CJ Shearn

Lon, very true. I was messaging this morning with Jamie Saft, because I had questions about the mastering of his last two recordings. Blue Dream and Hidden Shadows musically are very good, but the mastering is horrendous and brickwalled, Hidden Shadows a bit less so. The latter is in the vein of 70's Impulse! with Dave Liebman and Hamid Drake, but the mastering engineer, primarily has experience with dance and pop music and applies that approach to jazz--which for an acoustic jazz record of recent vintage is unacceptable. For something like Saft's Sunshine Seas that approach would be fine. Jamie was very understanding of my concern surprisingly and said the mastering engineer who did Strength and Power with Roswell Rudd (quite a dynamic, natural recording) is doing the next two albums.

http://bit.ly/2miPCbH

These guys are very interesting. I will be reviewing this one, I have the last one too. I like it when I'm in the mood for crunchy industrial noise.

Interesting. What was it about the later Blue Note albums? the blues numbers, unusual tune choices like "I'm Movin' On" or "Matilda, Matilda"?

Looks very nice!

JOS basically did three types of Blue Note records: early trios with a lot of interesting ballad and standard choices, these include the all star trios. The blowing session dates, between '57-60, mellow records, and the quartets

Blue Note for sure but there are gems, as JSngry alluded to on Verve. The Boss, Bluesmith, I Got My Mojo Workin, Hoochie Coochie Man, Respect, Damn, Angel Eyes, Organ Grinder Swing. The only Blue Notes that don't get it done for me are Bucket and Straight Life.

Damn. RIP. A MAJOR inspiration for women on the jazz scene today. I think she and Viola Smith are two of the most important women to emerge in jazz at that time, of course Shirley Scott too, all in that span of a few decades. I mentioned Clora in my women in jazz piece for New York Jazz Workshop.

Wadada's solo Monk album is very good, I have the other one released at the same time but haven't cracked it open yet. One of my good friends has known Keir for years, Keir is something else.

Oh Very cool. I use Wordpress for my New York Jazz Workshop and I enjoy the flexibility.

I see what you both mean. I mean valid as in he has an opinion as I do mine, but the few reviews I've seen, not sure what vantage point he's coming from... it's like ok, I KNOW exactly what to expect from say, "Rubber Band" so I'm not gonna hope it's like whatever I think it should be, I try to look at what I review for what's there in the music, not what I think should be there.

Richard Brody's opinion is just as valid, but I'm not sure what he was expecting from a film making standpoint. I did not agree with his Both Directions At Once review last year. To each their own!

Sorry about that Steve. None of that comes up when I use Tumblr. I want to eventually put everything on a wordpress

Thanks Rooster! I attended the Sunday matinee with the Q&A session (loved meeting Vince... we've been in touch for a few years, one of the nicest cats I've met) what Stanley Nelson said was there were given a "2 hour movie with a 2 hour budget" in regards to my question about how did they set out to make it different from The Miles Davis Story. He said that hands were raised immediately about what albums to discus, but they tried to cover as broad a swath as possible. I felt Herbie Hancock could have told the "Butter notes" story, and that they could have covered the Second Quintet and 80's a bit more, but I like how it was presented. I went in with an open mind not to be a hyper critical Davis devotee and just enjoyed it. Wallace Roney was very thankful I mentioned him in the review, because he said that was the first time anyone asked him to do a documentary on Miles and detailing their relationship in such a way, some of which can be heard in my podcasts with him. I'll be happy to own it when released. It's certainly a far better crafted film than the recent John Abercrombie one, which compared to Bill Frisell: A Portrait was a major let down.

http://bit.ly/2UhmVsn

http://bit.ly/2UhmVsn Whoops wrong section!

Same Greg. Some people feel me having 1,000 CD's is a bit much. To the non collector yes, it seems a bit much, but it's important to me.

I have to admit this is the first Chick album in a decade I wasn't crazy about when I first heard about it. I'm gonna get it at some point, just not now. The website exclusive Vigilette, Akoustic Band Live, and Japan only Trilogy 2 are great however.

RIP

http://bit.ly/2LMO0kU Enjoy.

Sebesky's thing to my ear always had musical integrity, and that music is very much a product of it's time, but still holds up. Natural Illusions is well played, polite mood music, nothing more.

Right. I always felt Natural Illusions was Blue Note attempting to cash in on the success of Milt Jackson's Sunflower but much more watered down. Sure, Don Sebesky's string arrangements on the latter may turn some people off, but the playing is so, so, serious and great. Even with the rhythm section of Hank Jones, Ron Carter, Jack DeJohnette purely in session mode, it still sucks. At least Carter/DeJohnette shined more on CTI albums.

Thank you! Big 38

Thanks Lon, just ordered. Perhaps these recordings are not the level of Living Stereo or Mercury Living Presence but I grew up on the Bernstein stuff and enjoy the vitality of them

Looks tempting. Anyone have it? I have the Bernstein Original Jacket Collection and Sony Mahler cycle. Is the mastering from 2 and 3 track tapes exemplary?