Tom in RI

I saw this at Borders and my warped mind was immediately drawn to it. Somehow I resisited the urge to be the only guy on my block to have a uklele jazz cd around the house. So, can anyone tell how this is? Seems like a natural to be put into shuffle paly with the Buddy Emmons also on LPR (which I have had as a Razor and Tie release for awhile).

Hey Ken, did you spring for the Fine Arts rider? Typical homeowners insurance will not cover replacement cost of "collectable" or OOP recordings.

I ruined a cdr trying to peel off a label that had bubbles in it (hate it when that happens). For making cd case inserts, though, I can strongly recommend MediaFace. Very easy to use and pretty flexible.

My brother has made his living in the computer world for close to 15 years and he swears by Toshiba. I am on my third one as a result and have been happy with them (have had 3 Satelite models). If I have a good year next year I'll be upgrading (my current machine is 3 years old).

Another Miller disc of interest, Hand to Hand. And, of course, he's all over late 80's Tony Williams dates (among others).

Another Bit Torrent site that currently has soundboards is at: http://www.tmnsp.net/useragreement.php

I like Chris's, Potter, Cheek, Speed. Seamus Blake. Mark Turner. I really enjoy a disc by Robert Stewart on Qwest called The Force, produced by Quincy Jones (I think he also was involved in Sonny Simmons Qwest release, were all Qwest releases produced by Quincy Jones?). Stewart has, at least on this disc, a little Pharoah Sanders influence. Other recordings I have picked up bty Stewart have not grabbed me the way The Force does.

I thought this was going to be a thread on record cleaning.

Charles McPherson, Live in Tokyo on Xanadu. I did a half hearted web search to see if McPherson's Xanadu lp's have made it to cd yet but didn't see any. Have they?

Kenny Garrett will be playing in East Greenwich at a theatre called the Greenwich Odeum. Should be a good show for old farts like me as they will start at 8:00. The date is Friday, 11/18. The Odeum has had decent jazz artists in the past, evidently they get booked to fill in dates around trips to Boston.

A guy I haven't seen mentioned who I like alot is Jesse Davis. Maybe too derivative for some but I've enjoyed his work.

Here's hoping you come up big and everything is clean, clean, clean. In my own experience, musicians have been no better or worse than the average person when it came to proper care and handling of vinyl.

Some group, I think it may have been Govm't Mule, offers a lower cost for an mp3 download than a FLAC download. Personally, it does bother me that all Ipod downloads are compressed lossily (is that a word?). Otoh, I don't own an Ipod ....yet. I wouldn't think that a losslessly compressed download should cost the same as the real item in silver 3D with packaging and notes. Isn't it cheaper to make a download available than the "old fashion" distribution method? If I had a choice of getting a losslessly compressed download with an art file I would think it would have to be at least half the cost of the cd and booklet/jewel case for me to be interested.

I have the Land disc on vinyl, a much better effort by a very similar band is Harold Land in New York originally on Jazzland and now an OJC.

