Late

My roommate from college lives in Fukushima. He and his wife are OK, but I worry about the nuclear reactor. They're outside the 3 kilometer evacuation zone, but still. The tsunami after-effects have already hit parts of the Southern Oregon coast. I don't know if it's made it this far north, but I would suspect so. My wife was just doing earthquake training for her 2nd grade class. I've only ever experienced one earthquake, and it was a minor one (3-something).

I just purchased my first Blue Note hybrid SACDs this month, too. I like the sound, but I'm not used to it to be honest. I don't know if I still prefer the vinyl-like quality of the BN Works TOCJs, but maybe I do. At any rate, I'm happy to have the three I bought (Lee-Way, Maiden Voyage, Page One), and I think they'll grow on me in a good way. On Page One, I could hear, maybe for the first time, the Getz influence in Joe's playing.

If it were on Impulse or Blue Note, I think it would have far greater recognition. The lineup — Hampton, Joachim Kühn, Neils-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, and Philly Joe Jones — is badass, and they all seem exceptionally pumped up for the proceedings, giving 110% of their effort and concentration. The year, 1969, makes it an interesting record too. Kühn probably had to reign things in a bit, but he still goes wild in his solos, often reaching inside the piano. (His Keith Jarrettisms are distracting, I will admit.) As for Hampton, hmmm. It's the most "fourthy" advanced modal trombone playing I've heard. Flippin' great. Philly's playing, at this time, would be a good blindfold test, I think. The great snare licks from his time with Miles are no longer as prominent. I should probably talk about this record in a different thread. I already double-posted the loudness comments.

That makes perfect sense. I wonder, then, why I rush to the volume knob to turn a compressed recording waaay down. Is it only because I'm perceiving a "loud" sound? When I play the Hampton reissue mentioned above, it's almost humorous how low I turn the volume knob. It's approximately at "2" of the 1-10 volume spectrum on my player.

I'm sure I confuse the two at times. In my understanding, I was under the impression that dynamic compression (or upward compression) results in a louder sounding recording, and that the term "loudness" refers to frequency response, which doesn't necessarily indicate that a recording itself will be, or is, "loud." The Wiki page I linked to at the top of the first post uses the term "loudness war," but that might be a misnomer, as the actual "war" appears to be in regard to compression and not frequency response. The loudness war, as a term and as an idea, doesn't seem (to me at least) like BS, but rather a standard practice — that compressed, and thus loud sounding, recordings (or television commercials, or radio broadcasts) capture attention through a loud "audio image," which is sometimes referred to as a wall of sound. Maybe my real gripe is just with compression (at least as I understand it), and my surprise that it seems more and more common in Japanese jazz reissues. That's all — not trying to start a labored debate over compression and whether it's inherently bad.

Waldron with Wendell Marshall.

From this page, which is worth reading: TOCJ 50086, The Fabulous Slide Hampton Quartet is the loudest jazz reissue I have ever heard. I think this session may have originally been recorded on the "hot" side, but for me this particular reissue is almost instantly fatiguing. A shame; it's one of my very favorite trombone-led quartet sessions. There are at least three different CD reissues of this album. I'll have to search others out. Of the new "Jazz 999" TOCJ 500xx series, I've heard three titles so far. All are unusually loud. Even more of a shame; some titles are seeing their very first issue on compact disc. Maybe some other titles in the series will have more dynamic range than the ones I've heard. It's depressing to me that the Japanese jazz reissue market has seemingly bought into the loudness war. I don't have an iPod or earbuds. I have nothing against them, but how much, in your opinion, are they a culprit in this "war"?

I've always thought that Dexter Blows Hot and Cool was a somewhat undervalued record in Dex's discography. Nothing out of the ordinary, but very, very swinging in that laid back Dex way. Some fine Carl Perkins on that set too. The Bethlehem date is also nice.

Ellis live at Tanglewood, 1968. Dig Frank Strozier and John Klemmer. And the almost-Sun Ra matching outfits.

Here's a guess: It's the only listing of "bt" — which I'm guessing is short for bass trumpet — that I see from this page.

The huncher is Max Roach. Don't know the mystery trumpet player. I'm guessing the photos were taken at the Lennox School.

