six string

I have the Sansa Clip+ and a pair of Denon earbuds. I can't remember the model number/name because I've had them longer than the Sansa but I think I paid between $100-150 for them and I'm very happy with them. They come with three sizes of rubber outer thingys which gives you a better chance of having a good fit. I would say that would be an important feature if you're reasonably serious about comfort and sound quality. One size does not fit all. I usually don't wear mine for more than 60 - 90 minutes at a time so far but they are comfortable and they sound great.

That's sad to hear. My favorite vibes player hands down. Was the pianist Joe Gilman? He's a local (Sacramento) musician who is really talented. He's played/toured with Hutcherson in recent years and can be seen/heard on some of the youtube clips of Hutch.

Go to the link above (it's not hot so sorry but I'm a bit of a luddite). You'll have to cut and paste. It's at the end of the first paragraph.

I recently picked up an Andrew Hill performance from this series that originated in Toronto. Each show consists of whole songs without interuption with short bits of interview/talking by the artist. My disc is 50 minutes so I assume they all run about that long. There are quite a few artists in the series. The list can be found at www.solosjazz.com I can only speak for the Hill disc but it's well done. I don't normally by many music videos but I'm such a fan of Andrew Hill that I had to have it. I can always rip the music to a cdr to listen to in the car or portablly since the songs are very discreet from the talking in the program. I don't like music dvds that interupt the music with blather regardless of how good the blather is and the constant shifting camera angles is also a big turn off. Still, you can play this and not feel like you have to sit there and watch it if you don't want to.

Charles Mingus - Jazz Experiment (Jazztone)

I just played a gig with David Ewell (the Focus Trio bassist)--unreal player. I actually hadn't heard him before that (save for hearing the Focus Trio, momentarily). The local talent here can be very, very intense (Ewell and Dan Seamans--of the Lost Trio and New Klezmer Trio--are two of the best bass soloists I've heard in person, period). Do you live in the SF Bay Area? I've caught the Lost Trio a few times here in Sacramento and really liked them, bought two of their cds. I spoke briefly with Phillip after one of the gigs, really nice guy. I haven't seen their name around lately so I didn't know if they had "snuck" into town without me knowing, split up or just busy closer to home. How does the Onishi album sound? Is it truly Baroque influenced or is that just the title? I wasn't aware of the Geri Allen album and it looks inviting.

I'm interested too. I'm trying to decide on getting a looping station vs. a cheap recording device to save some of my "ideas" for more than a moment so I have time to develop them into something more lasting.

He was already mentioned and I don't know how interested he would be in talking about those things but John Tchicai is a sweet man and I've always found him to be very approachable.

I do like a handful of his albums mentioned already (Hand Jive, Groove Elation and Quiet in particular) but I also really dig what he did on Joe Henderson's tribute to Miles, So Near, So Far. One could argue that his tone doesn't mix as well with the other musicians on this date but his playing does.

I'd be happy just to have a few of his albums reissued that aren't around like Blow Up or Medina, especially on vinyl.

We've had at least five record stores in town for decades and we've had two small ones open in the last 4 months. One of them isn't much to speak of but the other is primarily vinyl with a 70/30 used/new mix. One of the stores in town has tons of vinyl. Jazz is not its strong suit which is a shame but the store is well known so it's always worth checking out because I've picked up some good stuff there from time to time. It's not as great as Berkeley or San Francisco but it's a hell of a lot shorter drive.

If you can't afford to have it looked at and repaired then you might as well keep using it as long as you can. I wouldn't leave it on unless I was in the house/room though. You'd hate to lose everything to a house fire because you went to the store with the stereo on and have it repeat the performance only this time it starts a fire. I had a roommate in the 70s that "smoked" my amplifier by hooking up two sets of large speakers to it and most likely played it really loud. I wasn't home at the time but he told me the sound stopped and then smoke started pouring out of it. I took it to a shop and they replaced the power supply I think. Anyway that was around 1976 or '77 and though it's my secondary amp, I still use it weekly and I bought it new in 1972. I paid $170 for it new (Acoustic Research) and I paid about $65 to have it repaired. Yep, I've got my money's worth I think.