From today's Globe, as the article says, he doesn't get much airplay. Consequently, I haven't heard him and have had the impression from reviews that he might be too outside for me personally. Maybe I'll take a chance on one of the discs reccommended in the sidebar (in the newespaper but not in evidence on the website). And hey, he's from my home town. JAZZ Huge talent, small spotlight Ken Vandermark knows his stuff. Too bad no one else does. By Steve Greenlee, Globe Staff | September 18, 2005 From the looks of things, Ken Vandermark is a workaholic with an endless stream of ideas. At 40, he has dozens of albums under his belt as a leader, and he leads so many different ensembles that it's difficult to keep track. Last week the saxophonist released the eighth studio album by his flagship group, the Vandermark 5, and on Thursday he comes to Boston for a concert by the trio FME. A few months ago, the Vandermark 5 did the unthinkable: The quintet recorded and released all of the music it performed during a five-night stand in Poland, including not only every note from the concerts but a few impromptu jam sessions. The 12-disc set is such an important document -- and offers such compelling music -- that it forces comparisons with the best of the best: Miles Davis's ''The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel 1965," John Coltrane's ''The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings." Of course, there's a big difference here. Miles and Trane are household names. Legends. Who the heck is Ken Vandermark? Well, don't suggest to him that he ought to be more famous than he is. This is what gets him started. ''To be honest, I'm really happy with the way my music is working," he says." I'm really happy with the people I get to play with, the amount of work I get to do. I'm working all the time. I cannot complain. I have lots of fellow musicians who should be working more than me and aren't. I'm not being disingenuous. ''The thing I'm frustrated about is working in a way that's getting to more people. One, I think the music is for everybody. It's not just for purists or the jazz clubs. The music is for everybody. It speaks to me, and I think it could speak to everybody. . . . I've been outspoken about wanting more people to hear it. It's not just a hobby. I need to pay the rent. This is how I make my living. I believe it's possible to expand the audience without contracting the music. Me being vocal about that has led people to think it's just about me wanting to be famous." So what's keeping his music from reaching more people? Well, let's back up for a second. Finding a way in Ken Vandermark grew up in Natick, in a home where music was cherished. ''I was taken to lots and lots of and lots of concerts as a kid," he says. In fourth grade, he took up the trumpet. ''I was really bad," he says. In high school he switched to tenor sax and has played reeds ever since. He soon started writing his own music, playing standards, and throwing bands together. After graduation, he headed to McGill University in Montreal to study film and communication. But it was there that he decided he wanted to be a jazz musician. Vandermark returned to Boston in 1986 but soon left for Chicago, where he felt more of a connection with the jazz scene (and where he continues to live with his wife, Ellen, who is a pediatrician). But it wasn't easy getting started there. ''It was difficult finding people who wanted to work with me," he says. ''I wasn't a schooled musician, and I think people were kind of put off by that and weren't really interested in working with me. I worked on stuff by myself and was really, really discouraged and depressed, to be honest." He eventually landed a spot in Hal Russell's NRG Ensemble, and from there things took off, leading to guest spots with the likes of saxophonist Peter Brotzmann. In 1993 he recorded his first session as a leader, and in 1996 the Vandermark 5 was born. Over the next decade he would write so much music and create so many different ensembles that it is nearly impossible to figure out which ones are ongoing and which ones were conceived as one-offs. There is Spaceways Inc., a trio that started out covering Sun Ra and George Clinton and now features its own jazz-rock-reggae compositions prominently; the Sound in Action Trio, in which Vandermark blows against two drummers; the DKV Trio, which covers the likes of Don Cherry and Sonny Rollins; and the Territory Band, a 12-piece big band that plays improvised music. There's a quintet called School Days, quartets called Steam and FJF, and trios called Tripleplay, Free Fall, and the Steelwool Trio. On Thursday, Vandermark will bring one of his most exciting projects to the First Congregational Church in Hyde Park. FME, or the Free Music Ensemble, includes the bassist Nate McBride, formerly of Boston, and the Norwegian drummer Paal Nilssen-Love. They play free yet structurally based music, and they can sound like an Ornette Coleman-inspired group or a funk-jazz band. The theory behind the music is difficult to explain. Vandermark -- who won a $265,000 ''genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation in 1999 (and poured the money back into his music) -- says any of the three musicians can play rhythm, theme, or solo. As he puts it: ''It's a system that's modular, where the components can be stacked in a different series, sometimes vertically and not horizontally." Answering critics So back to Vandermark's frustration. It is a result, he says, of the lack of attention his brand of music gets from major record labels, jazz critics, promoters, and club owners, and the lackluster support of the arts in the United States. (Vandermark is far more popular in Europe, and he frequently collaborates with musicians there.) Jason Koransky, editor of the jazz magazine Down Beat, calls Vandermark ''a dynamic improviser" and ''a very intelligent organizer of musicians." He says he considers the Vandermark 5 a ''landmark group," and he credits the saxophonist with leading a new wave of Chicago-based improvised music. ''But the guy plays a style of music that unfortunately does not have a large audience," Koransky says. ''We review his albums all the time, we do profiles of him, we have an interview with him coming up -- we've covered him. But the music that he has decided to play is not going to be played on the radio. . . . If you're going to say you're an improvising instrumentalist, there's very little mass appeal to that. It's part of the reality of this music." Vandermark, though, says he is annoyed by the critics who ignore him and the ones who dismiss him out of hand based on what he's done in the past. ''That drives me berserk," he says. ''People get frustrated because I do a lot of different things. They say I can't be serious because I do a lot of different things." He's equally perturbed by those who question the concepts behind his music rather than its execution. ''People say, 'Well, why are you using rock elements in your music? It's so reductive.' My response is that you're not listening to the music correctly." Now he's really worked up. ''We're talking about art!" he says. ''This is serious [stuff] for me. This is what we do! It's as serious as any other thing that I'm aware of. I look at artists in other fields, and it's always the same story: People who try to think in new ways, who try to work in new ways, who try to go around the systems that exist, they end up getting criticized for not fitting into the status quo. The irony of that is it's the unconventional thinking that leads to the artwork." Steve Greenlee can be reached at greenlee@globe.com. © Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

George Adams/Don Pullen "More Funk" on the Italian Palcoscenico label.

I use Fuji's but only those made in Japan. Usually either Best Buy or Staples has them on sale in my area. When I see a good price I stock up. Last time I bought from Staples I had to check each package as some were made in Taiwan and some in Japan. I have not had a failure with cdr's from Taiwan but many traders prefer those from Japan. They aren't made any more but Kodak use to make a fine cdr.

Can we say he was there in spirit?

I have an unlimited amount of time to come up with a snappy comeback and..... I got nothing.

Received.

I saw this one used today for 12.95. I'd be happy to pick it up for anyone interested.

A place where a lot of great live jazz shows are posted is Dimedozen.org. They are in their second incarnation. I know several board members here are there also. That would be a great place to post your shows if you are able to share them.

Stanley Cowell - Illusion Suite (I am pretty sure I read here that the tapes were lost. I have been stockpiling vinyl copies!) Jack DeJohnette - Inflation Blues and Tin Can Alley (I don't think these have made it to disc) Regarding Mingus's Music Written For Monterrey, Not Played, Played at UCLA (or something like that), Sue Mingus was on a live chat the other day and suggested she will be putting this out on disc. Of course, with her track record I'll believe when I see it (will have to make do with the 1980's reissue in the meantime).

My first Mosaic was the Complete Blue Note Thelonious Monk. The issue had been advirtised in the jazz press and I had pre ordered. There was some kind of delay and Mosaic was compelled to offer refunds to everyone who had pre ordered. This lead to an exchange of correspondence with Michael Cuscuna which I keep in the box. Subsequently I've accumulated maybe 30 Mosaics, I have never gotten rid of any but its inevitable that I will decide to cull a few at some point.

A story with a seemimgly happy ending. And yet, it's also about an artist's wishes being ignored regarding their own work. I am sure most of us on this board admire Mr. Smith, or, at least, wish we had what he has. It's great that this stealth recording is being released but what to make of other stealth recordings that circulate? I don't have the answers but I download and trade unissued recordings with both a thrill and a tinge of guilt.