Kevin Bresnahan

Hank gets overdue recognition. We get Hank Mobley in the Jazz Hall Of Fame.

I posted this mainly for those who would normally not participate in this poll at all. I hope you can just click through a few screens to help get Hank Mobley into the Hall. I am not trying to twist any arms here. Feel free to vote for whoever you want. But if you weren't planning to vote at all...

https://variety.com/2018/music/news/vinyl-mastering-ron-mcmaster-capitol-studios-retirement-1202850575/amp/ He worked to almost 70 years old. That's older than I want to go.

I hope you have a great day Tom. The Press Room is re-opening next week. We'll have to head down there some night when there's a gig we like.

The latest DownBeat reader's poll is up at their website: http://downbeat.com/?ACT=30&ad_id=428 If I could ask my fellow organissimo denizens for some help, could you please go there and simply click on Hank Mobley for the Hall Of Fame? You don't need to vote for any of the other categories, just Hall Of Fame. Just click through the rest of them and submit the survey. I'd really love to see Mobley get in. I believe that he is overdue.

See if they have Bobby Watson's "Made In America" listed there. Another nice Smoke Sessions recording that would've been eligible for this poll but was ignored. While I like Bobby's older stuff a bit more, this is well worth spinning at least once.

From what I've heard, the time capsule was sealed in 1977. For some reason, I think of Bob Newhart when I play this.

If you're an Amazon Prime member, most of the Smoke Sessions catalog is free to stream.

Just going buy what could have made this year's poll, Harold Mabern's "To Love And Be Loved", which was issued late last year, is very very good. It's certainly my favorite recording of the past year. A "making of" video here: Recently, Smoke Sessions issued a recording by Buster Williams, "Audacity", that's getting good reviews. I don't own it yet, but I've heard a few tracks. Here's one: Peter Berstein's "Signs Live", which may fall outside outside of this poll's view (issued in late july 2017), is also a great recording. And finally, Renee Rosnes' "Beloved Of The Sky", while not one of her best dates, is certainly worthy of mention. It's garnered several 5 star reviews across the web, but DB only gave it 3 or 4. Enough hijacking poor Mr. Washington's thread....

Looking at this DownBeat's annual Critic's Poll for Album Of The Year ( http://www.downbeat.com/digitaledition/2018/DB1808_CriticsPoll/_art/DB1808_CriticsPoll.pdf ), I would go one step further - it's seems as if many of today's critics only vote for a new recording if it's new and/or unusual. Straight-ahead Jazz does not seem to get much critical acclaim, certainly not at the "voting booth". My favorite Jazz label today is Smoke Sessions Records. Even though they put out several 4 & 5 star rated sessions this past year, not one of them made it into the critic's top 25 or 50 or whatever it is. The label was completely ignored.

Tomorrow night, Noah Preminger is bringing his Dead Composers Club band to the Shara Jazz Club in Methuen, MA. I'm looking forward to it. I worry a bit that it's not the typical style of jazz for Jocko's, as the older crowd seems more into swing-style music.

The stories I heard about the recording of "Graceland" have more to do with just the money. There's the band Los Lobos claiming he lifted an entire song of theirs that they started playing during the recording session. "The Myth Of Fingerprints" or "The Myth That Paul Wrote This"? http://ultimateclassicrock.com/los-lobos-steve-berlin-labels-paul-simon-a-jerk-alleges-graceland-snub/

Ditto when the Bad Plus hit the scene. A Jazz cover of a Nirvana song! Heresy! I've listened to several tracks from his last record as well as the samples from this one and while I commend him on bringing in the crowds to what is being called a Jazz performance, it isn't the sort of Jazz that I like. Maybe it's just too eclectic for me? I'll keep listening though. Eventually, I might change my mind.

I wonder if he has any more? Time to e-mail him...

Are you a subscriber to Newvelle or were you able to pick this up by itself somewhere? I may have to buy a couple of subs for this label. Sucks but I've waited long enough for the individual titles to come out and nothing yet. They appear to be sticking to their business model... I doubt it'll work so I might as well grab the records while they're still afloat.

I can't find the link right now, but I just read a story that said that when ABC Records hit hard times in the 70's, they threw out the masters for any session that was not issued at that time. So when they released "The Definitive Jazz Scene Volume 3" in 1965, they still had the master tapes. Maybe they even excised out "Vilia" out of the master tape to make a master tape for this comp LP and that might be the tape where Steve Hoffman got it.

Regarding "Integrity" - there's a weird CD issue of this recording in discogs: https://www.discogs.com/The-New-Phil-Woods-Quintet-Live-Jazz-Masters-100-Ans-De-Jazz/release/9179371 There is no way that all of this music can fit on 1 CD. It adds up to almost 90 minutes (89:31). No CD can fit that much music. I've had a few with almost 80 minutes, but never one with almost 90.

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/SICP-3992 Two disc set for $13.36 seems like a good deal. Has anyone heard this version? Is it worth picking up to replace my needle-drops?

Many years ago, I saw Curtis Fuller and he stuffed the mic into the bell of his horn. It sounded terrible. A few weeks later, I saw the young piano player that did the gig with Curtis and I told him that if he ever plays with Curtis again, have him use a clip-on mic. Amazingly enough, he toured with Curtis again and got him to use a clip-on mic. The difference was amazing. Curtis's sound was beautiful with that clip-on mic. He moves around a lot so maybe he figured he needed to stuff his horn onto a stationary mic. With the clip, his sound never changed. We heard what he was playing no matter how much he moved. That was the best sounding performance I ever heard by Curtis. He hasn't been back since.

Camera optics do strange things... I doubt that anyone who has played there would consider that stage "big".

I'm with you on "Dance With Death". I was excited to finally get my hands on it but when I finally did, it was "meh". But I am a fan of "Grass Roots" and I prefer the LP tracks. The bonus material from the earlier session seems less funky and taken at a lower boil. It might just be the slower tempos or it could be that I'm a Booker Ervin fan.

Your list looks incomplete. I know that Hill's "Grass Roots" was produced by Wolff: As was Hill's "Dance With Death":

Depending on the method used to remove his prostate, he could be overdoing it by going on a heavy tour right away. If they did an old-fashioned open surgery, they had to cut through some abdominal muscle, so he would have to take it easy physically for a few weeks. He could have had a setback if he overdid it. No matter how they did it, the inside stitches have to heal.

There are some decent dates in Wolff's discography: https://www.discogs.com/artist/292019-Francis-Wolff Looking at this list, I'd say that Shorter's "Schizophrenia" or Andrew Hill's "Grass Roots" are probably my favorites.

Resonance Records' Zev Feldman seems very open to talking about his work on these historic recordings. Has anyone ever thought of asking him why they decided to use "remix"? My feeling is that he would gladly talk about the process.