By coincidence I happened by Sams late last week for the first time in months maybe more. I went up to the jazz section looking for a particular Brad Meldeau cd and guess what i found.........They had ONE cd by meldeau, not the one I was looking for.... I mean if you have only 1 disc of one of the most important current jazz artists from huge back catalogue of god knows how many cds, its bloody rediculous....Christ, they couldnt even get it up to have multiple copies of the one disc they had...

Further to my post at the beginning of this month forecasting the demise of brick and mortar record stores most of you have probably heard by now that Sam the Record Man will be closing up shop on June 30th. The writing certainly seemed to be on the wall when I went up to the second floor several weeks back and the entire jazz and blues section had been squeezed down into the same space as country, international etc. This was hardly a surprise given how thin their jazz collection had become over the last 12 months. Where they used to have 10-20 records for the bigger names in jazz that had dwindled to in most cases a couple of discs. Very sad given how they used to be the standard bearer for finding jazz in this city.

According to Bobby Sniderman who seemed to be on every radio station yesterday the closure is a result of downloading and big box stores. The impact of iTunes, Limewire etc is understandable but how the crappy selection of music at places like Best Buy pushed Sams out is baffling. I think these days if you plan to sell music from a storefront you have to specialize in specific genres of music and work that angle harder and with more informed personnel that give you value for your buck. Just like the good old days when record stores sold records and not DVDs, magazines etc. Who wants to guess how long before we see HMV depart or at least reappear on a much smaller scale.

sorry lads, since I hadnt heard anything at all from you guys I accepted invitations eleswhere for both the 15th and the 16th (just yesterday) ....bad luck ....

Hey gents, I'm likely not good for that weekend having been out twice already that week. I'd be better the week after or even the one after that but don't change your plans for me, since I know Stu will be looking to get his groove on.

I should be available for either June 15th or 16th. Preferably at a venue that has a no Chili Pepper policy.

though i've never been a red hot chili peppers fan, i have to give them props for their prophetic words 'What I've got you've got to get it put it in you'. given that i was single and on the prowl in 1991 when the song was released (requisite pithy double entendre acknowledgment), i really should have been paying more attention.

on what i cannot stress enough is a completely unrelated note, are we still up for a going out for beers/music night out the weekend of june 15th/16th? my preference is for the saturday night but i believe i am available for either.

timely post, stu. i listened to a few of the tracks at emusic yesterday and was, to put it mildly, not impressesd. i'd heard the junior boys remix of 'sleep tonight' a few weeks ago on definitely not the opera and the only effect it had on me was to pine for the beauty of the original.
gotta say that i love, schaedenfraudically, the way the pitchfork dudes express their distaste for the whole project, in particular the dissing of owen pallet's contribution as an "audition to be Jon Brion's film-soundtrack intern".

i don't necessarily dismiss the remix in general. kcrw, for example, seemingly plays nothing but non-album versions of songs on their various shows, and their selections are usually quite stellar. but yeah, it's probably safe to say that the majority of remixes are garbage. for any one ep containing 6 or 7 remixes of a song, there may be 1 that is actually decent. and if you're not actively employed as a disc jockey, there's no excuse for owning such an ep.

The rant I gave a few weeks ago about remix albums, seems to be felt by more then just us...Check out this pitchfork rant on the stars remix album

Actually Brian the weekend of the 15th and 16th Yvette will be out of town w the kids, so if you or anyone else are on for that weekend, I am in...

Good suggestions Kyle, but I'll likely be more up for something in the third week or after of June....I'll have just finished my exam and should spend some catch up time with the family for the first week or so. For my two cents worth, I think the National might be a little too droney in a live setting (variety is not what they do best), whereas I hacve a feeling that the Clientele will come to life a bit - I do enjoy them, but their deliberate emotional understatement eventually wears on me, perhaps less so on this new record where they have some really pretty music. Or, maybe it will be the other way around.

Finally got around to listening to the new Dino Jr record last night and it sounds pretty fantastic.

two upcoming concerts that i may be interested in are the national, who play the opera house on june 5th and the clientele/beach house show at lee's on june 4th. of course, these two days--tuesday and monday--are not always ideal for seeing a concert but there's also something to be said for spicing up an otherwise dreary first half of the week.

sunshine beckons. think i'm gonna head home, fix me a wry & ginger, and get my long weekend on.

apologies, Brian, your response must have vbeen in cyberspace somehow, while I was giving my typically rye comment below....looks like maybe a jazz cd club night theme may be in order at some time shortly...

Clearly , you are so stunned at my dynamic list Brian that you cannot respond, so I will move on to a solicitation to any out there to find a decent live show to see. I have been looking and nothing that really interests me has shown up, is there anything that interests you lot??

Power to the People is an amazing record - I picked it up after you blogged on it and have been listening to a steady diet of it. Despite my mixed feelings about the electric piano (which I can enjoy on occasion but the lack of pedaling makes it a very one-dimensional instrument for me) and particularly the electric bass, which I normally just despise in jazz, I think PttP may be Joe's best record (pardon the Stuart-like hyperbole). Gorgeous subtlety to the arrangements and the playing is outstanding.

Re similar early seventies electro-jazz, I figure the big name ones, which you may already know and own, are Chick Corea's band Return to Forever which I own few tracks by and quite enjoy, the first couple of Weather Report (Zawinul, Shorter, etc) records, and for a little more "rock" in your jazz-rock, maybe McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra stuff, particularly the first couple (based on my own limited experience). Of course all of the Miles stuff from that period was fusion-esque as well. I loathed this music with a white hot passion when I was growing up....it seemed to represent everything that is ego-driven, flaccid, and meaningless about jazz (or what I thought jazz was at that point in my life...truth is jazz in 1975-80 was probably at its lowest creative/commercial point ever....remember Montreal based band UZEB....rrggghhghghg (me shuddering)), versus folk, pop, or punk. Interestingly, I've been re-visiting it carefully over the past few years and can stomach some of it, and even quite enjoy the really good. I think the key for me was coming at it through a more chronological process, learning about jazz's roots, through the bop and free periods, understanding the personalities and progression of the key players (Miles, Shorter, Corea, Zawinul etc) and then electric / fusion suddenly made sense.

