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Listening to a very interesting disc: David Murray and Balogh Kalman Gipsy Cimbalom Band featuring Kovacs Ferenc (on Hungarian Fono label, 2004).

Is there anyone here who speaks Hungarian and can tell if this label has distribution in the U.S.? I''d love to hear this one.

John, Fono website has an English page, if not a complete one. You can contact them directly: http://www.fono.hu/?page=magunkrol&content...hetoseg〈=en.

I see it's availabale at amazon.fr: http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000...0323877-0021819.

Edited by Д.Д.
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I've been listening a bit mor to Braxton's 23 Standards, and my initial negative impression only deepens...His playing on soprano (or is it sopranino) saxophone is shockingly close to embarassing on some tracks.

I still have two more CDs to go, so I can find something of interest in the set - so far I haven't.

I am amazed you wrote this before getting to disc #3. Their version of Brubeck's "Raggy Waltz" is horrible. I can't believe a track this awful, full of such obvious mistakes, is anything other than the result of a perverse sense of humor toying with the listener and mocking the tune being played.

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I've been listening a bit mor to Braxton's 23 Standards, and my initial negative impression only deepens...His playing on soprano (or is it sopranino) saxophone is shockingly close to embarassing on some tracks.

I still have two more CDs to go, so I can find something of interest in the set - so far I haven't.

I am amazed you wrote this before getting to disc #3. Their version of Brubeck's "Raggy Waltz" is horrible. I can't believe a track this awful, full of such obvious mistakes, is anything other than the result of a perverse sense of humor toying with the listener and mocking the tune being played.

Perverse, yes. Mocking? I don't know about that...

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Perverse, yes. Mocking? I don't know about that...

have you heard JSngry's BFT #27? If not, read some of the discussion on disc #1, track #5.

That might be what got the idea of "mocking" into my head.

I don't keep up with the BFTs, but I'll check it out.

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Gave Roswell Rudd's "Unheard Herbie Nichols Vol.2" (CIMP) a spin yesterday, and loved it! Great tunes, great bone playing, some serious fun!

With regret, I decided to refrain from further CIMP purchases (ubless it is somehting totally exceptional) - the CIMP sound really ruins the listening experience for me (exacerbated by my sound system being far from optimal) - I really cannot understand how you can record music this bad in a studio setting. I never thought I would discard music based on sound quality alone (after all I have loads of really crappy-sounding Zappa bootlegs, which I enjoy listenig to a large extent to), but with every CIMP release I have it's the same story - drums are banging lound, bass is flat and nearly inaudible, reeds are extremely flat and colorless. "Superb dymanic range" results in my having to adjust the volume all the time - I either don't hear shit, or it is too lound (and muddy). (Rare) CIMP recording sessions outside of Spirit Room (with piano mostly) are somewhat better, but still are far from good.

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I don't like the sound on the first CIMP discs I heard (the Rudd & Evan Parker), but you should try again with some of the better recent dates, where the sound is just fine: try Mark Dresser/Ray Anderson's Nine Songs Together, Adam Lane's Fo(u)r Being(s) & Zero Degree Music, James Finn's Faith in a Seed & Harris Eisenstadt's Jalolu for instances of CIMP dates where the recording is good & in some cases superb (the Dresser/Anderson in particular). & they're all really good music too.

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I don't like the sound on the first CIMP discs I heard (the Rudd & Evan Parker), but you should try again with some of the better recent dates, where the sound is just fine: try Mark Dresser/Ray Anderson's Nine Songs Together, Adam Lane's Fo(u)r Being(s) & Zero Degree Music, James Finn's Faith in a Seed & Harris Eisenstadt's Jalolu for instances of CIMP dates where the recording is good & in some cases superb (the Dresser/Anderson in particular).  & they're all really good music too.

OK Nate, I'll go with Dresser/Anderson - this will be an ultimate litmus test ;).

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Maybe CIMP's slogan should be "Sound so good that the average ear can't hear it."

I have the Rudds and agree that they're hard to listen to because of their extremely wide dynamic range. But I can't bring myself to get rid of them because I am a Rudd fan and a Herbie fanatic.

I haven't ruled out further CIMP purchases, either.

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You kept the Rudd discs for the music? I dunno--I found vol. 1 incredibly frustrating: two long & dull solo pieces at the end & a promising tune at the beginning thrown away on a not-terribly-interesting drum solo. I guess I got the disc largely because I wanted to hear new Nichols tunes &was disappointed that many of them was delivered in such a way one really got little idea of what they "ought" to sound like.

The guitarist & drummer seem to have sunk back into obscurity after that session, for whatever reason.

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OK Nate, I'll go with Dresser/Anderson - this will be an ultimate litmus test ;).

Yeah, that's a really nice one. Man, can those guys swing hard without any drummer at all.

