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I'm spinning disc 2b of this set right now. I agree that the drums and especially the bass are a bit recessed. The clapping is very loud, which leads me to believe that the microphones were placed in front of the audience, which would be a probable reason for the horns being more prominent as they are usually at the front of the stage I always appreciated these discs more for Wayne's playing rather than Miles' playing. If you can believe the stories, you can almost hear Miles trying to play these tunes straight and the rest of the guys saying, "Screw that". I just don't find myself playing this often enough to buy this set on vinyl. I think I'm still good with this old CD set.

thanks for sharing!

Those Japanese sets shown on discogs are the original, non-gold cd, set. The Japanese set with gold cds was shown as re-released in 2012 on Amazon, which is years after the original Japanese set. I think this was the only reissue of the set. . . it's a confusing legacy but it was released in gold cd long after the original set. I bought a copy from someone in 2013 who said it had just been reissued and as he had the original Japanese set, and said it sounded the same as this gold, he wasn't keeping it. We could not have conversed about this particular set--we my have conversed about the original Japanese set which I ALMOST got--I had it pre-ordered through Tower Records Austin, but Tower decided to stiff the Austin store and never sent them any of their promised copies. So I was SOL til the US release, and was really excited to get the gold cd Japanese set, which really sounds good.

Episode 47 https://artpepper.bandcamp.com/track/straight-life-episode-forty-seven-2

It is kinda weird. It's the same way with the latest Miles Davis Plugged Nickel box. My best guess is that they make a lot more money off of the LP versions.

I thought the gold 7 CD Japanese box set was issued shortly before the US 8 CD version? Discogs says that the gold set came out in Feebruary 1995 and the US set just says 1995. I seem to remember getting ready to order the (expensive) Japanese set right when they announced the US release. I think you & I chatted a bit about this as you had the Japanese set.

I remember that business about the defective disk. 30 years ago so I am not positive it was the plugged nickel set but there definitely was a set with one cd defective, they sent replacements and eventually fixed the unsold boxes or something like that. Then when you bought it you were hoping this particular copy had the updated cd.

@bertrand I don't think we're picking fights. I know we're definitely not trying to piss you off. I have to say... I don't recall the complete Plugged Nickel set having an issue with one of the CDs either and a deep-dive Google search comes up blank. I even searched the Internet wayback machine. I would think that if this happened as you are recalling, someone, somewhere should have either a set with a defective disc or a set with the corrected CD-R disc but I am having no luck finding any for sale. Does anyone here have a set with a CD-R or a defective disc? I would not be happy if a box set with a defective disc was replaced with a CD-R. Long term CD-R reliability is all over the place, with some people losing large batches and others seeing no degradation. It may even be coming down to how they were burned at this point and not the blank media used.

Well I would not myself say that this set has been completely invisible for thirty years. Japan reissued their version of it on gold cd after the US set went out of print, and another company released more than half of it as an LP set; individual and 2 cd versions have been reissued separately and as part of the "Complete Columbia Album" box set. Much of the music has been bouncing around. I too would not recommend this to a jazz novice. . . but I also don't think it's that inaccessible to someone who is on a jazz journey.

I got some of them really digging Herbie's "Head Hunters". I could crank that and they would all seem to dig it. For some reason, straight ahead stuff just didn't work for most of them. My wife enjoys Jazz pianists. She's less enthused with reeds & trumpet players.

I was wondering why this set has been out of print for 30 years. I mean Miles Davis - they are reissuing him over and over all over the place! And yet this sat for 30 years. I was listening to it yesterday and it occurred to me that that this set is somewhat challenging for a novice jazz listener. Most of the studio stuff is fairly short tunes with theme statement, solos, theme statement, coda. But this set is sort of for the advanced class. Sometimes the melody doesn't appear till way into the tune and in a mutated form, the solos are abstract and experimental - without some background it could be hard to grok. I was very impressed with this when I got it back in the nineties but I have listened to it less than other miles. I think everybody should hear it at some point but it maybe is not the best set to play to a jazz newbie. Yes, I have had better luck bringing newbies to a live jazz performance than playing a record for them. You are there, watching them play, picking up cues from the audience - it's exciting.

