Guy Berger

My favorite things on this set, by far, are the alternate and master take of "Africa". I love the ensemble's playing behind Coltrane, Elvin's drumming, the bass drone, and especially Trane's playing. Guy

This version of "Greensleeves" is kind of stiff compared to the ones recorded at the Vanguard. I'm not a huge fan of this song. Guy

So I did some research and the Sony box seems to be out of print. If it was overpriced before, it will be really overpriced now. I guess I will go with JSP. Guy

I am planning to pick up a box of this material and was wondering which one to pick up. I've heard really good stuff about the JSP set and am guessing that the Sony box is overpriced. Is the Sony box available on yourmusic? Guy

ECM is too big of a label for one troll alone! Guy

I had this issue with Newbury Comics (Sonny Rollins Plus Four), but after I notified them they immediately sent me the K2 version before I even sent back the OJC. Guy

They've looked pretty vulnerable lately without Baron. They were really pretty lucky last night, to pull it out with Biedrins and Harrington fouled out at the end. That guy who took the final 3 attempt got an awfully good look. Yes, they miss Baron. On the one hand, collectively they are more consistent than Murphleavy and that's a good thing. On the other hand, the team hasn't been playing any better since they joined. I agree with you that they tend to dominate the ball too much. Sometimes that's a good thing, sometimes that's a bad thing. Harrington is a better shooter, but also a black hole for the ball. (And did you see that bonehead half courter???) Jackson is aggressive offensively which is great but also something of a chucker. I'd much rather have the ball in either guy's hands than in Murphleavy's late in the game. Well, Sarunas is a backup point guard and he's been performing adequately. I'd be ecstatic if this team started playing as well as the Pacers. Guy

Nice win by the Warriors last night -- they are definitely playing like a team headed toward a crappy lottery spot. Guy

It's sad that either one of these deaths is "news". Guy

Charles Lloyd, Canto, with Bobo, Anders and Billy Is a great album

That's standard for most teams (playing better at home than on the road), isn't it? 11-14 on the road is pretty competitive. They should end up with 47-50 wins at the end of the season. Guy

I must admit I Would not have guessed chewy knew What a haiku was

They may "agree" that those things are all more important, but when it comes down to how they actually allocate their news-following behavior, we find out what they really care about (rather than what they'd like other people to think they care about). Guy

Nobody's mentioned it yet, but apparently Andrew's sextet engagement at Birdland this March will be released by BN. Guy

It's a good thing that there's no war going on in Iraq and no genocide going on in Darfur -- otherwise this story might have trouble making the front pages. Guy

Oscar P is a guy whose work gets trashed a lot, and I'm not too familiar with the rest of his work, but this is a very nice trio album w/Ray Brown and Ed Thigpen. Very good playing on a good collection of compositions. Oscar's playing is kinda greazy on a few of the songs. Guy

Well, next thing we'll find out is that the whole thing has been masterminded by the corpse of Nina. Guy

diks, I'm not sure what you mean. It's not like this episode was any more ridiculous than the other ones. Guy

I don't know how I feel about the new Octavian, but the old one (who was good, I agree) was way too young for the historical role he has to play during the rest of the season. Guy

For whatever reason, I'm enjoying the scenes with Cicero the best this season. Interesting character... his interaction with Agrippa -- "meet the new boss, same as the old boss" -- was the best part of the episode. I also enjoyed the interplay between Octavian, Agrippa and Maecenas. Hopefully there will be more of that in later episodes. Guy

Big Wheel started (and quickly deleted) a poll which considered the likely answer. I imagine people who ordered a ton of stuff from yourmusic got to keep the lower rates, while those (like me) who didn't go much beyond 1 cd a month got bumped up. Guy

Fortunately for you, there are literally hundreds of people who stayed in the same line that Zawinul deviated from 30 years ago still recording records that sound like stuff from 1950. Unfortunately for those who enjoy where Zawinul went, there are precious few people who followed him and even less that have branched off from there (if any). Perhaps that says something about where Zawinul (and others) went. Yes. Zawinul went down a more difficult, challenging path. Guy

I think that was Mr. Gone. Guy

Zawinul does have a huge ego, but I think you have this completely backwards. It's Zawinul doing Wynton a favor by playing at J@LC, not the other way around. One's a major artist, the other an artistic footnote. Guy

It's been chillier as well (won't crack freezing until next weekend), but not nearly as bad as you guys have it. Guy