Hey, I'm not going to issue an apologia for the CIMP sound--I frankly don't care about audiophile stuff one way or the other, & there indeed have been CIMPs where I found the sound unsatisfactory (sorry Bob), or just didn't like the music much even if the sound was OK. But I think all the discs I named above should be at least acceptable even if you don't buy into the CIMP statement of purpose. The Dresser/Anderson is I think the one where the recording style really does pay off.

Been listening to the Barry Guy disc Dakryon (a mix of 17th-century material & Guy originals--worth checking out) & the BGNO Oort-Entropy, which I found kind of all-right-but-not-stimulating. Hard not to compare it to the LJCO, & think of the warmth & passion that players like Trevor Watts, Paul Dunamall & Simon Picard brought. (Mats Gustafsson & Agusti Fernandez may make an impressive racket but they're a bit cold, to my ear.)

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David, I had to adjust the volume pretty often as well... I listened to the disc loud, but still it got way too loud at several moments...

Whatever, next CIMP is that Dunmall I mentioned having bought. That one's of more recent vintage, so maybe the recording is better?

The other CIMP I know is the Frank Lowe Body & Souls or what's it called... terrific playing there, but indeed a bit flat recording (and problems with recording the bass... nicely accredited to the bass player on the back of the disc...)

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The other CIMP I know is the Frank Lowe Body & Souls or what's it called... terrific playing there, but indeed a bit flat recording (and problems with recording the bass... nicely accredited to the bass player on the back of the disc...)

This is one of the first CIMPs. Bass is nearly inaudible on my stereo.

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You kept the Rudd discs for the music?  I dunno--I found vol. 1 incredibly frustrating: two long & dull solo pieces at the end & a promising tune at the beginning thrown away on a not-terribly-interesting drum solo.  I guess I got the disc largely because I wanted to hear new Nichols tunes &was disappointed that many of them was delivered in such a way one really got little idea of what they "ought" to sound like.

The guitarist & drummer seem to have sunk back into obscurity after that session, for whatever reason.

I got the Rudd discs for the same reason you did and felt the same disappointment when I heard them.

I agree that volume 2 is better, but I haven't been able to get myself to break up the set. The collector in me, I guess.

It was a pretty perverse decision on Rudd's part to debut these unknown tunes with such skeletal instrumentation.

Edited by Kalo
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You kept the Rudd discs for the music?  I dunno--I found vol. 1 incredibly frustrating: two long & dull solo pieces at the end & a promising tune at the beginning thrown away on a not-terribly-interesting drum solo.  I guess I got the disc largely because I wanted to hear new Nichols tunes &was disappointed that many of them was delivered in such a way one really got little idea of what they "ought" to sound like.

The guitarist & drummer seem to have sunk back into obscurity after that session, for whatever reason.

I got the Rudd discs for the same reason you did and felt the same disappointment when I heard them.

I agree that volume 2 is better, but I haven't been able to get myself to break up the set. The collector in me, I guess.

It was a pretty perverse decision on Rudd's part to debut these unknown tunes with such skeletal instrumentation.

Talking about Nichols' music interpretations, I remember this one being not bad:

BLCHP-cvr.jpg

Sound samples are here: http://www.k2b2.com/blue_chopsticks.html

Edited by Д.Д.
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You kept the Rudd discs for the music?  I dunno--I found vol. 1 incredibly frustrating: two long & dull solo pieces at the end & a promising tune at the beginning thrown away on a not-terribly-interesting drum solo.  I guess I got the disc largely because I wanted to hear new Nichols tunes &was disappointed that many of them was delivered in such a way one really got little idea of what they "ought" to sound like.

The guitarist & drummer seem to have sunk back into obscurity after that session, for whatever reason.

I got the Rudd discs for the same reason you did and felt the same disappointment when I heard them.

I agree that volume 2 is better, but I haven't been able to get myself to break up the set. The collector in me, I guess.

It was a pretty perverse decision on Rudd's part to debut these unknown tunes with such skeletal instrumentation.

Talking about Nichols' music interpretations, I remember this one being not bad:

BLCHP-cvr.jpg

Sound samples are here: http://www.k2b2.com/blue_chopsticks.html

I'd highly recommend that puppy.

When Nichols asked Neidlinger to one day see that his tunes got recorded with strings and horns , I'm absolutely sure that he didn't picture the raggedy bluegrass/western swing slant of these interpretations.

Still, they work for me.

Then again, as I hinted above, I'm a Herbie Nichols fanatic, and I appreciate just about any cover of his tunes, at the very least for the fact that they raise the man's profile that infinitesmal notch or two.

Seriously, this is a nice record.

Anyone hip to Duck Baker's finger-picked solo guitar tribute to Nichols, entitled

Spinning Song(Avant)? It's both beautiful and amazing.

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Anyone hip to Duck Baker's finger-picked solo guitar tribute to Nichols, entitled

Spinning Song(Avant)? It's both beautiful and amazing.

Don't think I've ever heard of Duck Baker. Sounds interesting!

More Nichols' music tributes (on Palmetto and Soul Note, respectovely):

B00005OW70.03.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

B00001X54F.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Anybody knows these ones?

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