Shrdlu

Can't have too much Ike!

Not wishing to be perverse, but I like Larry's Conn CDs. They aren't the best ever, but the ones that I've heard are quite good. Curley and Moe are even better.

An English breakfast would never have "chips" (french fries). Kenny, both Canadian and U.S. "streaky" bacon stink compared with the "back" bacon available in the U.K., Europe, and the ex British colonies (Canada excluded). I don't have an online picture handy, but it has the "streaky" part plus a big, oval-shaped red part at one end, and the entire rasher is about 8" to 10" long. It is hard to beat if cured properly, which it usually isn't anymore. And you can't beat the smell of it cooking at a campfire!! When I was living in Canada, I asked a butcher (and boy, are those rare!) to make up some English-style bacon. He said that he knew what it is, but it would cut into the part of the swine used for the porkchops, so he was not prepared to do it.

Only records and the radio. And also tennis.

My parents used to call it the "middle bit", and my first name for it was the "middle 8".

Sausage, scrambled eggs, biscuits, gravy and grits, accompanied by coffee, and preceded by orange juice. I guess I'm saying, let's go down to the Waffle House! What the %$*& is musly and tosh??

With the B-3, it was love at first hearing for me. In the 60s, I spotted a used LP of "Back At The Chicken Shack", with a cover that looked as if it had fallen into the bath! I just loved the music, and it's still my favorite organ album. What's not to like about the B-3 and Jimmy Smith? Yes, we all hate those cheapo organs used at low budget wedding receptions, and the garbage they play on them (tunes like "More"!), but it is illogical to write off all organists because of that. Do we hate the sax because of the Billy Vaughan Orchestra? Anyway, the battle was won long ago amongst jazz fans. It is a long time since Jimmy Smith was not popular. There are many evenings when I don't want to hear anything but an album with a B-3. It doesn't have to be Smith. John Patton, Freddie Roach, Larry Young and Earl Vandyke will do just fine. (Earl on that great Fred Jackson album, plus he did a session or two with Ike Quebec.)

Miles messed several tunes up. Dave Brubeck said that he showed Miles his composition "In Your Own Sweet Way", but that Miles played one note wrong. Then, there is the infamous "When Lights Are Low", where Miles forgot the channel and just lifted the first part up a fourth. Hardly anyone has heard the original version, and Miles' version has often been copied. Also, the first version of "Desafinado" that I (and lots of others!) heard was the Getz one. That's wrong, in parts, too. Very recently, I got the "Composer Plays" album, by The Composer (a superb set, in case you don't have that one), and heard the correct melody statement. I sure agree with the comment about "Well, You Needn't". Monk's version is far better.

Bobby Hackett always sounds good, plus Mosaic would not put out a bad collection by anyone, so I'm sure you would not be disappointed if you got it. Kent Brockman's "Two Cents' Worth".

I am disgusted with the Verve list. They (Universal Music) are sitting on so many gems, and we are offered such rubbish as a CD with the title "Louis Armstrong For Lovers" already. How about some Argos??? The BN list, which we already knew about, of course, is loaded with goodies. In case you missed it, Universal did release a nice version of "Equinox", by Sergio Mendes. The playing time is short, but it's a very nice set, with great sound. I like several of those mini LP CDs that they put out last year: "Willow, Weep For Me", "Soul Bird, Whiffenpoof", "The Jazztet at Birdhouse" and the aforementioned Sergio. Has anyone heard the Willie Bobo? I really enjoyed his BN with Herbie Hancock, and would like to hear more.

Did Philly Joe use Ks, CJ? I never knew that. You can tell that Tony Williams did, because of the heavy sound. From today's listening (I'm still trying out my new Jamos with the Sony boom box!): JRVG of "Trompeta Toccata" sounded terrific. No need to look for a better version. RVG of "Una Mas" was very AM radio, but not all that bad, and was quite good with a twiddle of the bass knob. But I would like to hear the TOCJ now. The German shepherd slept through them both.

The TOCJ of that does sound a lot better, but the original studio settings for that date must have been rather trebly, because that first track (Five Will Get You Ten) sounds a bit tinny even on the TOCJ. Plus, a front line of trumpet and alto sax is always going to sound bright anyway. So it is not entirely the fault of the RVG. Above all, it's an excellent session, and I find I can "sink into" it even with the RVG, which was the first version of it that I ever heard.

Hockman, you have a good point when you mention the deterioration of the tapes. That is one area where the early CDs, from about 14 years ago now (that's a long time, isn't it?), score over the very recent ones in some cases. This is certainly a factor with the "Horace Silver Trio" album, for example. A big advantage of most of the TOCJ "Blue Note Works" CDs is that they were not taken from the original session reels, but used LP masters in the possession of Toshiba. So they escape any deterioration of the original tapes, and are (for the most part) free from any McMaster influence. In the case of "Dippin'", even the old McMaster CD has a tape flaw that is not on the TOCJ.

