007 Phone: (269) 382-2338 www.bellsbeer.com Fri - May 23 9:30 PM - 12:30 AM Trios Trios Restaurant & Jazz Club 129 N Michigan St South Bend, IN 46601 Phone: (574) 288-8746 www.triossb.com

Would the masters sound as good without compression or EQ? DuNann also used more than two mics.

Those recordings Roy did have compression. And EQ. They have to, due to the limitations of the medium (vinyl).

Yes and no. Most modern recordings are done with various instruments isolated from each other and mic'd with multiple mics so the musicians can overdub or otherwise fix mistakes and so that there will be a lot of flexability come mixdown time. Some records are even built up one instrument track at a time. I don't believe there is anything intrinsictly wrong with this approach. It does not nor should it work for all situations. But before we even argue about that, we have to define our terms. What constitutes "live sound"? Any time you play an acoustic instrument, that instrument is affected tonally by the space that it's in. The performer, if he is worth his/her salt, is also affected by the space he/she is in, which affects how he/she plays the instrument. So the very idea of capturing "natural" sound is pretty much akin to chasing one's tail. To me, the most natural sound is the one that isn't captured, but rather is experienced in the moment at which it's conceived and then it's gone. Anything else is artificial. So then it becomes a question of how artificial should it be. Again, to me, if it sounds good than it is good. The problem with most audiophile recordings I've heard (including Mapleshade, Chesky, and sometimes AudioQuest) is that they don't sound very good unless you play them on a top-of-the-line system. That's taking the concept of artificial to the other extreme. In this day and age it is an artificial limitation to deny any and all forms of EQ and compression (not to mention limiting, reverb, using multiple mics, etc.) in order to achieve some ideal of "purity" which doesn't exist in the first place due to the very nature of the situation! One's choice of microphone preamp, microphone, cable, cable length, mic position, mic polar pattern, room acoustics, AD/DA conversion, etc. is all going to color the sound in some way. Who are these people? And again, what constitutes the "natural sound" of a saxophone? As porcy62 said, speak for yourself. My daughter loves natural, unflavored yogurt. But there is still nothing natural about the act of recording music.

perhaps you should before offering criticism. i think you'll find that cimp is not an "audiophile label," but one that takes a hands-off approach that a lot of musicians appreciate. Well, to totally rule out any use of compression or EQ from the get-go tells me that it's an audiophile label. Recording should be about using the tools available to make the recording sound as good as it possibly can while retaining the musician's intent. I get tired of folks that consider compression some sort of evil just because it gets over-used. Those who know how to use it do so in a very artistic manner. Those who don't start audiophile labels.