Kevin Bresnahan

I saw Kenny Drew Jr. many times over the years and never thought to get his autograph. I figured he'd be coming around for quite a long while. 56 is far too young.

I assume you mean because it has the song "Barracudas" on it? I haven't seen all of the comments in this thread, but I assume, as usual, one person is vociferously defending those cheap LT covers? When I first got back into vinyl and started buying Jazz, I saw a few of these LT LPs and started to skim past them. I figured that there was no way that they were legitimate releases. Bootlegs maybe? Licensed cheapies maybe? Then I saw Mobley's "A Slice Of The Top" and I had to have it, bootleg or not and then I discovered Cuscuna was behind it. I always wondered what was going on with these covers. Has anyone ever asked him?

We talked about it in this thread:

Paul Weeden (g), Don Patterson (org), Billy James (d)

That's "Lady Be Good" from the Dexter Gordon "The Complete Blue Note Sixties Sessions" box set. That's supposedly the only releasable track from that session. According to Cuscuna, as the session went on, the level of inebriation went up to the point where it was finally stopped. I got this from another website... '...Everyone was a little juiced and getting more so as the date went on. A nervous Alfred Lion was getting more and more stressed by the loose approach of Stitt and his working band. Dexter was there to play on three tunes, but after the first one, everything went down hill fast. Dex remembered, "Alfred was a wreck. When Sonny started playing "Bye Bye Blackbird," I knew that was it. Alfred jumped up, yelling 'who needs another version of this? What is he doing?' I was laughing too hard to say anything." Session over...'

Sadly, I recently leaned on Facebook that Gary's wife Bronwyn passed away last week (8/6). The only place I was able to confirm it was a Go Fund Me page started by a friend of hers to bring her to home to Vermont for hospice: https://www.gofundme.com/f/bring-bronwyn-to-vermont The latest update for that Go Fund Me: Dear Friends, Bronwyn died peacefully early this afternoon. She was very grateful for her time in Vermont, a feat made possible by this gofundme. Bronwyn was gripped by paralysis and pain for 30 years but never stopped looking forward. As a hospice patient she had been able to up her meds and have a more comfortable last few months. Thank you all for donating, it made a huge difference. ❤ Margie

I'll have to try and find a copy of "My Main Man". I've never seen that one in the wild and Bennie Green's LPs are usually very enjoyable. Surprisingly, I've also never heard that Jazz Messengers date with Stitt, "In Walked Sonny". I don't remember seeing it mentioned here, but I tripped over Stitt's "I Remember Bird" (Catalyst) in a used bin many years ago and I really liked it.

Last Thursday, 8/5, we had an unvaccinated employee test positive for Covid. Because that employee was unvaccinated, he was supposed to mask up while in the building but there has been little to no enforcement here. That employee had "close contact" with 7 other employees, 4 of whom were also unvaccinated. So now we're extremely shorthanded as all 8 employees are in quarantine. My sister-in-law's daughter got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine several months ago. Her son took a summer job at a local amusement park. He came down with a mild case of Covid and transmitted it to his mother. She is very sick - going on two weeks now. This Delta variant can bust through your vaccine's protections. My work just announced a full mask mandate - all employees must mask up in the building. We're back to temperature checks to enter the building, answering 3 health questions, no vendor visits, no groups in the cafeteria - seating limited to one person per table, no meetings in conference rooms and "non-essential" employees who can work from home can do so until September 30th. Basically everything that was in place during the peak days is back in effect. This sucks.

You sound almost apologetic... Clark's "My Conception" went unissued in the US until the 2000 CD came out. It was passed over by every LP reissue program they had until this Tone Poet LP. The only other LP version was a very rare Japanese King issue from 1979/80. There's a reason for that. Because I am such a huge Mobley fan, I used to badger Cuscuna about this title back in the Connoisseur days and he used to laugh and say, "Wait 'Til You Hear it". You're likely unimpressed because it's not one of Clark's best. You don't have to apologize for anything. I shouldn't have to upgrade my $1K turntable and $800 cartridge to play any record. In fact, "Passing Ships" is the only record I've ever played on this rig that distorted like this. It is clearly cut too hot. Having said this, I just happened to have a new Denon 110th Anniversay headshell/cartridge that I bought to have as a back up. When I put that onto my turntable, I had to almost double the tracking force - Ortofon 3M Black is 1.5 Grams & the Denon DL-103R is 2.5 Grams. That played the track back without distortion. FWIW, it also didn't sound nearly as good as when I played it with the Ortofon 2M Black... well, up until "Plantation Bag". The thing is, I've owned many cartridges in my life and the Ortofon 2M Black is probably the best one I've ever used. It sounds great. It plays beat up records without a pop. I shouldn't have to switch to my backup cartridge to spin any record. You are correct in regards to "Passing Ships". It is mastered too hot. "Poor" is the wrong word. People that can play it cleanly love the dynamics. But cutting it so hot was not necessary. That's what the volume pot is for.

So sorry to hear this Larry. It's tough to lose your dog. It's like you lost a best buddy. Our golden retriever Auggie just turned 10 and he is slowing down pretty dramatically. We're really not looking forward to having to put this guy down. He's such a great dog.

