mikeweil

Considering they asked him for an album of Beatles tunes, Monk's Blues doesn't seem that bad ...

Thanks a lot, that clears it up. The number didn't make sense to me. Nothing to hunt for, as I see.

If he'd only read liner notes more carefully or do some research: here's his take on the new Criss Cross: Now this was Monk's second album for Columbia! and Underground was not the last, but Monk's Blues!

Here's what I found on the AMG website on the new Columbia CD reissue of Solo Monk: 1. "Alfred Lion's Black Lion label" ????? 2. "The first three were between 1954-1959 for the Riverside label and its affiliates" Now Vogue was or is an affiliate of Riverside???? This shouldn't happen on an information website. Do they expect customers to pay for such crap in the future? Any other badly researched AMG reviews? - I'm afraid this will become a GIGANTIC thread .....

AMG lists a Columbia LP 338, Monk's Miracles. Tracks: 1. Crepuscule With Nellie (Monk) 2. Four in One (Monk) 3. Stuffy Turkey (Monk) 4. I Mean You (Hawkins/Monk) 5. Well, You Needn't (Monk) 6. Bemsha Swing (Best/Monk) What the heck is this???

At last found the time to go out and buy the lastest Columbia reissues, find they sound very nice, this and the fact that we get the unedited versions is a great improvement on the previous US or French reissues - had them all and sold them after the new ones were out. I wholeheartedly agree to all what has been said in the posts above - the Columbia years were a period of consolidating the Monk sound with a stable working quartet. I always loved them! I have all these on the table before me and find Columbia and Orrin Keepnews have done an excellent job on these reissues: good sound, great photos, expanded versions with edited takes restored and added alternate takes or unissued/obscure tracks. What we have is: Monk's Dream Criss Cross It's Monk Time Monk Straight, No Chaser Underground These are all the Monk quartet studio albums! The solos, unless included in one of the beforementioned, are on: Solo Monk or, in one wants to have 'em all in one package including all releasable alternates: Monk Alone (2 CDs; the only missing item is a solo 'Round Midnight from Monk's very last Columbia sessions for Monk's Blues) Then there is the series of live recordings on double CDs: Monk In Tokyo Monk At Newport 1963 & 1965 Live at the It Club Live at the Jazz Workshop Still missing: - a new edition of Big Band and Quartet in Concert. This was well done by Keepnews in 1994, all they have to do is a new remastering. - a new edition of Monk's last Columbia studio album, Monk's Blues. Was on CD in 1994, new remaster is all that needs to be done, this included the solo 'Round Midnight. - Misterioso. Now this may be the opportunity where they ruin the good job. This album was a compilation of tracks from a number of concert recordings, most of which appeared on the live doubles listed above. The exceptions are: - Honeysuckle Rose, which is in fact a studio trio recorded March 2, 1965 from a session that otherwise poduced three piano solos, one of them included on the LP Solo Monk. Keepnews saved this one on the triple CD The Columbia Years, all solos are on Monk Alone. - Well You Needn't from an otherwise still unissued Brandeis University of February 27, 1965. Now these and the unissued concert recordings from a Mexican tour in May 1966 - including a jam on C Jam Blues with Dave Brubeck!!! - would make a glorious live double CD to complete this series of Monk's Columbia recordings!!!! (Keepnews included the piano solo "Don't blame me" on the triple CD set, indicating the tapes are all still there!!!)

I also found the "latin" series of recordings the did in the early 1960's somewhat disappointing: Ike Quebec's Bossa Nova Soul Samba Grant Green's The Latin Bit Charlie Rouse's Bossa Noca Bacchanal Even the album titles are hard to take! The Green is the best of them. To me they sound as if Alfred Lion tried to hit in the middle between jazz and latin but used the wrong means: Garvin Masseaux is a great shekere player, but this instrument tend to sound obtrusive withou t a conga underneath. Perhaps the budget was too low to hire a full Cuban rhythm section, or maybe he really didn't like it. Many jazz producers - even musicians - had only limited knowledge of "latin" rhythms at the time, mixing up Brazilian and Cuban concepts all the time, and this rarely works. On the other hand, the relatively few Blue Notes with conga player added - Candido Camero on Burrell's first LP, or Ray Barretto on most of the others, are very well done. As are Blakey's and Solomon Ilori's drum ensembles.

Sorry Jim, never heard it, and I think I can live without it, even though I reckon Gerald Wilson did a very good job - what would we have thought if he didn't? They probably emulated Verve's approach, who overdubbed even on those magnificent Half Note live recordings. Remember, it was the late 1960's .... if they shut down shortly after, they probably needed some money. Adrian Ingram's book on Wes says it was released in 1969, so it's obvious they wanted to cash in on Wes' sudden death. But there seems to have been only one identical reissue on British Liberty - that probably was the European issue at that time. So good taste rules, after all!

Hank Mobley - Reach Out even got me a vinyl copy! But it turned out to be the only Mobley that disappointed me.

Grant Green - Am I Blue? Was excited about the presence of Coles, but found it pretty dull and uninspired.

