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Shrdlu
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Posts posted by Shrdlu
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Don't you guys have anything to do?
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I've liked Gary McFarland's work - what little I've heard - for many years, and I did a little digging on AMG. The album "Soft Samba" sounded interesting, and I was pretty sure that I'd heard a track from it on the radio in the late 60s or early 70s (on Arch McKirdy's "Relax With Me" in Australia - who remembers that?).
I'm not sure whether it has been reissued in the U.S. (I'm too lazy to look
), but Mundo in Japan has it available as one of those attractive gatefold mini-LP CDs (in the same series as "Wave" and "Tide" by Jobim) so I ordered a copy.Well, I just love it, and recommend it to you all!
It has a pretty impressive cast: Kenny Burrell on all but two tracks, and those have Jobim (on guitar); Richard Davis is on bass; the drummers and percussionists include Willie Bobo and Arnie Wise (who was with Bill Evans for the memorable Town Hall album); and there's also a bit of flute, and Jimmy Cleveland on trombone.
It's a very unusual setup, as the melodies are stated by McFarland in wordless vocals in unison with his vibes. On the surface of it, it could be considered as just some guy humming in the shower, but it is much deeper than that, as it's all so well done, thanks to the quality of Gary's arrangements. One of its strong points is that it all does sound so casual. But it is not at all trivial.
I like the song selection: Gary turns several sow's ears into silk purses.
Anyway, the bottom line is: do you like it, and I do. I've been going around humming it to myself for the last several days. The acid test was to let my 19-year-old daughter hear it. When she pronounced her disapproval, my enjoyment was confirmed!
The original studio sound (by a certain RVG) is excellent, and the remastering on the Japanese Universal CD is top-notch.
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I don't really want to labor the topic, but McMaster is just about the only one, on any label, whom I dislike. You buy Verve, Columbia, OJC, etc., and any Japanese of course, and the sound's usually great. It is sad that Ron has been used for so many Blue Notes, those being amongst the top sessions ever. There is just no excuse for it when every other label does such a good job. Even that 2 CD Mendes set, from the U.K., is fabulous, and that's by a relatively unknown guy.
I guess no-one at Blue Note/Capitol has the heart to fire Ron. So the problem goes on and on, and we won't get any other version of several rare sessions, such as "Hipnosis" and "Thinking of Home".
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Malcolm Addey! Yay! McMaster-free at last.
It's about time.
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Templejazz, although there are some rather mediocre blowing sessions (especially the ones with Mal Waldron), the dates with Red Garland, Paul Chambers and Art Taylor are definitely NOT! Those guys and Trane were close buddies who logged countless hours playing together. There is a close understanding between them all. They also played a lot with Donald Byrd, who also fits in real well (though he is not on Coltrane's plane, of course). So you can safely get all the sessions with those guys (including the ones under Red's name, although those use an inferior bassist), that is, from about Sep 57 onward. These sessions also include Wilbur Harden and (to a limited extent) Freddie Hubbard, both of whom play better (on the Trane sessions, that is) than Byrd.
Those sessions include some of Trane's best slow numbers that you will ever hear. Such items as "I See Your Face Before Me" are absolute gems. And "Little Melonae" really points to Trane's later, experimental work.
I can't stand Quinichette, but that's just me.
There are some nice moments on the earlier sessions, but Trane did not play anywhere near as well in 1956 and early 1957 as he began to do in the fall of 57, when he had shaken off the smack and also spent a very fruitful summer with Thelonious Monk.
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The Japanese CD of "Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes ..." has a facsimile of the original LP cover, and I see that the LP had "Mais".
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Very nice links, Mike. Vielen Dank!
I just got some of the Japanese CDs of the albums in this thread - in the UICY range.
I was a little surprised to see that they are in jewel cases. Anyway, they have superb sound, and you feel as if the group is right there in the room with you! Talk about presence!
Once again, this raises the naive question: why can't ALL CD reissues be like this? Especially Blue Notes.
