freddydwight

if you have not heard this Japanese firecracker yet, you should give a listen. two albums came in for Christmas (thank-you, Santa). Brain and Another Mind, both on Telarc. this gal is a piano virtuoso with amazing improvisational talent. B-) freddy

Oh shit! I saw her play some wacky keyboard/wind instrument with Nnenna that looked like it was made by Fischer Price. She was really good. Also just thought of a new chick named Hiromi Uehara who goes simply by Hiromi. hey, cannonball. got two Hiromi albums for Christmas -- Brain (the latest) and Imaginary Mind. perhaps freddy knows something about improvisation, but this Japanese firecracker is hot. she has been called "Oscar Peterson on steroids." and such power! dang! B-) freddy

dang! you are hittin' freddy where he lives, m8s! Clarence Johnson, III Sample cuts from Clarence Johnson, III, freddy's fav young sax player in New Orleans. First cut is from Love for Sale. Last six cuts are from his 1998 debut album, Dedicated to You. Professor freddy hangs out with Clarence and has followed his career closely. Expect better things from him in the future. You will need RealPlayer One software to play these online cuts. This is just an introduction. http://www.strdigital.com/johnson.htm Download Real Player http://www.real.com/freeplayer/?rppr=rnwk Tracks No Name Struttin' Rose's Rainbow Appeal Watchagondoo How Great Thou Art Musicians on No Name Vahag Petian, piano Clarence Johnson III, saxophone Musicians on Dedicated to You Clarence Johnson III, saxophone Jim Pryor, piano Vahag Petian, piano Bill Huntigton, bass Ed Wise, bass Leon Alexander, drums Jesse Boyd, bass John Vidacovich, drums Henry Butler, piano http://www.strdigital.com/noname.ram http://www.strdigital.com/Struttin.ram http://www.strdigital.com/roses.ram http://www.strdigital.com/appeal.ram http://www.strdigital.com/appeal.ram http://www.strdigital.com/watcha.ram http://www.strdigital.com/howgreat.ram B-) freddy

got about 2 dozen fake books, including Real Books. if you have a particular tune you are interested in, can scan it and email it, or post it here. B-) freddy

it's interesting that stitt didn't need an audience like rollins does. (rollins always said he didn't care much about his studio recordings; he preferred to be in front of an audience.) in the studio, stitt could kick as good (or better) than he did live and onstage. but that must have been his insular nature. he went inside himself to get the jazz, and it flowed out no matter who was listening. B) freddy

@ jazzshrink it's an online persona. give freddy a break. in the mods/admins room, he refers to himself in the first person. go figure. agreed. SACD, DVD-A, K2 tech are the new wave. B) freddy

agreed. what in the he-double-hockey-sticks is the USPS doing spending 20 million-plus on Armstrong's Tour de France team every year when it can't deliver the mail? B) freddy

thx, m8, for the threads. took 'em all in. B) freddy

get both. audio quality is not so hot, and the sidemen were pickup and barely adequate for this live radio broadcast, but this is stitt at his absolute best, ifho. B) freddy

nope. and no free samples. first cd freddy bought (pricey at 30 bucks) was Sonny Rollins - Saxophone Collosus. noticed the difference immediately. JVC knows what it is doing, ifho. B) freddy

freddy was a fan of sonny stitt long before he died. here is an excerpt from Professor freddy's Jazz & Blues University that lays it out. Born: Edward Stitt, February 2, 1924, Boston; Died: July 22, 1982. Sonny Stitt is freddy's all-time favorite sax player. Stitt did it all -- blues, swing, jazz, beebop, freeform, acid -- you name it. Why doesn't freddy dig Coltrane or Charlie Parker? Sure, freddy digs those guys, but not as much. Stitt is sometimes referred to as Parker's protege, but Stitt went his own way. The only sax player alive today who comes close to Sonny is another Sonny: Sonny Rollins. Stitt and Rollins played duets with Dizzy Gillespie on a CD ("Dizzy Gillespie Duets") released on July 25, 1988. If you can find the CD, buy it. It is one of the best freddy has ever heard. Click on the above link to read Dave Loennig's comments and learn why Stitt hasn't gotten his due from the jazz world. Dave's website has really developed into his own Jazz University. You will enjoy your visit. Very nice. freddy found Stitt's first CD, "Sonny Stitt," which was reissued by MCA. They think it was recorded in Chicago in 1958 when Stitt was 34. It is blazin'. Following is a short bio from the AllMusic Guide at allmusic.com, with credit to the authors: Review: "Charlie Parker has had many admirers and his influence can be detected in numerous styles, but few have been as avid a disciple as Sonny Sitt. There was almost note-for-note imitation in several early Stitt solos, and the closeness remained until Stitt began de-emphasizing the alto in favor of the tenor, on which he artfully combined the influences of Parker and Lester Young. Stitt gradually developed his own sound and style, though he was never far from Parker on any alto solo. A wonderful blues and ballad player whose approach was one of the influences on John Coltrane, Stitt could rip through an uptempo bebop stanza, then turn around and play a shivering, captivating ballad. He was an alto saxophonist in Tiny Bradshaw's band during the early '40s, then joined Billy Eckstine's seminal big band in 1945, playing alongside other emerging bebop stars like Gene Ammons and Dexter Gordon. "Stitt later played in Dizzy Gillespie's big band and sextet. He began on tenor and baritone in 1949, and at times was in a two-tenor unit with Ammons. He recorded with Bud Powell and J.J. Johnson for Prestige in 1949, then did several albums on Prestige, Argo and Verve in the '50s and '60s. Stitt led many combos in the '50s, and rejoined Gillespie for a short period in the late '50s. After a brief stint with Miles Davis in 1960, he reunited with Ammons and for a while was in a three-tenor lineup with James Moody. During the '60s, Stitt also recorded for Atlantic, cutting the transcendent 'Stitt Plays Bird' that finally addressed the 'Parker' question in epic fashion. He continued heading bands, though he joined The Giants of Jazz in the early '70s. This group included Gillespie, Art Blakey, Kai Winding, Thelonious Monk, and Al McKibbon. Stitt did more sessions in the '70s for Cobblestone, Muse and others, among them another definitive date, 'Tune Up'. He continued playing and recording in the early '80s, recording for Muse, Sonet and Who's Who In Jazz. He suffered a heart attack and died in 1982." — Ron Wynn and Bob Porter B) freddy

