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Victor Christensen

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Eh, Venus Records only puts out hard bop albums with guys like that boring Eric Alexander. They're not worth the money. If they were any good, I'd buy a few. As it is, I bet I only have 50 or so. :P

Disappointed to read the word "boring" next to Eric Alexander's....i'm trying to save some money to buy the Venus Ballads albums : is there anyone else who would have an opinion about them?

Thanks

They don't have sarcasm in Brussels? Kevin is most assuredly a fan of Eric Alexander, and of Venus vinyl.

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Eh, Venus Records only puts out hard bop albums with guys like that boring Eric Alexander. They're not worth the money. If they were any good, I'd buy a few. As it is, I bet I only have 50 or so. :P

Disappointed to read the word "boring" next to Eric Alexander's....i'm trying to save some money to buy the Venus Ballads albums : is there anyone else who would have an opinion about them?

Thanks

Boring is his middle name.

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Eh, Venus Records only puts out hard bop albums with guys like that boring Eric Alexander. They're not worth the money. If they were any good, I'd buy a few. As it is, I bet I only have 50 or so. :P

Disappointed to read the word "boring" next to Eric Alexander's....i'm trying to save some money to buy the Venus Ballads albums : is there anyone else who would have an opinion about them?

Thanks

I am a big fan of that boring Eric Alexander. Big big fan. I was being as sarcastic because of the many threads we've had here where others have expressed less than enthusiasm for Eric's playing.

The cheapest place to find Eric's Venus CDs is on eBay. Dusty Groove carries a few for around $22.

If someone is looking for cheap Venus CDs on ebay, check the Korean seller who sells under the name cat-chop. No Eric Alexander CDs, but plenty of other good ones. They are licensed to Kang & Music in Korea and for some reason are a lot cheaper there.

Kevin

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If someone is looking for cheap Venus CDs on ebay, check the Korean seller who sells under the name cat-chop. No Eric Alexander CDs, but plenty of other good ones. They are licensed to Kang & Music in Korea and for some reason are a lot cheaper there.

Kevin

Isn't that because Venus has a distribution (manufacturing?) deal with the Korean outfit kangmusic?

Bought a couple of Venus albums samplers clearly marked 'For Korean Music fans'.

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If someone is looking for cheap Venus CDs on ebay, check the Korean seller who sells under the name cat-chop. No Eric Alexander CDs, but plenty of other good ones. They are licensed to Kang & Music in Korea and for some reason are a lot cheaper there.

Kevin

Isn't that because Venus has a distribution (manufacturing?) deal with the Korean outfit kangmusic?

Bought a couple of Venus albums samplers clearly marked 'For Korean Music fans'.

Yes, that's what I meant to say above. They are officially licensed product. The Kang & Music CDs I bought from cat-chop are all clearly marked "Not for distribution in Japan". There are several Korean sellers and all of them offer some great deals. The Eddie Higgins two-fers for $13.99 are a steal (if you like that style of music). Some are gold CDs, even though the eBay listing doesn't say so. I have bought several CDs from cat-chop and they were as advertised.

Later,

Kevin

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I have the three Lonnie Smith trio discs on MusicMasters that were leased from Venus and the strange thing is "Foxy Lady" is mastered a lot lower than "Purple Haze" and "Afro Blue". I really like the albums, but the organ seems mixed too far back into the right channel, well right of center on "Foxy Lady", and whenever Lonnie hits the preset for all stops out, the top end seems a little shrill.

Edited by CJ Shearn
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Not Venus, but the seller.

Ahhh, yeah, cat-chop used to have a whole bunch of mini-LP OJC K2s a while back for around $5-7 each. I picked up a bunch. They also used to carry the mini-LP versions of some of the Akiyoshi/Tabackin Big Band's RCA material for about $8 each. I don't know how cat-chop sells their stuff so cheap and manages to make enough to stay in business.

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anybody else besides Jim and myself like the Lonnie Smith titles?

I quite like them but I'm not greatly enamoured of Abercrombie's impressions of Hendrix. I think a different guitarist would have been more enjoyable for me. There's lots of Dr Lonnie that I greatly prefer. But props to Lonnie for doing this.

MG

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anybody else besides Jim and myself like the Lonnie Smith titles?

I quite like them but I'm not greatly enamoured of Abercrombie's impressions of Hendrix. I think a different guitarist would have been more enjoyable for me. There's lots of Dr Lonnie that I greatly prefer. But props to Lonnie for doing this.

MG

Really? who do you think would have been better suited for the project? Scofield, Frissell maybe even Johnny Mac? Abercrombie is on fire on all three of them.

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anybody else besides Jim and myself like the Lonnie Smith titles?

I quite like them but I'm not greatly enamoured of Abercrombie's impressions of Hendrix. I think a different guitarist would have been more enjoyable for me. There's lots of Dr Lonnie that I greatly prefer. But props to Lonnie for doing this.

MG

Really? who do you think would have been better suited for the project? Scofield, Frissell maybe even Johnny Mac? Abercrombie is on fire on all three of them.

Johnny Mac = John McLaughlin?

I don't like any of those three. Basically, they all sound like Rock guitarists to me. No reason why you have to have a Rock guitarist there, just because it's Hendrix' music you're playing.

If they'd got someone like George Freeman in there, you'd have had a quite different approach to that music, which I personally would have found more valuable.

MG

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yes, McLaughlin. Frisell is great with tone colors. Those guys don't sound like rockers to me, sure rock influence but theres so many more influences mixed in, and they have unique takes on the harmonic and rhythmic vocabularies I think Kurt Rosenwinkel would make an interesting fit for Lonnie, even Pat Metheny, his playing is derived from bop, but he has a bop vocabulary all his own, mixed with the Americana and pop influences he loves. I've never heard George Freeman's playing though.

Edited by CJ Shearn
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yes, McLaughlin. Frisell is great with tone colors. Those guys don't sound like rockers to me, sure rock influence but theres so many more influences mixed in, and they have unique takes on the harmonic and rhythmic vocabularies I think Kurt Rosenwinkel would make an interesting fit for Lonnie, even Pat Metheny, his playing is derived from bop, but he has a bop vocabulary all his own, mixed with the Americana and pop influences he loves. I've never heard George Freeman's playing though.

I think George is completely off to one side. I don't think he's like anyone or even any movement in jazz or other kind of music.

MG

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yes, McLaughlin. Frisell is great with tone colors. Those guys don't sound like rockers to me, sure rock influence but theres so many more influences mixed in, and they have unique takes on the harmonic and rhythmic vocabularies I think Kurt Rosenwinkel would make an interesting fit for Lonnie, even Pat Metheny, his playing is derived from bop, but he has a bop vocabulary all his own, mixed with the Americana and pop influences he loves. I've never heard George Freeman's playing though.

I think George is completely off to one side. I don't think he's like anyone or even any movement in jazz or other kind of music.

MG

I just listened to "The Bump" on Youtube, his playing is pretty interesting definitely.

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I have a collection of 81 Venus CDs and SACDs. There is an obvious difference between the sound of those that are re-issues

from other labels and those recorded expressly for Venus. The sound on the re-issues is largely dependent on the quality of the original release. Those specifically recorded for Venus have to my ears excellent audio quality.

The Steve Kuhn and Eddie Higgins CDs on Venus are particular favorites.

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