What Are You Listening To?

[Botch]

This one kept showing up on my "Amazon recommends:" list, then I read a good review somewhere, so I finally picked it up. Well-recorded, kind of a mix of Pink Floyd instrumentals (Gilmore is on the album) and BT techno.
This one should've been done in 5.1...

 

[Kazaam]

***Telarc Jazz - SACD Sampler 3***

Wish I had bought more sampler albums in 5.1 back when they were easier to get. I've got a few already, but I'm guessing there's probably a couple more decent ones out there to be had.

 

[Dennie]

This one kept showing up on my "Amazon recommends:" list, then I read a good review somewhere, so I finally picked it up. Well-recorded, kind of a mix of Pink Floyd instrumentals (Gilmore is on the album) and BT techno.
This one should've been done in 5.1...

The SACD comes out next week! :doh:


No, I'm joking, but isn't that the way it usually goes! :eusa-whistle:

I've heard mixed reviews, but I do have it on my "wish list".


Dennie

 

[Dennie]

I wore the grooves off of this album as a teenager, I still like to play it once or twice a year....

Montrose -- 24k Gold HDCD

Montrose

1973/2005 Audio Fidelity

A classic made even better, January 12, 2008
By R. H. (Hampton, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Montrose (Audio CD)

I have both versions of this cd, the gold and the original cd.
The sound on the gold cd is much clearer, especially the treble on the guitars, snare drums, cymbals and vocals.
It doesn't do much for the bass side of things, but the overall effect is a clearer sound with more clarity in the individual instruments. If you're a Montrose fan and you can get a decent price on this cd, get it! You won't be sorry.

1. "Rock the Nation" (Ronnie Montrose) - 3:03
2. "Bad Motor Scooter" (Sammy Hagar)- 3:41
3. "Space Station #5" (Hagar, Montrose) - 5:18
4. "I Don't Want It" (Hagar, Montrose)- 2:58
5. "Good Rockin' Tonight" (Roy Brown) - 2:59
6. "Rock Candy" (Denny Carmassi, Bill Church, Hagar, Montrose)- 5:05
7. "One Thing on My Mind" (Hagar, Montrose, Sanchez) - 3:41
8. "Make It Last" (Hagar) - 5:31

 

[Dennie]

***Telarc Jazz - SACD Sampler 3***

Wish I had bought more sampler albums in 5.1 back when they were easier to get. I've got a few already, but I'm guessing there's probably a couple more decent ones out there to be had.

You're right about that. Some of them are fetching top dollar. I picked up a couple "back then" and I've always got my used music dealer looking for them now.

Not only is the sound quality fantastic, but the Artists are usually top notch also. :handgestures-thumbup:


Dennie

 

[Botch]

This one kept showing up on my "Amazon recommends:" list, then I read a good review somewhere, so I finally picked it up. Well-recorded, kind of a mix of Pink Floyd instrumentals (Gilmore is on the album) and BT techno.
This one should've been done in 5.1...

The SACD comes out next week! :doh:


No, I'm joking, but isn't that the way it usually goes! :eusa-whistle:

I've heard mixed reviews, but I do have it on my "wish list".


Dennie

:angry-cussingblack: You got a rise out of me for a moment! I'm now very careful about searching for an SACD or Bluray Audio before I buy any disk.

And I've got "mixed reviews" about this disk now too, after listening to it in its entirety. The first couple songs were great, but it changed as it played. I need to listen a few more times to form a more accurate opinion.

But that's not a bad thing.

 

[Dennie]

Heart of a Woman -- CD

Etta James

1999 Private Music (Windham Hill)

HEART OF A WOMAN was nominated for the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance.

Heart of a Woman is a great idea for an album. Etta James chose 11 love songs from her favorite female singers -- Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughn, and Carmen McRae -- augmenting the album with a new version of her signature song, "At Last." She has recorded several of these songs before (including Alice Cooper's "Only Women Bleed," which inexplicably became a standard for both her and McRae), but the difference with Heart of a Woman is the context. Here, they're put in a smooth jazz setting, masterminded by James, who has producer credit. There's no denying that Etta James is a powerhouse, one of the finest blues singers of the 20th century, and she still possesses an exceptionally strong voice, robust and filled with passion. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Track listing

1. You Don't Know What Love Is
2. Good Morning Heartache
3. My Old Flame
4. Say It Isn't So
5. At Last
6. Tenderly
7. I Only Have Eyes For You
8. I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good
9. You Go to My Head
10. Sunday Kind of Love
11. If It's the Last Thing I Do
12. Only Women Bleed

 

[Dennie]

This one kept showing up on my "Amazon recommends:" list, then I read a good review somewhere, so I finally picked it up. Well-recorded, kind of a mix of Pink Floyd instrumentals (Gilmore is on the album) and BT techno.
This one should've been done in 5.1...