Oh, for sure, I have some incredible records due to this series. But please don't assume that just because you haven't had any problems, that everything is perfect. You must be one of the lucky ones who can play Hill's "Passing Ships" without any distortion. Congrats. Just don't fall into their trap. The more people that talk like this makes those of us who have had problematic pressings just seem like we're making stuff up. I have been buying vinyl for years. Vinyl has it's usual problems. I usually just deal with them. Yes. There are known problems with vinyl production and some people are seeing them. But many of these problems should not be found in a "premium" LP product if they had a modicum of QC. I am planning to buy Sonny Clark's "My Conception" but I am going to wait until I read enough positive reviews of the pressing's quality. I've been burned too many times by this point. Besides, it not like I don't already have the music on CD - sometimes on multiple CDs & an earlier Blue Note LP pressing, which luckily the case for Hill's "Black Fire", Morgan's "Cornbread" and Hancock's "My Point Of View".

Ron Carter - Golden Striker Live At Theaterstubchen, Kassel (In+Out). I ordered this from Ron's website due to one of the few well-targeted Facebook ads. Ron was selling the signed version but it's since sold out. I don't think this one is as good as his last In+Out release, "Foursight - Stockholm".

From someone at the Hoffman forums: "But now the issue I experienced. On the last song "I Thought I'd Let You Know" about 90 seconds through (don't quote me on the exact time) starting on the right channel and going to the center and then left is a constant pop. It's not loud but it's very noticeable. The record itself looks fine, and this does not sound like a normal scratch but almost an issue with the tape which I don't believe it is though and more in the pressing itself. I played the same area two more times and it's not going away. It lasts for about 30 seconds or so." But don't worry, Blue Note will fix... ummm... actually, no they won't. They don't care if they screw up a cut. Why don't they do test pressings any more? Why isn't someone playing at least one of the first pressings just to make sure they don't press thousands of defective LPs???? Stupid company.

Thelonious Monk - The Complete Thelonious Monk At The It Club (Mosaic). Spinning LP2 now. I don't think I've ever gotten around to spinning all 4 LPs yet. Maybe today's the day?

Supposedly changed after Playboy magazine threatened a lawsuit.

WTF is Joe wearing? He looks like Forrest Gump back there.

I pre-ordered the LP from Amazon. I'm looking forward to it. I do hope Amazon offers AutoRip on this so I don't have to buy the CD version later.

The Schitt Vali 2 is a straight up headphone amplifier. There is no DAC. It only accepts line inputs. So to hook this to your PC, you would need to get a mini jack to RCA adapter cable and connect your PC's line out to the RCA inputs (labeled "In") on the back of the Schitt unit: As mentioned above, this might not necessarily give you better sound through your headphones. Usually, a headphone amp allows you to drive the headphones to higher volumes with clean sound. Most headphone amps, like the one that is driving your PC's headphone output jack, use a single chip solutions like this: These are designed to drive most headphones to moderate levels and their distortion numbers are not great when you turn it up. A better headphone amp is designed to drive your headphones to much higher output levels and keep the signal clean from distortion. Usually, but not always, better headphones have higher input impedance and this can make it even harder for these little headphone amps (like shown above) to drive the headphones cleanly.

It was legally challenged and held up a permissible. A company can say "No jab, no job". https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/more-150-fired-resign-over-covid-vaccine-requirement-houston-hospital-n1272071 More than 150 fired, resign over Covid vaccine requirement at Houston hospital

It looks like my workplace is going to put their mask mandate back in effect. So now I am going to have to mask up again because those few who have refused to get vaccinated have put us in this situation. I wish my work would just say, "Get vaccinated or find another job". It's working in the medical field. Covid? No Covid here.

Next up in the ZZ Top train - Tres Hombres (WB). Again, I picked up the 2008 remastered LP mastered by Hoffman & Gray. I still had my original London pressing and back then (with ears that still worked great), this remaster was much better. The only negative was a noisy runout groove. It just reassures you that the record is over.

ZZ Top - Fandango (WB). I picked up the 2008 LP when it came out. It was mastered by Steve Hoffman & Kevin Gray. Doesn't make much difference. It was a always a muddy recording. No amount of care is going to clean it up. But for what it is, it's great. RIP Dusty Hill. I saw the Top several times over the years and they never failed to entertain.

I remember when I first heard this, I thought, "Man, that crowd at this Basin Street club is really quiet".

Not to rub salt in your wounds, but I've almost always felt the opposite. I almost enjoy torturing some of the "salesmen" I've encountered through the years. I use quotes because in my experience, in the world of audio, not many deserve that title. One of my favorite shopping experiences ever was when a CD player (Pioneer maybe?) came out with a button to turn off the digital filter. I always wanted to hear how this would affect the sound so I made my way to the local hifi store to test it out. When I got there, I asked the salesman if they had this new player. He brought me over to it. I checked it out - there it was - the button to turn off the digital filter. I asked him to set it to one of their nicer speakers and started a CD. I listened and then switched the digital filter on & off. He was standing there wondering what I was doing. I told him, "I want to see if I can hear a difference with the digital filter on & off". He said, "You can't shut off the digital filter on a CD player". I showed him the button. He just stood there insisting that I didn't understand the button's function. I had to have him get the manual for the floor model. He still couldn't believe that the music sounded fine with the digital filter turned off. I left that store laughing.

Andy Zimmerman - Half Light (Newvelle). Nice date. The mellow numbers are perfect for this rainy evening. Andy Zimmerman on tenor, Dave Douglas on trumpet, Kevin Hays on piano, and Matt Penman on bass.