Aug 10th RVGs

[mgraham333]

Man, oh man - put One Flight Up near the top of my Dex list. I'm not sure yet, but I think Gettin' Around may still be on top. The opening track on OFU is amazing.

The sound on this album is a little different, but if I hadn't read what was in this thread I never would have given it much thought - as the sound and music are both great!

[mikeweil]

Anybody here compared Tender Moments with the previous CD?

[Cali]

The sound is improved; more presence, stronger bass and crisp cymbals. I bought the whole batch of the latest RVGs and they all sound great to my ears.

[SEK]

I got two of the most recent RVGs. "One Flight Up" definitely sounds better than the original CD. The sound of "In 'N Out" is not significantly improved to my ears, but it does have the alt. take.

[Free For All]

Regarding Free For All, I'd have to say it does indeed sound better than the previous incarnation (as do the McCoy and Dexter). On FFA the horns are still plenty hot, but there seems to be, to my ears, less of the distortion that was on the earlier version. Blakey's cymbals sound beautiful- if I was going to generalize an improvement overall in the RVGs, I'd have to say I really like the way the cymbal sound has improved. This was my first impression when I listened to my first RVG which happened to be another one featuring Blakey, Somethin' Else.

Man, FFA is an AWESOME side! The cats were ON FIRE! Maybe no one more than Wayne. IMHO he set the tone on the first cut, and Freddie rises to the occasion and takes it to another level. Hard to pick a "winner" here- Wayne and Freddie are smoking, but Bu is lighting the fire!

Edit: I have to add one more thing(since I'm listening to it now)- Bu's groove on Pensativa is outstanding. Kind of a swinging clave. Also, there's a lot of yellin' on this one. Is that all Blakey? "Blow ya horn"...."awright"....."ahhhhhhhhh"...etc.

Edited August 16, 2004 by Free For All

[wesbed]

I've not yet purchased any of the August RVGs. I stopped by my local Border's store to discover which of the new RVGs the store might have in stock. To my surprise, I found the Border's store had installed all new shelving and had re-arranged the entire store. The re-arranging was still in-progress when I was inside the store. I found a couple of Blakeys filed under 'B' and some more filed under 'A' but none were the August RVG. I happened to see a Garth Brooks where Tina Brooks should have been.

Hmmm... bad timing, on my part, to be searching for new RVGs at my local Border's. Nothing against Border's, re-arranging is required sometimes. This time, though, I might need to place my order with CD Universe.

[Free For All]

As far as Borders goes, I've found that if I show up on the release date (even late in the day), about 75% of the time the product is not yet on the shelves. No problem, I usually just need to sweet talk an employee into looking in the back room or on the "cart". I know that the music is in the building, I just need to find it.

They just haven't seemed to have learned to deal with the obsessive buyer, which is someone they should certainly appreciate, IMHO. What I don't spend w/CDUniverse most often goes to Borders..............

[Free For All]

To my surprise, I found the Border's store had installed all new shelving and had re-arranged the entire store.

I've seen this happen at a couple stores. The "Jazz" section keeps getting shoved into a more obscure spot, like a senile uncle.

[wesbed]

I can complain about anything (yeah, believe it! ). I had an issue with Border's once upon a time (and even documented it on this board). Overall, though, I've had really good luck with my local Border's and my ability to find new jazz product on the store's shelves.

Sometimes I believe it might be 'smart' to purchase music from a retail store to keep the store in the business of selling music. If everybody purchased via the internet there would be no retail stores to go to. On the other hand, why should I pay the extra couple of dollars per CD to the retail store? Except that I do enjoy having the retail store available to meet my shopping/browsing needs.

Still, I'm thinking CD Universe for the August RVGs.

Edited August 16, 2004 by wesbed

[Free For All]

Sometimes I believe it might be 'smart' to purchase music from a retail store to keep the store in the business of selling music. If everybody purchased via the internet there would be no retail stores to go to.

Believe me Wes, I agree in theory, but I get really peeved when Borders wants 17-18 bucks for a new release when I can get it much cheaper online. Sometimes price overrides my desire to "do the right thing", which in this case would be to support the local retail business. Of course, I've pretty much given up on the local indie retailer here, whose jazz section has shrunk to an embarrassing minimium, not unlike a mall Sam Goody's. The irony in this is that my initial surge into buying CDs was because of a sale at Camelot Records (major mall chain) in the mid-80s when they sold first generation Blue Note CDs for like $3.99 a pop.

Rooster, where the hell are you?

[wesbed]

Believe me Wes, I agree in theory, but I get really peeved when Borders wants 17-18 bucks for a new release when I can get it much cheaper online. Sometimes price overrides my desire to "do the right thing", which in this case would be to support the local retail business.

Yes, I agree with you, too. For example, I will NOT purchase a Conn. release at Border's unless I can get some sort of discount. I mean, $18 for a Conn. title at Border's or $13 via the internet? If I purchase an entire group-release of Conn. titles, say, 4 disks multiplied by $5 difference-per-disk and I'm talking about getting an additional disk, for free, if purchased from the online store versus the retail store.

