Kevin Bresnahan

I'm being told that Rotel's new RA-1520 is very nice. Unfortunately, it also lists for around $1,000 dollars. It has 60 watts/chan, a MM phono input, 3 line-level inputs and two tape loops (making 5 line-level inputs total).

I was in Bull Moose Music the other day and I found a cheap(er) copy of the XRCD of Morgan's "Tomcat" so I figured I would give it another try. I've had the Ron McMaster CD for years but rarely listen to it. The sound is very good, much better than the old McMaster CD and if it's a favorite of yours, I would definitely recommend it. Unfortunately, this date has never been a favorite of mine. I never bought into the whole "this sat on the shelf because Blue Note wanted Morgan to get out another Sidewinder" stuff. I always felt Jackie McLean was really off on this date. He has a few flubs in almost every solo, even blowing some obnoxious clams in 3 of the 5 tunes. The playing just sounds loose to my ears. Even Lee seems blasé, often getting behind the beat by more than usual and doing that half-valving stuff all the time. It's almost like he's running out of ideas. Tyner and Blakey keep the date going and for their playing alone, the CD is a keeper. But I doubt it'll get into the player before many of Lee's other dates. Given what I've read about Alfred Lion's standards, I think it's more likely that the overall level of play held this session back rather than a need for another "Sidewinder".

TOCJ-8xxx ? Is this a series I missed? Ahh heck, typo. I meant TOCJ-4xxx - the BN Works series. I really like the sound of these CDs more than any other. The SACDs sound fine too. The only problem I have with the SACDs is the extremely low levels. It's much better than cranked up levels but Hoffman went too far the other way. It makes it impossible to use them in a shuffle player. If you set the volume for a "normal" CD and one of these new Hoffman remasters come on, you can barely hear it. Kevin

Here, we CAN discuss Steve Hoffman's work, both the good and bad aspects of it. On the Hoffman forums, if you even hint at a negative aspect of something Hoffman did, you'll likely find your posts deleted and your account locked. It's actually a bit sad at how much of this goes on. Steve Hoffman's forums are really all about promoting Steve Hoffman and not really about discussing the good & the bad. I like several RVGs. I don't like several RVGs. There are some that have too much midrange. Some that seem to have a lot of high end. But there are some, like Pete LaRoca's "Basra", that simply sound phenomenal. I like the new XRCDs as well. However, in the first batch of 4 (which I bought), I had two of the titles on a TOCJ-8xxx CD and to my ears, they were nearly identical. I even had my daughters, with their young ears, listen to a few tracks and they couldn't really find a big difference.

I got music for Christmas - I finally have speakers from B&W's Nautilus line. I got the entry-level 805s on stands. The guy I got them from had new Diamond tweeters from the current 800 series installed by B&W. They sound beautiful. A little light on the bass (to be expected) but not a big problem with most of the Jazz I listen to. I also got Columbia's "Kind of Blue" box with 2 CDs, 1 DVD, an LP and book.

I'm in. I was just spinning "In Memorandom" last night. Kevin

Technically, a 1955 recording is no longer a bootleg in the EU. It's public domain there. Anyone can distribute it in the EU.

My daughter just sent me a link to the Jars Of Clay's version of "Little Drummer Boy" last week. She said it's the first version of the song she ever enjoyed. I thought it was nice. Then I sampled the rest of the tunes, including this one, and I thought they were just trying too hard to make every tune unique. There's something to being unique, but it doesn't have to be every tune. BTW, if you want to hear some interesting new Christmas music, try Pink Martini's new CD or download Coldplay's new single. Kevin

Of course you can "go wrong". You're talking about running this player's needle across your LPs. If it's a crap cartridge/needle, it might play fine the first time, but the next time you go to play that LP, it might be ruined. The ION TT does not have a very good cart. Haven't you ever ruined an LP by playing it with a cheap needle? Back in the day, I used to loan LPs to friends. After I got back a couple that looked white-ish and realized it was ruined, I stopped loaning them to that friend until he got a new cart.

Personally, I wouldn't use one of these on my records if it was given to me, but maybe I'm just paranoid. I don't even like playing my records on my entry-level Denon turntable because the cartridge is iffy.

Which version of WMP are you using? I'm using version 11.0. If I click the arrow while in the Now Playing tab, all I have to do to get back the panel on the side is click the small arrow under Now Playing and then click Show List Pane and that panel shows back up. Kevin

Unfortunately, Windows Media Player is the only freebie player I've found that includes a graphic equalizer. What's more unfortunate is that it defaults to "on" and if the settings are wrong, you can get terrible sounding music. Still, I use it more often than other players because I like the way it manages my music and I use the EQ often to compensate for poor headphones. FWIW, if the software is playing a CD and not mp3 files, it should sound the same no matter which program you use unless they purposefully mess with the bitstream. The application is not "playing" the CD, the computer is. Software players don't somehow change the D/A converter in your PC. What's likely happening here is that you WMP is still in the default mode of "Rip CD when inserted". It rips to .wma and that's what you're hearing being played back, *not* the CD itself. Shut that setting off. To play a CD in WMP, you click the "Now playing" tab and hit the little down arrow. You should see the CD as D:CD title. BTW, to get that panel back, simply click the arrow next to the "Search" box at the top right of the window.

