Simon Weil

If Hard Bop is where Jazzmoose is coming from, he might like to try Oliver Nelson's "Screaming the Blues." This is a pretty straight ahead date with the addition of Eric Dolphy whose solo interventions energize the record to my ears. Dolphy isn't really free; more or the borderline between...But this is a real good record in my opinion. AND it's the way I found into freer Jazz from other disciplines. Once you get into Dolphy (if you do), that can take you elsewhere. Maybe. Simon Weil

I'd guess that Bluenote are shocked at the response they got from us, the regulars, at their botched "cleaning up" of the board and now they want time to retrench and rethink. Tom did originally give a relatively short time-scale for the board revamp and that has clearly changed. Why? Well it might be something else, but the pissing off of 4,000 customers in a niche market is always liable to concentrate people's minds. They should just apologize and be done with it. Plus GET A MODERATOR. Simon Weil

Don't know Lucky Southern, but Lon's description makes me think I should get "Free". "Virgin Land" was one of those records that meant a lot to me when I was coming into Jazz and I'd like to have the stuff around it, as it were. Looks like it *is* oop, so I'll have a go at Gemm.com... Thanks, Simon Weil

I think "Fingers" is a nice record too. The whole band has a light, flexible Brazilian-type groove - which is what the record is about. The Airto CTI record I got first was "Virgin Land" which has Stanley Clarke/Alex Blake on bass and George Duke/Milcho Leviev on keyboards replacing the Brazilians from a year earlier. The result is heavier - but it still works. Although it doesn't have that "second-nature, band that plays together" feel of "Fingers", it does have a bunch of engaging Jazz-Rock tunes including "Stanley's Tune" with Clarke's monster bass playing. I absolutely love that cut, and really like the album as a whole. Don't know "Free", the CTI record Jim was referring to. Simon Weil