Volkher Hofmann

I don’t know how many times I’ve heard and/or read about the imminent demise of the CD these past years. Just recently, once again, a news item (that has never really been substantiated) made the rounds again, stating that EMI, Universal and Sony had plans up their sleeves in regard to giving the CD the chop in 2012.

Do I care?
Well, uhm, yes and no.

Besides the fact that I don’t think any label (greedy bastards), will annul any one format that is still making it more than 10 cents of income, I do think that even if labels were to start dropping physical formats altogether in favor of digital download solutions, those formats would survive for quite some time.

Vinyl is perhaps the best example. It has been pronounced D.O.A., buried, gone and forgotten countless times, but despite those more or less intelligent news reports, new generations have delved into it time and again, not the least because it is still considered the format of choice for many people who are simply sick and tired of digital sloppiness, the tendency of many labels to refute their former statements promising better sound by consistently releasing CDs with inferior, fuzzed-with and sub-standard sonic qualities.

Too loud, too bright, too … crappy.

Yes, I’m old-fashioned. I am one of the comparatively few people who like to hold something in their hands, have liner notes to read and simply be able to gloat over the amassed collection of LPs, CDs and whatnot.

On the other hand, I took the leap years ago and transferred most of my collection to digital formats (amongst others, and most prominently, FLAC), realizing after a while that those have both advantages and disadvantages.

For freaks like me, thousands of CDs means too many external hard drives to take care of. I have a whole cupboard full. On top of that, although there are many promising solutions out there, the market is not ripe with solutions for obsessive collectors. Once you reach the 10 terabyte mark, you start wondering about getting the music into your stereo without having to have a) a working PC network set up and b) without having to put up with elaborate cooling solutions for ten to twenty hard drives configured to form a somewhat secure RAID setup.

Once you have, like me, spent a few years ripping, converting, sorting, tagging and storing a (high) five-digit number of albums, you don’t need long to discover the pitfalls of this still somewhat new realm of digital mayhem.

Hi-res, low-res, different formats, different bit rates, different tagging schemes, machines that can read this but can’t read that, displays that like this cover format but not the other, proprietary solutions … once you delve into it all, you’ll see that if you care about the music, solutions ain’t easy to find … at all.

Right now, I think I have the best of both worlds and, to be quite honest, the digital side of things is winning. Yes, I regularly browse and listen to my pretty extensive CD collection, and I consult the vinyl leftovers here and there, but I find myself being the lazy ass and hitting my digital files more often than the rest. Depressingly enough, the latter – at the moment – don’t get closer than 20 meters to audiophile equipment and I have yet to find a solution that works for me, having it all available via my stereo in the living room without having to jump through seventeen hoops.

In addition, although I have scanned and retouched a ton of booklets, liner notes, covers and assorted materials, I find myself ignoring them time and again when playing the music via my PC. Without fail, I spend time with booklets and notes while listening to CDs, when hitting my digital files I seem to be too lazy.

Mostly for nostalgic reasons, I would lament the demise of the CD format, no matter how bad some CD (re)issues were, but in the long run I don’t really care. I have been prepared for the more or less flashy funeral proceedings for quite some time now.

I have a different take on things: As long as labels and assorted other characters keep the music alive that has shaped the past one-and-a-half centuries, I’ll be one happy camper.

If it is only worthwhile reissuing some rare West Coast session digitally, fine with me. If you think you can make some money off either a CD or LP reissue, go ahead.

What I am interested in, and what I hope will not bow to digital elitism or commercialism, is the attempt to both release/reissue and keep alive the music that has made my musical universe what it is.

Somehow I think (assume, actually, having watched developments for more than 30 years now) that it might be easier to (re-)publish some elusive session or release in digital format without having to majorly invest into both production and release channels. Rip, polish, publish. That kind of thing.

If the price is right, I’m game … for anything anyone throws my way, as long as it is a quality release.

Music was first, and formats came second.
If we return to that state without bothering with formats, that’s fine with me.

Related posts:

1. Digital Music Files Suck
2. Illegal Downloads
3. Don’t Make Me Bleed!

Back from my much-needed extended holiday way down south, as close to the Sahara as one can get short of floating in the water just a few miles offshore. Twenty-five to thirty-something degrees Celsius each and every day, nary a cloud. Great places to see, a breathtaking landscape and lots of insiders’ tips in my back pocket.

Recent Acquisitions

“Recent Acquisitions” has been something I’ve had around for quite a while on this site, in one form or another. And looking back on past posts or drafts that never came to fruition, there’s one single aspect that stands out immediately. The shopping sprees of the past are long gone. It could be that I have reached a saturation point somewhat, although I do doubt that. It’s just that I have so much to listen to that whenever I stumble over more “Want-Need-Will Have” items, I’m reluctant to shell out the dough, mostly because my bad conscience (left shoulder, far right) parades those CDs in front of my inner eye that I haven’t really listened to intensively yet.

Aside from that, despite the many reissue programs still running more or less strongly (to float even more cash into the labels’ vaults), not much has really piqued my interest much. Aside from the earlier Queen remasters that I bought into and the odd jazz reissue I purchased to fill some holes in my collection, at the moment I’m relying mostly on impulse whenever I stumble over significantly reduced items, most of which have been on my mental “get when cheap” list for months, if not years.

