Teasing the Korean

I can respect artists who set out to specifically re-create an aesthetic or style, if it is done well and presented without any pretensions of it being any more than what it is. But there is something very smarmy and almost self-righteous about the way this crowd apes its heroes and tries to pass off the results as something contemporary, original or relevant.

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?

I'm totally with Shatner on this one. And he's not getting paid to be top notch voice-over talent: He's getting paid to be William F*cking Shatner.

It was truly a combination. Because polyester does not breathe, it is harder to sweat out the toxins, so truly, the polyester exacerbated the effects of the drugs. Now, many of the players who are keeping jazz relevant by incorporating the sounds of today (e.g. Michael Jackson, Christopher Cross, Billy Ocean, etc.) do not do drugs, so the polyester/toxin issue will be less important. Also, they are developing new space-age polymers that combine the classic look of vintage polyester with the breathability of cotton. When they use these fibers to create 21st-century leisure suits, even drug addicts will be able to wear them without fear.

I think if Charlie Parker were here today he would have Jheri curls to show how hip he is. Also, today's players need to wear leisure suits like Bill Evans did in the 70s to keep keep jazz alive and moving in new directions.

A nice, if somewhat late, example of Space Age Bachelor Pad Music. Is this on an album?

It should say "produced and arranged by David Axelrod" and it should be on the green and purple Capitol label.

That's Mitch Miller and Columbia. Same goes for Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, and everyone else.

He taught English at the University of South Florida. I have friends who took his class. Not sure what his specialty was. Apparently, he had a piano in the classroom, even though it was an English class. I was told that if the discussion was going nowhere and the students seemed bored, he would just go over to the piano and play Scott Joplin to wake them up.

Knowing your taste in music, Noj, I have to ask no further.

How is the "Funky Nassau" album by the Beginning of the End? I loved that single as a kid. Is the whole album like that?

There seem to be a number of compilation CDs. Does anyone know if there is a CD collection focusing on the early 70s stuff?

I have some CD-Rs from the late 1990s that have gotten some sort of film on them, I can't get it off. Some of them don't play at all. Some of them have a loud digital static sound throughout. I've tried to extract and reburn some of these but it hasn't worked. I have other CD-Rs from the same era that still play fine.

PM sent on the storage unit.

Juba Dance is a great example of Twilight Zone jazz.

RIP.

You would do well to introduce a Y converter into the chain to do the transfer in mono. It reduces distortion and strengthens the audio signal.

I'm no expert, but you could play mono records with a stereo "needle" always, but until the late 1960s, stereo records required a stereo needle so as not to get rurnt. That is true, but still, there was a change in mono grooves at some point to make mono records more compatible with stereo styluses.

What music did Neil Armstrong bring with him on that historic voyage? A cassette of the 1947 outer space theremin album "Music Out of the Moon," with theremin by Dr. Samuel Hoffman, compositions by Harry Revel, and arrangements by a young Leslie Baxter. RIP Neil.

Mike, this is true only for mono records dating from certain years. Experts may chime in, but I believe at some point in the late 1950s grooves were standardized for both mono and stereo records, allowing for one stylus. This gets complicated with the issue of mono cartridges. The pricier mono cartridges use a stylus that is made for the older mono grooves. The less expensive ones, like the grado, use a conventional stylus and simply wire it for mono. It is no different than hitting the mono button. This is my understanding, at least. Others may weigh in.

Sorry, I meant "Grado cartridge," not "Grado headshell." It may be worth investing in one of those attachments that I mentioned, unless there are other affordable mono cartridges. Last time I checked, most of them seemed to be more expensive. Also, if you don't have a mono button on your amp, you can always buy the mono patch cords from Radio Shack and connect them between your turntable and amp. Not as convenient as a mono button but no more work than switching headshells.

The short answer is that mono playback of a mono LP improves the signal-to-noise ratio. You can also accomplish this by hitting the mono button on the amp, if you have one. Folks seem to be divided as to whether a mono cartridge is substantially different from hitting the mono button.

Jeff, I've never used a Grado mono cartridge, but have used some of their stereo cartridges and have had this issue. Do a search for "Grado dance" and see what you find. The issue apparently has to do with the lightweight mass of the Grado headshell. There are attachment pieces that can be purchased that add mass to a headshell. Obviously, if you use one of these, you have to recalibrate to where "zero" is. I ended up taping a penny to top of my headshell and recalibrated. Not the best solution aesthetically, but it did the trick.

I have 4 or 5 of his Verve albums and I would say that, in general, they fall into Jim's 2nd category, with some of the first and third. (I refuse to say "Category 1" or "Category 3" because I'm preparing for a hurricane). I also have the Talkin' Verve CD volume, but in general, I don't like this series too much, because it focuses too much on the first category of tunes, at least on the 4 Talkin' Verve volumes I have. But I think those Willie Bob LPs are really indicative of everything I love about Verve in the 1960s. Others would disagree.