mjzee

For those who want to read the Getz review in WSJ: Getz WSJ

I don't know if you want to go down-market, but this is such a ridiculous price that you should consider, if only as an add-on to whatever you wind up buying. Meade Lux Lewis has 7 tracks scattered across these 10 CDs (tracks are Randini's Boogie, Bearcat Crawl, Whistlin' Blues, Bass On Top, Honky Tonk Train Blues, Lux's Boogie, and Glendale Glide...no discographical data is provided). $15.49 from an Amazon reseller (yes, for 10 CDs):

You never know. They're manufacturing X number of copies, based on sales forecasts. What if it's a dud sales-wise? It may not get remaindered through Amazon; instead, it could be through some no-name reseller on Ebay. Remember, by and large, I don't think this is meant to appeal to jazz buffs, since they'll already have most of the music (and why pay such a high price just for fill-ins)? Instead, I think it's intended for gift purposes, similar to, oh I don't know, the complete Get Smart on DVD. Sure, there's a market, but did they nail the forecast accurately? That's the question.

I think the whole point of releasing this box now is as a Christmas gift. You know someone, maybe a corporate client, it's both a safe bet and an impressive gift. Who cares what they do with it after they receive it? Probably give it to some high school nephew. I think we should keep an eye out for remainders, maybe around January.

Gary Burton really did have a great run of albums in the mid-70's. I feel a loss for how much he's fallen since. A lot of the success of his ECM albums could be due to Eicher, whether through his producing or the creative atmosphere his label allowed. John Abercrombie has had an interesting run too, going through many varied styles. Some titles I love: The Paul Bley Quartet Keith Jarrett - The Koln Concert (props where they're due) Tomasz Stanko - From The Green Hill Steve Reich - Music For 18 Musicians Ralph Towner - Ana Jan Garbarek/Hilliard Ensemble - Officium Circle - Paris Concert Keith Jarrett - Nude Ants Dino Saluzzi - Cite de la Musique

From the sound, I would have put him in his '70's. Very strong player.

Yeppers:

Is there anyone alive who could be asked about the gig? Ben Riley? I wonder what Coltrane's 1967 style sounded like in the context of Monk's quartet. I would have loved to hear Coltrane and Charlie Rouse trading 4's!

For those who are interested, Amazon mp3 is featuring a number of albums (jazz and otherwise) for $5 each. The jazz titles include: Conference of the Birds Brown/Roach at Basin Street Metheny - Offramp Blakey - Moanin' Oregon Ahmad Jamal Jimmy Smith Gary Burton Hamp & Getz Ben Webster/Oscar Peterson Coltrane - My Favorite Things, Blue Train, w/Johnny Hartman Mingus Presents Mingus Dizzy - Afro Sonny Rollins - Alfie Pres & Teddy Bird/Dizzy Town Hall 6/22/45 Pharaoh Sanders - Thembi Blakey & Jazz Messengers (Impulse) Ornette - This Is Our Music Complete jazz list can be found here: Amazon

One of the Andorran labels released a single disc titled "The Complete 1946-49 Roost/Blue Note/Verve/Swing Masters." I think the pitch is correct on this.

From the Stamford Advocate: The smartest and most intriguing movie I've seen lately won't be playing at a theater near you. It's "The Jazz Baroness," Hannah Rothschild's documentary about the adventurous life her great aunt led when she turned her back on England -- and much of her legendary family -- after falling in love with New York City and the jazz scene she found there in the 1950s. The story of Pannonica Rothschild has more drama and more to talk about in it than a half dozen contemporary Hollywood films put together. The movie hasn't been rated by the Motion Picture Association of America, but it's a true story of love, friendship and art that should delight viewers of all ages and backgrounds. I'd also like to think that the film will introduce young, non-jazz fans to the glorious music of the man Pannonica loved and supported for years, Thelonius Monk (along with such Monk friends and associates as Charlie Parker). The picture is debuting Wednesday at 8 p.m. on HBO2 and will be screened several times through mid-December. Continued here: Stamford Advocate

I meant the former. I only move music to my iPods using Autofill (= randomly), so I just don't know otherwise. But give it a shot. Especially since, with the newest version of iTunes, it allows you to specify artists to sync to the iPod. Choose an artist, uncheck some songs, sync, and see what happens. Sorry I can't be of more help there.

"iTunes DJ" is just a new name for the shuffle (or "party") feature. That's the main way I listen to music. I don't use "Genius," and, in fact, I turned it off (you do that in Preferences). Allowing people to vote...that's (I think) for social situations where many people can access the same iTunes database. Probably appropriate for college students or those in a roommate dwelling. To sum up, I only know of two uses for those checkboxes: 1) To not play something in shuffle (very useful if a track just bugs you, but iTunes loves it and insists on playing it over and over) 2) To not import a track from an album. Alternately, if it's an anthology, and you only want to import a few tracks, uncheck the others.