Add to that space considerations because my available storage space is nearly filled to the brim and what you get is me, myself and little I buying the odd CD here and there when it’s dirt cheap (and keeping some bigger reissues in mind for later).

Here then is brief commentary on some of the recent items acquired, and an eclectic list it is. I didn’t sift through all of the recent purchases because I’m simply too lazy, but there were more. I just went with the ones I keep in my “Human CD Holder” next to my stereo. Yep, I’m getting old.

***

Chastenier, Frank. Songs I’ve Always Loved. Emarcy/Universal, 2010.
The follow-up album to the debut one I talked about elsewhere on my site has started to grow on me. Upon first listen I was somewhat disappointed, especially as the term “Muzak” came to mind at times, but after having spun this one countless times for dinner or for quiet slave work my day-job entails, I have a much better feel for what Chastenier wanted to achieve. Yes, it certainly stays in vein and serves up what most listeners of the previous album expected, but I just like Chastenier’s touch and take on tunes that shape his musical universe. This release has been moving up my chart.

***

Chickenfoot. Chickenfoot. Edel, 2009.
This CD, plus several below, came from a spontaneous shopping spree spurred on by incredibly cheap prices at one of our mega stores around here. I bought it because a) I had read quite a bit about it and b) because it cost Euro 1,99, all told. I am NOT a fan of Sammy Hagar, although I respect his sincerity, but billed as a super-group (God, who isn’t nowadays), I decided that for 1/5th of the price of a decent cocktail around here, I couldn’t go wrong. I am as yet undecided about this one. It’s got that 80s/90s feel to it, excellent craftsmanship and pretty good songwriting, but I can’t follow many of those 5-star reviews this release has garnered. To me, there’s nothing that is new or significant about any of the music on here. Yes, it’s good, solid and really well-made, but I have a few hundred other CDs along the same lines so I wasn’t bowled-over at all. I’ve decided to put it onto my Cowon S9 to give it a couple of more whirls in an attempt to block out mediocrity while on public transport and in shops. Let’s see how it fares.

***

Clayton, Gerald. Two-Shade. Emarcy/Universal, 2009.
There’s that old shtick with “Five Degrees of Separation” and with this one I only had to take one single step. Having been a big fan of John Clayton (and Jeff Hamilton) for years, I thought I’d give Clayton’s son a chance, especially when some of the audio snippets around the Net told me that I might like this one, and I do. Gerald Clayton is certainly a virtuoso on his instrument, the piano, and someone to watch. What surprised me is that this relase (already) displays a definite air of (self-)confidence, coming from a man a mere 27 years of age. Some of the stuff on here is astonishing in its freshness and I’ve added Clayton to my “must watch” list. I wouldn’t be surprised if, in future, he really shakes up the small corner I’m such a huge fan of, the piano-trio jazz one. This guy is good, and a lot better than 99% of his peers. “Two-Shade”, at the moment, is a permanent in my “Human CD Holder” next to my stereo while other new and old stuff is rotated in and out of there all the time. I dig.

***

The Doobie Brothers. Original Album Series. Rhino/WB, 2011.
Yeah, shoot me, if you please. The Doobie Brothers were a big part of my youth and despite all the hate they have managed to collect over the years, especially for their post-Tommy Johnston phase, they were once a big part of my life. I have all of their LPs, every single one of them, but on CD I didn’t have any more than their box set (“Long Train Runnin’: 1970-2000, Rhino/WEA), aside from the best version of “Livin’ on the Fault Line”, which is still my favorite recording of theirs. When I saw this 5-CD reissue which includes “Toulouse Street“, “The Captain and Me“, “What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits“, “Stampede” and, finally, “Takin’ It to the Streets“, all produced by the reliable Ted Templeman and discounted to a mere 8 Euro at my local haunt, I couldn’t resist. This is classic stuff, and I’ve been enjoying it once again since I bought this collection. A no-brainer for me.

***

Gallagher, Rory. Original Album Classics. Strange Music/Sony/BMG, 2008.
Again, for 8 Euro (7.99, in fact), I couldn’t resist this 5-CD collection, simply because I wanted to have “Fresh Evidence”. Hell, a single copy of that album would have cost more than this collection and the other 4 CDs were then nothing but a bonus to the one I wanted to have in my collection. Rory Gallagher (1948-1995), whom I am huge fan of, was all over the map musically, but whenever he hit the blues, he lobbed it out of the ballpark and “Fresh Evidence, his best album in my eyes, is a must-have for any collection. I had an old worn-out LP and took my chances with the rest. “Deuce” and “Jinx”, two more albums included here, were the added bonus as they were hard-to-find releases for years. Europe didn’t come much better than with Rory Gallagher, a true original with his very own style and take on things. A must-have.

***

Peter Green Splinter Group. Me & The Devil. Snapper/Complete Blues-The Works, 2008 (3-CD).
I am too lazy to check right now, but somewhere on livingwithmusic.com I have previously written about seeing Peter Green live in a local small village pub stuffed to the rafters with people from a time long-gone. It was a stellar concert with Green having beat the odds and out and about again with the Blues. When “The Devil & Me” popped up in some online store in its 3-CD incarnation (CD 01: “Hotfoot Powder“; CD 02: “The Robert Johnson Songbook“; CD 03: “Robert Johnson: Original Recordings“) for a Fiver, I jumped at the chance and snapped it up. It would be arrogant to say that I’m the world’s biggest Peter Green fan, but I would certainly count myself in the larger group that is. His Fleetwood Mac material and a large part of his solo output, even the stuff that was lambasted by critics, is a cornerstone of my music collection, and the “Robert Johnson Songbook” is a later highlight from his career. Again, a no-brainer, especially at that price.

