Kevin Bresnahan

Thank you, everyone. Another year gone. They are flying by at this point. Later, Kevin

I picked this one up a few weeks back and I don't know what it is about LeDonne's organ playing on some of these tunes, but I'm not liking it as much as I have on other dates he's used the organ. It has a sound that equals "old fashioned" to my ears, like something Doc Bagby would play. Maybe someone can explain it to me. Is it the recording or am I just so used to people playing like Jimmy Smith that when I hear a different approach, it sounds off?

http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/the-2000-cd-made-from-glass-1/ You would think that someone who "designed and built CD (and Laserdisc) mastering machines" would not blame a digital readback fault (which did not change the digital bitstream at all) into a change in frequency and amplitude of the analog output. If these two digitally-identical discs sounded different, then it was something in the player's D-A converter. That's the only place where analog changes can come from. You'd have to have a very, very special and unique set of digital shifts to make the resulting analog output that different... and he should know this.

It's funny that the Wiki article fails to mention his nickname while in Boston: The Gerbil.

Jimmy Heath - The Gap Sealer (Cobblestone). Kenny's electric piano still doesn't do a lot for me but I've gotten more & more used to it by this point in my life. I'd still rather hear him on an acoustic piano. Jimmy's playing is all right though.

Lee Konitz - Very Cool (Verve/52nd Street).

Try an experiment with someone behind a sheet moving the wires up and down as you listen to the music. If you can hear an active shift, maybe you're onto something. Even if you do hear a shift, I would still blame something in your rack rather than the speaker wire. Are the wires being taped up near AC power cords (not that I think it matters - just curious)?

Phil Woods - Song For Sisyphus (Century Records). "RECORDED DIRECT-TO-DISC"!! Still doesn't sound all that great. It probably has something to do with it being recorded in 1978, a year when it seems that many bass players felt the need to make their instrument sound like a manic bumble bee. It suffers noticeably in comparison to the previous record, which was recorded with a nice, warm bass sound.

Scott Hamilton - Remembering Billie (Blue Duchess). A beautifully recorded date of well-know Holliday songs. The coolest thing (for me) is the rhythm section, which is a local one that I hear quite often. I probably see pianist Tim Ray 10 or 15 times a year.

This doesn't surprise me at all. Many years ago, I saw Roy at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, MA. In between sets, I went to ask him for an autograph. I was told he stepped outside. Figuring maybe he went out for a smoke, I went out to see if he could accommodate my request. I saw him get out of a car and he was sniffing like crazy. Not wanting to assume anything, I went up and asked him for an autograph. He just hopped back & forth in the balls of his feet and looked around like a psycho. He didn't answer me at all. He didn't seem to understand what I was asking. This went on for several uncomfortable seconds so I just turned around and went back into the club.

I read an article a while back that nearly all of the "Gillette" blades being sold on Amazon & eBay are counterfeits. I once gave an Amazon seller a try and the results were not pretty. I hacked my face up pretty bad. I went back to Walmart-sourced blades and things are fine again. BTW, I use Gillette Sensor blades. I avoid the Sensor Excel blades (the ones with the rubber strip) because they catch on parts of my chin and leave divots.

Also the cover for the DMM US LP from the early 80s. I agree with your assessment.

Tonight at the Sahara Jazz Club in Methuen, MA, Ralph Lalama.

Pepper Adams - Julian (Inner City). Not my favorite Pepper Adams date but still worth spinning.

I'd be interested to hear how it compared with an 47W63rd original - and also that 45rpm version (Acoustic Sounds?) So would I, but I would not be the person with the ability to do it.

Taking for another spin: John Coltrane - Blue Train (Blue Note/Music Matters). The new 33 rpm mono cut. Beautiful sound on this disc. Quite a nice presentation too. These guys really know how to do it right.

Man, everyone RAVES about those Pioneers, don't they? I don't need any bookshelf speakers right now, but I've been half tempted to get a pair just to see what all the fuss is about. You should have read the rave reviews of the previous model. You would have thought they were tower speakers.

If you live near a Best Buy, go listen to these Andrew Jones designed speakers: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/pioneer-4-bookshelf-speakers-pair/5086955.p?id=1218610014045&skuId=5086955&st=categoryid$abcat0205001&cp=1&lp=5. The previous version (SP-BS21-LR) got rave reviews. This one still gets good press. They're worth listening to. If you happen to go to a Best Buy with a Magnolia showroom, see if they have the B&W 686 S2 speakers set up. They're $50 over budget, but I just love the B&W sound. Kevin

You should return it for a replacement. At fifty bucks a pop, Music Matters shouldn't sell warped records. $35 but you're right, it shouldn't be there. But the warp is slight and the return postage would be a bit much.

Tina Brooks - True Blue (Blue Note/Music Matters). New 33 rpm release. Beautiful sonics for one of my favorite Blue Note recordings. Unfortunately, there's a bit of dish warp on Side 1. My clamp minimizes it on Side 2 but it's still a bummer considering the price.

Tommy Flanagan - Super Session (InnerCity). As I've found to be typical of InnerCity pressings, this is pretty bad. Warped to almost skipping. Great music though.

Supertramp - Breakfast In America (A&M). A favorite from my younger days.

Lee Konitz & Martial Solal - Duplicity (Horo/Japan). Nice mellow date. Unlike the Red Norvo date I just spun, it's got a lot going on in those "mellow" spaces.

Red Norvo - Ad Lib (Liberty). This looked interesting in the store but it's turning out to be a bit of a snooze and the clean-looking vinyl is playing extremely noisy. Not a keeper.

Marcus Roberts - The Truth Is Spoken Here (RCA/Novus). OK stuff. It has it's moments. Badly warped. Luckily, it was in the dollar bin.