David Ayers

Am I the only person to have been disappointed by this much hyped album? I found it competent but tame, with too little material and, despite its (initial) hard-to-find status, too keen to cross over into a perceived 'mainstream' - as several recent recordings from the Parker/Shipp quarter seem to have been. I think they've lost direction a bit.

The discography of the Live Trane box is here. Maybe the additional tracks on the Newsound relase are in fact from the 1963 date? Anyone who has the box and has not seen Wild's corrections to the various errors ought to take a look at this page.

Coltranology (Affinity AFF 14) contains perhaps the most stunning version of MFT. Recorded Koncerthuset, Stockholm, Sweden, 23 November 1961. There are other issues for sure and there may be other tracks from this concert not on my LP.

I'm a 'no'. I used to have that problem, but it is now under control! I have a backlog, but it is not growing, so recordings come in at roughly the rate I pick them off. I don't actually have much time to listen, so it is worth keeping it in proportion.

After Simeoni testified against Ferrari for showing him how to use EPO, Armstrong called him a liar, and Simeoni on the advice of his lawyers sued Armstrong for defamation (remember, Simeoni had said nothing about Armstrong, who had chosen to leap to Ferrari's defence in order indirectly to defend himself - Armstrong had also consulted Ferrari). After the talking to he gave Simeoni, Armstrong returned to the peloton and made a zip motion across his lips. After the race, he is quoted as saying he had been 'protecting the interest of the peloton' by chasing Simeoni. Simeoni said that even if 90% of the peloton were against him he felt supported by 10%. Omertà? It's not attractive.

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To say 1963 dramatically confirms that the jazz nerd knows the right date (1960 sounds like maybe a broad reference), with the bonus that the film maker thumbs his nose at the jazz nerds who know it is the wrong date. Including me, sadly.

The Trio double was issued all-in-one as a CD (at least, I think it is the same). Hues is on the Live Trio double LP. Sizzle never made it to CD. Sizzle is fun but skippable. Streams is a slightly poe faced trio date in Montreux which was briefly on CD. There is a lot of unissed live stuff which I would like to see issued as a box set. the Rick Lopez' Rivers discog is here.

Maybe a bit of both. It would be a pity to redo Basra! Also very recent titles in the current (J)RVG sound (such as Hi Voltage and Like Someone in Love) will surely not need redoing.

I saw a mildly surreal film (which had a cameo by Jacques Derrida) where in one scene a girl who needs to raise some cash takes her walkman into the electronic goods store, says what it cost her, and asks what it is worth to buy back. The salesman takes a hammer and smashes up the walkman. He says "When we sell it to you it is worth 600 Francs, but when you try to sell it to us it is worth nothing". PS I think the theme of the film might have been capitalism.

Buy a bike and get OUT there!

Thanks Kevin. I imagine most of these are the existing JRVGs. But I wonder if an early one like HS and the JMs will get a rehash? In any case, I am a TOCJ24 convert (and I haven't even got any yet...).

The copy of that Archie Shepp/Bill Dixon Quartet Savoy LP I have lists Shepp/Dixon as producer. Surprised that Shepp could not prevail on Dixon to reissue this! Dixon is bitter about it. They sold a ten year lease to Savoy for one dollar when nobody was interested. In an interview Dixon remarks ominously that he will be publishing his side of the story one day. Maybe Chuck has the skinny on this? Or maybe its all there in that one dollar fee. So, uh, I won't be bootlegging this one, it would just add insult to injury... Maybe this is one for UMS...?

Did anybody ever try the Derek Bailey disc String Theory on Paratactile? It consists almost entirely of guitar feedback sounds. Good for those who like high pitched sounds. But is it art?

I heard the Holland group with Steve Coleman live and was excited, but the LPs I never warmed to and they are under threat of recycling.

Since I was playing them last night, a big for a few Bill Dixon titles on Soul Note: Live in Italy vols 1 and 2; Thoughts; Son of Sisyphus. There are others of these but this is what I got through last night. What I really like about Dixon is the immense mindfulness of everything he does. There is never any note spinning, and nothing is played for effect. The compositions all proceed at their own pace and achieve intensity through their organisation (NEVER through any thrashing about or 'freaking out'). I also played through his side of the Savoy CD - a shadow of what was to come, I thought, and no real need for the rejected takes.

I'd say Fire Music is the essential Impulse, followed perhaps (and for different reasons) by Three for a Quarter One for A Dime (which is included as a bonus on the euro/US CD issue of Live in SF (but not on the successive Japanese versions). The most essential Shepp in my book is also, I am sorry to say, the hardest to find - the two Fontanas: Rufus with John Tchicai and Consequence with the NY Contemporary 5. Easier to find and also essential are the two Sonet/Delmark LPS with the NYC5. The CD of this music is missing one track.

I will be following the Tour, if not watching too much as on the TV channels I have there is only one hour a week of coverage. The changes to the race since last year (no first week TT, limit to time loss in TTT, mountain TT) seem designed purely to make it harder for Armstrong to win. I have doubts about the L'Alpe d'Huez TT because I fear that the crowd might not be properly penned back. I am hoping for a good showing from Jan Ullrich.

Superb and a must. I read one comment on the solo on Cross Breeding which described it as the greatest tenor solo on record (I wish I could remember who wrote that). That's open to debat I suppose, but it is pretty remarkable. Just buy the record, don't even think about it.

But, but... I STILL haven't got to the end of the Plugged Nickel box yet!

If we're talking BIKE then I am IN. By the way I am taking the bike to San Diego in August - any bikers in the area?

I find this set genuinely boring. The musicians descende on the music from a great height - i.e. they are playing well within their technical and expressive limits most of the time. This is much more about reconstruction and conforming to some idea of jazz than about actually expressing or doing anything. This isn't anti-marsalis-ism - it really does bore me.

I was at the Rome leg of this tour, and have the two Leo releases on vinyl (complete - the CD docks a little, I think). You have to be in the mood for this music! Some people don't like Ward and are nostalgic for Lyons. At the Rome gig half of the audience walked out - literally half! The trance like effect of the very loud and continuous performance was quite something - not for everyone though...

Also true. I had a similar thought about the the new TOCJ24s. Why on earth don't they do hybrid SACDs? The answer in the case of Toshiba may be a sinister plan to squeeze the audiophiles till the pips squeak.

Very true - to go with the single disc Iron Man seesions from the original tape, and while we are at it the XRCD budget price twofer of Cookin/Relaxin/Workin/Steamin