***

Huey Lewis. Plan B. Curb Records, 2003.
Yeah, I know, just shoot me. When Huey Lewis’ earlier stuff, the stuff that reigned the charts for ages, came out, I was in the right mind to get hooked. He lost me after “Small World” (1988), a recording that includes one of my absolute and total favorite tunes ever, “Old Antone’s”, and he netted me again with “Plan B”. When I saw him live sometime in the 80s, I remember thinking that his music just wasn’t for the stadiums, large arenas and open-air festivals, and “Plan B” proves it. His music, to me, has always been a Friday-/Saturday-night live club thing – small audience, big sound … and fun. “Plan B” falls squarely into that category and, on top of that, it shows someone who has gotten that second wind which, in my humble opinion, shows the professionalism of someone who has been on the road and in clubs and on stages seemingly forever. Groovy, professional, fun.

***

Sting. Live in Berlin-Featuring the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. UMG/Deutsche Grammophon, 2010. (CD & DVD).
This live recording, along with its “little brother”, “Symphonicities“, has been trashed by both fans and critics alike. I can see where they are coming from, telling Sting that he has “sold out” and bowed to the commercialism that most of his (former) fans abhorred, but, hell, I like his orchestral take on things. I really don’t give a hoot about Sting, Peter Gabriel and others being labelled as prototypical “sell-outs”, recycling the best of their back-catalog time and again. What I’ve heard on both “Symphonicities” and its live version, “Live in Berlin“, is someone who certainly does care about his musical legacy and giving it a serious spin through the orchestrated hoops. If you like his stuff, you will find a load of well-orchestrated versions that DO NOT detract from the originals. Yes, I didn’t dare buy into both until they became dirt-cheap, but once I did, I was glad to have both. I enjoy them time and again, both hits and misses.

***

Thigpen, Ed. The Ed Thigpen Trio Live at Tivoli Copenhagen-You and the Night and the Music (CD)/Ed Thigpen-Master of Rhythm and Taste (DVD). Stunt Records, 2011.
I bought this release immediately upon finding out about it for several reasons. a) For a short while, a year or two, Ed Thigpen was my teacher. During that time, we spent more time talking about life, the universe, music and jazz than actually practicing drums. b) In those conversations and every single time we met in other spots around Copenhagen, his preferred residence of choice, he came across to me as the world’s most genuine gentleman. c) I wanted to see how many of the things he revealed to me after having gotten to know him a bit more he might have talked about on the DVD accompanying this release. Well, it’s all there. The insecurities, the family life that he invested so much time and energy in, despite everything else he had to juggle, the sincerity, his outwardly stalwart and inwardly questioning character. Plus more. That DVD, to me, was a highlight of these past few years. The world is worse off without Ed Thigpen in it.

And the live CD has both Carsten Dahl, one of my absolute favorite pianists, and Jesper Bodilsen, one of the world-best bassists, to boot.

Again, a no-brainer.

***

Trioscene. When you Come Home. Sony/BMG, 2008.
“Trioscene” is a piano trio that, to me, is a symbiosis of both the Esbjörn Svensson Trio and the Tord Gustavesen Trio. Yes, they are not way up there, but they are the best thing now that E.S.T. are dead and the Tord Gustavsen Trio has become a, sorry to say, mediocre quartet that just doesn’t grab me whatsoever and is all over the map musically. To tie me over, I listen to “Trioscene”, and one of their best releases is “When You Come Home”. Lyrical, up-beat and clever. A regular around here now that I waited long enough, after having seen them live, to get that release at 1/3 of the price. Yes, I’m stingy.

***

Winter, Johnny. Roots. Megaforce Records, 2011.
Last, but not least: Ever since I saw Johnny Winter live in the 80s many times – and once again in the 90s – I’ve been a fan. Much of his stuff has been hit or miss, but “Roots”, despite the fact that fans of the more traditional take on the Blues might not get with the program, is a real blast. Of all the albums I bought recently, this is the one I listen to almost daily. Winter pays homage to the tunes that shaped his musical universe, and his take on these ageless tunes, together with people like Sonny Landreth, Jimmy Vivino, Warren Haynes, Frank Latorre, John Popper, Vince Gill (really?!), Susan Tedeschi, his brother Edgar (the only instrumental on this CD), Derek Trucks (really?!), Paul Nelson and John Medeski are just pure and totally unadulterated fun. I love this CD and if you don’t, it’s no skin off my nose.

***

There’s more traveling my way, a reissued Oscar Peterson recording (actually two), the last original Dave Brubeck quartet recording (live), and a few others, but the above, plus the ones I didn’t write about here, should tie me over.

When they arrive, I might write about them here.
Cheers!

Related posts:

1. Recent Acquisitions
2. Buddy Rich Sessions
3. Cuba: I Am Time

I know that from the few regular readers I have around here, I might get some severe flack. And from all others who have probably written this site off as another one of those useless and uniformed vanity projects, I’ll probably get a “told you so”. Still, I’m not going to back down.

I don’t know about you, but if you have a larger collection of music, you might well have an imaginary section or two entitled “Perfect Dinner Music” or “Soft as Soft Can”. I do.

And I’m about to tell you a few things about a CD that has been so severely criticized by just about every mainstream and dedicated critic that it’s almost become a point to ridicule said effort. It is certainly in the vain of the kind of criticism that I abhor; you know, the kind that simply can’t get off its high horse, the one that aims the most poisonous of arrows at someone who might have had simple passion driving him- or herself, even with commercial interest at heart.Not that I care.

Within my large collection I have a small (imaginary) section that holds what I would call “the perfect dinner CD”; a session that is so unobtrusive to be almost inaudible. The kind of session that is quietly lyrical; the kind of CD that simply doesn’t have a single moment to scare people off, the one that probably adheres to the simplest tastes and is accepted by even those ears that start screaming at a simple note that rises above all others.

The way I’ve written this introduction, it almost sounds like I am defending “Muzak”, elevator music or even the least of musical efforts. I’m not. And I don’t intend to. I’m just verbally trying to fend off those voices that think that Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane are the most stimulating artists to put on after a week of excruciating work, at dinner with the person(s) of your choice, in moments that simply don’t call for spectacular showman- and musicianship.

Yes, I like simple stuff.
And Frank Chastenier’s “for you” (2004) is deceptively simple, soft-boiled and unobtrusive.

I’ve always liked introspective people and musicians. Many of the ones I have taken a liking to these past decades, from Paul Desmond to Bill Evans, from little-known Carsten Dahl (Denmark) to  Ed Thigpen, himself a master drummer of ballads and introspective playing, Tord Gustavsen, who is quite cerebral, and many others. Yes, the people I’m lobbing into one basket here are wildly different talents, but it is the basic vibe I got off them that has kept them at the forefront of my musical universe. It was that quiet, relaxed, knowledgeable and totally subdued playing that attracted me to their style(s) in the first place.

Frank Chastenier is not a world-renowned pianist. Although it is certainly a pity, I do not believe he is really known outside of German/European insider circles. Chastenier, who has been a member of perhaps the only really stellar big band we have to show for ourselves over here nowadays, the “WDR Bigband”, is also one of the most active, busy and in-demand pianists we have had here for decades, someone who is revered by anyone he has recorded and played with, a uniquely gifted musician who can handle the most complex arrangements, who can throw out a multitude of those himself and someone who can adapt to the most serene as well as the most outrageous settings, both musically and compositorically.

An old-school sideman.
One who is trusted across the board and who is called when things get steamy.

And he put out “for you”, a session that has attracted more vitriol in many circles than others have collected in a lifetime.

Simple me, again, has a hard time understanding that intense amount of ammunition that has been fired at him, simply because I enjoy that very recording so much. It’s the kind of session that garners positive reviews by those people who are deemed “simple” by jazz critics and that negative reviews are thrown at by those people who deem his kind of music “Muzak”, “forgettable”, unworthy of attention.

I beg to differ.
Once again.

We don’t have tonal extravaganza here, no free blowing and (extreme) playing, the dynamics are level and not a single musical framework is busted wide-open.

What we have here is a man who, in a comfortable and relaxed setting, is throwing out a whole load of tasty flourishes, who is obviously very aware of what he can do … and then decides to withhold in favor of the totality and tonality of the session. We have a musician who doesn’t HAVE to prove anything, simply because he has done so time and again. The “WDR Bigband” is nothing to sneeze at and if you have ever seen them in a live setting, Quincy Jones and Frank Foster were the types of musicians who might very well have taken a very deep bow and said “Yep, that’s it.”

When I bought Frank Chastenier’s debut album, I was actively searching for something that is quiet, that is relaxed, that is unobtrusive, that is informed … that retains musicianship that is based on decades of artistry. For a while I abstained from hitting that “Buy Me Now!” button, simply because some – certainly not all, as many were extremely favorable – reviews trashed this release so severely that I thought I might as well shoot myself in the head before dishing out my hard-earned cash.

Wrong.

Maybe it takes a certain disposition to really get into this release, but if it does, I certainly have it. In a world that is so tumultuous already, loud enough to make even a quiet human being squeal in pain, it is my inner self that never stops trying to unearth music to counter that busy atmosphere.

I found Bugge Wesseltoft, I found Tord Gustavsen, I discovered Jan Johansson, I enjoy the hell out of Bill Evans, and I added Frank Chastenier to the roster.

Since I bought this CD, there hasn’t been a quiet evening without a full run through his recording. None. It always ends up on my CD player at those moments

“For You”, released by Universal Jazz Germany in 2004, is a classic trio album recorded by Frank Chastenier (piano), John Goldsby (bass) and Hans Dekker (drums). There are guests, like Tim Lefebvre (bass) and Till Brönner (trumpet), and the string section of “Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg“, but they blend in so smoothly that one doesn’t notice much (spoken from a positive vantage point).

You do have to be German to appreciate one of my personal highlights on this CD, Herbert Grönemeyer’s “Mensch“, which, in its original form, was one of the biggest hits here a while back, but a bunch of standards, “The Way You Look Tonight” (Jerome Kern/Dorothy Fields), “I’ll Never Smile Again” (Ruth Lowe), and “Someday My Prince Will Come” (Frank E. Churchill/Larry Morey) might alleviate that deficit.

