Kevin Bresnahan

But couldn't you just wait until the end of the season and order a whole set of the cards from Post? I could have sworn I did that one year.

How about "This is not just a new album- it is a legacy in the making", for an 82 year old master who has released tons of great recordings over his career? The legacy is already firmly in place.

I preferred the Kellogg's 3D baseball cards to the Post baseball cards. I had a ton of those Kellogg's cards but sadly, the plastic always cracked and often peeled off after a short time.

For as long as I can remember, tape deck & tape recorder have been synonymous. I think what Joe Harley was saying is that Capitol fed their audio to two tape recorders. One deck's/recorder's tape was used to create an LP master that was used to cut the LP record while the other deck's/recorder's tape was put away, meaning shelved. In this case, it sounds like the second machine's tape was chopped up into smaller pieces and stored as "phono reels". The "assembled" part of this may be part of the confusion. The master tape for "In The Wee Small Hours" was made from five different recording sessions, so some assembly was required.

Honestly, I don't think you can upgrade and make that LP playable. There are people with rigs that cost in excess of $5K that are having trouble playing that particular LP.

Shorter only plays on "The Traitor".

They weren't "cardboard" records. They were plastic glued onto the cardboard box, so they were actually very thin vinyl with a cardboard backing. I seem to remember having a few. The Monkees maybe? They sounded like shit and wore out very quickly.

I booked my first Jazz cruise yesterday. The old Jazz Cruise is now called "McBride's World At Sea 2026": https://mcbridesworldatsea.com/, I only booked it because i had a flight credit expiring and McBride posted a discount code on Facebook, XMAS, that was good for $1,500/person off of a Conceirge Class room. Now I just have to hope that Boston doesn't get socked with a blizzard on January 20th, when my flight leaves. BTW - if anyone sees this and decides to go, feel free to list me as your referral.

I liked "Flood" more than I thought I would. I like "Man Child" better, but it's worth picking up both.

Probably not when compared with a contemporaneously-cut original LP pressing. Both would have been cut with first generation tapes. Different tapes, yes, but still first generation. The difference with a cut made today is that the LP medium is less restricted than it was "back in the day", with turntables and cartridges that can track a lot more dynamics than the ones we used to have. Unfortunately, sometimes they have pushed those dynamics a bit too far in the latest BN cuts (Tone Poet & Classic Vinyl series) and created tracking problems for some buyers. With luck, Kevin Gray will not push the levels too far on this one so no one has that problem.

This thread will be tough to keep non-political, but please try.

Regarding "phono reels"... I had not heard that term before so I asked Ron McMaster what they were. He had this to say: Hi Kevin, No, I didn’t know about the Sinatra LP reissue but I’m not surprised. It’s a great album and probably not many LP’s left for purchase. Yes, the library has many phono reels. A phono reel is a combination of various artists and various tracks. Usually they are the single version of a popular song. The LP version remained on the LP master. I always enjoyed working with phono reels because they always contained songs that you never heard of or some obscure B side only released on that specific single. Inside the phono reel is a large card that contains the master number of each song and a section where you would put the date you cut it and the scribe number of the track. Also the master number of each song. Phono reels are usually the original track and not a duplicate copy unless the original version was ruined or not playable. Yes they usually sound amazing, especially the original Sinatra tracks. They captured a sound quality that was just unbelievable. Every time I got to work with a phono reel was a blast. I would see and hear songs I had never heard before. A collection of various songs on each phone reel. There are many of them in the library. Probably all transferred to digital years ago. I hope that answers your question and sheds some light on how they did things in the early days. Part of the Capitol history. Best, Ron So, from Ron's description, phono reels were made to cut singles. I assume that these particular phono reels from the "In The Wee Small Hours" sessions were created and used to cut the 4 volume, 4 song "singles" Capitol released back in 1955. It's likely to sound very good as a result.

I got to see/hear her perform with Lou several times and she was great. Gone too soon. I edited this to add Mike's picture from Facebook. Mike Ledonne's post on Facebook: My dear friend, Akiko Tsuruga, has passed away. Her departure was much too soon and too sudden, and it's one of those moments that is very hard to wrap your head around. She had been ill for the past year, but I had no idea that she was declining until yesterday, when I was informed she was in the hospital, and then this morning I saw that she had passed. I met her over 30 years ago when she was still in high school in Japan. I was playing with Milt Jackson's Quartet in Osaka, and somebody set up an after-hours performance/master class for a bunch of young students at a place called "Subway". At one point, this young lady raised her hand and asked me how I was able to accompany Milt Jackson when he played his out-of-tempo intros. I was surprised anyone there asked me anything because on the bandstand with me were great masters like Bags, Bob Cranshaw, and Mickey Roker. My answer was brief and to the point. I said "Listen". She would always remind me about that. Fast forward years later, and I'm playing at Showman's with my old buddy, and great tenor player Jerry Weldon, and these 2 young Japanese ladies came in and sat right at the front of the bar. This was the night of Akiko's arrival in New York City. They were there all night, and I found out Akiko was an organ player, so I let her sit in and was impressed with all she already had together on the instrument. We became lifelong friends and colleagues. I would go see her play with Lou Donaldson, and both Lou and Akiko would come to see me when I was at Smoke every Tuesday. She was always a very humble and sweet person with a big, beautiful smile. She was also very close with Dr Lonnie Smith, who was a mentor to her. Together, we organized a birthday concert over Zoom for Dr Lonnie when he was ill and couldn't get out of bed. All of the great organ players in NYC and the surrounding areas went down to a performance space in New Jersey that had a Hammond Organ. Dan Kostelnik, a great player who lives in Jersey, brought a second Hammond so we could all play together with the different rhythm sections. It was a great day of organ music with at least 11 or 12 organ players playing for Lonnie as he watched from his home. He absolutely loved it, and we loved him. That is how the organ community is, and Akiko was the Queen of the community. She had so much energy in her playing, and the longer she lived here, the deeper her playing got. Her bass lines were right in the pocket, and it was wonderful to hear her growth and watch her ascend to becoming one of the best organ players in the world. She tirelessly schlepped her keyboard and gear from place to place for her gigs. When she played, you could see the joy on her face because she was living her dream. She married another old and dear friend of mine, the great trumpet player, Joe Magnarelli. We all thought Joe would be a lifelong bachelor, but Akiko changed all that. Mags fell in love with her, and they settled down together. To my ears, Akiko's playing got even deeper after that point. She was no longer trying to be an organ player like the greats; she was one of the greats. We were both playing at the Vail Jazz festival a couple of years ago, and the picture is from our Gondola ride to the top of the mountain, where I wound up getting a pretty bad sunburn even though it wasn't that hot out. Renee Rosnes came with us and took that picture. We were like the 3 Musketeers that weekend, and we had so much fun that we tried to keep it going when we got home, but, of course, with busy schedules and life's responsibilities, we never did. I can't believe Akiko is gone. Of all the people I know, she was the last one I would have thought would get so ill that we would lose her, but that is the case, and I'm very sad to lose her. This one hurts. My heart goes out to Joe Magnarelli and to Akiko's family. Never take life or friendships for granted because you never know if you'll see each other again! R.I.P Akiko - you did GREAT!

I had tickets to the show last night but had to back out at the last minute. I heard from the person who used my tickets that it was very good, especially Harris. I attended quite a few shows at the Regattabar when Barron played with Getz but it sold out quickly and there was no such thing as a secondary market back then.

Kid Rock couldn't cover Billie Holiday but I think they'd be ok it if he did a cover of Gary Glitter's "Rock And Roll".