colinmce

From what I've seen-- though it's been a few years since I checked Mosaic auctions obsessively-- the Ferguson and Jones-Lewis sets are among the most expensive, often ending in the $600-700 range. The Bill Evans LP set always went over $500. The Miles LP sets were also way up there. The Count Basie sets, Anita O'Day, Larry Young, and Dinah Washington ones also went above average. The Commodores, generally not as much as you might think. You could check for a year and probably compile the three volumes for less than $1000. Who knows if this is the way it still is, though.

Bunch of new Clean Feed titles-- including the Malaby Tubacello mentioned above-- but the one that stands out is Brotzmann/Edwards/Noble - Soulfood Available

I'll go ahead and be the naysayer: I think Braxton's 70s work, as wonderful as it is, takes up way to much space in conversations like this. To me, his music of the 80s and early 90s represents an absolute peak in his playing and composing; his work after that time is also quite strong and the last 20 years have provided us with many wonderful records. And so to this degree, I think the Mosaic is a wee bit overrated. As great as the 70s quartet is, there's nothing like the group with Hemingway, Dresser, and Crispell; as grand as Creative Orchestra Music 1976 is, the '78 and '89 Orchestra outings blow way past it. And, as an aside, Mosaic's non-use of album art and notes is simply egregious in this case. I say get the vinyl if you can. But it's not like it's not worth it, it is. But I sold mine and don't miss it. I do get more out of the Black Saint box. I don't want to bypass your question and list my favorite Braxton albums, but I do feel the need to speak up for looking beyond the 70s material. I have similar feelings about Steve Lacy's music. To me, he really started kicking in at the turn of the 80s. Ditto Cecil Taylor. I guess I'm just not a 70s soul! THAT said, I'm reeeeally splitting hairs here.

I'm going to go all-in and say that Forces In Motion is without question the greatest book ever written about a living musician. I re-read it yearly. It's an incredibly inspiring work, a labor of love and inquisition on Graham Lock's part. You will come away from reading it a better person. It's also funny as hell.

Berman is awesome. I hope he has a new one out soon. Another solid date is Chicago-Luzern Exchange: Several Lights with Keefe Jackson, Frank Rosaly, and Mark Unternahrer. And a plug for my buddy Jonathan Crawford who does photography and design for Berman & Adasiewicz's Delmark stuff, as well as all of the Aerophonics titles and other Chicago things here and there. