Kevin Bresnahan

Various Artists - Herb Wong Presents Mistletoe Magic (Palo Alto Jazz). Lots of great players on this. Elvin Jones, Art Pepper, Mal Waldron, Joe Henderson, Tom Harrell, Jerome Richardson, Dave Liebman, Hank Jones and many more.

Bobby Timmons - Holiday Soul (Prestige)

Gene Clark just ended. Up now, Jorma Kaukonen - Quah (Grunt - 1980 reissue with alternative cover).

Gene Clark - Here Tonight (The White Light Demos) (Omnivore). A Black Friday Record Store Day release. Mellow folk-rock with a Dylanesque sound. It's good enough to play again but I wouldn't want a whole bunch of this type of stuff in my collection.

Elusive Disc still has some copies of the very limited edition reissue of this LP: http://www.elusivedisc.com/TONY-KINSEY-AN-EVENING-WITH-MR-PERCUSSION-180g-MONO-LP/productinfo/SPELP002/. It's a very good date if you're a Tubby Hayes fan.

Please accept my condolences. I know it seems dark right now, but the darkness will lessen with time. Try to do things you like to keep active. You'll always have those memories.

What amazes me is how much they get away with charging for these fonts! $229 for a font? One that was invented back in 1905? Wow.

Unless they've changed it, Microsoft doesn't allow you to roll back Internet Explorer. Once you install a later version, you can't go back. They do a similar thing with Microsoft Office. Once you upgrade, it's practically impossible to go backward. I'm glad to see you got it running Hans. FWIW, I have to use IE for some websites, particularly those that use Silverlight.

Buck Hill - This Is Buck Hill (Steeplechase)

I traded in my rainbow LP when I got my hands on a copy of the Connoisseur LP. It sounds better. That weird phasing on the cymbals is not as bad and the stereo separation is better.

My wife went through a big medical scare a few years back so I know exactly what you're going through. Telling her you love her is a start but simply being there for her is even better. Our relationship underwent a shift that day. I have always given my wife a kiss on the way out the door. It just means a bit more today than it did 3 years ago.

Tonight - The Brubeck Brothers at the Shalin Liu performance center in Rockport, MA.

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.