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The CONNS are coming!


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I received "Now" and "Dance with Death" today from CD Universe. I listened to them both at work, and was wholly unimpressed with Now, which I have on wax but only listened to a couple of times (I almost came to Org and offered to sell it!), but loved Dance with Death (which I'd never heard).

I'm listening to Now right now on headphones, and I have to reassess my opinion. I think this is a great record. I had no idea before today that Gene McDaniels did the lead vocals on this session (I've loved Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse for years), and had forgotten about the subtle addition of guitar. It works in a strange, late-sixties, "what is happening to jazz" kind of way!

I primarily got this CD for the LA Phil session that's been tacked on to the end, but it's nice to give a fresh listen to the entire record. The sound on the first five tracks is a little muddy and bass-heavy, I think. I can't figure out the remastering--the back says that Addey remixed tracks 1-5, but that McMaster mastered to 24-bit. Hmmmm. Why oh WHY can't they engage Addey to do all of these!!!

The sessions with the LA Phil are wonderful. The orchestra wasn't recorded as well as it could have been (the orchestra is way back in the mix and the bass is too far forward, imho; it's also hard at times to discern the instrumentation), but again, it works in some strange way. It would have been neat to hear this live.

The discs (U.S. Version) ARE NOT copy-protected (not sure if anyone's addressed this definitively yet), but there is a nasty little "FBI ANTI-PIRACY WARNING" on the back, and a "you don't own the copyright" blurb in the jacket. Oh well.

It might take some getting used to, but I recommend Now!

:tup

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I used to buy Conns even if I had them on the Mosaic.  I stopped a while ago - a combination of finances and the whole BNBB thing I guess.

Man, you have to be kidding....

Are you honestly saying that your support for a reissue program dedicated to lesser-marketable BN titles has dwindled because Blue Note/EMI decided that they had more important things to do than manage a bulletin board that--by the end there especially--had very little to do with their product?

Not sure what to make of this. Are you joking or do you expect a reply. :wacko:

That's ridiculous.  You need to be supporting these artists, man.  Similarly, purchasing these reissues helps fund a program that's making this music available to a younger generation.

I'm not so sure that artists whose new releases I'm purchasing now would agree. B-)

Edited by Ed Swinnich
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Pete,

Thanks for getting back about the copy protection. I saw them at Borders' yesterday and saw that they were not listed as protected; I think the warning is a minor annoyance, and in fact it's smaller than on the previous batch of RVGs - no FBI logo. So I went ahead and ordered three from CDUniverse (the two you got plus the Larry Young). And my backlog keeps growing...

Bertrand.

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I received "Now" and "Dance with Death" today from CD Universe. I listened to them both at work, and was wholly unimpressed with Now, .............................................I'm listening to Now right now on headphones, and I have to reassess my opinion. I think this is a great record. ..................It works in a strange, late-sixties, "what is happening to jazz" kind of way!

I received my Conn.'s today. I had never heard this group of cds before. Listened to Now first because it was on top of the stack and my first reaction was much like yours. I was struck by the influence that Bobby Hutcherson was having on the music during that late 60's early 70's period. I had recently located a copy of Hutcherson's "Montara" and guess I never realized that Hutcherson was leading the "fusion", contemporary Jazz scene. This is not my favorite period for jazz but in context, and looking back, it is interesting to find Hutcherson having the influence he was obviously having at the time.

It is too early for me to recommend Now, but if you are interested from a historical perspective I think it is a good one to check out.

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I used to buy Conns even if I had them on the Mosaic.  I stopped a while ago - a combination of finances and the whole BNBB thing I guess.

Man, you have to be kidding....

Are you honestly saying that your support for a reissue program dedicated to lesser-marketable BN titles has dwindled because Blue Note/EMI decided that they had more important things to do than manage a bulletin board that--by the end there especially--had very little to do with their product?

Not sure what to make of this. Are you joking or do you expect a reply. :wacko:

That's ridiculous.  You need to be supporting these artists, man.  Similarly, purchasing these reissues helps fund a program that's making this music available to a younger generation.

