Kevin Bresnahan

I didn't realize that Brown was a child prodigy on the piano, making his recording debut at 18, "A Total Eclipse" featured none other than Herb Alpert on trumpet. The rest of the band was pretty good too. A little on the smooth side... Sounds like something that would have done well on the GRP label... much different from his work with Garrett.

She felt that she had to do something, as all of the traditional cold medications were doing nothing to alleviate the symptoms. She is feeling better today, but it is only day 2 of taking Paxlovid. I have a co-worker who took Paxlovid two weeks ago and he did start feeling lousy again a couple of days after he stopped taking it, so it does appear that Paxlovid isn't any sort of "COVID killer".

Several musicians have posted on Facebook that pianist Vernell Brown Jr has died at the age of 50. I can find no other confirmation other than these FB posts but one was from bassist Corcoran Holt, who just returned from Europe with Kenny Garrett with Brown in the piano chair and another was from Kenny Garrett's wife. I saw this band last October at the Scullers Jazz Club and he was playing great. Now playing in his memory...

My wife has been suffering the effects of COVID since last Friday. 5 of the teachers on her team, including 2 that carpool with her have also gotten it. It's gotten pretty bad at her school. I don't know how they are finding subs for all of these sick teachers. I'm still negative but it sucks having to keep apart until she gets better. We have a new puppy and because dogs can get it, she has to stay away from him too. She had her doctor prescribe the new anti-viral medication Paxlovid, which seems to be helping a bit. She says that shortly after she takes it, she gets a nasty metallic taste in her mouth. She says it's horrible. I told her she should consider herself lucky that she can still taste anything.

I asked Michael Cuscuna how Mobley's "speech" came about and he said that they tried finding him beforehand with no luck. The night of the concert, Michael was backstage when Mobley came up behind him and "tapped him on the shoulder". Michael went on to say, "The only thing I could think of was to drag him out to say a few words. He didn’t play for every possible reason: no planned performance, no horn, no chops. It would have been great but..."

I think I have that burn somewhere too... maybe I stuck it inside one of the CD cases? I remember asking Michael Cuscuna about that night and I think he said that no one could find him beforehand but on the night of the concert he just showed up. They didn't know what to do with him - they knew he couldn't play - so he just wandered up on stage and gave that speech. I don't think it was planned.

Renee Rosnes - Kinds Of Love (Smoke Sessions Records). Renee's latest release. As usual, some great compositions played by a great band, with Chris Potter on sax, flute & clarinet, Christian McBride on bass, Carl Allen on drums & Rogerio Boccato on percussian. Unusual to hear her on the Fender Rhodes on a couple of tunes. I can't remember her playing one on any of her other CDs.

I gave him a pass... wrong word. I believed him when he said that he was drugged out of his mind when he said those things. Is that a pass? Maybe. I did not defend that racist BS, that's for sure. Maybe I shouldn't have allowed his marketing crew to fool me, but he seemed sincere and went out of his way to avoid saying stuff like that again so I thought, "Maybe he was just stoned out of his mind". Now this latest shit comes out and he's sober as hell. Now I have to wonder if his "I was stoned" defense from years past was just a coverup. He's just an idiot.

According to this: https://downbeat.com/news/detail/maria-schneider-fight-the-power, "By consensus, the piano chair will go to the orchestra’s longtime accordionist, Gary Versace — a “magnificent piano player,” she said, who “knows the aesthetic of the band.”

It'll be weird without Frank Kimbrough, but Maria Schneider's orchestra should not be missed.

When I first played this, I thought it was a Coltrane tribute album. I mean clearly, "Impressions" is a tribute to Coltrane, but he certainly sounds a lot like Coltrane playing an alto on several other numbers. Man, Bartz is on fire on this CD. I had forgotten how fiercely he plays here.

The resolution of the music has less to do with how it sounds than how it was mastered. If someone remasters a recording and crushes the dynamic range by compressing the heck out of it, it won't matter if it was uploaded as a 16/44, DSD or 24/96 file - it will still sound like crap. If there are multiple versions, I would recommend listening to each version and hearing if one sounds better than the other. Just don't worry about the resolution. It means a lot less to the overall sound than you might think.

I'm really starting to have trouble listening to music by this guy these days. He's probably always been an idiot and I gave him a pass for that racist tirade years ago but his most recent BS on stage has really soured me on his music. He's certainly not getting any more of my money, that's for sure.

I saw him a few times but I believe that I had him sign this CD after a show at the Regattabar in Cambridge, MA.

I was lucky enough to Charlie to sign that for me.

Makes me wonder if it was just the mailer that somehow managed to affect these LPs? I figured that once I ripped off the cellophane, I'd be OK but even the LPs inside (of the 3 I opened) have had the same musty smell.

Looks like I'm not the only one who bought some LPs from that last Tommy's Jazz sale. Have you found any of your records to have a musty smell? I've never had sealed records have that before this. It is very odd.

I just picked up this CD. It is great stuff.

I wonder if Smoke is ever going to reopen. They closed for COVID and have yet to schedule anything. I hope they manage to reopen as it was a great venue the times I went. I was hoping to get another chance to go there in the future.

I'm going to skip that one as I really like the sound of the SACD. Plus, as I've said elsewhere, my days of hearing a gnat fart from across the room are well behind me, so I doubt that I'd hear any difference between the two versions. Now playing: David 'Fathead' Newman - Resurgence! (Muse). I picked this up in the recent sale. Sealed and yet still has a slight musty, basement-y smell - weird. I'm not really digging this one a lot. The recording sounds off, particularly on the piano. Oh well, you miss on some.

I listen to it on a CD. The complete sessions have been released on a single CD several times. I don't think I even have this on LP.

I would have bought this SACD if AP had added the additional material from the sessions that produced this great record. It just didn't seem right to me to buy an SACD that matched the LP version now that all of this material has been released on a single CD several times. Any digital reissue of this music should include all of that material or it's just applying LP's time limitations for no reason.

Does anyone know who mastered/cut this LP? I find that to be pretty important these days. I'm having trouble getting this post to look right. My words keep getting inserted into the quoted post even though I'm not typing inside the quote box.

I have both and you are correct that they are both very good. FYI - I fixed your link.

Gary Bartz/Sonny Fortune - Alto Memories (Verve). Killer band; Bartz & Fortune with Kenny Barron, Buster Williams & Jack DeJohnette. Having said this, it almost feels rote in places. I wonder why Verve never released this in the US?