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Happy Birthday CD

October 25, 2002 in Articles

When the CD was launched twenty years ago many people believed the format wouldn’t last. Audiophiles lamented the introduction of digital recordings, protesting that they did not capture the complete sound wave. Initially, CD players were expensive when compared with turntables of a comparative quality.

However the CD was a success, largely because it was more convenient and longer lasting than conventional vinyl records. The CD didn’t skip, it was easy to clean, and you didn’t have to worry about dust getting into the tracks or track wear. CD’s didn’t buckle when you left them on the back seat of your car on a sunny day. We didn’t have to back up our CD’s onto tape to ensure that the sound quality did not degrade over time.

One interesting item from the article:

"Billy Joel's 52nd Street was the first CD to go on sale in Japan. Six classical discs from the Philips/Decca/DG catalogue were released in Australia on day one. They cost $18, more than an average LP but a lot less than the super-vinyl LPs that the buffs were buying."

Funny that, 20 years ago, albums were at $18. Isn’t that what they still are?

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Footsteps of our Fathers

September 11, 2002 in Reviews

bluesupanddown writes “I just bought Branford Marsalis’ newest release, “Footsteps of our Fathers,” and I thought that I would post my thoughts. First of all, this CD is a the first CD from Marsalis Music. The CD itself is made up of 4 tunes, 2 of which have multiple movements….”

Isn’t this the first CD out from Branford in years? I’ll have to pick it up now, I’m interested to see what he is up too….

“The tracks are made up of tunes written and recorded by legends. The first track is a tune called “Giggin’” by Ornette Coleman, the next 4 tracks make up “The Freedom Suite” by Sonny Rollins, the epic Coltrane composition “A Love Supreme” follows, then the recording ends with the MJQ tune “Concorde”.


When it comes to reviewing the CD, you have to remember that I do not do this for a living, so I cannot, and will not be as critical as some. I think that this CD is amazing. Of course, I am a huge fan of Branford. The best thing about this CD, and any Branford CD for that matter, is that you have no preconceived notions about what you are about to hear. Branford’s style is constantly evolving, which is remarkable, yet frustrating for those of us who are trying to get in his head and understand his approach.


If you enjoy Ornette, Newk, Trane, and/or the MJQ, or you enjoy the way Branford plays, then I strongly recommend this CD.”

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Pharoah Sanders

May 18, 2002 in Articles

adrian writes “I recently saw Pharoah Sanders play and was completely blown away by the power and intensity and sheer energy of his performance. For me, he is the only player carrying forward the spirit of Coltrane. Its almost like hearing Coltrane when you hear Pharoah play live.

I’ve been searching the web for info about his set up, etc, but there doesn’t seem to be much out there apart from an excellent discography at http://www.angelfire.com/id2/laotan/index.html
Does anyone have any info about Pharoah? Any interviews? How does he get those incredible sounds?”

I haven’t been a huge Pharoah Sanders fan. But I thought the story with him and mouthpieces was that he had a box/bag of them and would go through them and constantly change mouthpieces. Perhaps that was for someone else.

Nice discography. Any recommendations on which ones are the best ones to get?

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Collecting Brecker Albums

April 15, 2002 in Articles

seer writes “We all know Brecker has recorded on thousands of albums. I’m slowly starting to collect many of these. I was wondering anyone on here could point me to some I don’t have (Any genre etc is welcome! Anything he soloes on!). I was also wondering if anyone had any video of him when he was on saturday night live?

Here is what I currently have:””
Michael Brecker – Michael Brecker
Michael Brecker – Don’t Try This at Home
Michael Brecker – Now You See It, Now You Don’t
Michael Brecker – Tales from the Hudson
Michael Brecker – Two Blocks from the Edge
Michael Brecker – Time is of the Essence
Michael Brecker – The Nearness of You

Dreams – Dreams
Dreams – Imagine My Surprise

Steps – A Collection: Step by Step/Paradox
Steps – Smokin’ in the Pit
Steps Ahead – Steps Ahead
Steps Ahead – Live in Tokyo 1986
Steps Ahead – Modern Times
Steps Ahead – Magnetic

Chick Corea – Three Quartets
?? – Smokin’ Sounds
Joni Mitchell – Shadows and Light
Jim Beard – Song of the Sun
John Abercrombie – Night
John Abercrombie – Getting There
Kenny Wheeler – Double, Double You
Harris Simon – Swish
Mike Stern – It is what it is
Alan Pasqua – Milagro
Horace Silver – A Prescription for the Blues
Robert Jospe Inner Rhythm – Blue Blaze
David Benoit – Here’s to You, Charlie Brown!: 50 Great Years!

And of course the Brecker Brothers albums. Does anyone know of any others?”