I'm not so sure that artists whose new releases I'm purchasing now would agree. B-)

Listen Ed...I'm not trying to start a beef or anything.

My argument is about whether or not you are basing your BN reissue purchases on the demise of the BNBB. Hell, I was there too...

The financial reasons for not making Conn purchases I completely understand. They're very expensive. That's a different story. I know all about that. Believe me.

Holding a grudge because of the closing of the BNBB, on the other hand, is completely ridiculous. It was just damned website for christsakes.

Let it go....

We've got Organissimo now and it's even better. Besides, EMI/BN has considerably more important things to do than manage a bulletin board.

-- Brandon

Edited by Brandon Burke
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Brandon

I used to be as big a supporter/customer of Blue Note as there was - and would have been with or without the BNBB. It just so happens that the BNBB and the cyber community built around it facilitated my BN purchases by making available release information amongst other factors. I eagerly awaited new reissues, picked up others I did not have and felt gratified that I/we had some input into what was being reissued. All in all, I thought it was a very good relationship between BN and customer - all facilitated by the bulletin board.

I happen to believe that customer relations is an integral part of the equation when I decide what to buy and from whom I buy it. I'm not still upset that the BNBB was shut down. You're right, org.org is a way better board. But the fact that BN chief cook and bottle washer Tom Evered basically told us/me to go fuck ourselves in the process of shutting the board down does not sit right with me. Whatever the reasons for the shutdown, the I could not care less about you the customer attitude that Evered exhibited during that time still does not do it for me with me from a customer relations standpoint.

In spite of that, I still buy Blue Note products and always will. I'd be willing to bet that I have more of their current/recent stable of artists than most on the board. But the passion for having every Conn and reissue for the cover art or the latest sonic upgrade just is not there. So when it comes to making a decision to buy the latest reissue of something I already have, I choose to keep what I have and spend my money elsewhere. That decision traces back directly to the poor customer relations exhibited by Tom Evered. As you say, "it was just a damned website for christsakes", but it was on that website that the head of Blue Note - through his actions and his words - told me that he did not care if he had my business.

That it doesn't matter in the same way to you is fine with me........

Edited by Ed Swinnich
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Say Ed. . . .

I feel your pain. I feel a lot as you do, that the final attitude of Tom was a big mistake, and probably costly in more than one instance. Nor do I actually agree that this board is the cat's meow; I really honestly would rather be posting on a pre-cataclysm BNBB.

I confess that my enthusiasm for BN output has been somewhat dampened as well. I am lucky in that in most cases I can purchase BN discs at a substantial discount with help of a friend. THAT spurs most of my purchases of material that I already own in cd form. . . . When I don't have the discount available, I don't buy generally speaking.

Some aspects of the current reissue program bug me too. McMaster after McMaster. . . I prefer RVG and Addey as remasterers, I get less excited about appearances of items as Connoisseurs as a result. The difference is quite audible in my system and if I had my druthers. . . . I don't. Also some reissue choices just don't make as much sense to me as I think they could, and aspects of curatorship such as changing the status of some recordings from "unissued" to "REJECTED" in the latest discography kindof make me warm under the chin. . . .

Anyway, the music is great. The reissue program and its producers. . . used to be better. My two cents.

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I'm happy with Org, and usually don't think much about the old BNBB, but when I do, I tend to see it the way Ed does. It wasn't the closing so much as the WAY it was done that still rankles.

Now, despite the fact that this board has some of the most loyal BN fans anywhere, Evered chooses to post over at AAJ, where the attitude towards BN is considerably cooler. It's as if Evered is still intent on showing his disregard, if not contempt. Frankly, that sucks. :rmad:

It's not unreasonable in response to say, "I'm not going to support that company the way I used to." I admit that I still do buy those BNs that matter to me. I buy because I like the artists making the albums, that simple. Evered is not BN, although he might think he is. One hopes that some day, Evered moves on, and BN continues to produce great jazz.

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I listened to all of the new Conns at work today, except for the Horace Silver. I skipped that one based on feedback here. Thanks everyone for saving me some money ;)

I wasn't able to give these my full attention, but from what I heard of the Hutcherson, I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. That could change upon closer listening but for some odd reason I don't think it will.

