RDK

Well we do have Wynton's new Blue Note album to look forward to...

He should be barred just for excessive melodrama. His book (an autobiography I presume) is entitled "My Prison Without Bars." Pete was one of my heroes as a kid. But he should give up his obsession with getting into the Hall. (His records, though, should be and are represented there.)

"Happy Happy joy Joy" to everyone! And to all a Good Night...

Couw, this is the version to get. While it may be on Charley, it's also on Fuel/Universal... http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&u...l=A7i0qoatalijv I'm terribly embarrassed about missing this one. I actually have the disc, but failed to recognize it, even (at first) as an AEC tune.

Well, so far I'm battin' a big fat "zero." B) Y'know I think I actually have that Horace Silver album, though I don't know if i've ever actually spun it - bought it in a pile last year of about a hundred jazz LPs. I'm shocked -shock, i tell you! - that track 2 is by David Seville. Who'd a thunk it? Chipmunk jazz. I don't have a lot of Woody Herman in my collection - the Mosaic set and a few other later discs - but the more I hear of it the more I love it. Up until a few years ago I naively/ignorantly put him in the same category as Glen Miller and Benny Goodman - somewhat square-ish white guy big band - rather than with the likes of Ellington and Basie, but since them I'm finding so much to dig about his music. Gotta hunt this down...