Ah! Excellent question. He’s on these too:

  • Jaco Pastorius – The Birthday Concert (excellent stuff!)
  • Patrick Williams – New York Band
  • Brecker Brothers Albums (there are a couple)
  • Mel Lewis and Friends (Excellent Album!)

He is also on like every Mike Stern Album I have (Inside Outside(?)). He’s on Peter Erskine’s albums. He’s on John Pattituci albums. John Abercrombie – Live at the Village Vanguard. One of the most excellent albums, and in fact is the album that inspired me to play saxophone, is Michael Franks – The Camera Never Lies. Track 8, Doctor Sax. Changed my life there!

I’ll have to look in my studio for all the other albums that I have that he is on. Those are just off the top of my head.

You might want to monitor Comedy Central for reruns of saturday night live. They seem to be showing later shows, like 1988 on out. I know there was one excellent Quincy Jones show (musical guest I believe) where they did Manteca and Brecker had a great solo. I have it on tape somewhere in storage ( :-( ). I think Brecker was in the band when Eddie Murphy was on the show.

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The Best Jazz Albums on CD

March 31, 2002 in Articles

The Best Jazz Albums on CD is based on the 1980 book by Len Lyons entitled The 101 Best Jazz Albums: A History of Jazz on Records. It is an interesting list and different than Ken Burn’s Jazz recommendations. Len Lyons’ list seems a little more balanced.

Anyone have any recommendations that are not on this list? What about stuff after 1980? I think Steps Ahead needs to be on a post 1980′s list.

Here are some albums for the post 1980 list.

  • Stan Getz and Kenny Barron – People Time. Piano and saxophone. One of Stan Getz last recordings and one of his best. Great stuff.
  • Steps Ahead. Pop/fusion/jazz group. Brought the EWI out as an instrument in it’s own right.

I’ll think of some more.
Update: 04/05 09:46 GMT by E :

  • Stan Getz/Kenny Barrons – People Time
  • Joe Hendersen – Double Rainbow & So Near So Far
  • Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra

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Mark Douthit

March 25, 2002 in Reviews

Being an insomanic, I listen to a lot of radio or watch a lot of TV. I happened to be driving when I heard on KCBS some story about a first CD release by a Nashville saxophonist named Mark Douthit. So I went on KCBS‘s website and of course could not find anything about him. I went to the CBS website and looked. Nada (Nothing). So, I turned to trusty Yahoo and found him.

Mark Douthit has played on some like 8,000 recordings (I think that is what the radio story said. But then again I couldn’t FIND it online…). His CD sounds like something to get. I think this guy could be someone to watch. I like him already since he plays my favorite type of soprano.

Update: 03/26 11:12 GMT by E :Amazon,CDNOW, and Tower Records have the album.

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Flexible CDs

March 17, 2002 in Articles

Slashdot.org has an interesting story about a company called Flexstorm. Flexstorm has developed a new type of CD 1/10th the thickness of a normal CD, and its flexible. It also seems that since the CD is so much thinner, they can make twice as many in a period of time than normal CDs.

Now, thats cool, but I’d rather see something thats Flexible and scratch resistant. More of my CDs die do to scratches than breakage. Also, what about life expectancy of this type of CD?

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Tripod

January 19, 2002 in Reviews

I have never really been asked to review a band’s CD,but TriPod insisted on sending me a CD to listen to and review. They had some clips up on their website that I listened that perked my interest.

TriPod is a heavy metal band that consists of Bass, Drums and Sax. Thats it. No guitars, or keyboards. That alone was very interesting…..

I when I first listened to the CD, I had to remind myself that there were no guitars or keyboards. It sound VERY full with the instrumentation they have. I didn’t miss the “chordal” instruments at all. The band rocks!

I recommend this CD. Incident (Suite) or Four Winds, or Jerome’s Spotlight and definitely Grey Whisper are great songs. Keith Gurland plays great! John Klemmer influence? Awesome job Keith, you sound great. I hope the band records more cause the stuff you guys do is very cool.

I give it a 9.5 out of 10. (Um, I think Michael Brecker is the only guy who I give 10′s to, sorry ;-) ) My favorite track is Grey Whisper, track 9. If you do rock/pop gigs, get this CD and you’ll have LOTS of ideas. Keep up the work TriPod!

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CD Copy Protection and Support

January 17, 2002 in Articles

Copy protected CDs. Yes, they are coming thanks to the Universal Music Group. To prepare for the backlash they are likely to receive, they have a support site up complete with FAQ section and how to get a refund if the CD doesn’t work.

I doubt they will be doing this to any jazz CDs anytime soon, but still, the whole premiss of this sucks. I found this section of the site interesting. If you play it in your computer it launches its own player? Ok…..

