vibes

I recommend the Curtis Fuller Mosaic, if you have the means. "Bone & Bari" is probably my favorite session in the box. My favorite Curtis Fuller playing is probably on "Blue Train," however. I think everyone on that album was having a great day.

I bought this one a while back, because I felt like having something mellow, and I thought my wife would enjoy having it. It's not jazz, and that's OK - not everything in my world is or has to be jazz. Anyway, I don't think I've ever listened to the whole CD, start to finish. I've just skipped around a bit. I don't see myself ever listening to it a ton, but it's nice to have around.

Yes! This is one of my favorite box sets. I've been listening to "Glad To Be Unhappy," "Easy Living" and "Bossa Antigua" this week, as well as some other Desmond albums - The Gerry Mulligan/Paul Desmond Quartet, Dave Brubeck/Paul Desmond - 1975, etc. All very nice, very mellow. Also been digging soul jazz/anything with B3/bluesy jazz lately. I just feel like the musicians were really having fun when they were playing the music, and I really need that in my life right now. Work has been extremely stressful for the last couple of months, and I've been spending a lot of time in the office, and I think that's why. Among the albums getting the most play: Jimmy Smith - Back at the Chicken Shack, Midnight Special, Prayer Meetin' Stanley Turrentine - Chip Off the Old Block, In Memory Of, Common Touch John Patton - Got A Good Thing Goin', Let 'em Roll, Along Came John Larry Young - Into Somethin' George Braith - Complete Blue Note Grant Green - Carryin' On, Alive, Street of Dreams Kenny Burrell - Midnight Blue ...and many others.

I used to watch this a lot too when I was a kid. It always made me laugh - the green slime, the torture chamber, everything. Most people know this, but this show is where Alanis Morissette got her start in show business. I do remember her being on there, mainly because of her unusual name. I haven't seen the show in at least 10 years, but would love to see it again.

I'm impressed. I've heard nothing but good things about it.

Mnytime, were you at the Mayo Clinic? I'm in Minneapolis....

Lots of ups and downs for me too, and since I'm 26, this is all pretty recent: 18-20: first couple years of college, and then took a little time off to work. 20-22: spent two years as a Mormon missionary in Hong Kong. A memorable experience, to say the least...But I can't quite give it the thumbs up. 23: went back to college and started working full-time as well. Last two years of college were full-time school with full time work. I did meet my wife then, which was cool. 24: finished bachelor's degree, got married, got a job at Best Buy corporate and moved to Minnesota. 25: pretty uneventful year. Working, learning how to be married, etc. Discovered BNBB, and then Mosaic records, and my finances have been shot ever since.

jacknife, Sent you a PM.

Guilty as charged. There. I said it. Guilty as well.

I'll take choice "A." Very, very dumb...but still pretty hot.

riverrat made some excellent points. I'd just like to follow up on a few of his points: It is true that SACD's do not allow for making digital copies. I use an optical cable to connect my player with my speakers, but the optical line is disabled when playing SACD's. As for burning CD's from an SACD, it would be pretty impractical. Computers can't even read the SACD layer, so if you wanted to make a copy of a single-layer SACD, you'd have to input the sound into a computer through the sound card's analog input, record .wav files, then burn them to a CD. This isn't very practical at all. With hybrid SACD's, however, I've had no trouble creating .wav or mp3's, which can then be used to burn copies. I also remember Greg stating that Sony players had better sound than Pioneer players, specifically (I don't remember Philips being mentioned). I believe this was because at the time, Pioneer had not licensed a certain technology for decoding the SACD's, something related to DSD. I believe Greg said they had recently licensed it and so this wouldn't be an issue. I agree with riverrat on what he said about a K2 mastering versus an SACD. Like I mentioned previously, I have a low-end system and it is very difficult to notice the difference between an SACD and a really good 20/24-bit mastered CD. Perhaps one of the audiophiles on the board could say more about this, someone with a nice, high-end system? I don't buy single-layer SACD's either. I have the "A Love Supreme" single-layer disc, but that's only because I got it for free at work. I only buy hybrids at this time, because being able to make mp3's of my music means everything to me right now - I have an mp3-CD deck in my car, use a 20GB mp3 player at work, and stream music across my home wireless network. Until mp3's or some other digital copy can be made from SACD's, I'll probably continue to only buy hybrid discs.