This reminds me of something I wanted to ask about. I've always noticed, but never found any need to use, those small checked boxes to the left of each song title in the iTunes music display. I've figured out that by un-clicking a box, that song will be skipped during normal continuous play. I suppose that it would also cause that track to be omitted from any drag-and-drop (to an ipod or to a playlist) of the album it belongs with (just a hunch, I haven't tried it). Other than that, are there any useful or imporant functions of these boxes that I should know about? If you uncheck a box to a song before importing the CD, that song won't be imported. Also, if a song is unchecked in your library, it won't be included in iTunes DJ.

Oh, one thing I discovered in the latest version of iTunes: you can now rip with VBR. For example, I used to rip @ 192 kbps; I now rip at 192 kbps with VBR (I've heard this makes the sound quality equal to a CD). To do this, click "Import Settings..." (in the lower right of the screen), then Setting: Custom..., then check "Use Variable Bit Rate Encoding (VBR)," with Quality: Highest.

And didn't they put out a "Jazz In Hollywood" boxed set that was better than the Fantasy single discs?

Yeah, the time has come that I need to think proactively about this stuff. I think fondly of all my Beta tapes that I had to junk because I had nothing to play them on. Before you know it, audio cassettes may face the same fate. After all, they are inferior technology, so they won't have the same loyalty that vinyl has. Nonetheless, they were the only thing available for the longest time. An interesting little factoid: VHS hi-fi or Beta hi-fi have the same dynamic range as CDs (and might sound warmer because they're not digital). I tried using them as audio-only decks, and let's just say they weren't very user-friendly. The possibilities always intrigued me, though. And hey, Brute, no problem. Welcome to the board!

A little bit of xmas cheer... Must Be Santa - YouTube

It's not that hard to understand. I have audio cassettes that I want to transfer to mp3. I was using an old tape deck to do so, but it is now eating tapes. Since tape players use things like rubber rollers, belts and such, it's not unreasonable to think that time, rubber drying out, misalignment and such are to blame, and that such conditions could be present on any used tape deck I might find at a garage sale. In any event, I don't want to sacrifice some more tapes to find out. I therefore want to buy something new. However, since I plan to only use this unit for a finite time (ending when I've finished transferring tapes), I don't want to spend a lot of money. However, I would like something that sounds musical (since that's the whole point of this exercise). Kapish? Marla suggested the Grace. Since Marla likes good jazz, I respect her opinion. Since I'm also open to other ideas, I'm considering a (cheap but new) TEAC deck, since it has auto reverse and would make the transfer task a little easier. Finally, another way to say "asking...for someone else to do your homework and comparative shop for you" is "Can anyone offer some advice?" As you might have noticed, people do that often at this friendly bulletin board.

How is the sound?

Nah, I want a new one. I have an old one, and it's creasing my tapes.

I don't get it. That's a picture of Grant Green. Is that an actual Tiny Grimes album?

In the booklet for Proper's "Art Tatum - Piano Grand Master," they discuss Tiny's work with Tatum: A chance meeting between Art Tatum and guitarist Tiny Grimes and Slam Stewart at a New York after-hours spot sometime in 1943 led to the formation of the Art Tatum Trio, a combo that was to bring Art his greatest commercial success so far. The piano, guitar and bass combination had become a strong commercial proposition with the success of the Nat King Cole Trio. The Nat King Cole Trio certainly perfected and popularised what became known as the "Cocktail Combo", but they did not invent the combination. Combos like The Three Peppers and The Three Keys were there before the Nat King Cole Trio and Pete Johnson and Clarence Profit had recorded in that format in 1939 but the success of the King Cole Trio must certainly have inspired Art to form his Trio in early 1944. Tiny Grimes and Slam Stewart were working together as a duo around New York at the time. Guitarist Grimes had started out as a self-taught pianist and drummer in amateur shows around Washington D.C. during the mid 1930s. He played piano and danced at the Rhythm Club in New York in 1938. That same year he started to play four-string guitar, again self-taught, and joined the string group Cats and a Fiddle in 1940. He soon left the Cats and a Fiddle to form a duo with bassist Slam Stewart, half of the legendary duo Slim and Slam, after Slim Gaillard had been called up for army service. Tiny Grimes was the weakest link in the Art Tatum Trio, something he confessed himself in Stanley Dance's "World of Swing" when he stated, "We never rehearsed, everything was made up on the bandstand. Why in the world did those two guys keep me? I knew I was the weakest thing in there, but after we started working I'd go downstairs during every intermission with my guitar and work on whatever song we'd been playing, trying to catch up with them as best as I could. I did that every set, every intermission, and they would have to come and get me. I think that's the only thing that kept me with them. They knew I was trying so hard..... I tell you it was an honour playing with them, but playing wasn't too much enjoyment. It was a struggle, because nobody would teach me anything. I had to catch it as it went by, and it was so fast all the time."

A question about the new ipod shuffle. Do you have to use the phones it comes with or can you use your own? I'm not fond of the usual ipod phones. Just saw this in the Apple store: Belkin Headphone Adapter Allows you to use any headphone with the iPod Shuffle.

Thanks for the feedback, Marla. I saw that Amazon carries the Grace. Many reviews there were positive but some were not, so I appreciate the word from someone who uses it. I'll probably choose either that or a straight TEAC auto-reverse tape deck.