Randy Weston Select

[DrJ]

Having waited many years for this one, I have to wonder WHY it is there isn't more buzz on the board about it (or, if there is, please direct me to it!).

Perhaps more than any other Mosaic, this one captures the exponential early growth of an artist, you can so easily hear - almost as though you're listening to a 33 1/3 record played at 78 - the rapid development of a signature style and artistic maturity occuring within just a few short years. Not to say that the earlier dates are greatly inferior, because they are outstanding, but just that you hear more and more Randy Weston coming through with each session.

UHURU AFRIKA and HIGHLIFE contain by far the most "mature" Weston music in my view. The "climax" piece on UHURU, "Kucheza Blues," always brings tears of joy to my eyes and a lump to my throat. If you can listen to this music without moving and smiling, you are just not human! It may be deeply infused with the spirit of Africa, but I also view this as universal, good feeling music.

Outside of those, my next favorite session is the previously unreleased session. Man, what were they thinking not putting this one out? I love the fact it provides more exposure to Cecil Payne, too, who seemed to get no respect in that era - I would guess if you did a tally, he would come up on unreleased sessions more often than any other saxophonist, kind of like Kevin Costner used to get axed from films all the time before finally "making it" (although in his case, Hollywood should have stayed the course...).

Hell, though, everything in this box is wonderful - the early Jubilee trio session, the rightfully legendary LITTLE NILES and AT THE 5 SPOT...just wonderful. Anyone else excited?

I also have to say I think Ron McMaster did a fine job on this one (I find the sound much improved compared with the first two Selects, far warmer and less harsh sounding).

Edited June 6, 2003 by DrJ

[jazzbo]

I thought Malcolm Addey was the remasterer of this, I hope so, I think he does better work than McMaster.

There is quite a bit of mention of this set in another thread, about the new Selects, and favorable at that. I haven't gotten this Select yet, but I have all the material in other forms except the unissued session, and I LOVE IT! This is great stuff, a great variety of material. Weston's playing and writing is topnotch!

[Gary]

i have the set & would love to comment on the growth of the artist but i haven't got past disc 1 yet !

I agree with what you say about Little Niles - its awesome , I'm not so keen on the live set .

But i just want to take my time with the set & digest it slowly - but I'm finding it difficult not to be impatient & dive straight into the 2 other discs.

[Stefan Wood]

I'm still on the first disc myself -- so far I like it very much as well. I'm glad to have the Jubilee session on cd, as I had the lp for some time, though it was scratchy. The sound is full and up to the usual high standards. Thumbs up!!!!!!!

[Rooster_Ties]

Randy Weston Select, Why isn't there more buzz...?

Wow, I don't have this one yet - but personally, I'd prefer less buzz, over more buzz - any day of the week.

Is the remastering really that bad???

Edited June 6, 2003 by Rooster_Ties

[Stefan Wood]

There aint nothing wrong with the sound quality of the first two Mosaic selects.........

[Jim Alfredson]

I'm looking forward to hearing "Highlife". I heard so much about it and many musicians from that era covered songs from it.

[mikeweil]

How's the previously unissued session with Cecil Payne?

[DrJ]

See my original message Mike - I think it's a killer, hard to fathom how it never saw light of day the first time around.

Stefan, we may disagree a bit on the sound quality of the first 2 Selects, but that's cool. I don't think they are horrible or anything - certainly there is a vast improvement on sessions like ONE STEP BEYOND compared with the old U.S. Collectors Choice I had - but I personally am not a huge fan of some of Ron McMaster's work. No disrespect meant, just a personal thing.

I find that the sound on the Weston set is much warmer and fuller and alive, even though many of the sessions are OLDER than those in, say, the Moncur Select. Based on Lon's post, I went back and looked at the Mosaic site (I'm at work) and lo and behold - no WONDER it's better sounding, it WAS indeed done by Malcolm Addy and not McMaster (sorry for propagating misinformation, it was not intentional). I'm a big fan of Addy's work (recently got the Peggy Lee/June Christy box and the work on that is absolutely startling - how does he do it?). Since I didn't know this, and actually thought it was a particularly good McMaster job until now, this just confirms there's more to this difference than a "hearing the liner notes" phenomenon. There IS an actual difference in the approach to remastering for these two men, I think, and clearly my ears much prefer Addy's approach. Your mileage my differ, of course.

Edited June 7, 2003 by DrJ

[clandy44]

Terrific music, terrific sound. Weston is one of at least two highly regarded jazz pianists (Garner is the other) whose music I had little of. The Select does a fine job of showing off his talent and, especially, his growth as a player and composer. Not to be missed.

[dsgtrane]

As a long-time Weston fanatic, I love this set. Even though I had managed to amass all of the music (with the exception of the unissued session) already, the improved sound makes this acqusisition doubly worthwhile. Agree with the previous poster about the unissued session; can't see why it never was released.

[ralphie_boy]

The Select is my first exposure to the music of Weston and I think it's absolutely fabulous! The Live At The Five Spot set features some great Coleman Hawkins. My favorite though is Piano-A-La-Mode, a great little trio session. Uhuru Afrika and Highlife are both excellent as well, as is the unreleased session w/ Cecil Payne. Highly recommended!

[Christiern]

Randy Weston is sadly overlooked on these BBS's, and I have long wondered why one hardly ever sees mention of Erroll Garner--I hope it's not because of his enormous commercial success. That will sometimes turn jazz people off, or make them somewhat suspicious. Heorge Shearing once told me that critics and fans labeled as "commercial" (and, therefore, of little jazz interest) his MGM recordings, but that he was essentially playing the same music when they showed enthusiasm. Thanks for bringing up Garner's name, clandy44.

