I got Rodney Whitaker's latest, "Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow", and I simply can't stop listening to it. The song writing is superb, much more than just vehicles for the bass to blow over. Victor Goines is exceptional on many instruments, every bit of James Carter's equal.

Does anyone know anything about Whitaker's set-up? I love his sound; very wooden, maybe less "electric" sounding than Christian McBride. I think he is director of the jazz program at Michigan State.

Monte

"The problem with Ornette Coleman is that when he was a child, his mom told him to go play outside."

Once you get into the studio, the recording engineer takes over, and he delivers the sound the recording company wants. They're paying the bills. What you hear on a CD may or may not be what you get in person.

True, but I have Mr. Whitaker on 4 different cd's with 3 different companies and 4 different sound engineers (I checked on my lunch hour). In addition, I have him on something as a sideman live, and they all have the same sound, so I'm inclined to believe that it is truly his own sound.

Don: that is a blanket statement I just can't agree with. Sure, I guess the recording engineer is technically responsible for the sound that is produced, but either the producer or the band acting as producer *should* determine how it ultimately sounds. I'd like to think there's plenty of bands out there that control how they sound to a great degree, but unfortunately (or fortunately, depending how you look at it) many of them are under the popular radar. That said, I don't know much about Whitaker, so I can't comment on him specifically.

It's happened to me.
The engineer set up the mic(s?) and that was that.
For the broadest example compare the way Miles' band sounded on Columbia ('Round About Midnight) and then Prestige (Relaxin', etc.) Same time frame, different sound. Columbia wanted a particular sound. They were notorious for it.
I said the sound may or may not be different, not will be. What's blanket about 'maybe'?