Kevin Bresnahan

According to Tom Evered at Blue Note Records, these "Best of" compilations sell very well. Quite a few of their recent "Ballads" CDs sold well enough that they were able to keep other reissue programs going. I know I bought several of these "Ballads" CDs. They are perfect for mellow dinner music when I can't give the music a good listen. People seem to like these mellow comps too. It was only a few years ago that 32Jazz made a mint on those "Jazz For A XXXXX" series of comps. Not enough to stay in business though... Later, Kevin

Hey, it's my own fault... the timing on these things just aren't good for me. I'll get a set one of these days. Last night was volleyball night. Tonight, I'm going to the Sahara Club in Methuen, MA to see a sextet with Bill Pierce and Mick Goodrick. The Evans box will have to wait again. It's fate, I tell ya'. Has anyone E-mailed this place to see if they have a stack of them for sale? I should try that. Later, Kevin

Macs do crash occasionally. I have used Macs and I have used PCs. I will say that until Windows XP Pro, I liked the Mac OS better. Now, with Win XP Pro, not so much difference. Price is another story. Until the Mac mini, PCs kicked ass in this regard. PC apps are much more affordable (and avialable) as well. Money-wise, a PC is still a better choice. As for viruses, I'm also of the camp that the Mac users have been spared the wrath of the scumbags who write the things. If they decide to target Macs, watch out. Kevin

Well, it'd be nice if someone who's been trying for a week got one first...

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Mid-week... 5 hours away. Sorry Johnny, but you gotta at least stay 'til the weekend for me to get my ass in there. I E-mailed Michael Weiss, Johnny's pianist, to see if they might make their way through Boston and Michael said two nights in NYC and that's it. I was hoping to get a chance to see Johnny one more time. The last time I saw him was unpleasant and that's not the way I'd like to remember him. BTW, if you go, I'd be curious to as to the set list. Later, Kevin

There has been an increase in nasty trojan horse spyware infections around the globe. They are not your typical "virus" in that they install spyware until your machine crawls to a halt. They usually reinstall everything each time you re-boot too. I've found Microsoft's free anti-spyware program to be very good at removing these infections. It's worth a try here. Later, Kevin

God, this bulletin board software needs to be updated so there's an ignore function.

I was told in no uncertain terms that Blue Note's refusal to reissue it right now is because of b. Tom said they are not going to redo the artwork. His comment was something like, "We don't mess with these classics". That said, it'll probably come out as "Lazy Afternoon" on Monday. Later, Kevin

Percy is in the house! I've spun the first few tracks and loved what I've heard so far. I'll give it a proper listen this weekend. Thanks Jim, for getting me to get this and thanks Allen for getting it to me. Later, Kevin

Blue Note in the EU is different from Blue Note in the US which is different from Blue Note in Japan, etc. They are different divisions of EMI. Blue Note's EU arm apparently never heard of any reason to stop this reissue or, if they did hear, chose to release it anyway. I'd have done the same thing if I were in their shoes. Later, Kevin

Roger Waters, of Pink Floyd fame, put out a solo album in 1984 called "Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking". The cover has since been censored. Later, Kevin

Given all the discussion that has come about from Blue Note's "Basra" reissue, I got to thinking about CDs and LPs that have been re-titled, had new artwork or both. There are probably hundreds out there. I imagine the most famous is The Beatles "Yesterday and Today" when they originally tried to issue it with a picture of the Fab Four in butcher smocks and chunks of meat. Pretty wild. Edit: I'll paste the Beatles cover in. Since my link seems to be broken, I have Jimi Hendrix's "Electric Ladyland" on CD from Germany. When I bought it many years ago, I got it in and it had a bunch of nude women on the cover. This was not the cover I had when this was on vinyl! The one that caught me off guard was Chet Baker's "The Playboys" which mutated into "Picture of Heath". I almost bought "Picture of Heath" because I thought it was a new reissue. I wonder how many we could come up with? Later, Kevin

I was able to talk to Tom Evered at Blue Note yesterday and I found out that the reason this CD didn't come out is because they are refusing to modify the artwork or re-title it. Therefore, they're at a bit of a stalemate. Tom says he hopes they can work out the differences but they may not. This re-issue may have to wait until the word "Basra" doesn't have this supposed negative association with it. I am very understanding of both sides of this situation, even though I thoroughly disagree with how it's going down. If I were in a position to make the call, this would be out as "Basra". Period. However, I wouldn't blame any artist associated with this CD for being worried that some people might find offense. As I said earlier in this thread, there will be people that will take offense. Of course, the chances of that person being a Jazz fan are pretty slim. Later, Kevin

Check out http://www.snpp.com/episodes/2F32.html for the "Jazz" episode. There are some great quotes in there. Lisa did play Coltrane for her cat when it jumped out the window... I nearly wet myself. There was an episode when Homer had a pizza delivered and, if you freeze the screen, you can see that the pizza place was "Jackie McLean Pizzaria". Kevin

That's what I get for playing volleyball! Maybe tomorrow. Kevin

Wow, serendipity! I was just heading over here to do a search on this very box. They just added it to yourmusic.com and I was wondering if it was worth the $24.95. Sounds like it is. Offhand, how much Coleman Hawkins is there on this set? Later, Kevin

Won't the EU version of Basra have copy protection? I know a lot of people are having trouble with them... they don't play in a lot of standard CD players. Later, Kevin

Same? Not enough coffee this morning. UMG (Mercury) and RCA are likely not the same crew. I still don't understand why these Mercury discs are full-priced. They're likely the last ones too. UMG has pretty much stopped all SACD releases. The website hasn't been updated for a month. Too bad. I've been buying them in batches. These Mercury discs are on my list. Later, Kevin

Well, then, that is a rip-off! I wonder why they did this? They're basically from the same remastering crew and from the same vault. Why price them differently? I stopped trying to figure these guys out. Later, Kevin

Stefan, I don't know where you're buying these, but they have a list price of $11.99 and typically go on sale for $8.99-9.99. These prices are the same as the prices for the regular CDs. Bascially, if you have an SACD player, you get the layer for free. Later, Kevin

So much for ebay's "E-mail me when comes up for sale"!! Later, Kevin

I gotta send this to Michael!! Later, Kevin

Do not blame Blue Note... it isn't their doing.

Back when I was told that Basra was getting reissued in the RVG series, I joked with Michael Cuscuna about it, saying something like, "They're going to let you put out a CD titled Basra"? We had a good laugh. However, we both made the connection right away. I never expected that my little joke would come back to haunt me like this. I blame the political environment we're living with today. Saying or doing anything that can be "linked" with the war in Iraq immediately labels you. It's a sad statement of political correctness run amok. Later, kevin