If we add “Bei dir war es immer so schön” (Theo Mackeben / Hans Fritz Beckmann), an old 20s song, and “Berlin, dein Gesicht hat Sommersprossen” (Hildegard Knef / Charly Niessen) plus a Chastenier original, “For You”, which gave this CD its title, and the final track, “Alone Again (Naturally)”, the smash-hit put out there by Gilbert O’Sullivan, we are given both a melancholic and melodic first-take approach to music that has shaped Chastenier’s musical universe. Maybe it’s just me, but I understand where he is coming from and I really appreciate his take on what he has presented here.

If we get back to that “perfect dinner CD” opener, which was definitely not meant as a denigrating line, it is Chastenier’s masterfully soft touch, with a bunch of consciously-placed erratic notes inbetween, which – to me – manages to isolate the musical center of each tune, the essence of it all. And Chastenier does so in such an inconspicuous manner to allow one to just have this session play, play and … play again.

I’m a huge fan, and although I don’t think the follow-up album
manages to live entirely up to my expectations (to stay with the dinner and food imagery, that second release has an air of “seconds”), I highly recommend this CD which, if you are so inclined, can put you and your guests at ease without dumbing everything and anything down.

And, because I’ve eaten more than my share these past few years, “for you” is also one of the very, very few CDs of choice when I write, work … or am otherwise ready to have a quiet evening all to me, myself, and I.

There could be worse.

Related posts:

1. Tord Gustavsen Trio – Being There
2. The Tord Gustavsen Trio
3. It’s Snowing on My Piano

One of the most irritating aspects of most music labels’ reissue policies (if there is, indeed, a “policy” of any kind present, aside from generating the most cash with the least amount of effort) is the constant need of company bigwigs to recycle releases for the umpteenth time.

I know it’s akin to yelling into an empty forest, especially since just about every music collector is likely to get a hernia sooner or later when faced with the 756th reissue of “Kind of Blue”, but it also needs to be said around here:

It is maddening to see how much music remains unreleased, is left to shady European offshore labels to reissue in more or less adequate format or which, in a worst-case scenario, is just lost to the sands of time and tape deterioration because the management, as is customary, couldn’t give a flying leap about the music it has been and is selling. A product is a product, and if the ($) signs are right, the same music will be reissued again. And again.
And again.

Of course, there are reissues of reissues that do make sense: the ones that improve on a former shoddy tape transfer, the ones that add unreleased worthwhile (!) tracks, the ones that restore original artwork, the ones that actually complete a supposedly already complete edition (which was missing tracks discovered after the last reissue or had simply been forgotten on the last reissue because of editorial stupidity); all in all, the ones that improve upon a prior edition.

Alas, most of what is released time and time again is not only devoid of any of the above but often even reduced in quality. Stick the unremastered CD into a flimsy cardboard box, together with a bunch of others, call it “Collection” of some sort and sell it for 10% of the price. Someone will surely bite (or bite themselves in the ass for having paid 90% more when it was first released). In short, it’s a quick stab at another couple of thousand bucks paid by the few hundred people that somehow missed the earlier sixty-eight reissues.

Of course it is commendable to help new generations get acquainted with great music, but leaving a trusted core group of music aficionados and collectors in the dust by simply not releasing much sought-after music that they can then add to what they have already amassed in their lifetimes, is simply dumb. Those people are the ones who filled the pockets of the upper label echelons, who are now raining on their parade, and with all the huffin’ and puffin’ about declining sales, it is surprising (to say the least) that labels are seemingly digging their own graves by rudely shoving the demanding collectors and fans out of their way to, for example, supplying stacks of totally superfluous “Pink Floyd Immersion” sets to unsuspecting music shops (the few shops that are still around, that is).

For years I have tried to find some rare west coast jazz sessions on digital media and instead of finding them, I stumbled over another 100 Hip-O-Select re-boxings of reissued and re-boxed earlier reissues of reissues. How many Wes Montgomery reissues of the same material does the world really need, even if he happens to have been one of the greatest guitarists who ever lived, which he certainly was?

How many totally outrageous box sets like the most recent Elvis Presley one can the world stomach before the music industry finally completes its imploding process? Yes, that set was remastered well and apparently had pretty good editorial work go into it, but who the hell pays $800 and more (later reduced for a while before it disappeared into thin air altogether) to have all of the material … again? People have, as it is now sold out, but it’s not like 95% of it hasn’t been available elsewhere time and again. The same goes for that “Complete Miles Davis” shoebox that would have forced me – had the box not been a total packaging disaster that was only fixed temporarily – to sell the then 80% redundant single disks I bought previously to make room (and find cash) for this new extravaganza? Why reissue this stuff again and leave the rest of recorded history in musty vaults?

Yes, it’s the usual collector nagging and quibbling, but when I look through my most recent newsletter subscriptions, the mail updates from major labels as well as relevant forum posts on new reissues, I’m beginning to think that labels like Sony/Columbia simply don’t have more than three or four master tapes by one or two artists in their hands anymore. The rest seems to have evaporated. They are apparently forced to reissue the same Santana compilation (now with fewer liner notes [none, actually], with fewer tunes [1 CD instead of two] and cheaper packaging, although it still outwardly looks like the double-CD reissue that came out, what, 10 years ago … and is still available all over the place) because they simply don’t seem to have anything they can reissue or, God forbid, release for the first time. Zilch. The vault seems to be a super-huge storage space with three tapes in it. They probably turned off the air-conditioning in it as well. Lights out. Slam the door.

