JohnnyB

When I first got back into vinyl in 2007, a co-worker of my wife gave me a storage box full of LPs that had been sitting and (apparently) catching dusk. There were a lot of albums I was aware of, and apparently we had some similar tastes because he had some obscure jazz albums that I had. One that piqued my interest was 1964's "Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown." by the Vince Guaraldi Trio. I always liked Guaraldi, even before he did the soundtracks for the Peanuts primetime specials, such as the Top 40 hit, "Cast Your Fate to the Wind." That may have been my introduction to jazz and the personal discovery that I liked jazz a lot. So when I got home I excitedly put the Guaraldi album on and to my dismay, it was too noisy to listen to. So I shelved it. A couple years later I bought a mono cartridge to play the 2014 EMI/Parlophone release of The Beatles albums in mono. Then to play a hunch while I had the mono cartridge on the tonearm, I played this Guaraldi album, and to my surprise and delight, the mono cartridge played it entirely noise-free. I'm listening to it now and enjoying the hell out of it. Guaraldi had a creative, bouncy, endearing form of improvisation. He died way too young (1976, age 47).

I have a clutch of 33-1/3 RPM LPs that are in mono, including the 2014 EMI/Parlophone reissue/remaster of the real Beatles LPs in mono, plus a nice smattering of 1950s-'60s vintage LPs rescued from thrift shops. I also have a pretty nice monophonic phono cartridge, which really focuses the essence of the music and drops the noise floor to near zero. Last night I swapped out my stereo cartridge for the mono one and dialed in the proper tracking force, rake angle, and anti-skate settings to bring out the best in it. Then I started spinning some of those luscious-sounding mono LPs, starting with an awesome 3-LP reissue of "After Midnight" by Nat King Cole plus a backing trio. It's a 3-LP set mastered at 45 4pm, which is sort of equivlalent to 30 ips tape. Here are a couple of King Cole classics I treated myself to last night. Nat makes it look and sound so easy. Nat sold so many hit records in his heyday that the Capitol Records tower in Hollywood was dubbed as "The house that Nat built." It's Only a Paper Moon: and Route 66. Look at how he makes it look (and sound) so easy: And then I spun the Parlophone/EMI mix and master of "A Hard Day's Night," not the abomination put out by Universal in the USA in 1964: Aah... I feel better now. I'll be spinning some more today.

Yesterday on Facebook somebody posted a link to a video about drummer Steve Gadd and how his chops and creativity influenced certain aspects of pop music. I started thinking about some jazz albums I had that included Steve Gadd before Steeley Dan pressed him into service for '"Aja." There he was on the mid-'70s George Benson CTI album, "Bad Benson" The opening cut of Paul Desmond's "Take Five" was a good showcase for both Benson and Gadd, so here it is: Benson was playing a Guild Starfire semihollow thinline for this. It was before his Ibanez days. After that I got a hankerin' for Mark Knopfler, so here's the cut that turned my head and grabbed my attention in 1978, "Sultans of Swing," ...followed by "Money for Nothing" from their eponymous album, "Brothers in Arms," which I listened to the whole way through.

Pat Metheny & Jaco Pastorius +Bob Moses, drums Bright Size Life There are several renditions on YouTube, but none of the original studio session album pictured here. It's a classic in the Smithsonian. You can get it on digital download, CD, or original LP. Sorry I don't have it here--hghly recommended conversation in improvised instrumental music.

I'll take his word for it.

This is an iconic 3-LP set where the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band hosted a passel of Blugrass & Country legends. On this cut we have Black Mountain Rag led by Doc Watson flat-pickin' his guitar, Vassar Clements on fiddle, and Earl Scruggs on 5-string banjo.

Wow! I just checked my LP collection and I have that Joe Pass album! I never got around to playing it. Right now I'm listening to the Getz/Gilberto "Girl From Ipanema" album, but Joe Pass is next! Also, I think The Beatles "Magical Mystery Tour" is better than many of us realize. It's captivating from start to finish and wi'll be up in the rotation soon.

Well, thanks to you pointing that out, I dug out Emmylou Harris's Roses in the Snow. Gonna spin that later today. And you're right about the backup crew; it's stunning: Ricky Skaggs, Tony Rice, The Whites on backup vocals (nothing compares to relatives for unified harmony), Albert Lee, Brian Ahern, Jerry Douglas on Dobro (the best I have ever heard), John Ware, Willie Nelson on gut-string guitar, Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Johnny Cash on various vocal harmonies. Here is one of my favorite cuts from this album, with vocal harmonies by The Whites:

If you wanted to fill the bars in SoCal in the '70s, the quickest path was covering Eagles/Ronstadt/Jackson Browne. It's the world we lived in and the path we chose 43 years ago. I had fun. I"ll never repent.

I figured I was missing something, but I had to ask. I was in an Eagles/Jackson Brown/Ronstadt cover band in SoCal in the mid-'70s.

Are you mixing up Emmylou and Linda Ronstadt? Henley, Frey, Meisner, and Leadon (who formed The Eagles) were in Ronstadt's backup band for her first tour. Read the Wiki entry for Emmylou and you won't find any mention of any of the Eagles.

My turntable is a Technics direct drive turntable. I've gotten a few of KABUSA's accessories including the earlier version of the record clamp and a screw-on machined aluminum damper trough that settles tonearm excursions and resonances. He makes thoughtfully designed add-ons for a good price.

In the summer of 1965 (after I'd had two years of drum lessons at elementary school and have gotten an entry-level drum set for Christmas, my youngest sister (18 years older than me) sent me a Gene Krupa album as a present for finishing elementary school and getting ready to start junior high in the fall. It opened with a number called "Drummin' Man, with a lead vocal by featured vocalist Anita O'Day, followed by a hot trumpet solo by featured trumpeter Roy Eldridge, aka "Little Jazz." As an 11-year-old with only two years of drum lessons, I was dumfounded by Krupa's control, especially how he could accent his single stroke rolls by placing rimshots at will: By contrast, before the summer was out, the Beatles had released eight albums in the U.S. I liked The Beatles, but I knew I was in the minority for really bonding with this energetic jazz along with the musicianship involved. Four tracks further into Side A was an energetic rendition of a number titled "China Boy." Unlike the full big band plus vocalists in "Drummin' Man," "China Boy" was performed by a quartet--sax, bass, piano, and drums. It was so fast and energetic that when I played it for my big brother (who also had taken drum lessons for 2-years), we played the song several times because we couldn't get over the energy, the speed, the dynamics, and the mastery each musician had over his respective instrument: I hope that explains my fascination with big band and pre-war jazz in the middle of the British Invasion.

I was pretty sure that The Cowsills were the inspiration for The Partridge Family TV show, but I didn't know about this little detail: The studio suits wasted no time making a show based on the Cowsills. "Hair" charted in 1969 and the TV show premiered in 1970.

The Jean-Luc Ponty YouTube inspired me to retrieve a live cut in San Francisco by the "grandfather of jazz violin," Stephane Grappelli. He was around 77 when he played this, as he was also on my "Live in San Francisco" album:

I remember California Jam well. I didn't go to it, but I was living in the LA area and knew about it. Best of all, local TV filmed it all and broadcast the musical acts. I saw all those great acts. I had just read about Carl Palmer in a Buddy Rich interview and I was able to see how he played (very impressive!) I saw Keith Emerson do that levitating grand piano with the in-air somersaults, knowing I had seen Steve Allen do the same thing 15 years earlier on "I've Got a Secret." I saw The Eagles, with Don Henley pounding out a really good beat while they all harmonized the melody and chorus of "James Dean." I heard Black Oak Arkansas perform "Hot 'n' Nasty," which sounded as decadent as its title suggests. All my memories are from watching it on a 14" black 'n' white TV, which should give you an idea of the impact of the live performances. A great music festival!

I first acquired this recording as a CD around 1996 when I was auditioning some speakers. It's Canadian vocalist extraordinaire putting her take on a large clutch of Tom Waits songs. It's a particularly fortuitous combination. A week ago I was in the house solo, cleaning up the kitchen. I thought I'd play this. I was delighted to rediscover that I had a state-of-the-art remaster/repress dual LP album pressed on 200g (.44 lb) vinyl. Her performances, the engineering, and the remastering are breathtaking, especially through my Magnepan panel speakers. ... and Tom Waits' "Jersey Girl This album showed me that Tom Waits is a latter-day Bob Dylan, a great writer of captivating songs presented by a rough, gruff voice. In the hands (and voice) of Holly Cole the artistic aspects of the songs reach their full potential.

A couple of tracks from a CD, Ray Sings, Basie Swings, that I've been playing when I'm driving. According to the Wikipedia entry for this recording: Quincy Jones did the arranging and conducting. Probably no one knew Basie's tempos and orchestrations like Quincy. He had joined Basie's band in mid-tour when he was 15! Drummer Butch Miles was Basie's drummer for several years, and also makes this album worth a listen.

In the aftermath of a crippling snowstorm this past February, I bought a used Jeep Grand Cherokee. Later I noticed that it had a CD slot in the radio panel, so I gathered up a couple handfuls of big band CDs from the house and started playing them when I'm running errands in the Jeep. Today I was having a lot of fun with Buddy Rich's "Big Swing Face," a live album of new charts generated for his newly formed band in 1966, a scant 53 years ago (but then, so is Revolver). One of my favorite cuts (and it's legendary among BR fans) is this rendition of Cole Porter's "Love for Sale." Pay attention to the break at 3:54 for the blistering single stroke roll that kicks off the final chorus. The crowd always went nuts when he did that.

I don't have the mono pressing of RAM, but I have the September 2014 mono reissues of the Beatles EMI/Parlophone albums. They are quite a revelation and have spoiled me compared to the stereo Capitol pressings we're all used to. The Mono remasters are richer, fuller, and have a powerful "in-the-room" presence. The cartridge stylus doesn't have to work as hard to extract the music as a stereo cartridge would.

To go with this Christmas week: I didn't used to be a fan of "The Little Drummer Boy. But Lou Rawls' version just kills it.

I have that one on LP. I'll have to spin it tomorrow.

Danse Macabre by French composer Camille Saint-Saens. It's about the dead interred at a cemetery rising from their graves at midnight (when else?) and dancing around. The xylophone represents the sound of dancing skeletons. Halloween is coming up next Wednesday and I'll be spinning it again. The cover pic may look a little corny, but the sound on the remastered, repressed LP is stunning:

One of my great joys when--after 20 years of digital only--I bought a new turntable in 2007 and proceeded to buy up used LPs of the Police's original studio output (from Outlandos d'Amour through Synchonicity) at about $3.99-$4.99 each. A&M records always had great sound.

I think that if I could have heard the music while reading my way through the transcription, I would have learned to read music faster and better than I did, struggling with just the notation.