Kevin Bresnahan

Two sets at The Regattabar, 7:30 & 10:00. I have tickets for both sets. I love this band. Hard bop at it's finest! I think Eric Alexander is playing at his peak and he seems to elevate his playing when Joe Farnsworth is driving him. Anyone in the area who's into hard bop a la Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, you simply do not want to miss this band on a rare swing through Boston. I'll be at table 253. Stop by and say hello. Later, Kevin

He used to post on the Blue Note bulletin board as Jonaskullhammar. I remember I used to think he was Jona Skullhammar.

But Claude, on the ones I heard, these new TOCJ CDs have other problems. Pull a track to your hardrive and look at the waveform. The ones I've looked at suffer from compression. There is hardly any dynamic range (the difference between "peaks" & "valleys". I get fatigued listening to CDs mastered like this. They usually sound better, but the lack of dynamic range just makes them sound less musical. It's almost like everyone became Phil Spector and wanted a wall of sound. It hits me like that. The new Jimi Hendrix remasters are the worst for this. Great sound - no dynamic range. I've started searching for the old TOCJs wherever possible. I am about ready to give up that anyone will remaster for digital with dynamic range. Everyone is pushing up the levels. I don't see it going away. Later, Kevin

I believe Chuck is right. Connoisseurs are limited to two pressings. They are not required to have two pressings. It should also be noted that the reason some Connoisseur CDs are scarce, like "The All Seeing Eye", "Basra" and "Lee Way", is because that whole batch of titles (6 in all?) had multiple pressing defects and the large return rate pretty much sucked up the whole first pressing. As for those West Coast Classic, I told Blue Note at the time of their release that something happened and the market was absolutely flooded with saw-cut promos for those titles. There was a time when it would have been very hard to find a real copy in a Boston-area store. These promos clearly stole a lot of "legit" CD sales. Kevin

I was able to pick up two tickets to the Pats-Broncos game Sunday night. Me & my daughter Amanda will be tailgating in Foxboro! I am so loving the fact that I have a daughter that likes football.

I could have sworn we had a thread here about Heid's work. Did it get lost in one of the server crashes? I know I've mentioned "Da Girl" in a discussion here on the forums. I have a few Heid CDs and enjoy them all. It sounds like I should get my hands on "Dark Secrets". The only reason I didn't buy it the last time I saw it was the cheesy cover. Later, Kevin

I was told many years ago that the Connoisseur series CDs are limited to two pressings. If this title is still hanging in after so many years, it's because it isn't selling, not because it is selling.

I heard back from Cuscuna and he said it's too early for him to start deciding Connoisseur titles. There will likely be a couple more RVG issues before than and if that series grabs a title, it won't be in the Connoisseur series. Anyway, going on titles that Michael & I have talked about before, I would be very surprised if the next batch of Conns excluded the Kenny Cox two-fer and the Frank Foster date. I know he listened to the unissued Foster session and found a lot of good material in it so I would imagine he'd put this out as a Conn. Michael's also a big Andrew Hill fan so "Change" makes sense too. We just have to wait a few more months to see how it shakes out. BTW, Malcolm Addey remasters for Blue Note when they need the multi-track masters mixed to stereo. Apparently Malcolm is the guy for this. This is why he did "Passing Ships" and the Mosaic Select. They were never mixed to stereo. I don't think Blue Note re-mixes if a stereo master exists. Later, Kevin

Patriots trade Deion Branch for a draft pick. Just what we need right now, a draft pick. I hope Belichick knows what the heck he's doing! I was at that Pats game yesterday and it certainly appeared that part of Brady's throwing problems were a lack of open receivers. Well... that and having an arm in face the whol first half. Anyone else notice all of the bad calls (again) this week? The Patriots got both the benefit as well the hurt yesterday. For an example of miss, look at this shot taken as Brady was stripped of the ball in the first 12 seconds of yesterday's game:

I agree. Cuscuna has said he listened to the "trainwreck" again back when they did those "Lost Sessions" Connoisseur CDs and he said he wasn't worthy of release. Of course, he's changed his mind about sessions before. Grant Green's first session comes to mind. FWIW, I still think that with some judicious editing, that unissued 1958 Jazz Messengers session could work. Later, Kevin

Reinier says that it's coming out in the RVG series.

