RDK

Now that's just plain, uh, unholy!

Dang - I'm joining you guys for breakfast!

As luck would have it, I'm listening to this right now in fact... Had no idea it was at one time released as a Corea album...

Once used circular breathing technique to re-inflate a downed Goodyear blimp prior to Superbowl XXII.

Real name "Engelbert Humperdinck." Oddly enough, Humperdinck's real name is "Benny Golson."

Why do you think all the finest restaurants are dimmly-lit? B-)

Well, there you have it! have what? As simple and as profound a statement as could be said about any jazz great?

Anyone care to check out Dan's A-to-Z list for the answers?

Anyone cross-check Dan's CDs with his blindfold test yet?

Don't worry, T - if you skip too many Record Surplus sales I'll know something's up...

Is it too late to believe in Odin, Thor, and those other kickass Norse gods? Their comic books were the shit...

email sent re: Mustang What's a UK version anyway? How different?

Pretty much what Lon said. SACD is a superior format overall (though I still think good mastering is the key to a great-sounding disc). Yeah, there are high-end CD players that probably sound better than the cheapest SACD players, but if I were investing money now in a new player I'd get one that played both formats.

I've been called a mouth-breather. Is that the same thing?

The Blue Note sides hold a special place in my heart because it was the first Monk I'd ever heard/owned, but I'd have to agree that the Prestige (and even moreso, the Riverside) albums are "better" and more interesting to me now. But then there ain't no bad Monk...

Berigan, you're such a tool. I blame your pal Bush in the White House for stuff like this. Yeah, him and his pal Chaney. They gotta be behind shit like this.

I'll check Amoeba next time I'm there. They've been getting the odd partial lately. Oh, and if anyone has Shorty Rogers disc #2 please let me know!

Hey Jim, you may be right! I've got this CD too - as well as many others by Earl - but I haven't listened to it in a while. He never would have crossed my mind since, like you, I was thinking "jazz" rather than "blues" guitarists. But then I always dug him because he sounded so jazzy... B-)

That was my first thought as well, but I have those discs and never liked it as much as I do this track. I don't recall Stanley playing with that much fire...

Here we go. Laugh away... Disc 2 1. “Summertime.” Interesting opening – delicate and lovely. I love the first few minutes of this but….hmmm… I like this less and less as the piece develops. Extremely groovy, but almost too much so. This goes way over the top for me – by the end, this seems almost a like a parody of a groovy piano trio (yeah, I know there’s guitar in there too). This woulda been an absolute blast to see live, but I’ve got very mixed feelings about this on record. I would guess the usual suspects: Gene Harris, Ramsey Lewis, etc… 2. The sound of this one sounds familiar, though not the tune itself. I know I’ve heard the guitar player before, but right now I’m drawing a blank. 3. Hey Dan, great taste! – another of my all-time favorite tunes (and one by a different “Duke” ). Nice version, don’t think I’ve heard it before. 4. I’m almost a bit surprised that Dan would dig this one. I would have thought it too fast and frenetic for his slower, bluesier tastes. I think I know this tune? I dunno – I like it but it also has that gimmicky Richie Cole style about it as well. I expect I’ll be surprised. 5. Ah hell, I always get these groovy BN “hits” confused – and to be honest, sometimes they all start to sound the same to me. This is “Sidewinder” or “Back at the Chicken Shack” or one of those. Not sure the version. How can one not dig this? 6. Good. Piano sounds rather Horace Silver-ish, but that’s not obviously the case once the full band kicks in. Band/arrangement sounds almost like Ellington, but too modern-sounding to be “vintage” Duke. 7. Organ and piano? That should narrow it down some, but I’m stupid that way. Organ sounds rather “skating rink.” Pre-Jimmy Smith and his ilk? (Maybe Sir Charles Thompson playing both? Nah, that doesn’t fit the groove.) Either way, very nice. 8. No idea. But nice enough. 9. As Aric would say, “Hell Yeah!” Maybe my favorite track on this disc. ‘Bout as greasy as it gets. That’s Major Holley doing his thing at the end. I was pretty sure this was from this album: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&t...10:ltazqjmyojha (which I have) but now I realize that Shirley plays organ on that date, not piano. If I don’t already have this I gotta get it! 10. “Willow Weep For Me.” Hmmm… I originally thought track 9 was Stanley T., but since that doesn’t add up, I would have considered him here but the sax sounds too aggressive and just a bit too “out” for him. Almost sounds like Shepp or Pharaoh Sanders in their later years (I have a couple of Sanders’ Venus albums that have him playing in this style). Whatever – I love this one. The rest of the band sounds anemic in comparison, but that may just be the recording. Another great disc Dan! (edited to correct a formatting error only)

I see Jim's been practicing his circular breathing techniques again. Better go outside and take a couple of deep breathes...

Do any tapes exist?

Personally, I wouldn't but any CDP right now that didn't also play SACDs...

No worries, Jim. I knew the score and wasn't expecting anything. Just wanted to add an additional dash of musical joy to your life. (That, and I recall a fondness for Specialty Records.)

Track four is, of course, "Things Aint..." I always get those two titles messed up damn it!