Kevin Bresnahan

It seems like 1990 was not that long ago and yet all three are gone now. I could have seen this band back then but skipped it. Sometimes, I think about all the great shows I skipped back then and kick myself. We all have our regrets I guess. I'm getting old and maudlin. This got me to pull out another of their recordings... playing now.

By the early 90's, with very few exceptions, I was buying every new release. I only got rid of a few that didn't work out but in general, they were putting out some great stuff in those years.

Overall, I think Patrick Roques did some great work for Blue Note. There were a few that I wasn't in love with but some, like Bobby Hutcherson's "The Kicker" & "Patterns" as well as Jackie McLean's "Vertigo" were really well done. My only complaint about "Vertigo" is that he basically copied that design for McLean's "Jackknife" for some reason. I wasn't a fan on some of them where he tried some unusual color combos like Lou Donaldson's "The Scorpion - Live at the Cadillac Club" or Dizzy Reece's "Comin' On", where he used gray as a primary color which washed the whole thing out. One of my favorite Roques covers was "A Slice Of The Top".

All the talk about Moodsville got me to pull out a few tonight... first up: Kenny Burrell - Bluesy Burrell (Moodsville MV-20). I have the blue Prestige label, not the green Moodsville one. Some crackles on side one but otherwise, OK for a spin. That was followed by Coleman Hawkins - Coleman Hawkins Plays Make Someone Happy From Do Re Mi (Moodsville MV-31).

Haven't spun this in years. Playing now. I don't know how Gollehon had any lip left after those notes he hits in the opening track, "Sticks".

Static doesn't always clean up. I've had mint, almost unplayed original Van Gelder CTI LPs that play back with static. Sometimes, it's just there. I use a Discwasher brush, as I have for many decades. For a particularly dirty/dusty record, I'll apply the Discwasher fluid and even drip some onto a particularly dirty smudge. Over the years, I've become a lot less dainty with my old records. Lightly rubbing a thumbnail over a dried chunk of stuff often works better than a brush and normally removes that junk with no audible residue. Record might look worse after, but who cares. I figure the only one who cares will be whoever gets that record after I'm gone.

I always enjoyed "Paradise By The Dashboard Light", especially when it came out that Phil Rizutto recorded his bit unaware of how it was going to be used. I've heard that he wanted his part removed but it was too late. It does make the song.

Barney Wilen - Passione (Venus)

This sounds like something David Weiss might be interested in or maybe he knows someone who would be. You could PM him here on the forum.

Are they not offering soft white LEDs over there? Most LED light bulbs offered here in the US have a bright white and a soft white light option. This is somewhat new and a welcomed change, which is why I mentioned that in my earlier post. Those first LED light bulbs could be painfully bright.

I am a bit surprised that 78 year old Bernie Grundman is still being called on to master these audiophile releases. I'm not even 60 and I know my hearing ain't what it used to be. If he still has great hearing, he might truly have been born with "golden ears".

Why would you run it at all? It's being sold as a collectible, not as some sort of fancy light bulb. If/when it fails, it's value as a collectible goes down to practically nil. I used to be the same way but those LED lights have come a long way in a very short time. I actually like them now. They use a lot less energy, are often brighter and they last forever. Now I don't know what I'm going to do with the stacks of 100 Watt incandescent bulbs I bought when the government forced retailers to stop selling them. I had been using them in my outdoor lights, but they blow too easily when I turn them on in frigid temps.

This sounds like they're going "up a step" to me. Now, I suppose an argument could be made that maybe even "Old World, New Imports" is really "Up A Step", as it also gives that feeling of stepping up...

I believe "Up A Step" is also credited to the wrong tune. I hear the tune "No Room For Squares" and all I can think is that that tune is supposed to be "Up A Step".

This might be worth looking into.

Hana Horka - Czech singer - dies after catching Covid intentionally

The 12th Annual John Coltrane Memorial Concert (WeJazz). Leonard Brown on tenor & soprano; Billy Pierce on tenor; Bill Lowe on trombone; Frank J. Wilkins on piano; Larry Roland on bass; Tim Engles on electric bass; Keith Copeland or Syd Smart on drums & Sa Davis on percussion. I was at this performance. It was memorable for the music as well as for the day of the recording: Sept. 28, 1991 - the day Miles died. So even though it was a memorial for Coltrane, they opened with a Miles tribute that year. I remember they introduced Coltrane's first wife, Naima, in the audience. It was a very emotional night and performance. Surprisingly, this is available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/12th-Annual-Coltrane-Memorial-Concert/dp/B00000ICKR

She's still friends with Scott Wenzel and Michael Cuscuna on Facebook, so it looks like their parting of ways was amicable. She even has a photo of the Mosaic team posted there (minus Cuscuna, who was probably taking the shot).

So sorry to hear about your mother Michael.

My first order was in the late 80s or early 90's. I remember seeing an ad in Downbeat and called for a catalog. I am pretty sure my first order included the Tina Brooks set, the Freddie Redd CD set and the Ike Quebec 45s CD set. I almost got the Quebec/Hardee CD set but I wasn't too keen on all the alternates as well as the note about the sound quality being only so good. I forget what that disclaimer was. Does anyone remember? FWIW, I was not the only one scared away by that disclaimer as I know at least one other person who skipped for the same reason.

Listening to several tracks from the wonderful recording sessions that produced the tribute to Frank Kimbrough simply titled "KIMBROUGH". You could call it a "digital LP" from Newvelle Records, a company that only did vinyl up to that point (they now offer downloads - due to COVID maybe?). Currently on track 18, "Helix", with Joe Lovano, Donny McCaslin, Ben Monder, John Hébert and Clarence Penn. Hard to define this track. It's like a lament on steroids. You should be able to play it here: https://newvellerecords.bandcamp.com/album/kimbrough What's weird is that there are piano sounds here, so it's either Frank dubbed in or someone is playing it without getting credited.

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/nytimes/name/garnett-brown-obituary?id=31121608 His Wiki page says that he had been suffering from dementia.

The article seems to imply that the vascular damage happens in bad cases of COVID requiring hospitalization. If you are vaccinated, your chances of that happening go way, way down as unvaccinated people have a 13 to 14 times higher chance of requiring hospitalization than someone who is vaccinated. A vaccinated person has a higher chance of having asymptomatic COVID than getting hospitalized with it. If you get a sniffling nose from COVID, it's probably extremely unlikely that you'd suffer debilitating vascular damage.

https://nypost.com/2022/01/13/man-claims-his-penis-shrunk-after-contracting-covid/ If you're a man, what more reason could you need to get vaccinated? Potentially dying or having a shrunken dick? One of those two threats really should be enough.

I was given a large collection a few years back. It was one of those, "My son left a bunch of records in his room and he doesn't want them." I said, "Sure"... what could it hurt? They were all classic rock LPs from the 70s. Nearly every big name rocker, the Stones, the Beatles, Led Zeppelin. The problem? They were beat to death. The guy either played them 100's of times, had a beat up turntable or he really didn't handle them carefully. There were probably about 400 records in the pile. I kept a handful that actually played without skipping and took the rest to the dump where they belonged.