Off topic, but for those interested in pricy Hot Wheels... http://www.latimes.com/la-fi-hotwheels18de...1,4334382.story Toy Cars for Adult Budgets By John O'Dell, Times Staff Writer At a crowded toy convention, Bruce Pascal delicately pulled a small plastic cylinder from his pocket. He popped the cap and out slid a 3-inch-long bundle swathed in bubble wrap. "I'm asking $35,000," he said, unwrapping his treasure: a die-cast, deep-purple model of a Volkswagen bus, made in 1969 by Mattel Inc.'s Hot Wheels unit. Pascal, a commercial real estate agent in Washington, didn't make this sale at the 17th annual Hot Wheels Collectors Convention in Irvine. But he has bought and sold several other Hot Wheels toys for five-figure prices in recent years. He paid what's considered a record for a Hot Wheels item: nearly $70,000 for a one-of-a-kind, hot-pink prototype of a VW bus model, called the Beach Bomb. It's now on display at the Hot Wheels exhibition at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. After 35 years and 3 billion toy car sales, Hot Wheels is in a world of its own. There are about a dozen competitors — Italy's Bburago and domestic brands such as Ertl, American Muscle and Maisto. But these toy firms focus on larger-scale, more accurate reproductions than Hot Wheels' basic line of cartoonish models. Although sales have fallen and flattened out in the last two years, in part because of a weak economy, no one comes close to Hot Wheels' estimated $275 million in annual sales, second only to Barbie in Mattel's lineup. And none has the hard-core following of adults, probably 25,000 strong, that collects old models and keeps driving prices higher on EBay and upscale auction houses such as Sotheby's. British dealer Charles Kitson sells a software program to track 24,500 Hot Wheels products, including 1/64-scale car models, racetrack sets, lunchboxes, children's shoes, posters, coloring books and other paraphernalia. Collectors prize older Hot Wheels in pristine condition and often keep them in their original packaging, unopened. That's probably why one Hot Wheels buyer missed the chance to turn a 99-cent Corvette model into the $35,000 real thing. A decade ago, Hot Wheels celebrated the production of its 1 billionth car with a promotional campaign that included a special edition gold-colored Corvette model. One toy came with a coupon that could be redeemed for a real 'Vette. But the winning Corvette coupon was never claimed — and the giveaway expired. "We assume that one of our collectors purchased the product but didn't open the package, to keep the packaging in mint condition," Mattel spokeswoman Alisa Feinstein said. "More than likely, the collector still has it and never realized it was the winner." There are occasional tales of marriages destroyed by manic Hot Wheels collectors, with their compulsion to overspend on the tiny metal cars. Ross "Buzz" Anderson, 52, said it was the spending and the household disruption caused by his need to display his treasures that cost him his marriage. The Solvang, Calif., resident, a freelance legal writer, said that when his wife filed for divorce in 1987 she cited his hobby as a reason. "She told me she was sick and tired of me wasting money on 'those [expletive] little cars that are taking up all the room in the spare bedroom,' " Anderson said. He had about 1,500 Hot Wheels items back then. His collection of about 12,000 vintage toys today includes about 8,000 Hot Wheels pieces, Anderson said. "It just gets in your blood." A few years after the divorce, Anderson's ex-wife accompanied him and their son to a Hot Wheels convention, where he sold two of the cars from the collection she had disliked so much. "She quieted down," Anderson recalled, "when I got $5,000 for the pair. She was with me years earlier when I paid about 50 cents each for them." Many enthusiasts say their collections are driven by a simple impulse. "It's a chance to own all the cars we could never afford as kids," said David Lopez, a Hot Wheels collector in San Jose. Lopez, 52, said his collection — 3,000 pieces and counting — was fueled by a desire to have the childhood he missed while growing up in a migrant farm worker family. Mattel detoured into toy cars in 1968, when cap gun sales faltered and it was stuck with excess production capacity. Company co-founder Elliot Handler wanted a toy for boys to complement the Barbie line for girls. He knew that an English firm, Matchbox — now owned by Mattel — was successful selling realistic metal toy replicas of milk trucks, wagons and mass-production cars. Inspired by the customized vehicles he spotted in Mattel's El Segundo parking lot, Handler told his designers to create a new car toy with a California look. Ever since, Hot Wheels signature cars and trucks have had exaggerated proportions: big engines, fancy bright paint, chrome trim, slick oversized wheels, hood scoops, flame decals, low front ends and other customized hot-rod features. Handler came up with the name Hot Wheels because the big wheels and axles made of slender piano wire helped the cars roll faster than competitors' models. Much of the credit for Hot Wheels' longevity goes to Larry Wood, 61, a lifelong car nut and the toy firm's chief designer for 34 years. Wood grew up in the '50s, when Detroit aped the fashion industry by dramatically changing the styling of its cars every year. After graduating from Pasadena's Art Center College of Design, Wood was hired by Ford Motor Co. as a car designer in Michigan. "I got tired of doing hundreds of grilles and taillights," he said. He also missed the warm weather in California and returned for a design job at Lockheed Corp. In 1969 at a backyard barbecue, he watched in amazement as young children played with a set of tiny new model cars that raced around an orange plastic track. The toys were supplied by a designer from Mattel's fledgling car studio. The next week the designer moved over to work on Mattel's space action figures, and Wood was hired to replace him. "Now I was doing whole cars, and doing them every day," Wood said. For most of the 1970s and well into the '80s, Wood was the only Hot Wheels designer, and he crafted every car, truck and motorcycle. He now heads a team of 30 designers and model makers who work a