Kevin Bresnahan

Bernie's mastering is not what I'm talking about. Cutting is the potential issue. If you use Bernie to master in analog and then he cuts using a cutting lathe with a digital audio look ahead system, the analog signal will get converted to digital before the cutting head. I believe that this is so the cutter knows when to start the cut and how far apart to space the cuts. As I understand it, these digital look ahead systems allow for a much more consistent cut. Cutting in analog requires a bit more skill by the cutter. I've seen some LPs where I've wondered "what the heck?". They're the ones when you pull it out and see 20-25 minutes of music squashed into about 2 inches of vinyl area with a huge runoff groove. That record will likely not be considered audiophile and I highly doubt that it was cut with a digital look ahead.

As I said in the Audio Forum thread, I'd certainly order one! Regarding the gauging of interest, isn't that what Kickstarter is all about? You don't have to move ahead with the project if you don't meet your goal. The only other thing I can add is that "all analog" cutting is not automatic depending on where/how it is cut. I have heard that some cutters convert the audio to digital prior to the cut so that it makes it easier to cut. I know that Kevin Gray at Cohearant Audio has an all-analog cutter and because of that, he is in demand from the audiophile labels. I found this over on the Hoffman forums: Neumann introduced new cutting equipment using digital delay instead of tape read-ahead in the late 1970s. Not everyone used those lathes, not everyone used the digital delay. It's the same now. There are a few cutting studios that have customised their Neumann lathes for analog look-ahead. It's complicated because doing all analog means having a custom tape machine. With the digital delay any source can be used. There is also a custom digital look ahead system used by GZvinyl, that digitizes the master then syncs that to the analog, with the true analog signal going to the cutter and the digital driving the look-ahead. Lots of ways. Most records state something like 'cut using the original analog tapes' and this could mean anything unless a better description can be coaxed out of the engineers. FWIW, I doubt you'll find a non-analog cut from any major audiophile label. 'audiophile' labelled disks from major labels, that's another thing. I've never tracked down the (very proprietary) details of the Neumann delay. I don't believe that initially it was even actually digital, (as in A>>D>>A) but was a clocked analog delay line.

I've thought about buying this many times but not at $35 per disc. That's a lot in today's market, even if they are gold plated.

I'd certainly order one! Regarding the gauging of interest, isn't that what Kickstarter is all about? You don't have to move ahead with the project if you don't meet your goal. The only other thing I can add is that "all analog" cutting is not automatic depending on where/how it is cut. I have heard that some cutters convert the audio to digital prior to the cut so that it makes it easier to cut. I know that Kevin Gray at Cohearant Audio has an all-analog cutter and because of that, he is in demand from the audiophile labels. I found this over on the Hoffman forums: Neumann introduced new cutting equipment using digital delay instead of tape read-ahead in the late 1970s. Not everyone used those lathes, not everyone used the digital delay. It's the same now. There are a few cutting studios that have customised their Neumann lathes for analog look-ahead. It's complicated because doing all analog means having a custom tape machine. With the digital delay any source can be used. There is also a custom digital look ahead system used by GZvinyl, that digitizes the master then syncs that to the analog, with the true analog signal going to the cutter and the digital driving the look-ahead. Lots of ways. Most records state something like 'cut using the original analog tapes' and this could mean anything unless a better description can be coaxed out of the engineers. FWIW, I doubt you'll find a non-analog cut from any major audiophile label. 'audiophile' labelled disks from major labels, that's another thing. I've never tracked down the (very proprietary) details of the Neumann delay. I don't believe that initially it was even actually digital, (as in A>>D>>A) but was a clocked analog delay line.

I recently reacquired a record that I have yet to keep after playing it a few times. I've probably owned it 3 or 4 times by now but this is the first time I've had it on vinyl. Weirdly, I'm enjoying it more now than I ever have in the past. It's not great but it's not as bad as I seem to remember it. I still don't like when Washington hits one of those falsetto notes and I'm not a huge fan of the cymbal work by Chambers. Tyrone Washington - Natural Essence (Blue Note). I think this is an original pressing.

Great music, not the greatest sound. Workman's bass does not sound right here. Whiny sound.

I haven't spun this one in a while. Time to rectify that... playing now,

Last night, it was Carl Allen, Cyrus Chestnut, Yasushi Nakamura & Vincent Herring at Scullers. Tonight, Scullers is bringing in Harold Mabern, John Webber & Joe Farnsworth. I got Harold to sign a great photo taken during his last trip to Boston:

The stories I heard about his lack of playing time in the late 50's to early 60's centered around the color of his skin.

