I'm going to review records in my collection, and you'll be able to decide if they're worthy of your collection. These records are what I consider "must haves" for any jazz aficionado, and would be found in their collections. I wont review any record that's not on CD, nor will I review any record if the CD is markedly inferior. Fortunately, I only found 1 case where the CD was markedly inferior to the record.
Our first album is "Moanin" by Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers. We have Lee Morgan , trumpet; Benney Golson, tenor sax; Bobby Timmons, piano; Jymie merrit, bass; Art Blakey, drums.
The title tune "Moanin" is by Bobby Timmons, it conveys the emotion of the title like no other tune I've ever heard, even better than any words could ever convey. This music pictures a person whose down to his last nickel, and all he can do is "moan".
"Along Came Betty" is a tune by Benny Golson, it reminds me of a Betty I once knew. She was gorgeous with a jazzy personality, and she moved smooth and easy, just like this tune. Somebody find me a time machine! Maybe you knew a Betty.
While the rest of the music is just fine, those are my favorite tunes. Why don't you share your, "must have" jazz albums with us.
O10, no, not trite at all. See if this helps my point.
Had I never heard words to "Speak Low" then my feeling for any rendition would be based on the musical merits, other than what the title might suggest. But once I've heard the lyrics to any song then that hangs a context on it for me. That specific lyric suggest a subdued, intimate conversation. Your quoting those lyrics just reminded me for whatever of them I'd forgotten.
With that, Sonny and friends might have offered up a great number, except I was preconditioned for the mood simply based on knowing something of the words. So I found his tempo out of sorts, being too fast it was not intimate at all.
The tempo can be a major element within the number of things that make up an individual interpretation and his version simply didn't mesh for me. To further my point of my perception I offered another example. For me, solid blues with a lyric of lament is best taken at a slow pace and I picked that Albert King rendition to demonstrate.
You may see it differently but I hope that helps explain my view.
Interesting topic and interesting comments. Tempo IS a major element in the success of an interpretation; and regardless of genre. I had the same reaction as Pryso to one of the recently posted “Lazy Afternoon” clips. I then posted one that I felt was “a lazier Lazy Afternoon” to make the point.
This was my comment just a couple of days ago about tempo re a Classical work that was posted (sorry for the self-quote):
**** Now, and not meaning to get too “Zen” about this. Some pieces of music just seem to flow more at a particular tempo; arguably (but probably) the tempo, or very close to the tempo, that the composer intended. One of the many little mysteries in music performance. ****
Here is the composer of “Speak Low” himself and his chosen tempo:
"I have to see a definitive cut of the film before I even start thinking about the music, I tell the director what my feelings are and what I would like to do. He accepts what I say or discusses it or destroys it. Eventually, we have to find a compromise." E.M.
From nytimes:
"To many cineastes, Maestro Morricone was a unique talent, composing melodic accompaniments to comedies, thrillers and historical dramas by Bernardo Bertolucci, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Terrence Malick, Roland Joffé, Brian De Palma, Barry Levinson, Mike Nichols, John Carpenter, Quentin Tarantino and other filmmakers."
Thanks frog. So now my question: which came first, Weill's music or Nash's lyrics? I could see the music influencing the character of the lyric if Weill composed that first. Similarly if he was inspired by Nash's lyrics first then they in tern likely influenced his chosen tempo.
I hope I'm not splitting hairs here and can understand if others don't find this meaningful. For me it is simply something I've always felt in judging a performance.
mary_jo I appreciated your tribute to Morricone. For my taste he was one of the best.
I'll draw attention to my favorite among his works, "The Mission". It was not only well suited to the film and music I never tire of, but, dare I admit, as an audio hobbyist that became one of my best (most revealing) audition recordings. 1. My LP is wonderfully recorded with natural instrumental tonalities. 2 The album includes a broad variety of music, from symphonic and choral to simple acoustic pipes and percussion. 3. It offers wide dynamics and very good bass extension. 4. The soundstage is huge, extending outside the speakers. 5. It's fun!
But a caution. A few audio buddies heard it on my system and were impressed enough to buy the CD. Sorry, no comparison to the LP.
As I try to listen to my main man , Sonny Stitt , as I do this , I hears that he will sometimes use the tempo that an infantryman would use on a long march with a heavy pack, aka a humans walk .
I guess he gets away with it as he can stream a river of honey all day long and half the night .
No harm done. But this is how rumors start. ’Soundstage’ or ’wire’ is mentioned one day, and the next day rumors start. For instance, there is a particularly nasty rumor circulating now, that The Frogman, is an Audiophile!!! Can you believe it? I don’t believe it for a moment, but some people will, thereby casting a shadow of doubt on an otherwise impeccable / flawless musical reputation.