The SACD comes out next week! :doh:


No, I'm joking, but isn't that the way it usually goes! :eusa-whistle:

I've heard mixed reviews, but I do have it on my "wish list".


Dennie

:angry-cussingblack: You got a rise out of me for a moment! I'm now very careful about searching for an SACD or Bluray Audio before I buy any disk.

And I've got "mixed reviews" about this disk now too, after listening to it in its entirety. The first couple songs were great, but it changed as it played. I need to listen a few more times to form a more accurate opinion.

But that's not a bad thing.

That's not a bad thing at all. I have lots of albums I need to give a "Second Chance" and a "Third" and "Forth" if necessary. :think:

Your review matches a lot of reviews I've read, that's why it is still on my "wish list". :hand:


Dennie

 

[Kazaam]

***Telarc Jazz - SACD Sampler 3***

Wish I had bought more sampler albums in 5.1 back when they were easier to get. I've got a few already, but I'm guessing there's probably a couple more decent ones out there to be had.

You're right about that. Some of them are fetching top dollar. I picked up a couple "back then" and I've always got my used music dealer looking for them now.

Not only is the sound quality fantastic, but the Artists are usually top notch also. :handgestures-thumbup:


Dennie

I just ordered up one that seemed to still be cheap: "Telarc/Heads Up SACD Sampler 5" for $7.00 bucks.

Based on the 30-second samples, it seems there might be a few tracks that are good. Probably not anything that is quite my favorite sort of jazz. I'm no jazz expert mind you, and I don't have a lot of jazz music. But on one of my CD comps there's a track called "Nevermind" from Airto Moreira & The Gods Of Jazz that has some nice piano, awesome percussion, deep bass and sounds very lively with real instruments. No ladies trying to sing like the next Diana Krall. And none of that smooth jazz stuff like Spyro Grya.

Not that the Sampler 5 is entirely smooth, and not that smooth jazz is all bad, but it's just a feeling I get that I might not like it as much as some of my other SACD comps. But, honestly, for the price I don't think I can go too wrong as there are bound to be a few tracks that I like well enough, even if they don't blow me away like "Nevermind" does. (Listening to it now!!!) Plus, I think being a Heads Up release, I've got an idea that the 5.1 Surround will be somewhat aggressive on at least some of the tracks. Not that everything needs to be aggressive, of course. Sometimes I just love music that sounds rich and immersive, even if it makes little (or none) use of the surrounds.

I'm also thinking about picking up one of the "Linn Records SACD Sampler" discs.

Didn't even know Linn had a record label. Looks like it's half popular/jazzy stuff and half classical music. Supposedly it has 5.1 Surround, though I don't know if that's on all the tracks or if it's just on some of the songs. Besides, I have no idea how any of the Linn Records are mixed as far as surround goes. I'm guessing it's fairly subtle like much of Chesky's work? Anyway... I'll probably hold off on ordering it since I'm trying to reign in the spending a little bit. Maybe next week, eh?

 

[Kazaam]

***Stereophile Test CD 3***

I've moved onto this album now, as was briefly mentioned in the WALL OF TEXT that I posted above. I think I should seek out some more of the recordings on this sampler as they sound quite good and I really like many of these tracks. (So far the only one I've picked up was from Sara K.) There are some calibration tests, too. I mostly never use those, but I did use it within the past year to test how much lower my new subwoofer played compared to my old sub.

3. Sibley (Empire Brass)
4. Topsy for piano, guitar & bass (Dick Hyman)
5. History Repeats Itself, song (Sara K)
6. Blue Bird, song (Jimmy Rogers)
7. Rollin' & Tumblin', (Doug MacLoed)
8. Nevermind, song (Airto Moreira)
9. Lord's Tundra, for bass guitar (Deen Peer)
12. Christe qui lux es, third setting (Robert Whyte)
13. Waltz for piano No. 7 in C sharp minor, Op. 64/2, CT. 213 (Chopin)***

This link has sound samples, though it looks like prices on this particular CD are beyond what is reasonable right now. http://www.amazon.com/Test-CD-3-Cho...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1296275748&sr=8-1

***This is my favorite Chopin recording that I've got. Not that I've got a lot. I've only got a Living Stereo album that is pretty good. And I used to have some lame "Lovers" Chopin comp from Philips that I lost but I don't think that was all that great of a recording based on my recollection.