I have seen this go for a less than this in the past. I have been looking for one for a couple of years now & so far, I missed one with a "Buy It Now" for $120 and another for a little less. Maybe I should use that "Make Offer" link and offer $120? Couldn't hurt to try. Later, Kevin

And Michael Cuscuna was right about those two, wasn't he? They put them out and they didn't sell at all. I remember finding them in used bins all over Boston for a while. The funniest thing was that nearly every time I talked to Michael about upcoming reissues, he would always bring those two reissues up. He wasn't gloating, just reminding me that us Blue Note junkies on the Internet Jazz forums don't represent the normal CD buying public. We're fanatics. You need more than fanatics to sell some of this stuff. Later, Kevin

Rolf - After facing the possibility of losing my wife a few weeks back, I realized that I'd be very, very lost without her. I imagine you're feeling that way right now. Like you, I have two daughters and they were what I leaned on when my wife was in surgery and I continue to lean on them for emotional support as my wife slowly recuperates. Your daughters will be a big help getting you through this. You can help them get through it as well. My condolences to your family. Kevin

There have been many bad movies throughout the years. In recent memory, one of the worst I can think of was "Dragon Wars". It was heavily hyped, with commercials touting it during primetime television for weeks before its release. Luckily, I didn't get to see it until the local library got a copy on DVD. Ugh. What a stinker. The worse thing about it was the comically bad acting. The Mystery Science Theater guys could have a field day with it. Combine really bad acting with a plot with enough holes to drive a bus through and you get a movie that you have trouble watching after about 10 minutes.

Lon - I debated keeping this but it really would be a back up to another back up. I have too many players. The player is on hold pending payment. Thanks for looking, Kevin

NAD T-585 Universal Player $300 including shipping to a continental US address. Alaska/Hawaii and international shipping will be actual cost. PayPal preferred but I will accept money orders from US buyers. International buyers: this is a US unit. 120V/60Hz. This units plays DVD-V, DVD-A, DVD+R, DVD-R, VCD, SVCD, SACD, CD, CD-R, and CD-RW discs. It also decodes HDCD, MP3, and WMA. NAD still has the product page live at: http://nadelectronics.com/products/dvd-players/T-585-Universal-DVD-Player. It listed for $1199 at intro. I bought this unit a few years back for a second listening area and it has performed like a champ. Unfortunately, I had to convert back that area back to a bedroom so I no longer need it. It probably has a little over 100 hours on it, with almost all of that being SACD on a two-channel system. I hooked it up to my main listening area the other day to verify the multi-channel capabilities and everything works great. This is an excellent sounding player. The guts are identical to NAD's Master Series M55, which listed for $1800 at intro. This is a lot of player for little money. Thanks, Kevin

I'd rather go back to 1978 and break open Bucky Bleeping Dent's bat to show the world its corked innards. Of course, going back to 1986 and somehow getting the Red Sox's idiot manager to 1) Leave Bob #@%# Stanley in the pen where he belonged and 2) Subbing for old man Buckner at first for a player who could actually bend over. I still blame Bob Stanley more than Bill Buckner for that screw up.

No, it doesn't. And for those who want to view Ronnie's current website, it's here. I'm going to hear Ronnie perform in Boston in two weeks and will probably pick up a copy of the new CD from him. For others, Infra-Rae is available on iTunes for only $6.93. Excellent! They finally got rid of the squatters. As of a few weeks ago, www.ronniecuber.com was still some sort of sex fetish site. It looks like they got booted off on October 1st. I was glad I had NoScript running in Firefox when I first visited. Checking out his new website - when the hell did Scullers add Ronnie?!? I was just checking out their schedule a few weeks ago and I didn't see it. I'll have to get tickets to that one for sure! Gotta get my bari fix. Too bad Joanne can't leave the house for another few weeks. Kevin

Your post became inappropriate once the offending post it referred to was deleted. Remember, there are multiple definitions to the word. If you stick to "not conforming with accepted standards of propriety or taste; undesirable", then yeah, you have a reason to be miffed. But if you use "not suitable for a particular occasion etc.", it describes your post very well. It was not appropriate to leave your post in place as it would no longer fit in with the rest of the thread.

Don't you think your post would've looked rather odd without the first post commenting on the price?

We had to put Jasmine down last Wednesday, the day my wife was coming home from the hospital after major surgery. I left in the morning and she was fine but by late morning, I had to have my brother come and take her to the vet. The hits just keep coming here at Casa Bresnahan.

Joanne came through great. Thanks everyone for the positive thoughts. She's still on antibiotics and steroids so she's not out of the woods completely, but she feels better and looks a lot better.

The empty nest is a bit emptier this morning as I wake up to an empty house. Wish me & my wife Joanne luck this morning (10/16) and if you believe in that sort of thing, toss a prayer her way. She's undergoing some major neck surgery. Kevin