Only ones that said otherwise were a few dozen ladies .Mostly in Ottawa, Halifax and Montreal .
Couple in Germany and Japan , mostly General’s trophy wives .
4 ladies here in St Paul , who have looked at the painting between my speakers of Bharms at 50 and said .Who did that painting of you ?
P.S. that is NOT a joke , latest one was a 22 year old friend who had just graduated from MN State U , magna cum laude . I am not making it up ! Took her about 3 seconds to say it .Her little 10 year brother said so as well .
I checked out a couple of his videos. I like the guy too. Seems like a very nice guy with a calm and very measured way of explaining hi-fi basics (!). Perhaps a little TOO diplomatic with his “conclusions”, but does a nice job.
Well, “Lawdy, lawdy”, the cat is out of the bag. I believe you are a closet audiophile, Rok! A couple of takeaways from his “Hi-fi myths” video:
*** “Different cables do sound different” ***
(Duh!)
*** “Every manufacturer of amps, turntables, etc., will tell you that changing internal cables and other parts will result in changes in the sound even if the changes can’t be measured. Moreover, it would be arrogant to assume that just because it can’t be measured there is no difference in sound” *** (slight paraphrase)
Yup, you are turning into an audiophile!
Reminds me of a comedian’s routine that I heard years ago re the way John Boehner (remember him?) chose to pronounce his name instead of the way that it should be pronounced: “Dude, just embrace it!“
Today is the great (!) Hank Mobley’s birthday. To say that he was underrated is an understatement. I suppose it is to be expected when a tenor player lives in the shadow of Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane. Not exactly an innovator like Rollins and Coltrane, but always very distinctive and I love the beautiful logic of his story telling. Very prolific with twenty six (!) Blue Note records as a leader.
Someone here 😄 likes to proclaim “No blues, no Jazz”. Never a problem with Mobley. It could be said that he was a Jazz conservative. During the 60s’ big move in the music toward the kind of “progressivism” that would see Trane’s intergallactic travels and Miles’ fusion, Mobley stuck to his Hard-bop roots. Sadly, in spite of his huge talent he was a bit of a social misfit who couldn’t manage money and suffered from bad health. At the end of his life he was living at the Amtrak station in Philadelphia.
I’ve listened to the Brit Guru a few times , worthwhile .
There are a bunch of excellent musicians in the military bands just because they always have a gig and three hots and a cot .Those Master Chiefs on that great Navy Band. I put on and nobody looked at, make about 7,000 bucks a month. With health plan for him and his , with other little and that's , 10, 000 $$ .
George Mason U near DC has built a thriving Music School hiring them as they retire . Good military Pension , health care and another good paying job, you could do worse , a lot worse ..
At the end of his life he was living at the Amtrak station in Philadelphia.
So sad. I will never understand how these things happen. There should people whose job it is to teach people who come into a lot of money, what to do with it. Esp in the entertainment business and sports. The first lesson should be, whatever you do now to make money, there will come a day when people will no longer pay you to do it.
If I were just starting out, I might go into that business.
Very prolific with twenty six (!) Blue Note records as a leader.
I only have six of those, including the three you listed. No Room for Squares was the latest one.
rok , my spy’s tell me the Army is thinking of closing its Siberian base in Upstate NY , Ft Drum, home of the 10th Mountain Div .
Reason ; The rate of Lyme Disease is so high more guys end up in the hospital than did in Afganistand .Training is almost impossible , on base or off !
Is there Lyme disease at Hood ?
Folks who grew up in abject poverty often can’t handle money for emotional reasons . I wince when I see a newly drafted athlete buy his mama a 800 , 000 house , knowing if I was he , so would I .
And I’m noted for taking care of cash . Crucial word is ABJECT . Very different than poor .
Owning Polks and Blue Jeans wire, they would not let me in the door. I never separate the gear from the music. For instance, a person would have to explain to me how Coltrane playing Giant Steps would sound different, with different wire / gear. Speakers excepted.
And since my objective is to obtain sound that faithfully represents a good RECORDING of a musical event, high end gear would be wasted on me. As one wit at Stereo Review once observed, "Who would want the New York Philharmonic in their living room". Excellent point. I suspect we all just want our systems to sound like flawless recordings, not sound like 'LIVE'.
I would . I grew up in a house where the Syracuse Scottish , a band of 16 pipers and 6 drummers practiced twice a week in a small room and I sat there and eat it up . My two uncles who started the band, hauled me all over eastern Canada on the Highland Games route , at times a thousand pipers and drummers on the field.
