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I love Dick's Picks 14. I still remember the day it came in the mail...I had just finished my most difficult final exam back in college, and came home to the package sitting on the doorstep....a beautiful night of music and fun.

Just seeing this tread for the first time. I'll be there. Looking forward to finally seeing you guys!

The KRS ONE/BDP tracks on both discs are killin! Hadn't ever heard the Brown Skin Woman track before. What a beat!

The only one I own is "Simpatico", and I really like it.

OK, I suppose this is a good place to ask this question..... Pretty much all of my jazz collection is either from the bop or avant garde camps. I have had very little exposure to swing or trad, and the little bit I've heard hasn't done much for me, with the exception of the Hot Five's & Hot Sevens. I have the Basie Decca recordings, and I do enjoy them, but not nearly as much as my Miles, Trane, Mingus, etc.... So my question is...if you could recommend one non-Basie Lester Young CD to someone with a listening background like mine, which one would it be?

Second Quintet takes the top spot for me by far. The greatest jazz I've ever heard! This is followed by the Miles/Trane & Plugged Nickel. All of em are great, really...

I am very surprised in not having found a thread about this new release, considering how well liked and respected Fred is on this board. This new release is a double disc live set of 4 extended improvisations from a show on the East Coast. The rhythm section of William Parker and Hamid Drake is agruably the best around right now, and they sound great behind Fred. It is a VERY heady listen, and it requires alot of attention to details in order to fully appreciate it, but after only two listens its become one of my favorite releases of the year. Fred is my favorite living tenor sax player, and his endless reservior of creativity really shines in this music. For those of you unfortunate souls who have never had your brains blown by Fred Anderson in person, this is as good as it gets! Anyone else have any thoughts?

Matthew Shipp's "New Orbit" with Leo Smith is really nice. I enjoy listening to that album early in the morning before the sun rises. With the exception of "Nu Bop", I've enjoyed all of Shipp's recordings on this label, even "Harmony & Abyss", which seemed to be controversial. William Parker's albums are nice too, with my favorite being "Scrapbook". His most recent one, "Luc's Lantern" took a long time to get into but now I find it to be a very interesting album with many layers to peel back and discover. Matt Maneri's "Sustain" is very nice, as is Craig Taborn's "Light Made Lighter", Tim Berne's "The Sublime and" & David S. Ware's "Live in the World". Completely agree with impossible's comments below about Roy Campbell's "Its Krunch Time". This is an interesting label.

I may have to agree with that one.

I saw him play with Steve Turre's group last year and he was very impressive.

Its a fine album, but IMO not really different from any other Lee Morgan or hard bop session coming out at the time. The longer I listen to jazz, the more I appreciate the more unique sessions, like "Search for the New Land" or "The Procrastinator". But still, for Blue Note hard bop, its a good one.

That's a great set!

Finally got through the discs. Thank you again, Noj, for doing this. I think that both discs are a very strong representative of how hip hop sounded during its golden age, and why it used to be a special kind of music. This stuff comes from the underground (yes, even Ice Cube was underground in 1990!), far before the days of the "pop music" aka fake hip hop that we are bombarded with these days. All these cats....Eric Sermon, De La Soul, Boogie Down Productions, Kool G Rap....were innovators. Many people say that hip hop stopped evolving after the late 1980's. This could not be further from the truth. The evolution of hip hop can be compared to a jazz musician. The 1980s were when the cat was young, fired up, and playing the shit out of his horn. But he didn't quite find his voice until the 1990s, and in the early to mid 1990s, made the most innovative and creative music of his career. True, his nineties music may not have been as radical or controversial as when he first surfaced in the 1980's, but nonetheless, his music is stronger. At the turn of the millennium, he sold out and became someone like Chris Botti. Whether people like, or approve, of what is being said in the songs or not, hip hop is here to stay. As long as there are neighborhoods with violence, poverty and little hope for a future, kids will continue to rap about it. It has become an important form American music, even if it has been reduced to assembly line pop. Like jazz and rock & roll before it, its time in the "pop" limelight will come to an end, but it will always be listened to and enjoyed by future generations. And you can bet that a good amount of the music on Noj's discs will be the stuff that's still being listened to 50 years from now. Plus, those beats are sick!!

I have a one word explanation to the question you pose, Soul Stream. Drugs. And you are absolutely right in your second statement. I was one of those kids. Had it not been for Phish, the Dead, String Cheese Incident, Soulive, etc.....I would not like jazz today. They introduced me to improvisation (perhaps on a lower level most of the time), and through them, I discovered jazz. Don't need drugs to enjoy jazz!

I'm still getting through the discs. Will post here again once I'm done. Looking forward to discussing!

My buddy got an advance copy, and I heard the first half of it. Its nice. Kanye West is the only reason I've bought a new hip hop CD in the last 5 years. I like "The College Dropout", as well as Common's new disc "Be". Kanye produced that album. Both MCs from Chicago!

Damn, I haven't seen that move in years. Used to love it. How does it hold up?

Love Fantasy as well. For someone such as myself who hasn't been into jazz for decades, digging through the Fantasy catalogue is like digging through a treasure chest. I've found so much that I absolutely love, and its equally exciting to know that there is so much left that I haven't heard. I expect to be working for another 30 years or so, so as my income (hopefully) increases over my lifetime, I hope to always be able to be a supporter of Fantasy records and their program.

Robert Rodriguez confirmed a 2 disc special edition for later this year. Hold off on the bare bones release in stores now.

I have and enjoy both albums.

I like em alot too. Its the first Mustang since the 5.0 's from the 1980's that I actually like.

So I'm all excited to buy the sixth season of the Simpsons at my local Best Buy for $29.99. I get there, and to my surprise the set is made out of this really flimsy, cheap plastic...similar to what the Disney VHS tapes came in during the 1980s. The set is sealed shut by tape (!) and opens like a clam using a cheap plastic hinge on the bottom. The disc holders are not sturdy, and all the enclosed materials fall out every time the box is opened. Not only this, but the first piece of information to fall out is a card saying that by dialing a 1-800 number, you can get a slipcase for your crappy, cheaply made box set from Fox Home Entertainment. So I dial the number, and they are trying to charge a $2.95 shipping charge for it!! To securely store a poor quality product I already paid for, they are trying to charge for a sturdy slipcase!!!! What a fucking jip......this is the last Simpsons box set I buy, and possibly the last product I ever buy from Fox. Thanks for listening.

For the first time in probably 4 years, I won't be buying any of the new RVG's.

I'm all about the metal spines as well. Much nicer.