Kevin Bresnahan

Rooster, maybe it's me, but I don't see any "smoking gun" in this snippet that seems relevent to this discussion. Wynton feels Jazz has to "swing". That is not an uncommon belief among a lot of Jazz fans. Supposedly, one of Alfred Lion's favorite exclamations during recording sessions was, "It must sving! Sving!" There is a Hank Mobley quote somewhere talking about it. Alfred Lion liked his Jazz to sving & sving it usually did. More than anything, this little piece if chat with Wynton further cements that Blue Note did the right thing, if they want to sign artists in the "Alfred Lion mold". BTW, I have not verified it, but I got the feeling from what little info I got that Wynton's deal is in fact a "one-off" with options. It sounds like they're gonna have Wynton cut a record and see if it sells. If it does, they'll probably cut another. I don't see how the heck Blue Note could be financially "killed" with this deal. Heck, they have all that "Norah money". Later, Kevin

Blue Note is not "leading-edge Jazz" today. Blue Note's current roster is filled with mostly "straight-down-the-middle" artists. Blue Note would never sign any of the players "on the fringe" playing truly free Jazz. Blue Note is the label of Norah Jones. All of these statements add up to Wynton Marsalis being a perfect fit for this label. They seem to like the style of Jazz he's known for. BTW, I am far, far more upset that they've used the "Blue Note" label for smooth Jazz shit. Say what you want about Wynton's "retro-playing". It'll never be compared to Everette Harp or Richard Eliot or (gak, gak, gak, gak) Najee. Why all this uproar over Blue Note signing a true straight-ahead player like Marsalis and ignoring the true bastardization of the trademark: Smooth Jazz, Hip Hop, Trance, Lounge and Grammy-Award-winning-Pop... all showing up with "Blue Note" stuck on them. Face it: the "Blue Note" label we all talk about is D E A D. It died back in 1968 when Francis Wolff left. It isn't going to be and hasn't been the same since. Later, Kevin

Intersting... the TOCJ of "Off to the Races" is in Stereo, not mono like the Mosaic box. This is worth getting even if you have the box. Later, Kevin

Bertrand, I posted on the Blue Note board many times that I have been told that Blue Note did not "bust open the bank" for this signing. At one point, people were mentioning "a million dollars". I called up Michael & Tom and they both choked they laughed so hard. Be cool, don't worry, Blue Note isn't stupid. And everyone, just give the disc a chance. Wait 'til it comes out and then judge. There is no need to think anything about it until it gets cut. BTW, as I have said before, Wynton plays his ass off when you see him live. People can say he's not playing anything "original" but I can tell you, he's playing like a mofo. If he can get that down on a CD for Blue Note, like he did on the "Live at the Village Vanguard" CD set, everything will be fine. If he trys some kind of "Blood on the Fields Part II"... Later, Kevin

Is "Trompeta Toccata" a hard one to find? I have that one. It does sound nice. In fact, I kept the JRVG over the TOCJ and the US versions, which doesn't happen often as I generally prefer the sound of the TOCJ discs. I believe that the Donaldson and Rivers discs are the correct answer. They are supposed to be rare but nowhere near as rare as "Blue Cuscuna", a CD issued in extremely limited quantities (under 200 or so) and given away as prizes. I'd love to get a copy of that! Later, Kevin

Man, now Weizen's gonna have to collect all three pressings just to complete his collection! Later, Kevin

FWIW, Tom Evered of Blue Note Records knows of the moderators affiliation with the Bob Jones University and he was well aware of the problem that link is to Norah Jones. Neon, I think I am going to make another call just to let Tom know that you renegged and reinstated musicboy. I had mentioned the moderator with the Jones link but gave you a good word based on your actions here. Obviously, I jumped the gun. I hope you'll be hearing from Norah's record label soon. Later, Kevin