Paul Bley did some early work with synths in the late sixties and is well worth tracking down. My man Bill Evans even made a record on which he played electric piano (hey, it was the seventies, elec piano just came along with the cocaine, blow jobs, and transcendental meditation) - not bad either (called The Bill Evans Album).

Segue into Chet Baker discussion, since the opening chords on "Alone Together" from Chet are heartbreakingly rendered by none other than Bill again. The man was everywhere. I agree with your comments about Chet as a trumpeter (I'm a huge fan so I'll lend some of my stuff over time and save you some dough), and about the album "Chet" - it's fantastic after hours music, featuring BE on paino and the great (but under-recognized) Pepper Adams on baritone sax. Chet the singer is also well worth lauding - he created a new sub-genre of jazz vocal in my view, which fit the same moods he captured on his horn so beautifully. I'll blog later on fave Chet B records.

bit of new , but mainly my old stuff, of which ,I am getting much more familiar thanks to my ipod....
new,
henderson power to the people, ( great early 70's sound, I am trying to get more stuff from that era), tatum and ben webster classic 56 session, mellow , but I love websters understated but heartfelt easy style, Molvaer, Khmer, thanks to marc, modern cold , sort of the opposite to Webster, but good for late at night...
old stuff,
Alice Coltrane, Ptah, thanks to you Brian, i love the repeated grooves , it sort of errupts and then holds off , plus whoda thunk a harp would work, plus great band ( whoever they are...thats the drawback when listening on ipod, hard to quickly see whos playing what) and chet baker , 2 albums , Chet and New York.....I ve been thinking a lot about that talk we had last fall and how I dont really focus on the instrument playing, but rather on the somgs and albums as a whole, and in that light, he would be on my list of favorite trumpet players in that he can be sad and mournful like no other check out "alone together" from "Chet"my favorite Baker album...I think it equalls some of miles' game here, but I may be inciting some of you yobs now...

I'll bet the farm on it being a phase Stu....but since you mention it which jazz have you been listening to lately?

I think we are in agreement with much of that Brian, and thanks for the tips to all....I guess part of my problem is I am listening to 70% jazz 20 % classical and 10% pop now...so i am not buying much of it, but I truly love pop still so it may just be a phase....I hope...

I feel relatively guilt free on this as well. My current fave new ones (may not be 07 but close enough) are The Broken West, Midlake, and also Besnard Lakes (thanks to Derek and Kyle for this one)...it's all about the Lakes in 07. Broken West is a fantastic summer groovy power pop record for those of you who don't remember its unveiling at the last CD club.

I would argue that if anything there is a tendency to put too much emphasis on finding something "new", and therefore discount bands' second, third, or fourth releases. How much time do spend talking about the latest from The Shins, Arcade Fire, etc? Despite loving their previous releases.

Finding new music can be akin to a sugar high, where the latest is the greatest and nothing else matters. I defintiely play this game so mea culpa....but from another perspective (a) I think each generation produces only a few great artists (Bjork is one of them in my view - I can see a list question coming up), and a few times greater number of strong contributors (say, Built to Spill for ex) , and it makes perfect sense to chase down each artistic step from these few and/or check in on the others (b) Great bands get better over time, not worse, so I'm pretty comfortable with following their progress to see if they continue to grow (or not). (c) Great music is great music whether the artist is cool, young, and British, or 72, Jewish and has no teeth, or in the case of Elliot Smith, dead. To me it's always about finding the great music - or so I tell myself, and so try. And I know you believe this too Stuart so I'm not trying to convince anyone.

agree with your observation, stu. like you, i am probably buying more from artists with whom i'm already quite familiar, like sea & cake, clientele, dino jr., arcade fire, shins, panda bear, the national to name a few. however, i am able to meet your challenge in coming up with three new bands that i've discovered in 2007 that i'm digging. these include:

-the previously blogged about The Besnard Lakes, whose "The Besnard Lakes are the Dark Horse" continues to delight with each listen. The first couple of tracks are, as noted, airy and Beach Boys-like, but others seem to veer deeply into early 90s shoegazer territory, at times reminiscent of early Catherine Wheel and Ride but not as out and out derivative as the Mahogany disc that I brought to the last meeting

-the Comas "Spells" quite possibly the best pop/rock record i've heard this year, though jangly and rocking, the songs are all quite well structured, smart lyrics, and there's a layer to the sound; a little too produced at times but still a treat

-Explosions in the Sky "All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone" a band from Austin, TX are similar to bands like Tortoise and godspeed you black emperor!, and their album a collection slow-building instrumental epics

all of these were purchased from emusic, btw.

whether that means you are an old fart is for you to decide. or perhaps for the rest of us to decide, in a dramatic vote, with consequences/punishments should you be found guilty.

Guilty as charged unfortunately. I can only come up with one disc that falls under the guidelines that you set out Stuart and even though the disc came out in 2006 I didn't pick it up until a few months ago. The album is "Don't Let Stars Keep Us Tangled Up" and the artist is Cortney Tidwell who has a voice that reminds me very much of Harriet Wheeler of the Sundays. Tidwell's music however covers a lot more territory than the Sundays and I'm still discovering new things with each listen.