Dan Gould

OK, I've decided to ship the 78 on Monday, via Priority Mail. Its secured in cardboard, wrapped in bubble wrap, inside an LP box, the box is wrapped in bubble wrap, its all resting on those flaky things, with more bubble wrap and cardboard on the sides and top to provide even more shock absorption. In short, this thing is like the pea under the princess's mattress. If something happens, it was meant to happen.

That's simple enough then. CD format it shall be.

I just discovered that the vote is a four way tie. I think this means that all participants must receive a custom compilation of these classics. Just PM your address to me and I'll get that out to you, though I have to warn you that Billy Don't Be a Hero is going to have to be from a pretty battered 45.

How exactly do you read those words and not hear Terry Jacks singing them?

If you take the data CD and burn an audio CD, it will play in any CD player. Maybe I'm off here - but when I do any editing, its from a wav file, not an audio CD. If I edit an audio CD, I have to convert or "extract" the wav file, introducing another step into the chain before you have an editable format. So, as long as your audio PC has a disc drive, you should be able to copy a wav file (data disc) onto the hard drive and do your stuff. Still pondering the issue of shipping ... I'll let you know when I make up my mind.

I am burning a CDR, but not as an audio CD, as a data CD (the wav files), not an audio CD which would have to be extracted back to a wav for you to do anything to it. I wasn't going to email the wav files to you-they're way too big for an email attachment. I was planning to ship on Monday, although my wife asks an interesting question: If I'm worried about the possibility of breakage, is it a better idea just to mail the disc with the wav files and see what you can do to them first, before shipping the 78 again? I guess it depends on just how much better your source file will be if you can experiment with different stylus to get the best sound. I don't know. I will definitely worry about shipping, regardless of how carefully I pack. Should we err on the side of caution and let you work on the original wav file first, and see what we get, and then decide to ship the 78 if you think you can definitely get a better result with your turntable/stylus options?

Done. I'm burning as a wav file, not an audio CD, so you don't have to go through the extraction process, you can just copy it to the hard drive.

Allen, I'll be sure to include the original raw file for both tracks (raw, that is, except for the sped up sampling to get it to 78 speed - or do you want to do that yourself?). I'll also include the results with only the hiss NR and EQ'd for treble. I only sent the processed file without it being EQ'd. With the treble adjustment, the compression effect is definitely less noticeable to my ears. I also think that artifact you noticed comes from the second NR sweep. Anyway, looking forward to hearing what you can do.

Good suggestion, but I mentioned above that the TT used to make this transfer doesn't even play 78s, I had to use the software to adjust the speed accordingly. On top of that, with the hisses and pops, there's no way I'm going to be playing this at all once I get the best possible transfer on CD. In fact, I'm considering giving the 78 itself to Gene's widow, once I'm done with the transfers. So no need to invest in 78 cartridges.

IN case anyone's curious, here's a before/after to demonstrate the clean-up: Not the best since the before shot is more of a closeup, but you get the idea.

Update: Goldwave allowed me to convert to 78 speed with no trouble and no change to the music. B-) Its also allowed me to do some noise reduction and some compensatory EQ-ing, such that I think I've got some pretty decent sounding transfers. It'll be interesting to see the results Allen gets and how they compare. So, here are some discographical and musical observations. The recording date and composer credits are based on information provided by Janie Harris, Gene's widow, who told me that the song titles "sound like Gene." Demo Recording by The Four Sounds Lonnie Walker, tenor sax Gene Harris, piano Andy Simpkins, bass Bill Dowdy, drums Recording Date: 1955-56 Location: Boddie Recording, Cleveland, Ohio Inez (Gene Harris) 2:25 A ballad feature for Lonnie Walker, "Inez" starts with its rather simple four note melody, stated twice, by Harris alone. While Walker's solo stays close to the melody, he does put a lot of feeling into the notes. Unfortunately, there is a quick fade just as Harris' solo starts. Hot Bread (Gene Harris) 2:43 Another rather simple composition, Hot Bread is a blues which starts with Walker alone, playing a familiar sounding riff, Harris chord punctuation, and then one of those sort of staccatto descending runs that reminds you of any number of R&B hits of the era, and then the whole band joins in as Walker blows the first chorus. Harris takes over for one and sounds like Red Garland with a locked-hands approach-something I've never heard him do otherwise. Simpkins then takes a solo and Walker returns and takes it out. So, all in all, there's not as much Gene Harris as I'd have wanted, and the tunes aren't the greatest compositions, but it doesn't really matter cuz this forgotten recording has now been rescued from the memory hole. And the Gene Harris Fanatic is one happy puppy.

S'allright: You get a free pass just because of the fact that you were digging Dex at the age of eight.

