Kevin Bresnahan

I've had this discussion about sound memory before but chances are people are imaging the changes they claim to hear. There have been many studies showing that a human's audio memory is less than 30 seconds - most have less than 10 seconds. The time it takes to swap out speaker wires makes it pretty much impossible to remember what you heard previously. This gets even worse with the "burn in" argument. There is no way anyone can accurately remember what their system sounded like 100's of hours before. It's just not humanly possible. I guess it's the 4 years of college (BSEE) and almost 30 years of working in a test lab, but wires simply cannot do what some people claim. Buy better cables because they'll last longer and look better, but don't buy them to somehow improve the sound of your system. It won't. As for why I buy Blue Jean Cables... I will never buy another Monster Cable product again because of their lawsuits and I wouldn't buy any Mapleshade products because several artists who recorded for their record label have stated that they were never paid. Most of the esoteric cable makers are just too darn expensive, although I'm sure they make good speaker wires. Blue Jean Cables makes their speaker wires from Belkin's standard heavy gauge wires. They weld the connectors on so they should never fall off. They look pretty good (if I say so myself). They are relatively affordable. To my way of looking at it, they combine the best of everything. I guess my advice in a nutshell is to buy what you think looks good, is well made and fits your budget.

Blue Jean Cables are the best bang for the buck. I have a set and they work as advertised.

Spinning this pressing myself right now.

McCoy Tyner - Time For Tyner (Blue Note). Nice original pressing that I found down at Integrity 'N' Music in Wethersfield, CT a few weekends back. Very reasonably priced. I think it was around $8.

Brubeck just finished so now it's Johnny Coles - Little Johnny C (Blue Note). Black Liberty label with Van Gelder in the deadwax. Scotch taped seams that look like heck but for $4, I can't complain.

Dave Brubeck - Countdown Time In Outer Space (Columbia). A mint six eye mono that I found in a cheapie bin.. Nice date. Desmond is so smooth. It sounds like Brubeck was trying to use the percussion to give this date something different. Nothing too earth shattering here but well worth what I paid.

Tonight at Berklee is "Celebrating Blakey: The Messenger Legacy" with Reggie Workman, Donald Harrison, Brian Lynch, Billy Pierce, Donald Brown, and Ralph Peterson. I suspect that this will be a good one.

It's kind of strange that Randy is resurrecting the Brecker Brothers name with Michael gone. The fact that he's continuing to use it simply because a club sold out makes me wonder about Randy's real inspiration here. How many people will show up wondering where Michael is?

I've been spinning a few records since dinnertime. The first one sounds like a bootleg, even though it's a legit Prestige release: Gene Ammons and James Moody - Chicago Concert Next up was a Japanese pressing of Lester Young with Harry Edison - Pres And Sweets (Verve) And now playing: McCoy Tyner - Extensions (Blue Note). A nice Van Gelder 1st pressing that I picked up for $4 down in CT last week.

Interesting to see that I'm not the only fan of direct drive Denon turntables. I've been trying to get a nice DP-62L for under $600 for a couple of years now and just missing.

Anthony Braxton - Seven Standards 1985, Volume 1 (Magenta). Promo copy. I saw this record and said to myself, "Hank Jones, Rufus Reid & Victor Lewis in the rhythm section? Produced by Michael Cuscuna & recorded by Malcolm Addey? How have I not heard this before"? The answer is easy - It's because I don't have any Braxton in my CD collection. This is a really nice record. I'm glad I finally got some Braxton in my LP collection.

It's in The Complete Blue Note/UA Curtis Fuller Sessions Mosaic box.

I've been looking for an affordable copy of this for a few years now. I've been getting by with the CD in meantime.

The Bop Session with Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Stitt, John Lewis, Percy Heath, Max Roach & Hank Jones (Sonet SNTF 692). This is a variable date with some tracks sounding like fresh interpretations of old war horses and others sounding like tired old war horses.

Just finished: Stanley Turrentine - ZT's Blues (Blue Note). DMM pressing - not my preferred vinyl technology but I believe that this is the only US pressing. Now playing: Coleman Hawkins - The Hawk Swings (United Records And Tapes). I have no idea of the provenance of this date. I don't know if it's Crown CST 206 date with Thad Jones because there are no liner notes. It's not a "hi-fi" pressing, that's for sure. Were these United releases even legal?

