Kevin Bresnahan

I am incredibly sad to hear about this. I have been enjoying Harold's performances so much these last few years since he started touring with Eric Alexander. He was still playing incredibly. I just saw him in a trio at the end of May and he was still playing great.

If the Amazon Fire Stick had You Tube TV support, I would have jumped on this. Instead, today I ordered a Roku Ultra.

Yup, there's the audio mud I remember. Ben Orr was a very good singer.

The Cars were a favorite of my younger days. I was very bummed out when co-founder Benjamin Orr died back in 2000 at the young age of 53, knowing full well that it was likely the end of The Cars as the Ocasek/Orr combo *was* The Cars. Ric made it to 75, which is a pretty good run. The Cars were formed in Boston, so I heard about them before they hit the big time. They got some local radio play and I remember thinking that they might make it. The thing that I remember most from their heyday was that their music did not seem to translate well to live venues. They were, by far, the worst rock show I ever saw live. I saw them a couple of times to see if it got better and it didn't. I think their Greatest Hits record is one of the best greatest hits compilations ever. To top it off, they had a rarity: a previously unreleased song on a greatest hits compilation that became a hit.

Of course there is data being used. That's how the music is getting to your phone. This article: https://www.whistleout.ca/CellPhones/Guides/How-Much-Data-Does-Spotify-Use-Canada says that 1 hour of Spotify uses about 40 MB of data. Update to a Samsung Galaxy. Unlike an iPhone, it has expandable memory via Micro SD. I put a 256 GB micro SD card in mine. I can fit a ton of music on that.

Doesn't Spotify charge a monthly fee and use cell phone data? I don't have unlimited phone data and I already pay $5/month for XM, so that might not be the most cost-effective way to go for me.

I have XM radio in my car now because I find it much more convenient than bringing my USB sticks back & forth to the house to keep swapping the music around. I tried using huge memory sticks, but I found that the more memory the stick had, the more likely it was that it would have loading issues. Funny thing is, with XM radio & my 1 hour drive (each way), I find myself listening more to channel 95 (Comedy Central Radio) than channel 67 (Real Jazz).

He was just talking about his diagnosis a few days ago. This happened much faster than I think anyone thought it would.

Have you had any issues playing music off of a USB stick? I seem to have a few problems with every car I've ever had with a USB port. Failing to recognize the stick, stopping mid-song, skipping, failing to load the entire contents of the stick, etc. I've figured out fixes for some of these problems with each car but even with my newest one, I still get glitches.

Yes, there is a USB port and I do have a fully loaded stick in the car ready to go but it's not as convenient as you'd think. It's certainly not convenient when you go to a CD shop, buy a disc and being unable to listen to it on the way home. Or thinking to yourself, "Hey, I haven't heard Paul Gonsalves' "Gettin Together" in a while", only to realize that it ain't on the stick that's in the car and then you'll have to go get it, bring it into the house, copy the folder over and bring it back out to the car where you'll have to browse for it (if it loads right this time). It was so much easier to just grab the CD off the shelf. Try installing that here.

So I started this thread in August, and still haven't gotten my ass in gear to create a list of discs for sale, when this thread pops up: So after everyone tells me, hey, they have value! Bring them to your local store. Sell them here. Sell them on discogs. Then I read this thread and find out that others are trying to sell (or give away!) their CDs and not getting any takers. So disheartening.

What's killing me is that every new car I look at doesn't have a CD player. So even if I wanted to play my CDs in the place I most often play them, I can't.

Interesting mic stand.

As I said, if you don't have the material, these are great bang for the buck. I've listened to a couple again and they sound pretty good. If I didn't have older RVG pressings as a comparison, I'd be very happy with these and at these prices, why not buy a few?

No - Kevin Gray mastered and cut these LPs. Joe Harley is the reissue producer and he's the one who came into that thread and said it sounded fine to him and it matched what he heard on the master tape.

I used to have the CD of Dick Hyman playing with his daughter Judy on violin. It is entitled, "Late Last Summer". I picked it up because my mother used to work his daughter at the Holyoke Halo Center. I can't find it now so I must've given it to my mom. Lost for sure now.