got it. thx. saw sonny in Atlanta last April. he's slowing down some. geez, he's 73 or something like that. did 90 minutes flat. no encore. let his sidemen do a lot of the cruising. B) freddy

The Extended Resolution Compact Disc (XRCD) from JVC brings the listener higher fidelity and improved audio quality by enhancing the process of mastering and manufacturing compact discs. All of this is done within the current CD standard, so no special cd player or decoding box is needed to hear the benefit of the xrcd. In most cases, after a record has been mastered, a U-matic 1630 format tape is prepared and shipped to the manufacturing plant. At this point the artist, producer, and engineers can only hope that their work will return to them in a relatively unchanged form. This manufacturing chain is not standardized, and while digitally correct, does not always reproduce the highest audio quality possible. Since the manufacturing process works as a number of components linked together in series, the overall performance can only be limited by each stage. This means that extreme care and attention must be paid to every aspect of mastering and manufacturing to get the most out of the process. JVC has painstakingly gone through every step of the mastering and manufacturing process with the goal of retaining the highest sonic purity of the original music. This was accomplished not by just measuring the results, but in extensive listening tests to determine the best configuration. Every combination of equipment, connections , AC power regulation, word clock distribution, mastering format, delivery system and compact disc construction was tested. The results is the xrcd, a compact disc that offers clearer definition, more accurate imaging, and higher audio quality than any compact disc before. The xrcd process starts at the mastering level. The analog signal is taken directly from the mastering console and digitized using JVC's 20 Bit K2 Super Coding. The K2 is a 20 bit, 128 times over-sampling analog to digital converter which provides a dynamic range of 108 dB, -96db THD, flat frequency response in the passband to within +/- .05dB, and a substantial reduction of harmonic distortion for low level signals. The K2 Super Coding also provides a bit down mode to convert 20 bits to 16 bits, and interface signal reshaping to eliminate time base jitter in the digital data stream. These two functions are taken advantage of during manufacturing. The 20 bit digital signal is then transferred to a PCM-9000 using SDIF-2. The PCM-9000 stores the information on a magneto-optical disk instead of transferring it to the U-matic 1630 format tape. The xrcd process takes advantage of the stability of the magneto-optical disk, as well as its 20 bit capacity, by using it as the audio storage medium for delivery to manufacturing. At the JVC manufacturing plant in Yokohama, Japan, the 20 bit PCM-9000 magneto-optical disk is converted to 16 bits using the K2 Super Coding in bit down mode, via a SDIF-2 connection. This stage resolves the high resolution 20 bit signal to 16 bits while retaining the integrity of the low level information, which insures a true 16 bit dynamic range without using noise shaping. The 16 bit signal is then EFM encoded. Another K2 circuit, called the K2 Laser, is used to reshape the EFM signal right before going to the laser of the glass cutter. This last stage is the same circuit used for the K2 Super Coding interface, which eliminates any time based jitter that may be present in the data stream. Throughout this process, the word clock is amplified and distributed to the other stages to keep signal quality at a maximum. Similarly, all equipment is run off regulated AC power feeds to provide a pure base from which to work. All cables and connections between equipment use the SDIF-2 interface for sonic quality and music integrity. Tests determined the SDIF-2 offered a superior transmission of digital audio, far above the AES/EBU standard. A variety of materials, including 24K gold and pure copper were tested. Ultimately aluminum was decided upon after extensive listening tests. The end result of this manufacturing process is the highest quality digital transfer from mastering to compact disc. All of this attention to detail allows the listener to enjoy the music just as the artists, producer, and engineers originally intended it. Every nuance of the performance is duplicated as it was recorded, with higher accuracy in both sound quality and imaging. This is the Extended Resolution Compact Disc. More information: http://www.xrcd.com has freddy got some? yup. does he like them? yup. B) freddy

hmmmm. makes one wonder how a plastic sax holds up over the years. B) freddy

going with DIS B) freddy