block from Mattel's El Segundo headquarters in a studio that resembles a 1950s gas station. Machined stainless-steel walls gleam under overhead lights, and the designers surround their desks with stacks of clay and wooden models, prototypes and finished versions of their favorite toys. Hot Wheels' mainstay 1/64-scale models still sell for 99 cents, though larger and more detailed cars sell new for $30 and more. On weekends, Wood satisfies his need to work on full-size vehicles by tinkering at his hot rod and restoration shop in Long Beach. His favorite car is a 1932 Nash he juiced up with a 454-horsepower Corvette engine, air conditioning, cruise control and a hot-rod paint job. Wood is a fan of "hot" colors — the reds, oranges and yellows that trickle into many Hot Wheels designs. This year's Hot Wheels crop includes both the new (a competition-orange Hummer, a 50th-anniversary 2003 Corvette and Porsche 917 race car) and the classic (a 1965 Shelby Mustang muscle car and a souped-up 1948 Ford "Woody" station wagon with flame decals and a black, red, yellow and white paint job). Typically, the Hot Wheels lineup is a blend of new designs and updated reissues of older models. But traditional American muscle cars — Ford Mustangs, Chevrolet Camaros, Pontiac GTOs and Dodge Chargers — are the most consistent sellers. And the Custom Corvette, first issued in 1968, is by far the biggest seller of all. At 35, Hot Wheels is as old as many designers who work in real car studios in California, Detroit, Europe and Japan. Many designers grew up playing with and admiring the Hot Wheels lines. "I had a huge collection when I was a kid, and they sparked my interest in cars and design," said Volvo designer Blair Taylor. Taylor works at Volvo's North American design center in Camarillo and teaches auto design at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. He still appreciates Hot Wheels because of their exaggerated sense of proportion. "The cars are wide and long and sleek and have these oversize wheels, and that spoke to me. Now, as a designer, I'm always trying to push the proportions — to get the biggest wheels," he said. Taylor uses his collection of more than 450 die-cast cars, including 250 Hot Wheels models, "as a sort of three-dimensional visual library." A Hot Wheels toy can accelerate from an idea to something on a store shelf in a few months. If the car is a detailed replica of a race car, then licensing agreements have to be struck for each of the car's sponsorship decals. "Some of those cars have 30 or 40 sponsors on them," Wood said. Technology has simplified toy design. Wood and his staff once hand-drew everything, then took measurements from the drawings. Now many designs are done on computers with a stylus and a digitizing pad. Designs are then fed by computer to a model-making machine to create an oversize car model. The models are used to build production molds, with hollow cooling tunnels and bridges to allow the molten metal to flow from one section to the next. Even a basic 99-cent Hot Wheels model requires several molds: one for the chassis, one for the interior and one for the exterior. Some larger, 1/18-scale models have 200 pieces, each requiring a mold of its own. Hot Wheels are sprayed with a primer, then with a final coat of enamel, which could be the automaker's factory-correct color or a sparkling metallic hue. Then the pieces are snapped together at four factories in Asia. Eventually the toys reach stores and sell at a rate of about 100 million a year. Many of them then migrate to swap meets and other collector events. Like many other collectors, Hot Wheels aficionados prize oddities. From 1968 until 1977, Hot Wheels models came with a thin red stripe around the tire sidewalls. The red added about a penny to the cost of each car, and Mattel quit making the tires during one of its periodic financial downturns. Now the "red line" is a classic, with prices ranging from $125 to $250. At the Irvine convention in October, nearly 3,000 people paid the $60 registration fee for the four-day homage to all things Hot Wheels, organizer Mike Strauss said. The action spilled over all 14 floors and almost all 536 rooms of the Hyatt Regency hotel. Rooms were stuffed with Hot Wheels cars and related products as enthusiasts — mostly men over 30 — wandered about, buying and selling and talking Hot Wheels. Strauss' own collection of 30,000 Hot Wheels — valued at $1 million — is believed to be the world's biggest. He keeps some of the cars at his house. He also has rented a storage room filled with Hot Wheels and has lent about 1,000 pieces to the exhibition at the Petersen museum. Strauss has turned his hobby into a lucrative business. He organizes Hot Wheels conventions, publishes a collector newsletter and is a distributor of Hot Wheels products to small retailers. The major automakers also have seen the value of Hot Wheels: They like seeing their designs immortalized in toy form and have discovered that having a detailed die-cast model in stores at the same time a new car hits the market can help pump up sales. In recent years, automakers have started providing Mattel with their highly secret designs. Mattel and other car model makers gain access to automakers' design vaults after paying a licensing fee to take an early look at, say, the next Ford Mustang or the new Chrysler PT Cruiser. Mattel also has an exclusive deal with Ferrari. In 1999, the Italian builder of exotic cars made Hot Wheels the sole manufacturer of die-cast metal replicas of its Ferrari and Maserati vehicles. So on the same day last year that the $651,000 Enzo Ferrari was unveiled at the Paris Auto Show, a 1/18-scale Hot Wheels model, in flaming Ferrari red and carrying a $25 price tag, hit toy stores. Similar deals for exclusive Hot Wheels toys have been struck with General Motors Corp., Porsche and BMW. And although auto magazines pay small fortunes to freelance "spy" photographers for pictures of what may or may not be the long-awaited 2005 redesign of the Chevrolet Corvette, Hot Wheels designers have long known exactly what it looks like. "I've got all the plans in my computer," Wood said. The new 'Vette goes on sale at dealerships in the spring. But the '05 Hot Wheels Corvette model will be out in January.

