jmjk

That's Power Station. Yeah, his work in the 1980s was overblown, but that's how I like it. I always thought he was a smooth personality---not as nerdy as Rolling Stone thought. And I loved his song "Every Kinda People" too. RIP, Robert.

One tactic that's helped me has been to take 15 or 20 cds I haven't played for a while, or ones I haven't really explored in depth, and burn a compilation or two of tunes from those albums. This way, I can put it on in the background or in the car, and kind of listen to songs instead of albums. Then after a week or so, I'll burn another comp or two. What ends up happening is that I become familiar with, like, half of an album because I've been listening to selected songs from it on the comps, and that will eventually earn the entire album more play as a whole. Sounds silly, but it works for me. I guess this works because of my relatively short attention span. I am able to absorb information best in small chunks, and usually only as a whole if I add the components together. Most often an entire new album contains too much information for me to absorb in one or two listenings, and I'm always eager to move on to something else quickly. My profession has also helped me! I am a corporate trainer, and I always have some jazz cassettes or cds in my classrooms to play during breaks or exercises. If I want to rediscover a few titles from my collection, or try out titles that I've NEVER really paid much attention to, I bring them to work to use in class. Most often, the class participants like the music, and often request it!

"Monk's Dream" was the first jazz record I ever heard, so I have a soft spot for it.

Hah! A little birdie!! The birdie at Mosaic told me she expects the stock of Pattons to arrive to them today. Hopefully the sets will be on the way by Friday!

Hi Pete- Hope everything is swell! I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I'd rather have an RVG of Blakey's A Night in Tunisia, with some kick-ass Mogie playing on it, than anything else Morgan released that hasn't been remastered.

I only have the Moncur Select, and as I wrote above it is not a good remastering, despite the 24bits. The earlier Connoisseur CDs of "Some other stuff" and "Destination out" sound much better. Don't focus on the number of bits, it's irrelevant compared to all the factors that make a successful remastering: availablitity of the original master tapes, accuracy of the transfer from the analog tape machine to the mastering console, decisions by the engineer on tonal balance and correction and stereo spread, use of noise reduction systems, etc Thanks, Claude. I'd love more education on all this stuff. Any good books or journals on digital mastering, and/or modern recording considerations?

Chuck, I know better than to take anything personally from you . As a fellow scotch drinker, I know we can vent on many things at a moments notice! It is not necessarily a deal breaker for me...until now, I hadn't gotten around to picking up any Selects. I pre-ordered the Patton, and I went for the Carmell yesterday, and I'm curious as to what the bit rate was. I feel that the sound on some of the 16 and 20 bit transfers in the Conn series suffered a little---to my ears, anyway. So, that the Selects are transferred in 24-bit makes me happy that the sound quality was addressed somewhat---I wouldn't want to have the Selects sound exactly like the old Collector's Choice issues, or the regular domestics from the 1980s. As to the points made about using ears instead of eyes---I usually agree with this! However, if I knew that I was getting an early 1990s digital mastering on a 2003 product, I'd be a little less excited about ordering it. And going into it blindly, I can't really order a Select, and then return it, saying, "Sorry guys, the sound sucks." Thanks for the input, y'all!

Doesn't Ben realize the monochrome shirt and tie thing is SOOOO 4 years ago?

Because if there ever was a loaf, somebody seems to have pinched it. Excuse me while I...

Are the recordings transferred at 24-bit?

Did someone say "enabler"?

This thread has taken an uncomfortable turn.

Jim, I have an HK-CDR 20 stand alone burner and I have NEVER had a problem with any home audio cdrs I've ever tried. I've had some duds in batches of cdrs in the past, but in these cases, I've just started over again with another disc in the same batch and I've been fine. I don't really stick to one particular brand of cdr, though I've never had a problem with the Maxell Gold series (only by Japanese manufacturer). As long as they're made in Japan, I'll buy them (I've been told to stay away from Taiwanese cdrs). As to the difference between blue-green-gold inks---I've never noticed. (afterthought) Jim, since we have the same burner, we could co-ordinate some tests, if you'd like. Let me know if there's any way I could help. Also, I just read the link that couw posted, and now I'm freakin' out about how long some of my music is going to last! Apparently, questions of quality run deeper than the Japan vs. Taiwan thing.

If I remember correctly, it's $4.99 standard, $5.99 priority.

What a co-ink! I just did the same at the same place for the same price and for the same titles---Jeez, Peter, I hope they don't send you my package.

I agree. Jim's posts are always engaging, and chock filled with info--not just opinions.

True or not, it's aboout time the Scots had some press besides golf and Dolly the cloned sheep.

I'll get working on that essay, but I will not delete the post. Squawk all you'd like. I am entitled to my suspicions, and if voicing them causes mayhem, well then, it's more to do with the fragility of the members of this barnyard than it's to do with my cavalier opinion. If Passing Ships is as good as Dance With Death (I happen to love DwD; others here may not), I'll write an extra 1000 words on the societal benefits of roosters.

Update- I picked up a copy yesterday. It doesn't blow me away, but I don't think it's bad by any means. Repeated listenings will shed more light on its successes and weaknesses, I'm sure.

AWWWWWWW! A startling thought just woke me from my laziness! Could the hype about the previously unreleased Passing Ships cloud our judgement as to its real quality? I love Andrew Hill's playing as much as anyone, but I'm starting wonder if the session is as good as we hope it will be. I fear that any session with a nine-piece group could easily get outta hand!

Past few days- Lee Morgan - Standards Howard Rumsey - Jazz a la Lighthouse, Vol 1 Serge Chaloff - Blue Serge Allan Holdsworth - Metal Fatigue June Christy - June's Got Rhythm Cooper/Rosolino/Holman Mosaic

Jazzdog, you're dead on! I like music too. It's just that I prefer it without muddy bass and distorting horn ensembles that one can find on certain McMasterings. The equipment on which these are played may have something to do with my muddy sound, though. Which reminds me...I need to check on who did the transfers for some Kenton cds I've been suspicious about. Nearly everything distorts on those!! Maybe it was Stan's plan all along (bless him). Soul Stream- Stop with all this Patton talk. Your relentless hype stands to keep me up nights in anticipation.

Very excited and curious to take in the Patton vibe! I know his work as a sideman, and I even have a few of his own dates, but I'm not well versed in the Patton ways yet. It will be a nice adventure, I suspect. And Bertrand, thanks for the post about the Blakey-Chambers duets. May just save me some money if I can find Drums Around the Corner (is it still in print? I haven't seen it for a while).

Patton is not my favorite organist, but I'm going for his Select anyway. Gotta broaden my outlook, ya know? The organ universe is not just Jack McDuff and Freddie Roach (sadly ). I read Cuscuna's blurb about how the Chambers-Blakey duets came out of the Sonny Clark session, and that did it for me! Even though I have nearly all of the Chambers material in other formats, now I'm going to have to get the Select.

Man, now I need a third job! September and October will leave me penniless, between the RVGs, Conns, Verve Releases, and now this!.