Kevin Bresnahan

There are a couple of copies for $24 on discogs: https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/2173500?ev=rb

Dammit, I forgot I have a King copy of "The Collector". Now I have 3 versions on LP too. I agree that the Tone Poet of "ETC" is much better than the LT LP, as I did a listening comparison when I got. Unfortunately I now add the caveat that my hearing isn't the best days, so take this with a grain of salt, especially if my "winner" ends up have way too much treble, which is what I don't hear as well these days. I have to say that with the exception of Andrew Hill's "Black Fire" and Lee Morgan's "Cornbread", these Tone Poet LPs sound great. Hill's record has that warbly piano that I just can't get by and the Morgan was not much better than my old Liberty RVG pressing. But the rest, particularly the Kenny Burrell & Lou Donaldson's "Shing-a-Ling", are very good. I wish they weren't so damn expensive. And now I have to go get that Lonnie Smith.

I would like that Turrentine. PM coming.

According to the article linked above, "Even though he was in poor physical and financial health, he was taken by the telephone call he received from Scher in the middle of his three-week run at the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco".

Was it an upgrade over the OJC CD though? I've often found that those older OJC CDs are the best version. After all, they were made with the master tape while Japanese pressings usually used a tape copy.

Spinning Pete LaRoca's "Basra" off the recently released 80th Anniversary LP. This is a very nice sounding LP. Kevin Gray seems to be able to coax the right sounds out of these master tapes. Side 1 actually has what looks like the right amount of dead wax too. Side 2 is back to the typical inch and half of dead wax though.

My old PC speakers died and I found a pair of Klipsch R-41PM speakers on sale at Best Buy for $249 (normally $399), so I grabbed a pair. They sound very nice and I'm glad I got them. I even like the dynamic bass boost that everyone complains about.

Nick Brignola - On A Different Level (Reservoir). This is a great bari sax recording.

A mono copy of Lou Donaldson's "Mr. Shing-A-Ling" is most definitely a fold-down. And the Tone Poet LP is a very nice sounding LP. I was surprised at how good it sounded. So far, I still think "Introducing Kenny Burrell" has the best sound in the Tome Poet series but this one is close.

I picked up a couple more Tone Poets for my birthday yesterday. Hank Mobley's "Poppin'" and Lee Morgan's "The Cooker". I have an older pressing of "The Cooker" but I was never able to find an affordable copy of that Mobley LP, which used to go for big bucks for a while.

That is a very nice date too. I'll have to give that a spin later.

My favorite version of "Summertime":

Aren't these the labels that were most affected by the Universal fire? Are there any Decca masters left?

It's been a while for me too. I have this on a gold CD. Were all of them gold or just some of them?

Wally Traugott's Blue Note cuts are fine. There's always someone wanting to complain somewhere. I bet the ones complaining are back to the "All Wally LPs are cut with a digital master" stuff. I've talked at length with Ron McMaster about the cutting system there are he says that LPs are not cut digitally unless they are only supplied with a digital master by the label. Blue Note did not do that. They always cut Blue Note LPs with master tapes. Nowadays, that might not be true, as they now store the Blue Note masters at an Iron Mountain facility but back when Wally was cutting, the masters were close by. FWIW, if you're into Bob Seger's "Live Bullet" at all, the Wally cut is the only cut you should be looking for.

It seems weird to me that Kenny is 77. He was always one of the "younger" of the Jazz greats I saw regularly. I guess that means I'm getting old too. I had tickets to see Kenny in Boston but it got cancelled as the pandemic rolled across the country. It's too bad too, since he was touring in a trio with Dave Holland on bass. I was so looking forward to seeing that.

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.