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Having a blast discovering the unknown-to-me groups on this one, which I have never seen before, thanks so much! Now I'm motivated to track down an affordable CD of the Fort Mudge Memorial Dump, sampled on here!!

Yes it was. What a great time capsule it has proven to be - wish they would put out CD's of some of those old samplers on Columbia, Warner-Reprise, and Impulse. Agreed on Ratledge. I'm partial to SM3 and SM4, like Elton Dean and Hugh Hopper and Robert Wyatt a lot.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/03/arts/music/strata-east-records-jazz-music.html Just starting to read this now, but anything that draws widespread attention to the label at this late date has to be a good thing. Now if we could just get CD reissues for the Jazz Contemporaries 'Reasons In Tonality' and the Mtume 'Alkebu-lan, sets, as well as some of the other gems the label released in the 70's!

The turning wheel was #1. I bought it for like $.57 from Woolworth's in East Liberty, and #2 later on from a dollar record store in Philly. I had been exposed to them through an excerpt of "Out-Bloody-Rageous" on a fabulous Columbia sampler called 'Different Strokes'. I picked up Soft Machine III shortly after picking up #1 (2 LPs for the price of 1, easy call), and have been with their releases ever since.

I got the first two (the Command albums) out of cutout bins as a teen. Kevin Ayers on the first, Hopper on the second.

Anything/everything by Greil Marcus is worth reading

Grab 'Bundles'. Allen Holdsworth's greatest moment is the "Hazard Profile" suite. '6' and '7' and 'Softs' and 'Live in Paris' are also well worth your time. Karl Jenkins joined the group on '6' and quickly became the dominant voice, though Ratledge continued to have good moments until he left.

Atlanta sent Grissom down last year and went with Arcia at SS because Grissom's glove work was so poor. You don't want him as your SS. You stick him at 2B, but I would have rather taken my chances with Urias there. Two bad trades, Sale and Urias.

Thanks Tim! This album was my first conscious notice of Dana Hall. I was mightily impressed! Researching further, I see that he plays on some Malachi Thompson discs I own. I'll need to circle back and listen to those.

Please let us know what you think of the second disc when you get to it. I stopped following rock in the mid-80's.

He and Greil Marcus were the first great rock critics. To me, they and Dave Marsh remain the gold standard, especially Marcus, who is still astonishing as he pushes 80. Marcus's review of Bob Dylan's Self Portrait album remains the ultimate work of art in rock writing 50+ years later: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/self-portrait-107056/

Please report back on the 2 disc set. The idea intrigues me, but Robert Christgau, I think, savaged it in a review.

I'm generally in on their archival stuff on decent labels, will look forward to checking this out - especially since it's what I consider their most exciting group (Dean/Ratledge/Hopper/Wyatt).

Very kind of you, thanks! Maybe give it to Jim. The one I got was $3.99 with another $3.99 shipping, so not a big expenditure

I ordered a used copy of #4 yesterday, will report back on the CD.

That's a good album, you should have bought it. Watson's writing was wonderful back then, and, hey, Walter Davis Jr. was in the house. In many ways an extension of the Blakey albums of the same period.

1 – Sixties style, right out of “The Sidewinder” family by way of Eddie Harris and Jon Hendricks. I like it OK, though it feels a little bit like a novelty to me. Suspect this is a later vintage than its style would suggest, as it’s a too studied in its evocation. 2 – The style is fun, but the horn soloists don’t do much for me. Sound like older guys used to going outside who are trying going inside. I do like the trumpet solo. Hamiett Bluiett on bari? Also sounds underrehearsed to me. Mapleshade Records? Is that Don Pullen on piano? On balance, I like the track, but not big-time. 3 – Swingin! Good mainstream stuff, I like it fine, though again the soloists don’t do much for me. I could see this being on a label like Pablo. 4 – This is more my sweet spot than the previous cuts and wins the coveted “wouldn’t mind having that in my collection” award. Sax player is very strong, I suspect a big-time name who I have well-represented in my collection. 5 – Is this from that Oscar Peterson meets the Trumpet Kings series of albums? Pleasant. 6 – I like this one ok. The bass player really has my ear. Older horn players, and I don’t care all that much for them, or for the piano solo, but the rhythm section is really locked in! 7 – Old-fashioned organ player. I assume late 50’s. Guitar player wins solo honors to me. I would see it as a fun track, though not essential, but the trombone player gets on my nerves, and it sounds like his album. 8 – JATP feel to the cut, classic “tenor battle” – is it a JATP recording? I like this one a lot! I want to think I have enough of this sort of thing to not need more but could be convinced to make an exception in this case. All of the solos are very good. Oscar Peterson on piano? 9 – Good soloists on this cut, the solos raise it above background music level for me. I assume big names on this. I like it on balance! 10 – Older sax player, not a fan of their tone (I got myself in trouble with you last time I said that about the sax player on one of your BFT’s – it was Percy France!). 11 – Well, I’ve never heard a version of “A Night in Tunisia” I didn’t enjoy, though this probably falls below the midpoint for me. I like it less relaxed (think the Blakey/Messengers version on Blue Note), and the stride aspects of the pianist’s style are somewhat off-putting to me. 12 – Fine for what it is but feels earlier than my domain. Sax and guitar are fine with me, but the roller-rink organ grates on me. 13 – Sax player has exquisite control, but it’s a performance I admire more than enjoy, found myself getting very impatient with it. Lee Konitz? Thanks, Dan, for the BFT and the comradery! A lot of good tracks on here (I give 9 of 13 a thumbs up – nine more than you liked on my BFT 😊). #4 and #8 are big winners for me, and I greatly look forward to ID’s of them (which I’m sure people here will provide soon enough).

Thanks Big Al, a blessed 2024 to you and your family!

Finally, some real jazz, as opposed to the junk that other guy hoists on us every December. I, for one, look forward to listening!

60's live concert standard. Not bootleg quality, but not great either. Maybe 7 on a 1-10 scale. The DVD is B&W, but well-shot, and is the major draw for me.

+1

The Crawlers were actually the dancers. The musicians were the Registers.

Thanks T.D., have a great new years!

Thanks Mark, yes, by the end I was trying to give away that #3 was Allen. Wishing you and yours a happy new year and blessed 2024!