If there ever was a reason to start diving into more or less shady wells for more worthwhile “releases”, it’s now. It is this kind of money-grabbing and stupid reissue policy that caters only to the dumbest, the simplest … and the most gullible.

“Objective” commentators always cite one reason for this kind of label behavior, and that is “economic viability”. Catering to those three people who are looking for a rare west coast session simply doesn’t help a or any label survive, they say. Hm. I wonder how they survived the past 80 and more years? In my eyes, by balancing their roster. Ever since they stopped doing that, all their money seems to be on one or two racehorses that generate enough cash flow … directly into the pockets of investors, management and …. well, whatever or whomever. It certainly isn’t invested into broadening their appeal for a diverse group of collectors and, spoken subjectively, a probably very large group of music fans that could surely generate the kinds of returns if attempts were to be made at catering to their interests and needs.

Hell, I’ve gotten off the train long ago because I have better things to do than sit and wait (in the case of the Beatles remasters, how many decades did it take for something sensible to come along?) for something to happen that simply won’t.

Looking at the purchases of the past two or three years, I’ve reduced my shopping activities by 98%, or more. There must be thousands like me that have started both spending their money elsewhere or on other things and looking elsewhere for their “fix”. I have, for example, spent more of my money on good wines to go along with the music I already have than on reissued music I would have liked to have, had it been available. I’m subsidizing several excellent vineyards in my area that way with money that would, surely, have gone straight into the pockets of the powers that are the music industry.

All the music industry then does in return is to lament the death of a totally outdated business model and accuse 13-year old kids and 92-year old grandmothers of having brought about the industry’s downfall by downloading illegally what they would never have bought in the first place.

What a laughable concept and what a schizophrenic and self-delusional way of looking (with the extremest form of tunnel vision) at their own market. The patient seems to be dead, and although I’d love to dance on all of their graves to celebrate that stupidity got the better of them, it’s still a sad thing to see.

Related posts:

1. Illegal Downloads
2. Physical Formats Death Watch (Part 36)
3. The Demise of the Record Store

To veer off the beaten path again for a brief moment, I would like to draw your attention to a site I literally “tripped” over the other day, “The Music of ‘The Lord of the Rings’“.

This website, oddly enough hosted on a student sub-domain, although copyrighted and supposedly licensed (which I somehow doubt, myself being the eternal cynic and all), gives you a detailed insight into the conception and composition of the entire score which did, if you recall, garner two Academy Awards and got quite a bit of praise from critics around the globe. Many people would consider this to be Howard Shore’s masterpiece.

Even if you neither are into soundtracks nor really care about the score which accompanies this three-part fantasy extravaganza, it is nevertheless a fascinating glimpse into the musical universe that certainly did help make the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy the fan-favorite it was and remains today.

The site offers a glossary of musical terms used and then, for each of the three parts, presents a comprehensive analysis, a detailed look at themes, motifs and texts. It also describes the instrumentation and presents the performers for each and every score snippet.

The site is based on the annotations provided by the booklets that were and are included in the “Complete Recordings” 4-CD box sets for each part of the trilogy. Today, of course, each collectors’ box set has a much nastier price tag attached to it than the one it already had way back when.

To make this site more interactive, score snippets are provided in *.mp3 format to illustrate points made in the liner notes.

I have quite a few soundtracks, all of which I only listen to sparingly. Somehow, after a while, I often lose patience, more or less quickly, and switch to something else. Still, larger chunks of these three box sets have grabbed and held my attention time and again and “The Music of The Lord of the Rings” has actually made me pull them out once more to have both a closer look and a closer listen.

Highly recommended, if you happen to be so inclined.

Related posts:

1. Music for Contemplative Moods
2. Digital Music Files Suck
3. DFTMC: “Don’t forget the Motor City”

Once in a while, one stumbles upon a fabulous website unsuspectingly.

“Don’t Forget the Motor City: The Ultimate Guide to Motown (and related) recordings 1956-1972. Eigth Edition (June 2011)“, compiled by Keith Huges and published by Richie Hardin, is such a website. From the first click into the staggering wealth of discographical information on this website you just know that you have landed on an Internet presence that has been and is a real labor of love.Besides offering some brief information about the DFTMC format and a more detailed look at discographical considerations that went into the publication of this website, the home page offers a direct entry point into the various listings via either song listings or artist listings, both of which are organized alphabetically.

I am certainly not an expert on the Motown catalog, aside from the fact that I have quite a bit of it, but whenever I want to quickly check or cross-reference this or that piece of information I found in a booklet or liner notes, DFTMC has become my one-stop to get a quick fix.

The songs pages look like this …

and the artists pages like this (with clickable links to the corresponding song entries) …

For someone who has tried, often in vain, to present a well-kept database in a quickly-accessible format, DFTMC is a site to study to see how it is done.
Simple, but very effective.

Highly recommended!
Check it out!

Related posts:

1. The Music of “The Lord of the Rings”
2. Dusty Groove America
3. Cuba: I Am Time

Everyone who has ever met me – or read more than just a small snippet on this site – knows that I was and am also a huge fan of the late Ed Thigpen, drummer extraordinaire and somone who graced more than 1500 albums with his tasty style and impeccable work. He was also someone I had the fortune of meeting many times in the late 70s and then several times again throughout the 80s and 90s.

Still, somehow, the following release completely passed me by.
It wasn’t until I checked edthigpen.com that I became aware of it.

