Kevin Bresnahan

I used to love shopping for audio gear so I guess I can see the draw to having a lot of variability in your audio system. But at the same time, even when I comparatively shopped for audio gear, I eventually thought to myself, "That one sounds the best". If I was shopping with the intent to buy, that's the one I bought and took home. I would never think to buy several versions of that piece of gear, even if money were no object. If I were using this shopping analogy with Charlie's gear and he (or she) is "going shopping" every day to listen to music, shouldn't one combination have "won" the listening competition by now? If you find yourself nearly always playing the same combination of gear, why go back to a different set-up? As sonnymax pointed out, I have bought many many copies of certain pieces of music. But as I pointed out, I listen to each and choose one best-sounding version every time. And even if I keep multiple versions, I always pull out the version that I thought sounded best when it comes time to listen. Why would I listen to the version that didn't sound the best? This is why I'm down to one digital copy of "Soul Station". Yes, I still have 4 digital versions of "Kind Of Blue" but 4 CD/SACD discs take up a lot less space than 4 tube amplifiers.

Are you arguing semantics now? You're using alternate terms for the same item. Belt drive = turntable. Idler drive = turntable. Direct drive = turntable. Same thing with all those tube names. No matter the tube, they're all just "amps". I have been at this a long time and I have heard many of these variants, both in turntable technology as well as amp technology. I have had and used a belt drive and a direct drive turntable. I chose to stick with one (direct drive). I have used solid state & tube amplification and when I was using tubes, I tried EL34, KT88 & 6L6 output tubes with a wide variety of input tubes. I now have a solid state. I have sat and listened at length to someone's 300B tube amp as well (not worth the money in to my ears). I see no reason to keep around every variation of audio reproduction nor would I see any benefit doing this since I already decided which one was the best for me. The way I see it, you're just continuing to muddy the waters for yourself. Next thing you know, you'll have to set up this decoder ring... lets see, to listen to this Music Matters LP of Soul Station, I need to use the belt drive turntable with the carbon fiber tonearm and the high-output moving coil cartridge, played back through the tube phono preamp to the solid state preamplifier to the EL84B tube amplifier, but I have to swap the Bugle Boy 12AX7's with RCA greyplate 12AX7s, and oh wait, this only sounds good with the handmade speakers in the other room but those require those Shinyata wires. Oh wait, I forgot that I have to swap those preamp to amp interconnects to those Audioquest silver ones. The permutations go on & on... why do that to yourself?

You are correct - it is the XRCD.

Hey - I'm down to 2 now! One digital (hybrid SACD) and one LP (Music Matters).

I found this page that lists a few shows (not bootleg tapes as I thought at first) from that period: https://www.angelfire.com/oh/squonker/concerts.html It shows a Mingus Dynasty show in 1979, a Heath Brothers show in 1980, a Pete Seeger show in 1980 & a King Crimson show in 1981. My co-worker's father seems to have all of these.

These pictures really make me scratch my head... how do you decide what to use? And how do you swap them? And how do you compare them? And why have so many of the same thing??? Can't you just pick the "best" of each component and dump the rest? I just don't get why one would need 3 or 4 turntables, 7 or 8 amps, 3 or 4 CD players, 4 or 5 preamps, etc, etc, etc. I have a friend that collects old audio stuff for parts. This looks a lot like his basement.

My favorite of 2020 was Carl Hiaasen's "Squeeze Me". I laughed quite a bit. I needed that during this past year.

According to Michael Cuscuna, Andrew Hill's "Passing Ships", an early example of an RVG multi-track recording, was re-mixed/remastered from these multi-track tapes in analog for this LP cut so it could sound quite a bit different from the CD.

His father. I believe that they are recorded on reel tapes. I don't know the speed or type of recording but the impression I got was that they were well recorded. I just don't want to push to hear these if it turns out that no one of much importance played there. The 1978-1982 time period was not kind to Jazz musicians.

I have a co-worker whose father attended Oberlin College in the late 70's into the early 80's and he apparently professionally recorded some of their live shows as part of his studies. Is there a website that lists the live performances held there? I'm wondering if there are any that might be worth hearing.

Trane going at it like that for 9 minutes... didn't Miles hate that? It makes me wonder why he had Trane go on that European tour at all. From this, it sounds like he knew what he was in for.

The cover says 81569. If it was mono, there would be no 8. BLP-1569 would be the mono catalog number. That is one Tone Poet I will not be buying. Not a fan of Chambers' solos on that.

This is getting reissued on vinyl in February. Kevin Gray is cutting it and it'll be pressed at ATI, like the Tone Poet LPs. Craft Records is reissuing all 4 Baker LPs (from the discontinued box set) in February. This is good because I am not a huge fan of his Riverside vocal records.

I went to Birdland several times in the late 90's and saw some great shows. I was lucky to see Andrew Hill with his big band (that was recorded later for the CD, "A Beautiful Day"). Another time I saw Lovano, Liebman & Brecker go toe to toe as I sat at the bar with Maria Schneider. We got to talking after the set about the show. It wasn't until after she left and someone asked me what we talked about that I found out it was her.

The Kimbrough appearance is why I've resurrected it. I was re-reading Frank's contributions to our board and came across this one.

Jocko's Jazz was a Tuesday night event at the Sahara Club in Methuen. It was there for quite a few years. It featured mostly local players with the occasional bigger name who usually came through as a solo and used the local rhythm players from Berklee. My good friend Bob posted some pictures from the club: https://bobfesta.com/copy-of-scullers-1 Some of my favorite shows I saw there were Harry Allen, Phil Woods and Gary Smulyan. The rhythm section often had Tim Ray on piano and John Lockwood on bass. I bet I saw Harry Allen at least 5 or 6 times there and he always put on a great show. He often brought up local players to get the 4 brothers thing going and one of them was local legend Ralph Norris: I was at this show... I believe it was the last one:

Small little club where I got to see many great shows over the years, often with Berklee professors manning the rhythm section. https://www.facebook.com/288501074507570/photos/a.288570477833963/3914495048574803

Allen - did you ever tell us this story after Lorraine died? I could use a little hilarity these days.

Many years ago, I was talking to the late Steve Schwartz about how much I enjoyed Frank's piano playing. He asked me if I heard the solo show he did live from the WGBH studios in 2008. I told him I didn't hear it and wished I could some day. Steve was kind enough to let me hear it shortly afterward. Two of the nicest guys in Jazz, both gone now.

https://ethaniverson.com/2020/12/30/rip-frank-kimbrough/?fbclid=IwAR2_lgxr1YaD59QpGBir5s0IW4GKDf0fHiV9xTjkpAa799Jl1ojo4PoO_sM

It really bums me out to let you all know that pianist Frank Kimbrough has died at the age of 64. I was lucky to have seen and talked to Frank many times over the years and he was always a great player and conversationalist. Damn.

Is there a story as to why they didn't call this Jazz club the Village Vanguard: It's awfully close:

Dawn Wells died due to "causes related to COVID-19". She was 82. https://people.com/tv/dawn-wells-gilligans-island-star-dies-at-82

Ray Charles - The Genius After Hours (MFSL SACD). Ray playing some of his finest blues. I really should pick up the companion date, "The Great Ray Charles", one of these days.