J.A.W.

Easy, easy, it's on "the list", along with a few (ha ha ha ) others...

I've just been listening to for the first time, and it didn't sound bad. Have to play it again though. I'm now playing and I'm not sure I like the guitar... (here we - or rather, I - go again...) Edit: the Blake is great.

My favorite Hampton Hawes albums: 1) these Contemporary albums are now all available on OJC and on 20-bit K2 remastered Japanese CDs, which I recommend very highly: Hampton Hawes, Vol.1: The Trio Hampton Hawes, Vol.2: The Trio Everybody Likes Hampton Hawes, Vol.3: The Trio Bird Song All Night Session, Vol.1-3 (the 20-bit Digital K2 remastered Japanese 2CD-set reissue of these 3 albums is absolutely wonderful) 2) these Contemporary albums are available on OJC: Four! For Real! The Green Leaves of Summer I'm All Smiles The Seance

I've got a lot of Victor VICJs, and I've never heard a bad one, on the contrary

Couldn't disagree more - on my Mark Levinson-fed electrostatics with subwoofer most (J)RVGs sound as if they were recorded in the bathroom; like I said in my post above they have a narrow soundstage and very aggressive mid and high frequencies. They're sorely lacking in depth, tonality and musicality... Aren't these discussions fun...

I wish Blue Note would reissue Clare Fischer's wonderful Pacific Jazz trio album First Time Out, with Peacock.

It's not only the K2 system; even more important is who did the remastering. Tamaki Beck was the wizard behind the Japanese K2 remasters; apparently he's got golden ears.

I did listen to all the discs on Sunday; I started at about 11 AM (my time).

I really love this one, wonderful interplay between the three

Here's one, at least he's on it: Georg Gräwe Quartet - Melodie und Rhythmus - Okkadisk with Gratkowski on reeds, Gräwe at the piano, Kent Kessler on bass, and Hamid Drake on percussion. I'm listening to it now, and so far it's

I've just been listening to this one again: and I have to revise my opinion. I find Stangl's guitar work far less obtrusive than when I first played the disc, and the rest - with the exception of the last track with that horrible Tony Coe vocal - is very good.

Another disc a lot of people don't seem to like - I love it

As some posters probably know (), I prefer TOCJs. Many - if not most - (J)RVGs have a very narrow soundstage and sound very aggressive to my ears and on my system; it's as if the mid and high frequencies are "pumped up", as an Organissimo member once said in an e-mail to me. They give me headaches and that's the last thing I want when I'm listening to music.

This one's not for me - it's Dave Douglas' playing again...

Archie Shepp - The Way Ahead - Impulse! I love this album from the earlier days of free jazz - just listen to the first track, "Damn If I Know (The Stroller)"; that's what the blues are all about.

I like this one a lot! I actually think it's one of the best releases of 2003. I haven't heard any other works by Gratkowski, so I'll be definitely searching for more. I'm having reservations about the "breathing" effects in the first and last tracks, but otherwise it's a great disc.

Not a complete success in my opinion, but an interesting album nevertheless:

I'm not particularly fond of Guillermo Gregorio's albums, but this one's not bad: . Mat Maneri is great, but I could do without Pandelis Karayorgis' piano in some parts, where it sounds strangely out of place.

Well, Chambers' playing is not a good benchmark for "straight jazz" bowing (since it's pretty poor) - Richard Davis is the man. David Izenson also. If memory serves, Doug Watkins also played rather good bowed bass. Anyway, he was a terrific (straight) bass player. Thanks for the recommendation, but Was Da Ist is quite enough bass for me, at least for now...

I'm now listening to disc 1 of a set many people don't seem to like and I'm enjoying every minute of it - but hey, I'm a Crispell fan!

The bowed parts are not the problem here, since they - or at least most of them - are not off-key. In fact, they sound great, at least on my system (electrostatics with an excellent REL subwoofer). It's the first and last tracks where Kowald is "humming" (or should I say "growling") along and a few of the early tracks I'm having problems with. Strange thing is, I like bowed bass much better in free / improv than in straight jazz. For instance, I can't stand Paul Chambers' bowed bass, which is almost always out of tune.

Still not sure what to think of this one:

Finally,

The live (second) disc of

I'm not a fan of Jemeel Moondoc, but this one is It's good to hear Denis Charles again.