RDK

Ugh. The problem with getting rid of the middle men (the record companies) and letting the artists control the distribution of their work is that sometimes the artists are idiots when it come to business decisions...

Hmmm. Interesting, Lon. I don't know if I've ever heard Duke play any Monk tunes. Any recommendations?

Congrats all around. It's the most wonderful thing in the world!

Man, can you even imagine the inferiority complex that James - Brother of Jesus © - must have had!

Hey Kevin - I know you started hanging around SH.TV, so you might want to read some of Tom's posts over there (he hasn't posted lately, but a year or two ago). He goes by "Humorem" or something like that.

On the contrary. I think if any "feds" stumble upon this thread, they might take comfort in how we've all put Aric down for his suggestion...

This story was just on 60 Minutes a few weeks ago. The guy (antiquities dealer) was finally busted by the Israeli feds...

And Aric, if you wanna be cheap about it, the entire OJC catalog is available on emusic.com... (for a small fee, of course...)

I've met Tom - he's really into that stuff. There's some validity to it, but life's too short as it is for me to worry about such things...

"Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes." - Walt Whitman

"footnote?" "WTF?" This is the soriest excuse for a RIP/tribute thread I've ever read. Why bother even starting it or posting in it if you couldn't care less about the band or the deceased?

Tell me about it! You shoulda tried listening to Al's 91-track bonus disc. I've never heard a CD play scream out in pain like that before...

Don't worry, Cool, the guys are just funnin' you. Don't think anyone else here has heard of the Mocking Shadows (great band name, btw), so the thread veers off into talk about giant pussy cats and such stuff. Pretty typical around here actually...

Seriously, though, I miss them and what they can potentially offer. Sure, Crouch's notes are pointless, while Mehldau's are overly thick and verbose. And saying that they're no longer needed to sell an album (since they're wrapped up inside) or that the printing is now too small seem like mere technical issues to me. It's the contextual insight and behind-the-scenes details that I miss. That, and the occassional artist's perspective you might get. The best of the ol' BN and OJC notes helped me get closer to the artist, on either a personal or artistic level.

I believe in the jazz world it's pronounced "sammich."

Well said, Patricia.

Wait until you get a look at the Political Forum!

Well I knew I recognized tr 17 - I've had it as a JRVG for several years now, but haven't listened to it in ages. Don't know how I got the Booker tune mixed up with it. Oddly enough, I remember not really carring about this album all that much, but this tune is really terrific. Gonna have to pull it out and give it a spin. Hey Al, you're not the only one who picked up that Ellington album either. It's a recent favorite of mine, though I've only spun it a few times. There are just so many damn versions of that tune that I didn't want to hazard a guess. Hmm. I have 16 on CD - it was actually my very first album by the leader (bought as an old BN cassette in the 80s) but didn't recognize it here.

I've delayed long enough! Sorry, Al, for the slow response (did you get my PM re: the bonus disc?) but these pre- and post-holiday weeks have been killer. This was a pretty terrific disc overall. All the tunes were at least nice, some great, but I think it was a bit too "safe" for my tastes so only a few tracks really stood out to me as something I need to hear more of. On the other hand, I didn't dislike any of them. These were very tough for me to identify, though I'm sure I'll be kicking myself when all is said and done. So without further ado, and not having read any part of this thread (or AMG)... 1 Carl Stalling! Nice start to remind us that jazz can be fun… 2 I should know the name of this tune, but… Nice version! But no clue as to players. Sounds fairly modern though. 3 This sounds familiar too. Very lush arrangement, almost like the theme from some 1940’s flick… Too slick for Ellington, but the influence is there… 4 Some vintage stuff! Nice, but no clue. 5 Rockin’ n Rhythm. Ellington. Nice arrangement – I like the sparser opening, then the full band comes in. 6 More Ellington, though I forget the name of this one. 7 No clue. 8 Nice Latin flavor to this one… 9 Another familiar tune. I think I have this one. Is this from one of the Hutcherson-Hancock albums? 10 Love the sax! 11 Golson’s “Blues March?” Don’t know this version with the flute. I’m sure I could look it up… 12 Nice, but also a bit too film music-y. 13 Was that JB speaking in the intro? Organ’s okay, but I love that guitar! 14 Sounds like Richie Cole and some dude at the skating rink! How can one not like this even if you can’t take it too “seriously?” 15 No clue… 16 Tune sounds a bit familiar, or maybe just the opening vamp. Good, not great… 17 This sounds very familiar – I was listening to another version of this just a few weeks ago. I’m thinking it’s Booker Ervin’s “Scootchy” or whatever it’s called; that or I’m getting my tunes mixed up (which is likely!). A great tune and one of my favorites on this disc.

