Kevin Bresnahan

Just terrible news. only 57. Too young.

Roy Haynes is back in town. It should be the usual great time. Roy is slowing down but can still swing like a mofo. My friend Bob is going to try and get Roy to sign a picture he took of Roy up in Rockport at the Shalin Liu Performing Arts Center.

Art Blakey - Pisces (Blue Note/King Japan)

I had so many rare Blue Note dates on cassette tapes made for me by various friends. I mean really, until the Mosaic box, how else did you hear Tina Brooks "True Blue"?

Now playing: Dizzy Reece - Blues in Trinity (BN reissue) Recorded in Paris, which I suppose explains the lack of the usual Blue Note sound balance, even though according to the notes RVG was on hand. Wonderful music, though. I thought Rudy re-recorded it when the tapes got back to the states? No idea what "re-recorded" means though.

Does this mean that you have a copy of this that you can clearly hear the whole band? On the cassette I have, NHOP's bass overloads the mic in a couple of places, It sounds like his mic level is cranked up too much. However, I don't recall Mobley ever coming through clearly. What does come through is great stuff but I can't get past the crappy sound. I'll have to dig out that cassette (and cassette deck) again. Maybe as the years have worn on I can appreciate it more?

So Jim, what's it going to be, this: or this: A designated driver or someone who cuts themselves off a few hours before leaving is still going to blow greater than a .05. As for a taxi... really? So I'm supposed to take a taxi from Boston to New Hampshire? $100-120 taxi drives are far out of my league and I'd bet many other music fans. It sounds like a great idea but not very practical. And look at the last club you played at in Massachusetts with Janiva, the Bull Run. It's in the middle of nowhere (believe me, Shirley, MA is really in the middle of nowhere). I don't even know if they have taxis out there. Hey look, I had one beer with dinner last night and San Pelligrino water at the Jim Hall show. I wasn't the least bit buzzed. But I have to wonder if I still wouldn't have popped a .05 on a breathlyzer. PS. the new quoting system sucks.

If this is the stuff I have on an old cassette, it sounds pretty horrible. The tape operator was clearly a fan of NHOP, as he is featured prominently in the "mix". As big of a Mobley fan as I am, I could do without it. You're not missing much.

Just my thoughts. I agree. The absolutists. Looks like a club in the making. Funny thing is that nearly all of these clubs that Jim has been playing in with Janiva Magness would likely go out of business tomorrow if their patrons suddenly decided that they could no longer drink and drive.

I bought an original Beatles "White Album" at Stereo Jack's one day that had quite a few scratches, some deep, and truth be told, other than a couple of pops, played through fine. Not all scratches are audible. I've found this to be especially true for original Blue Notes.

Is the scratch audible? If it isn't, you could add that as a "play grade" and probably get more money for it.

Marchel Ivery - Marchel's Mode

Just finished: Pepper Adams - Quintet (Mode) Now playing: Keith Jarrett - The Koln Concert (ECM). My first Jarrett LP. It was given to me.

It's excellent. Features JR as the only horn and the trio of drummer Joe Abodeely, pianist Dale Oehler and bassist Gary Allen - all based in the Quad Cities at the time. Monterose had a stand at the Tender Trap in Cedar Rapids for almost a year, I believe, in 1964 - Chuck probably knows more about this. If you wind up paying big bucks for this, be aware that it's only about 33 minutes long. It's a fine 33 minutes for sure.

The used copy of TOCJ-66015 Ike Quebec Quintets and Swingtet - "Blue Harlem" that I thought I had for $25 fell through shortly after I posted this. I still haven't been able to find a decently priced copy. Kevin

It was phenomenal. Gardony opened the set solo, playing pieces from his new solo CD, "Clarity", and then switched to the sextet for another hour and a half. Great night and I'm glad I decided to go on the spur of the moment.

Tonight at the Regattabar in Cambridge, MA, a Berklee all star performance: Laszlo Gardony, piano John Lockwood, bass Yoron Israel, drums Stan Strickland, vocals, flute, bass clarinet WITH SPECIAL GUESTS: Bill Pierce, sax Don Braden, sax

Yes to the VSOP discs too.

Johnny Griffin's last tours included many of the same of the same songs with many of the same introductions. The intro to "The JAMFs Are Coming" was supposed to be funny... Maybe it was the first time I heard it. Johnny always got a big laugh out of it. JJ Johnson played pretty much the same sets two tours in a row near the end of his life. It's because of this that I skipped what turned out to be his last tour through Boston.

Which is exactly why he released "Straight No Filter" on CD this way the first time. They only reverted to LP order due to complaints.

Ah, darn, you're right. But no matter - once one of these companies put out "No Room For Squares" or "The Turnaround" using the LP sequence of tunes, all of them should come out that way or else you get duplication of tunes.

It's the same as the original "Straight No Filter" CD released in the late 80s. It's not the same as the LP of "Straight No Filter" so Music Matters decided to give it a new name & cover. Remember, when "The Turnaround". "Straight No Filter" and "No Room For Squares" were first released, Michael Cuscuna put the music onto CD in session order, which was very different from the original LPs. When they reissued these CDs (two in the RVG series and one in the Connoisseur series), they reverted back to the LP sequence. The thing I really don't get about Joe Harley's decision here is that he already reissued the original LP version of "No Room For Squares", which has two tunes that will be reissued on this new double LP. Why not just reissue the original LP sequenced version of "Straight No Filter"? Anyone who bought Music Matters version of "No Room For Squares" already has two of the tunes and when you're talking about a 45 rpm release, that's almost two LP sides.

Is that Greg Hopkins the trumpeter? He performed in Hartford last Friday with Earl MacDonald and the Hartford Jazz Society's New Directions ensemble as a last minute replacement. Yup. Trumpeter Greg Hopkins is a Professor of Jazz Composition at Berklee: http://www.berklee.edu/faculty/detail/greg-hopkins

The disc is probably stuck on the spindle. Just reach in there with a soft tool and try to loosen it up and bit and then see if can be pulled out. You may also want to try putting another CD in and see if the two of them come out together but be warned that you may damage your player. I used to have a Savoy CD by Ralph Moore called "Who It Is You Are" that I had to throw out because the hole in this CD was too small and it used to get stuck in several players. Luckily it never happened in a car player.

I'm in for my usual.