ArtSalt

The trailer left me pleasantly surprised. From the initial press releases when it was in development I expected the worse, everything sounded wrong: Miles in his 70s retirement, some kind of gangster movie as we watch the primitive trying to score drugs. Thankfully, it appears to be a wider scope than this.

A mucca of mine is in product testing in China and he was visited by one of the directors of one of the top-end audio equipment manufacturers who was purchasing some components from China and my friend asked him the question of our time: Which musical format delivers the optimum high quality sound? He answered "Of course, pristine and well pressed vinyl.....for the first four plays....." He then went on to explain that uncompressed digital media is the optimum for near perfect listening experience.

Those survey's don't mean 'nuffin. What you can deduce is that you have a 50/50 chance of expiring before you are 75.63 and a 50/50 chance of living beyond this. Not bad odds at all. Some of those life expectancy figures for the UK are shocking, a few inner city boroughs where expiring at 63/65/68 is considered a good innings. These days I am slow to plunge into new formats and technology, I only went to a HD television, Blu Ray and the delights Netflix relatively recently. The condensed sound of MP3 delivered via the iPod never really worked for me either. Great having 32 days worth of music, or whatever stored, but never really got out of it what I did from my old Aiwa walkmans back in the late 80s. Same with computer Hifi with Flac and I recently purchased a dedicated CD ripper and storage device, but the software was a nightmare and I couldn't get it to download the metadata and then it would repeat the songs twice in the library and seemed to radomly play tracks and I couldn't set-up playlists. So the next day I took it all back and demanded a refund. The sound by the way was superb, couldn't fault it at all, it sounded at least equal, if not better than the Original CD's. So I've decided to take the plunge again and have ordered the Bluesound Vault 2. We shall see how I get on with that!

I had one of the original 10"s and on the back cover he mentioned staying on in Paris after a tour with a big band(?) because the city had such a good jazz scene. I know only have a Japanese CD which doesn't have this interview included, at least in English.

^Nice one, I know how hard those top floor apartments are to come by! I am also fortunate as we purchased a house whose previous owner had a musical room for his daughter which was nearly sound proofed with double glazing on the inside and that's now my music room. Nothing to the side of it either, so all in all, I am on a winner especially in the Randstad. For an urban people, you see the best standard of living and the very best of what the Netherlands has to offer when you get out into some of the suburbs and especially the cycle lines - for an extreme density of people what has been achieved is really quite wonderful in terms of creating space and access into to green heart via cycle lines. It's what the UK could and should have been. Of course, the UK has the best world class country lanes, no other country I know has the same diversity of getting somewhere by several road routes.

Yes, but up to a certain level there will be a noticeable sound quality improvement, depending on source material of course. A bit like wine I suppose, once you go over a certain price, you're purchasing rarirty and provenance and not necessary exquisite taste and lack of sulphate inducing hangovers. The mission is, to go as far as you can go in sound perfection, within your price range. But I have to say, if I had the cash and inclination, I would spend money on a frivolous super hi-end hi-fi before I would ever spend money on a super car. You would ultimately get more mileage from the hi-end hi-fi set-up. All academic of course.

I enjoyed that and the mention of Street Swingers which is a great album. Anybody know of the story behind Raney's adventures in Paris?

It makes sense to have high-end hi-fi stores in the suburbs: it's a niche market, the buyer is not going to be a casual browser and walk into the shop and make an impulsive purchase on a 60 grand system. It's sensible, especially somewhere like Crewe where you have a good catchment area in Cheshire, Wales and North of Birmngham withought having to pay top dollar for rent. Also those in the city districts, certainly here in the Netherlands and in a city like the Hague, will have serious sound proof issues and very likely not be in a detached house. The canny audiophile will have moved out long ago! It was an interesting article and along with the Russian Prime Minister, I also have Naim system. It is well worth the initial investment: I get what I want from CD's without thinking I am missing vinyl. At least when I don't wear headphones, but I am looking to upgrade on that and hopefully high-end Grado will deliver on that. Interestingly, I was speaking to those in the hi-fi shop I use and they sell some serious gear, the last time I was in they were setting a system for an audition that was being sold for 70 grand Euros. I asked them who buys all the good audiophile gear and they replied it was owners of Dutch businesses, expat Brits and those who are willing to suffer for their hi-fi experience with foregoing of holidays and decent cars.

