AfricaBrass

Yeah, that one!

Same here.

They're in chronological order. I have the individual albums and the "Complete" set and I really prefer the original albums. I never listen to the box set.

Well I have a fair bit of his Atlantic stuff (as well as his Prestige dates) but I find his sound later more 'manageable' (obviously, that would be up to a ceratin point!). Plus, the group 'sound' with Tyner et al is quite unique. If I were you, I'd stick to the period of 1961 to 1964 for now. That quartet was amazing. If you like the free-er stuff then venture into 1965, with stuff like First Meditations.

Is that due to their reissue of certain albums as 'Deluxe' packages? Yes. And I second Lon's suggestion about the Atlantics. I love those too!

I think Randy Weston is highly underrated. I got into his music with the Tanjah album (from the early 70's) about ten years ago. Since then, I've tried to get as much of his music as I could. I also enjoy his work with Melba Liston. I think you can't go wrong with his Select.

I bet you can't guess what I'd recommend... My first Coltrane album was Africa/Brass and I still love it. I wish the old single disc version was available, but they really are great sessions and I think the two disc set is worth it. I'd buy the complete Village Vanguard box, but skip the complete Impulse sessions. It turns out that set is incomplete. Even though you have that Master Takes comp, I'd still get the Village Vanguard box, there's a LOT of great music on it. I'd also recommend Live At Birdland from 1963. I think that's a great album and it has "Alabama" on it. That song really moves me.

I loved watching his shows in recent years (sober) and it would trip me out that he'd have some cool R&B playing while showing clips of his horses and his young lady friends... then he'd come back on and bitch about some church business. He was a real trip.

Same here.

If you grew up in LA, you know this guy. He was a real character. I don't know if the world was a better place with or without him, but this guy brought a young AfricaBrass a lot of laughs. I used to smoke a LOT (seriously) and I loved to watch him ranting and raving about whatever. I'm sure he's on the other side; smoking a cigar, wearing three pairs of glasses at the same time, and yelling at someone. I just can't imagine a world without Wally George AND Gene Scott. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...e_us/obit_scott

Thanks Tony!

How could I forget Fela!?!?

Thanks Daniel! It really has been a big improvement. I'll save that setting for mono recordings. Thanks!

Cool! I'll do that.

Wow! Superman really is a an a-hole. I didn't realize that.

I LOVE Match Game!

Happy Birthday!!!

Thanks Jim!

I think I have my encoder option set to LAME and then in the command line I have When I play my tracks back in Winamp, I'm seeing the bitrate change from 128-320, with the average seeming to be around 192. I have only been using this method today, but I have ripped over 20 albums and they sound great. Good luck with this. I'm off to bed.

Very good point! I agree with you, Wolff; being true to yourself is the best way to be.

I'm new to this too. The alt preset standard setting is what Daniel A suggested I use. Check out the boards at the EAC site. I'm slowly learning about this stuff. http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/ Here's what a poster said about the alt preset standard: There are some other alt preset schemes, but most seem to recommend the standard setting. It seems as if these are "high performance" setups. That's how it seems to me. All I know is that my mp3s sound REALLY GOOD. I've been A/B-ing them against my 192 constant bit rate ones and these are better. As for speed, I can't help you. I know there will be people who know MUCH MORE than I do. Good luck!

That's a drag about your gig. I know the joy of buying tubes. I've got a few old Fender amps that need tubes and I have so many other things I'd rather spend the money on. I guess it's a good thing I'm not performing now.

The Saturday Night Organissimo crew!

I'd call it a new moment of time, but I agree, that is the key and often hard to arrive at. I agree. I guess the challenge I sometimes enjoy is to really embrace a piece of music without my preconceptions coloring what I hear. It seems as I have more experiences with a piece of music, I lay more filters over that music. I guess in the end, there's really no way to hear the music without my own filters, but my desire is to be as open as I can to the music. I find it happens all the time; I get a CD and it really doesn't sit with me very well at first. An example of that would be the newest Jason Moran album; but by the fifth listen or so, I really was into the music.

Have you checked your vital signs lately? Actually, I think it's a great set--and I didn't even get it wholesale from Caiman. I'd give that Adams/Byrd set another shot. I think Pepper Adams was a very interesting player with very interesting melodic ideas. Even when Byrd may have just been on autopilot (albiet at a very high level), I enjoyed where Adams would take things.