Jazz for aficionados

Out of curiosity, have you ever heard a great, intelligently assembled audio system?

Nope, I live in a cave, therefore never heard of it.

Oh, except probably electrostatic speakers, I understand.

Yeah, blind test no problem. But for Frog we will make it a little more difficult. He will be listening from another room, with all doors open, of course. As a side note, good system should maintain its character when listened to from another room. Well, unless the whole place is not acoustically weird, I would add.

Well after reading frogman and Inna posts I’m inclined to believe that the speaker wires can make a difference. And the power conditioner as well.

I don’t know if they will make a difference with my JBL Studio L890 front speakers. What do you guys think? I was thinking of upgrading my front towers.

BTW frogman I posted that Roy Haynes video about 2 weeks ago. Kenny Garrett plays a really long improvised solo on the alto and Roy's solo kicks a*s

Yes. And....?

Just wondering frogman if you or anyone else here watches his video's on audio gear.

Funny, all my high end cables were trade-ins, and I've stuck with them.  Saved a lot of $$$ thanks to the types who are eager to spend more in almost no time.  My Cardas balanced interconnects are awesome and I paid something like $350 for the pair (and they're pretty long).  They were only months old.

Frogman, digging the Corea/Haynes/Garrett/McBride concert as I type this.  Looked it up, and it happens that yesterday was Haynes' 96th birthday.  A life well lived, that's for sure.

Yes. And....?

Did anyone watch the Kevin Deal video for the power conditioner?

Marija, I am devastated 😊. Please don’t misunderstand, I don’t believe that any of this is necessary to appreciate the recorded music, but it will surely enhance it.  Out of curiosity, have you ever heard a great, intelligently assembled audio system?  Perhaps you think I and Inna are just delusional?  I’ll take that blind test any day of the week.  Actually, I have on a couple of occasions and have proven the point.  

Never tried cables that expensive. Among other things, why do you think so much music was poorly recorded ?  Bad cabling. Also bad wall current. If you try to record Amati or Stradivari, to convey what they are capable of, you should have top equipment, including cabling. Nothing happens without signal transmission. And of course it should be analogue tape recorder.

It is not that simple, that is true. And I can understand the price of 1000 but 7000? Blind test, please.

Mary, it is not that simple and not only less noise. I don't waist money, believe you me.
Now where do I find $4k to get me Accuphase class A power amp ?
No idea but it will come to me, I am sure it will..

Back to music.

pjw, you are right...I would like to give them blind test too.

Up to certain amount, there is the difference.

You ask for very expensive ones? Well, little less noise surely, but the ear that would actually notice that there is the difference - does not exist.

A way to get more money out of people, for sure.

On my cable question, those were the part of the answers from a person with high knowledge in many areas including math, physics...

Thanks for the tip.  Diamond it is!

Well, Frog, you would be in trouble if you heard my Nakamichi deck with three sets of cables from the same company - Wywires. To my regret, I had to keep top of the line Diamond. Used, of course, but still it was over $1k. You would've had to do the same, your hearing should be much better than mine. Big difference. Anyway, if you ever consider Wywires cables, it's only Diamond for you. It is also better than Purist Audio Neptune, by the way.

pjw, we usually agree on what matters most, the music. However, I don’t agree that some cases, some very expensive audio cables (and other gear) that is well matched to the gear it is connecting does not make a very significant and very audible difference in the sound of one’s system. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a cheapskate and would never spend thousands on cabling, it’s used gear for me; but I have heard what great cables can do in a great system. With the less lofty range of cabling, usually a few generations old, that I indulge in there have been great improvements. Worth it? Absolutely! Are $3k cables worth it? Very personal decision and out of my league. As I said, totally dependent on the quality of the overall system and the care with which it was assembled. Moreover, while I agree that some so called “audiophiles” are pretty clueless about much of this stuff, I know some very reasonable audiophiles who happen to be very good listeners and most tend to also be serious music lovers. Me? I prefer to not attach labels like audiophile or aficionado to myself. That’s just me. Generalizations are seldom a good thing.

Best.

Had this playing while I wrote. Roy Haynes, 86 years old! Astounding.

https://youtu.be/-K43sDNInSg

Some people are very critical. These are the ones that call themselves "Audiophiles" They will spend 2,500 - 5,000 on a pair of 8 foot speaker cables and another 2,500 - 5,000 on a power conditioner. These people that spend this money will swear up and down they can hear the difference in the quality of the sonics with these expensive accessories although I would like to do a blind test using the same equipment with or without and see if this is true.

With all that said If I was a dot com millionaire of hedge fund owner I might be buying these gadgets as well and if you have money like that hey why not?

I love watching this guy Kevin Deal. He has got to be a heavy marijuana user believe me I know.

AudioQuest Niagara 3000 Low-Z Power/Noise Dissipation System – Upscale Audio

Audio Quest "Mythical Creature Firebird" speaker cable. 

One 3 foot long cable - 7,000 or "just" 389.00 per month!

AudioQuest Mythical Creature Series FireBird ZERO Full-Range / Treble – Upscale Audio

Inna, thanks for the tip. I knew something was wrong.

Cheers

Paco:

Are we suppose to laugh or cry?? A lot of notes, saying absolutely nothing.

What's wrong, dear? Your shoulders are so tight (standing near and making the gentle massage), surely too much computer time...Let me make you some tee (just in case I have plastic cups too). Green or black? Tea I mean...

Laughing...

Paco:

Are we suppose to laugh or cry??  A lot of notes, saying absolutely nothing.

