chris

And since I have to be fair, here is the other one that I live for, my son Galen... this was taken late last summer camping in Denali park after soccer season was over. Note that he is camping at the feet of Denali in one of the most beautiful places in the world and he is attached to his gameboy. Note also the fantastic Alaska summertime t-shirt tan. Like father like son, I guess...

Well, here's a pic of myself with my daughter, Althea, at her 6th grade graduation last Spring... I'm the slightly older good looking one

At first I thought this was an elaborate joke-- but there is something strangely compelling about the "music" I am hearing... And notice how no one has ever seen Jandek or Thomas Pynchon at the same place and at the same time?

I'm in the US (Fairbanks, Alaska)-- who should I give my address to?

Is it too late to get in on #4? Where can we sign up for #5? I won't have time to help distribute until mid-January or later, but I could help then...

Personally, I can't figure out what I would be signing up for or how the system works... maybe there should be a sticky thread that explains it all in little tiny words for newbies? I understand that one can sign up to participate and receive a disc about which they post comments-- but what if we want to help do some burns (but can't do 50)? Can we just sign up for a select few when we know we may have time? Is it OK for relatively new listeners who probably have not a chance in hell of guessing more than 1 in 15?

OK, I've seen threads for funniest and rarest and coolest album covers, which is all fine and dandy. But in the spirit of Christmas and giving, what about the hottest and/or sexiest album covers? (or, alternatively, the worst attempts at making a hot/sexy cover) Jazz only, of course.

I don't think adding an archive will kill a board, and I for one would love to have those old threads available when searching for specific artist information, etc. I think there were some great threads on the old BNBB that are worth having around. It shouldn't be too hard to script some kind of simple import. It would probably be most useful to just grab a couple of the forum's boards though. I use the Jazzcorner archives, but I don't find that forum as useful for the kinds of discographical questions that I often search for here and used to search for at BNBB... I still poke my nose in at AAJ once in a while... for some reason this board has always seemed a bit "warmer" -- perhaps because the BNBB was my first jazz home.

What kind do you use? I am into the discsox system, using both shelf-mounted trays and the DJ chest-- discsox.com

Who are you in "real life" anyway, Deep?

It's bricolage. Nothing wrong with it. It's like trends in poetry towards found poetry and collage and litanies composed of lines from other poems-- it's just a different kind of art that isn't about being a traditional musician. Sometimes it's interesting, sometimes it isn't. Judging them as lacking because they aren't playing instruments is unfair, in a sense, because whatever it is they are doing, it isn't trying to be a musician, just as a person "Creating" found poems or collages isn't exactly a poet anymore. I don't like most found poems or collages either... but I don't see it as disrespectful. Like most here, I don't value that kind of creation as much, but I see no reason to get all up in arms about it. Although I am constantly tempted to make a similar kind of argument about a lack of musicianship when it comes to some of the atrocious avant garde jazz that I have been exposed to. And then there is the whole problem of thinking that because something is unique or hasn't been done before this automatically confers some kind of value on the dissonant, flat, non-swinging crap these truly bad musicians play (and they can't even escape by claiming not to play the instruments at all like remixers can

Can't find this online-- did you see this on paper?

Bah humbug. Idol worship serves no one. If you see the Buddha on the road kill him. etc etc.

My perspective is that the mission of showing respect is accomplished if they were serious in their intent. Whether they produced something good or not is a whole different and not necessarily related question. I'd like to think that my guitar noodling with some Bird melodies is showing respect as well, but I don't think I will be taking home and Grammy's soon

There's always Jakob Dylan-- never mind. How about Nina Simone doing "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues"? Or if you want BAD: Indigo Girls doing "Tangled Up in Blue" (which isn't quite as horrifying as their cover of Neil Young on the same album). Or Guns and Roses doing "Knockin' On Heaven's Door"...

Time to go to a good sleeve system that lets you keep the CD, sleeve and tray insert-- banish those jewel boxes The only Dizzy Reece I have is _Comin' On_ , which I enjoy a lot. Maybe it's time to get some more!

Well, Chris A just posted today-- a welcome sight indeed. I hope Bev makes it back too!

I'd say that with every passing day, Keith Richards' chances of arising at all are receding.

Reading the interview with Dave Liebman in the recent Jazz Improv magazine piqued my interest in Lenny Tristano, who I don't think I have ever heard. What do you all think of him? What recordings would be representative and/or best to get some exposure?

Did Coltrane dub himself in? This stuff may very well be hip, but I don't think it does anything to promote or pay respect to the genius of Parker, and frankly I don't see any creativity in it. Parker had it right the first time, leave it at that. I don't think it's that simple. First, the very act of doing a remix or sampling someone's work is a mark of respect from that artist. It is a very direct form of homage. These remixes aren't saying Parker didn't get it right-- they are saying he really got it right. and left a legacy of sound that is valuable. Most remixes are far different from dubbing oneself into the mix, though I also agree that most of them are not my thing. It would be different (to me) if this were some kind of cover band project that consisted of note-for-note renditions, like all the "tribute" bands floating around. Though even they can be fun if they don't take themselves too seriously...

I remember Mazzy Star-- had no idea who the band members were to know if they were still recording. Isn't Jon Brion the guitarist/co-writer on a lot of Aimee Mann CDs/songs? I have pretty much everything of hers and really dig it all... but I must confess I pay a lot less attention to sidemen and composers when it comes to non-jazz music.

I saw a recommendation for the Monk bio-discography-- but Amazon wants $130 new (and used sellers want $240 and more!?).

Database Development is actually part of my professional life, so while I understand the issues in creating one I am both cognizant of the fact that I don't have time to implement all the features that Music Collector gives me for one low price and definitely not inclined to want to spend personal time developing. MC handles artists with instruments and many other things, but nothing is ever perfect. The particular instrument search (not just as a featured instrument, but at all) is just one of those little things. Everyone has to do their own thing though, that's for sure-- I used to like playing around with databases, which was how I created my own (and I still play with the idea of using templates and importing from MC to a DB server and making a cool web app for my collection) in the first place, but I am so burned out that I don't even want to be in the same room as a computer when I am at home What we need is a passionated developer who also loves jazz to create the ultimate catalog system!

I agree with Ghost of Miles and others-- although I listen to other kinds of music and find some of it intensely enjoyable, I always return to jazz as kind of the "real thing." I like eating an occasional twinkie or stopping by Taco Hell too... but in the end I prefer a good poached salmon or a nice rare steak. That's jazz-- the meal that comforts me and is never far from my mind... I love hearing what other jazz folks are into when they aren't spinning a jazz disc. My attachments are rather diverse and I won't claim anything profound about most, but I know Aimee Mann, Elliott Smith, Ben Folds, Audioslave, and Counting Crows spend a fair amount of time in my CD player (amongst many others). None of them have spontaneously combusted due to proximity with Coltrane, Mobley, Ellington, etc

I used to roll my own software, but I can do much more with music collector than I had time to implement on my own-- I wouldn't go back to doing my own thing, I don't think. But I find the interface a little clunky sometimes, particularly when dealing with large numbers of personnel and the instruments they play, composers and performers on songs, and various kinds of searches. For instance, one thing I would like to be able to do is search for all the albums in which, for instance, there are personnel playing Baritone Saxophone. Music Collector gets more and more adept, particularly with stylesheets for onscreen and print listings, but there are some specialty interests in terms of searching and items like the above that it doesn't handle as well as I would like... Then again, most people don't care about such things