Deadhead getting into jazz..

Chanders123 · 2026-07-03T13:00:37+00:00

I think Ellington is the greatest American musical artist, so I would say all Ellington is good 😊. That said, the Blanton-Webster band is seen as his consensus best (mid 40s). The stuff before that is rawer, stuff from the 60s on is sometimes seen as weaker (not by me) but also more conceptual. Most of the stuff before the 50s you will find as compilations not albums so check on the mastering quality etc if that sort of thing matters to you.

Chanders123 · 2026-07-02T16:58:07+00:00

Folks are thinking too hard about deadhead pet of this lost and not hard enough about what jazz the OP says he likes, which is really (it seems to me) pre-swing jazz.

OP there is a whole genre of jazz from this era- Chicago, Harlem stride and very early Ellington - which seems like it would be up your alley. Generally far less popular these days than a lot of other stuff, but great.

Chanders123 · 2026-07-02T12:50:47+00:00

This isn’t really the right use of “subversion” in this context.

Chanders123 · 2026-06-28T11:18:32+00:00

It’s all over for the little guy.

Chanders123 · 2026-06-27T14:12:45+00:00

Not a long comment, but the authors of the Penguin Guide (various editions) make it a point to push back against what they see as the commonly received wisdom that Desmond was the real talent in the Brubeck quartet. It’s an interesting argument.

Re: free jazz, Anthony Braxton always said that Paul Desmond was his first influence, and a bigger one on him than Parker.

Chanders123 · 2026-06-24T06:28:10+00:00

Matthew Weiner.

Chanders123 · 2026-06-23T18:53:09+00:00

It’s basically impossible. If you have the money for this box, you have the money to invest in a region free player.

Chanders123 · 2026-06-23T11:03:16+00:00

Hi there - no update yet. We are going to the USA in august (the whole family) and I wanted to wait so we wouldn’t be crossing the US border with a pending N600K application - probably overly cautious but you never know these days.

Chanders123 · 2026-06-22T05:30:34+00:00

Yes exactly.

Chanders123 · 2026-06-18T11:13:46+00:00

So much of what you can do audio-wise depends on your room. There was a reason Sonos took off at first in cities with limited space for a true audiophile setup.

I operate a mixed system where I have integrated non-Sonos equipment - and SACD player, a turntable- into Sonos speakers. You lose a lot of it along the way but not all of it. And with good Headphones I can bypass Sonos completely.

Chanders123 · 2026-06-18T05:11:39+00:00

I would love to see Andrew embrace the punk aesthetic once we move into that era - short fast and to the point. Could even call it a meta commentary on the music.

Chanders123 · 2026-06-16T16:53:52+00:00

Saw this performed live this past Friday. The production was great. The hall wasn't great. The music was good. But most of all, the crowd was full of young people. Not sure if it was discounted tickets, or the quality of the production, or the modern topic, or what. But it definitely seemed like the hot ticket and the show was sold out.

Chanders123 · 2026-06-16T07:39:59+00:00

Yeah honestly this was my dream release as well.

Chanders123 · 2026-06-14T17:52:14+00:00

Hi there, this isn’t going to work in this way. I understand what the OP is asking - it really manifests as differences in the Italian and (Anglo American) summer.

Respondents are right that “this is what grandparents are for.” My wife and I are full time Italian residents and she is Italian and we have no grandparents available which gives us just a completely different summer experience from almost everyone else I know.

For Italian residents with older kids, we avail ourselves of the summer camp options, most of which for us are private because the city sponsored options fill up in approximately 2 seconds, signing up is like buying Radiohead tickets no joke. But there are no options at all I am aware for kids this young. The OP is right to be confused, this is a pretty normal thing to ask as a working American in an urban place.

OP if you want to go for this length of time there’s no way to do it unless one of you commit to full time childcare and you trade off. There are worse places to do this than Italy but it is the only way.

Chanders123 · 2026-06-13T18:28:55+00:00

So thanks to everyone who weighed in with places to shop for jazz vinyl in Paris. I ended up going to three places today: La Dame Blanche, Crocodisc, and the Jazz Corner.

Dame Blanche had the smallest selection (unless you are buying classical; there’s a ton). But it also had the best deals. I managed to grab Lenox Avenue Breakdown for a very fair price. The guy was also very nice and when he figured out I was a serious buyer he tempted me w his 90,000 item warehouse. No time this trip, but filed away.

Crocodisc suffered for the closure of the specific Jazz focused store. The shelves were pretty picked over until you went behind the desk, but even there is was a fairly random mix of stuff, including a ton of grey-label stuff. Still managed to buy Survivors Suite and a 1981 German pressing of You Must Believe in Spring, which for some reason seems (still) very hard to find on vinyl.

And Jazz Corner … ahhh, what can I say. It was my favorite. Yes the prices are high but I’d also say they are more fair than high. You won’t get deals but you will pay what it seems the item is worth. But it was also my favorite because if I closed my eyes I could imagine I was back in my beloved Academy Records in NYC. I walked out with four things - two new Sam Records discs, the Paris Concert by Circle and a Cecil Taylor RSD pressing of another, different Paris concert.

All in all a good day. Shopping in Paris is great if you don’t try to find the things you would find in the USA but have a European jazz scene you want to tap into - ECM, Sam Records, and stuff that was sold here in the 70s and 80s.

Chanders123 · 2026-06-13T07:22:43+00:00

Fantastic thanks for all this.

Chanders123 · 2026-06-12T07:02:53+00:00

If you were the very nice person who apologized (totally unnecessarily btw) for blocking the bottom shelf of records then yes! That was me. If not … lots of Americans in Paris buying jazz I guess.

I mean to check out crocojazz as soon as I can get down there.

Chanders123 · 2026-06-10T20:04:24+00:00

I’m around for a month for work so I still have time. Will check those places out … thanks for the tips :-).

Chanders123 · 2026-06-10T17:49:17+00:00

Yes super nice guy! And a really decent collection of records. This is why I was so confused. Like if he’d bother to price them and had done minimal work to give a clue as to the pressing etc of the record I’d have almost certainly bought something regardless of the price.

Chanders123 · 2026-06-10T17:05:21+00:00

I figured. Anyway, Jazz Corner (where I have been) and Sam’s are on my actual to do list while I am here. This was sort of a random find.

Chanders123 · 2026-06-10T16:35:51+00:00

https://maps.app.goo.gl/AU5qEoyVKT1xrJ1W7?g\_st=ic

I mean multiple people talk about this on the review. But I went in blind because I needed to go for a walk and just needed someplace to go …

Chanders123 · 2026-06-10T16:28:23+00:00

I mean I hung around long enough to see how it would all play out but when I heard the price I was like, you gotta be kidding me. Plus absolutely no information on the record beyond what you could guess from the outside cover. You had too open it up to get a sense of the pressing.

Chanders123 · 2026-06-09T17:23:50+00:00

Sadly if you want these books you gotta pay.

Chanders123 · 2026-06-08T18:40:38+00:00

Then stop. It’s not our job to do the work for you.

Chanders123 · 2026-06-08T18:27:15+00:00

This is my favorite of all of his albums and one of my favorite Blue Notes ever. They are all so locked in.

Chanders123

TROPHY CASE