Right up my alley, that ~62-65 era Kirk stuff is my favorite of his. also very fascinated to hear some more Jane Getz from this period

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Yes. Enticing, for sure!

Sounds really good!

Getting coworkers to enjoy jazz may require a bit more strategy. I once had a coworker who often listened to recordings of classical music performed on a piano. So I brought in a Bill Evans CD, and she liked the jazz that Bill Evans performed.

I’ve brought many friends to live shows. Mostly very abstract avant-garde music. Most like or even loved it. All have different backgrounds in listening. One is a huge Dead listener (like me). Others are into Tool, popular music or are into straight jazz, modern punk or post punk. None had ever heard any of the music I go see live as most of it is beneath the underground and seemingly incomprehensible. Much more “out” than the great mid 60’s Miles quintet. key is that they go in with little pre-conceived ideas about what it or or try to understand it. With an open mind most anyone will find something to like with genius master musicians improvising in a small intimate room. Mat Maneri, Hamid Drake, Gerry Hemingway, David Torn, Ches Smith, Nate Wooley, Brandon Lopez, Nels Cline, Randy Peterson, Darius Jones, Mary Halvorson, Tomeka Reid, Michael Foster, Tyshawn Sorey, Chuck Roth, Tom Rainey or Tony Malaby playing in front of an unsuspecting listener? Almost all can’t believe nobody knows these musicians after the shows. They know it’s “out” but they don’t hear it the way serious straight ahead jazz listeners hear it. A few struggled with the purely improvised stuff but most get into the actual playing. My wife liked it. Sometimes the screaming altissimo stuff might get her a bit nervous, but she LOVED the drummers.

Just saw this at Dusty Groove. 11-7-25 release date. From Mr. Newton's website: "In the summer of 1983, a reimagined version of the James Newton Quartet emerged onto the European jazz scene. Promoter/Booking Agent Stephan Meyner, also the artistic director of Minor Music Recording Company, organized the Quartet’s tour. After decades of being out of touch, Stephan contacted me, expressing his regret that the Quartet had not released a recording to commemorate its contributions to the art form. However, his research paid off when he unearthed a recording of the Quartet’s performance in Willisau, Switzerland. Willisau is known for its passionate love of Jazz and is also the hosting city of the internationally recognized Willisau Jazz Festival. The James Newton Quartet members for this European tour included Geri Allen on piano, Anthony Cox on bass, and Andrew Cyrille on drums. The Willisau Jazz Festival recording is among the first recordings of Ms. Allen’s long, historic, and distinguished career. Like Geri Allen, Anthony Cox and Andrew Cyrille possess great fluency with tradition and cutting-edge modernity. This trio also recorded one of the greatest recordings of the last fifty years, Printmakers on Minor Music Recording. James Newton Quartet Live In Willisau will be available in the fall 2025." In the summer of 1983, a reimagined version of the James Newton Quartet emerged onto the European jazz scene. Promoter/Booking Agent Stephan Meyner, also the artistic director of Minor Music Recording Company, organized the Quartet’s tour. After decades of being out of touch, Stephan contacted me, expressing his regret that the Quartet had not released a recording to commemorate its contributions to the art form. However, his research paid off when he unearthed a recording of the Quartet’s performance in Willisau, Switzerland. Willisau is known for its passionate love of Jazz and is also the hosting city of the internationally recognized Willisau Jazz Festival. The James Newton Quartet members for this European tour included Geri Allen on piano, Anthony Cox on bass, and Andrew Cyrille on drums. The Willisau Jazz Festival recording is among the first recordings of Ms. Allen’s long, historic, and distinguished career. Like Geri Allen, Anthony Cox and Andrew Cyrille possess great fluency with tradition and cutting-edge modernity. This trio also recorded one of the greatest recordings of the last fifty years, Printmakers on Minor Music Recording. James Newton Quartet Live In Willisau will be available in the fall 2025.