jazzbo

Anyone watching American Idol? I got hooked a long time ago by my wife and I'm watching this season too. . . . I'll even have to suffer through another Elton John night (tonight). Right away one of my favorites was booted, Leah (Vladowsky) Labelle. She had something jazzy and special in her voice, reminded me of Helen Merrill, and yet she had this Bulgarian accent that snuck in and I think got her booted. . . . There are several really good singers still in the competition! I guess one of my favorites is Camille Velasco, again, a gal with a smallish voice that I find very expressive and appealing. She probably won't last too long. . . But who knows, I'm wishing her success. Then there is Chicagoan Jennifer Hudson--I love her singing! She has the church all up in dere but she uses it with a verve of her own. She's been in the lowest three the last two weeks and I wish she weren't; she's a really strong performer and in a way the jazziest of the lot left. . . . Fantasia Barrino is another big fan favorite, and man can she SING. Still, she's not one of my three top favorites, mainly because. . . not sure why. Attitude? Maybe, she's got plenty! Also, she has lots of the gospel licks and liberally applies them all over. . . not sure I always want her to. Then there's George Huff of New Orleans. George, well he steps out there and I'm already happy. I think he's got the combination of character and charm and a huge voice with real experience behind it to be a big contender for the title. I really have enjoyed each of his performances. Go George! And there is one contestant I really disliked from the start, and I can't wait for this half-trick pony to be given the boot: Jonathon Stevens: I think his performances have been excrutiatingly BAD! Surely he can't last. (But I know better. . . .) Forgive me, I think Idol is pretty good "wash the dirt of the day away" entertainment. Especially now that those verdamnt judges don't count. Okay, who are YOUR favorites!

Piano/keyboards.

Try www.am-dig.com, if you want to spend over forty dollars altogether to avoid their charge for orders lower than that. (Not at all hard for ME to do there!) You can buy the cases without the centers there at a good price.

About two dozen tunes kicked off by Johnny Hodges! And "Remember" by Hank Mobley on Soul Station.

Hey all Bix fans wish there were more solos, longer solos, more real jazz work, it's a desire we have to hear more of that golden sound. Also I personally wish there were more piano recordings because I think his piano pieces were special compositionally and performance wise. . . . Glad you're enjoying him!

Yes, I played with a guitar player prone to this. He thought he led the band so he could do this. After a while he'd be 'zoned' and going on but repeating himself. I was playing a Simmons electronic drumkit at the time and would either goose the volume on my GK or my Sunn amp or change the snare sound. That was an agreed upon signal from me to prod him into realizing he might want to wrap that solo up . . . .

Yes, audio on video tape sounds quite good, I haven't experimented with high speed, but it sounds very good. . .

Believe me, I'm grateful.

Yes, I understand, and I think if I were buying fewer cds and were rebuying classic rock albums I was very familiar with I would be feeling very much the same way. The Miles and Ellington stuff I have on cd a lot of it I had on lp and I had to adapt. . . and did. . . had to adjust my expectations (my whole experience in Texas for 24 years has been one of adjusting my expectations!) and did. . . . So I'm not really arguing with you I guess. In about 1980 I moved away from lps as a main source and to cassette tapes, and then to cds, so my lp experience with a lot that I listen to on cd is limited and not bothering me too much that it is different. Personally I'd rather have all the master tapes and one of the reel to reels from the Englewoods Cliff studio, one that was put away about 1966 or so for storage. To hell with the Lion sound, I want the sound recorded from the studio, I'll mix it myself. . . .

Okay! I can't say that my copy sounds that way.

I'll start off with Nat Cole and Stan Getz.

I voted yes because: a) there is room for all sorts of definitions of jazz, and Chuck's lps of the time were closer to it than some of what gets the tag today. B) I have some recordings done live in NYC in 1986 at the Blue Note that have Chuck and Gap Mangione with Sal Nistico and Danny D'Imperio that are burnin' and smokin' jazz as any one of us here would recognize it. . . so . . . hellyeah that is jazz and good stuff at that.

