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Black Saint/Soul Note Box Sets


romualdo

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Also got a mail that the replacement for the Murray box is on its way! That was faster than anticipated!

same here

Dear Stephen,

today we will send by priority mail the Box Set of David Murray BXS 1010 without mistakes.

Sorry for delay.

Best Regards

Simone

looks like they mean business - good on em!

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Had first spins of all the Pullen and WSQ albums last week - some of it brilliant, much of it very good! And nothing really bad in there, at all. Rivers wasn't the best partner for Pullen, Chico Freeman fared better, and the Jarman/Moye trio album is great! The Pullen went straight to my favorite BSSN boxes list, next to the Dixon!

Also had a first listen to the three Guiffre quartet albums... weird stuff that takes - I assume - quite some time to get used to. The synths, the electric bass, the many sounds of Giuffre (lots of flute, too!)... it's fascinating often, but it's still weird, to my ears. But it made enough of an impression that I'll keep trying to understand it, that's for sure!

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Also had a first listen to the three Guiffre quartet albums... weird stuff that takes - I assume - quite some time to get used to. The synths, the electric bass, the many sounds of Giuffre (lots of flute, too!)... it's fascinating often, but it's still weird, to my ears. But it made enough of an impression that I'll keep trying to understand it, that's for sure!

Giuffre was open about his admiration of the textural variety achieved with synths by Zawinul in Weather Report, saw it as a totally valid compositional/orchestration tool, and that's what's going on with these albums, using the synth colors as just another sound. The idea may excede the execution at times, but Giuffre himself is playing great (I think), and the compsotions themselves are all fine.

For me, it's the bassist and drummer on these albums that bugs me the most, espceially the drummer. They're just so INTERACTIVE. ALL the time. If you know what I mean.

But also keep in ind that Jimmy Giuffre in the 1980s was in no place (economically, or in all likelihood attitudinaly) to get all "production" oriented. He seemed to be more about having fun exploring new ideas with people he was comfortable with, and more power to him for that. These albums are weird, but I thnk it's more the weirdness of a sort naivete (I mean, fusion clarinet? GIUFFRE clarinet, at that? Really!?!?!?!) than it is anything else. I've grown to be quite fond of them, as this kind of willingness to just...DO stuff and not worry about whether or not it "makes sense" to go there (although he always ends up making sense) has always been a big part (again, to me) of what makes Jimmy Giuffre so much "more" than a person of his time, place, and skill set could have been.

These are the Giuffre sides that nobody talks about, and I suppose his embracing of fusion/electronic textures is a big part of why. Mr. Quiet gets NOISY!!! And no, the band is not the best he's ever had, so, no, it's not as fully realized as, say, the trio w/Brookmeyer & Hall, but different time, different place, different people, different world, ya' know? It's still Jimmy Giuffre, and nobody else could make music like this, so...hey. Enjoy it for what it is!

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Interesting, Jim! And very helpful!

I did indeed think of Shorter's own 80s albums for Columbia, which I got in that recent box a few months ago, too - I found listening to them a very similar experience... music that fails yet to grab me on an emotional level, but where I feel there's plenty of fascinating stuff going on and I should just keep listening and let them grow on me.

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In both cases, I think that Giuffre and Shorter have more than earned the benefit of the doubt!

Which is just to say that I'll try to understand their POVs in the hopes of broadening mine. Don't have to "like" something in order to eventually "love" it, and vice-versa, if you know what I mean. And when you can tell that the people and the intent are serious, then like I said, if you've earned the benefit of the doubt, I'll give it to you.

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I love Giuffre so much, including the Soul Notes, that I have my blinders on a little bit, I guess - it always surprises me when folks don't like those albums. I've got a friend who loves Giuffre almost as much as I do, but can't stand the Soul Notes due to the 80's synth sounds.

Those three albums are not my "desert island" Giuffre records, I still think they're wonderful - interesting compositions, great colors, lots of textural variety. The rhythm section doesn't bother me at all. There are musicians whom I'm willing to "forgive" for a lot of questionable musical decisions, but that's not an issue with the Giuffre albums - I like them a lot.

I'm not sure what the point of this post was. Nothing to add except my opinion/tastes, but there it is.

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it always surprises me when folks don't like those albums.

It usually surprises me when people do! :g

Seriously, not that many fans are willing to move along with their favorite artists (the ones that keep moving, that is). You can make a list of people (and start it with Art Pepper, sonny Rollins, & Wayne Shorter) of players who have a lot of "fans up to a point".

I'm with you, though. Giuffre is one of those guys I went with, no matter what. It was never boring, never insincere, and never thoughtless. I'll take that!

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Right now I'm listening to Liquid Dancers from 1989, the last of Giuffre's Soul Notes, and I realize that I didn't even come close to articulating the primary virtue of JG's Soul Note recordings - that is, their Giuffre-ness. Giuffre was one of those musicians who created his own world in a way that most musicians don't, and that comes through strongly on this album, dated synth sounds and all.

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I guess George Russell fits with the "up to a point" crowd, too... haven't really started exploring his Soul Notes, seems like a big investment of time will be needed there, too... what I've heard was fascinating enough to get the box, for sure, but I think with him, most folks go to the end of the riversides and maybe (if they can find it) add the MPS... but the two late Blue Notes are fine as well, and so is the London Concert on Label Bleu!

Btw: what's the deal with some of the Russells having been on Strata East and Flying Dutchman?

Soul Note/Black Saint got started in the mid seventies only - did they acquire these recordings later on?

Any others where that was the case?

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