In the future leave out "with all due respect".
I may not be interested in the recording but do have enough respect for the participants to avoid trashing their work.
Just noticed a few copies (6 under $10) of Reminiscing At Blue Note offered by Amazon sellers. This disc includes all 8 of Johnson's solo BN sides as well as the BN recordings of Earl Hines and Pete Johnson.
JPJ is a giant.
Not sure what's available but I have all the Classics (8 discs covering 1921-1947), Blue Note reissues and some private recordings.
Never forget playing Caprice Rag for Ran Blake back in the late '70s. He went nuts.
I hope some day the Cornell concert will be issued for all to hear.
Some nice spots on the Condon broadcasts too.
Indeed, but much of this has to do with listening habits and past experiences. You, for example, have experience with "modern" big bands and color your opinions with that knowledge. On the other hand, many fans don't listen to that stuff as closely. One can listen to Kind of Blue from about 1000 directions and get different results - when does Cobb play sticks, and why. This sort of detail flies past folks without personal experience. There many levels of listening here.
How about Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Wayne Shorter, Andrew Hill, Larry Young, Jackie McLean, etc?
I also think many of the Mobley, Morgan and Blakey '60s recordings are dandy.
I love Ray's sound so much I made a point of hiring him for a Jimmy Smith jam session for the Chicago Jazz Festival a few years ago. He enjoyed Chicago and stayed around for a few months. From my perspective he was a very nice guy. At that point his Candid date had not been released and he said he'd not heard it since the session. Michael Cuscuna had access to the Candid tapes at the time and I prevailed on him for a dub of the masters. Ray was delighted.