Cheers

No, by that time Paco could no longer play as he did in the past.
This is a poor quality recording made with a phone but you can hear enough.  Incredible performance, even for Paco, never heard anything like that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH-aV9eWP20&list=FLHAEL8Iwz684WaGFx1rQchA&index=171&ab_c...

This is very common for flamenco guitarists. I saw so many concerts of John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucia on youtube. I also heard Paco live once, I think it was in 1988, great performance and great sound. His Conde Hermanos guitar was an incredible instrument.

Another wonderful performance, beautifully filmed.

Note Paco's use of a capo on the 2nd fret in the opening piece, as a soloist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYYDdn1rRKs

Inna, that's interesting.  I found McLaughlin's tone fascinating on that track.  Certainly unusual, but I thought of it as an exploration of something different, not a negative.

I saw Nina Simone, Herbie Mann, and Miles Davis on the same program in Chicago in 1968. It was the same Summer they had that police riot in Chicago, that’s how I know it was the Summer of 68.

Nina Simone stole the show, while Herby Mann came in 2nd place. Miles came in "What tha..?". I didn’t know who he was, dressed in a cowboy leather vest with the long fringes; that’s all I remember, the vest with the long fringes. The music was also "What tha"? This was his first public outing of "Bitches Brew". That album was recorded in 69, and released in 1970, but I saw and heard the music in the Summer of 68.

I was with three other guys, from; Bed-Stuy, New York, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and somewhere in Iowa. The guy from New York explained Miles new music. I thought it was still rough around the edges and not quite ready for prime time.

I’m bringing this up in defense of "Herbie Mann", I think he’s a dynamite jazz musician, plus that, he was dressed in a fashion that my own wardrobe came to duplicate; a light tan suit, brown shirt with big collar outside of coat, and highly polished burnished chestnut brown boots; he was clean.

That was a long time ago and the only music I remember specifically was Miles, and that’s because it was "What tha..."?


Herbie Mann can get into some boss grooves, here’s one;


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1tWrztN3F4


and before that "The Common Ground";


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw0ckq36BiA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MLBfibxoeg



Herbie Mann also got into a lot of "funky" popular grooves later on that I liked. There is so much good jazz that we have yet to explore.

Terrible performance by McLaughlin and the rest. That’s not how it should be played, not even close.
And everyone here knows that I am a big McLaughlin fan. His guitar sounds wrong too, it has no character.

A wonderful performance, beautifully filmed. 

Indeed.

Good Grief, if you weren't thinking on actual goose, I have just googled it.

"What is the point of goose stepping? In a standard goose step, found in large military parades, the pace is done at a quick march and the leg is raised only to knee-height, or even to calf height. The lower goose step improves balance and unit cohesion at the tempo of a quick march."

Something like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCLp7zodUiI

A wonderful performance, beautifully filmed.  McLaughlin at Berklee.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHbLq694PoU

Good Grief!!

Queen Mary wants to dance, not goose step.

Doing it, in Zagreb!!


burn baby burn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pG8TyIEAqps

rock steady
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gWHD54GXmk

58 blues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87fI8zwsfQI

on broadway
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQdiEe7TkfI

your precious love
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly60COUeTjs

war is coming (blues version)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0uytyTADT8

Cheers

O-10, you already know that I do not like the memories...

Thanks, Inna.  Fantastic Camaron! 

I was involved with my brother in making a live dvd of Scotty at the Capitol Theatre in Macon, Ga. It came out great, full video and audio production crews. Brother did it all at his cost including mastering and pressing about 1000 dvd's. Gave away a lot of them, Scotty sold some. I nor my brother even have a dang copy! Gave away my last one thinking we had more. My very best friend and guitar savant Dwight May plays second guitar with Scotty that weekend. Two shows iirc. As for the cost, brother says "I have friends that spend $40k on bass boats and fishing gear... "

Scotty Anderson, a dear fellow if there ever was one. Playing It Don't Mean a Thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eWvOLd9AQA

Although life is dancing around you, you still have all those wonderful memories when you were the "Disco Queen".


          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqS4aNi0HQY




          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUID0jSh2Ic



There was a club in Atlanta called "The Candy Store" that had a dance floor exactly like that one in "Saturday Night Fever".

Let's just disagree to agree on that one. :--)

I disagree. The older I get the more audience I need , and life and me are dancing around each other. What exactly we are dancing is hard to tell, though.

Dancing is like making love with yourself when everybody else is watching you. This does not apply when you dance with somebody else of course. Because in that case you make love with your dancing partner while everybody else is watching you. When I was younger, I wanted to be a dancer. Funny how life "brings you down", ’cause the older you get, the less audience you need and life is dancing mostly around you, instead of you, dancing around.

It’s Saturday! But nobody is at the disco, omg, what shall I do with my brand new dancing shoes:

https://youtu.be/JdXecuVl7_4

What is she saying ? We better ask Frog, he might know.

Noo, that is for Rok. 

First time I’ve ever seen him use a capo - I’m sure he did it often, but it’s a novelty for me.

Yep, not usual position. But that’s clearly because of the singer. It lets Paco to adjust the key he is playing in, in order to match with the voice of the singer better, otherwise he would have to play (meaning learn to play) the piece, transposed in another key.

Capo lowers the action on the guitar (by pressing the strings more near to frett board), sometimes making the playing harder. Anyway, Capo is so dam* practical.

********
And thanks inna. It is always nice to listen the master of the guitar.

баяр хүргэе

Omg, he talks so many languages...
:--))

My poor Vache, you must wait at least +30 years before they start to like you. With jazz is sometimes like with a wine...well, you know how it goes...