Robert J

Just get one of these if you are worried about running out.

I've had the British-made Revolver for 15 years now and I still love it. REVOLVER A friend had a Rega Planar 3 at that time and he thought mine sounded warmer, though I've heard some of the new Regas and they are wonderful. The P7 is wonderful to look at as well.

He's not a teen just yet, so there's hope. He's got a good teacher so I am not too worried. His teacher is a huge Greg Allman fan. Best thing I did for my son was buy him a Baby Taylor (Koa) for his 8th birthday.

I've also recorded my 2 young kids at the piano when they were really young. The left hand voicing part always fascinated me, as well as the odd melodies. At that early stage they are true improvisors! Now of course my son is a 10 year old guitarist into Linkin Park and all forms of rap.

[ Is this true? And where? The EU? North America? I don't know myself. It seems absurd that if you are not hosting the files, you should not be "punished" as those who do. I recall this debate a few years ago when servers were put on tropical islands etc to avoid certain taxation laws of the originator.

A forum I've been to lately because of my interests - Piano World - has recently had an ethical hosting question thrown at them. One of its members posted a link to a site that is located in Spain. The author of the site is a pianist, from Barcelona (It's all in Spanish so I am being basic here). He's a young long-haired European pianist who seems to know his stuff as a performer and arranger. He also has a page that links to various videos of classical pianists – solo and w/ensemble. It is a treasure for music lovers. He also has links – I think unknown to PW because no one dug deeper – to PDF files of classical music for piano. Again an astonishing collection. All the Real Book PDFs and others I've never seen before - Art Tatum sheet music, Bill Evans fake book (!!). (Funny thing is there’s this one modern composer in there: Collins, Phil. I think he’s a minimalist.) Many members jumped in to download the videos (They are massive though, 10MB – 800MB). Others condemned it as stealing. Just to demonstrate how tempting it would be to download these, here’s a title in the Miscellaneous section: Jazz Piano Workshop. Berlin, 1965. Earl Hines, Teddy Wilson, Bill Evans, John Lewis, Lennie Tristano, Jackie Byard (588 megas). The moderator/owner of PW eventually deleted the thread. He’s a very reasonable guy from what I can tell. I won’t paste his reply, but it was to the effect that he’d rather not have his site link to something that may be pushing illegal copies of music. Secondly, he’s read an article (heavily Kaaza influenced) that suggested these video sites are spyware laden. He’s wrong on that count in this instance. The guy’s web page seems legit: a performer who’s excited about the videos he’s found on OTHER websites. If you click on a file to the musician’s website, you can see clearly that the files are hosted on his server, not linking to where he got them. Lastly, the moderator said he’s heard the big studios (music and video) are going after people for pirated copies and copyright infringements. So he didn’t want to be targeted. That’s fair enough. So my question is: Is there a problem linking to these sites on any webpage, not just a forum? –to me, you are just linking, not hosting. [OMG - I know I will go to hell for downloading the piano video - but Earl Hines in Duet with Teddy Wilson and Jaki Byard! I'm in heaven]

Jim, You are right about WDET. I grew up on that in University as well as when WJZZ was more hardcore jazz. Remember, I was born and spent 23 years in Windsor, though now living in Oakville Ontario. There was heavy snow coming down when I crossed the Ambassador bridge so I was concentrating on that. (You ever tried to find the I-75 off the bridge? You take a tour of Mexican town for awhile!) I had Brad Meldhau's Anything Goes CD then on the car stereo as I prayed my wiper fluid would hold up. You might be too young to remember WWWW (W4, 106FM in the 80s - great hard rock. I think that was when Howard Stern was there, or was that WRIF, 101?). Is WABX still around? --------------------------- Dan - true. I can't say that I was 100% efficient. I did have the hard rock on to keep awake during the boring stretches (AKA Georgia and Florida ). The last time we drove through the night. This time we stayed in a Knoxville motel going down, and somewhere in South Carolina off the 95 coming back. I suppose of course I was making a general observation of the state of radio in a lament. I was not joking about the country music, though it is the same when you get 200 miles out of Toronto in any direction. I think worse that not having any jazz on the radio was that there's not a single Starbucks on 75 or 95 to keep my blood pumping . I did pull over to one accidentally when we stopped for lunch somewhere in an Atlanta suburb. The girl at the counter was shocked when I ordered a double espresso, short. "Sir, I don't know how you could ever drink that".

I just returned from a drive from Canada to Miami. We took I-75 through Detroit down and I-95 back through Buffalo in return. I kept tuned to the airwaves, but I sadly report that I did not pick up a single jazz station or jazz tune in the total of 50 hours I was driving. Thanfully I had some CDs. I did this trip 4 years ago and got the same results. However in Tennessee that time I caught some college show faintly that had a Jelly Roll Morton profile. It only lasted 1/2 hour. Of course I was not near NYC. Is this really representative of the radio reality of where I drove? I do have to say that 50% of the dial in any of the states I travelled was country music Also I'd need a good hard rock fix to keep going at some points. Ohio and Pennsylvania were good for that. Long time since I've heard Ted Nugent's "Stranglehold".

With the stronger Canadian dollar, I may be able to buy her $1000 CD soon.

In the future, just stick with the beer.