Okay, one point: a better comparison to do would be with the Taylor, with which you've lived on lp for some time. You haven't had the Verdean one before right? The RVG might sound closer to the lp than you THINK it does. I've noticed that RVG/Lion had a different sort of sound for Silver than say Mobley or Green or Patton. To me this RVG shares characteristics to the Silver Blue Note sound on lps that I have heard. And from my limited experience, the RVGs sound closer to mono Blue Note lps than stereo ones. . . just what my senses tell me when I've been able to hear mono lps like Rough and Ready and Hubcap. Another point: digital and lps are two different animals. Hell, I don't think that lp burns of lps sound exactly like the lp. To me it's the material I need, I've been buying digital for so long because it is the available source for me, I've grown accustomed to the fact that Columbia cds of Miles don't sound like the lps did, and the Sony cds don't sound like the Columbia cds, and the Verve cds don't sound like the lps, and the Muse cds don't sound like the lps, and. . . well, I don't listen to lps a lot or nearly at all any longer, and I've made my ears hear the sound as it is on cd. . . . And I think that most all the RVGs, and many of the Japanese RVGs, sound really good for cds. Better than some other options for the same material. So. . . You're right. I'm right. Jazzhound may be right. Hey, and several of us may be left of center.

Marty, I'm sorry, I got confusing: I meant the Riviera Dizzy, which I have on lp; I think that is a great one; I have never heard the Greatest Trumpet.

I believe that is on "Three Men with Beards" . . . (did I get that right?) . . . not sure that they are affiliated with Water.

And when you keep on thinking openly, as Miles' soloing and other aspects of his playing changed all throughout his playing life; what was "Miles Davis" was a plastic fantastic thing.

Hey, not many of us can spin the original Notes and be lost in that sound locked in forever. The RVGs do in many cases have that boldness and that strength of sound that I hear in original Notes when I can hear them, more so than other digital releases to my ears of the material (the TOCJs sound great, but they're sort of greywashed to all sound the same to my ears). Sure, they're different, but this is not 1965 no mo' and they are NOT in surround sound or anything such. So. . . I'm a digital guy and these are good digital ammunition to feed into my source. . . . I'm buying them all. They get the job done for me.

Hmmm. . . I've never seen the cd, it's a great lp. I was just looking at a copy of "The Greatest Trumpet of Them All" at the Austin Record Convention Saturday; it was too expensive for me to consider purchasing, but it sure looked as if it sounded great!

Hmmm. . . not all of those were at 5 dollars when I looked this morning! I've since decided to hold off . . . I have five of them now, six if you count my Stash copy of "Best Of" and haven't heard them all yet. . . .

I'm plagued with regret that I didn't get two items (though I would have had to come back yesterday because I didn't have enough cash on hand Saturday, and I would have had a whole different Sunday and this week if I had gone back). One was Slim Gaillards last recording date, the one with Budd Johnson, on cd. The other was a sealed three lp box of fifteen minute shows for radio about Ellington; there was a selection or two played, and then an interview with folk like Mercer Ellington and Joya Sherrill. . . there was quite a bit of Joya Sherrill interviewing going on. . . I wished I'd just had an extra 35 bucks when I had it in my hands!

I agree, I mentioned that the Lancaster was beautiful in the opening post, and I still think so!

I'm glad I don't have to choose between the Wilson and the Chambers/Kelly! I'd need them both! Neither is more repititive than the other if you count all those Kelly Trio alternates. . . .

I only know of one volume of the Autobiography, long long out of print; was in a pocketbook style paperback book. . . . A kind boardmember let me borrow it to read; it was an adventure!

The Classics has the following sides (Apollo and Manor I believe) not on the Blue Note cd: Roy's Groove Phipps' Deep Everything Is Cool 1280 Special A Lesson On Bopology Loop-Phy-E-Du Honeysuckle Bop A Choice Taste The Blue Note has the following not on the Classics (are these all the Jimmy Smith sides? maybe I can't remember precisely): 'Round About Midnight You Need Connections Encore Encore Wonderful stuff, all of it!

The overlap is big. . . and there are things on each that are not on the other. If you can only have one, I'd say the Classics indeed. It also has the benefit of being in print. . . !