I hope that's not a bad sign. At least it has a one year guarantee. I'll keep people posted about my experience but so far so good.

Thanks for posting about a new Tom Harrell album. I've been wondering when his next album might come out. I am a big fan of his music. I think I can say without a hint of hyperbole that he is my favorite living trumpet player. I saw him once several years ago at the Grace Cathedral in San Francisco and he was amazing to me. As many have pointed out here, his writing and arranging are reasons alone that one would follow his music but then he puts that trumpet up to his lips and it's like the heavans have parted. Ok, a little hyperbole. I have quite a few of his albums on lp or cd. However I have to agree with a few others here about that VV recording w/Joe Lovano. I just can't get into it at all and I've had it since it was released. I don't know why I still own it since my music space is very tight. I can't even articulate why except that I find it boring. I've never cared much for Lovano's albums and I've bought several over the years. He just leaves me cold for some reason.

Does that SD card work with the Sansa Clip+ player? That would be plenty of exta memory for me. I'll probably wait a while until the need arises before I buy more memory.

The Sandisk players accept flac files. They also take memory cards mentioned by GA Russell so you can load them up and switch them out and in essence increase the memory in a sort of virtual way. The link in the first post was very helpful. For $25 at Amazon, it was a small risk to get that Sandisk and I'm glad I did it.

Last week I got a 2Gig Sandisk player and so far I love it. It's the perfect size for someone who doesn't use a portable player very much. Even with a song list that is heavily weighted to jazz (longer songs) and files that are either flac or 320kbps, I have 112 songs in the player. I listen to albums and not play lists though I could see why others don't since it's easy enough to customize your own "albums" as it were. Still, I have around ten albums to listen to and a supposed 15 hour battery which is all I really need. I may even start doing a little exercies, i.e. walking now that I don't have to carry cds and a bigger player with me.

I missed that 4Gig Sansa but I bought a 2Gig for $25.00 and awaiting its arrival. I don't use portable machines very much at all. I usually only need one for a few hours at a time so I figured the smaller unit would probably work for me even filling it with songs at 320 or flac. Even for a few hours it would be nice to not have to bring three or four cds and switch them out of my Walkman on the go.

I ran into an old musical partner who has a Deagan vibe in storage that she would sell for for $1,000.00. I didn't ask her what the model number was but it's a three octave portable model. I'm going to sleep on the idea but it sounds like a good deal and she has no plans for playing it anymore so it would be helping her out as well. No sense in an instrument sitting in storage if it's not going to be played.

If you already have a turntable then I would not recomend the Ion to digitize your lps. You would be better off using your current equipment plus a few extra things like software and a a/d converter for a computer or a stand alone cdr burner to do the job. If you don't have a turntable and you're not real picky about sound quality then it will probably do an adequate job. I've heard that the tone arm creates some noise in the playing/recording process but that could be due to improper set up or isolation of the Ion relative to the other equipment. You wouldn't want the tt near a speaker and you want to reduce/eliminate vibrations from the turntable, otherwise you will end up with noise added to the signal.

All I have by him is Midnight Piano, The Billy Taylor Touch and Dr. T. Any recomendations beyond those would be appreciated!

I came to know his music late in life but I've come to really appreciate his style and sound. He certainly did a lot for the music, that's for sure. I'll be spinning some of his music today in his honor.

I really like Crisis a lot. It's one of my favorite albums by Ornette.

here ya go! Thanks! It looks great as a 12 inch cover too!

Coincidently I had both of these lps out recently. My copy of Ekaya has a different colored cover (brown) on the Ekapa label. Not directed at me but I like the Sweet Basil recording a lot. Wish I had vol.2 (assuming there was one).