That seems the best way to me. I'd include the Grass Roots title tune, and Diddy Wah from the One For One twofer - these actually were the tunes that made Hill accessible for me, my personal admission ticket the musical world of Andrew Hill. Perhaps a track from the strings session, Poinsettia would be nice. On vol.1, a track from the Mobley session with Hill, that's as close as we will get to mainstream hardbop. John, could you make a Vol.1 and Vol.2 - perhaps with different photos - for the two albums?

Correct!

Yeah, the horns players Young had on the Prestige dates were in a rather conservative bag - Bill Leslie, Jimmy Forrest (although in a very good way), Joe Holiday - only Booker Ervin was as modern as Young, and that wasn't released at the time. All of his session mates at Blue Note were as modern as he was - compare Sam Rivers to Leslie, Holiday or Forrest - one of the most advanced tenors of the time (he still is today!). There is a comparatively long gap between the date with Booker Ervin for Prestige (February 28, 1963) and his first Blue Note session, Grant Green's Talkin' About (September 11, 1964) - a lot can happen in 18 months! No recording sessions in between, and his last dates for Prestige before the one with Ervin were sideman dates for Gildo Mahones and Etta Jones, a date with Thornel Schwartz for Argo, his own last session had been on February 27, 1962 Groove Street. Many things can happen in such a time span, really looks a lot like woodshedding.

David Wild's Coltrane disco confirms this - he doesn't even mention organ in the instrument abbreviations! Would have been interesting. One of the very few hard bop generation tenor saxists who never recorded with organists, well Rollins didn't either, did he? But name anybody else, and I'm sure he did. Doesn't that Coltrane interview linked in a different thread include a passing reference to a gig with Jimmy Smith?

Okay, AMG could help: 1. Margie (Conrad/Davis/Robinson) - 5:51 2. Lonesome Road (Austin/Shilkret) - 4:46 3. I Want a Little Girl (Mencher/Moll) - 5:14 4. Diane (Pollack/Rapee) - 6:25 5. Blue Lou (Mills/Sampson) - 3:51 6. Our Love Is Here to Stay (Gershwin/Gershwin) - 5:41 7. Danny Boy (Weatherly) - 7:24 8. Taking a Chance on Love (Duke/Fetter/Latouche) - 4:40 That's a different take of 2. Lonesome Road than the one recorded June 13, 1960. But what sessions is that stuff from? I'm not a Smith completist ... Anybody here with the Lord disco who could post a Smith Blue Note listing?

1.???? 2.???????? 3.????????????????? 4.???? 5.?????? 6.?????????????????? 7.??????? 8.??????? ... that's what appears in my browser window when I click on that link. Anyone able to type out a decent track list?

... and that session was recorded January 31, 1963! I should have made the connection 'cause I mentioned tehm a few posts above ...

1. 'S Wonderful (Gershwin/Gershwin) 2. The Blue Room (Hart/Rodgers) These are from the August 25, 1957 session that was used for The Sermon. They were bonus tracks on the respective US CD. 4. Smith Walk 5. Lonesome Road (Austin/Shilkret) were recorded June 13, 1960, the only pieces recorded on that date. In the US they were included as bonus tracks of Prayer Meetin', which otherwise has the February 8, 1963 session. 3. Day In - Day Out (Bloom/Mercer) Don't know right now what session that was from. If I can find out I'll post it here.

I remember, when they put it out, I posted on the old BNBB, if they were cool they'd put it on the web, that would make updates a lot easier. I wouldn't mind if they charged a yearly fee and all, but that would be the best way with ANY discography!

Just noticed your list omitts The Sermon which used material from the same sessions as House Party. Well, the original album may have tracks from the January 1958 session only, I have only the first Blue Note CD which has that stuff in recording order (which I prefer). Confirmation probably has the remainder of these two sessions.

The two unissued tracks from the January 31, 1963 session with Grant Green were Organic Greenery and Day In, Day Out. Are the album redits correct? A session-based discographical listing together with an album index would be more helpful than just a list of LPs or vault-issue CDs of previously unreleased material, especially when so much of the music was issued in a "compiled" fashion.

AFAIK there were no problems when my parents had to research their "arian" ancestry before they married in June, 1939, just three months before the war started in September. You had to trace it back three generations, and I remember my mother once told me they couldn't trace it any further back, anyway. I believe my mothers side may have some hugenotte traces from south-west Germany, but my father's branch stems from that small village not too far away from the town where Elvis Presley did his service in the 1950's. I never took the time to deeply investigate my family name's etymology, I'll do some search on the web ...

This is one to get, it seems - thanks for pointing out: Jim, do you have any idea why there are so few trumpet albums with organ - or rather organ records with trumpet without a sax? Do you know any others besides Kysor's?

Nothing Butt The Soul, of course!

The first Blue Note CD reissues were not conceived as limited editions, many titles nevertheless went out of print once the sales figures dropped below a certian margin. This is the criterion, not musical value or whatever. It's ALWAYS the sales figures, at least for a major company. Fantasy operates on a different basis.