OK, Dan. I wasn't being simplistic if it came across that way. I was just saying that in my experience I don't really think about it. I may play lightly while the clapping subsides, but am usually oblivious, and as I said, I explore the transition however that me be given the situation. I do think about the previous solo before I start, and often acknowledge my appreciation of the previous soloist with a nod or smile, but then to the tune. Maybe a deep breath as well. Even if it means not being heard. I think of those smoking bebop sessions where you hear the loud applause but the next guy is just plowing right in there, heard clearly or not.

I think Jim Sangrey touched on this in the other thread: The first bars, irrespective of the previous soloist, I feel, should be an exploration of that transition. When you are on stage, and it's really happening, or you are with a band you've known and played with, it can be compared as a fluid structure. You hardly even notice the audience when you are grooving. Your turn is up, and you usually just keep it going, find a path and hopefully stick to it. The audience, if they are truly responding, are impressed by the soloing, but they are also listening to the whole tune.

Can anyone confirm this observation of mine. Whenever there's a full moon, like now, I find my practicing and performing time to be much more relaxed and expansive. Even my creativity level seems enhanced. (no, I am not on Viagra) Anyone else's playing affected by the moon, or am I just downright crazy?

small additions... Kirk Lightsey p Roy Brooks d Geri Allen p Regina Carter violin Yusef Lateef s Bess Bonier p Kenny Cox p Marcus Belgrave tr There was a guy from my hometown in Windsor, Hugh Leal, who did live and studio recordings in Windsor and Detroit with several key Detroiter's who were getting on in years and were under-recorded. It was called Parkwood Records. I have a few with Johnny O'Neal (p), Earl van Riper (p), Marcus Belgrave, JC Heard (d) and Sammy Price. I saw all these live at the taping. The Barry Harris Xanadu recordings are my favorites of his, but hard to find. I have a duo recording of Flannagan and Jones that is astounding on MPS I believe. The Griot Galaxy (Faruq Z. Bey, Jaribu Shahid, Tani Tabbal - the last 2 play w/ James Carter) would be good too - "Opus Krampus" is a good indication of post- Sun Ra composition and performing.

Ben Webster and Oscar Peterson.

A good piano is a priority for me. I'd say 80% of the time when a club has a piano it is garbage. As noted above, the action is most important. You've got 88 keys moving approximately 5000 small parts. The better clubs maintain them. I won't even talk about mikes. I got smart and bougt at PZM mike for uprights and grands. Usually however I take my Roland FP3 on most gigs. I get 88 weighted keys and volume I can control. A shitty sounding piano can make a band sound lousy. I've played many pianos live. Highlights include a 9' Steinway, 7-1/2' Yamaha (with about 12 mikes!! in a major jazz club) and a 7' Kawai at a private home party. That piano was about the best I played on. At one point (I was solo) I looked down at my hands and I was not conscious that I was even playing. It was like I was watching myself from a distance. I was thinking of a sound in my head and it just kept happeneing. That was a great night. But few and far between. Usually I am told I will be on a grand and it it worse than a bad upright.

He's not new, just overlooked. Another stellar pianist from Detroit, Kirk Lightsey http://www.crisscrossjazz.com/album/1003.html Another Detroiter Johnny O'Neal http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oneal

Poutine lovers?

Sounds like an artist! She's reduced the price. From the order form: "We are excepting love offerings. And you can receive a cd right now, that is not in demo quality. Send checks of money orders to Norma Morris. Make the checks out to Norma Morris and mail it to Marissa Marchant. Norma will cash it for me. She takes care of business. She is my agent of sorts. If you have a check from another country contact us first. " From her writings: "I sell my music for one thousand dollars a album because I am fine art and the real thing. I am not plain jane like all of these people. I know the value of art. I charge 25 thousand dollars to perform. I write every style of music and sing every style of the high level. much higher then the biz. I play a few instruments very very well. I studied opera for years..and sing every style of music and write every style."

From the slideshow.

Dow Mossman - The Stones of Summer

Good lord! We let Canadians in here??? The customs agent didn't know where Rye was. All he asked me was if I had beef when I told him I had sandwiches in my cooler. Good Canadian BACON, lettuce and tomato sandwiches.

Thanks everyone. I'm having a great time. Check this out. For the long weekend, we're out of Oakville, Ontario. In fact now in the US! - Rye, New York celebrating my birthday with relatives. We're up for a baptism and my brother-in-law is moving back to Canada or Rochester in 2 weeks. So my last free stay near NYC. This is also the 1st time out of Canada for my birthday since my 23rd on the island of Ios, Greece in 1990. Now in the backyard sun: kids in the sprinkler, old newspapers and Harpers being read, alternating between Yeungling's Black and Tan and Magic Hat's #9. It can't get better! In May I caught up with Dmitry to see Randy Weston. Looking forward to something as rewarding, though I understand it's a bit quiet in NYC for jazz now. Dmitry mentioned Tito Puente's Restaurant as a venue. I like hot food and jazz. So maybe tomorrow or Sunday. Enjoying my 37th in New York. btw - a true Canadian, I was born on day of the Centennial. Happy Canada Day.

Yes indeed. The woman on the phone at the JS said be there by 7PM or else I'd lose the reservation.

I meant coming from the US. There's lots in Ontario, just the province is a pain when it tries to protect its markets. I love going to Montreal liquor stores. All the beer we should have in Ontario. Same happens in Alberta - my Calgary friends enjoy a completely different variety. BTW - Unibrou and St Ambrose breweries are among my faves from Quebec - "Fin de Monde" and "Oatmeal Stout" respectively.