If one considers that Shorter was in a period of re-orientation at the time, after leaving Miles and a number of dates bordering on free playing, but which ultimately lead to the formation of Weather Report ..... Michael probably gave the tapes to Wayne to destroy or whatever. He did that with a Horace Silver session that they listened to together and when Horace voiced his displeasure, he gave him the tapes. At least this is what he told me over the phone about four years ago. Lon, I know Michael gave Horace the tapes from the "Live At Pep's" sessions, but he said he didn't do that with this unissued Shorter date. The tapes must be still in the vaults. I've heard that there is a bootleg out there but I've never seen or heard it.

Get well Paul! You have to be back home by Sunday for the Pats opener. Kevin

I was asking Michael Cuscuna about some unissued sessions in the vault and when we got to that unissued Wayne Shorter session from 1970(?) with the songtitles "A", "Bee", "Cee", etc. Michael told me that he had Wayne in to listen to the tapes to ask what he thought. Cuscuna said Shorter was disgusted with the music and said, "That's Duke Peason's idea of a fucking record," and walked out of the room. I asked Cuscuna if it was just that session or in general, and Michael said that Shorter didn't think much of Duke as a producer. Kevin

Not according to Wayne Shorter!! Wayne did not have a high opinion of Pearson's musical taste. He might be part of the reason Blue Note went down the toilet in the late 60's.

I create my own ringtones. All you need is an mp3 of the music you want as a ringtone. Use Audacity (available from www.download.com) to create a 30 second snippet from the .mp3 file using cut & paste. Export this 30 second snippet back to mp3 and copy it to your phone. I created some Jazz ones. Shorter's tenor solo on "Free For All" is one. The intro to Miles' "So What" is another. I usually leave it on the intro to the Who's "Baba O'Reilly" or the intro to The Cars' "Just What I Needed". Be warned that softer ringtones cause you to miss the call!

Reinier, Michael told me that there is only one summer batch of Connoisseur CDs from now on. Did he change his mind and get another added (again )? Kevin

Many years ago, Michael Cuscuna used to tell me what he was planning to put out many months in advance. I used to post it, first on the rec.music.bluenote newsgroup, later on the Blue Note BB. A few times, even though I always stated in big, bold letters, "SUBJECT TO CHANGE", titles were swapped and people got very upset, to the point of writing nasty letters. Cuscuna figured it wasn't worth the hassle so now he pretty much waits until he gets the UPC code, which means it's "definite". Later, Kevin

The ones I've heard have been great. It's too bad that these CDs seem to list for around $18 each. Too steep for me to take a chance on too many of them. I do have a few on my want list. I probably should start getting more. Later, Kevin

I asked Tom Evered why they switched over to the "Picture of Heath" cover when they reissued this music and has said they got pressure from their marketing group to switch. It was purely PC. No Hugh Hefner involvement at all. Quite honestly, given Hefner's love of Jazz, I highly doubt he'd be upset. Later, Kevin

The Patriots just gave disgruntled WR Deion Branch permission to seek a trade and negotiate a contract with other clubs. Wow. That's about all I can think of. The Patriots are hurtin' at WR and they offer to let their #1 walk? Knowing this front office, it's a ploy to get him to come down on his offer. Kevin

I've placed several orders with them and always had great service. However, lately I've found that Hiroshi usually can do better, particularly when I add the shipping fees. Horshi's S&H can be quite a bit less when buying several CDs. BTW, once you place an order with them, they should start sending you E-mail discount coupons. Kevin

Be careful with this. You may get the new version. Many people list a CD based on whatever they can find.

Cuscuna says that he got fed up with a rather vocal small group of people who hounded him on this issue so this is the way it will be from now on. He knows it's stupid, but he just got tired of the complaints. I hope they're happy now. I really got into with someone on the old Blue Note bulletin boards about this issue with regards to the Hank Mobley trio of discs, "The Turnaround", No Room For Squares" and "Straight No Filter". The person got pretty nasty with me (via PM, of course) because I basically called these people who badgered Blue Note an unpleasant name. I still think they were wrong, but the damage is done. This person still visits Organissimo. Maybe he'll chime in here to explain to you why he felt you should be denied hearing these songs. It's been over 5 years. I wonder if he's changed his opinion? For the record, I never heard this music on the original Blue Note LPs. The original CD order is now the correct order as far as us "new" Blue Note fans go. I prefer these old sequences on those Mobley dates. They sound much more coherent, particularly since there are three different pianists spread accross the current CDs! BTW, I foretold the exact scenario you're in Kyo. Good luck trying to find the old CD of "House Party". It is not easy to find in the used market. Later, Kevin

If the OOP DCC is too expensive, the OJC is by far the best choice in my opinion. Not if you have an SACD player!