xybert

Thanks for the recs Steve. I have Air Time, but none of the others. Will do my best to check them out. Yup.

The album with Sam Rivers is mainly cited by non-fans, i find. The broken record whenever Moran comes up is: "I'm not a fan but i don't mind the album with Sam Rivers, but that's mainly due to Sam Rivers." I don't get why Moran is getting singled out for playing with older cats in a negative or cynical way, but hey, i'm not an expert on him, maybe he is a complete tool. I don't know, as i say i'm not an expert on Moran, haven't heard every album, haven't read every interview or seen him perform live. But i rate him, based on what i've heard of his music. He's got a flavour i really dig, a distinctive flavour (like it or not) and in my opinion that's rare among jazz pianists. All Rise, the Fats Waller album, the album with R&B-ish singing, on the 'revamped' Blue Note label etc... i'll be pushing shiz uphill with a sharp stick trying to defend it here, but i like it for what it is. Like it or not i wouldn't write off Moran's entire musical vision based purely off All Rise: although you may feel that there are other legit reasons to write him off i don't think that this one album is good reason. I think he's done excellent stuff over the last five years: Ten is one of my favourtie piano trio albums, the album with Trio 3 was excellent (there he goes again trying to cynically elevate himself by associating with greats when we all know that musically he can't hang ), he played excellently on that album with Eric Revis and Vandermark et al even if the album overall was a bit hit and miss for me... then there's the work with Charles Lloyd where i have to admit i find his flavour to be a bit muted but still... meh that's probably a bit of a down note to finish on ha ha. Anyway... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0CYJNw9YJQ

Good to know that Somos Agua has Steve's seal of approval. Sincerely. It's the only Tamarindo album that i have and it's nice to know that long term fans of the group dig it, especially after the controversy around the sound on their last album which caused me to skip it. I dig Somos Agua too. Although it's not an album i spin a lot (doesn't have to be etc) i've kept it on my portable music player since release. New releases man. I'm going to ramble for a bit, in the mood to take my mind of work... what's coming up? I'm still keen for the new Jason Moran, have been listening to it a bit on Spotify. Do i really need it though? Things are getting tight at home, among other things we need to put our kid in to day care for an extra day per week, it's $60.00 NZD per day so about an extra $240.00 NZD per month (about $194.00 USD according to some website i just checked). I don't have a set CD budget, although lately i've been thinking about setting myself one. The annual budget i was thinking of in my head i felt was quite generous, but then i did the sums on how much i've already spent this year and i've already spent over three times my proposed annual budget. I felt disgusted with myself, i need to cut back. So i'm probably going to be at the point where i can afford 2-3 new CDs per month, max. No box sets, unless i can somehow work them in to birthdays etc or if we win lotto. So anyway, as selective as i am, i need to be even more selective as i don't want to blow my monthly budget on something i can live without and then next minute something essential gets released. There's that fear of pulling the plug and missing out. I feel like if i'm not checking out new stuff that some how that continuum is broken. And on a tight budget i will be focusing on new releases... but holy crap there's so, so much old stuff that i really need to hear (truly a case of the more i hear the more i realise i haven't heard and need to hear). The problem is that there are so many new releases that knock me out. Until that stops, until there's a trend in my listening where i'm just encountering too many 'just okay' recordings in a row i'm not going to be able to cut the chord. There's just something about the thought of no longer following new releases that makes me feel sick to my stomach, deathly. It just feels so wrong. Maybe it's a sign that i need to do it, that i'm addicted and i need to go cold turkey for the greater good. So anyway, i really want to get the new Halvorson on Relative Pitch, i'm actually quite keen for the new Frisell, i still want to catch up on some of Jason Adasiewicz's albums as a leader (the first Sun Rooms album and the Rolldown stuff), there's going to be a new Wayne Shorter album at some point, i should get that new The Bad Plus album, i also want to go back and get that duet album with Steve Lehman and Stephen Crump... hey, we've all got a wish list a mile long... damn it's hard to prioritise...

Some random favourites that come to mind: Herbie Hancock - Prince of Darkness (Sorcerer) Bill Evans - Re: Person I Knew (Moonbeams) Chick Corea - Steps/What Was (Now He Sings...) Jan Hammer w/ Mahavishnu Orchestra - A Lotus on Irish Streams (Inner Mounting Flame) Andrew Hill - Erato (Pax) Herbie Nichols - Double Exposure (Blue Note box, not sure of the album) Ethan Iverson w/ The Bad Plus - You Are (Never Stop)

Not trying to be a dick, but in all honesty, as a teenager in the nineties the retro swing thing was the height of lameness. For me, definitely an example of something that hurt rather than helped. Just my experience, i'm sure there would have been other people that got into jazz through it.