“The Ed Thigpen Trio Live at Tivoli Copenhagen – You and the Night and the Music / Master of Time, Rhythm & Taste” is a new CD and DVD 2011 release by Danish label Sundance Records, featuring not only a live concert from Tivoli’s “Glassalen” in Copenhagen Denmark from 2002 showing off Ed’s work together with Carsten Dahl (piano) and Jesper Bodilsen (bass), both of whom were students of Ed’s years ago, but also giving us a 92-minute DVD documentary by acclaimed film director Don McGlynn, which presents a portrait of Ed, contains music specifically recorded for the film and features interviews and more.

This release is already available and can be ordered or bought at your music retailer of choice.

Cover Scans: Sundance Records website.

Related posts:

1. Ed Thigpen: Gentleman of Jazz
2. Ted Nugent: Double Live Gonzo!
3. Cuba: I Am Time

As readers of this site know, I am a huge fan of Jan Johansson‘s work.
This month, ACT will finally release a much-anticipated Jan Johansson CD, which can already now be pre-ordered from Amazon.de.

Here are the sparse details I was able to unearth so far about this German radio recording (NDR) which has never been released before.

Related posts:

1. Jan Johansson
2. Jazz Life
3. George Shearing – Classic Album Collection (1951-1956)

When my parents moved to Caracas, Venezuela, in the early 1980s, I tried to visit as often as my time and our traveling budget allowed. It was the time of the Sony Walkman and, soon thereafter, the Sony Discman, and I usually had more than enough music along for the many trips to last me several weeks. Still, in the long run, I would run out and simply tune into any of the many radio stations available.

Besides the usual US fare being played up and down the airwaves, Venezuelan radio was infused with salsa, from right to left, from top to bottom, and 24/7. For someone unacquainted with it, most of the tunes played sounded all alike, but it didn’t take me long to get with the program. So, when my second or third visit rolled along, I found myself automatically tuning into a salsa station to accompany the soothing night sounds of frogs and chicadas and whatever else came creepy crawling out at night. By the way, whenever I returned to Europe, I immediately missed that soundtrack I had then enjoyed for anywhere from 4 weeks to nearly three months. Actually, Europe was, if you didn’t live downtown, sonically dead as a door nail.

One day, a single tune made me prick up my ears, run over to the radio and turn it up as loud as possible without gliding into distortion territory. It had an incredibly modern rhythm, a polished 80s production sound, and one hell of a catchy hook, including a wonderful finale. It was a fascinating fusion of traditional dance music with modern instruments and production values.

That song was “Chamito Candela“.

The title wasn’t difficult to remember, as it also dominated the last minute or so of the song, but the announcer never mentioned the name of the band. Instead, the track segued right into one of the trillions of commercials blasted through the radio every couple of minutes.

The Internet was still far off, and running to the next record store was out of the question for me (I was dependent on my parents driving me through the insane traffic of Caracas), so I decided to stay glued to the radio, convinced that a track like that was going to be replayed later in the day.

And I was right.
Actually, it became a smash hit and ruled the airwaves for quite some time.
That same day then, I found out that the band was called “Daiquiri”.

01) Daiquiri: Band History

Daiquiri, a band about which not much is available on the Internet besides a rather weak Spanish Wikipedia entry and a section on Sincopa: The Guide to Venezuelan Music, was formed in 1983 by Alberto Slezynger, who was also the band’s leader.

Slezynger was clearly striving for a modernized approach to the Caribbean, tropical and salsa music everyone loved in and outside of Venezuela, incorporating the then relatively new sounds of the Yamaha DX-7, an instrument that was beginning to rear its head on almost every mainstream pop and fusion production of the 80s, other electronic keyboards and organs, electric guitars, bass and drums. When compared to the traditional music I had been listening to day in and day out, like most other people, this music was fresh, hot … and new, without losing its roots and still being instantly recognizable.

The musicians Alberto Slezynger assembled around himself to get that new sound were, for the most part, session musicians, some of which were educated at American music colleges, who had all already proven themselves on the Venezuelan market. On their second release, “La Casa del Ritmo”, which included the song I wrote about above, those musicians were, in addition to Alberto Slezynger (lead vocals, keyboards, percussion), Silvano Monasterios (piano, keyboards), Pedro Vilela (guitar), Danilo Aponte (bass), Carlos “Nene” Quintero, Gustavo Calle (percussion), Gerardo López (percussion and background vocals) and Manolo Alvarez (backing vocals).

“La Casa del Ritmo” (Sonográfica, 1984) is still one of my favorite LPs today and as I have thousands of LPs and CDs, that’s something to write home about. There wasn’t a weak track on this wonderful LP and “Agua Que No Has De Beber“, “La Casa Del Ritmo“, “Zambo Montuno“, “Chamo Candela“, and “El Amor” became instant personal favoritres. Coupled with “Puro Deseo De Amar“, “Vente Conmigo“, “Caso Perdido” and “Como El Viento” off their debut album, simply entitled “Daiquiri” (Sonográfica, 1983), you have a veritable parade of excellent tracks to spice up any party, Latin or not.

