ATR

That's the stuff, along with a lot of the Evan Parker and Roscoe Mitchell discographies. How about Braxton's For Alto? And even though guitar is kind of a piano I suggest Zorn's Yankees trio with George Lewis and Derek Bailey and his Lulu trios with Frisell and Lewis.

The movie introduced the idea that his royalties had been stolen but didn't follow up on it. Too good to be true story that I don't think could happen in the hyper connected world we live in now. Interesting that his music connected with the disaffected young and mostly caucasian anti-apartheid people of South Africa at about the same time that people like Abdullah Ibrahim, Chris McGregor, Harry Miller, Louis Moholo, Dudu, and all the rest of them were leaving. I don't have any of his albums but from what I heard it's easy to believe he got lost in the shuffle. A lot of stuff did and still does.

I never met him myself but I've been told two stories that I believe are true. The first was from a friend of my father-in-law, who was in the chorus of West Side Story with Frances Davis when she was with Miles. They were on tour and Miles visited her on the bus one evening, either before or after the show. Lowell told me that Miles shared some brandy with the cast members and was very subdued and friendly. The second story was told to me by Jerome Cooper, who said he and a friend knocked on Miles' apartment door one night and somehow were let in by Miles' son. Miles came to see what was up, and after introductions he asked the two of them what they did. Jerome's friend, who as I recall was a psychiatrist, said he played the saxophone. Miles said 'Let me see your teeth'. The man opened his mouth, Miles took a quick look, said 'Bullshit'. He turned to Jerome Cooper. Jerome told him he was a drummer. There was a set handy, and Miles said 'Play'. Jerome was at a bit of a loss, I guess, and he played something as he described it, 'In the style of Art Blakey'. Miles cut him off and told him to play his own music. Jerome played for a while, and Miles dug it. He told Jerome he could come back some time, but as I recall the story pretty much ends there.

Most of Get Up With It and some great tracks that were either never released or only saw limited release. There are really no outtakes from the On the Corner album itself and in my opinion the box won't illuminate On the Corner for you. But it's a great box.

I was traumatized by 'Live at the Village Vanguard Again' after I took it out of my local public library when I was in high school. This was back in '68 or '69. I liked Bitches Brew right away, but I couldn't get any of my friends to listen to it. The early 70's were spent trying to appreciate CT and Albert Ayler. One night at the Five Spot getting 'unitized' solved all my problems. Everything seems so simple now.

Great pick. I forget how long it is, but he really makes a beautiful transition from inside to outside playing on that.

Is Jimmy Lyons considered post-Coltrane? He could play forever, but he didn't record that much and tended to keep it shorter in the studio. Interesting, however, is in the ear of the behearer.

I've noticed a few of you have mentioned live performances which were supposed to be excluded so I'm going to sneak in Jerome Cooper's Bert the Cat from The Unpredictability of Predictability. I think that if he had done it in a studio it would have been the same length. One of my favorite studio tracks that hasn't been mentioned is the title track from McCoy Tyner's album Sahara.

Don't have the cassette. Although they are the same composition I haven't listened to more than about a minute of both, so they could diverge in terms of the improvisation. Disc 2 sounds more distorted, though, and that is a definite difference. I must say that as much as I enjoy it this is an inconsistently curated box and there will probably be more mistakes popping up as people who collected the catalog over the years go through their boxes.

Intakt too? I hadn't heard that. Where are Intakt CDs on sale?? Cadence (Klompfoot) had a 24hr sale - unfortunately it finished on the 12 Dec I that that was just Cadence reducing stock to go out of business, not necessarily the labels going under. I didn't know that Cadence was going out of business. I would have thought they might notify me if that were the case. Maybe not, I guess.

It looks as though ICP isn't the only label on the way out. I see that at various places Hat, Intakt, Emanem, and PSI catalog are on sale. Jeez. I could have spread the money around instead of concentrating it on this one collectible. Having said that, if anyone has seen these other sales and can make any quick recommendations I still may have some money left to pick up a few bargains before all these great labels disappear.