RVGs are more reasonably priced and I tend to purchase them at Border's (unless the RVG is a double). I'm always surprised when a single RVG is priced at $11.99 but a double is priced at $26.99. Like, uhhh... did I miss something?

[bertrand]

Conversely, the most recent batch of RVGs was sitting on the shelf, available for purchase, on August 7th at the Borders' in Gaithersburg, MD.

Bertrand.

[sal]

Man, FFA is an AWESOME side! The cats were ON FIRE! Maybe no one more than Wayne.

This is an incredible session indeed. I'm one of the few lucky people on this board who had never heard this session before. I think its become my favorite Jazz Messengers album. And while I do agree with you, Free For All, that Wayne is on fire, to me, this session belongs to Bu himself. I've NEVER, on any other session I've ever heard, heard him play the drums like that. He sounds superhuman. I think that's why everyone in the band plays so freakin' great on this....its a response to that drumming.

[Brad]

Believe me Wes, I agree in theory, but I get really peeved when Borders wants 17-18 bucks for a new release when I can get it much cheaper online. Sometimes price overrides my desire to "do the right thing", which in this case would be to support the local retail business.

Yes, I agree with you, too. For example, I will NOT purchase a Conn. release at Border's unless I can get some sort of discount. I mean, $18 for a Conn. title at Border's or $13 via the internet? If I purchase an entire group-release of Conn. titles, say, 4 disks multiplied by $5 difference-per-disk and I'm talking about getting an additional disk, for free, if purchased from the online store versus the retail store.

RVGs are more reasonably priced and I tend to purchase them at Border's (unless the RVG is a double). I'm always surprised when a single RVG is priced at $11.99 but a double is priced at $26.99. Like, uhhh... did I miss something?

I usually buy the RVGs at the local Borders here in Jersey and they're pretty reasonably priced around $11.99. The Conns, yes those are expensive, but the RVGs aren't badly priced. I also found that if you don't reserve them through their online ordering system (since they only get one copy, 2 at the max), you won't get them.

BTW, Blue Spirits is sensational. My first time hearing it.

[BruceH]

I'm pretty lucky, as there is an independent store near here that puts RVG's out on the shelf on the day of release for a reasonable $10.98. If I'm only going to buy one or two anyway, I find that the shipping charge would eat up the difference between them and CD Universe. So I usually go the brick & mortar route.

[wesbed]

The Dexter Gordon suffers from a strange recording configuration: The drums were recorded in a booth with very direct sound, like standing where your speakers are, while the horns were recorded with the room ambience of that famous Paris studio - it was a large room, and Dexter and Donald Byrd sound like they were too distant from the mics.

Is this why it doesn't sound like Dex?

[DrJ]

Anyone else notice the excessive boominess at the low end on the new RVG of BLUE SPIRITS? The old McMaster had the opposite problem - little to no bass - but this one sounds excessively tarted up on that end. Using a damn good listening system and no boominess on other recordings (including Tyner's TENDER MOMENTS RVG which I bought the same day).

Overall, the BLUE SPIRITS RVG is still a big improvement over the McMaster (detail, definition, balance) but sort of disappointing.

[wesbed]

Anyone else notice the excessive boominess at the low end on the new RVG of BLUE SPIRITS? The old McMaster had the opposite problem - little to no bass - but this one sounds excessively tarted up on that end.

Overall, the BLUE SPIRITS RVG is still a big improvement over the McMaster (detail, definition, balance) but sort of disappointing.

Due to various posts on this Board (I can't locate them now), I expected the least from Blue Spirits. Fortunately, I found the recording to be quite good.

I don't prefer albums that have mixed musicianship. For example, Blue Spirits contains various tracks with some Henderson, some Mobley, Pete La Roca here, and Elvin Jones there. Another example of this album style is Horace Silver's Song For My Father.

On the positive side, however, Blue Spirits contains a VERY good selection of tunes. The mix of musicians demonstrates some VERY impressive playing. When I play Blue Spirits I program my CD player to present the tunes in an order to keep the sets of musicans grouped together. I always have to smile, at the end of the program, when I hear 'True Colors.' What a way to end an album.

I listened to Blue Spirits while making a two-hour highway drive in my car. I had to turn the bass down to enjoy the music on the CD. While turning the bass down I had the thought, "Of course I have to turn the bass down, this is an RVG." Yes, the bass is boomy. But, this is an RVG release. To my ears, many of the RVGs have an 'electric' bass sound. As much as I enjoy and anticipate each RVG release, I'd like to see Rudy turn down the 'electric' bass.

[DrJ]

I like the BLUE SPIRITS CD a lot in terms of music. More uneven than the best of Freddie's BNs but some damn classic stuff in there ("Jodo") and it's never less than interesting.

I agree that the RVGs have a lot of bass presence as usual but on my listening system usually it sounds very natural and nice. Not so on BLUE SPIRITS - overdone.