My first time going to the Blue Note to see the Ray Brown Trio, Frishberg opened for them. I'd never heard of him and didn't know what to expect, but I enjoyed myself quite a bit, particularly "My Attorney Bernie" and "Can't Take You Nowhere" and went out and bought the album of the same name. Never went any deeper into his catalog, although I think I have a couple of swing CDs where he's in the rhythm section, but I do have fond memories of that evening. Happy birthday.

I was inspired to start this thread when I raided the easter basket my wife brought home from work. So I voted for bagels and lox.

Which brings up a suspicion I've had: The era of the BN LT reissues, and those brown double LP sets, like the Booker ... they were made basically from the mid 70s to around 1980 or so, right? In other words, the era when fusion was at its height, or at least accoustic jazz was at its lowest. I think the release of those sessions was partially an attempt to appeal to the jazz fan who hadn't followed the fusion bandwagon and was probably plenty pleased to hear unissued dates by their favorites. Nevertheless, I like almost all of them, including the Booker. The Horace Parlan date is very fine, in fact, and the Booker is a worthy, if not exactly stellar, session, too.

What do records mean? Che. They mean all kinds of funny things if you play 'em backwards. That's true. Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust" says "Start to smoke marijuana." No lie.

Here's an update: I think the cleaning was pretty effective but I'm hoping Allen can fix it up a bit more. Much to my extreme dismay, I discovered yesterday that my wife's turntable, the only one that has a 78 setting, somehow got broken sometime in the last year or two. So, faced with the option of not making any sort of transfer myself and playing Postal Roulette again, I decided to do the only thing I could: I made a transfer at 45 rpm with my usual turntable. I can clean up the worst of the pops manually, and then I'm going to experiment with Goldwave's "time warp" function to speed up the recording and we'll see what happens, just in case anything terrible happens on its way to Mr. Lowe. The initial impression: For all the hope that this would be a great recording of Gene Harris, it turns out the Demo is more of a feature for the tenor saxophonist, Lonnie "The Sound" Walker. "Inez" is a ballad and is really all Walker, with a quick fade at the end of his solo as Gene starts his own (so that really makes me hope the recording studio is gonna tell me that they have the original masters. I can dream, can't I? Ten days ago, I'd never have dreamed there was a Four Sounds Demo out there, so .... ) "Hot Bread," as might be expected is a blues. Again, most solo space given to the tenor, but Gene does take a turn and so does Andy Simpkins. I guess the bottom line is, if this is all I get from this 78, I guess at least I got a recording of Gene playing with the funkiest Gerry Mulligan ever captured on wax.

Anyone see this? *********************************** The Associated Press Updated: 11:17 a.m. ET March 21, 2005 MICHIGANTOWN, Ind. - A turtle that was the only survivor of a pet shop fire may have emerged with a hellish memento. The palm-sized red-eared slider turtle, named Lucky, was the only animal to survive a fire last October at Dora’s A-Dora-ble Pet Shop in nearby Frankfort, about 40 miles northwest of Indianapolis. Owner Bryan Dora now says he sees an image of Satan’s face on the critter’s shell. He can spot lips, eyes, a goatee, shoulders and a pair of pointy horns on Lucky’s back. “The marking on the shell was like the devil wanted us to know he was down there,” Dora said. “To me, it’s too coincidental that the only thing to come out unscathed would have this image on it.” The image was not visible before the fire and Dora speculates the intense heat might have caused the shell’s color to change. The turtle is healthy and there was no change in its behavior, he said. The cause of fire that destroyed nine businesses or offices in the 1912 building in downtown Frankfort has not been determined. “Turtles can hold their breath quite awhile,” Dora said. “He may have taken one breath just before and held it through the fire. Except that the fire went on and on for hours.” Dora has produced a D-V-D of the turtle’s story that he plans to auction on the Internet. He will also offer the winning bidder the chance to buy Lucky off-line.

And the set includes Royal Flush which is a real good 'un, and I believe Herbie's BN debut.

McBride appeared on Love Scenes so they were not new to each other.

Uh, you live in New York. Ever hear of Lincoln Center or Carnegie Hall?

Either that, or that worst "erotic" writing award.

Sitting in Orioles Stadium on Thursday for the Red Sox - O's game, I heard Sweets Edison. OK, it was Sinatra, "Fly Me To The Moon" but when Sweets played those three notes he knew (as Sinatra once put it when he asked him to play on a record) there wasn't any doubt who it was, and I thought it was awfully cool to be hearing Sweets at a ballgame. Made me wish my wife could have been there, so I'd have had someone to tell.

Like Jim, I don't know what to say, Mike, except that I'm sorry you feel like its time to throw in the towel.

I think I would probably say this one: