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gmonahan

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Posts posted by gmonahan

  1. Billie Holiday Box Set on Verve

    in Mosaic and other box sets...

    Posted

    I kind of like the design. Actually, if you think about it, compare it to the Mosaic boxes. Unnecessarily large, unimaginative in that they all look almost exactly the same and use boring jewel cases, lacking color, etc. etc.

    Is this a response to my crack about the Evans box? If so, I think you're putting me on, but I'll bite. The large size of the Mosaic boxes permits larger photographs in the booklets, and the black and white is beautiful. The best photos ever taken of jazz musicians are in black and white, especially of most of those to whom the big boxes are devoted. As for the Evans box, nasty to open, hard to get the discs out, liners impossible to read. I long ago repackaged the cds in "boring jewel cases" and threw the box in a box...to rust away. I think most would agree that it represents the nadir of "high concept" packaging for reissues.

    gregmo

  2. LF: Tristano Marsh Konitz Mosaic box (affordable)

    in Offering and Looking For...

    Posted

    I didn't know about this material (from the Tristano estate on Jazz Records). Has any of it been reissued by other labels on cd, or is it all unavailable elsewhere? And, for those who have these records, I'd be interested in hearing about sound quality and particular recommendations!

    gregmo

    Some of it has been issued on boots at various times. I've got several of the Jazz issues. The two CDs of the early Tristano group (Birdland 1949 & Wow) are excellent musically, but rough sledding sonically - they were recorded on a wire recorder. Toronto 1952 had decent sound and is maybe the Tristano album I'd take to a desert island - phenomenal music by a quintet with Konitz and Marsh. Continuity is okay - the quintet session doesn't get to me as much as the Toronto recordings, and the fragmentary quartet session with Marsh is good, but the sound is not so great. Manhattan Studio is well-recorded, excellent trio music.

    But IMHO, the Toronto session is the one to get. Like I said, this might be my favorite Tristano album.

    Many thanks for the reply. I'll definitely look into getting some of these.

    gregmo

  5. Another Miles Box ...

    in Mosaic and other box sets...

    Posted

    What I don't quite get is that someone in some other thread said this wasn't legit but a rip-off from some Euro label... jazzecho.de is Universal's German page, and it gives Concord as the label (Universal is the distributor of Concord in Europe). Also someone (else) said the albums with Coltrane weren't included... of course they are (CD11-14).

    uhm, discs 10-14 or course, including "Miles" or whatever it's title was.

    and to me, having the stuff on disc 4 of the "Legendary Quintet" set official was enough to get it, eventually (I never had "Chronicles" though, I'd have had more doubts if I owned that one, I guess...)

    Hey, I was the one who made that erroneous claim about the set being not legit, where/when I saw it listed it said nothing of Concord and i thought it was just another out of copyright rehashing. I was wrong. I apologize.

    That said, this set holds no interest to me, I have the original Prestige box set and I have all these session in XRCD or K2 issues and I know when to stop in this instance. :)

    You stopped?? Lon? YOU? That's it; the Maya were right, the world really must be coming to an end!! :D

    gregmo

  6. Armstrong Complete RCA Set '97 vs. '01 edition.

    in Re-issues

    Posted

    I have the studio material here, from our Andorran friends. I picked it up from Berkshire Record Outlet on sale; I think it was $3/disc.

    51BT3VBQ6WL._SS500_.jpg

    When I was a teenager, my first real introduction to Louis was the summer he died, 1971. About 2 weeks after he died, RCA (I don't know how they did it) had in the stores a 2-LP set that was a retrospective of his RCA material. It had a white cover and was titled 1900-1971. I loved the '30's material, wasn't that crazy about the '40's, but throughout it all was Louis's personality.

