Dan Gould

Actually, King, I think that since you started the wayward threads, you can go back in and delete them without invoking the Fist.

Congratulations and much happiness to you and the soon-to-be Mrs. My wife (you know, the internet wh*re) and I will be celebrating our second anniversary two weeks from yesterday. In fact, I just ordered something from tiffany.com when I came back here and saw your announcement.

Up for some more signups! We're at 25 right now, Lots of newcomers but many from the first test aren't signed up for #2.

Actually, Lon, the Vanguard comp. "Nice Work" has seven of the ten tunes that are on "The Essential," that is, if AMG can be believed.

Feel free to post your guesses on my CD here Randy.

GoM, that Yankee win was huge for you guys, but it can't make me forget the thrill of hearing "Let's Go Red Sox" in Yankee Stadium on Saturday after pounding Clemens around the yard! But that win makes it awful tough for the Sox to catch up with 20 left, especially considering that our schedules are almost exactly the same, except that you get Detroit for three and we get Cleveland for three. Can you tell what my Avatar is? My favorite Norman Rockwell, and since I switched to it, the Cubbies have taken over first place!

And one more announcement, for the record, my test does have a "theme" though it might not be perfectly cohesive.

Oh, and here's the irony: I pulled my Dickenson CD, and it turns out to be the Vanguard Comp., Nice Work, so what I have is Showcase Volume 2 and Septet. So, I have no idea how this compares to the actual Dickenson that's been chosen.

I think that's what Chuck is referring to, Chris, a Fantasy comp. of Trane's blues tunes put out as "Blue Trane". The funny thing is, in a way, there's no false advertising here. They're "stealing" sales only to the extent that the wrong title for the BN album has made its way into the collective jazz consciousness, something that has now been helped along by Blue Note itself. Way to go guys!

Well, perhaps not, but oh what could have been-if I'd been smart, I might have smacked four out of the park!

That would have been my vote, motivated by your prior message. Florida tips the election. Who'da thunk it?

OK, I've given one more listen with my cheat sheet in hand, and I have to admit I am even more embarrased than I was when I first read Tony's list. But more on that in a moment. My one general comment is one of appreciation for the breadth of music Tony clearly enjoys, a breadth much wider than my own and definitely wider than my blindfold disc will exhibit (not that there's anything wrong with that #1 Just doesn't do a heckuva lot for me, I'm afraid. But I agree with Tony's comment about the idiosyncracies of his playing and his rhythm. #2 Well, I got J.J. right, and I do own the Mosaic but frankly I never considered going deep into the box to see if I could find it! #3 Lon has exposed me to old Barnie and I definitely enjoy his playing, but it was especially nice to hear this track and realize that it was Bags on piano. Like some others, I have slept, more or less, on the Jazz in Paris series, clearly to my detriment. #4 As I've listened to this more and more, I find the arrangement less and less pleasing, frankly. The solos are great and I have no excuse for missing Trane and Miles, but the arrangement actually grew tiresome to my ears. #5 The first new element in my embarassment, The New York Sessions is a disc I have and have listened to many times. #6 Ibrahim is someone I have wondered about in the past but never checked out. This might be the track that get's me started .... #7 Like I said above, Tony sent me this disc, its great and highly recommended, no excuses for not remembering, especially considering that it wasn't long ago at all that I had this on in the car. #8 Like the solo guitar, just doesn't do enough for me. #9 And here is the *other* element of embarrasment for me. I had said that I had only recently acquired a single disc by Louiss, well, it turns out that its this one!! What can I say, except that I liked the CD but its not the first or fifth organist I reach for. #10 Unlike the LeGrand cut, this one I actually enjoyed the arrangement more than the solos. A big band I have not been exposed to, but I did enjoy this ... #11 No excuses for not recognizing Joe. As for the leader, you do know, Tony, that he spent some time with the Messengers and has always stuck in the hard bop realm? I have several of his CDs, all on Reservoir, two with Ralph Moore and his more recent one, The Messenger, which I definitely recommend. And for what it's worth, his two originals that reference Russia "Messenger from Russia" and "Escape from Gorki Park" don't show much eastern influence either. #12-14 Sorry, these just didn't do much for me at all.

They went to the well too many times, but the first Dusty Groove Madlib thread grooved in a fun-kay way you don't often see on a jazz discussion board! Jim R. grooves in a really groovy Brazilian way and GHF keeps cracking us up. BNBB pressing. Not available online anymore!

Is it time then to resurrect the Dusty Groove Mad Lib template?

Well, I've got to go back and listen again with the answers in mind, but my first reaction is complete mortification at the fact that Tony sent me "Lola" not very long ago at all, I listened twice and dug it, but clearly it did not register enough, and on top of that, I just didn't play "smart" and even consider the possibility that something had already been heard courtesy of the good Doctor. Oh, the shame!

I am positively tingling with anticipation. B)

1. Jim R. has accepted the assignment of producing and distributing Test #3. Let's give it up for Mr. Jim R.! Now, start studying the old geetar and those Brazilian folks, or Jim done gonna make a fool outa y'all!! 2. I continue to accept requests for Blindfold Test #2, but please try to get them to me via PM by this Friday, September 12. 3. Discs are now being sent to points outside of the US in order to get a head start on delivery so that you non-American blokes won't feel so far behind. I am also shipping to my designated helpers, Brad and Jim R., so that they will have the disc on hand a little sooner and will hopefully be able to take care of the latecomers after I have exhausted my stash of 25 burns. All other US participants will ship by Friday or perhaps Saturday. Assuming this works as well as I've laid it out, this might be an approach worth duplicating in the future. B)

I like the Hill, don't care for the Morgan. The TOCJ for Sonic Boom looks better, not so dark.

Well, Mark, just be careful trying to get the disc away from him. I hear cats have claws and aren't afraid to use them Folks, we're getting a big reaction, but I haven't heard from everyone yet, so keep those PMs coming.

CDR. There. You made me say it.

The numbers keep rising ... we've already reached the total number of original participants for Tony's test! Keep 'em coming, but in the meantime I am going to go clear all of those Organissimo "so & so sent you a PM" messages from my hotmail account!

In the spirit of Daniel's thoughts, I am going to endeavor to reduce the distance factor by shipping burns extra early to Europe and Australia. So hopefully the non-Americans will not feel quite so far behind. If we wanted to formalize things, we might try this: When the test-giver ships the CDs (or the bulk of the CDs), discussion begins no sooner than one week after. That would give Europe a shot and it would give the Americans a chance to, as Jim says, absorb the music more before making comments. Just a thought. But I do think it will be a good idea for test givers to ship internationally a little sooner.

As of now, all PM's received. Like I said, this is going to be a big group (hope I do y'all right) considering that I've got 6 or 7 new people already signed up, and I suspect a lot of people from the first batch will want to play again.

An interesting idea, wouldn't think that a points system is necessary, but did you say its for competitive sorts ...

CDRs was the chosen method.