I can certainly hear George Coleman in Alexander's playing but Alexander just sounds different to me. He hits certain notes and I can tell it's him. He seems to glide along the notes more than George, who seems to chop off his notes more abruptly.

I did forget that one, which may be because I actually don't own it. Re-reading the blurb about this release found on the label website: https://www.giantsteparts.org/news/2019/3/5/eric-alexander-leap-of-faith-release where it says, "He has rarely played in, and almost never recorded in, a chordless trio setting. It also marks the first time, in a discography that counts more than 40 releases, that Alexander has recorded an album consisting solely of his own original tunes," I see that I mixed up the parts about "original tunes" with "chordless trio setting". Mea culpa. I ordered it as I am interested to hear what a Jazz Times reviewer calls a "freer, rawer, more searching, more relentless" Eric Alexander. While that may be true, I can still call a Dex tune in 2 or 3 sax notes, be it from 1962 or 1979. Dex was Dex all the time. Having said that, Eric Alexander is one of the few modern tenor players where I can usually tell it's him in 4 or 5 notes.

Eric Alexander's latest, "Leap Of Faith" (Giant Step Arts) was issued May 17th. It's a first for Alexander in that it's a trio recording. Sample here: I think it's only available directly from the artist at this time: https://www.ericalexanderjazz.com/leap-of-faith-1/leap-of-faith

LP version: https://store.craftrecordings.com/collections/panart-records/products/the-complete-cuban-jam-sessions-5-lp-box-set

Me too! In fact, I love buying those commemorative sheets. I bought a bunch of these ones with tropical fish: And this one:

I know exactly what they're talking about. Look at Amazon's digital music offerings. Who makes money off of an album like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Hank-Mobley/dp/B0048W7H0M/ref=sr_1_14?keywords=hank+mobley&qid=1558553938&rnid=2941120011&s=dmusic&sr=1-14 ? I'll tell you who - Amazon.

It looks like the market correction I talked about was in 1988: https://www.nytimes.com/1988/07/24/style/stamps-just-how-much-should-it-cost.html The gist of it is that most dealers were buying stamps at "50% of Scotts" and when Scotts adjusted their value to reflect what dealers were actually paying, dealers still said "50% of Scotts". I actually had more than one dealer offer me less than face-value for a majority of my stamp collection. I finally said, "If they're worth less than their value as postage stamps, I'll just use them for postage". It made for some cool mail back then. One thing I couldn't mail were those postage due stamps. I had a bunch of those because I found out that my local post office had old, old stock. I thought they might still have value. Nope. Not worth much over face. It was a bummer. I should have stuck with coins like my brother. He made a bunch of money when he sold his coins.

Googling NEA Jazz Masters brought up this really great story: https://www.joealtermanmusic.com/new-page-1 It's a great read. Most telling was when he was talking about Yusef Yateef just before he took the stage. He wrote that he looked "very thankful that he, and especially he (an often underappreciated and under-recognized, yet more than deserving jazz master) specifically received this award before it was too late".

Do you know why they don't choose the full number of deserving Jazz honorees each year? It seems strange to me that when choosing from an ever-aging pool of Jazz superstars, they choose to defer. Mabern is 83. Wyands is 90. Kuhn is 81. These guys are most likely not going to be around much longer. Why wait? Do they figure that if they die, they saved some money (that was sarcasm).

No money for the DB Hall Of Fame. NEA Jazz Masters is $25,000. I'm sure these Jazz masters would all appreciate that.

Well I certainly wouldn't even have to think about looking up Mabern or Wyands or Kuhn.

You look up every odd name you see in a tune title? I don't. I didn't even know Dorthaan was a real name.

I stopped collecting stamps decades ago. I used to have quite the collection too. I think I sold it shortly after the whole industry went nuts when the Scotts price guide devalued nearly every stamp one year. They killed the value of most collections. I think I used most of my later stamps for postage, which is the only way I use postage stamps to this day.

Nice tune. I haven't heard that in while.

Thank you for the correction - I mis-read where the adjective was being applied to McFarrin and thought it was her. However, I still have never heard of her, no matter how much she has done for Jazz in the world. I am not downplaying her influence or her contributions. It's just that I have personally never heard of her and at this point in my life, I thought I'd heard of most. On the flip side - I have heard of Harold Mabern... and Richard Wyands and Norman Simmons and Steve Kuhn. On top of all this, it bothers me more when I read that up to 7 artists can be elected each year and yet they never do, which results in the situation we're in now.

Harold Mabern should have gotten this a long time ago. This bugs me. While I'm sure Dorthann Kirk has done great things for the Jazz world and a well deserved nominee, this is the first time I've heard her name.