J Larsen

Thanks. That's actually a relief.

As an aside, any idea what the complete Monk BN on vinyl goes for? I'd consider selling if it's pricey.

I've run in to several musicians in NYC record shops, but none of my encounters can top the time my girlfriend wound up on an airplane with James Brown and his entourage from LA to NYC. Not jazz, I know, but pretty damn cool.

It wouldn't surprise me if I were. Due to my girlfriend's reluctance to pay rent, I live in a fairly low-income area. I honestly don't think that any of my neighbors even have computers, and I'm dead serious about that. According to http://bandwidthplace.com/speedtest/ , my connection speed is over 300kbs, which is faster than what I pay for. BTW, that 300kbs is just for file-sharing and downloads. That site says my communications speed is 1.5MBs.

I've been downloading tons of cds I already have just because with my cable modem, downloading the MP3s is faster (about one second per four minute song) and more convenient than importing the songs into my computer. I guess I'll be getting one of those letters soon.

The Mingus record has been reissued at least twice in the past few years and is currently available, as far as I know. With the disclaimer that I am known for having a tendency to use the surpurlative, it's one of the greatest records of all time.

If I had to wake up to music, I'd want to wake up to something really lousy. I'm not a morning person at all. I'm typically severely grouchy for the first hour that I'm awake, and the process of waking is usually pretty traumatic for me. I wouldn't want those feelings associated with anything I like. But that's just me.

Hang in there and feel better, man.

Emusic has two related items: Flatfoot Sam by Mike Morgan and the Crawl You Can't Love Me by TV Slim I don't think the Mike Morgan cover would be JSngry approved. The later is non-offensive, but it's pretty much run-of-the-mill 60s R 'n B. Not that that's such a bad thing.

I can see why you said "colleague" and not "friend".

On my stereo-component burner, I just set it to analog mode and record the album. I don't do anything fancy at all. I think my vinyl burns sound great. Maybe the HK deck just doesn't do analog mode very well?

I'm super-squeezed for time right now, but I couldn't resist making this contribution to the conversation: not mentioned in this article is the fact that this technology was orignally developed to help fully "locked-in" patients (ie patients fully paralyzed and without the ability to speak) comunicate with the outside world. There really IS such a thing as "brain waves" -they are the background EM waves emited as a risidual effect of the electrical activity in the brain. What is extremely surprising, given that brain waves are something of an emergent phenomenon (that is, a phenomenon that is the risidual effect of many other elementary effects), is that patients really can be trained to control the form of their brain waves well enough to use specially designed word-processing software to compose sentences. There was a fascinating article (I think it was in the NYer about a year ago) about a fully paralyzed man who wrote a complete novel using such software. I guess my point is that, while the whole "17% improvement" bit is a head-scratcher (how the hell are they coming up with THAT???), the technique isn't as whacked out as it may seem.

Yep, spaced out on that one. Great album.

Noj, you're on emusic, aren't you? Why don't you just download them to try them out? They're both there. FWIW, I think an ideal intro to Ellington would be getting discs from a few different periods that Ellington is actually on. It's really hard for me to recommend specific discs since they're, for the most part, all really good in their own way and I think it takes many albums to really paint a full picture. The 40CD History set is only about $75 and covers the 1910s to early-mid-40s really well. For the 60s and beyond, I like Money Jungle, New Orleans Suite, Latin-American Suite and And His Mother Called Him Bill. I'm a bit weak on the late-mid-40s, 50s and early 70s, but I think the 70s material might ultimately suit you the best. Just a hunch.

A Google search turns up plenty on Lucho. I'm surprised that he's not in AMG, as he must have quite a few fans. Here's a site purportedly run by his granddaughter. http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/Bayou/9064/

Okay, one more for tonight: I was not aware that Danny Thompson ever played in jazz contexts. I can't say that I love his Live 1967 record (mostly because the horn player is, IMO, second-rate at best), BUT it does feature some nice vintage John McLaughlin.

I'm going to try posting in this thread a bit more from now on with comments on albums I discover on emusic. If you've ever been in to the On-U Sound scene (Jamaican dub) and you have any interest in classic blues, then the Little Axe record has some interesting moments and is at least worth a listen. It might not change your world, but it's an interesting half hour. Nicky Skopelitis has a live recording of material from the Ekstasis album that is exclusively available on emusic. If you haven't heard Ekstasis, think Damo-era can, Miles' Live-Evil record, touches of the modern indie experimental scene, and very capable musicians. It's been a long time since I heard the studio version of the album, but going by memory I think this live version is much better. I've actually found quite a few interesting, unexpected or unknown (to me) records on the site. I'll try to comment on a couple a day.

Thanks for elucidating. I've seen those records around the city, but I've always been a little intimidated by my own lack of knowledge about them (you know, that whole "what if I don't get one of the 'right' ones" thing). Next time I see a resonably priced stash I'll just dive in.

Thanks Late, that was the kind of thing I was looking for. I believe JAY-roo is the standard pronounciation of Jeru, which I *think* is an antiquated name for a chariot driver. I can't find it in the dictionary, nor can I tell you why I think that, but it's in my brain for one reason or another.

Well, you're hard pressed to find albums of a significantly higher caliber than these five in the BN catalog, IMO. Out of the five, I'd guess I'd have to go with Bud, because, well, it's BUD POWELL ferchrisakes!!! That being said, I'll be passing on these for reasons stated in another thread. They're going to have to issue something I don't already have in some form in order to get my business. I'm not opposed to them remastering items already available, I'm just not interested in paying for them at this point.

I'm trying not to fuss with remasters too much until I have the money to buy a stereo good enough to *really* show the difference between different masterings. On my mid-fi system, RVGs tend to sound a little brighter and more aggressive, but honestly it isn't a huge difference. I'm sure there's more to the story than what I can hear with my stereo.

Seriously, though - I really miss Small's.

Not much happening here in New York City...

Unless I'm badly mistaken (and that is a possibility), PanArt was primarily a Latin jazz label.

No apology necessary, that was just an FYI. I always feel compelled to set the record straight when I'm able to do so. I've always had a hard time letting things slip by. I didn't mean to make it sound as though Mathematica and other prepackaged software was useless. It is quite useful for certain things, and every now and then you can do a complete research project with it - it's just that that is definately the exception and not the rule. Generally, the further you get along in your research, the less useful it is. But all the same, no one would want to be without it.