jazzbo

Horace Tapscott “The Dark Tree 1 & 2” Disc the first. It’s been a long time since I have heard this. The system sounds so much better now, I’m enjoying the listen a bit more.

For me, this one:

Miles Davis “Pangaea” Sony Blu-Spec CD2, 2023 This, like the Blu-Spec CD and the previous Blu-Spec CD2, is the release without the extra minutes of noise at the end, and a DSD transfer. Sounds awesome!

Jack McDuff (featuring Kenny Burrell) “Crash” Prestige compilation cd Starting a cold Xmas morning off with some hard swing. Kenny is such a master!

Fabiano do Nascimento “YKYTU”

Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers “Like Someone in Love” RVG Blue Note Japan 2023 One of the very mellowest of Messengers albums! 600×595 42 KB Followed by Ike Quebec “Bossa Nova Soul Samba” RVG Blue Note Japan 2023 600×600 45.6 KB A favorite. So beautiful!

Miles Davis “Bitches Brew” Sony Blu-Spec CD2 2023 disc 1 1600×620 177 KB At least once a month I need to hear Bitches Brew. That’s how it seems. I’ve heard it hundreds of times.

One of two new releases of her trio with Mark Turner. Miki Yamanaka (with Mark Turner) “Shades of Rainbow” Cellar Live cd

My reason is. . . I don't really need a phone. I get and make about 20 calls a month on a BUSY month. I haven't worked in fifteen years, my wife is now retired, my two best friends in Texas really don't talk on the phone. My parents are dead. My brothers and sister and I email each other when we're not in person with each other. I have zero interest in taking a lot of pictures, in fact any pictures. All the things that people do on a phone that I want or need to do I do on my laptop. I'm not out and about much AT ALL (my wife and I are big homebodies) and don't need to do any communicating or sharing etc. away from home. The few hours a week I spend in a car I can listen to cds or NPR with my car components. All those things you list you can do with a phone when you are out and about. . . I don't want or need to do. I am glad I can't access the internet when not at home! I'd rather listen to music on one of my systems than from a phone. I would rather read a book than text on a phone. That's just more my style. On top of that . . . I just have never liked phones. And for the worst years of my work life I had a desk phone, a "radio" for work, and a company flip phone and I was on the phone between 70 and 100 times a day. And did not like that. . . wanted to have a less interrupted life. So. . . part of my disdain for a smart phone is my disdain for phones in general. I'd rather pay 20 dollars a month as I do from ATT for the few calls and texts I do make and receive on a flip phone they gave me for free than spend umpteen dollars on a smart phone and services that I don't use and don't desire to use. I'd rather spend the little money I can on other things, audio, books, etc. Hope that is clear. I do love gear. . . tube audio gear, guitar and bass and instrument gear, transports and DACs, but that's about IT. Not cameras or phones for taking pictures, blue-tooth etc.

Sort of?

I've been using Apple computers and laptops for over 20 years. Windows stuff is more difficult for me. But I still don't have a smart phone of any kind, and I hope to avoid having one as long as I possibly can. Which knowing my stubbornness will probably be a long time still.

I'm now a "Veteran." I did survive some very gnarly final years of Texas State Government where I did have to endure some battles. . . so it fits.

Jackie McLeann “Jackie’s Bag” Blue Note Japan RVG Edition cd 2023 600×600 115 KB Both sessions are great, the second with Tina Brooks on board. Tina Brooks . . . so sad we didn’t have him long enough.

I forgot how interesting this album is. Poindexter and Ervin are great front line sharers here, and my one complaint is that Al Gray is not on every track on this disc. This edition from Japan does not have the extra material on the US cd (which was not part of this session). Pony Poindexter and Booker Ervin “Gumbo” Prestige Japan lp facsimile cd 660×660 53.6 KB Followed by “Fats Sadi’s Vibe” Fresh Sound cd 800×800 199 KB I don’t have too much Fats outside of the Clark Boland Big Band and small group sides, so this is a welcome compilation. I generally listen to music most in the early hours of the morning as I wake up early with the dog and squeeze in three hours or so before my wife awakens. To me it doesn't matter what I play during these hours and there's not a "right time" for an album for me. . . but I've been retired over fifteen years now and there's fewer hours when something is significant for me in the way when I had a working schedule. Even though I had more hours to lisen in the years before my wife retired this year. . . I never have had enough time to listen and enjoy my stereo systems. What would our lives be without music, creating (I do vanishingly less of that as time goes by) and listening!

Miles Davis “Kind of Blue” Mono Blu-Spec CD2 from the 2023 2 cd Blu-Spec CD2 title.

“Hank Mobley” Blue Note RVG Japan SHM-CD This one sounds better with phase reversed to me.

Grant Green “Am I Blue?” US RVG Blue Note cd This one gets little love, but I really do like it myself.

Like Dan I wouldn't RELY on the car's safety/warning features, but they can be very helpful.

Cool. I differ strongly, I love her signing and her evolving production choices. Her politics not so much, but it's hardly in the music if at all.

Yes, he shines as well.

Interesting. While I do like to hear Ellington compositions by others they are really not a substitute for the "real thing" for me. The Ellington Orchestra is an amazing musical organization. There's a slop in their presentation, just a dollop, that makes them unique for me--tightness in tension with a little looseness. And Ellington and Strayhorns arrangements are always interesting and I love how they are framed for soloists and how the soloists and the framing changes over the years. And there are instrumental voicings that just floor me with their uniqueness and beauty. I think if I were isolated to a deserted island I'd wish I had a lot of Ellington recordings with me. . . I'd leave a lot of others' behind if I could bring more Duke.

Dexter Gordon “Our Man in Paris” Blue Note Japan RVG SHM-CD 2023 600×597 121 KB Bud Powell and Kenny Clarke! Followed by E.S.T. Live in Gothenburg, record 1 800×800 129 KB

Bill Evans “The Sesjun Radio Shows Vol. 1” Solid Records Japan cd 598×601 43.8 KB From the All Music Guide: [i]The first five tracks are from a duo tour with the phenomenal bassist Eddie Gomez, who spent over 11 years with the pianist. The absence of a drummer (Marty Morell was evidently not a part of this tour, though he played with Evans into 1974) gives Evans a more intimate sound; Evans seemed to achieve an incredible E.S.P. playing with the talented Gomez. Following a buoyant opener, “Up with the Lark,” the duo’s moving setting of Evans’ bittersweet, lyrical “Time Remembered” is a reminder of the pianist’s total mastery of ballads, as is his equally touching “The Two Lonely People.” There are plenty of fireworks in the pianist’s “T.T.T. (Twelve Tone Tune)” as the two musicians use his dissonant theme as a jumping-off point for brilliant improvisations. The 1975 set adds drummer Eliot Zigmund, who spent four years with Evans. In these trio selections, the pianist introduces each theme alone, though it is a diverse five-song set. Evans’ upbeat “Sugar Plum” showcases the leader extensively, with the rhythm section coming in several minutes later. There were several modern pop songs that drew the pianist’s attention, including Bobbie Gentry’s “Mornin’ Glory” (which incorrectly lists Glen Campbell as co-writer), which Evans transformed into a potent jazz ballad. Evans’ “T.T.T.T. (Twelve Tone Tune Two)” is even more demanding than its predecessor, with the trio navigating its pitfalls with ease in a wild, breezy performance.