P.S I shot my first deer at 12 , alone .About 30 after .Would try one more time but Lymein MN is BRUTAL . More dangerous than C19 really . You know, naming a base for some foreign Gen. who helped us in time of trouble is not a bad idea ,Fort Stuben, Lafayette ? Fort Kosciuszko gets my vote , might need his folks soon .
On Sundays, the local FM station plays Jazz on a program Called 'Big Band Sunday'. They played this tune, which I assumed was by a group from the 40's, most of what they play is from that era. I loved it, so I had my phone ask, what's the name of this song? The answer made me laugh out loud!.
1st Cav has about 3500 people there(Poland) now. The Poles want a permanent situation. Like the one in Germany. Our Glorious leader is threatening to move troops from Germany to Poland. Stay Tuned.
You’re have a point , rok .. But , the worse thing I ever heard in serious music was the day Dizzy passed . On late show Branford Marsalis and band sat there with stoic face when idiot whoever ran the show brought out Kenny G to honor Dizzy with a horrible five minutes , even worse than usual .
Yah , I read about the 3500 . Seemed to be logistic troops which make sense, but i’d like to see top Infantry Bn to watch over them . 173’rd never lost a fight .
**** I never separate the gear from the music. ****
Neither do some audiophiles. Who cares about the all too many “audiophile” audio-jocks for whom it’s all about the gear. The two interests can live side by side without interfering with the music; aux contraire. Hate to break it to you, to the “great unwashed” (to quote someone here 😎), with Polks and Blue Jeans, you my friend are an audiophile. It’s all relative.
**** For instance, a person would have to explain to me how Coltrane playing Giant Steps would sound different, with different wire / gear. Speakers excepted. ****
Do you cook? Ever use sea salt instead of iodized? If you have, then you have your answer. On a great steak (any dish) it gets out of the way of the flavor of the meat more. If it’s not the kind of thing you care about, and there’s nothing wrong with that, then don’t worry about it. It will still taste good with regular salt; just not quite as great. Personally, I prefer to be able to hear when Trane had a particularly great reed 😄.
I always use a Drake with my Selmer Mark V1. Expecting a call from WDR any day now . Have to use my Canadian passport this trip , no American civilians allowed till 2021, maybe later
I did not know that . I was buying a good Saxophone, for a niece I love dearly , who was going to music school at Indiana .(on my advice)
I called a friend who was a brass man in Navy Band and an excellent HS music teacher . He told me what to buy but not how much it would cost . No never mind , I would take out a $100, 000 loan for her .
When I began collecting records (for the music) I had a Steelman suitcase style portable with a 3" speaker, 4-speed BSR record player, "flip over" needle for LPs and 78s, AM radio, and some tiny tube amp with 2-3 watts if I was lucky. I didn't know any better.
Some years later in college a couple of friends put together "hi-fi" systems by buying each piece separately rather than something all-in-one. By that time too stereo recordings were common. I was blown away by how much better music sounded on their "systems".
Thus started a long and slippery path of selecting and upgrading individual components for my own system. I will admit that after many years I reached a point when I spent as much time "obsessing" over my system as I did listening to music. Then I came to my senses. As much as I enjoy the musical presentation of my system it is the music itself that provides the real pleasure.
To me , this classic speaks, a few mm down , of the plight of the several hundred thousand foreign students , from freshman to PhD, whose visas were voided by DC this July 6 , immediately, because their college’s and universities had with hard work and great expense set up on-line classes that they might not be devoured by C/ 19 . https://youtu.be/fOUrnUktTjU?t=3
I dug this one up all by myself , really like it . Love the way Kelly plays , all star group to say the least . I can see Hank at train station, may God Bless and keep him . https://youtu.be/fVcrU6tvWGc?t=4
I thought you didn’t like Frank? Stylistic preferences aside, not sure I agree with that “salesmanship” assessment. I think his best sales were when he was in his Vegas “booze and broads” persona. Problem for me is that I hate that persona. The more tender and emotional stuff....never did it for me; a little too much “ain’t I important?” vibe for me. All that aside, that bassoon in the intro.......dude should have gone to Indiana 😊 Awesome Mobley!
The clip I chose was when his voice was going and when the foot steps of the grim reaper had driven him, in humility , back to the Church . Hear that clip again , what was left was an artist who knew , above all , why music is !My use of selling was too flippant ,but better things don’t come easy anymore .
I visited my niece several times at the Jacobs school , World Class in every way ! !For whatever reason it draws a lot of Swiss students . She married one and with her 3 kids lives near Zurich . Still a mid-west girl but a very elegant one .
The Selmer V1 I bought seemed to be the only new one in US (1991).It is a beautiful golden French assembled . X thousand more .Nothing too good for her .