There's an excellent version that I've always been partial to on "An Electrifying Evening with the Dizzy Gillespie Quintet."

cs500, Here's a page that has some information: http://www.daisy-laser.com/tech3.htm I have a combo DVD/SACD player. If you're not an audiophile, buying one of these might be the way to go. The model I bought is a Sony 755, and it retails for $200-249 or so. Best Buy had them, but will not be selling them any more. They will be bringing in Pioneer combo players later this summer. To answer your other questions simply, yes, the sound is supposed to be better. I have a very low-end system and can tell that much from the few SACD releases that I have. For example, the "A Love Supreme" SACD release sounds wonderful to me, especially the bass. Not all SACD's are done well, however. I've read many reviews of SACD releases where there were complaints similar to those you would get with normal CD's. Who does the mastering and what they put into it means just as much with SACD's as it does with normal CD's. Hybrid SACD's will play on most normal CD players and computers. Single-layer SACD's will not. If you want to upgrade (you mentioned the upcoming "Blue Train" release), I'd wait and look for some reviews on the sound before doing so. There isn't a whole lot of music available in the format yet, and if you're more concerned about the quantity of music you buy than the quality of music you buy, then I would suggest waiting until more titles are available. To be honest, the only reason I bought an SACD player and the few titles I have is because of my employee discount at Best Buy. That makes trying new stuff out a lot more affordable.

In some ways, I kinda wish I had too.

Metallica - St. Anger Beck - Midnite Vultures Stanley Cowell - Brilliant Circles (what I wouldn't give to have someone remaster this one - worst-sounding jazz CD I've ever heard) Archie Shepp - Fire Music J.J. Johnson - The Eminent, Vol. 1

I picked up the new Metallica CD, "St. Anger," yesterday. Metallica's last few releases have been somewhat disappointing, so it's nice to see them playing heavier music again. Here are some impressions: - This is very underproduced, compared to their last few albums. The drums sound awful, in my opinion. - James's vocals don't seem to have the same edge/rage as on previous albums. I think this takes away from the overall heaviness of the music. The lyrics themselves also don't strike me as edgy as on Metallica's previous albums. - The lack of guitar solos is a bit strange, although not totally unwelcome. - The songs are getting longer again, and are not as focused as on the last few efforts. Again, this is not totally unwelcome. I've listened to about half the album so far, so maybe I'll post more later. 3.5 stars so far, and far better than the last two releases for sure.

Lee Morgan - The Sidewinder (just doesn't do much for me, especially the title track) Kenny Dorham - Una Mas (Just can't get into it, for some reason) Dizzy Reece - Star Bright (Other than the first track, this one just strikes me as very plain) Kenny Drew - Undercurrent (Also very plain) A lot of Hank Mobley's stuff doesn't do it for me, although I've found "Roll Call" and "Soul Station" very enjoyable lately. I do have the Mosaic box and should spend more time with it. Having mentioned all of those, I never get rid of CD's, because I've found that songs/albums may not be to my liking at one point in my life, but then do something for me later.

Seems like a lot of people dislike this one, but it's one of the VEE's I listen to the most (more for Gato Barbieri than anything else).

Lon, if I remember correctly, you're the one who recommended this album to me in the first place, after I asked for Gato recommendations on the BNBB. I listen to it all the time!

I just went 4-5 weeks without buying any music. It was really difficult at first, but it got easier towards the end. My music collection has expanded a bit too much in the last year - I bought about 25 Mosaics and maybe another 300-500 CD's. Although I generally listen to music 12-15 hours a day, that's still not enough time to get through everything I've purchased. The real reason for cutting back, however, is that my wife and I want to get out of debt so that I can go to grad school. Unfortunately, that's at least 5 years away, maybe more.

I know we're talking about albums similar to "Inner Urge," but here's a recommendation for Joe as a sideman. I was listening to this in the car this afternoon and I love the way he plays on this record.

Another vote for thumbs up/thumbs down. Those were my favorite.

I'll take charcoal for flavor, but I would never have the patience for it myself. I grew up with propane, so that's what I'm used to. I love grilled food too. I'd like to try grilling bratwurst. We've been eating a ton of that lately. It's been our new thing since we moved to Minnesota and tried brats at a Twins game. I'm a big fan of grilled steaks and chicken too.

This morning: Gary Burton - A Genuine Tong Funeral Wes Montgomery - The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery George Russell - At the Five Spot Eddie Henderson - Sunburst Miles Davis - Steamin' Up next: Thad Jones - Motor City Scene