David Ayers

Wait! it's on ECM - ?

I'd enjoy the LPs probably, but my deck is a little funky so I guess it will be the CDs...

I heard the LP one time, haven't retained any impression. Ignored the single CD selection - I don't listen to much Jarrett. But with the emergence of a full 2 CD reissue I thought I might dip back in - anyone heard this? Any thoughts?

On another topic, as far as avant-garde/energy players go, it is interesting to ask how many really stay interesting for the 20+ minutes, which most of them seem to regard as little more than a warm-up and do as a matter of routine. Which tracks in those sort of post-Coltrane idioms strike people as compelling from beginning to end?

Funny, and not to start a long discussion, but I am so averse to that track. Relistened just recently to see if I still thought the same....

That's the one I was going to mention.

Thanks for the heads-up on this release, Bill, I must have missed it when it came out. I presume the two albums included on it are needle-drops, so what does it "sound" like? To me it sounds beautiful, but then I'm no expert on matters technical. Thanks Bill, I've ordered a copy. Enjoy! That one is on Spotify Bill Holman – The Fabulous Bill Holman (Remastered) as is the Kenton Presents (including Holman) Various Artists – Stan Kenton Presents Bob Cooper, Bill Holman & Frank Rosolino for those interested

When you say "single CD reissue and the box set version" you are not referring to the latest releases (from the Hip-O Select Volume Five box set and subsequent single CD release) are you? I have the box set and the sound is NOT over-bright and harsh. Listening to it right now, very nice mastering and the recording itself is interesting in that it's not an Englewood Cliffs recording by RVG and has a subtly different presentation. Oh! No! Do I need that one too?

I believe we discussed this extensively back when the existence of this stuff was first announced. That means I knew and just forgot ....

re. Sunship, the original LP was murky to say the least, the single CD reissue and the box set version are as so often over-bright and harsh. If I hear this has the kind of sound I like I'll go for it but maybe three versions in a lifetime was enough....nah, but four might be enough...

Meanwhile I am just learning about all the unreleased Impulse! Coltrane from the 2005 article mentioned on the Hoffman board - go here and scroll down http://www.personal.psu.edu/bdk4/aop.htm Did you guys know about this?

I guess what I think about the Boulez set is (a) I have a lot and (b) he has re-recorded some in better sound. Lack of texts is a problem for those who care as so many of the works are text-based (Gurre-Lieder, Moses und Aaron, the many choral works, Die Jakobsleiter, Die Glueckliche Hand, Erwaertung, Pierrot Lunaire, Ode to Napoleon). It's OK Bev I knew you were joking. I think *this* set is one of those where lack of texts would make a big difference.

I've got the texts, thank you. I thought lack of texts was a beef of yours? And I imagine Gurre-Lieder is on your list of late-romantic gigantism - a cut or two above anything by Zemlinsky I'd have thought....

yes sung texts, there are quite a few

That Boulez/Schoenberg covers a lot of ground. It will be a pity if it doesn't include texts. The sound is rather dated - but you guys who love these box sets of old recordings will be used to that!

I wonder if they regret not licensing the Young/Basie for longer or for more sets. That was twice now come back on Last Chance but it disappears in a heartbeat. One of the few sets maybe that doesn't just sit quietly in a warehouse accumulating dust?

Hey, you don't have to convince me! I've been saying for years now that an all-juiced Olympics would be loads of fun! Don't worry, the Olympians were drugged to the eyeballs - at least according to a former doping doctor the BBC consulted who put doping at over 50%. Sour grapes? Maybe.

Never warmed to Britten, heard a lot in concert and in the opera house. I've heard Bostridge do the song cycles on different occasions, which has stayed with me, I've seen Peter Grimes, Billy Budd, Midsummer Night's Dream, Turn of the Screw, of which Budd left no impression, Grimes the most, the others somewhat, and odds and ends of other things. I've got CDs too but never made the leap to really getting into them. Can't explain it. I guess I'd turn up for the Requiem to hear it done, and I'm always happy to hear a bit of voice and piano - but I'd never turn to the CDs I don't think.

Just put on disc one while I cook! Could do without the alt takes but otherwise pretty good. I guess smaller doses are the answer...

Did you get much out of the Basie box? It was too much of an OK thing for me, just a few key tracks which get lost in the mix a bit - to me and in my way of working.

A few changes on that page - sorry, I can't cut and paste them.... Oh! And Young/Basie is back!

And tried his very best to destroy the lives and careers of all those who told the truth about he was up to. Don't think that "all of his peers" did that. Yes, but that was not cheating, that was something else. Only the winner would ever have had to do that. Why be more angry about Armstrong's cheating than about that of every rider who took a podium place, or indeed of anyone who placed 50th? The answer is not in the cheating. That was already there in the sport, there are hundreds of names implicated. The teams and cycling authorities knew all about it. So yes people dislike Lance humanly, but without him some other cheat - sanctioned implicitly by the team and by the race and by the UCI - would have won. Hate Lance, yes if you like, but why not hate everyone else?

And yet... he took cycling as he found it, and all his peers certainly cheated in exactly the same way.

No 'Quatre chants pour franchir le seuil'? Ah, my friend...

I still buy from HMV. I've tried - though failed - to buy CDs from actual stores, and for the rest go to Spotify. This at least honored the nature of the physical carrier. My local HMV always has (or had) things I would like, though plainly it is (or was) not satisfying to collectors.