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Before OJCs go away


Chuck Nessa

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I think we should anticipate a gutting of the Fantasy catalog, therefore a buying guide of likely deletions is in order.

I could list around 200 titles but will start with one likely to be missed:

Hal Singer Blue Stompin' with Charlie Shavers, Ray Bryant, Wendell Marshall and Osie Johnson. This is a fantastic recording I've enjoyed for 30+ years. I pulled it out tonight to play and this thread dawned on me.

Please list your recommendations.

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I think we should anticipate a gutting of the Fantasy catalog, therefore a buying guide of likely deletions is in order.

I could list around 200 titles but will start with one likely to be missed:

Hal Singer Blue Stompin' with Charlie Shavers, Ray Bryant, Wendell Marshall and Osie Johnson. This is a fantastic recording I've enjoyed for 30+ years. I pulled it out tonight to play and this thread dawned on me.

Please list your recommendations.

Chuck, has there been some announcement that Fantasy is going to gut its catalog or delete titles? Or is this an inference from the recent sale? Or some "inside" info? :ph34r:

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Wow, hard to pick just one. So I won't. I take 4 to start:

Louis Cottrell Trio, Bourbon Street New Orleans: The Living Legends

OJCCD-1836-2 (Riverside 9385)

cottrell1836.gif

A nice little surprise disc for those of you who love the classic Giuffre Trios with Hall and Pena (or Atlas)

Shorty [baker] & Doc [Cheatham]OJCCD-839-2 (Swingville 2021)

bakers839.gif

One of the few two-trumpet meetings that I can recommend without hesitation.

Rene Thomas, Guitar Groove

OJCCD-1725-2 (Jazzland 927)

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With stunning work by both the leader and J.R. Monterose on tenor; one of the most felicitous, "Hmmm, I wonder if that's any good?" purchases I ever made.

Charles McPherson, Con Alma!

OJCCD-1875-2 (Prestige 7427)

mcpherson1875.gif

Some of Cliff Jordan's finest work on record, IMHO. Plus a Barry Harris / George Tucker / Alan Dawson rhythm section.

Edited by Joe
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Elmo Hope Trio (1959) - One of my favorite records. Frank Butler is seriosuly underrated.

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Stan Getz with Cal Tjader (1958) - Rhythm section features Scott LaFaro and Billy Higgins and "Ginza Samba" has to be one of the most hilariously spaztic tunes ever.

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From All Sides (1964) - I have a soft spot for this one. Don't know that it's necessarily a groundbreaking effort. It's really damned enjoyable though.

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The Fox (1959) - All-star band of guys who should have been stars. The title track is a scorcher...West Coast style.

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For Real (1958) - See above (and dig Butler).

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Edited by Brandon Burke
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Arrrgh... I've been putting off an OJC binge because I'm trying to whittle away the backlog, but maybe blowing $200 might not be such a bad idea at this point.

Some of my favorite "limited edition OJCs" are The Jaki Byard Experience and Firebirds (Sonny Simmons & Prince Lasha). Also Eric Kloss with the Corea/Holland/DeJohnette rhythm section.

I assume more of the Jaki titles are essential? And also Sonny & Prince's The Cry? What about the Eric Kloss In the Land of Giants (with Jaki, Booker and Alan Dawson)?

Guy

Edited by Guy Berger
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I followed Ghost of Miles lead (& others) by putting in an order a month ago.

Here's that thread with member recs.

I picked up both The Fox and For Real! mentioned above (love 'em), though honestly I wasn't sure if they were albums that would be in danger. In the end I picked them more for "I need to hear them" than "they might go away" reasons. As they seem (and rightfully so) to be so highly regarded I thought I was being a tad foolish picking a couple that surely wouldn't disappear. Or will they?

One that just blew my mind was Johnny Griffin Sextet with Byrd & Adams, Kenny Drew, Wilbur Ware & Philly Joe Jones. My gawd, for those of you who love Blue Note hard bop will love this. It's a sick world if a treasure like this could be eliminated from a catalog. I hope it won't be.

