Jazz, etc.

Part 2: (I was cut off ;) For the two of us who ...

2010-10-11T01:21:26.048-04:00

Part 2: (I was cut off ;)

For the two of us who still by CDs and LPs, we guffaw. Come over to our places, we say, let's grab an old favourite, spin it and enjoy a pint together. We get talking about the band in minutes, we listen attentively for numerous tracks, we invariably grab another album from the same band, or at least in the same genre. We dissect the liner notes like old times. We critique the band, the musicians, associative acts and then we usually stop talking, have a few more pints and listen to a few more albums, just listening. I'm always saddened after this when I see two of my friends in particular, leave. They are happy, they are glowing! They have that teen spirit I knew so well. But I know tomorrow they will go back to their DAPs, their multi-TB arrays, their online personnaes. They'll lose themselves in less than 24, lose themselves in a sea of electrons, a sea these two help to build as a profession. They lose themselves in the convenience they are trying to sell. The convenience that is stealing their souls.

This is a great read. I'm a research scientis...

2010-10-11T01:20:08.334-04:00

This is a great read. I'm a research scientist too, and I have a keen love of all things difficult, if only because I'm a luddite :)I picked this up from Audio Asylum and I agreed with you there and I figured I'd read through the entire write-up here.

I'm a vinyl addict. I'm also relatively young for one with such a passion for jazz and vinyl. I'm 34. I started into vinyl just after my first child was born, a little over five years ago now. One would think that with a newborn, the last thing one would want to attempt would be something that would add work to what could be said to be a stress reliever: listening to music.

The reason I wanted to try out vinyl is perhaps why a lot of burgeoning audiophiles want to test the waters: it sounds better. At least those are the claims. It turns out the claims are true, but more than that, the ritual is important. The ritual keeps one connected to the experience in a way that spinning a CD or worse still, queuing up a decade's worth of music via some media server simply can't match. There is something to be said about W O R K. There is also something to be said about connecting with multiple senses. Not everyone will agree but so far, by my count, the numbers are in favour of those that want to connect over those that don't. I've already dragged a few friends over to this dark side of life. The harder working side, but in the end they seem more satisfied. I wouldn't say I try to struggle through everything I do but in the things I enjoy, I tend to. Wine, photography, computers (I roll my own linux, not distro-centric, I mean from the kernel up!) and audio. I feel closer to the creators, closer to my peers and closer to myself, connecting with me on levels that would otherwise be wasting away from disuse. Call it lethargy of the brain, but I tend to think that folks who migrate to the facile on a regular basis waste away. My father-in-law is a great example. He's been a hard working man all his life but over the last five years or so, as he approaches retirement, the last thing he wants to do is anything that could be construed as work. IF he has to think he's already been burdened. He expects to retire within a couple of years and his goals are, to quote verbatim: "to do nothing." That's right! At the ripe old age of 57 he hopes to sit and do nothing until he literally wastes away into death. Given my research background, the numbers don't read well for him. Folks who do nothing die earlier than those who continue to do something, anything! or mostly.

My generation and the few directly behind me, those of my siblings really and a niece or two, they have been handed every technical whizbangdodad that is said to reduce some form of work, but what is really happening is that people are becoming more impersonal, more impractical at large and more disconnected with themselves. It's sad when I gather with my mates, early to mid thirty year olds, and they complain about feeling less than whole. Given my friends, my first and continual proclaimation is: "Disconnect yourselves!" Yank the plugs to everything and see the people around you. Get back to nature, go hiking, better yet go camping, real camping! Join a sports team, join a club that isn't a computer-centric one (for my friends anyhow). Do something with people! These guys are married, most of one child, and they feel lost and numb and lonely and are depressed. Some struggle to listen to music, something we all enjoyed as teens growing up. Why? Because the idea of flipping through 25 000 tracks is daunting. It's a chore now.

Yes.

2010-10-08T13:51:42.008-04:00

Yes.

Lynne? Lynne Seymour?

2010-10-05T15:01:49.244-04:00

Lynne? Lynne Seymour?

It appears that you and I are cut from the same cl...

2010-10-05T12:19:52.262-04:00

It appears that you and I are cut from the same cloth!! I am no luddite either, but I do love the meditative benefits of doing some things "the hard way". I got that from the kin that you and I have in common!! :-)

Hey Anonymous, Thanks for the comment and for the ...

