Shrdlu

Every now and then, a Blue Note session is listed as having a guy who plays "Conga" - e.g. Ray Barretto with Lou Donaldson. It might be helpful to go into this in a bit of detail. Congas originate in Cuba, where they are called tumbas. There are several sizes. Starting in the middle, with the two most common ones, we have el quinto, with a head 11" in diameter, and la conga, with an 11.75" head. These are the two that Barretto and others play on jazz sessions. The listing should read "Congas", not conga. The next most common size is la tumbadora, 12.5" across. In the opposite direction, el requinto has a 9.75" diameter head. This is a very versatile instrument. Finally, the largest one is la super tumba, 14" in diameter. I have all four "Latin Percussion" "Galaxy Giovanni" congas that they make (all of the above except the largest). Here is one http://www.lpmusic.com/products/congas/lp/galaxy-giovanni-signature-requinto I have asked Latin Percussion to make a super tumba in this range. I messaged them about it, and the guy who replied thought it was a good idea, but nothing has been done. I don't like the look of the model that they do make. I also noticed that a guy on one album was listed as playing a "chekere" (sic). The shekere is merely one of dozens of percussion sounds, and it would be appropriate to list the player as playing "percussion". He would probably bring several pieces of equipment to the session. This is what you might expect http://www.lpmusic.com/products/hardware/stands/percussion-table There is a red and white shekere on the right. I have a very similar setup here. I have this shekere http://www.lpmusic.com/products/Shakers/Shekeres/Jim-Greiner-Pro-Shekere Latin percussion is a lot of fun and I've thoroughly enjoyed acquiring the various instruments.

I never watch live TV. It is mainly rubbish anymore. I watch videos stored on an external hard drive. No ads, no annoying logos, and if I need to leave the room, a program can be paused. I also never answer my landline: spam calls have completely ruined it. I have an answering machine, for the rare genuine call. My cellphone has unlimited calls. For me, landlines and cable/satellite TV are very 90s.

My main problem with Mosaic sets is not the cost (though, of course I don't buy sets with fierce prices): it is finding time to hear them. I got the recent Teddy Wilson set just before it ended, but so far, I've only listened to CD1. A major hindrance is that they insist on scattering the tracks all over the place - by the will of the majority, Michael says. For me, step one is to unravel the tracks and burn them onto CDs in proper order. The last Lester set took days to unscramble and arrange chronological order. There, Sony's stubborn attitude made it even harder - they refused to mix the stuff they own with other companies' material. They are as childish as sulky kids playing marbles. May I remind these companies that they didn't play on, or record, ANY of the music.

O.K. It's time to say it. If a person wants to reply to a long post, there is no need to quote the whole thing. It bloats most threads on here and is tedious. All one needs to say is something like "Further to your post, Charlie, ... ". I have no idea how much storage capacity this site has, but at least 1/3 of the data must be this repetition.

Which Flora album(s) do you want? Orrin Keepnews recorded her in the 70s and there is some good stuff. "Mountain Train" is a great performance, and there are some items with Joe Henderson. Yes, Discogs can be awkward to search at times. The hardest thing to find there is the Feedback page. I have to use their Help tab to reach that.

Gary Peacock's wife was called Garina Peahen.

They were all good, but if I had to pick, I would go for Joe Zawinul. When he and Yusef Lateef joined, there was excitement that was previously missing. I find some of the group's earlier material very polished (of course) but a little bland. Timmons was very good, but I don't like his block chord sound. Red Garland and Gene Harris had better voicings. Some of the best Timmons is his earliest, with Kenny Dorham at the Bohemia. I hasten to add that I'm very fond of Vic Feldman. Wonderful player. And I am very fond of Barry Harris, too. (And don't play that Philly Joe lick again.)

With house music, there is a lot of repetition, but there are subtle changes all the way along (if it's a good mix) and one has to be patient. I first heard it live, in a club, and it certainly works well in that context, with dancing going on. When I first encountered it, I was immediately impressed by the good vibe there. It didn't hurt that the DJ there was the best in town, with good track selection and faultless mixing. I am not suggesting that it's as creative as jazz. It isn't. Far from it. How could it be? But we have both available. I am cursed with a good memory, and it doesn't bore me. The first track that got me is this Eric Prydz minimalist creation, "Armed". Wait for the strings to come in. (Eric is from Sweden.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWsx3EA2KVA

Can't resist adding this funky swinger. Jay Shepheard - Romance Gdansk (Jay Shepheard's Acid 09 Remix)

Yeah, Jim. The best of house swings like crazy. The only music that swings is jazz, Cubana Musica and Bossa Nova, and good house. Gheorghe, here are some excellent tracks, to prove my point. (No-one else may listen: only Gheorghe, lol.) That is way longer than the average house track (they usually run about 7 minutes, including the intro and outro), but it is superb all round and has an excellent (unidentified) alto saxophone solo - repeated unnecessarily. Dig the McCoy Tyner fourth chords on the piano on that. Jimpster (Jamie O'Dell, from Essex, England) did a fine job with this, a samba. That should be enough for now, to prove the point. You can have music that is simultaneously groovy for dancing, and of a high musical standard. Jamie is into Miles, Weather Report, Bill Evans and Gil Evans. I'm trying to get him to do a new version of Weather Report's "River People". I can add the soprano saxophone part - we would not be sampling the W.R. album.

