Jim Alfredson

That's one of his worst records (which means it's still pretty good). I think he broke off with Bluenote after that one. From listening to it, it sounds like it was all the idea of the head-brass at BN, rather than Charlie.

The "article" can be dismissed on the fact that the writer is anonymous. If you can't even put your name to it, shutup.

You're spending too much time on the board, my friend.

I don't. My bet is that Tony is trying to go from the headphone output of the MiniDisc player to the analog-in of the computer, which is an impedence mismatch. Does the player have a line-out as opposed to a headphone out? Even so, the best way is to go in digitally to the computer. The recordings on the MiniDisc are already digital. By going in analog to the computer you're adding two unnecessary steps, ie converting the digital bits on the minidisc to analog, then converting them back to digital in the computer. Once you're in digital you should stay there if at all possible until you actually listen to the music.

Teri Lyne Carrington is amazing. I don't know why she doesn't get more props. Brian Blade is pretty jaw-dropping as well. That's for the new school. For the old school, gotta give it up to Ben Dixon, Joe Dukes, and Donald Bailey... organ drummers extraordinaire!

ok...

Groundtruther... cool... I haven't heard of that project. I think Hunter is fantastic! I have almost all his solo stuff. My favorite so far is a tie between this one (eponymously titled)... ... and "Right Now Move". I'd love to get the DVD of that. I'd also like to see him live. He recently played in Detroit but I was giggin'. To those purists who diss him, who cares? He's unique, his music is rhythmically and harmonically interesting as well as melodic, he has great technique, and he writes a lot of his own stuff... all trademarks of a great jazz musician and improvisor.

So I got a 120GB ... Maxtor. It was on sale, what can I do? $69 for 120GB's??! That's crazy! Anyway, I've been working on this damn thing since 9pm (it's now almost 3am) and I'm tired, so I'm hitting the hay. I have most of my software re-installed.

Big "O" will be happenin' this year, with the new organissimo release, the upcoming Root Doctor release (the r&b/soul band I play in) and possibly a live organissimo with Arno Marsh release!

What shitty news. I'll be sending positive vibes...

Why bring this up?

You know, you could solve the problem of needing such a high-fidelity system in order to reproduce instruments in a life-like way if you just went out and saw more concerts. But that's not really the point, is it? That's like saying the point of buying a Ferrari is to go to the grocery store every week.

No, my machine is too old for SATA, but thanks! I'm going to go to CompUSA and get a 40gb Seagate. I'll see how they fair, since I've owned numerous Maxtor's, WD's, etc.

Good advice all around in this thread. It is also very helpful to surround yourself with people who support your goals, whatever they may be. I am lucky to have found a wife who supports my decision to play music full-time and also lucky that we are able to make a living and support our daughter doing so. But just being around creative people who take music seriously will help.

Well, the 20gb Maxtor system drive in my main office machine just up and died last night. So there goes my theory that WD sucks. Maxtor sucks, too. I replaced a WD in this computer back in 2002 with the Maxtor after the WD died. Luckily I saw the warning signs months ago and have been backing stuff up. Unfortunately, re-installing software is going to be a pain (have to call Microsoft and tell them that yes, this is my copy of Office, I'm just installing it on a new computer because my old one died). I'm seriously considering spending the $500 and getting the Mac Mini, but then I'd have to re-buy all my software, which is not a very happy proposition for me. I have Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Flash, a $40 fax program, Office, etc. This is all stuff I use regularly and it's expensive software (although I got good educational discounts 'cos my sis works at MSU). Drag. I should probably just stick with a PC. Go buy a new harddrive for $60, reload XP and all my software and try to get back on with it.

Silvertone was a brandname of Sears, wasn't it?

Well, they had a ramp into the building, so that makes it better! It's always a pain getting it in and out of the van. The back is doing ok. I was just looking at A100's on eBay. I'd really like to find one and take the internal speakers/amps out of it and use that on the road. The B3, as cool as it is, isn't really made for moving all over the place. Mine is getting really wobbily.

That's ok... just don't use the vibrato/chorus. Keep it off. It won't hurt anything not to fix it.

SS1 (and Soul Stream) check this out!! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...gory=64429&rd=1 I'm going to order this, even though I know 99% of what this guy is doing... but it seems there are some cool Smith-esque licks to pick up and I'm really interested in the gospel stuff!! Looks really cool!

I'd like to add that I make my living as a musician and sometimes it's very hard. The bread is not very good most of the time and sometimes (like tonight) the gigs are horrible. But on the positive side, we're about to release our second record which I'm very proud of and we're still pushing and I love playing with Joe and Randy. And every now and again I make some money. What more can one ask?

Bill, I hate to say it, but here's the short of it: Think about the players you admire. Lee Morgan. Miles. Freddie Hubbard. Why are they so good? Sure, they have a lot of talent. But they also decided, somewhere along the line, that they were going to be musicians. And that's what they did. That's all they did. Night and day, day and night. Jazz is not a music one can just dabble in and expect results. You have to immerse yourself in it and do it. I say this because when I entered college, I decided I was going to be "practical" and major in electrical engineering. I hated it. I joined every choir on campus. I joined the jazz combo program. I did as much music as possible (which is what I've been doing my whole life). In 1998 I finally realized that if I was going to get better and get to the place I wanted to be, then I had to just do music. I dropped out of college in 1999 and I haven't looked back. I've been studying organ exclusively since 1996. It's taken this long to get to the point where I am comfortable in most situations, but I'm still not where I want to be (I hope I never get there... then what?) You just gotta do it. If you really want to do it, you just have to do it. It's as simple as that.

Nice pics! Great job, Ann! As Joe said earlier, it was the perfect way to cap off a fantastic week of music! Dan Jacobs sounded fabulous! We should have him up front with Arno next year on the tour! Trumpet/tenor frontline, organ trio backline... what can be better?

Just so everyone knows: The new record will be released August 8th on Big "O" Records!!! I will begin mailing CDs the week prior, so those who pre-ordered may receive theirs a little early.

Yes! Every offer is still open, you just won't get your name on the CD for $100 because the CD is already at the printer! (But you can still donate $100 (or more) if you want!)

Yes Dan, thank you for the kind words! We did a version of "Third Right on the Left" with Johnny Gist during the sessions for the new record, but it did not make the cut, mainly for "flow" reasons. Meaning that another tune just fit the "vibe" of the record better. We recorded way more tunes than we needed for the last record. BUT, we played that tune multiple times with Arno on the tour, so it'll probably find it's way onto a live CD, as well as some other original tunes including a really cool minor blues-y thing by Randy called "Razzle Bazzle" and a tune by me written specifically for Arno called "Arnothology". And of course, "Sweet Potato Pie". Pumpkin Pie is very different, but I think you'll like it. Concerning archiving, as soon as I get a master from the engineer, I'll review it and see about getting it up on the site.