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Which Jazz box set are you grooving to right now?


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1 hour ago, Bluesnik said:

That must be an interesting boxset. When was it released? Is it still available?

I realize Jazzbo already answered your question--I snagged it a few years ago when the Fantasy box-sets were turning up online as cutouts at bargain prices, and when I was going through a period of new appreciation for such anthologies.  It's an excellent overview of the label, with good historical notes by Richard S. Ginell, and really shows the range of so-called "West Coast jazz," at least as recorded by Lester Koenig.  Well worth picking up if found for a reasonable price.  

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23 hours ago, jazzbo said:

It was released in 2004 and is out of print as all the Fantasy titles released before Concord are. It can be had cheaply though in the used market.

Thanks Jazzbo and Ghost of Miles. So there's some hope of finding it. Will chase it, although I have many Contemporaries. But a whole label history really must be something, even if some duplication arises out of it.

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Pepper-Promise-Kept-OV-333.jpg

Wow, that was one tightly-wound motherfucker! He's one of the few (and maybe the only, at least to these extent) people I can listen to and the deeper I engage, the less I "feel". And yet I keep listening. On this set, it would be easy to credit the superb rhythm sections, but it's not like he's getting led or otherwise being subordinated by them. Quite the contrary, what he's putting out and the way they're respond without getting in the way (and vice-versa) is nothing short of masterful. And when I say "tightly wound", i don't mean "tense" or otherwise uncomfortable, it's just that, for me, with damn near everybody else, you start with what you hear on the surface, and then you can both outward and inward. With Art Pepper,, I don't know how much you can go in either direction ("outward" for damn near anybody worth their salt, "inward" for those who have real substancemeat). But it's not monotonic either, there's a lot of detail (and oh BTW, is it just me, or was this cat one of the most in-tune alto players ever?), it's just....tightly wound. And these are fine, fine records, all five of them.

I do gotta laugh at the liner notes, though. Ron Carter gets told to "lay out" until cued, and Ron Carter does the early-late 20th Century equivalent of checking his cell phone, knowing full and damn well that he can hit anybody's cue at anybody's time, and apparently that's causes a psychodrama :g. And apparently a psychodrama that carried over to the liner notes/track listings, but cause, oh, there IS that slow version of "Yesterdays" on here after all, and the personnel listing for all the various outtakes of that session is, uh, "erratic". So wow, Ron Carter could be aloof, maybe even vibe somebody. Wow, who knew? Dude plays on 50 bajillion records a week and checks his cell phone while waiting for a cue. LOL!!!!

More speculative - it seems to me that "My Friend John" has it's roots, its basic formative roots, nothing more - in "All The Things You Are"? Certainly not a derivative or a contrafact, but between the opening variant on Bird's (Dizzy's?) Rachmaninoff -derived intro, to the first little bit of changes (after which it goes it's own way), anybody else hear that? Maybe it's just coincidence. It's a nice cone if it is!

Reread the initial thread about this set, and people were on the fence about if they have the complete Galaxy set do I need this for the alternates and others were like well, I don't have the complete Galaxy set so maybe this is just right for me, and I'm kind of in the middle - I bought some of the Galaxy LPs back in the day, and other than getting the complete VV set (ELVIN!!!!!) that has been ok with me, enough for that. But this one is just right for me. I certainly like Pepper, but don't "lvove" him the way some people do. This box expands my existing AP collection without bulging it.

Glad I bought it!

 

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The bonus disc of Stepping Stone material from the Woody Shaw Complete Columbia Albums set. I have the Mosaic CBS set and the Stepping Stone CD reissue, but I really wanted the additional Village Vanguard sides.  Did Michael Cuscuna ever say why they didn't expand beyond the studio-only concept and include all of the live recordings on the CBS box?  I think it would have increased the size to five CDs at most.

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On 8/29/2020 at 2:44 PM, JSngry said:

Pepper-Promise-Kept-OV-333.jpg

Wow, that was one tightly-wound motherfucker! He's one of the few (and maybe the only, at least to these extent) people I can listen to and the deeper I engage, the less I "feel". And yet I keep listening. On this set, it would be easy to credit the superb rhythm sections, but it's not like he's getting led or otherwise being subordinated by them. Quite the contrary, what he's putting out and the way they're respond without getting in the way (and vice-versa) is nothing short of masterful. And when I say "tightly wound", i don't mean "tense" or otherwise uncomfortable, it's just that, for me, with damn near everybody else, you start with what you hear on the surface, and then you can both outward and inward. With Art Pepper,, I don't know how much you can go in either direction ("outward" for damn near anybody worth their salt, "inward" for those who have real substancemeat). But it's not monotonic either, there's a lot of detail (and oh BTW, is it just me, or was this cat one of the most in-tune alto players ever?), it's just....tightly wound. And these are fine, fine records, all five of them.

I do gotta laugh at the liner notes, though. Ron Carter gets told to "lay out" until cued, and Ron Carter does the early-late 20th Century equivalent of checking his cell phone, knowing full and damn well that he can hit anybody's cue at anybody's time, and apparently that's causes a psychodrama :g. And apparently a psychodrama that carried over to the liner notes/track listings, but cause, oh, there IS that slow version of "Yesterdays" on here after all, and the personnel listing for all the various outtakes of that session is, uh, "erratic". So wow, Ron Carter could be aloof, maybe even vibe somebody. Wow, who knew? Dude plays on 50 bajillion records a week and checks his cell phone while waiting for a cue. LOL!!!!

More speculative - it seems to me that "My Friend John" has it's roots, its basic formative roots, nothing more - in "All The Things You Are"? Certainly not a derivative or a contrafact, but between the opening variant on Bird's (Dizzy's?) Rachmaninoff -derived intro, to the first little bit of changes (after which it goes it's own way), anybody else hear that? Maybe it's just coincidence. It's a nice cone if it is!

Reread the initial thread about this set, and people were on the fence about if they have the complete Galaxy set do I need this for the alternates and others were like well, I don't have the complete Galaxy set so maybe this is just right for me, and I'm kind of in the middle - I bought some of the Galaxy LPs back in the day, and other than getting the complete VV set (ELVIN!!!!!) that has been ok with me, enough for that. But this one is just right for me. I certainly like Pepper, but don't "lvove" him the way some people do. This box expands my existing AP collection without bulging it.

Glad I bought it!

 

Tightly wound - you ever see him on video from those later years? Especially at a gig? Squirrely as hell. 

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5 hours ago, OliverM said:

Recent news on Keith Jarrett had me revisiting his Sun Bear series of live recordings in november 1976 in Japan.

Beautifully edited boxset (I have it on LP). The box set is very wide ranging (and distinct from many other KJ projects). Just enjoyed Nagoya and Tokyo now.

R-879287-1323119327.jpeg.jpg

Probably his finest hours ....

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