 

[Botch]

***Telarc Jazz - SACD Sampler 3***

Wish I had bought more sampler albums in 5.1 back when they were easier to get. I've got a few already, but I'm guessing there's probably a couple more decent ones out there to be had.

I picked up the Sampler 2 awhile back, and that's how I discovered Scott Hamilton. So that cost me a bit (but well worth it). :music-listening:

 

[Dennie]

...Nothing Like The Sun -- CD

Sting

1987/1990 A&M Records

Amazon.com essential recording

Sting's second and most conceptually dense solo album moved on from jazz to ideas picked up from Latin music. Even when he's not using Latin music's tricky polyrhythms, the melodies of the ballad "Be Still My Beating Heart" and the hit dance single "We'll Be Together" suggest he'd been listening to lots of salsa. If you can sting, you can cross-pollinate, too, and there are some other subtle hybrids here, notably the Gil Evans Orchestra's gliding arrangement of Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing" and the reggae-in-a-Cole Porter suit of "Englishman in New York." Of course, the former schoolteacher has some lyrical messages to deliver and the three songs that originally made up the second side of a double LP are a bitter meditation on Latin American politics and history. --Douglas Wolk


Side one

1. "The Lazarus Heart" – 4:34
2. "Be Still My Beating Heart" – 5:32
3. "Englishman in New York" – 4:25

Side two

1. "History Will Teach Us Nothing" – 4:58
2. "They Dance Alone" – 7:16
3. "Fragile" – 3:54

Side three

1. "We'll Be Together" – 4:52
2. "Straight to My Heart" – 3:54
3. "Rock Steady" – 4:27

Side four

1. "Sister Moon" – 3:46
2. "Little Wing" (Jimi Hendrix) – 5:04
3. "The Secret Marriage" (Eisler, Sting) – 2:03

 

[topper]

(rel. 2000)

Review:
Amazon.com
A decade after his tragic, untimely demise, electric-blues legend Stevie Ray Vaughan has left behind a void that remains largely unfilled, despite a number of ballyhooed young pretenders. The guitarist's career was long troubled by personal demons, and this album chronicles those deceptively languorous, slow blues jams where Vaughan did battle with them. The howling, fervent tone he coaxed from his instrument was a product of lessons learned only in the School of Hard Knocks, accompanied by a voice--perhaps the most underrated of Vaughan's talents--that perfectly underscored his tortured gospel. But those who stereotyped Vaughan as a paint-by-numbers bluesman misunderstood the breadth of his lexicon; listen to "Chitlins con Carne" (from the guitarist's posthumous The Sky Is Crying album) here and you'll hear tinges of Wes Montgomery and other jazz inflections. Especially notable are three previously unreleased cuts: a live version of "Texas Flood," a 1985 Montreux Jazz Festival duet-jam of "Tin Pan Alley" with the late Johnny Copeland, and an '84 outtake of Elmore James's "The Sky Is Crying"--plus a 15-minute TV-taping workout with Albert King on the elder legend's "Blues at Sunrise." Raw, passionate, and uncompromising, this is SRV at his gut-wrenching best. ~ Jerry McCulley

:music-listening:

 

[Dennie]

This is Jazz #39: Dave Brubeck Plays Standards -- CD

Dave Brubeck

1998 Columbia/Legacy

This Is Jazz's second Brubeck package focuses more intently upon something than did the first -- namely, a selection of standards that Brubeck and his groups purveyed over a wide span of time. With a stray live "Sometimes I'm Happy" from 1955 and a "Things Ain't What They Used to Be" with Gerry Mulligan from 1968 bracketing the timeframe, the remaining six tracks span the lifetime of the classic Brubeck Quartet with Paul Desmond, Gene Wright and Joe Morello (1958-67). Again the performances are impeccable, going so far as to take in an 11½-minute "St. Louis Blues" from Carnegie Hall. But if you really want a truly impressive introduction to this musician, pass the This Is releases by and save up your bread for the Time Signatures box, which will give you all you need. ~ Richard S. Ginell, All Music Guide

St. Louis Blues
I Feel Pretty
Things Ain't What They Used To Be
Sometimes I'm Happy
Georgia On My Mind
Someday My Prince Will Come
Like Someone In Love (Live)
What Is This Thing Called Love?