From Redbones' on-line menu: Memphis Ribs Small $10.95 / Regular $12.95 Pork spareribs w/ Great smokey flavor. Served w/ beans and cole slaw & sauce Texas Beef Ribs Small $10.95 / Regular $12.95 Slowly smoked large beef ribs. Served w/ beans, cole slaw & sauce Arkansas Ribs Small $9.95 / Regular $11.95 Thick, meaty country style ribs. Served w/ beans, cole slaw & sauce Smoked Beef Brisket Small $10.95 / Regular $12.95 Sliced slowly smoked brisket. Served w/ beans, cole slaw & sauce Baby Back Ribs Market Price Pork loin ribs. Served w/ beans, cole slaw & sauce St. Louis Style Ribs Small $13.95 / Regular $15.95 Lean and tender smaller pork ribs w/ beans & slaw & sauce The Barbeque Belt $15.95 A taste of the South, featuring Memphis, Texas & Arkansas Ribs & Sliced Brisket. Served w/ beans, cole slaw & sauce Wood Grilled Chicken Small $7.95 / Regular $9.95 A tender half chicken, grilled on the pit. Served with beans & cole slaw BBQ Hash Dinner $7.95 Pork, Beef, Peppers, Potatoes, Onion & Spices. Served w/ greens & beans & mild sauce Sausage Dinner $7.95 Today's sausage. Served w/ dirty rice & beans Pulled Pork Dinner $7.95 Slow smoked pork w/ cole slaw & beans BTW, their sausage is handmade on the premises, not store bought. They also offer combo plates. I often find myself ordering the "lazy man's meat platter" i.e. pulled pork and BBQ hash. Later, Kevin

Redbones in Davis Square, Somerville, MA. Can't be beat. One of the best beer selections in town, too. They even have cask conditioned ales on tap! Good food and good beer?? What a combo. BTW, at home, I've settled on Sweet Baby Ray's bbq sauce as the sauce of choice for chicken. It is awesome stuff... sweet & tangy. Oh yeah, I almost forgot... best baby back ribs: The Loft Restaurant in North Andover, MA... sucky beer & wine selection though. Later, Kevin

Bob Belden has said that all the Miles remasters since 1998 have been done in DSD in preparation for eventual SACD release. He had posted that on the Blue Note BBS under the username "indno"... Damn, I wish those posts were still available. I seem to remember him saying that they cut the master in DSD and convert it to PCM for the redbook master. In my opinion, this little step in DSD-land seems to help smooth out the sound... I've liked almost all of the Miles CDs I've heard that were remastered in DSD. Later, Kevin

To clrify my last post, when Sony puts out a multi-channel SACD, it has two separate playback areas on the disc: a milti-channel area and a 2 channel area. If it's a hybrid disc, it has 3 separate areas, with the 2 SACD (DSD) areas on one "layer" and the old-fashioned CD area on another. BTW, each layer is read back with a different frequency laser. This way, the laser "sees through" the other layer. Pretty neat optical trick. Later, Kevin

I am pretty sure that all the Miles Davis SACDs listed as "oop" are in fact the 2 channel versions. Columbia has been switching over to multi-channel versions over the last year or two and they technically "delete" the 2 channel version. It's no loss, since in almost every case, the 2 channel SACD mix has been sonically improved, almost like Sony got better at remastering in a short time period. While I don't think the old 2 channel versions are pieces of junk, others do. In fact, several contributors to the Audio Asylum rank Miles' "Kind Of Blue" 2 channel SACD as one of their worst-sounding discs. Go figure... I don't think it's that bad. Marginally improving something that already sounded pretty good does not render the old version as "unlistenable". Later, Kevin

I have Hartog's "From Here To There" and "Time In The City". The second title is from 1997. I have always looked for Hartog's name in the Boston listings to no avail. He doesn't seem to leave NYC. Maybe he's teaching now? Later, Kevin

