Scott Dolan

I’ve actually come to prefer streaming, myself. Though mostly because it’s far less expensive. But I do have to admit that I experienced none of the pains you described when using iTunes and the iTunes store. My burden ended at searching for the album I wanted, and clicking “buy”. Hell, even ripping CDs to my iTunes library was painless.

Any particular reason why? What is it about downloads that you don’t like?

Eh, I’m not. Sam Rivers is kind of a forgotten figure in Jazz, IMO.

Yeah, that is pretty odd. I guess he’s the Ray Guy of Jazz.

They do, Kevin. Currently enjoying the Mabern set. Alexander is a really good tenor man.

Thanks, but no need. I’ve already found all four of them on Apple Music.

OK, I get what you’re saying. And thanks, Kevin. I’m going to give all of those a spin.

That’s odd. I kinda get the opposite feeling. Aside from the outstanding Jaimie Branch album (which I would have put at number one on this list), most of that stuff is pretty straight-ahead fare, is it not? I’ve certainy heard a lot of fantastic Free Improv albums this year, and none of them showed up, again, aside from the Branch album. What are some of your favorite Smoke Sessions albums? I can’t say for certain whether I’ve heard anything from that label.

I personally find the whole damned thing to be much ado about nothing. I’ve heard his work. He’s a talented cat, but his music isn’t for me. I don’t feel the need to trash him, or his audience. Reminds me of people trashing Wynton because of the way he was propped up in the industry. Oh well.

That couldn’t be further from the truth. The Big Three streaming services of Spotify (Ogg Vorbis), Apple Music (AAC), and Tidal (AAC and FLAC/ALAC) do not. Lesser used services like Amazon and Google Play do, but they are not major players in the streaming market. Also, Apple Car Play is becoming quite prevalent in cars manufactured world wide. And Apple has been using AAC from the very day the iTunes store went live.

Oh, I don’t doubt that. KCRW is an incredibly progressive station. I meant nationally. And you are correct that several musicians from that album toured with Simon, for a couple of years, IIRC.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo gained quite a bit of popularity here in the U.S. after Graceland blew up. Like him or not, it seems as though there are more positives surrounding the mythos of that album than thee are negatives, IMO.

This was where I got that quote. But I’ve seen it reported before. Could be bullshit, who knows? https://medium.com/all-things-picardy/the-rich-history-and-controversy-of-paul-simons-graceland-a8dff6d8328a

The dirty little secret the finger pointers tried their best to keep hidden was the nuke that blew their charges away thoroughly: “However, as the artists themselves would contend, “exploitation” and “colonialism” were inflammatory ways of describing their recording relationship with Simon. In fact, Simon went out of his way to treat his fellow South African musicians as equals. This showed in his paying them $200 an hour for recording sessions; the going Union rate in Johannesburg was $15 a day.” Controversy over.

But to colonize is to appropriate for one’s own use. That is a far more appropriate description.

Perhaps you mean colonized? That was always the charge about the Graceland album. Though I never heard it applied to Rhythm Of The Saints, oddly enough.

I take it that you use mp3 as a nickname for digital files. (most companies stopped using those many, many years ago. Or never used them at all) In my case, I love it because I have my collection ripped to my iMac in ALAC and can stream it to my main system in the living room over wi-fi. I also use a remote control app on my iPad that allows me to view and control my entire library from the comfort of my couch.

Two excellent posts, gents.

I’ll definitely be checking this one out. I pretty much love everything he’s done since Graceland. Though I will admit that I wish he’d included more tunes from Rhythm Of The Saints (by far my favorite Simon album).

The days of “crappy, compressed mp3s” are long gone, brother. The current generation of advanced audio codecs are CD quality, IMO. I’ve done several tests to confirm as much, as have many others. Maybe my 48 year old ears aren’t anything close to what they once were, but my audio gear is certainly way better than it ever was before. Hey, Hans! Great to see you pop in! I think you’re right to a certain extent, though I wonder if they won’t continue to trend towards the SACD market, as they have been doing for several years.

Oddly enough, I actually agree with all of this. I still find it odd they didn’t document it any better than that. And I find it hard, but not impossible, to believe that this entire album came from a single tape. These were, in essence, jam sessions. Were they even recorded on the same dates?

Download codes! Excellent! I hadn’t even considered that. Cool part about that is you can buy the download code then and there, download it, and listen to it in your car on the way home. Same basic concept and execution of buying a CD. Love it! iTunes has slowly but surely been rolling out digital liner notes with their albums. So...kinda the same thing. I suppose...

I get all of that, Simon. I also agree with you about the “security” of a physical medium. Not to mention the astonishing history lessons inherent in liners notes, epecially in the Jazz genre. Now, I don’t necessarily miss it too much, but it would be a great disservice to any newcomers to the genre. Though I will admit that back in my early days with this artform, I always loved throwing on the CD and reading all the liner notes as I was going through my first listen.

Many cars don’t come with CD players anymore. Many computers no longer come with optical drives. CDs are definitely on their way out. As for what artists will sell at their concerts, who knows? Flash drives, maybe? SD cards? I’ve fully embraced it, so it doesn’t bother me. But if CD is still your primary source, I’d highly suggest you be ready to adapt to, and adopt, a new medium. And soon. I know several old schoolers that have switched to streaming services once they found out there was no audible difference. So the old guard that was helping keep the CD industry afloat is slowly widdling away.

Ah, so the entire recording only came from a single tape? As you can tell, I’ve done absolutely no homework on this.