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Verve Reissues, 2008


montg

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could someone please put me in chains to keep me from buying a copy of that desmond album ? :ph34r:

i love desmond and i don't mind jazz artists covering pop tunes from time to time ... but ... all this overplayed kitschy simon/garfunkel tunes really scare the shit out of me. :unsure:

Should the same apply to the Bill Evans set? Not worth the time?

I don't know. I'm certainly curious because I enjoy Evans work with Ogerman.

OTOH, I've yet to read a good review of this album anywhere. In fact, IIRC, even Evans disliked it.

Seems like this album was supposed to have been released in the VBR series a few years ago and then was dropped without a word.

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Any opinion of the Desmond?

I think that was an A&M, wasn't it? I don't recall ever reading much good about any of his A&Ms.

I have it and I LOVE it, but in addition to being a Desmond fan, I am also a Simon and Garfunkle fan...

I think you're in the minority on this one, dude. :) I like both Desmond & S&G, too, but I can't stomach the combination of the two. It just doesn't seem...... right. -_-

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could someone please put me in chains to keep me from buying a copy of that desmond album ? :ph34r:

i love desmond and i don't mind jazz artists covering pop tunes from time to time ... but ... all this overplayed kitschy simon/garfunkel tunes really scare the shit out of me. :unsure:

Should the same apply to the Bill Evans set? Not worth the time?

I don't know. I'm certainly curious because I enjoy Evans work with Ogerman.

OTOH, I've yet to read a good review of this album anywhere. In fact, IIRC, even Evans disliked it.

Seems like this album was supposed to have been released in the VBR series a few years ago and then was dropped without a word.

Long time since I heard it, but IIRC VIPS is pretty much Bill Evans making a Roger Williams type easy listening LP. Strictly a cash run, wasn't even released on Verve as to separate it from his jazz work. Very little to distinguish it as a Bill Evans album, which is why I'm kinda shocked they decided to put it out on CD. Are we finally at the bottom of the barrel, Verve? LOL

Edited by Captain Wrong
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  • 4 weeks later...

The Jimmy Smith title...Village Gate...is...well, and oddity. 4 songs that don't really showcase Jimmy at his best in a live setting. Never been a big fan of this LP, probably my least favorite Jimmy album. Not sure why this would be so high up in the Verve reissue rotation. By no means a BAD album...but short and a little uninspired considering the time and place.

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An interesting batch. The only real turkey is the Benson. (Maybe the Evans, but it has real curiosity value.) (The Roger Williams reference above is pretty accurate.) (Of course, at that time, Williams was also doing a Ramsey Lewis imitation, too bad Evans didn't jump on THAT bandwagon.) The Desmond is good, I can't imagine anyone who likes him not getting this.

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shalom. what is shittin? i will have to disagree on the desmond. i don't really know or like simon and garf so i am not familiar with the original tunes but the desmond album is totally fine and more than decent. i pretend herbie hancock brings a squirt of trippyness as the time was moving into his mwandishi phase. and actually he does at points. i wouldn't say he is mailing this one in so it is an interesting place to here him on some earlier e-piano.

i haven't heard the jimmy smith but that is a bummer because i enjoy his work with billy hart around this time (donald bailey struck me as kinda dull in the early 60s though i know on an album like "the boss" he seems more awake and i have even read an interview with billy hart where he gave donald bailey props ("propers") as an underrated drummer...). so i guess "the boss" would be better than this one?

here is the thing with the desmond-me personally, if i am going to listen to this kind of music...sort of smooth pseudo-brazilian with strings...it might as well have herbie hancock on electric piano.

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Any opinion of the Desmond?

I think that was an A&M, wasn't it? I don't recall ever reading much good about any of his A&Ms.

I have it and I LOVE it, but in addition to being a Desmond fan, I am also a Simon and Garfunkle fan...

You mean some people aren't?

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shalom. what is shittin? i will have to disagree on the desmond. i don't really know or like simon and garf so i am not familiar with the original tunes but the desmond album is totally fine and more than decent. i pretend herbie hancock brings a squirt of trippyness as the time was moving into his mwandishi phase. and actually he does at points. i wouldn't say he is mailing this one in so it is an interesting place to here him on some earlier e-piano.

here is the thing with the desmond-me personally, if i am going to listen to this kind of music...sort of smooth pseudo-brazilian with strings...it might as well have herbie hancock on electric piano.