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Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band – Swingin’ For The Fences

December 5, 2001 in Reviews

One of my students turned me on to this CD. Probably because we started playing out of a Dan Higgin’s Jazz Etude book. After listening to the CD, I had to have it. It features some awesome arrangements by Gordon Goodwin, and solos by Arturo Sandoval, Eddie Daniels, Eric Martienthal, Dan Higgins, and more.

I don’t have anything negative to say, other than you should have this in your collection. It’s a great sounding big band. 10 out of 10. Gordon Goodwin – Swingin For The Fences

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Pat Metheny – 80/81

September 10, 2001 in Reviews

seer writes “I recently purchased a CD I thought the jazz-sax community might enjoy. It’s 80/81 by Pat Metheny. Of course, it includes a great lineup of other musicians: bassist Charlie Haden, drummer Jack DeJohnette, and saxophonists Dewey Redman and Mike Brecker. Needless to say, those are some great names which you would expect a good CD from. Also, this CD is interesting because it was recorded in 1980 and considered by many to be the CD that established Pat Metheny as a great jazz musician in any sense–traditional, fusion, etc.

This CD doesn’t dissapoint. From the beginning it starts out with a medley of Two Folk Songs: 1st and 2nd. Michael Brecker plays some interesting multiphonics in his solo while Metheny strums. The second folk song is quite nice as Charlie Haden lays down the melody. The next tune is the title track: 80/81 It sets a brisk pace and Redman plays a fine solo. The third track of the first CD is one of my favorites, The Bat. Redman’s mournful tone will move anyone. The final song on this CD is the standard Turnaround. Again, they show off their chops by taking it quite quickly.

The second CD starts off with a track featuring all 5 musicians. A sort of forshadowing of future collaborations with Ornette Coleman the track seems to hover on the side of avante-garde. An interesting listen, it is appropriatly titled Open. The next track, Pretty Scattered, is an interesting track with a nice solo from Pat Metheny. My favorite song on the entire set of CDs, however, is the next one: Every Day (I Thank You). Brecker later said of this session (and this track in particular), that this was the first time he had ever played with a rhythm section this good. And when you listen to this track and then everything Brecker did before this you realise that this really was the birth of that sofisticated, open sound of his rhythm sections on all of his recordings in the last 20 years. His solo is magnicient and the piece’s arrangement and soloes make the purchase of the entire set of two CDs worth it right there. The final track is Going Ahead. A set of guitar tracks played by Pat Metheny and mixed together. The effect is stunning and I’m sure most would really enjoy this composition.

Also, if anyone knows the email of the guy who runs www.michaelbrecker.com I would greatly appreciated it!!”

Thanks for the review! I don’t know who runs the Brecker site, but it needs to be changed ASAP…….

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Bob Belden – Black Dahlia

September 8, 2001 in Reviews

The first time I heard Bob Belden was on something I downloaded off the now seemingly dead Napster. I put a entry on my Palm Pilot in the memo field to get a Bob Belden album. I finally have. This is a great album, and you have to read the album notes to understand what he is doing with this album….Here is an excerpt from the album insert:

In jazz, a soloist "tells a story" by using the language of the moment to create an image. A composer, however, must create a larger world to tell his story. My own music (which is separate from my arrangements of other composers' music) reaches into the recesses of my heart and soul and I bare my feelings about life within the measures of music. In this recording I tell the story of a real person which serves as a metaphor for my life and others.

This is the true story of an innocent young woman who became lost in the real world, chasing her dreams to fill an emptiness and to find love. Elizabeth Short was born on July 29, 1924 in Hyde park, Mass. To escape her harsh childhood during the Great Depression, she created a dream world; a world where movies offered the only completeness she knew, and where fantasy became reality. Elizabeth was eventually drawn to the unlimited promise that Hollywood seemed to offer.

Bob Belden sets out to tell a story of this woman in music. I liked it. The first track, Genesis, sets out all the themes that are to be heard in the subsequent tracks. Joe Lovano on “Danza d’Amore” becomes, musically, the love interest in the story.

The album features Bob Belden, Tim Hagans, Lawrence Feldman, Joe Lovano, Marc Coplan, Scott Kinsey, Kevin Hayes, Lou Marini, Lew Soloff, Conrad Herwig, Mike Migliore, Charles Pillow, Billy Kilson and a 65 piece orchestra.

This album is different, kinda reminds me of some of the Claus Ogermann albums that I have. I give it a 9 out of 10.

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Search For A Song in Your Library

July 6, 2001 in Articles

I found this site which has a searchable index of over 30 fake book indexes, including all the Aebersold volumes.

Pretty cool stuff. Maybe the author will make a Palm database version?

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