I couldn't really get into the groove with the Sam Rivers. I guess I should have known better after Fuschia Swing Song. It will take a certain mood for this one to come of the shelf.

This was my introduction to Jack Wilson. It was pretty good. Of course having McLean and Morgan helped quite a bit.

I'm starting to appreciate Larry Young more and more. I enjoyed Mother Ship from the last batch and Unity gets its share of play time too. I think I'll have to play OLAP a bit more to get a better read on it.

Dance With Death was by far my favorite of this batch. After Black Fire and Passing Ships I really started liking Andrew Hill. Point of Departure was my introduction to Hill and it came a little to early in my jazz experience for me to truly get it. DWD just gets me a step closer to being a total Hill fan.

I'm still unpacking boxes at my new house and am also trying to figure out where to run cables for the main entertainment system so it may be a while before I can really give these discs the attention they deserve. I can't wait!!

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..............................

I have to say my other purchase (the Jack Wilson) underwhelmed me. I bought it because I'm a Lee Morgan junkie, and was curious about the combination of him, Jackie and Garnett Brown. The horns were fine but I got the feeling the material was a little under-rehearsed; the horns didn't seem to be overly passionate about the tunes (at times you can tell Jackie is turning off-mic as if to say "whassup?") which (IMHO) were fairly "generic" and not particularly distinctive, and Jack Wilson the pianist didn't  do a lot for me, with all due respect.  Did I miss something? Anyone out there in love with this session? I will say that once again Higgins kept things interesting, however.............................

I would not steer anyone away from Easterly Winds. I think it is an interesting straight-ahead session.

I picked up all of the recently released Conn.s and have been working my way through them slowly. Winds has some interesting and enjoyable tunes. It takes some unexpected turns but in very subtle ways, never venturing past the hard bop lines of constraint. Worthy of close listening. In fact, I am listening now and Lee just had a very interesting quote of Stormy Weather, maybe all of 5 or 6 notes. Like I said, this is an album with great playing and many subtle turns. It deserves some close listening to get full enjoyment from it. IMHO

So far I have listened to Now, Contours, and Winds. Contours is probably my favorite thus far. Much different,ofcourse, but a real fun ride. Very good stuff. Winds is probably second with Now still to be decided. Could not recommend Now yet. Very interesting from a historical perspective, however.

I have been waiting on the Hill because I know I want to spend some extended time there. With that said I will probably spin Winds another time or two and move on to the Larry Young. Hill will be the "cherry on top".

Edited by Morganized
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Completely understand the response that official Blue Note behavior on the Blue Note board generated.

It's about how you treat your customers. If BN couldn't or didn't make the connection that the board members were their customers (or did and just didn't care), well, that's *their* problem.

The Internet has allowed for communication to happen in ways that it rarely did previously. And while that can be a very good thing, it does have potential pitfalls and BN really stepped in it with their shoddy treatment of the Blue Note board. It wasn't a case where they screwed over just one person, it was huge and it was very public: a PR nightmare.

I don't mean to imply that no one else was at fault. But as the "big guy" company, BN's public actions had a potential for far greater impact than the other direction. If one member acts foolishly, it would be wrong to assume that every member is the same, but when the company spokesman acts foolishly, that's the company talking. And everyone witnessed it. Now BN has to deal with the consequences. I applaud Ed (and others) for holding his position.

Mike

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I probably won't be picking up the Conns right away cuz of money.

I already own the Rivers Mosaic but 'Contours' is quite a gem to these ears so I may pick it up later on.

I already have 'Dance w/ Death' from an LP burn but will definitely pick that up soon. I have a burn of 'Easterly Winds' also so that will have to wait a while.

This may disturb some board members but after listening to my Young Mosaic, I can't get with 'OLAP' Eddie Gale's trpt playing on this is just awful to me. Totally rambling and all over the place; not even in an artistic manner. Ornette's trumpet playing is genius compared to this so I may just skip over this one. I would have much rather heard Lee again again or Woody.