Gheorghe, let me describe house music. It is said to have originated in Chicago in the early 80s, but I've never heard anything from that time or place, and none of it is played in the clubs I have been to, or on radio stations. It is a form of electronic dance music, played with two players and a mixer. It is (necssarily) all 4/4, in 8-measure sections. The speed (BPM) is usually between about 124 and 130, though some DJs go faster. The plan is that each track has an intro and an "outro" which are mainly simple, so that successive tracks can be merged seamlessly; there are no gaps in the music then. As one track is approaching its end, the next track is started and brought into the mix. It is obviously essential that the DJ be able to adjust the speed of each track. With vinyl (which is what they used at first), this poses a problem, because the (musical) pitch changes when you alter the speed. CDs solve this problem, and are much lighter to carry to the gig. House CD players are able to change the speed and keep the track on concert pitch, which is essential if a live musical instrument is playing along as well. The latest equipment can read the tracks off a USB memory card, but I prefer to use CDs. While a track is playing over the speakers, the DJ starts the next track (heard only on the headphones) and blends it in with the current track on the mixer. There is a lot of shallow rubbish dance music, obviously, but the best of house is cutting edge music in this era. There are several superb producers, mainly people with musical training. One of them I know (Jimpster) is into Weather Report, Gil Evans and Bill Evans. If it's live, I prefer house to jazz, for one simple reason: most jazz fans today are argumentative old farts, whereas the audience for house is young and out for a good evening.

Db is awkward on the bass clarinet. It pops up with "Epistrophy". The keys for the little fingers are clumsy, long and "springy", and that key is hard work. Symphony orchestra clarinetists (on regular-size instruments) have a pair of clarinets, in Bb and A, with the same bore diameter and mouthpiece, to help with awkward keys. An A bass clarinet would help with "Epistrophy", but they are extremely rare and none of us is likely to see one. The only ones that seem to exist today are German ones, with that dreadful keywork: it is called the Öhler system, a sort of Simple system with a lot of extra bits and pieces to make it play in tune. Ghastly system, but the older players such as Ed Hall managed to handle it well.

B wouldn't bother me, but I want to hear records in their intended key. When I was starting out, on an alto saxophone, I often played with a friend whose doting Mom bought him a Fender Stratocaster guitar (with matching amp). He was into rock, and rock guitarists always play in E, so I had to get used to C# on the alto in a hurry. Actually, it isn't hard at all.

For bass in the car, you need a large stereo bass box in the trunk. Mine has a rich sound. Those tiny door speakers won't cut it. With my nasty neighbors, I enjoy a car trip, when I can turn the music up. Mainly jazz, but also a substantial amount of house music. That neighbor even came out and griped because he could hear 90 seconds of house while I backed into my driveway (and then turned it off). One day he did that, and a buddy with him said "Ooh, that sounds great. Can I have a copy?" I nearly choked with suppressed laughter. I am surprised that some cars no longer have a CD player. That would be a deal breaker, for me. Very occasionally, I plug my android cellphone into it, but CDs rule.

I have very unpleasant neighbors who bang on the wall if a kleenex tissue is dropped onto the floor. I always listen to music when I'm in the car. I have a stereo bass box in the back. Excellent for jazz and quality house music (of which there is plenty).

That error is on Trane's "Africa Brass" album, his first for Impulse. It was not repeated on later albums. I've read a few posts in this thread. Most errors that I saw are trivialities.

Is there anything in it that is not in the earlier books? (That question is not meant sarcastically.)

Uggh! Dat is het meest walgelijke item tot nu toe. Ha ha!

This has been cleared up. Sorry, I forget where. Monk forgot to arrange the solo order, and called out to Trane to begin his solo.

There were still some major jazz players in the 70s, of course. But a lot of the recordings were retrospective and often ad hoc, and there were a lot of those European "Jazztage" type concerts in the 80s, but, again, retrospective. I caught The Heath Brothers live, though, and I felt that Jimmy had never sounded better. He played a hair-raising solo on the Marlboro song - much better than on the 1964 Riverside record. But, for me, the 70s is mainly "meh". With no disrespect to anyone else.

Yes, ham must have mustard on it. My late wife was from Ontario, Canada. Her parents took her to England in the 60s. She was used to that miserable, weak North American French's muck. (Jay Leno said of it "We may not be French, but we sure are yellow.".) She had a ham sandwich and plastered it with English mustard (made with only mustard powder and water) and, she said, it nearly blew her head off. The only other thing she remembered from her visit was dog shit on the sidewalks.

How about coconut flakes on a hot dog.

Dan, I mean those brand-name salad dressing bottles. Disgusting muck. When I was an undergrad, I saw guys in the cafeteria having fries covered with gravy. Grits ARE good, and are not difficult to make. I do them in parallel with the other stuff. I use Quaker, in the cylindrical 24 oz. tub. Just the plain one, not the ones with dried puke bits added.

I think Jim's snack sounds tasty. I hate those U.S. salad dressings in a clear bottle with all sorts of creepy things floating in them. Looks like puke. Yechh. All one needs is malt vinegar and olive oil. Not that horrible clear vinegar that you come up against so often.

Can't wait to see what's in the box? Er, check the online discography, or Discogs. What a disappointment, to see this news. Another set that's not needed - as discussed elsewhere - when there is important unreleased material. At least it will have the latest mastering, using the latest technology (or words to that effect - nice try, lol).