Rosco

I had the same thought, but decided that Golson's innate "fussiness" (not so much in what he played but how he presented it, the effect of what you have after it's over) would not have worked with Miles. Too "sunny:. That 'sunny' quality is also- to my ears- present in George Coleman's playing and I liked him fine on those live albums. Not as profound as Shorter, maybe, but it has its own appeal. I've often toyed with the idea of Golson and it would certainly have been interesting to hear Miles playing Golson's themes (beyond Stalemates, of course). In that period around late '67- 68 when Miles was looking at- and generally being dissatisfied by- guitar players I often wonder why Larry Coryell never entered the frame. A player with jazz chops and Hendrixian inclinations he would have been an interesting fit. The two did collaborate on a session during Miles' retirement (Miles played keyboards) which resulted in some intriguing but inconsequential noodling. Pity.

Their reply to my email: ...thank you for your email. Probably is a mistake of our manufactoring.....we will reprint this title and we can send another copy of Box Set of David Murray within a few days. I will advice you when the Box Set will be available. In the meantime you can please give me your address where I can send it. Best Regards CAMJazz Staff No word on availability as yet.

What sound problems - must have missed this Can you give any specifics - what discs etc The discs for Ming, Hope Scope and New Life are- on my copy at least- in mono. It appears that one channel (either the left or right) has been folded out onto both channels. In other words we're only hearing half the stereo image. As was pointed out elsewhere, Craig Harris' trombone solo on the final track of New Life sounds like someone playing in the hall outside the studio.

Contacted the folks at CamJazz regarding the sound problems with the David Murray set. Appears to be a problem during manufacturing; the set will be reprinted and they are sending me a replacement copy. If you have a faulty set contact info@camjazz.com

Was just about to post much the same thing. Listening on headphones it also become apparent that the New Life disc is in mono. It almost seems like we're hearing one channel from a stereo mix and Harris' trombone was mixed to either extreme left or right. Does anyone have the original LP or an earlier CD version to check this? *edit* Just done a quick scan of the other discs, a couple of which I haven't got round to hearing yet. Sounds like Hope Scope and Ming are also in mono. I have Ming from an earlier CD issue and a side by side comparison seems to suggest the right channel instruments are lower in the mix. There's something not right here...

Bought this a few days ago, after reading this thread, and I'm a little more than halfway through it. It's a fascinating read and Waters certainly knows his stuff (and his 'Stuff', presumably). Some of it is very technical and a few passages have gone over my head, although fewer of them as I get more used to his writing style and particular terminology. I shall probably read it over again as soon as I'm done, as I'm sure much of it will make more sense the second time round. Just to clarify, no, there's nothing from Water Babies or any discussion of the quintet tunes from Circle in The Round, the boxed set, etc. Simply a decision to restrict it to 'first choice' tunes, which is fair enough. He also doesn't discuss every piece. There's little mention of Footprints, for instance (and there's a whole lot going on rhythmically in that piece). But what is here is excellent- the dissections of Iris and Dolores I found particularly enlightening. Any book that can make you go back and listen to tracks you've heard a hundred times and still find new things to hear has to be worth a read.

Trane, curtain.

I'm sure I have that by Anthony Braxton.

Are the ones HMV.com sends out sealed? Often the UK editions of CDs aren't and I'm painfully fussy! None of the ones I received were shrinkwrapped, but that is not unusual for UK distributors. All in pristine condition, though. Good stuff - will be popping into the big London HMV tomorrow. Hopefully they are all 'up' on the shelves at that price. Wouldn't count on it. They're usually more instore. Would expect around £6.99.

Sunburst found its way to my CD player (and, subsequently, iPod) many times over the years. Drifting (Enja) is a good one, too.

UK buyers: HMV.com has these for £4.93 a pop, free delivery. Most of the ones I've ordered have arrived in about 2 or 3 days.

Phooey! (I think I'n one of the only people who almost always prefers stereo when it's available.) I haven't done a comparison, but I always thought the bootleg was fake stereo. I'll try to find it and compare soon. Nope, true stereo. Not particularly wide stereo panning but there is some separation between William's cymbals and a little between Miles and Wayne. Herbie is a little left of centre, too. While it's not the widest 'soundstage' (it's most noticeable in the applause), it does seem to create some air around the players and give the sound a little more depth.