John Patton - Accent On The Blues (Liberty). Black/light blue label with Van Gelder in the deadwax. This is the first time I've heard this. I guess I never got around to picking this date up on CD.

Just finished: The Phil Woods Quartet - Volume One, A Live Recording (Clean Cuts/Adelphi Jazz). Eh. It's good enough but nothing big really happens so it sits kind of flat. I was expecting a bit more. Now playing: Jackie McLean with the Great Jazz Trio - New Wine In Old Bottles (Inner City). Another eh. Nice enough. Polite even. But they aren't doing anything they hadn't done a few times before. Jackie's still in the "full sour tone" mode which isn't my favorite sound in Jazz.

Last night I caught Gary Burton at Scullers. What a great show. Gary lived in the Boston area and played regularly for many years. I took that for granted and somehow never managed to catch him. When the e-mail came in advertising this as his 70th birthday tour, I figured I'd better get off my ass and see him. I am very glad I did. EDIT: He is doing two more shows tonight so for those of you in the Boston area, you still have an opportunity to see it yourself.

For starters, the sound on these discs is fine. They don't suffer from the overly-loud, compressed sound that has degraded recent offerings in the TOCJ series. I did notice that EMI-Japan is now owned by Universal. When did Toshiba sell out to Universal? Cannonball Adderley - The Happy People Nope. Not doing it for me. This just doesn't sound like a Cannonball Adderley date (except when he solos). Not a huge fan of vocals to begin with but these just aren't great vocals. The moaning/screaming on the 2nd track really doesn't work and the whacka-whacka funk guitar sounds so weird with Cannonball soloing along with it. The echo-ey operatic singing on "Savior" is trippy. I suppose if all you're looking for a lot of energetic playing and a band having fun, go for it. I doubt I'll be playing it a lot. FWIW, my wife & daughter didn't like it at all. They were looking at me weird when it was playing. Not my usual musical fare for sure. Guitars Unlimited/Laurindo Almeida/Howard Roberts - Quiet Nights & Brazilian Guitars Nice mellow Latin Jazz. Wicked short though. It's only about 28 minutes long. The tunes are so short there's not a lot of deep thinking involved. I'm glad I got this one but I wish it was a bit longer. Clare Fischer - Manteca! Good playing but for some reason, I think of Charo as I spin it. I could see this being used as the soundtrack to a movie in the 60s. I like this date. The percussion is great. Bud Shank & Clare Fischer - Bossa Nova Jazz Samba Really like this one - best of the bunch. It's really well done Latin Jazz. Unfortunately, under 30 minutes of music. They could have combined this with the Guitars Unlimited date and still had a CD under 60 minutes. Bud Shank - Brasamba! This one is pretty good too. I agree with an earlier poster's feeling that the flute tunes are weaker than the alto ones. Joe Pass is great. I do like it when Larry Bunker added some vibes to a couple of the tunes.

I'm spoiled. I get to see Laszlo quite often around Boston. John Lockwood even more frequently. One of the few times when Boston has an advantage over NYC.

I've had a similar thing happen when my CD drive was dying. Try it in another drive and see what happens. It was because of this that I went onto eBay and bought a couple of extra original Plextor CD-R drives.

I've never heard of this date. How is it? It looks like Temperley is playing a tenor. Does he also play baritone?

No title track?

Indian's gas tank, fenders and structural stuff is all metal as far as I can tell. Both of my Victories were all metal except the side covers and the hardbags. Have you read otherwise? Are you talking the batwing faring on the new 2014 Indian Chieftain? I believe Harley's batwing faring is also plastic or fiberglass. If you're talking about the hardbags, well maybe Harley's are metal, but I would prefer ABS plastic hardbags. I agree with you about Indian's dealer network. If I wanted to test drive one, I'd have to drive over an hour to their Worcester, MA dealership. The next closet one is in Pittsburgh!

What have you heard about the 2014 (Polaris built) Victory that would turn you away? It can't simply be that it is Polaris, as their Victory motorcycles have a much higher reliability than most other makers (domestic & foreign). Their latest offering is finally putting a Chief into a price range I could consider ($19K vs $32K). I may even be enticed to get back on a bike with these machines.