No, I've just found it on Youtube though! I don't know those Brazilian albums, but I just remembered I have the wonderful latin seared Sconsoloto on the Gilles Peterson compiled Themes From The Black Forest.

My entry into Murphy's universe was Kerouac, Then And Now which begins with the vocal version of Srayhorn's Blood Count by B. Stillman. That would have been 1991/92 when I was studying the Beats and Lord Buckley. Not so happy days as it happens, but along with Chet Baker it was opening-up a new way of being as the then current popular and rock music fell silent for me. Been a fan ever since. I remember reading somewhere in the late 90s that he was looking to record some albums of Brazilian music, but that doesn't seem to have happened. That would have been interesting.

Anybody else hoping this will have some substance and capture Baker on the cusp of his comeback? If it's successful, it will open the door for others: Art Pepper - Laurie Pepper's fear of dramatic license aside - and perhaps, if we are lucky, Hampton Hawes. And as it only concentrates on a specific period of Baker's life, there is still room for a film about that first ill-fated, yet successful tour of Europe with Richard Twardzik and the Barclay sessions in Paris. It sounds all too good to be true, along with the William Burroughs biopic!

Early Perkins, with Woody's band and the Grand Encounter date, was very, very special. Float indeed, I swear, nobody else had that going on like he did. The Grand Encounter is something special, but you have to be in the mood.....I've gone to put that on for people trying to get them into jazz: "Just listen to this hipsters, flipsters and finger popping daddies......" And then had to walk away in embarrassment.

I think listening at home and particpating in a concert is different thing and I am looking for different elements in each. In a live concert, I am looking for authenticity, excellence in playing and showmanship and especially, interaction with the audience as the last member of the band. At home, I care nought for this, I am looking for the best sound and take I can get, yes, this may rub-up and go against the grain of the interaction and spontaneity of jazz. But at home I am looking for mood and the concentrated essence, the exploration is there, absolutely, but I appreciate the producer and engineer's art in creating the perfect take, if necessary. Of course, when it comes to jazz, this is less of an issue then say with 1980s production values in rock and pop music.

I prefer my vision of that saying!

I can't believe I missed this, but for a jazz musician from that era and from that coast he lived a very, very long time. The Lighthouse for me has now officially entered the realm of myth..... Indeed, RIP, Mr Rumsey.

Another essential one from Mosaic! But I hope there's little overlap with the previous Lester Young set.

That thread is a classic! He's never struck me as someone who would be approachable, nor does he come across as a great raconteur. But he must have some interesting anecdotes, perhaps he's too professional to ditch the dirt.

Totally agree and concur: to justify investing in what is a de facto new format from a hi-fi perspective, they need to introduce the wow factor and the complete back-catalogue on a label i.e. Blue Note offers this.

New pre-recorded tapes of albums massively out sold vinyl during the middle 1980s. There's objective evidence in terms of sales figures to back this up. There's also, as was stated in several post back, strong support for the position that the CD is the best hard medium for delivering the remasters art. We might not like these inconvenient truths....

The sun's back out here now, but there's a big white cumulus with dark intentions forming outside, so I reckon somewhere after midnight the thunder storm will hit. Those Jopen's are quite good, but since I've discovered Dutch Courage from the Zuidam distillery, I've sworn off beer as a lesser evil!

I predict a sub-tropical storm this eve, but before then I am going to have a few gin & tonics to aid sleep!

Cassettes are bought by today's youths, students and such, who are driving 20-25 year old cars with tape radios. This was related to me the other week by a record store owner, who says he sells at least one pre-recorded tape a day. Cassettes were a wonderful format outselling vinyl albums during most of the 80s and were only challenged by CD's later in the decade. It's a myth that everyone was still digging vinyl in some space age audiophile bachelor pad. The truth was, the humble tape had already taken over, people were already sick of the crackles on vinyl and the way the longer playing records had terrible sound towards the end of each side. Cassettes were king in the 80s and all the rest is historic revisionism.

The Nat King Cole Trio set still goes for a healthy, if not extreme amount. The crash in Mosaic box sets is over played.

I'm using a pair of Ultrasone 900's at present with a Musical Fidelity M1 HPAP, but I am looking to upgrade to the Grado Woody Allens. Alas, they're near enough €800 in these parts. The Ultrasone's are reasonable, but the professional tag seems a bit much in my opinion.

He carries the burden of being the most hated man in the art of CD remastering rather well, me thinks.