GA Russell

I am close to completely out of touch with today's hits. I read this morning the list of the week's top ten, and I had never heard of any of them or the singers either. But I will say this. When I was in high school in the 60s, all of the kids on American Bandstand agreed that what they were looking for in a rock 'n' roll record was that "it had a good beat and was easy to dance to". I have heard only a few of Britney Spears' hits, but every one of them fit that bill.

Belated Happy Birthday Andy!

Belated Happy Birthday Patricia!

Belated Happy Birthday 7!

Belated Happy Birthday Clifford!

Wait till TTK gets here! I have Rain Forest, Cheganca, A Certain Smile and Samba So! I enjoy them for what they are, particularly Rain Forest. I pulled all of them out over the course of 2007, and was a little surprised that I found him to be more lounge than I did forty years ago.

Happy Birthday Nate!

If I recall correctly, I have him on Herbie Mann's Standing Ovation at Newport. What else did he do?

Happy Birthday m!

Good for a laugh Chris!

I don't know to what extent a record company is motivated by the desire to minimize illegal downloading, as opposed to maximizing its sales. For example, I doubt that Michael Buble has been the victim of much illegal downloading. So record companies concerned about illegal downloading should concentrate on music whose audience doesn't do that sort of thing. But if maximizing sales is the goal, than illegal downloading should be considered on a par with taping off the radio. There are going to be some people who enjoy the product without paying for it. But as I have said, it's not clear to me that they would have paid for it under any circumstance. So in regard to those people, who cares? The market for a record company has always been the people who are willing to purchase the record. The American and world populations are bigger than ever. If the number of people who are willing to buy a record is likely to be too small for the record to break even, then maybe that record shouldn't be issued by a record company that wants to see all of its issues pay for themselves.

Happy Birthday again Marty!

I started off the New Year yesterday by opening up Carla Bley's new album The Lost Chords Find Paolo Fresu. It was recorded just last May. The Lost Chords are Bley's quartet with Bley on piano, Andy Sheppard on soprano and tenor sax, Steve Swallow on bass and Billy Drummond on drums. Paolo Presu plays trumpet and flugelhorn. This is an ECM release, and like many of their issues it does not vary much in mood. The mood here is somewhat dark and sombre. I recall there being a thread some time ago about music for film noir movies. Back in 1980 I read all of Ross MacDonald's novels with Mike Nock's In, Out and Around spinning in the background. This too would be great music to read hard-boiled detective stories by. Fresu has a beautiful sound. I like his flugelhorn work especially. All of the songs were written by Bley. There are interesting chords through the album. One song, Ad Infinitum, is very familiar but I can't place it. You probably saw that Slate.com listed this as one of the year's top ten jazz releases. I'll be surprised if it isn't found pretty high up in the Readers Polls of Downbeat and Jazz Times next year. If you like interesting music to relax to or read by, this is highly recommended.

Well, I'll weigh in! Here are what I understand to be the Austrian responses to your views: A commodity-backed currency doesn't fix the price of the commodity - it fixes the price of the currency. A currency need not be issued by a government. American Express could issue gold-backed travelers checks (if it were not prohibited from doing so as it is now). The popularity of gold is based upon its long history of being desired by peoples of many (all?) cultures, not nostalgia or ignorance. Should the day ever come when people no longer covet gold, the gold bugs will suggest another commodity to back the dollar. The reason why you can buy what you want in the US with a US dollar is the federal Legal Tender law, which requires everyone to accept the dollar. If the Legal Tender law were ever rescinded, many people would no longer accept it if they could demand instead gold-backed currency. Inflation is not an increase in price. It is an increase in the money supply. The government is able to increase the money supply at will because it is fiat money. Prices will increase to the extent that the money supply is increased less the increase/improvement in productivity. If the economy (production) increases due to increased efficiency (productivity), prices will indeed fall without a change in the money supply. That is a good thing. That is not deflation, which is a decrease in the money supply. Presumably, when Congress passes the law to back the dollar with gold, it will also outlaw its coins being fraudulently debased with inferior metals or shaved.

Hold on a second, Chuck! As I say, I generally agree with your points. But if that last statement were true, copyrights would not have any expiration date.

I go to the Golden Corral once a week and load up on vegetables. Even without any meat, it's cheap. My New Year's resolution is to improve my diet with more fruits and vegetables. I've read that bananas are good for you. My aunt the RN hounds me to eat more beets.

Some years ago I saw a news item on Atlanta television about UGA students who had a contest to do impressions of Larry Munson. Some of them were quite good!

Gee, do you think alcohol was involved?

I believe that self-confidence counts for a lot in business. People accustomed to being accepted are more likely to being accepted by strangers than those who are accustomed to rejection. So this probably results in the greater opportunities for the beautiful which, as the article mentions, give the beautiful opportunities to gain good experience that the ugly never get. Over time this will result in promotions and pay raises. I once attended a function for young lawyers in Atlanta, and I noticed that all of the guys who worked for the prestigious high-paying law firms were the best looking guys in the room. You can't tell me that good looks is relevant to being a good lawyer.

If today really is your birthday, Happy Birthday to you both! I assumed that Jan. 1 was the default for members who didn't list a day, but then again many more than two would have declined to list a day.

We've done this the past couple of years, with interesting responses. I guess what I find most interesting in the responses is that they have been quite varied and often reflect music not frequently discussed here on the forum. So...What did you listen to the most this past year? For me it was the vibraharp. I listened to a lot of Cal Tjader; some Terry Gibbs, Milt Jackson and Stefon Harris; and a little Bobby Hutcherson, Red Norvo and Gary Burton. I also listened to more ECM than I have since I went on an ECM kick about 20 years ago. I expect to be listening to a lot of ECM in January. So were there any albums or artists that you played most of all this year?

Wow! Thanks for the heads up, Tjazz! I've just put these two at the top of my queue. I've been waiting for that Maynard since the word first went out that it would be reissued!

I don't disagree with the points made here. But I have to wonder how much illegal downloading results in lost sales of music aimed at adults. I understand that college kids get most of their music now through illegal downloading, so the sale of rock music should suffer, and it does. But jazz? I have to think, with no evidence to back it up, that the people who are illegally downloading music would not have bought the CD anyway.

Happy New Year everyone! Some years NPR has New Year's midnight jazz concerts. Last year's was pretty good, with Karrin Allyson in the Central time zone and McCoy Tyner with Joe Lovano on Pacific time. I'll tune in tonight to see if they are doing it again this year.

Happy Birthday Tony!