Kevin Bresnahan

I've been running low on storage space for a while now, so it's almost a good thing that Blue Note took this weird stance on their hot cuts. They've saved me a bunch of money.

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/oklahoman/name/hugh-walker-obituary?id=27591505 For those that don't want to follow the link: Hugh Walker Obituary Memorial services for Hugh Walker, Jr. will be at 11:00 A.M. on Saturday, January 9, 2008, at Temple and Sons Funeral Home, 2801 N. Kelly Ave., Oklahoma City, OK. Hugh was born in Purcell, OK on November 22, 1942 to Hugh and Mae Ella Hill Walker and died on Tuesday, January 15, 2007, at Sweetbriar Nursing Center. He grew up and attended schools in Oklahoma City where he discovered his musical talent. He started with the French horn and later discovered his favorite, the drums. Years later, he stated, 'I love those drums like Michelangelo loved his marble.' After graduating from Douglass High School in 1960, Hugh left Oklahoma City to pursue his musical career. He played and recorded with many local, national, and international jazz greats. He was preceded in death by his mother and father and his youngest brother, Glen. He is survived by his son, Hamza (Stephanie) of Chicago, IL; daughters, Rhonda Richardson of Baltimore, MD, Nyemah of North Hollywood, CA; their mother, Rosetta of Baltmore, MD; and grandchildren, Eva and Milo of Chicago, IL. He is also survived by brothers, Wilbur (Tomycine) of Oklahoma City, William (Helga) of San Antonio, TX; sisters, Huretta Dobbs and Joyce (William) Dunlap of Oklahoma City; special cousin, Don Miller of Spencer, OK; many nieces, nephews, aunts, cousins, and many friends. He loved and was loved by many. I found it a little odd that they held the funeral almost a full year after he died.

If you're OK with downloads, Urbie Green's "A Cool Yuletide" is pretty awesome. The only negative is that it's very short.

I already had the Pure Pleasure LP at that point and I agree that it sounds fine.

I changed over to that myself after having Blue Note refuse to fix a couple of very hot cuts in their LP reissues. When they acknowledged it on their Tone Poet of "Picture of Heath" and basically said, "Sucks to be you", that was my cue. This is how Blue Note addressed the issue: We’re aware of the complaints about the Tone Poet Vinyl Edition of Chet Baker & Art Pepper “Picture of Heath” from some customers who are experiencing skipping on side two, while for most it plays fine. We’ve looked into it and have determined there is no defect with the pressing. It is however a very dynamic recording and Joe Harley & Kevin Gray don’t use any limiting or compression in their mastering approach. That can expose the need for some adjustments to be made with particular turntable set-ups. For instance, we’ve found that customers who adjusted their tracking force and anti-skate (even slightly reducing both), and made sure their turntable is level, no longer had playback issues. We hope this helps!

Groove Holmes had no problem having women on his covers.

Interesting arrangement, but man, that reverb! What the heck was the recording engineer thinking with adding that much echo? It makes it sound like they're playing in a huge cave. It has an almost "lounge music" sound.

I was barely 20 when Stitt stopped playing live and much more likely to be found at a rock concert than a Jazz club.

Another HighNote Christmas recording that you can only download as an mp3 from Amazon. Plus, their website is pretty much dead, with their new releases section dating to 2023.

When I talked with Michael about those LT album covers, he seemed generally pleased with them. That said, he did admit that it was partly budgetary and that he would not have reissued any of those titles with those covers. He actually laughed when I told hm that the Japanese reissued a bunch of them using those covers.

I don't know that Blue Note will use that Connoisseur CD cover. They've been re-designing many (most?) of Patrick Roques covers for some reason. Someone over on the Hoffman forums claimed to know why this is happening but says that he was asked not to relay the rationale behind this. Maybe Roques managed to get a copyright for that particular use, so it can't be used for a different use without further compensation?

Michael Cuscuna told me that Stitt & Gordon were obviously very drunk at that session and that this tune was the only one he found from that date that was releasable. Given that other "unreleasable" stuff has been released since Michael left, I'm sure there's a chance that more stuff like this will see the light of day.

Jed Levy - Faces And Places (A Life in Music). So far, a very interesting CD. Take a listen at his bandcamp page: https://jedlevyquartet.bandcamp.com/album/faces-places

Jimmy Greene - As We Are Now (Greene Music Works). Nice date by Jimmy. Here it for yourself at his bandcamp page: https://jimmygreene1.bandcamp.com/album/as-we-are-now

I always wondered what the story was with this goofy cover. I get that it was before advanced photo editing but still... just plunking a picture of Elvin into it seems strange even then.