    I had that 2-lp set too. I liked the 40s stuff better than the 30s stuff! Different tastes. Always particularly loved "Jack-Armstrong Blues," and, of course, Teagarden's majestic feature on "St. James Infirmary" from the Town Hall Concert from that period. What an amazing performance that was!

    gregmo

  7. Sinatra Song Often Strikes Deadly Chord

    in Miscellaneous Music

    Posted

    February 7, 2010

    Sinatra Song Often Strikes Deadly Chord

    By NORIMITSU ONISHI

    GENERAL SANTOS, the Philippines — After a day of barbering, Rodolfo Gregorio went to his neighborhood karaoke bar still smelling of talcum powder. Putting aside his glass of Red Horse Extra Strong beer, he grasped a microphone with a habitué’s self-assuredness and briefly stilled the room with the Platters’ “My Prayer.”

    Next, he belted out crowd-pleasers by Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck. But Mr. Gregorio, 63, a witness to countless fistfights and occasional stabbings erupting from disputes over karaoke singing, did not dare choose one beloved classic: Frank Sinatra’s version of “My Way.”

    “I used to like ‘My Way,’ but after all the trouble, I stopped singing it,” he said. “You can get killed.”

    The authorities do not know exactly how many people have been killed warbling “My Way” in karaoke bars over the years in the Philippines, or how many fatal fights it has fueled. But the news media have recorded at least half a dozen victims in the past decade and includes them in a subcategory of crime dubbed the “My Way Killings.”

    More

    Well, if it makes Philippinos feel any better, Sinatra shared their opinion of the song:

    -- "I hate this song -- you sing it for eight years, you would hate it too!" (Caesars Palace, 1978)

    -- "And of course, the time comes now for the torturous moment -- not for you, but for me." (L.A. Amphitheater, 1979)

    -- "I hate this song. I HATE THIS SONG! I got it up to here [with] this God damned song!" (Atlantic City, 1979)

    I share his opinion. When I do a Sinatra show on the radio, it's one I almost never play.

    gregmo

  8. Benny Goodman at Carnegie Hall

    in Artists

    Posted

    That's odd. I just clicked on it in your response, and it took me right there!

    Try again.

    BTW do I owe Barbara Woodhouse to you? If so, thanks and please note that I made the change. Which gives me an opportunity to test another link.

    I hadn't visited the blog in a while, so I enjoyed returning to it. I haven't heard the Jasmine version of the concert. Despite its "provenance," I do like the Definitive version. The Schaap is indeed a horror.

    gregmo

  9. You're not going to believe this...

    in Mosaic and other box sets...

    Posted

    Maybe they're just shoring up their affairs. Frankly I find True Blue to be pretty irrelevant anyways.

    That said, my goals for this year include ordering 5 more Selects and the Herman, Hampton, and Lester Young sets. And hopefully the Threadgill.

    I wonder, though, if we'll see any more Selects come out at all. It's coming on two years since the Handy and Zeitlin sets, no?

    I'm pretty sure I remember a post telling us there were no more singles in the pipeline. Don't know about selects, but they're much cheaper to produce than the big boxes. I'm spending all my mystical karma energy willing that Duke Ellington 30s big band box into being! The last message I got from Scott Wenzel promised they were doing it....

    gregmo

  15. A Yodel For The Bear Family label ...

    in Miscellaneous Music

    Posted

    I've never explored the extensive Bear country stuff. Love the big Cole boxes and especially the Louis Jordan Decca Bear box. That one's a real prize. I've been tempted by the Flatt and Scruggs stuff but haven't bitten. I like bluegrass.

    Where's a good place to get the Bear boxes on the American side of the pond? CDWolf used to be the place, but no more.

    gregmo

  18. Complete Miles Davis - 70CD + DVD

    in Re-issues

    Posted

    I wonder whether particularly aggressive drummers might not seem a little hard on the ear no matter who they are just because we might not be used to hearing them. When I first heard Buddy Rich (in the 60s Pacific Jazz records, believe it or not--I was pretty young!), at first I thought, man, he is too damned loud, but as I've listened to him over the years, on those records and others, I've come to appreciate the way he propelled those bands. Tony strikes me the same way, albeit in a very different context.

    gregmo

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