Shrugs, I was able to pick up the Roach at Stereo Jack's in Cambridge last night. Turns out Jack got in a bunch of these too. Jack didn't have the Blakey or Corea so I have the Blakey on reserve at Integrity and they're trying to get me the Corea... they say they'll order it on Tuesday. BTW, thanks for letting me know these were at Integrity. I was soooo close to making an order with Fresh Sounds. This is much better. Later, Kevin

Rooster, I understand your frustration. I also can't understand why Blue Note would feel the need to stop these CDs if they are legit... well, from what I was told, legit isn't really true. These are not being sold under the terms of the licensing contract so legally, they aren't legally legit. Anyway, I don't see how these few sales hurt Blue Note if the licensing fee was paid. I just don't get it. BTW, for the very reason that I don't agree with BN on this issue is the very reason I didn't press them on it. I just got the info that they're not supposed to be sold on the open market, that BN is "looking into it" and then I extricated myself from the conversation before they asked me anything else. From what I heard, they are aware of these and they don't want them being sold. Why? I didn't ask. Wasn't I just saying on another thread that it seems like Blue Note's legal department likes to play "hardball"?? They seem to have more lawyers than they need. Maybe this legal department is bored and they're looking for things to do?? Maybe they're reading this thread right.................... THIS IS BLUE NOTE'S LEGAL DEPARTMENT. WE HAVE DECIDED THAT MR. BRESNAHAN IS REVEALING TOO MUCH ABOUT OUR INNER WORKINGS AND WE HAVE STOPPED HIS POSTING ABILITY. THE TRIAL IS SET FOR NEXT MONTH.

Anyone interested in any of these titles better get going on them. I checked into what shrugs was told about the legitimacy of these CDs and found out that they are legitimate, licensed releases. However, they were licensed to Time/Life for sale only through a special, mail-order Time/Life "Blue Note Club"-type thing. I didn't press the people I talked to about whether they were actively doing anything about it, but from the sounds of it, I would be very surprised if these stay available for very long. Later, Kevin

Um... I believe that's the way it's supposed to be pronounced. How else would it be pronounced? Glew-ster? No way. Glaw-ster? Maybe... but when you say it fast enough (like we do up this way), it slurs to Gl'stah. Latah, Kevin

I believe this burn is from Louis Armstrong's great grandson... well, the Armstrong part is right. Strangest thing about this CD-R is that it's not done on a Klone, which is what he usually uses. It looks like maybe this is one of those Phoenix discs with the blue dye. Maybe my car doesn't like the blue dye? Good news. The extraction to my hardrive went with no errors. I'll write them back to another CD-R and see how it goes. Later, Kevin

Randy, you should edit out the telephone numbers. Later, Kevin

What a timely thread! I just happened to grab a homemade two-fer of "A Little Juicy" and "This is Billy Mitchell" from the shelves this morning. Talk about timing. Weizen, I have been looking for original CDs of this material in the many years since someone thoughtfully made this burn for me and I haven't had any luck. Worse news is that this CD-R compilation doesn't want to play in my car anymore! I wonder if it's the media? I'm going to try extracting the audio using EAC and make a new burn... keeping my fingers crossed. Since these two sessions fit onto one CD, I wonder why didn't Verve reissue the two of them together?? I doubt we'll ever see "A Little Juicy" any other way. Later, Kevin

Of the three sets you mention, I find the Hodges just phenomenal. It is really great stuff, especially the dates with Ben Webster. I find myself grabbing these discs all the time. I'd probably be more enthusiastic about the Turrentine but I'd already been listening to all of the music in various formats for years... this box just put it all together. Of course, it's all good, don't worry about that. I really dig Stanley's bluesy style. The Mitchell set?? You know, I haven't played that one in a while. It's about time I pull it out again. That'll be tomorrow's listening pile. Once again for those who haven't gotten it: grab the Hodges set. It is too good to miss. Later, Kevin