Just saw this on hmv.com for £9.99 (rather than £28.59 (!) on Amazon). Done. Had only ordered the Dixon Black Saint/ Soul Note box a few days ago. Going to be listening to a lot of Bill very soon.

Just noticed, doing an A/B comparison, that the bootlegs I have of the Paris date are in stereo, while the new version is mono. Odd.

The second of the Juan les Pins 69 concerts is very good, slightly marred by Chick's electric piano going increasingly out of tune.

The Paris is superb and in excellent sound (even in the bootleg versions)

You can often hear Charlie Haden's fingers clicking back into his palm, presumably when he plays his low E string. More noticeable on quieter duo sessions.

I've always enjoyed the snippet of audience chatter at the start of Albert Ayler's Prophecy (ESP). Before the trio launch into Ghosts (First Variation) you can hear a woman's voice say: "...over, rolled up on the couch I was sitting in and I looked down at him and he- everything was fine, but his feet were those of a... a four year old boy. Little booties... that's all..." Would love to have heard the rest of that conversation...

Wow. I'd rather read a Scott Yanow review, which is saying something.

Really nice stuff guys. You can obviously all play and the more you play together the tighter and more cohesive it'll all get. I teach at some jazz workshops and there are guys 2 or 3 times your age who would be pleased with this standard, so keep at it! (Especially on Miss Jones, whose bridge causes abject terror in less confident players) Just going to echo a few of the comments already made, really: Time. Concentrate on getting a solid concept of time, individually and collectively. Practice with a metronome, and really get a feel for those eighth notes- swung and straight. I don't want to get all Wynton Marsalis about it, but if you're playing the kind of material you are you really need to swing hard (which is not the same thing as playing hard). Even with the lightest of touch, you should feel the groove. The Modern Jazz Quartet or the Jimmy Giuffre 3 could be feather-light and still make you bob your head. Get some space in there. It's one of the hardest things to do, but what you don't play is as important as what you do. For instance, the guitar player doesn't need to lay down a full voiced chord on every beat. Let the bass player carry some stuff. Break it up, get some air in it. Again, this comes down to having a solid sense of time. Listen to the guys who use space well- Miles, Monk, Chet, etc. When you break up the rhythms you can get more of a dialogue going on between the instruments, rather than just a 'soloist' playing over a 'rhythm section'. I'm going to focus on the saxophone in particular (as it's my instrument). I'm curious as to the different sound of the saxophone on the two tracks- it could just be the recording of it but Miss Jones sounds fuller, more controlled and more confident than All of Me. Is it a later recording? Anyway, I'm going to echo what JSangrey said. Pay attention to your sound and control. Make sure you're pushing the air through the horn, rather than just blowing into it. Again, this doesn't mean playing harder, just having more control over it. At the moment your tone is a little 'recital'-y (if you know what I mean). I don't know what your practice regime is, but here's an excellent exercise for building tone and control that really helped me a lot (and still does) and I force onto all my students: Start at the lowest note of your horn, Bb, and play a long note. Start it softly, then build in volume(making sure you keep dead on pitch- many players have a tendency to go flat the louder they play). Then decrease in volume again. Do this same exercise going up in minor 3rds- Bb, C#, E, G until you get to your high E. Then go back down to the bottom of the horn and start again at B. Then again starting on C (you'll finish on your high F#). It can be a little boring to do- it takes me about 15 minutes to cover the whole horn- but the results are more than worth it. If your budget allows (16 year olds have tons of spare cash, right?) try out a few different mouthpiece/ reed combinations. Your sound is your personality on the horn- make sure you have the set up that allows that to come through. As a band, just keep playing. The more you play- and experiment- the better it will get. Play with other people too. Play with people who are better than you are and steal mercilessly from them. And listen. Listen to as much as you can, in all styles and all eras, on CDs (or mp3s or whatever you young folk listen to these days) and live. That's where all the answers are. Finally, it's great that you're all wanting to get involved in playing jazz. There are some marvellous young players around- in fact, the piano player in my current band is 16 years old and is the best pianist I've ever played with. Scary.

If rap is the new jazz, Guru was its Hank Mobley.

I learned a sentence: Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo. The English language is a strange and wonderful thing sometimes.