Received my first batch yesterday and have been slowly making my way through them. The Barney Wilen is the standout so far, but I've only listened to 5 or 6 of them. The Byas and Peiffer (sp?) discs were sold out. Does DG usually get more of this kind of stuff in or should I search elsewhere for the "missing" discs that I'm interested in? Either way, I think I'll order a few more tomorrow... B-)

Most here probably have no clue as to who he was, but I know a few of you do. Creator of The Spirit and one of the undisputed geniuses of the medium... By Bob Andelman, author of the authorized biography, Will Eisner: A Spirited Life Legendary comics and graphic novel artist and writer Will Eisner died last night, Monday, January 3, 2005, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at the age of 87, following complications from quadruple heart bypass surgery. Will Eisner didn’t create Superman, Batman, Spider-Man or even Archie and Jughead. Some comic book fans may scratch their heads when asked to describe his work. But every artist and writer in comic books, as well as graphic artists across the entire spectrum of modern illustration, television and film, owes a debt to him. In 1941, Eisner created a goofball detective named Denny Colt who died (not really) and was reborn as “The Spirit,” the cemetery-dwelling protector of the public — and pretty girls in particular. The Spirit possessed no superpowers. He couldn’t see through his girlfriend’s clothing the way a curious alien like the Man of Steel might scientifically investigate Lois Lane. And he wasn’t a brilliant technologist like Batman, imagineering hokey gadgets and psychedelic compounds for all-night parties with the Joker. The Spirit broke so many molds: * Eisner was the strip’s artist and writer, a feat that is still rare today. * The Spirit was published and distributed as an insert in Sunday newspapers, ala Parade magazine. It was seen weekly by as many as 5-million people from 1941 to 1952. * No two Spirit sections looked alike. Although most commercial operations – from Superman to Pepsi-Cola – spend millions of dollars testing, proving and marketing their logos, Eisner thought it was more challenging to change The Spirit’s masthead every week – for 12 years. * The Spirit was a fun, mature read, aimed at adults but accessible to kids. For all of these reasons, The Spirit was published and reissued in various forms almost uninterrupted for 60 years. Its look, feel and smartass humor is timeless, which accounts for the countless revivals. Eisner, who went to high school with “Batman” creator Bob Kane, provided first jobs in the comics business to everyone from Jack Kirby (co-creator of “Captain America” and the “Fantastic Four”) to Pulitzer-winning writer and artist Jules Feiffer. If not for Eisner’s influence, Pulitzer Prize winner Art Spiegelman might never have published his graphic novel Maus: A Survivor’s Tale (Eisner is credited with popularizing — if not inventing — the medium of the graphic novel with the 1978 publication of his graphic story collection, A Contract With God) and fellow Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay would have been missing quite a few Eisner-inspired tales. For comic book professionals, the highest honor in the industry is either an Eisner Award, named for Eisner and given out every summer at Comic-Con International in San Diego, or a Harvey Award, named for Eisner’s late friend Harvey Kurtzman, the creator of Mad magazine and Playboy’s “Little Annie Fanny,” given every April in Pittsburgh. Kurtzman, who discovered talents as diverse as R. Crumb and Gloria Steinem, passed away in 1993, making Eisner the last man standing. Literally. At every Eisner Awards ceremony, each recipient was handed his or her award by the man himself. Several years ago, a big red velvet chair was put on stage for Eisner. The Eisner Awards promoters said, “Come on, Will, you shouldn’t have to stand up all this time; here, have a seat.” Eisner sat on it briefly, got a laugh out of it, but then he stood up again, and stayed on his feet the rest of the night. Eisner demonstrated his strength of character and enduring physical wherewithal by standing on stage throughout the entire presentation, shaking hands and personally congratulating the winners. Because there is a different presenter for each award, no one else stood for as long as Eisner. That’s why, when Eisner handed the 2002 Eisner Award for Best Serialized Story (Amazing Spider-Man #30-35: “Coming Home”) to writer J. Michael Straczynski and artists John Romita Jr. and Scott Hanna, Straczynski thrust the award in the air and remarked, “You know, you get the Emmy, you don’t get it from ‘Emmy.’ You win the Oscar, you don’t get it from ‘Oscar.’ How freakin’ cool is this?”

There are so many witty rejoinders going through my head right now that I can't decide...

Well, I just bought a couple more Ikea CD shelves and am in the process of reorganizing my collection, so while sorting through a couple thousand CDs I should come across a rather large handful that I haven't listened to in ages (or at all ) so that may keep me distracted for a week or two. I also barely cracked the three Mosaics I received for Christmas. Hmmm... do discs that I purchased last year but haven't received yet count? I'm awaiting an order of Jazz in Paris discs... But so far this year, I haven't purchased any new discs yet...

It's not nice (nor gramatically correct) to refer to Chuck as "strange people." Unless he brought friends...

I would avoid anything below 196 or VBR (for stereo; you can get away with less for mono). Above that, it's a compromise between sound quality (or what you can hear) and storage space. Just remember that MP3 is *not* an archival medium - it's a way to store more audio data in a given storage space.