Dave Barry has two (newer) works out that are action/mystery/adventure books with tons of off the wall jokes sprinkled in. Barry just seems to "hit" me right. I laugh my ass off at his stuff. The two are called "Big Trouble" and "Tricky Business". "Big Trouble" has already hit the big screen with Tim Allen in the lead but if you thought the movie was funny, the book was much, much better. Pick up one or all of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum mysteries. They're all numbered in the title, "One For The Money", Two For the Dough", etc. Great writing with many gut-busting scenes. I do enjoy these a lot. Later, Kevin

mp3 playback capability is pretty much a "throw in" with nearly every DVD player on the market so don't worry, you'll probably get it. However, could you clarify the title of your thread?? I was under the impression that you are looking for a "DVD-A" player. To me, DVD-A = DVD-Audio, a high-rez format being pushed by Warner music as a competeing format to SACD. Finding a DVD-Audio player for under $200 will be tough and besides that, it won't buy you a lot when it comes to Jazz. SACD has a lot more Jazz titles available than DVD-Audio. I still say you should pick the Sony DVP-NS755V. As I said, the SACD playback is great, video is excellent (progressive scan, too). CD playback is "typical low-end Sony" which should be fine in most cases. See if you can find it at a Best Buy (should be around $200-240 around now) and if you don't dig it, trade it in for a different one. Later, Kevin

I've recently been through 3 different DVD/CD/SACD/DVD-Audio players in a search for a "one-for-all" player. I have eventually settled on the Pioneer Elite DV-45A combo player (DVD/CD/CD-RW/SACD/DVD-Audio/mp3) but it is a bit expensive at around $500. Prior to that, I had a Sony DVP-NS755V (DVD/CD/CD-RW/SACD/mp3) and before that was a Pioneer Elite DV-37 (DVD/CD/CD-RW). The switches have come at incremental price hikes as I used Tweeter's upgrade policy in almost all cases (they give 90 days where you can trade in your old machine at full purchase price if you buy a more expensive piece). Luckily, the guy let me keep my Sony DVP-NS755 for a day to check on the SACD playback versus the Pioneer DV-45A. I was able to determine that they were so close on SACD that I couldn't tell a difference. So, why did I switch to the Pioneer DV-45A, other than the added formats? Well, as good as the Sony was at SACD playback, it's regular CD sound was brighter than I like. Since I had the Pioneer DV-37 before that and it was one of the best "regular" CD players I ever owned, I figured I'd go back to them. It was a very wise choice. The standard CD playback sounds better to me and I now have the bonus of being able to play DVD-Audio discs if I so choose. I can easily recommend it. The Sony is a very good SACD and DVD player so I wouldn't discount it out-of-hand. As for its standard CD playback, it may be that I was just spoiled by the previous machine and it may be fine. I just prefer the CD playback of the Pioneer. BTW, there appears to be some question about the quality of the Pioneer's video playback if you research it on-line. I see nothing wrong with the playback of DVDs with this machine. Oh yeah, if mp3 playback is important to you (it's only a minor thing for me), the Pioneer's displays are miles ahead of the Sony. The Pioneer can display tracks, albums, artists and skips through visually on the screen. The Sony displayed hardly anything that I could tell. The Sony was very hard to manipulate in mp3-land. Later, Kevin

In general, it's always good to wait and see if it gets remastered and reissued. Of course, a lot of that comes down to patience, a virtue which I seem to lack right now. Man, when I look at all these Japanese CDs in my collection (and I'm not talking solely BN). We had many conversations about this on the BN board but it bears repeating: we are very lucky record collectors right now! We've have nearly had the entire BN catalog put out on CD (if you consider Japan). I know many collector's who searched for 30 or 40 years and have not been able to do that with the vinyl counterparts. In fact, I know a few of the holes in their collection weren't filled until someone traded in an LP copy of a title after they bought the CD. I remember how ecstatic the guy at Dynamite Records was when Booker Ervin's "Structurally Sound" was reissued on CD. He finally got his hands on that LP after searching for nearly 30 years. Later, Kevin