Agree that the needledrops aren't that good. Agree that 'handpainted' was false advertising. The boxes were individually signed by Han Bennink. Although I would liked to have more in the way of notes, I think the personnel listings are very readable and I have no problem with them. I would have liked this sheet even if there were notes in addition. Surprised no one seems disappointed with the quality of the box itself. The cut and folded piece of paper was a bad decision. Worse if they did it to keep the production cost down.

Isn't it a bit of musical staff paper?

As far as I can see Dolphy appears on one track only, Epistrophy at 17:52 on disc 016. I hope you didn't buy this in the expectation of hearing a lot of unreleased Eric Dolphy. I have several of the ICP releases, having more Dolphy would have just been a bonus. I didn't know if there was more music with Han Beninick than just The Last Date Han Bennink is well represented. I think you will be dealing with some some needle drops. I've been through about 10 discs.

As far as I can see Dolphy appears on one track only, Epistrophy at 17:52 on disc 016. I hope you didn't buy this in the expectation of hearing a lot of unreleased Eric Dolphy.

The music is great. The paper contraption that's been cut and folded to hold the discs is not, and needs curating. I didn't vote for Romney either. Got some vintage Derek Bailey/Han Bennink playing right now.

Brilliant guy and a great musician. Compositions for Creative Orchestra on the Spool label with The NOW Orchestra showcases his trombone playing and straightforward musical composition. Streaming on the Pi label with Muhal Richard Abrams and Roscoe Mitchell is more abstract and features both trombone and computer generated synth sounds. I think it's the strongest statement he's made on record creating those kinds of sounds. Also check out the work he's done with the European free improvisers and his book about the history of the AACM.

The Don Pullen box is the only one I have and it is outstanding. Agree on the Harry Miller Collection. CT/Buell Neidlinger on Mosaic sets the standard, although long out of print of course as is the Art Ensemble box. Could be that the forthcoming ICP box will set a new standard.

That's what I call it, Chuck. Hope you didn't invest your IRA there.

I noticed there are several versions of the Tony Williams Lifetime album. In particular, amazon lists two. One is a 'remaster', the other is the Esoteric label version with an extra track, One Word. I ordered the remaster, and when I pressed to pay a box came up asking if I wanted to share the information about my order on fakebook. Ha. But in the box it said I was receiving a 24 bit import version. I doubt this is true, but in any event who knows what the available versions of this are on CD? If you have an opinion as to how they compare please feel free to share, of course.

Got Hot Rats today, and it indeed sounds good - better than the Ryko edition. However, I miss the 1987 mix - better guitar solo edits on Willie, additional instruments on a few tracks (Little Umbrellas really sounds 'empty'), and the long Ian Underwood alto sax solo. Ideally, I would have the 1987 mix mastered properly . I would split the difference. Gumbo Variations sounds better to me without the countdown, bass/drum intro, and long sax solo (Although I'm fascinated by the seamlessness of the editing. It almost sounds as if those have to be different takes) but keep the other '87 edits and balance of the instruments. Lose the digital reverb. That was probably added to the mix, not in the mastering. I like having both the '87 and current CD editions to compare.

Mekons are a punk/country bar band for grown-ups. I don't know what they've been up to recently. Last I heard they were collaborating with visual artists and doing museum installations. I saw them several times in and around Central SQ in Cambridge MA years ago and they put on one of the best rock concerts I've ever seen touring behind their Rock and Roll album. Check out some of Jon Langford's solo records, too. Rock and Roll and So Good It Hurts are both outstanding releases. Don't look for virtuoso chops here, just really good band chemistry and sophisticated themes to the lyrics.

Happy birthday Mr. Hemphill. Secret Hemphill album: Lester Bowie Fast Last. He's not on every track, though.

All of the issues with the sound, particularly on The Hard Blues, have always been there. I have the first LP versions of Dogon A.D. and Coon Bidness. State of the art music and improvisation but not recording. Nice quality packaging on this edition, even though Mbari should get the lion's share of the credit IMO.

Michael Ondatjee speculated usefully on this IMO in his marvelous novel 'Coming Through Slaughter'. Check it out.