Kevin Bresnahan

The LP that they failed to deliver was listed as "In Stock" when I ordered. Good luck. I hope you get all of them.

James Taylor - Mud Slide Slim (WB).

I wonder how much they're charging? When you click on the link, they want you to set up an account just to see how much it costs.

Peter Gabriel/Various Artists - Scratch My Back And I'll Scratch Yours (Real World). In concept, this should have been a great album... and it might have been 20 years earlier, when Gabriel was in his prime. Instead, PG's sides are kind of boring. He only seems to be able to sing in one pitch and the tempos all lag, which gives his versions a sameness that takes away from the songwriters' intent. If you don't pay attention, you might miss a song change. They're that similar.

Mark Knopfler - Kill To Get Crimson (WB). I can't believe the money this LP is getting these days. I didn't realize it until I searched for a cover shot. It's good but at the same time, it's very similar to his other latter-date releases. I actually prefer "Sailing To Philadelphia".

Joe Farnsworth - Make Someone Happy (Hadley Street Records). Self produced CD by Farnsworth with the band he calls "Joe Farnsworth & Primetime": Trumpet – Jim Rotondi (tracks 1, 2, 4, 5 & 6) Trombone – Curtis Fuller (tracks 1, 2, 3, & 5) Tenor Saxophone – Eric Alexander (tracks 1, 2, 4 & 6) Vibraphone – Steve Nelson (tracks 2, 3, 4 & 5) Piano – Dave Hazeltine Bass – Nat Reeves Drums – Joe Farnsworth Congas – Ray Mantilla (tracks 4 & 6) This is a nice date. The piano sound is a little too much like something RVG would do (love it or hate it). I love Curtis Fuller but he seems to be having some trouble getting through this date.

It's been a long time since I've seen Odeon Pope live. In fact, I think the last time I saw him, he was with Max Roach at The Regattabar around 1992. That was a pretty great show. I don't think Pope ever came through Boston again, even with his saxophone choir.

What ever you do, don't order these direct from Blue Note, even with their 20% off sale. There are titles that they just won't deliver. I had a Tone Poet LP ordered in December and I cancelled in April because they never delivered it.

I do love Parker's two BN dates and play them all the time. I wish that he had gotten a chance to record a few more times before his untimely death at the young age of 36.

Sharepod is a straight drag & drop tool for your iPod. Your iPod shows up with the content on one side and your computer file system shows up on the other. You just click the files on your PC that you want on your iPod and drag them over. To bring them onto your PC from the iPod, just drag in the other direction. FWIW, I still use the old Windows Media Player for playback on my Windows 10 machine. I like the interface better than the Windows 10 tool that comes preloaded (Groove Music).

Are these bootlegs or unauthorized? I've found most every release I've looked for there. Lately, I've added a few that I didn't find. If you'd like some help, let us know a title (or two) and we'll see if we can help you find it.

I've found several Japanese sellers on discogs.com that overlap with amazon.com. I've not compared Japanese discogs.com sellers to amazon.co.jp sellers but I'm guessing you'll find some overlap there too. I've actually bought quite a few CDs from discogs and so far, no problems.

I assume you are talking about used CDs from Amazon.co.jp sellers? Have you tried cdjapan's "Proxy shopping" function? They might be able to get the items from these same Amazon sellers. For examples of this, search for Don Rendell (https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/searches?term.media_format=&q=don+rendell) and you'll see most of them have a "Try proxy shopping" button.

Sharepod has worked for me on my Windows machines for many years. I use Sharepod 3.9.8 for Windows. It runs on my Windows 10 machine still. That said, I downloaded my version many years ago so I don't know if 3.9.8 is still available or how well it will work for you or if there is a version that works on a Mac. Sharepod allows me to drag & drop my mp3 files onto and off of my iPods without having to use iTunes, which is an app I always hated. Turns out I knew there would be a reason to hate iTunes someday.

Think Peter Gabriel's digitally-recorded "Security" remastered in analog and issued on LP. It happens.

I recently picked up several of Pedicin's CD releases, including this one and I've enjoyed them all. Do you have "As It Should Be - Ballads 2"? It's also pretty good.

This "receivers are bad" stuff has been around as long as I've been into audio and that's a long time. I'm actually surprised your friend stopped at, "Get an integrated amp". Most of the "receivers are bad" crowd go straight to, "get separates". BTW - I only recently switched to a Marantz integrated amp because I simply don't need an FM tuner anymore. It pains me to type that, as FM radio was my main listening mode for many years.

I see no real reason to swap out that 125 Watts/channel Yamaha receiver with these speakers. Their sensitivity is rated at 91.5, so they are not what anyone would call "power hungry". And from what I've read, the max power for them is 125 Watts. On top of that, if you're planning to crank out 125 Watts with these speakers, I hope you don't mind living out your days with ringing in your ears, because that's where you'll be soon. Most people can comfortably listen to music with about 1 Watt of power. Inefficient speakers sometimes don't sound their best at these lower powers. But that is not a rule. If this setup sounds good to you, enjoy your new speakers. In my experience, the speakers have a lot more to do with what you hear than the amplifier driving them anyway. If you still want to look into an integrated amp, it will be tough to get much more power than 125 Watts/channel in a good integrated amp for under $500/new. Used, sure, but not new. If power is not a requirement, Marantz makes some nice low-priced integrated amps. I have a PM-7005 myself and it sounds great even with my meager 89 dB speakers when I drive them with about 1 Watt.

On a Buck Clayton kick... Buck Clayton with Buddy Tate - Buck & Buddy Blow The Blues (Stereo Swingville SV 2030). This is an unusual LP for the times as it has a regular purple Prestige/Swingville label but a textured cover, which I've not seen on an older Prestige release. As for the music, I do dig those blues, so what's not to like here?

I bought this many years ago and didn't like the audio fidelity. I just payed it off of You Tube and while I can enjoy it a bit more and can see why people are digging it, it's still pretty lousy audio.

I ordered a bunch of Video Arts CDs from Japan from Tommy's Jazz yesterday. I have been thinking about those Renee Rosnes CDs for a while but his offer of free shipping for 10 or more CDs got me to stretch a bit. VACM1248 Ryan. Kisor / Grant Stewart A NIGHT IN TUNISIA VACM1266 Ryan Kisor This is Ryan VACM1272 Grant Stewart Tenor And Soul VACM1282 Grant Stewart Estate VACM1306 Manhattan Jazz Quintet Someday My Prince Will Come VACM7078 Manhattan Jazz Quintet Blue Bossa VACM7079 Manhattan Jazz Quintet Take the A Train VACY1032 Renee Rosnes & Ray Drummond - Beautiful Friendship VACY1030 Renee Rosnes Letter To Evans VACY1038 Renee Rosnes - Time For Love VACY3003 McCoy Tyner PRELUDE AND SONATA

The Huckle-buck & Robbins' Nest - A Buck Clayton Jam Session (Columbia CL-548). I do like these jam sessions a lot. This music has slowly become one of my favorite Mosaic box sets. As great as these LP cuts are, hearing the unedited tunes with the full alternate takes on the Mosaic set is even better.

Good find! But it looks like even he spelled it both ways:

I looked for that CD for a long time and never found a copy of it anywhere. This is the only cover picture I've ever seen. It's tiny so I don't even know if it's the actual cover:

I haven't played that in ages. Maybe it's time to dust it off for a spin?