GregK

i hate espn. i can't watch it at all now. i used to watch baseball tonight nightly (or the following mornings). but now it's unwatchable. i get my highlights from reading the game summaries on cnnsi or fox sports.com; they should just re-name baseball tonight the bonds watch, or game analysis for the obvious-impaired. Kruk and Phillips are useless.

I like the Carays. Skip is great, and Chip is one of the better young broadcasters. I don't think Skip "whines" about the opposing team; if anything, he complains an awful lot about the Braves not playing to their potential, or missing plays, or the pitchers not throwing strikes, or a Braves hitter not taking the first pitch, etc. TBS had an excellent, entertaining team of broadcasters during the incredible Braves seaons of the 90s. I'd much rather listen to the TBS crew than ESPN, with their horrible commercials, Bonds-obsession, and Joe Morgan. I think it's a shame that Bud forced the superstations to cut back on their national broadcasts. If your local team wasn't on or were getting blown out or whatever, you could always watch the Cubs or Braves. Not so much anymore. Thanks Bud!

why are the Braves on ESPN Sunday Night baseball so much this year? I don't remember them being on this frequently when they were the best team in the NL; now they seem to be on every second week! Not that I'm complaining, I'd rather watch the Braves than the Red Sox or Yankees any time, but it seems odd.

if you figure in shipping from CD Universe, I think that it will be cheapest to get it at Borders with the perpetual 20% Borders coupon

Yikes. If I came across as some sort of Jarrett "fanboy" that was definitely not my intent. To summarize: 1) I have no problem if someone dislikes Jarrett's music. Different strokes and all. I personally don't like all of it, as I'm sure you can find out if you comb the archives. 2) I have no interest in defending Jarrett the person. He's a putz. 3) I do think that people's opinions of his music are affected by extramusical factors (as you can see from this thread) -- his obnoxious personality, his pretentious blatherings, his financial success, his occasionally cult-like followers, etc. That's completely human, but it needs to be acknowledged. 4) I also think that blanket "objective" dismissals of his work, dismissals of his contribution to his music (ie "group X works in spite of his playing"), or the even stronger suggestion that he's an (artistic) phony are BS. (The obvious implication of these arguments is that the many people who seem to genuinely love his music are 'wrong'.) 5) Many of the "objective" criticisms directed against his music could easily be directed at other more "politically correct" pianists or musicians. (For example, Jarrett vs. Herbie's gospellisms. Or Jarrett vs. Byard on the eclectic nature of their playing.) 6) Hopefully if any other musician came under unfair criticism on this board, I'd act in exactly the same way. Guy What he said.

I'm pretty sure it's more than 2 CDs. I think it's a 6 disc set.

doesn't seem to be at CD Universe yet

I like a lot of Trader Joe's coffees.

I don't know about "sturdy digipaks"- mine crack every time I open them, and I think a few are about to disintegrate. I've always liked the Miles Davis boxes, and the Albery Ayler Holy Ghost is pretty fancy, although not the easiest or most practical to access.

surprisingly cool the last two days here, especially in the mornings. For mid-July, it's usually warmer than upper 50s-low 60s.

it was Chuck wasn't it?

I received one of mine last week. I was told the others will take 3 weeks.

Yes, I know. And I was referring to the CD, not the live performance.

I really like the Stoa album. It is a little repetitive in places, and I would like to hear the contrabass and bass clarinets more (they seem to be just emphasizing the lower end; a solo or two would be nice), but the music is very good. It's not THAT ECM-ish.

This one has been talked about for a couple of years now; it was supposed to come out in 2005, I believe. It's actually not a box, it's just one DVD, with no video content. They are putting it out on DVD because the format can hold more music than a CD, so instead of a box of 6 or 7 CDs, it's all on one DVD.

I'm just bothered at what it COULD have been, without the slick Lynne production. Yes it was just a bunch of musicians having fun in the studio, but then why did he have to gloss it up to make it so radio-friendly? Why not just leave it rough sounding? That's what my main issue is.

The period where I was finishing grad school, met my wife, landed a job before I graduated and started listening almost exclusively to jazz.

according to the liner notes, the '66 set wasn't recorded by Impulse. Also, there is no mention anywhere of Ravi Coltrane in the credits

I saw it today for $9.99 so I bought it. I haven't listened to it yet. There is an essay by Ashley Kahn (is he the official Coltrane writer now??).

yeah I started watching it recently, but man it's hard to sit through the opening. I HATE Bon Jovi.

Thanks for the recommendations. I already have a few of them, so this time I ordered the Copland Haunted Heart, and probably wiill get the Brotzmann. A local store is clearing out his inventory (he's shutting the store down) so I will pick up a few Shipp and Ortega Hat titles there for 20% off (works out to about the same as these prices if you include shipping).

Yeah, my wallet may take another hit... anyone know how long this is going to go? From the email: Sale ends July 6, 2007 at Midnight Pacific Time. All orders will be filled as sold. If we run out, we will hold your order until we get more stock (about 10 days). Your credit cards will not be charged until your order ships. Best wishes, Alan Lawrence The Jazz Loft

anyone wanna recommend some of the Jazz Loft sale Hat discs?

Mighty Like a Rose is better than Spike. Much angrier (check out How to be Dumb and Hurry Down Doomsday; he was quite pissed off). The bonus disc of Spike is better than the original, as some of them are acoustic demos, revealing some not-so-bad songs. I agree, The River in Reverse is fantastic! It seemed to be virtually ignored when it came out, but it's a very good album. International Echo has a nice groove going on. Elvis is on a streak currently that rivals his early days.

Some news about upcoming releases by the trio. Why nothing recorded after 2002 has been released yet, I don't know, but here it is: Jarrett/Peacock/DeJohnette: Live in Canada and Europe - Upcoming releases The summer tour of the trio of Keith Jarrett/Gary Peacock/Jack DeJohnette – this time with concerts in Canada, France, Italy, Germany and Spain -kicks off this weekend at Toronto’s Four Seasons Art Centre (June 29). Subsequent dates are Montreal, Place des Arts (July 1), Paris, Salle Pleyel (July 7), Perugia, Arena Guiliana (July 10), Brescia, Piazza della loggia (July 13), Essen, Philharmonie (July 16), Juan-les-Pins, Les Pinedes Gould (July 19), and Peralada, Castell de Peralada (July 22). In October ECM releases “My Foolish Heart” a 2-CD documentation of the trio’s effervescent performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2001, a spirited journey through the history of jazz. Next year, Jarrett/Peacock/DeJohnette celebrate 25 years of setting standards. To mark this imminent anniversary a special three disc edition of the New York recording session of 1983 is being prepared, with music of “Standards Vol. 1”, “Standards Vol. 2” and “Changes”. More details soon.