[sal]

After being backed up with music (I listen to them the order I receive them), I've finally gotten around to listening to the first two discs of this set, and I must attest to its greatness as well. Never having heard his music before, I'm surprised that Randy Weston was not more widely recognized...he's an amazing composer and pianist! I can't wait to spin disc three tonight and finally hear his African music fusion.

Don't miss this one, folks!

[dsgtrane]

I'm surprised that Randy Weston was not more widely recognized...

You mean "is". Weston's still records and tours. One of the greats IMHO.

[jazzbo]

Yes, he's still with us, and still making astonishingly good music!

I've been enjoying his work for years, but I need to mention that email correspondence and sharing listening experiences with David (dsgtrane) above really got the fire lit for me for Weston's music, and he has really kindled in me a great respect and interest in his music.

And Tapscott's too!

[dsgtrane]

Have you read Tapscott's autobiography yet?

Also, an interesting article on Weston that few people are likely to have ever seen can be found here:

site.bedstuyonline.com/People/Profiles/rweston/rweston-frames.htm

Great article. Thanks for the link.

Re: Tapscott autobiography - Read it some 6 months back. Really a wonderful book. After reading I had a much better understanding of what Tapscott was all about and why he spent most of his career in L.A., leavng him relatively unknown outside of that community.

I can talk for hours about Tapscott and Weston, who I list as my two favorite pianists.

[dsgtrane]

Yes, he's still with us, and still making astonishingly good music!

I've been enjoying his work for years, but I need to mention that email correspondence and sharing listening experiences with David (dsgtrane) above really got the fire lit for me for Weston's music, and he has really kindled in me a great respect and interest in his music.

And Tapscott's too!

Gosh, I'm blushing!

It is rewarding to know that with all the great music you've turned me onto (most recently Eddie Condon) the last 4-5 years or so, I've been able reciprocate in even a small way.

[White Lightning]

Yes, he's still with us, and still making astonishingly good music!

I've been enjoying his work for years, but I need to mention that email correspondence and sharing listening experiences with David (dsgtrane) above really got the fire lit for me for Weston's music, and he has really kindled in me a great respect and interest in his music.

And Tapscott's too!

Me Too!!

Dgtrane was the one one turmed me into a Weston fan a year or two ago. Thanks David!

[dsgtrane]

Yes, he's still with us, and still making astonishingly good music!

I've been enjoying his work for years, but I need to mention that email correspondence and sharing listening experiences with David (dsgtrane) above really got the fire lit for me for Weston's music, and he has really kindled in me a great respect and interest in his music.

And Tapscott's too!

Me Too!!

Dgtrane was the one one turmed me into a Weston fan a year or two ago. Thanks David!

Now I'm embarrased!

Barak, I owe you an email and need your address. How are you doing my friend?

[Guest Mnytime]

There aint nothing wrong with the sound quality of the first two Mosaic selects.........

That's not what I heard. I have heard at best mixed reviews on the Moncur Select. Ranging from sounds worse than TOCJ and JRVGs, no improvment or ok sounding. The vast majority being in the no improvment or worse sounding sections. Since I have everything already except Hipnosis it was not worth getting with the mixed reviews at this time. I am willing to wait to see if maybe Hipnosis comes out on its own in the future.

Edited June 13, 2003 by Mnytime

[Clunky]

It would be a real pity if newcomers were put off the first two Mosiac selects because of criticisms of the sound.

Both sound excellent to my ears and have no hesitation in recommending both.

[Claude]

Because I seem to heve been criticizing the sound of the Moncur Mosaic Select the most on the BNBB, I want to repeat what I don't like with the remastering.

First of all, the various sessions sound differently, and this seems to be due to the remastering. Strangely, "Some other stuff", "Destination out" and "Bout soul", which were already remastered by Ron McMaster for the Connoisseur series, sound worse than those previous reissues.

The problems are: extremely muffled high treble (no "air"), artificial silence in quiet passages, higher distortion on loud passages. The "s"-sounds on the "bout soul" vocals are much too prominent. These flaws were not present on the Conns, which sound more natural. I am well aware of the problems of artificial brilliance (cymbals) on some Connoisseurs, but in this case they are much closer to balanced sound. I suspect that McMaster used SonicSolutions noise reduction processes, which most engineers now avoid because they eliminate too much musical information when reducing tape hiss.

The other sessions, that were not available in the Connoisseur series, "One step byond", "Evolution" and "Hipnosis", sound much better, the flaws described above are less noticeable.

My only point of reference are the 3 Conns. I have not heard the late 80's CD releases (which probably suffer from other sonic problems) or the TOCJs.

My conclusions:

- this set is essential for the music, despite the sound problems

- the sound is probably better than on the first CD releases

- the sound is noticably worse than on the Connoisseur releases. I you have those, keep them

Maybe most people will not bother about these problems, but calling the sound "excellent" is certainly not justified. I am aware that most mid-to-late 60's Blue Note sessions have not been as well recorded as the late 50's early 60's sessions, but the Connoisseur CDs show that the Mosaic Select remastering is responsible for a large part of the problems.

Edited June 16, 2003 by Claude

[DrJ]

What Claude said - totally agree, and will emphasize so people don't think we're focusing too much on the wrong issue: DO NOT PASS ON IT for sound quality considerations alone. It's just good to be an educated consumer, and calling the sound "excellent" would be really misleading. It's not one of Mosaic's best jobs, nor one of McMaster's.

[Tjazz]

I'm interested in this set, just waiting for the money to pile up.