That part doesn't make sense. Has a company like that ever produced a run of less than a few dozen cars with a certain color scheme?...or even 100? Heck, I think I had one of those back in the 70's and wound up putting it on the train tracks near my house just to see it get flattened like a quarter. The way I understand it is that they made each model in certain colors - yes, often millions in each color - but that occassionally the factory may have shot off some cars in the "wrong" paint or switched raw cars on the assembly line while in the process of changing paint colors. They might have made several hundreds/thousands in those colors, but only a few have survived, of course, because of all those young idiot kids who used to flatten them on train tracks.

That *is* a rare color for that particular Hot Wheels model. There's been mucho discussion about it on the redline board that I'm on. (Yeah, I collect 'em, but only the cheap, non-magenta ones ).

I agree with Moose and John about Lou. His early work essential, his later stuff more erratic - but his best is still pretty darn good. However, I also can't disagree with the Onion about his Poe album...

Got mine. Johnny giving the finger just didn't seem in the holiday spirit...

Okay - now I'm confused. I was 95% sure I knew what 2-2 was, but I just put on what I *thought* it was and it's not it. And yet I'm pretty sure that I have it (or have at least heard it) but the suggestions by other participants don't ring any bells either! Me gotta listen to that cool shit again...

Yeah, and which one's George Coleman?

Alright, moving on to disc 2... 1. This starts out like something that I wouldn't like - too screechy for my tastes - but it quickly settles into something that I'm digging more and more with each listen. The e-piano dates it to the early 70's (at least post-Bitches Brew) but it's probably someone that I'm not familiar with (meaning it's not hancock or corea ). It almost sounds early-ECM-ish, like something Dave Liebman might have done (but I don't think it's him either). Interesting... 2. I know/have this one. Damn it, Jim, this was gonna be on my blindfold test! This is the tune I keep humming long after the disc is over. 3. This is pretty obvious too. May not be jazz, but you can still make out to it... 4. I'm bad at identifying specific players based on tone, but I'm thinking this may be off of one of Ron Carter's (Milestone?) albums from the 70s. Either that or a more modern cat like David Friesen... Nice, but doesn't knock me out. I'm not sure I'd want to listen to an entire album of this. 5. This sounds like a "modern" version of trad jazz - maybe from the late-50's/early 60's revival? No idea as to specific players. The tune itself sounds vaguely familiar... 6. No clue. Not my favorite cut on the disc, but I wouldn't kick it out of bed... 7. I like this, but I can't put my finger on it at all. It's part conventional big band, but has a freer, more modern aspect to it as well (and no piano!). Parts of it reminds me of Andrew Hill's big band album from last year. It's free but still swinging. This is about as far out as I really like to go but still "enjoy" my jazz if you know what I mean. Kinda like Braxton playing the standards. 8. This tune also sounds vaguely familiar - and almost Basie-ish. But not sure... 9. Sonny Rollins? "Doxy?" If not Sonny, then he at least played it at some point as that's who this cut reminds me of. 10. Leon Redbone? I could listen to this stuff all day long. And my wife would dig it too. 11. Man, I like this cut! Latin, but with a tuba? Mike Westbrook goes South o' the Border? (Now *that* would be a cool disc!) The tuba's of course throwing me off, otherwise I might guess Gato Barbieri. Heck, I'll still guess Gato. I'm really digging the various textures and rhythms of this cut. The more I listen to it the more I think I've heard it before - heck, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that I have this at home. Okay, I'm sure I've embarrassed myself enough for one day...

It usually starts with the personal exchanges - the oohing and aahing and all that - then quickly turns into an orgy. Yep, Christmas is much like a porn film...

Mingus? Really? A few maybe in feeling, but I don't think any of the tracks are actually by Mingus...

I don't like any of them! You call this jazz???

Listening again, Disc 1, Track 2 sounds like it could be Raymond Scott, but the noisiness of the recording (LP? 78?) throws me off since all the Scott I have is on squeeky clean CDs. As for Track 5, geez, I can't believe I missed JB. I like and listen to too many 50's jump-blues singers and that threw me off - I was expecting someone else. Track 12. Yes, definitely AEC. Wasn't thinking of them because the track is a bit further out than most of the AEC that I know, which is their ECM recordings. And even those i haven't spun in several years. Sounds almost like a Tom Waits instrumental at the end.

Love it! Chick & Lovecraft - who'da thunk it?