2010-10-02T13:35:46.763-04:00

Hey Anonymous, Thanks for the comment and for the recommendations. I'll be on the lookout for them, for sure. Tomorrow's the Portland record show; I'll make a point of looking for more Johnny Griffin.

Take care, and keep commenting!

Jim

Killer LP! Great cover as well. $7 for a minty J...

2010-10-01T23:29:00.090-04:00

Killer LP! Great cover as well. $7 for a minty Japanese pressing is a steal. The Original Jazz Classics (OJC) reissue of this LP (which was a limited run) sounds just as good.

If your Johnny Griffin collection is a little thin here are some recommendations (in order): 1) Introducing J. Griffin - Blue Note; 2) Change of Pace - Riverside; 3) Little Giant - Riverside; 4) Blues for Harvey - Steeplechase/Inner City; 5) Way Out - Riverside

Jim, get busy and write some more...you generated ...

2009-12-19T14:15:32.958-05:00

Jim, get busy and write some more...you generated a bit of excitement!

Write about the latest music you've listened to. I pulled out a Blue Note CD last night (I don't care what folks say, the RVG CDs may not be the best sounding on the face of the earth but they sure aren't a bad listen). Grant Green with Hutcherson on vibes, "Idle Moments"

Did a great job with MJQ's "Django" which is one fine homage to a great musician. It's a composition I play, from various LPs, every time I lose a friend or family member or a Jazz great passes.

The New Orleans feel of "So sad You're gone" and then a segue into "But you don't have to put up with the sh** any more, you're with God" of that song is so dramatic it always brings a tear to my eye then makes me smile.

I think I like it well enough to blow bucks on a reissue, or if an older piece of vinyl's cheaper, I can live with a Liberty Blue Note.

Played a Kenny Burrell Liberty directly after "Idle Moments" and found it was loved a bit too much by its former owner...oh well.

A superb book, it will get you excited about Impul...

2009-11-30T18:17:28.789-05:00

A superb book, it will get you excited about Impulse LPs.

Your first should be Coltrane, "Live at the Village Vanguard." If you can listen to the first cut without getting weepy-eyed, you are one tough cookie. Definitely, at oleast for this white boy, an "I'm black and so blue" type piece of music.

I've been listening to a lot of music such as that lately, Nina Simone's "Pastel Blues" on Phillips is powerful stuff.

Just thought of another Impulse LP to search for, it's been reissued but I think it's one of the more important Jazz LPs so you should seek out Oliver Nelson's "Blues and the Abstract Truth."
Dr. Notathing

Riverside did some absolutely fabulous Jazz, but w...

2009-11-15T12:30:51.132-05:00

Riverside did some absolutely fabulous Jazz, but what I've been concentrating upon lately is the Impulse catalog. Unbelievably great stuff...one of the most important (in my 'never humble in the least' opinion) being Oliver Nelson's "Blues and the Abstract Truth"

What is really turning me on is the trend for new releases from companies such as Nonesuch who give you a CD along with your LP purchase...how good is that?

A CD I just bought of Oscar Peterson's "We get Requests" on First Impression Music K2HD (HDCD) is not only a superb Oscar and Ray Brown outing, but the silver discs that First Impression is doing will rival any LP I ever heard.

Doc Notathing

Dr. Notathing, Sounds like you've got a lot-t...

2009-11-14T21:10:59.592-05:00

Dr. Notathing,

Sounds like you've got a lot-things to offer and I look forward to learning more. I'm a babe-in-arms. I'm just learning. All I've got is love -- and that's a lot. Keep reading and responding.

Jim

I think the piano sounds just like Toussaint wante...

2009-11-14T21:03:26.715-05:00

I think the piano sounds just like Toussaint wanted it to sound; a bit recessed.

For me, the record (2) is a trip to modern New Orleans and its roots in Traditional Jazz (If you like the word Dixieland, that's OK, too). The traditional Jazz band had no piano, it was not easy to carry a piano while marching to a funeral, for instance.

At a gig, if they had a piano, fine, if not, no piano that night. While much music was written and performed for solo piano, it was still done in a place where you may have to duck your head as a bottle flew by. A hotel, a bar, the entire ensemble was the important part of the music, not solo. The entire band played, sometimes with breaks rather than true solo parts.

Thus the piano would have been placed toward the rear of the group, not in the front as modern Jazz groups would have it.

Or not.

Dr. Notathing