Teasing the Korean

I recently found this 3-disc set for a great price and it was worth every penny. Great combination of beat poets, jazz, kitsch, cash-ins, interviews, news features, etc. Entertaining on so many levels top to bottom.

Bumped at MG's request.

That is by far the funniest post here that I missed for four years!

Those Capitol sessions from, IIRC, 1949 are real favorites. They used to fit on a single LP. I guess I'll have to get them spread out with group sessions, but that's OK.

Do you mean the box with 10 CDs and a DVD?

Yes, that's the one. The Pablo LP issues of the Norman Granz solo sessions were reprocessed stereo, on every copy I heard. I believe the first CD issues were also reprocessed stereo but I do not have these. I believe that Concord reissued the box set and used the original mono tapes. Perhaps someone else can confirm.

If you're referring to the Ray Heindorf album that I mentioned above, that is one CD that I have.

Art Tatum is one of many, many jazz artists for whom I have a ton of stuff on vinyl but virtually nothing on CD. The one CD I have is the Ray Heindorf private party sessions. I am interested in CDs that are focused on his solo playing rather than the group stuff. Oviously, I know about the Norman Granz box set. Is it true that the latest version is true mono and not rechanneled stereo? How about the Capitol session? Are the solo piano tracks available as a single disc, or are they spread out with trio sessions? Ditto for the Decca stuff? I've seen a one-disc Decca CD, but the song selection wasn't the strongest relative to what he recorded for that label. Other than the Heindorf album, are there any CDs of especially worthwhile material that was not readily available on LP? And then there must be tons or radio transcriptions and other private recordings. Not looking for a complete CD discography; I just want to know about any good and comprehensive CDs focused on his solo playing.

Positive vibes to the Northeast US. I've gone through hurricanes and they are not fun. Wishing well to Organissimo members in that region.

There are a few artists whose work from certain periods I will always pick up if I stumble across it at the right price - Duke, Morricone, Sun Ra, Yusef Lateef, Cal Tjader in the 50s and 60s, almost anything on Blue Note from the 50s or 60s - but that is a little different from consciously attempting to acquire everything.

I hope she'll at least throw in some Elenco and RGE LPs

Has this ever happened to you? You pick up a used LP that looks stone mint. The tone arm lowers onto the first track. Totally quiet. Everything's great. Then, all of a sudden, one track comes on - usually the hit - and it's as if a different copy were plunked onto the turntable. Distortion, surface noise, groove wear, etc. Then the next track comes on and everything's fine again. Afterward, you inspect the record closely and the track in question is a different color. It's like it's grey whereas the rest of the album is shiny black. I found what I thought was a mint mono copy of Sinatra's "Only the Lonely." It is so much better in mono, but every copy I find is beat. Then I found this one. Everything is great until I get to "One For My Baby." It sounds terrible. Oh well, 11 out of 12 ain't bad. Who buys an LP and plays only one track? Really?

I like certain singers (Gigli, Bjorling), but have a hard time with full operas, largely because it's rare to see a production with consistently good singers. Too many contemporary opera singers have amazingly out-of-control vibratos. They are so wide you can't tell what the target note is. When they try to sing a rapidly ascending or descending line, forget it. Then, go listen to an aria by Gigli and see how it's really done. It boggles my mind that someone who could put that amount of work, time, discipline, and dedication to his/her craft doesn't have a good enough ear - let alone voice coach - to tell them that their vibrato sucks. Yes, there are some great composers like Verdi and Puccini. However, until as long as the opera world continues to encourage or tolerate the current vogue of bad singing, I have no interest.

Not familiar with that brand or model. I would do some investigating.

I have racked my mind trying to imagine how jazz might be successfully marketed these days, and have consistently come up blank. The tiny market share it encompasses is already splintered into too many sub-genres and subcultures.

I have thought about going over to the dark side, but there is too much music I like that isn't on Spotify. It's hard for me to consider becoming a paid subscriber under those circumstances.

I would like to see these released. But then again, where are all the shows from 1972 to 1992 that have apparently survived? It's not as if they've flooded cable with them. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

It is indeed Spud Murphy, thank you. Has anyone had experience with Spud's EIS equal interval system? I have also toyed with studying Schillinger. I will probably tackle only one at this point. I'd be curious to hear of folks' experiences.

No, not him either. I'm pretty sure this guy was an arranger, probably started working in the 1940s.

Some time ago, I stumbled upon a website for someone's system of approaches to improvisation. He was someone I wasn't familiar with, but was at least semi-famous and apparently had a long career. The website has testimonials from a number of musicians, including Herbie Hancock. It is not Schillinger or George Russell. Any idea who I'm (not) thinking of?

I don't think I've heard many alternate takes of Bird during the Verve period. Do his solos vary as much from take to take as they do on the Savoy/Dial material?

Go back through the thread and you will see the conversation quickly changed from Wynton specifically to the concept of "repertory" jazz in general, which is a much more interesting conversation. I could care less about Wynton, but I am fascinated by contemporary culture's collective obsession with its own recent past, and I readily admit to being guilty of participating in this phenomenon. Repertory jazz is one of its many manifestations.

Those early-model, single-disc CD players are great. They are available at a Goodwill near you for short dough, and will perfectly play discs that many more recent players will not.

Of course, but those other tools were not available prior to the 20th century (for the most part), so notation is the best we have, until time travel is perfected.

Interesting discussion and great points by Larry and JSngry. I agree with Larry that (paraphrasing) there are many more factors involved in attempts at jazz "recreations" than exist in "classical" music. While certain approaches have gone in and out of vogue, classical musicians and conductors have been dealing with the same written scores. Musical notation, of course, pre-dates audio recording, and that was the whole point of musical notation: So that something written by Bach could be played in different times and different places. Musical notation was the audio recording of its day. It is not perfect, but it offers a higher potential for precision in execution than does jazz or any other aural/oral tradition, where there are so many subtle stylistic nuances tied to era, location, culture and even recording techniques. That said, I do not discount the fact that there are very talented musicians- I've known some of them - who, between their skill sets and musical interests, have an uncanny knack for recreating certain styles or periods of music broadly considered "jazz." If someone has the chops and knowledge to pull it off, and that's what moves them, who am I to tell them not to do so? It will never be a replacement for the real thing, but hey, I'll never get to see Django Reinhardt live, so it makes for a pleasant evening's entertainment. The end result may not be "jazz" by a purist's definition, but it can certainly be "music." To be clear, WM and the LCJO do not fall into this category.