I apologize in advance to Jim for not giving his discs the full attention they require, but I've just got too many things on my plate this week. I've listened to both discs a couple of times now, but haven't the time to really try to figure out who's who and what's what. And now I'm too eager to learn the wonderful truths! I can honestly say that I like everything I hear, even those cuts that may not be strictly "jazz." Nothing is so far out as to make my ears bleed (actually, nothing on disc 1 even comes close to that), and I'm really digging the rhythms on even the "non-jazz" cuts. I'll be coming back to these discs over and over again. So let me throw out some quick comments, at least for disc 1... 1. I know this song - Monk, I think - but I'm too dulled at the moment to be certain of the title. But I don't think that's Monk on the piano - sounds too lyrical to me. Taken from an LP, so maybe it's not on CD? 2. No clue, but I dig that rhythm! 3. No clue 4. I really like this, but so many things went through my head upon hearing it that I'm not sure who this is. The sax is almost too aggressive for a "jazz" player. It sounds more like a honker and shouter-type of player. My first thought was Big Jay McNeely, but it's obviously not that vintage of a recording - the electric guitar gives that away. The instrumentation sounds like something Gil Evans did with his late period band - love how that guitar shakes things up! - and I know that Jim digs Evans. 5. "That's My Desire." I love this period and style of music, but I'm not sure of the singer. I wouldn't be surprised one bit to learn that I have something of him at home. 6. When is a jazz singer not a jazz singer? (Or vice-versa?) "I Remember You." Obviously a 50's recording. I cheated a bit on this one, but I suspect it's Doris Day. Those opening vocals give me chills... 7. "Little Rootie Tootie?" At least it's a Monk tune. Not sure who. Maybe a Konitz duet with piano? 8. I know this song as well, but can't come up with the title. Sax sure sounds like Rollins to me, but did he ever play with an organist? (Maybe I'm just thinking of Sonny's version) I'm curious... 9. No idea, but again I dig the rhythm. This is earthy stuff - primal blues. 10. Ah, this I bet was controversial! All the ol' BN fans will probably think it's Blakey on one of his "solo" drum/percussion tracks, but I don't think so. But it is the kind of stuff that inspired him to do those. 11. Makes me smile. No idea, but it's old... 12. Okay, this is the furthest "out" I've heard so far, but it's not too bad. Not the kind of thing I'd listen to often (at least when the wife's around), but I dig it's energy and fiery passion. Is this Ayler or Shepp? 13. Pleasant ol' swing that contrasts nicely to the previous cut - my how far jazz has progressed over the years! I'm beginning to see what Jim was going after. Again, I'm too dulled to guess players or even vintage, but the sax sounds like Ben Webster maybe? 14. "Almost Like Being in Love." Getz? Almost sounds like a bari on my office speakers, so I'm not positive, but it sure sounds like Getz to me. 15. Probably Hamp on vibes, but I'm not sure of the pianist. That's all for now. I'll get to disc 2 later on, but I do want to mention that I know very well what track 2 on disc 2 is. In fact, it was on my list to be used on my upcoming BFT. (edited because I forgot track 15!)

While I generally agree with Chuck here, I will add that there's nothing wrong with "finding comfort in a small, cozy world." One likes what one likes. There are a lot of "styles" of jazz, and there's no reason that someone must dig them all. While I like some of the freer and more a-g jazz, it's not really my cuppa. But at the same time I can't wait for a blindfold test from someone who really digs a-g and compiles a selection of tracks that he thinks us more conservative jazz fans might like. I'm ready and willing to be turned on...

In other words, while I don't want to see discs made up of pop music, rock, classical, or opera - this is a jazz-themed blindfold test after all - I'd prefer fewer specific rules in place to limit the content. Now that I think about it, the only problem with Jim giving us 2 discs instead of the "usual" 1 and opening up the definitional boundaries a bit is that it makes it harder to figure out who's who and what's what. With Dan's disc, for example, one could generally narrow one's guessing to the funkier piano/organ/sax combos that he favors, but by expanding the genre parameters our choices expand tremendously.

That someone could actually be annoyed by material that is not jazz frightens me... I guess if you bought a disc expecting a certain type of music and the artist didn't deliver then one could be disappointed or annoyed, but half the point of these BFTs is the element of discovery/surprise. It's fun (at least for me) to draw connections between the music, contemplate the "bigger picture," and just maybe try to understand just a little bit better the compiler's overall musical tastes.

Have listened to both discs a couple of times now, but not critically (which means in my office, while working, and at home with the kids screaming) so I'm not prepared just yet for any track-by-track comments. I did skim this thread so far, but was careful to avoid seeing any guesses to any specific tracks. I must say i'm surprised that a few people are "offended" (using Jim's term) by a few of the cuts here. Yeah, a few of the vocal numbers may not be "jazz" but they are "jazzy," and even a few of the other tracks with their European classical and African beats have jazz elements to them. I'm constantly surprised how narrow some folks' definition of jazz is - and I'm not just talking 'bout Hardbop. Still, we all just like what we like and there's no getting around that now is there? My tastes are pretty broad and I'm actually finding the music on these discs more accessible than I would have thought - I was expecting stuff a bit more daring and out there coming from Jim. Nothing's made my ears bleed yet and my toes have been tapping quite a bit. I'm enjoying these discs tremendously - Jazz or not, it' a great mix CD...

Let me add to the long list of

Haven't had a chance to do more than a cursory listen to disc 1, but I will note that I received the discs on Thursday and sent off my batch on Friday.