That is the question. Ron McMaster, Wally Traugott, Larry Walsh, Malcolm Addey & Bernie Grundman too. Many people have pulled these tapes over the years. There have been many Blue Note reissues these past few decades and I can't remember too many with noticeable pitch problems. It may simply be that Kevin Gray is getting the most out of them and pulling out the bad with the good.

So Kevin Gray replied to a Hoffman forum member about the possibility of warbling during tape playback: “Scotch (3M) 111 was the very first U.S. recording tape formulation produced in quantity in the U.S. It was released in 1948 and was about all there was in the U.S. until 1964. About 90 percent of the recordings I master from that period are recorded on 111. All the RVG Blue Notes from that period are on 111. It is a red/orange iron oxide basically glued to clear acetate. It bears no resemblance to modern tape. “Acetate is very unstable over time. It becomes extremely brittle. You can pull on it slightly and it breaks. This tape never wound totally smooth on the reel, but that has also gotten much much worse over time. “The biggest problem occurs when the tape was wound off at high speed, as opposed to being played though. This might occur when a tape was perhaps wound to the head to copy one song. Then the rest of the tape is wound off in “Fast Forward”. The result is that the tape cinches slightly and if left that way develops a permanent curl or ruffle. This is very common on 111. Once this has happened the tape does not wrap smoothly over the playback head and tends to wander slightly. This is clearly visible as the video shows. Another problem is that NONE of the recorders from the 50s and early 60s had constant tape tension, which all modern tape recorders have. The tension would be higher at the end of the reel than the beginning. This also took a toll on tape. “The 2nd generation 3M tape was Scotch 201. Although the oxide changed (dark brown), the base was still acetate, and the same problems exist. Around 1965, 202 was released, which was on modern mylar/polyester. But RVG used both 111 and 201 for several more years. “So the tape wandering over the heads as opposed to staying flat does introduce speed anomalies. How could it not? And it isn’t consistent from tape to tape. Some wind smoother than others. Fast winding, as mentioned before, things like temperature and humidity in storage, and age have taken a toll. “There are other factors effecting speed, such as sticking splices. The adhesive in the splicing tape oozes with age. It can’t be cleaned off very effectively because of the brittleness of the tape.”

The Amazon blurb says that it is being released under the permission of the original producer, Bob Porter. Does Bob keep the rights to the Phoenix Jazz masters? I still think Turk Mauro has the weirdest All Music Guide entry ever. It's written almost like an obituary and gets deep into his personal life - as if the person writing it knows him too well. https://www.allmusic.com/artist/turk-mauro-mn0000169721

Oh boy, that's gotta get scrubbed out of there... I can't see any way that Steve Hoffman leaves that up there.

I don't know what Rudy did when he cut those CTI records but they don't sound like Blue Note LPs. There's also the unfortunate fact that original CTI pressings seem to be cheaply pressed. I've gotten many mint originals that are noisy as heck.

Regarding the feeling of more bass, Joe Harley did an interview with the Jazz Arkiv: https://arkivjazz.com/exclusive-interview-joe-harley. In it, he says, "He (RVG) would roll off the extreme low end. By that, I mean he would reduce frequencies from 30 Hz up to maybe 80 Hz, and then he put a bump in around 90 Hz or 100 Hz. So, what you hear on those records is a sense of bass. You think you're hearing bass notes and you are to a degree, but you're not hearing full low-end extension". So basically, Harley & Kevin Gray are cutting these for modern turntables that can handle more bass extension so they sound fuller. These new LPs do show this but as he says, RVG knew how to get a feeling of bass, just not to the level that was on the master. Consequently, some listeners who are used to their originals may find that these new LPs have too much bass.

I think you have a typo - it's The Beach Boy.

Carter is a blast to see/hear live. Yes, he has the chops and yes, he shows them off. That's what I pay for. I would much rather a foot-stomping mad man like Carter than sit for hours listening to a navel-gazing bore.

Regarding Lee Morgan's "Cornbread" - I've listened to Side 2 of both the 70's era UA Van Gelder and the new Tone Poet and while the new cut is indeed more dynamic, particularly with respect to the bass, that's really about it. There is a little weirdness on the piano intro to Ceora but it's slightly there on the original RVG pressing too. So if you don't have this on LP and want it on LP, this Tone Poet LP is an excellent way to get it. But if you have it, you might be able to pass and save a few bucks.