There are a bunch more recs on this thread that I found useful.

Oh yes. Walt Dickerson, and Lennie Niehaus!

Edited by Quincy
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d97739tqkdx.jpg

Johnny Griffin - "Change of Pace" (Riverside, 1961)

Unique instrumentation, and one of my all-time favorite OJC's...

Johnny Griffin - Tenor

Larry Gales - Bass

Bill Lee - Bass

Ben Riley - Drums

Julius Watkins - French Horn

Two bass players on every track, French Horn on about half the tracks. All originals, 'cept one standard.

:tup:tup:tup

f00337w0nxs.jpg

Don Wilkerson - "The Texas Twister" (Riverside, 1960)

Forget Wilkerson's BN titles -- they're not even half as interesting as this one. (And if pressed, I'd give up all three of Wilkerson's BN dates, before I'd give up this one.) Great line-up, and this one burns, front to back.

Don Wilkerson - Tenor

Nat Adderley - Cornet

Barry Harris - Piano

Sam Jones - Bass (on half of the date)

Leroy Vinnegar - Bass (on the other half of the date)

Billy Higgins - Drums

:tup:tup:tup

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I suppose everyone has this already, but ya just gotta get Mongo at the Village Gate...

:tup:tup:tup

Man... there's so many great OJC's. Here are a few of my favorites.

Shelly Manne - At the Blackhawk (multiple volumes)

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Howard McGhee - Maggie's Back in Town

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Teddy Edwards - Teddy's Ready

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Gigi Gryce - The Rat Race Blues

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Yusef Lateef - Eastern Sounds

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I've recommended single albums by these artists, but there are more OJC's by these musicians that are killer.

Art Pepper. He has so many great albums out as OJC's.

Don't forget about Red Garland... Curtis Counce... Gene Ammons... Eric Dolphy... Joe Henderson... McCoy Tyner...

There's so many great albums... I really hope they don't start deleting titles. :(:(

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Hope they won't disappear but if they do and if you don't have these yet, try getting them:

- Howard McGhee 'Maggie's Back In Town' (Contemporary),

- Zoot Sims, all the Pablos are better than very good,

- the two Wardell Gray Memorial Prestige CDs,

- Gigi Gryce 'Rat Race Blues' (New Jazz)

and there are plenty, plenty more...

Edited by brownie
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I suppose everyone has this already, but ya just gotta get Mongo at the Village Gate...

This was just shipped to me a few days back... :lol:

Add albums by:

The Lighthouse All-Stars

(The whole lot, except for the compilation, Mexican Passport I believe)

Sonny Criss

(I'll Catch The Sun, Up Up And Away, Sonny's Dream, This Is Criss)

Coleman Hawkins

(The whole lot except for In A Mellow Tone, a compilation)

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I wonder how long the OJC titles will still be available for download at emusic.com

Anyway, I have almost all of them (about 2000 albums), downloaded for 45 bucks when emusic still had an "all you can eat" policy. It will take me a couple of years to listen to all this music. As the sound of these MP3s is rather poor (even for MP3 standards), I use this archive mainly to find the best albums to buy on CD. It would be a pity if the CDs would not be available in a couple of years.

I'll make backup copies of my MP3-CDs and deposit them in a bank safe ;)

Edited by Claude
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Stan Getz with Cal Tjader (1958) - Rhythm section features Scott LaFaro and Billy Higgins and "Ginza Samba" has to be one of the most hilariously spaztic tunes ever. 

d71460c1722.jpg

This is scheduled for SACD release on November 30, 2004 - I have pre-ordered this as the new Fantasy SACD remastering sound better in almost every case.

Edited by mikeweil
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... and there are plenty, plenty more...

..... that's exactly where the problem lies - I have plenty OJC, but there just as many I have yet to buy.

Budd Johnson

Don Sleet

Hal Gaylor

Jaki Byard

Booker Ervin

Jimmy Heath

Johnny Griffin

among those I already have:

Blue Mitchell

Nat Adderley

too many to mention! :wacko::blink::excited:

..... and not to mention the twofer CDs! :ph34r:

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