Sad to see him go but he did more than his fair share. His music had such a unique quality to it. Words like melancholy don't quite nail it for me...

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/17/business/media/cd-loving-japan-resists-move-to-digital-music-.html?_r=0 People seem to mostly either be advocates for streaming/paid downloads/unpaid downloads or Vinyl... CDs rarely get any love! Anyway, this article made me feel like a bit less of a random weirdo for digging CDs. And it's Japan, too. the kids love Japan! Therefore i am cool, amirite? lolololol zomg etc

Thanks CJ! I'll likely get around to it eventually too. Of his recent stuff, which i think overall is some of his best stuff in years, The Continents is a real stand out for me, one of his best ever albums (YMMV).

The album with Jason Moran was one of my favourite albums from 2013... love that one, but it weirdly makes me hesitant to check this one out for some reason. I guess it's their thing that they're going to be playing with different piano players from album to album, but the album with Moran just seemed like such a perfect band that i don't want to break the illusion.

For me this one goes under the ''would like to have but there's just too much other stuff that i want more" pile. In terms of recent trios, it would be really interesting to hear Corea with Blade compared to Corea with Motian on the recent Further Explorations. CJ, if you get a chance are you able to advise what the packaging is like? Is it a foldout digipak type thing similar to the Miles Bootleg series? Many thanks.

Hell yeah! In my next life i'm coming back as someone with the means to be a philanthropist and i'm giving money to guys like Coleman.

I saw Fujii in a trio the other night at Pathhead ( a small village outside Edinburgh. Tom Bancroft (drums ) lead the completely improvised set . It was a stunning concert that really defies description. I felt truly privileged . I ended up buying 4 discs featuring her or her husband ( trumpeter Natsuki Tamura ) I think her Ma- do quartet is possibly her best group. I am promising myself to get this recording. Plus I love the cover. What is that on the cover? Is it a sculpture made of cheese?

I like his playing with Corea and Stern... for me has that 'smooth' sound that can be offputting at first, maybe somewhere between Garbarek and Brecker, somewhat akin to Eric Marienthal, but i can get my head around it. I remember picking up a second hand Steeplechase album that had him on it, can't remember if he was the leader or if he was a sideman but disappointingly it was too scratched/glitchy to keep. From memory it was in that straight ahead seventies vein and was interesting to hear Berg in that setting.

I guess the main thing that i wanted to confirm is whether there is potential to make the CD sound worse at any point in the manufacturing process. Here's some grist for the mill: http://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/jul/09/dinosaur-jr-recall-new-album From the linked article: Dinosaur Jr don't want their European fans wearing earplugs. The deafening American guitar band have issued a recall of their new CD, saying that the album is too loud. The problem affects copies of Farm purchased in "European shops", according to the band's website. While it's not clear if this affects copies released in the UK, buyers can either check the bar code – copies with the number 5414939004926 are affected – or else pop the CD into your stereo and see if your ears start to bleed. A mastering issue is at the root of the problem, the band explained. "While duplicating the original master ... the software programme 'doubled' the sound layers. This resulted in a 3dB increase in volume." Not sure if the part about duplicating the original master occured before it was sent to the manufacturers, but interesting none the less. Funnily enough this affected the European version only (obviously a coincidence, but pretty funny in the context of this discussion). I actually bought a european copy of the album second hand and only found out about this issue after searching on line to see if anyone else thought the album sounded way too loud.

For me the storage size was the only advantage to the old iPods. I prefer the iPod touch in every other way.

Yeah, from memory the note that it is 'manufactured in the E.U.' is the only point of difference in the packaging, also the 'Jaspac' logo is removed. I'll take a closer look when i get home tonight though. I'd love, love to get confirmation from the people that are actually producing these CDs. There's just so much 'why?' Simplest answer seems to be = Manufactured in the EU using a Japanese template and same masters as the Japanese versions. But then why the apparent difference in sound quality? Possibly caused by incompetence during manufacturing? Or are they using different masters altogether? Then why bother using the japanese packaging? To fool people? But nobody is fooled. The only people that would care if it is manufactured in Japan are connoisseurs and connoisseurs are immediately sceptical about the fact that these aren't the real deal. So maybe it was just somehow cheaper to use the Japanese template for the packaging rather than just imitate previous packaging. But then why include the Obi? Maybe they thought "hey why not go all the way?" But would using the Japanese template actually be cheaper than just mocking something up in the Andorran style? Why why why?