The main reason why I'm posting here is to say that I carefully A/B'ed a track or two that are on both a Japanese CD and the 2 CD set with which I began this thread. Try as I could, I was unable to detect any difference! This makes the 2 CD set a real bargain. This is even more true if you compare it with the "Verve By Request" CD of "Look Around". That is a recent U.S. CD, but it sounds very dull compared with the 2 CD set (which contains all but three of its tracks, and two of those are very annoying tunes for me). I have not heard its Japanese counterpart, but it is fair to assume that it sounds like the twin CD set. If you are planning to get the single CD of "Look Around", get the Japanese one.
The recent U.S. mini-LP CD of "Equinox" has sound in the same league as the Japanese CDs (though, once again, I have not heard the Japanese counterpart). So I would suggest that there's no need to get the Japanese version in this case.
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With all those goats, he won't ever have to endure Ron's remastering!
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The Pearson set will be a beauty, with the sessions listed above.
"The Phantom" is a very good album, overdue for reissue. There is a TOCJ.
A kind friend sent me a CDr of a mint LP of "It Could Only Happen With You", and I really enjoy that one. It turns out that the title is a translation of "So' Tinha De Ser Com Você". It's a Jobim composition, and Flora Purim actually sings it in Portuguese on the Pearson session. She sings it in the same key as the original version, which appeared on the Warner Bros Jobim LP "The Wonderful World of Antonio Carlos Jobim" (you can get that as a digipack CD).
There was no album called "I Don't Care Who Knows It" in the LP days. This title was used for a mid 90s compilation CD consisting of a collection of unissued titles from about four sessions. I assume that the new Mosaic set will contain all those tracks. They are all good, especially "Xibaba", "I Don't Know" and "Canto de Ossanha". I hope that Michael includes the three items that he left out when assembling the mid 90s CD, namely: "Is That So" (10/3/69) and "Come On Over, My Love" and "Dialog" (from the 11/21/69 session). (Those two sessions, held at A&R, were intended to make up planned Brasilian-style album which never came to fruition.)
I don't really like the vocal tracks on "How Insensitive" (all that doodly-doo stuff is dross to me), but the LP contained three tracks from a fine 5/5/69 session featuring Flora; the fourth and final title from that session was on the mid 90s CD, and so, I assume, this new set will present this whole session.
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Great title, especially with the funny face, too! Keep 'em coming!
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I used to get two Merkhefts each time, too. This happened because I made two orders which were regarded as having been made by two separate individuals. I then told them to send only one, and now I punch in my customer number whenever I order.
I don't really like the Merkhefts much. They contain a lot of sordid-looking stuff that smacks of German decadence in the twenties and thirties. I can almost hear that awful Dietrich woman singing.
But the music specials sure are good.
Re the Fantasy LPs, I've heard various reports, saying that some are digitally processed and others are basically RVG LPs. I don't know why an LP would be digitally prepared, though a recent new LP reissue of the MJQ's "Space" album was done digitally and sounds great to me. (It is now even more digital, as I've transferred it to CDr to save wear and tear on the vinyl!)
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Ray Mizutani, at Mundo, is my Japanese connection. He, also, can get anything that's in print, and he also has a website
http://www.mediawars.ne.jp/~mundo/cdjapan/link.html
Note that, on this website, Ronnie Smith is listed under L for Ronnie, rather than S.
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Who needs these "A fresh look at" notes anyway? Just re-release the albums with the original notes.
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I went to see Zoot at Ronnie's in London, England, in 1974, and he was backed by John Taylor. I was very impressed! The bassist, Ron Matthewson, and the drummer, Martin Drew, were also superb. I wish Zoot had recorded with them, as his records at the time used rhythm sections that were nowhere near as good as that one at Ronnie's. (An added delight was that Zoot had added soprano, on which he sounded like Zoot Sims an octave higher - no Trane stuff.)
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I see that there's a copy of Cal Tjader's "Hip Vibrations" (Verve). I strongly recommend that! It has a star-studded cast: Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Richard Davis, Mel Lewis etc., excellent arrangements, mainly by Benny Golson, and a fine selection of titles, such as "Blues March", "Django" (with a fabulous Hancock solo) and "Canto De Ossanha". Not on CD, so grab this while you can.
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Aggie, jalapenos are theoretically nowhere near as hot as habaneros, and that's why I was surprised to find that the jalapenos were so hot. They were red, by the way, not green, but still ...
