Teasing the Korean

Stan Kenton - A Merry Christmas - Capitol (rainbow, stereo) Yes, it's a little early, but I'm decorating the tree and want the full experience. EDIT: First time spinning this album. I was afraid of this record for years, but it's actually very nice!

Michel Legrand - Legrand Jazz - Columbia (6-eye mono)

Congrats!

Yesterday, after Jo Stafford: Les Baxter - Space Escapade (Capitol rainbow, stereo) Frank Sinatra - Songs for Swingin' Lovers (Capitol black label, mono).

Jo Stafford Sings Broadway's Best - Columbia (2 eye, mono) with lush arrangements by Paul Weston. This album has become something of a Thanksgiving tradition for TTK. It reminds him of his parents.

http://www.archive.org/details/model_railroad

Lionels, I believe were first (O gauge), followed by American Flyer (S gauge). HO was the first train gauge that was truly to scale (the others were not, at least not at the time; they are now).

Those of you who came of age in the postwar era probably have a soft spot for those 16 mm educational/health/training/industrial films of your youth. Here are two AMAZING archives for this stuff. You can watch stuff online, and you can also download higher rez versions (on Prelinger, at least): http://www.archive.org/details/prelinger and http://www.avgeeks.com/ You can search by topic. For example, here is part 1 of "American Look," perhaps the greatest film ever about mid-century design: http://www.archive.org/details/American1958 Parts 2 and 3 are there too. These sites are addictive. Proceed with caution.

It's almost Thanksgiving. Which means it's almost the day after Thanksgiving when we get a Christmas tree. Which means it is almost time to SET UP THE HO FREIGHT TRAIN! (I know this sounds obsessive, but if it doesn't happen Thanksgiving weekend, it never gets done).

Sending positive vibes your way.

Don't know that I'd go that far, but I was surprised that it was nowhere near as bad as I was expecting, and that it actually had some pretty decent stuff on it. The reharmonization of "19th Nervous Breakdown" was particularly appealing to me. Agree. "Rock" albums by easy listening artists are so much more subversive than rock albums by rock artists.

Just yesterday I spun his Verve trio album "Fusion." My God, this sounds like the soundtrack of a 1950s European trade show film about glass production or something of the sort. I love records with that modern Twilight Zone sound. There is something beautifully artificial about them, they take me to an idealized future that never existed, as I sip red wine and lounge in moderne furniture.

Agree about that godawful Lovin' Spoonful album, but sorry, Stones Jazz is one of the greatest albums ever made. I can only wish that there would have been some weird Randy Weston, say, Yardbirds album. I can imagine his version of "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" or "Glimpses."

Elis Regina - Samba Eu Canto Assim - Philips (Brasil, mono)

Stanley Turrentine - Rough 'n' Tumble - Blue Note (New York, mono) Don't know if I've ever heard McCoy Tyner on a session like this before. But with all the LPs I've accumulated I may be forgetting.

The Jimmy Giuffre 3 - Fusion - Verve (stereo) Twilight Zone jazz at its best. This is like the soundtrack to a 1950s European industrial film!

One advantage of the higher end CD burning/extracting programs (such as Toast) is this: If you're copying from a damaged disc, it will either extract it exactly or it will abort. With iTunes and Windows Media, it will actually copy mistakes, such as digital repeats, if extracting from a damaged disc. I've used Toast and am very happy with it. Do not use it to create playlists though.

I had it but unloaded it. I generally agree with Stereo Jack, for me it boiled down to this: If I want to hear some Randy Weston, when am I ever going to choose this one?

Washington Post obit: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/18/AR2010111805655.html

The CD I mentioned was reissued circa 1999 or so. There were lots of promos for the new release in record stores in Beantown at that time. The Double Six meaning has to do with their overdubbing themselves to fully mimic the brass and reed sections of the jazz orchestra (as is evident on the Q album pictured above). When you listen in stereo, the two groups are spread across the spectrum (on some tunes at least).

My parents were group singers in NY back in the day, and their ideal of vocal group harmony was the Hi-Lo's and the Double Six. My Dad had a US issue of the Quincy Jones Double Six album (released on Capitol of the World) and he would put that on when they had friends over. When I was old enough to reach his LPs and put them on the tube hi-fi, I would frequently spin that one. I felt very adult listening to it. I still have his copy. I was very happy when that album came out on CD circa 2000, paired with another of their albums from that period. RIP Mimi.

I wonder if the LCJO or whatever it's called got some huge grant, and WM has to dream up stupid ways to justify spending it.

Maybe the most West Coast record ever. I bought it when it came out, got rid of it a few years later (despite its great Jim Flora cover) because I'd been converted to Silver, Blakey, Rollins et al. and didn't want my burgeoning little collection to be polluted by this precious stuff, then heard it again decades later and realized how much clever, goofy fun it was. Also, the way the band plays those complex petit point charts is pretty amazing. Yes, records like this shatter the misconceptions about so-called "West Coast Jazz." Too bad my copy doesn't have the Jim Flora cover. It has a photo of Andre and Shorty.

Red Norvo - Pretty is the Only Way to Fly - Charlie Parker Records (mono-pact) Featuring the great ROBERT DRASNIN on flute and alto!!!