From this page: TOCJ 50086, The Fabulous Slide Hampton Quartet is the loudest jazz reissue I have ever heard. I think this session may have originally been recorded on the "hot" side, but for me this particular reissue is almost instantly fatiguing. A shame; it's one of my very favorite trombone-led quartet sessions. There are at least three different CD reissues of this album. I'll have to search others out. Of the new "Jazz 999" TOCJ 500xx series, I've heard three titles so far. All are unusually loud. Even more of a shame; some titles are seeing their very first issue on compact disc. Maybe some other titles in the series will have more dynamic range than the ones I've heard.

My first three CDs, purchased in August 1988, were Giant Steps, Outward Bound, and Go!. I hadn't actually heard the latter two albums before. I'd only started buying records three years earlier when I was 15. At the time, my LP collection consisted of only five artists: Coltrane, Rollins, Dolphy, Coleman, and Bird. (I had one Coleman Hawkins record, but I didn't get it yet.) Twenty-two years later, I'm still a CD junkie. I'm afraid to count, but I think the collection is somewhere around 5,000 discs. The LPs are at a miniscule 14. I had to sell most of what I had way back then in order to fund the purchase of my first CD player. I also had to sell my turntable, amp, and speakers. For a number of years, my only setup was a Sony Discman and headphones. When all those Blue Notes came out on disc in 1988/89, I was in heaven. Nearly every single one of them was new to me. I particularly remember being riveted by In 'N Out and Dialogue. I hadn't even heard Miles' Second Quintet yet. I wish I'd collected classical CDs in the late 80's and early 90's. Now that I listen to classical music these days more than jazz, I'm finding that there are so many out-of-print discs I'd like to hear.

One of the classiest acts in the biz.

Just check out his solos on that early Tadd Dameron date (from the Blue Note Lost Sessions). Very "in the bag." I hope this set is a Mosaic big box, but I'll be happy if it's a Mosaic Select — as long as it actually comes out! Here's the purchase I'm imagining for myself later this year (or some time next year): • Lucky Thompson Mosaic Select • John Carter/Bobby Bradford Mosaic Select • Sam Rivers Trio Mosaic I'll probably add the Akiyoshi/Tabackin set as well. Whew. Time to raise some dough. Feel free to buy my discs in the Offering forum!

Didn't know she'd played with Braxton, but that makes sense. Kind of a Taylor Ho Bynum vibe. How long has the flugabone been around? I've never heard of one until today. Maybe the bop parallel would be when J.J. played the trombonium.

An Israeli trombonist and "flugabone" player, Ms. Regev is putting something out there that's fresh (if not wholly "new"). One track ("Hula Hula") from her 2009 album is currently available at Amazon as a free download. Right here. Check it out (it's free!), and see what you think.

Up for air after six years. Listening to this right now (TOCJ 6115), and I have to say that it might just be the best-recorded album on Pacific Jazz. Staggeringly present soundstage. Really, really beautiful. The kind of CD that stereo shops should use (yeah, right) to show off their high end gear. The breath coming from the sides of Bill Perkins' mouth is almost a separate instrument — like brushes on the most delicate snare head. But never mind that — the music is sublime. The low flames are sometimes the most concentrated. On the surface this album would seem sleepy, but everyone seems actually quite alert, placing notes here and there with deliberate care. If something can be paradoxically low-key and intense at the same time, this album would be a model example.

Happy 101 Ben!

A heads-up for Ben fans — the complete No Fool, No Fun sessions are available for download at Amazon for $7.99. Here. These are the rehearsal tapes (with master takes included) which I normally wouldn't be too excited about, but — in this particular case — the music and studio chatter is actually pretty engaging. Ben is in good form (both musically and comedically), the music swings, and listening to what actually went down in the studio gives a fair amount of perspective. Ben cracks the band up a number of times. Check it out! Original cover.

Now I have Ansermet's Brahms symphony cycle on order. Australian Decca.

track: "Strange Things Happening Every Day"

Well, if you contact Hirochi, you may very well end up with this: But if you contact Hiroshi, you'll certainly end up with this:

And Harden evidently played a rotary valve trumpet, at least for some of these Savoy sessions.

I wish I would have bought this when I had the chance.