Teasing the Korean

You will never need to listen to jazz again once you see this video. The journey is over: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwhDe56O9f8

Do you sense that they were having an off day, or was there something weird going on between SG & BE?

I've accumulated lots of stuff by both artists over the decades, but I only recently stumbled across this. I'm talking about the 1964 session. It is certainly nothing great, but I don't think it's as bad as some of the reviews I've read. Stan Getz seems really scattered and disjointed at times - it's like he's throwing out ideas with no sense of continuity. Bill Evans generally sounds good. There is a spot on "My Romance," I think, where I expected a piano solo but there's just bass and drums, both of which just continue with the groove as opposed to soloing. Not sure if that was deliberate, or if Bill wanted to abandon the take at that point. I have the 70s twofer vinyl issue. The CD has more tracks. I wonder if the best ones were on the LP and the weaker ones made it to the CD, and if so, if reviewers are picking up on the bonus tracks.

One of the advantages of New York is that, because of all the shoe box apartments, all kinds of amazing stuff ends up on the sidewalk on garbage night.

Agreed. That's the point. Mingus deliberately recorded more music than he would use. Why not listen to false starts, mistakes, and between-song-banter too? That's the difference between listening to a session and a finished album.

Never stopped buying vinyl. Buy CDs too. Buy what I come across at a good price, whatever format. Love finding great stuff on CD, love finding great stuff on vinyl even more. Like CDs more these days - I can listen in the car or at work.

Vince Guaraldi - A Charlie Brown Christmas - Fantasy (later reissue with blue label).

You were WAY ahead of the curve in that regard. During the mono/stereo era, most people assumed that stereo was automatically better because we have two ears. Shorty Rogers - The Swingin' Nutcracker - RCA (Living Stereo Pressing). Above the logo: "Bouncin' Ballet."

Jack, did you know him? Did he ever shop at Stereo Jack's?

Sure, but it's not Mingus's conception of the record.

That's early- to mid-1980s. Columbia probably released about 20 jazz CDs initially. This was surely one of them.

I'll post as soon as I can get my computer keyboard working properly.

God, I wish I had that in mono. The stereo version has horrible separation and out-of-whack levels.

Just received word that the great Boston-based jazz educator Charlie Banacos died on December 8, 2009. I had the pleasure of studying with him for about a year. To say he was by far the best jazz teacher I ever had is a gross understatement. I have a very detailed e-mail from his family, but I'm not sure if it's appropriate to share here.

The expanded has tunes not on the original. It also has longer edits of many of the tunes on the original. The trouble is, while the extra material is well worth having, the complete album is not as effective or as cohesive as the original Mingus version. So, if you're a Mingus freak like I am, you need both. IMHO.

And lascivious yoga at that! I thought that track made a nice segue between Cannonball's "Soul Zodiac" and David Axelrod's "The Sign."

This is a real issue. In recent years I have digitized some of my parents' jingles sessions from reel tapes. If the levels are hot and there's a lot of music going on, you don't notice, but in the quiet passages, you hear it. I have not thought about comparing brands of tape to see if some are better or worse.

Thanks Chas!!! I'm immoral now, at least as long as you have an account!

She's been chasing him for a while.

I had the LP version of this, paired with "This Modern World" with a fairly generic album cover - A mid-century UN-style Man from U.N.C.L.E globe on a black background. I always wanted the original cover art. And like an idiot I scratched it. (Red wine was involved). For years I could not find the vinyl. I REFUSED to by the CD reissue, because they had replaced the original art deco modernerist artwork with a bland cityscape. I did not want to hear this music again with the wrong cover. Now - TONIGHT - I found a very clean ten-inch LP with the right cover!!! FINALLY, I can hear this masterpiece the way it was meant to be heard!!!! I CANNOT WAIT, BUT MY WIFE IS DOING YOGA SO I CAN'T BLAST THE STEREO!!!

La La Land Records has released a limited edition CD of this Les Baxter score to a 1962 Ray Milland film. It is like no other Les Baxter. It is nervous, caffeine-jag, Freudian-nightmare-of-the-postwar-working-stiff jazz. It kind of has that Twilight Zone jazz quality, mixing longhair 20th century stuff with big band jazz, extremes in pitch, lots of dissonance. A lot of third stream music should have been this great.

I wish he would have varied his settings more. The trio format gets old for me. And I play piano. Not sure if I would have used the word "minor," but I totally see where Larry is coming from. Bill Evans is very interesting in this regard.

Also: The main reason to unload this album is the hideous cover art, which might make my top 100 list of ugliest jazz album covers. I unloaded my copy in the 1990s, and it may still be in Stereo Jack's dollar bin.

At the time of the Columbia album, I don't think that Bill Evans had embraced the polyester Leisure Suit or beard as viable media for artistic expression. That is one of the reasons this album leaves me cold.

Too bad the groove is TOTALLY OFF for most of the first track - A Train, IIRC. At least on my copy. Maybe they corrected this in later pressings. The rest of the album holds together pretty well though. The piano intro is played in 3/4. Nice variation in my book. The bass and drums are not locked together on my copy of the record, it's like they can't hear each other, for like the first minute or so. Maybe they used a better take for subsequent pressings.