 

[Dennie]

Live at the Village Vanguard -- Mini LP - CD

Gerry Mulligan and The Concert Jazz Band

1960/2002 Verve Records

“ Of all the recordings made by Gerry Mulligan's Concert Jazz Band in the 1960s, this is the definitive one. There are many high points, including "Body and Soul" (which has fine solos from the baritone/leader and valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer), "Come Rain or Come Shine," and the swinging "Let My People Be," but "Blueport" takes honors. On the latter, after hot solos by Mulligan, trombonist Willie Dennis, and Jim Reider on tenor, Mulligan and trumpeter Clark Terry have a lengthy trade-off that is quite hilarious with a countless number of quotes from different songs; at one point they trade off cities. This music is essential.
- Scott Yanow/AMG

Track Listings

Side One:

1. Blueport
2. Body and Soul
3. Black Nightgown


Side Two:

4. Come Rain or Come Shine
5. Lady Chatterley's Mother
6. Let My People Be


Personnel:

Gerry Mulligan (baritone sax)
Bob Brookmeyer (valve trombone)
Clark Terry (trumpet)
Mel Lewis (drums)
Nick Travis, Don Ferrara (trumpets)
Willie Dennis (trombone)
Alan Raph (bass trombone)
Gene Quill, Bob Donovan (alto saxes)
Jim Reider (tenor sax), Gene Allen (baritone sax),
Bill Crow (bass)
Composed & arranged by Al Cohn.

Recorded: live at the Village Vanguard, New York, December 11, 1960

 

[PaulyT]

 

[Botch]

Rare to pick up a "Greatest Hits" and not recognize even one tune on it. :doh:

 

[Dennie]

The 'Bird' Returns -- Mini LP - CD

Charlie Parker

1948/2005 Savoy Records

Although a restless and brilliant improviser like Charlie Parker's true home will always be the stage--as evidenced by the literally dozens of exciting live recordings still being recovered decades after his death in 1955--there are those who feel, with some justification, that his late-'40s sides for Savoy Records are the essence of bebop. Certainly Parker's backing groups at the time, starring such up-and-comers as trumpeter Miles Davis, vibraphonist Milt Jackson, and drummer Max Roach, were among the greatest in jazz history, but throughout THE BIRD RETURNS, the focus is always on Parker's endlessly questing alto sax. Not for nothing is the opening track called "Chasin' the Bird," because when Parker was in the midst of one of his fluid, breathtaking improvisations, all the band could do was catch up. The only fault with THE BIRD RETURNS is that its 30 minutes leave listeners longing for more.

Track listing

1. Chasin' the Bird
2. Thriving on a Riff
3. Ko Ko
4. Half Nelson
5. Scrapple From the Apple
6. Cheryl
7. Barbados

Personnel: Charlie Parker (alto saxophone); Lucky Thompson (tenor saxophone); Miles Davis, Kenny Dorham (trumpet); Milt Jackson (vibraphone); Al Haig (piano); Tommy Potter (bass); Max Roach (drums).

 

[Botch]

Live at the Village Vanguard -- Mini LP - CD

Gerry Mulligan and The Concert Jazz Band

If you're into bari you might also like Steve Wilkerson. :handgestures-thumbup:

 

[Dennie]

Rare to pick up a "Greatest Hits" and not recognize even one tune on it. :doh:

Don't you hate it when that happens! :angry-cussingblack:

You can play it for the next three weeks in a row and I bet you'll know ALL the songs! LOL

I have "The Collection" ......

1. Save My Love For A Rainy Day
2. Smiling Faces Sometimes
3. You Got The Love I Need
4. You Make Your Own Heaven And Hell
5. What It Is
6. Papa Was A Rolling Stone
7. Girl Youre Alright
8. Mama I Got A Brand New Thing
9. Law Of The Land
10. Help Yourself
11. Whats Going On
12. Im A Fool For You
13. Lil Red Riding Hood
14. Spaced Out
15. UFOs
16. Got To Get My Hands On Some Lovin
17. Higher Than High
18. Boogie Bump Boogie
19. Lets Go Back To Day One

I know a few or the songs, but even the one's I don't know are pretty darn Funky and fun to listen too. :banana-rock: :banana-dance:


Dennie