Several people I know have told me that the Silver set of albums is a 'Cult Classic' so I need to get it just to see what the buzz is about. I like daring things.

I'll get anything with Bobby Hutcherson so 'Now' will be in my collection soon, along with a legit copy of "Dance with Death'

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Temple, I totally concur with you about Of Love and Peace... Larry is one of my 3 favorite organists of all time and even though I have the box set, I have also bought individual CD's as well.. but this one I will skip for now, the trumpet playing is just grating to these ears.

Now is... interesting, but some of the vocal arrangements can be very distracting.

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The Eddie Gale thing is a whole 'nother issue that, I think would warrant another thread. I'll just throw in a few thoughts, and we can see if we should start another thread.

1. I've had a burn of this session for a while, and now I have the CD (just arrived last night). I got it anyway because it's Larry Young. I recall really being put off by Gale's trumpet playing, so much that I swore to myself not to buy anything else he was on (including his BN dates). BUT...

2. One of the things that turned me off was that Gale did not seem to know the head to 'Seven Steps' and was just winging it. But AB Spellman's notes say that this band was together for two weeks (minus Spaulding) before they made the record, so it's not like they didn't have time to rehearse (whether this tune was part of the repertoire or not, I don't know). So could the perceived sloppiness of this session be in fact part of a grand design? I remember one of our board members once said that Herbert Morgan told him the Mother Ship date was a mess - no charts, no lead sheets, nothing. But Mother Ship (to me) sounds much more rehearsed. Could Morgan have been thinking of this date, not Mother Ship?

Just some thoughts...

Bertrand.

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I got the Horace and...eh.

It's cheesy and campy, and it might even be fun if there wasn't so damn much of it. The musicians sound good, but they don't get to stretch much. The recordings are much more focused on the vocals and the (yuck) lyrics. And these lyrics are really, really horrible. You'd think that someone would have noticed how awful Horace's lyric writing was from the liner notes to "Seranade to a Soul Sister." (Thank God he didn't record them!)

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... But the fact that BN chief cook and bottle washer Tom Evered basically told us/me to go fuck ourselves in the process of shutting the board down does not sit right with me. Whatever the reasons for the shutdown, the I could not care less about you the customer attitude that Evered exhibited during that time still does not do it for me with me from a customer relations standpoint.

Um, did I miss something? What did Tom actually say?

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I bought all EXCEPT the Horace from (those bastards) Dusty Groove and the CONNS arrived witihin 48 hrs.

The only ones I already owned were late-pressing LPs of 'Contours' and Hutcherson's 'Now', both which I consider to be five-star albums. I'm impressed with the clean 24-bit remasterings by McMaster and relieved EMI kept this project AWAY from RVG, who's been murdering his last few batches of 24-bit BN reissues, unless you dig loud bass and smeared drum cymbals.

(Like Joe Paterno, RVG should've checked out while he was on top of his game at the end of 2002.)

Back to the good news -- I'm very happy with the new CONNS.

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Well call me a flip flopper (ahem) but I said:

I couldn't really get into the groove with the Sam Rivers.  I guess I should have known better after Fuschia Swing Song.  It will take a certain mood for this one to come of the shelf.

Now I say:

The mood must have hit, because I was playing this last night and this morning and really liked it. It does tend to oodle around here and there, but there was a lot more to like than to dislike.

I also said:

I'm starting to appreciate Larry Young more and more.  I enjoyed Mother Ship from the last batch and Unity gets its share of play time too.  I think I'll have to play OLAP a bit more to get a better read on it.

Now I say:

I played this again and would have to rank OLAP behind Unity and Mothership. A little too "out" for me. I'm not giving up on it yet ;)

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I recently placed an order for all the new Conns (except the Horace Silver). To keep the shipping cost to a minimum I chose to have all the CDs shipped at the same time.

I like CD Universe and believe the website provides a good service. The CD Universe web page says all the Conns are available and should ship within 1 to 2 days. After placing my order, however, the status of the Andrew Hill, on my order, is backordered since 10/5/2004. :rmad:

And, you know, without the current batch of Conns in my possession, I've got nothing to listen to. :w

Edited by wesbed
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