Teasing the Korean

While I appreciate those labels, and have many releases by them, their Les Baxter titles are mastered from vinyl. The downloads are from Capitol master tapes and, IMHO, sound much better, despite the digital format.

The full albums are the same price on Amazon and iTunes, for whatever that's worth. If you mean the two-disc "Exotic Moods of Les Baxter," the sound on that was not very good - lots of limiting, noise reduction, fake stereo, etc. Judging from the sound samples of the downloads, they are an improvement.

Just found out on another message board that Capitol has made many of Les Baxter's classic exotica albums available via iTunes. Each album is $6.99. I'd been hoping for CD reissues, but the only CDs since the Capitol "Exotic Moods" comp of 1996 have been EU public domain albums, likely mastered from vinyl. Available titles from Capitol include: Ritual of the Savage Ports of Pleasure Tamboo The Sacred Idol African Jazz Jewels of the Sea Space Escapade Skins

PM sent (you better sit down) OMFG!!!!! Is that the same guy that was on Letterman for a while? He was wild! Yes, he started in the 1950s, was on Merv frequently, then disappeared for a while until Letterman brought him back in the 1980s. When asked in an interview how he described his act, Brother Theodore called it "stand up tragedy."

I really LOVE this album, which may be a ringing endorsement AGAINST your buying it.

I am STILL looking for those hard to find 1950S records by THE GREAT BROTHER THEODORE. They don't show up anywhere. One was on either Kapp or Cadence, I forget which. Has anyone seen them on a blog or anything?

Bill Nelson's earlier response was perfect. I would only add that, when I started buying records, the process of discovery was more active than passive. In the digital era, it is too easy to stumble across something, buy it on a whim, and then let it collect dust on your shelf. I was buying all that space age/mood music stuff long before the internet. Those albums went for a quarter a piece, and there were NO PRINTED GUIDES out there to point you in any direction. There were few people to talk to also. It was all trial and error - A gorgeous record cover may have a lame record inside, and vice versa. You had to keep lists, you had to keep a lot of info in your head. It was very active, and there was lots of time to think, consider, listen, and form your aesthetics. This was the same for most genres of music, though maybe not this extreme. The passive nature of digital communication has in some ways superseded this process. I wouldn't go back, but there is something I miss about the mystery, the discovery, and the hunt.

Have there been any CT reissues of note in recent years? I keep seeing the same CDs over and over. The LPs don't pop up too often, at least the ones that I don't have.

In other news, there are people interested in the records Mile's made in the last ten years of his life.

It's a Kenyon Hopkins album. Creed's name is on it for contractual reasons.

Forget the Miles albums you had and the ones you were missing: What about the artists for whom it was a huge challenge to even know who they were, let alone own all of their music? The mystery and challenge of the hunt is gone. You see a Youtube video of the Wallace Collection, you go on Amazon, order a used copy of their album for $6.72, all in a matter of minutes.

I have a Dynaflex pressing of Mancini's "Mr. Lucky" that sounds AMAZING, blows away the black dog copy.

A lot of this occurs because of the EU 50-year copyright law, which is bound to change in 2012. In most cases, these are done well (e.g. El/Cherry Red). With rare titles, it beats not having the music. Otherwise, I'm content to play records. Also, master tapes disappear.

The show is now archived for one week: http://www.wmnf.org/programs/144

There is a Japanese reissue of "Jazz Goes to Physical Therapy," but it's not out in the US, AFAIK.

I had George Russell pullled but I didn't get to him. I also had "City of Glass" pulled, but I opted for "Abstraction" by Pete Rugolo. We're on the same wavelength. Hope you like the show.

I get very excited when I find his records on vinyl! Still looking for"Simpatico" with Gary McFarland, with the great scooter cover!

I will be devoting an upcoming radio show to Twilight Zone jazz. Details here:

What's PT?

TTK will be guest hosting WMNF's next installment of "A Step Outside," Wednesday, June 23 on www.wmnf.org from 9 pm to 10:30 pm. EST. I will focus on an esoteric sub-genre that I have dubbed Twilight Zone jazz, a mid-century hybrid of jazz and "serious" music that suggests caffeine jags, the concrete jungle, and an imposing modern world gone awry. Here is a previous thread: The show will be archived for exactly one week, before disappearing forever into the ether. See you tomorrow.

Agree with you completely. Even looking beyond jazz, film composers such as Bernard Herrmann had already gone the minimalist, hypnotic static route previously.

Supposedly, they are reissuing the hard-to-find "Jazz Impressions of Dante's Nine Circles of Hell."

Baden Powell - Le Grand Festival - Barclay French double LP, circa 1970.

"Kon-Tiki" by Thor Heyerdahl A fascinating expedition, even if Heyerdahl's theories have been disproved by the genome project.