I wish that were my case; I'd like to be completely unfamiliar with these songs so I could enjoy 'em on that level. Unfortunately, I know 'em well (not necessarily saying I like them), and the idea of someone like Desmond, who I perceive to be a very hip and cool person, playing what is IMO whiny-weenie-folk-masquerading-as-intellectualism-in-the-vain-attempt-at-getting-laid, which is the exact OPPOSITE of Desmond (the man, the myth, the guy who could get laid at the drop of a hat and a sly smile) seems so incongruous. Like Tony Bennett singing the Beatles.

Didn't mean to go off on a tangent over a $2 album. ;)

Edited by Big Al
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I'm not paricularly bothered with the source material for the Desmond album one way or the other. Jazz musicians have always turned to left field for songs, with varying motives. While this might not be Coltrane doing Chim Chim Cheree (sic?), it's got some beautiful playing, and there's not that much unreleased Desmonf left - this could be one of the last. And I agree with the points about Hancock - he's more under-wraps then on the Summertime album, but he has a really nice solo on electric piano (in 5/4) - Paul Desmond and Herbie Hancock, hard to beat. (Well, maybe Jim Hall...)

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here is the thing with the desmond-me personally, if i am going to listen to this kind of music...sort of smooth pseudo-brazilian with strings...it might as well have herbie hancock on electric piano.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Although, if you ever get a copy of this one...

cf2f_1.JPG

It's kinda like a Bizarro World version of this, in that Watrous is the Anti-Desmond, and The Walter Raim Concept are like Herbie on Rhodes transferred to a string quartet and small vocal group.

If Desmond w/Herbie on A&M is a mellow mushroom buzz, then the Watrous is like being drunk and tripping at the same time. It could be nice, but if you're not in the mood for it, it'll drive you psycho to the point of no return.

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I picked up a few of these. The best of the bunch is the Burrell (a keeper) and I enjoyed Jazz Giants. As someone noted, the Smith is a little short (I think 30 minutes) and nothing special. The Plays for Basie is good Oscar but didn't blow me away (I'm not a huge Oscar fan).

Edited by Brad
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I picked up a few of these. The best of the bunch is the Burrell (a keeper) and I enjoyed Jazz Giants. As someone noted, the Smith is a little short (I think 30 minutes) and nothing special. The Plays for Basie is good Oscar but didn't blow me away (I'm not a huge Oscar fan).

I agree with you on the Burrell and Jazz Giants '58. I was a little surprised that the JG 58 was in mono. I thought most recording would be stereo at this time. I think I like the Peterson trio a bit better than you did. It is nice that Verve reproduced both album covers for the Burrell date. The sound on these remasters has been very good.

Michael

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IIRC, they made a note about something to the effect of VIPs being an easy listening album and not fitting the scope of the set. Seems to me if you put in a million alternates from From Left to Right (kinda easy listening, IMHO) they coulda shoehorned this in as well and really been "complete."

Also, I picked up the Village Gate Jimmy Simth set on vinyl over the weekend. Quite a nice little album. Actually, I like the other Smith Metro LP I got Sunday (Incredible!/Live in Hamburg) a little better, but this is a nice one to have out on CD. I only wish my LP played as nice as it looks.

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  • 6 months later...

I notice a couple of new reissues, Verve seems to have no interest in publicizing their reissue program, maybe there are more

Sonny Stitt Sits in with Oscar Peterson

Stan Getz in Stockholm

For reference, here is a link to a thread on the summer reissues

summer 2008 verve

In addition to those two, these are also slated for the 21st:

According to CDU, the following are all Verve Originals slated to be released on October 21:

George Benson - Tell It Like It Is

Grover Washington, Jr. - Soul Box

John Klemmer - Arabesque

George Duke - I Love the Blues, She Heard My Cry

Roy Ayers Ubiquity - Change Up the Groove

Will Downing - Come Together as One

Oscar Peterson with Strings - In a Romantic Mood

Little Jimmy Scott - Everybody's Somebody's Fool

Dizzy Gillespie - Dizzy Goes Hollywood

Walter Beasley - Intimacy

Interesting that they're releasing some CTI-related titles (the Washington & the Benson). Wonder how they got the rights to those?

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