I have noticed, for some time actually, that when I listen at my sweet spot, which is an equal distance from each speakers, the left channel always seems to be the dominate channel. Most of the musical information seems to come from the left speaker. This was true with all three different systems. The center of the sound-stage seems to be slightly to my Center-Left. Between the left speaker and the equipment rack, which sits in the middle.
The classical recording I played did not exhibit this. (Norrington's LvB 9th), but all the pop recordings did.
After a search, this has been discussed online, so I am not alone. Is this a common situation? And why?
Comments?
I did switch the outputs cables from my tuners, and the dominance went to the right.
I have a similar issue that has been annoying at times. First thing that comes to mind and what is the problem in my system is...no surprise, the room. Even though the speakers are equidistant from the room corners, the construction of my room is very different where the left speaker is situated vs the right. On the left is a load bearing brick wall with shelves holding a couple thousand lps. On the right, it is not a load bearing wall with a built in cabinet with glass doors and then large pocket doors. Left wall is very dense and the right wall is resonant and reflective. The rear half of the room is essentially the same. The sound is audibly thinner and brighter on the right side of the room; bassier and slightly louder on the left. Result is that center images lean slightly left,
Are there any major differences in the construction of your room left/right; or major differences re furniture or other items in the room left/right? Is the left speaker closer to that corner of the room or the left wall? If it’s any of the above then you can experiment with placement if possible or adding/removing large items in the proximity of the speakers.
However, if the problem is in one of your components:
You say that when you switched output cables on the tunerS that the problem switched sides. This suggests that the problem is a tuner output balance problem. But, ALL your tuners have the same problem? Highly unlikely. Interesting. You also say that your pop cds exhibit the same problem. Even more Interesting because this suggests that the problem is with your amp (integrated?). This is what I would do to trouble shoot:
You have to be VERY methodical every step of the way, First, eliminate the room. Listen with headphones. Do you still have the same problem? When you switched output cables, I assume you switched only at one end, not both. If you switched the cables at both ends and the problem went to the other side then it’s possible that the problem is one of the cables. I experienced a similar problem once that was the result of a bad solder joint in one of the cables; and another time it was the RCA output jack on a CD player that was about to fail. However, make sure that you listen to more than one recording; some recordings have less than perfect channel balance and can really confuse matters.
Try headphones and get back to us. Several more steps in the process.
I bought a great Croft pre-amp with dials for both left and right sound because in a 850 sq ft Condo my placement choice is VERY limited . To a large extent solved the problem , Left speaker is a meter from wall ,Right is 6 meters . As frog said , every recording is different , 2 dials can do a lot better than just one balance .
If I was young, just starting, and knew what I know now , I would go head phone . Every one says do the room , true enough. but in many situations for many people , just not possible .
P.S . Bad solder is OFTEN the problem . One reason I went for the not cheep Croft was because all the hand made hard wiring done by Mr Croft himself in England is a work of art . And the phono on the Micro 25 is sweet as well .. IMO being an audiophile or not is irrelevant . What matters is listening to serious LIVE music as much as you can and as often as you can .
Which however may be almost impossible in future .
To this day, one of the best and most memorable sounds from a stereo system that I have ever heard was years ago (early 90s) at the first NYC hi fi show. Celestion SL-700 monitors on what at first I thought were stands that were too low driven by Croft tube monos. I even remember the record that I had brought along Marriner/St. Martin ITF/Bach Concerto for oboe and violin C Minor on EMI. Gorgeous sound. Smallish soundstage, like sitting toward the back of the hall, but so tonally natural with amazing image stability and scale. Rhythmically fantastic. The antithesis of in your face, but as close to the real thing as I’ve ever heard.
Also at that show,I remember one of the weirdest very expensive sounds I ever heard. Sonny Rollins “Live at the Village Vanguard” on the Jadis “Eurythmy” horn speakers. Some ungodly price for such weird sound.
You got it frog . Croft is 3 things , musical. musical and musical ! I am close to dropping down 1500 $ for his 40 watt amp that goes with my pre .My large Quad S5 speakers 3 way with 4 drivers in front and 3 ABR in back are not easy to drive nor all that hard either . My current Belles 150A reference MK II does well .
My brain says no , but my heart says 40 Croft SS watts are in there with a Pass or Cory Tube 40 . Boy , how I remember that EMI Bach , lost in move .Those who referred to Marriner as a " Kapellmeister", and there were many, were full of s..t .
Problem found. It's the local FM station. All systems play just fine, that is, all amps and CD players, except when the tuners play. Assuming all three can't have the same problem, and the problem moves when the RCA cables at the tuners are switched, it has to be the broadcast signal.
The pop CD that I mentioned is part of a 2 CD set of compilations, and are just badly recorded.
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