Over $200 for a pair of Justins? Way out of my price bracket, especially when there's nothing wrong with the "seconds" from Cowtown. Mind you, I only wear cowhide and similar ones, no exotics like Paraguayan snake.
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Actually, we didn't really have to cough up $18 for Universal's CDs. There have been many sales and other deals, including those at zweitausendeins. Where there wasn't, I just boycotted them, e.g. the 2 CD Coltrane "Ballads" set.
It's hard to say where a CD price should be set. I'm kinda numb to prices near the $20 mark, after several years of chasing after OOP BNs on eBay (that's all history now, thanks to several reissues) and ordering Japanese CDs (I'm not a millionaire, but I do order some Japanese CDs).
I do remember that, in the 50s and 60s, when it was just vinyl, the LPs were usually quite pricey, and we couldn't get everything that we wanted. Impulses were among the more pricey LPs, as they had those nice gatefold covers. There were several times when we had to settle for an EP. (Definition for you young 'uns: a 7" 45 disc that could accommodate about 7 minutes of music per side; these were usually selected from an LP for poorer customers.)
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It IS on CD, he, he, he!
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The latest "Merkheft" from Zweitausenddrei has arrived, and I'd just like to post that they still claim to have the Bill Evans Riverside set for about 19 eurothingys (just over $20 in real money) and also the Sonny Rollins Prestige set real cheap.
Just in case you don't know: the sound is the same as on the U.S. Fantasy CDs, but you don't get the 12"x12" box or the book. With the Evans set, CD 8 might turn out to be from the Miles Davis Prestige set, but Zweitausendeins will gladly send you the correct disc if there is an error. Stefan Leuning is your man if there are any glitches, and he's very helpful.
That's www.zweitausendeins.de
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An interesting album, to me, but one can get a bit too "minimalist", or artsy, or whatever, and I don't think the music is in a class with Sonny's Prestige and Riverside albums. Sonny was badly shocked by Trane's work, and I don't think he ever really got over it. I remember seeing a video of him walking aimlessly around, playing a super-long solo which basically told the story of a lost man trying to find a road sign. Compare that with a classic, well-structured solo like "Dearly Beloved", or "Funky Hotel Blues".
Also, this album, like a lot of Impulse albums, is rather short on playing time. They could have included another number, and why not use Freddie on it. It is disappointing that Freddie is only heard on the one track - and, Sonny told him not to play any of that Coltrane stuff on his session, too.
So, on a scale of 1 to 5, I'd give it a Les McCann.
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Definitely try the local chilis. I can easily handle a raw habanero, but some red jalapenos that I bought in a Phoenix area grocery store were pretty fierce!
Also, there's a good Cowtown Boots, which is an outlet for Justins and Tony Lamas with undetectable flaws and no label, but for $69.99 instead of two hundred bucks. They last for years! Terrific value.
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I was given a first edition of the Grauer/Keepnews book for a birthday present by my hip uncle. I loved it. They brought out a newer version a few years later, with added pictures of Trane etc. I loved that book, and spent a lot of time in it. The scope of the book was very good, covering the music from about 1895 through the late 50s, and, in the later edition, the early 60s.
I would definitely recommend any edition of it.
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We'll have to try to figure out a way of posting a music chart. For that composition, I would also have to doodle around on our piano to work out the chords. The piece was the kind of simple thing that Horace might have written, by the way.
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Then there's the Eb contrabass clarinet described as an alto - and they argue when you point it out. (That was played by Frank Foster on some late BN sessions with Duke Pearson and Elvin.) It took a link to a French instrument website to convince a well-known reissue producer of that.
Gary McFarland "Soft Samba"
in Recommendations
Posted
Vibes, I ordered it from Mundo
http://www.mediawars.ne.jp/~mundo/cdjapan/link.html
Ray Mizutani answers the emails and is very friendly. (Click on G for Gary to see this CD, not M for McFarland.) The email and payment details are all there on that website. Or, no doubt, you could get it through Hiroshi Tanno, or, even, hmv.co.jp
Used LPs can also be had. I was going to order one, but the people asked too much for "postage and handling", so I switched to CD. The Japanese CD is of LP quality, no question.
The album Gary did with Bill Evans sure is good. I have only seen it in the Verve box set, and I'm too lazy to check whether it's available separately.