With 5 regular albums under their belt, Daiquiri have become a fixture in Venezuelean music history not only of the 80s, although they slipped somewhat off my radar after their first two LPs. On January 1, 1988, Daiquiri’s bassist, Danilo Aponte, who is still on their third LP, “La Noche” (Sonográfica, 1985), died in a car crash and Daiquiri integrated a new bassist, Rafael “Rafucho” Figliola, into the band. They switched labels from Sonográfica to EMI-Rodven and put out two more records, Mi Tumbao (EMI-Rodven, 1987) and Daiquirí 5 (EMI-Rodven, 1989).

When I started looking around for any information on “Daiquiri” a few years ago, I read that Alberto Slezynger had emigrated to the U.S. and settled in Miami, Florida, where he founded “Personal Music“, “a multi-faceted, Miami-based full-service digital recording facility [...] providing music services  for the creative industries [...]“. He still successfully runs that company today as its CCO.

The rest of the musicians dispersed to the four winds and continued what they did best, play and produce music. All of them reappeared on other releases by various artists.

Slezynger himself has not separated from Daiquiri’s music. In 2004 he lead a group of musicians interpreting the old “Daiquiri” classics at several concerts in Miami and he even popped around Europe for a Latin American and Caribbean Festival in Istanbul, Turkey.

02) Getting Re-Acquainted with “Daiquiri” on CD

Although I have Daiquiri’s first two LPs at home, I have often searched the Internet thin for any CD of their earlier material, simply because my two LPs are worn down to their bare ingredients. Unfortunately, unearthing CD releases of their material is not easy at all, but in 2009 the stars aligned right and an old friend from Venezuela, Natalia, did not forget to run around Caracas to pick up what she could find there for me before we met up in Heidelberg, Germany, that summer.

The two CDs she brought along were “Daiquiri. Lo Máximo – 16 Grandes Exitos” (Sonográfica, 2004, CD) and “Daiquiri. La Historia” (Latin World, 2004, CD).

The first one of those, “Lo Máximo”, was probably the highlight of my music collecting that year, simply because it is a grabbag of the hits I referred to above. Taken off their first three Sonográfica albums and supplemented with a tune entitled “She-Fire-Remix”, a comparatively forgettable track, it’s perhaps the only CD release still somewhat available and worth getting.

The second one, “La Historia” is one of those odd butcher jobs that is interesting but simply not comparable to what made Daiquiri famous. Although it does feature all the big hits, all of them have been spiced up and added on to, so much so that to me personally, it just doesn’t sound much like “Daiquiri” anymore. In fact, most of it sounds like it was rerecorded. It reeks of the old “fast buck” technique, cashing in on the reputation of the band and trying to score additional airplay by updating the sound for the 21st century. It is not a bad album per se, but I have a basic aversion to these kinds of releases that try to change what once was. Just call me old-fashioned.

03) Daiquiri: Albums

From 1983 to 1989, Daiquiri released 5 regular albums. I am not aware of any CD reissues of those albums, but I am sure there must have been some, although looking around the Internet to see if any did roll around unearthed … nothing.

Should that be the case, I think a well-edited and decent-sounding reissue of at least their first two albums is in order. Considering Daiquiri’s reputation, it is a shame that those are simply not available.

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03) Daiquiri: Compilation Albums

As far as I know, 5 compilation albums were released between 1986 and 2004, one LP and four CDs. I have three of the five listed here, so I can vouch for the accuracy of the information as there is, for example, not much much available online about the first two.

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2. Ted Nugent: Double Live Gonzo!
3. Status Quo

George Shearing/George Shearing Quintet. Classic Album Collection. Golden Stars/IMC Music Ltd, 2008.

This 3-CD box (3 jewelcases in slip cover) was produced in Portugal under European public domain law, and although it does state that the music presented on these CDs was licensed from Intermusic S.A., George Shearing probably won’t see a single cent.

It is the first time that the first two albums included here have been reissued and the remastered sound is more than OK. I sometimes do wonder though what the earlier Shearing material could sound like. Up until today I have mostly heard cheapo remasterings only, and this one is heads above some of the dreck I have had the misfortune of owning. It’s not Mosaic, but for 11 Euro one can’t complain.

The albums included are:

1. “An Evening With the George Shearing Quintet” (MGM, 1951), basically “[...] covers a three-year period when Shearing’s group gradually became one of the most popular in the country. Among the high-points of the enjoyable set are ‘Mambo Inn,’ ‘The Continental,’ ‘Jumpin’ with Symphony Sid,’ ‘Roses of Picardy’ and ‘I’ll Remember April.’” (AMG).
2. “I Hear Music” (Metro, 1952) is an early-’50s and more consistently uptempo date with guitarist Chuck Wayne.
3. “The Shearing Spell” (Capitol, 1955), the Shearing Quintet’s first recording for Capitol, features George Shearing (piano), Johnny Rae (vibraphone), Toots Thielemans (guitar), Al McKibbon (bass), Bill Clark (drums) as well as Armando Peraza and Willie Bobo (percussion) on some tracks.
4. “Black Satin” (Capitol, 1956) is perhaps one of Shearing’s best-known recordings. I have never been the biggest fan of it, with its heavily-orchestrated tracks, but it does have its charm. Billy May’s string arrangements are perfectly-suited to embellish the “Shearing sound” and it is not surprising that this recording became and has remained so popular.

Related posts:

1. Sony botched the “Miles Davis: Complete Columbia Album Collection”
2. Claude Williamson: ‘Round Midnight (1956)
3. The Complete Joe Newman RCA-Victor Recordings (1955-1956): “The Basie Days”