mjzee

I just finished listening to Bird Calls, and found it an odd experience. He seems to intend it as an homage to Charlie Parker (on the album's Amazon product page, you can read his liner notes about the project's intent). I hear a lot of music here, but very little Bird. Bird's music could be intense, but was also upbeat and swinging. Mahanthappa's music here sounds to me like a combination of the anxiety-based, urgent music of McCoy Tyner (from his Milestone days) and the fill-every-moment-with-a-note-and-drum-accent fusion music of Return To Forever and Billy Cobham. Some compositions have an ECM eastern-European feel. All well and good, but no Bird. I think the impulse on Mahanthappa's part was sincere (not just a marketing aspect), but really don't know what he was thinking. His playing is good, btw; his sound on the alto reminds me of Cannonball.

That's OK; the one thing I don't have is time. I like recording things on Tivo and then getting to them whenever, which may be months from now. The other thing I often need is something shoved under my nose, reminding me to watch or listen to it. That's why I prefer the Tivo approach to Netflix or HBO Go or Spotify; I like the access, but am often overwhelmed by choice. Works for other people, doesn't work for me.

I looked in the HBO listings yesterday, and saw only part 1 forthcoming (which I Tivo'd).

We had a bad electrical storm last night, and my neighborhood blacked out for about a minute. The Isobar sailed through it just fine.

I didn't state (or mean) that the Fuller date might have been recorded by Alderson. What I'm asking is, are you certain it was recorded by RVG? Well, I'll correct myself: it seems the LP back cover credits RVG:

Interesting article on Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto; seems his "official" version is only now being released. See: Shining New Light on an Old Standard

I saw a fascinating documentary on klezmer music on PBS sometime in the '80's. Klezmer music in the late 19th - early 20th century was played seamlessly by a band: one melody leading into another, taking cues from various band members, performances going on for long stretches of time. Melodies weren't named, they were just known. It sounds reminiscent of what New Orleans bands did, or Miles Davis's '70's band, or Indian music, or the Grateful Dead, to give just some examples. This all changed once records were introduced. Now, excerpts of these performances were tailored for 3-minute segments, thought of as songs. They were named, and more importantly (as Jim points out) they were copyrighted as having a composer. Then there was infighting: you can't use my melody, etc. So, bottom line, the 78 record absolutely changed klezmer music.

Re the Tascam rack mounting: it's easy to take them off (I did); just two screws on either side. Once off, it looks like a regular deck.

Are you sure that CFWRG was recorded at RVG's? There was a thread on the old BNBB about how Fantasy was stating dates were recorded at RVG even when they weren't - it was just a typesetting trope they got into. I remember a Sonny Criss CD that sounded very harsh; it said it was recorded by RVG but was actually recorded by Richard Alderson. (There was a poster who was working on something called "The RVG Project" who confirmed this, and confirmed that Fantasy was just automatically stating RVG on every release; I wonder whatever happened to him or that project?)

Dylan's playing Houston on May 5. I got a ticket.

I recognize the other 3, so by the process of elimination it's Larry Willis.

This arrived in the mail today. Very fast service!

Some background on Mario Kreutzberger; very surprising to me when I first read it: http://forward.com/articles/12664/sabado-gigante-host-gets-personal-and-brings-/

For the vast stretch between Dallas and Houston, the rail route would probably parallel I45. So we're probably just talking about getting into downtown in both cities. At least in Houston, there are a lot of freight rail lines that perhaps could be repurposed or shared.

Very sad. Enjoy it while it's around. I'm actually thankful there are no English subtitles; the show's probably more enjoyable that way.

Release date July 10:

Release date May 19:

Release date June 16:

Not all the time, but it could be I only notice it on discs that begin with soft music.

From what I understand, the plan is for the train to be built with private funds.

I've owned the Tascam CD-RW900mkII for almost a year now. While I bought it for its CDR capability, I also use it as my main CD player. On the whole, I'm quite pleased. The sound quality is wonderful. However, I would not call it quiet, but in a weird way. When a CD starts playing, you hear a kind of mechanical "ca-chunk-a-chunk", very audible, coming from the machine for about 30 seconds. Best I can guess, it's preloading some additional music to ensure seamless music play, but again, that's just a guess on my part. If you think that might bother you (it bothers me sometimes), you might want to audition it in person before you buy (and the CD-200 you're considering might not have this issue).

Amazing all the snarky, defensive comments one finds here. For the record, I currently have my stereo equipment plugged into two Ikea powerstrips (there are too many devices to plug into one). The Tripp Lite Isobar I'm buying will replace both of those, reducing the clutter behind the stereo. In addition, it should afford better protection in the event of power surges, and may, just may, help my system to sound a little better. So what's so bad about all of that?

Thanks; that's very useful and will influence my decision.

Thanks for all the input. I'm going with the Tripp Lite Isobar 8 Ultra.

May 24 is a Sunday, and the next day is Memorial Day. I'm considering it, but would like an assured seat.