I can see how where a CD is manufactured can be a factor in the quality of the physical product (the materials used, whether it will deteriorate quicker, whether it's more likely to have manufacturing defects that will affect playback) but i can't see how it will affect the sound, at least in terms of whether it sounds like a good mastering job or a bad mastering job. I can imagine it. All kinds of things can happen at the pressing stage including phase reversal, EQ changes, etc. I didn't know that! That opens up the possibilities for me.

No need to apologise man hopefully i didn't come off like i was having a go at you. Just been insanely tired lately hence the brevity and reluctance to continue the discussion. Cheers.

What i'm trying to figure out is whether there's any audible difference between the Jazz Best Collection 1000 CDs manufactured in Japan, and the Jazz Best Collection 1000 CDs manufactured in the EU, which appear to be a facsimile of the Japanese ones in every other way. Not too sure if that is what is being discussed here or if it's previous non-Jazz Best Collection 1000 euro CDs (i.e. Atlantic Original Sound etc) that are being referred to as being inferior to japanese Jazz Best Collection 1000 CDs. Anyway, don't worry about it.

Are we talking about the 'Jazz Best Collection 1000' series? http://wmg.jp/jazz1000/index.html If yes, are you able to elaborate on the night and day difference? Do you mean sound wise, or physical product wise? They seem pretty identical to me, apart from what i mentioned in my previous post. Some of the Euro ones have sounded bad to me (a couple of Art Farmers in particular) but i put that down to the individual recordings... would love to get the Japanese versions to compare.

I'd still love to find out the backstory as to why there are the ones manufactured in the EU and the ones manufactured in Japan. Every answer i think of leads to more questions, all of which are answerable of course. But yeah, it'll be an interesting footnote for future collectors. Quality wise in terms of the physical product, i personally haven't noticed a major difference between the Japanese and the EU ones, although i've noticed some minor things with the EU ones like the lettering on the CD seeming to have been printed not as good. Audio wise, i presume they are using the same masters but again would be interested to get factual confirmation.

I get where you're coming from. I'm not that familiar with NPR or what the expectations of them generally are, but i get the 'more harm than good' angle in terms of how jazz is generally presented to the public in the mainstream media (the press but also fictional movies, TV etc), and that it unfortunately gets no coverage elsewhere. I've often thought that there is a lot of contemporary jazz/improv/whatever that has the potential to appeal to a much wider audience, especially the 'alternative' audience, if only it was covered in a matter of fact way amongst all the other types of music. As it is it's not reported, at all. But then jazz is lousy at promoting itself, let alone anyone else. I could see Steve Lehman, Jason Adasiewicz all those guys on stage at festivals that mainly feature electronica, indie rock and hip hop. But, just saying. I really don't want to get in to a massive discussion about whether jazz has the potential to be more popular, whether that matters, if it was to become popular what types of jazz are more worthy of that honour than others, whether it has the right to be more popular, whether anyone actually wants that or who cares, whether it would actually be a good thing, whether good or bad exist or are just human concepts. All i'm saying is i can relate to what you are saying. I had the afternoon off work yesterday and decided to listen to All Rise in full. It's growing on me, started to hear a bit more of that Jason Moran flavour that i know and love.

Giving it the first spin now. Fans of the previous albums will not be disappointed I suspect. Writing's as strong as previously and they swing the tunes hard I've mentioned before that although i'm a big vibes fan and really dig Adasiewicz as a sideman (his name on a record is always, always a good sign) i've struggled to summon enthusiasm to check out his albums as a leader (i don't know why!), but i've been listening to this a lot via Spotify and i've finally cracked it. Ordered this and the previous Sun Rooms album.

Thanks for posting. I had a quick listen to the first 5 or so tracks... Yacht Club Swing sounds very Corea like! What i heard actually reminded a bit of Secret Agent era Corea = a bit of a male vocal here, a bit of a female vocal there, a bit of electric piano there, a bit of acoustic, some funk, some strings... Two Sleepy People really reminded me of an Al Jarreau vocal on Secret Agent... Anyway, i'll try and give it another more concentrated listen before 'passing judgement'. First impressions = not too sure about this one. Jason Moran albums often take a while to grow on me though. I can see myself being unable to resist picking this up if i see it in a store, purely because i've enjoyed his previous albums so much, but i don't think i'm going to place an order at this stage.

A ridiculously under-rated session IMO. Every reviewer/critic seems to slag if off ! I definitely had significant trepidations, not least of all because i've had my ups and downs with Adams and Pullen. But man, Mingus Moves is strong. All i'll say is that i made the right call in picking this over the David Sanborn album that i was tempted to get (came home and found it on Spotify = dodged that bullet!)