RDK

Not Raney, Mike, but Jimminy Christmas, how the heck did you guess Xanadu? You guys constantly astound me!

A 14-year old girl who likes Ellington, Coltrane, Bird, and "Tenor Madness?" Heck, Danielle's already way cooler than half the dudes on the forum! Welcome aboard! Oh, if only I was, uh, thirty years younger...

Man, I wish I listened to jazz in high school (anything other than Chuck Mangione that is). Didn't really "discover" it until college (age 18).

We're just teasin' you, Danielle. We may not be hip, but we're all pretty cool once you get to know us. Jump into a thread and talk some jazz. What/who do you like? Do you play? There ain't a lot of kids here, so asking about school might not get you too far.

This would be the perfect thread for Saxophone Vagina to make his return to the boards...

Am I sick for hoping that ARIC drops in on this thread?

Mike, you of all people I thought would recognize this one. And you are very close! Hit a few others right on the head as well. You guys are all much better at this than I am.

Oh yeah? Well I have a genuine Marvel No-Prize...

Good job!

You don't know how hard i tried to keep this one off the damn disc. But every time i spun it it kept growing on me. I'm very impressed! (I think...)

Damn, Jim, your comments never fail to impress me. I'd like to think that your knack for identifying artists and commenting on their performances has more to do with your experience and insight as a musician than my, uh, ignorance of same. If not, then at least allow me my delusion. Either way, great job on the picks; I'm glad that at least a few of them stumped you. I have to admit to being a bit surprised by your reaction to trk 16. While I didn't think too many would really like it - it is a tossed-off set-closer, programmed that way both on the original LP and here, not meant to be taken too seriously - I didn't think anyone would consider it "ugly and mean." I've always (for over 20 years now) found it amusing; a guilty pleasure if you will. I'm not sure I really understand your criticism of it, but your comments regarding it are the most interesting thus far. I obviously don't agree, but that's, uh, life. And as I've said before, I've always found the negative reactions to BFT tracks so much more interesting and revealing. I always try to include a few that I think (hope?) will be despised. Just didn't think it'd be that one... Glad you enjoyed Trk 13; I agree completely. (It's also, though, the best track on the album.) Ironically, it's the scratchiest vinyl of the batch, and the better of the two copies that I own. I bought it used of course (ain't quarter bins great?), but it was apparently well-loved and played often - which I suppose says something about the mainstream appeal of "easy listening" jazz.

Hence the: "IMPORTANT CHANGES - PLEASE READ!" Just a bump for any more stragglers, though it looks like a few more people have downloaded than signed up for the BFT in the first place. Post away, guys, whenever you're ready...

Why the bitching? They deserve it. Helps make up for this... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...ml?nav=hcmodule

Caught only the last few minutes before Don't Knock the Twist. Yeah, Lester was wild in those types of films (inc Hard Days Night).

emusic offers the best value at least and, imo, a terrific selection.

What makes you think Uni music will sell off Verve? Highly unlikely. More probable is that they lease out the material to Mosaic and other labels - and even more likely they'll make more of it available for download.

Yes, but make sure that your cellular service has the international band (or whatever it's called) turned on. When I was in Belgium over the summer, my phone didn't work for the first few days because of some processing error on this end. To make things worse, the international phone cards i purchased there didn't work either and I got jacked royally ($50 for a call ) from an airport credit card phone.

Worked for a producer years ago who wanted to bring Metal Men to the big screen. Thought that was an odd idea. One of the best unproduced superhero scripts I've ever read was one for Plastic Man. Was set pre-WWII and captured the tone just right. At the time (15+ years ago) the sfx weren't up to it, but it could be done now relatively easily (though still expensively).

Quite warm.

Correct on 3, 8, and 12 (though the track is wrong on 12, right album though). Really impressed you got 12 right; I really thought that would stump most everyone. I didn't even realize it was on CD, albeit a Japanese import.

On to Disc 2 (or B if you prefer)...

I've got a few comments that I'll add later, but let's get this party started! edit: Thought I'd add a few comments. All tracks, as noted, are ripped from old vinyl. Most are unavailable (or at least not readily available) on CD. I was actually a bit surprised, while gathering tracks for these CDs, to realize just how very much jazz has made it to CD over the last 20+ years. We all complain about music being unavailable - and it often is - but if you take into account imports, small reissue labels, oop CDs, etc., you might be surprised by just how much vinyl jazz has been re-issued, if only briefly. Obviously some tracks I've chosen are available on CD, but they are tunes that I either love or find interesting for discussion. A couple might be considered "guilty pleasures," and I'm sure there are a few that some of you will dislike if not outright hate. I'm looking forward to hearing about those. The compilation ended up more "biased" than i had at first intended, largely because of the quality of the vinyl. There were a number of tracks that didn't make the final cut because the LPs weren't in the best of shape. I tried to stick to better-sounding vinyl, with relatively little surface noise. For those interested in the technical details, all transfers were made "flat," with no EQ or noise reduction. I manually excized a handful of pops and ticks on some tracks, but most tracks none at all. A hint: one album is represented twice.

Merry Christmas to all, a belated Happy Hannukah, and a premature joyous New Year! When is Kwanza this year anyway?

As of now, it looks like there have been 14 downloads of disc 1 (A) and 12 of disc 2 (B). (Maybe a couple of you didn't like what you heard after the first one. ) If anyone can't get the downloads to work, please let me know asap and I'll send the discs out to you. Otherwise I'll start a discussion thread on Tuesday. Heck, if anyone's eager to talk, we can get one going now, but i figure most of you have better things to do until Christmas is over. Happy Holidays everyone!