Jim Alfredson

Magic Slim sat in with us (us being Janiva Magness and the band) a few years ago when we played the Zoo Bar in Lincoln, NE. He tore the roof off the joint. He was a very kind and gracious man and it was a real honor sharing the stage with him. May he rest in peace.

Thank you! I'm using a Yorkville Elite powered sub. Two 10" speakers with 700 watts behind them. Total overkill on the amplification but I do like the tone. I've played that A100 / BC hybrid at Cliff Bells. It's a funky sounding rig. Lots of distortion. They should put some new tubes in the Leslie. I like a lot of headroom which is why I dig the Leslie 3300, despite it's lack of real bass (hence the need for the sub). The SK2 is a great sounding organ. It might be a bit too "clean" for some, but I like my jazz organ pretty clean. Of course, putting it through a tube Leslie like a 122 would do wonders to the "sterility" of it. I need to replace the tube in my 3300 as it is going microphonic and I couldn't really tune in much of it at the Bar30 gig.

Glad the interest is there. I'll probably start the Kickstarter in early March. The budget for this one won't be as much as for the organsisimo.

I'll send out an email with a link, like I did for the album downloads. I've never messed with FLACs before, so I can't really be of help unfortunately. I did hear from some folks that there's no meta-data in the FLACs, even though the studio that produced them for me said they put the meta-data in. So that's odd. I also just learned tonight that Cubase 6.5, which I use as my DAW to record all this music for y'all, can convert to FLAC directly within the program. So I'll go that route with the bonus material and see if I have more luck in encoding the meta-data. Thanks for all the kind words! People seem to be really digging this release, which is a good feeling.

All domestic box sets went out today (er... yesterday, Wednesday... it's now Thursday. I've been up too long!) Internationals are going out tomorrow. Been shipping all week. Lots of work! But I'm thankful for the support.

Thanks, Scott!

Yes, we changed it up a bit. Hope you're digging it!

Got confirmation that it is indeed the same Marvin Cabell in Indy as from the Blue Note John Patton records. Now the question is if he can still play?

Hmm... variety / R&B / smooth jazz listed under his styles. I'd be surprised if that's the same guy. I have a shout out to some friends in Indy with the question.

Yeah, sorry... I'm going to leave it there until it's "official" release date of Jan 22nd. But all pre-orders will be shipped ASAP.

That would be a trip, wouldn't it? I'll look into it. Mr. Larry Barris from Detroit. Very accomplished player who used to be on the road with Groove Holmes in the late 80s.

EDIT: The project is live! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1364188191/the-way-i-feel-a-tribute-to-big-john-patton John Patton is one of my favorite organists and incredibly underrated. I never had the honor of seeing him live but his style influences my own playing in a profound way. He passed almost 11 years ago and I am not aware of any tributes to him, which is a damn shame. The idea for this project has been rolling around in my head for years and I want to make it a reality. The plan is to record a handful of songs from Patton's canon, as well as some originals in that vein. I have recruited the inimitable Randy Gelispie to play drums. Mr. Gelispie played with Big John as well as Bill Heid, Jack McDuff, Larry Young, and Gene Ludwig. And that's just on the organ side. He's also played with Wes Montgomery, Pat Martino, Sonny Stitt, Lou Donaldson, Gene Ammons, Tommy Flanagan, Barry Harris, and a slew of other musicians known and unknown. Randy is a completely unique voice on his instrument and I've been wanting to record him and record with him for years. Ralph Tope will be on guitar. Ralph was the guitarist for organissimo on our latest CD (Dedicated) but has left to pursue other avenues. I love his playing; it's funky and visceral and fearless. I also want to use Jim Cooper on vibraphone. Jim is originally from Chicago and was on the Delmark label for several years. I'm currently deciding on a couple horn players for some tunes but the bulk of the songs will be the quartet of organ, vibes, guitar, and drums. I'll be tracking this in my humble home studio (where the last two organissimo studio albums were tracked) which will save money but I do need to pay the musicians. I'm thinking of doing another crowd-source campaign, probably Kickstarter, to raise $3k to $6k. I'm just trying to gauge if the interest is there. Any thoughts are appreciated, including what songs associated with Big John you'd like to hear. Thanks!

The new CD is here!!! I'll start shipping this week. Very excited about it and it sounds and looks great.

I'd say it's the majority of the reason. I have no anti-virus software on my laptop, which I use daily all over the country, nor on my desktop music machine. And I don't have any viruses on either because I surf smart.

Why anti-virus software is behind? Because the developers can't keep up with people's stupidity? "Oh wow, someone I haven't heard from in 5 years just sent me an attachment called You Won't Believe What This Girl Did. I better open it now!"

I really appreciate all the suggestions. When funds allow, I will grab the EMI box.

Fat Tire is a new one to me and has quickly become a favorite. I also love Stella Artois and Amstel, though Amstel is much better in Holland.

Thank you for taking the time to reply. Do you happen to know how the EMI boxset fares? http://www.amazon.com/Vaughan-Williams-The-Collectors-Edition/dp/B00156ZWV0