Kevin Bresnahan

I got an e-mail notice that my CDs were shipped. Yeah, I said CDs, plural. It turns out that they're having a sale and if you buy 3 CDs of a certain type, you get 25% off. I added a couple of Venus CDs and they all came to less than $60 including shipping - less than $20 each!

RIP Hans. I enjoyed many of his posts. He definitely had good taste. Cancer strikes again. It sucks that this disease kills so many of us.

Those look like bad seats. :)

I seem to have passed that age... the age where my hearing is simply not acute enough to hear the major differences between these SHM-CDs and their older counterparts. I'm kinda bummed out right now. I bought a bunch of these discs and compared them to my old CD versions and I have not had one "sit up and take notice" moment. I really have to think about staying out of strict audio discussions on line. I just can't hear the differences that well any more.

That sort of thing used to bother me too. In fact I passed on the two VeeJay Mosaics because of this. However now that I rip all my boxed sets losslessly it's not an issue. It actually makes it easier to tag the files if they are in date order. I've never had any need for studio chatter and false starts, however. Today they seem like a very Nineties CD-era thing. I passed on the Mosaic Ike Quebec/John Hardee & the VeeJay boxes for that reason as well. I don't mind an alternate take here and there but to have 3 or 4 takes in a row of the same song or an alternate for *every* track annoys the heck out of me. I don't know why but it does. False starts are just plain annoying. I imagine musicians find them fascinating but I don't share their enthusiasm. The worst were those Verve CDs (form the 90s ) that had someone shouting take numbers from the booth before each false start. The shouting was usually louder than the music and had me jumping for the volume knob half the time. When I rip CDs with alternate takes, I generally don't rip them at all.

I ordered it from HMV. I am not making the same mistake I made the last time it was in print.

This is good news but why doesn't CD Japan have them? I still need the Gonsalves CD but I've never used HMV. How's their service? Are they are good as CD Japan?

I am not a fan of any releases with track lists like this: 8. Congo Blues (false start 1) (A) 1:04 (Red Norvo) 9. Congo Blues (false start 2) (A) 1:14 (Red Norvo) 10. Congo Blues (tk A) (A) 3:59 (Red Norvo) 11. Congo Blues (tk B) (A) 3:51 (Red Norvo) 12. Congo Blues (tk.C) (A) 3:51 Give me 8. Conga Blues (released take) any day. They probably could have made it a 4-5 CD set if they did.

Last night, I saw a great show at the Regattabar in Cambridge, MA: Kenny Werner's Coalition band with Chris Potter as a last minute sub for David Sanchez. They only played about 6 tunes but they were all very well done. I was riveted to my seat for nearly 2 hours by this band. Highly recommended if they come through town. Hopefully, Potter has to keep subbing because he was truly great, although Miguel Zenon gave him a run for his money, especially on his own tune.

I don't know if I'm going to continue with this series. They press at RTI and I've had 3 out of ten records with noticeable dish warp and in my last shipment, Kenny Drew's "Undercurrent" has a glob of some gooey stuff on one side. After a nightmarish return sequence with my copy of Tina Brooks' "True Blue", I haven't even tried returning this.

Ken(ny) Werner - The Piano Music of Bix Beiderbecke, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin and James P. Johnson (Finnadar Records). It was a dollar so why not? It's actually very good if you like this style of piano music. I wanted to hear Kenny's first recording so I grabbed it.

Bill Barron - Variations In Blue (Muse). Nice date with some great soloing all around. Jimmy Owens plays his ass off on a couple of tunes. Unfortunately, the record is pretty beat up, with a heavy scratch through most of Side A.

Go next Thursday. Kenny Werner is bringing in a killer band with Miguel Zenon on alto and David Sanchez on tenor. Heck, next Tuesday (Eric Harland with Julian Lage and Walter Smith III) is looking good too but heading into town on a Tuesday & a Thursday in the same week is a bit much when the alarm goes off at 5:00 AM.

Some nights, delays don't bother me much but last night's delay effectively doubled my ride home. It turns out that the Mass DOT guys decided to pave route 93 North last night and they started closing lanes about a half hour before I got there. I had to detour into the side roads. Ugh. No matter, I wasn't as bummed out by this delay as I was by Turner's seeming lack of interest in interacting with the people who paid $35 to see him.

But he is billing this as a "CD Release Tour" and the Regattabar advertised it as a "CD Release Show": As such, attendees should expect the artist to have that CD available for purchase or at least offer to personalize this new CD for fans that have already bought it. Like you, I have seen him many times, including a few times as a leader. I have never tried getting him to sign anything before so I don't know his personality quirks but when you are there specifically to push your new CD, you should at least make yourself available to the people who came because of that new CD. I mean, maybe he doesn't have access to any stock of this new CD? Well, tell us that. But if people like you already have it, why not personalize it or at least accept our thanks in person? What's the big deal (for him)? He can say, "no autographs". Several artists have said that lately. But to basically run off the stage and down the hall into a closed room? That's actually a bit rude for a Jazz artist. I expect that with rock bands but not Jazz guys. And why do you think the band ignored the audience's encore request? What Mark Turner personality trait caused that? BTW, I thought Avishai stole the show. His solos were fun and inventive. I was really digging him.

I was there last night. Some "CD Release Party", huh? You would think that announcing a show as a "CD Release Party" you might want to have the CD available for sale? Nope. No CDs for sale at all. Start 20 minutes late? No problem. Leave after an hour and 10 minutes ignoring the crowd (hint: your fans) asking for an encore? No problem. Hang around to sign your new CD at your "CD Release Party"? Huh? What do you mean, "hang around"? We high-tailied it outta there and disappeared. We don't do no stinkin' autographs.

Tasty brew but be careful when drinking it. At 9.4% abv, it can knock you for a loop if drunk in large (as in two or more) quantities. They serve it at the Scullers Jazz Club. I usually stop at one.

When I think about how much I paid for this disc.... ouch.

I wouldn't be able to label Roach's "Brown Sugar" "good stuff". Boring stuff might be a better descriptor.

I ordered the Akiyoshi/Tabackin set and the Jazz Crusaders set. I've been on the fence for both of them for a while and just figured it was now or never.

I hope you're aware that this thread was created when Steve Hoffman started a reissue project that involved him cutting new LPs. Before this thread, he had another thread that declared SACD as the best representative of the master tape. When this thread first started out, a few people quoted his old thread. Now that old thread and all references to it have been erased. I wish I could change my posting history like that.

Lee Morgan - The Sidewinder (Blue Note/Music Matters 33 rpm). This is the first in this series that just hasn't imoressed me. Don't get me wrong... it sounds very nice but it just doesn't stand out from other issues I have heard. It's also the second (out of 10) titles that arrived with dish warp on side 1. The first one was much worse (I exchanged it) but this is still not good. I may exchange it.

He's only 57? Looks more like 77. Is he sick?

If they're violating the restraining order, have them arrested. Just get evidence. Go get a phone taping device and the next time they call, state, "I am recording this". Once they talk, you have the evidence you need. If they're really stupid, they'll say something bad that gets them thrown in jail. If they ever harass you in person, videotape it.

I picked up Mobley's "Third Season" and was a bit disappointed to hear that this release still has those weird sounding cymbal crashes. The best description I can come up with is "phasey" - like the phase of the sound is changing throughout the note. It's just not right and I have always thought that it was why this session sat in the can for so long. I was hoping that this new remaster would fix this a bit.