I like the sound on the Byrd/Adams Mosaic. I don't recall it having any alt. takes, though it does have an "LT" session that would not be available as a TOCJ or JRVG. They laid an egg with the first session, though, and issued a mono version. I have the JRVG, which is stereo, which is slightly odd, because Rudy is known to prefer the mono versions of the Hackensack recordings. Dave, I don't think you will be disappointed with that Mosaic. The first three sessions on the Turrentine Mosaic stink. They are far too loud and trebly. I'm glad to have TOCJ versions of most of them, though one of those is also a McMaster; even though it is, it still sounds better than the Mosaic. I sold that set quickly.

Having heard so much about this LP over the years, I wonder if anyone has ever actually seen a copy.

Luv that picture, Rocky!

Thanks for posting that very interesting list, Mike. There are a lot of fine players still with us. Now, we need someone with some money to record and interview them all. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No prize for saying this, but it is great that you could still assemble a rhythm section consisting of: McCoy Tyner Richard Davis or Ron Carter or Reggie Workman Elvin Jones.

Yep, there's some pretty wild stuff in the Old Testament. And a lot of it is prophecy of things to come - very soon, too. But the medieval guys were pretty gruesome. Did you see "Braveheart" yet? That's a good sample.

What is so funny is the newly released earlier take of "Straight No Chaser". After fine solos by the horns, Red tries over and over to play that Miles solo, but gets the timing all messed up and ends up in a heap on the floor. I'm surprised that Miles did not tell him to dump the idea before trying a new take - I would have. The fact that Red does it again, but gets it right, suggests that maybe the whole group pre-planned this. The result is a superb all-round performance, anyway. I am old enough to have heard the "Now's The Time" solo before "Straight No Chaser". D'Oh!

There was one more track, "It's A Long Way Down", on the "Pisces" LP. That track is from the sessions that produced "Indestructible", and was included on the U.S. CD of that album (and will no doubt be on the upcoming reissue in the Ron Van Gelder series - i.e. I can't remember which series it's in). It isn't much of a track - the "Indestructible" LP collection is all you need, and what a collection it is! I have something just as good as the LP: the TOCJ .

A cheap, but excellent piece of software is Musicmatch. The CDrs that I have made of my LPs sound identical to the LPs, to me (scratches and all ). Musicmatch is very user-friendly, and is designed for an amateur like me. You can put any analog source onto the hard drive with it. Once the files are on the hard drive, I trim the ends with good ol' Nero, which is also user-friendly. I cart our turntable into the room where the PC resides, and connect it to the "line in" jack on the sound card via a little stand-alone pre-amp. (You need a pre-amp to lift a turntable up to line level.) You also need to run a wire from the ground terminal on the turntable to the metal case at the back of the computer (next to the line in plug hole will do fine), otherwise you will get a loud hum. This whole process is time-consuming, mainly because you are copying in real time. Musicmatch is about $20 from their website, but mine was free, as my son got it for me! Its results crap all over Ron McMaster's CDs from a dizzy height.

Milton Fenwick.

First, let me say that I'm not a heavy audiophile. And, the music comes first, way ahead of which CD version is involved. But, I almost always find that the late 80s McMasters have a brittle, hard, irritating sound that I just can't settle down and listen to with much enjoyment. This poor quality gets in the way of listening to the music, and I am unable to fix the problem by twiddling the tone knobs. The problem is almost exclusively with McMasters: other companies' old CDs usually sound fine to me. When I put on a TOCJ, I can sink into the music and forget the issue of which remastering it is, or even that it's a CD. I also like nearly all the RVGs and JRVGs that I have heard. There is almost always a very noticeable improvement over the original CDs. For example, the recent RVG of "Jackie's Bag" brings out the cymbals more clearly than on any other version that I have heard. I have steadily upgraded just about all my old BN CDs now to one or more of the recent versions, and, as Hans would say, the TOCJs are the definitive ones. Anymore, one does not have to pay more than about $7.50 for an RVG, thanks to zweitausendeins and hmv.co.uk. These two stores have knocked the bottom out of the market, and I don't know how anyone can make a profit with prices as low as that.

Here's something nice, after all this. I mentioned that my PayEnemy problem had interfered with a separate eBay purchase. I emailed the seller, to let him know that I would now have to send a check (remember what those were, anyone?), and he emailed me back and said not to worry and that he had already mailed the item. (Shrugs, you will be pleased to know that it was an LP!) A breath of fresh air.

Thanks a lot, Shrugs, especially for the phone number. I could not find that on their website. I did use the "Withdraw" tab to try to get the funds, and they have the details of my checking account. The problem has been the size of the amount of money. But they did not mind receiving it. I phoned the number that you gave, and it was rather like their website. A long verbal menu came up, with no suitable options (how often does that happen), but when I get that I just keep punching 0 until I get free of the menu. After about 6 minutes of muzak, I got a lady who courteously told me that there was diddly that they will do until I fax in about five pages of stuff to prove who I am. I think that all this is a legacy of 9/11. Today, the teller at my bank, who knows me personally, said that there is now a rule that customers must provide a passport as ID for all withdrawals! "But you know me", I said. "Yes", she replied, "but we still require a passport from now on." Next, it will be an ID card with a rectal scan. Here's a big hole in their argument at the bank. I took my son in to open an account for him. We were told that he could not open an account unless he showed them a passport. So we applied for a passport. The photo had to be witnessed - by the bank lady!! She did not have the IQ to see that this is a circular argument. Time to play some music, to bring the blood pressure down!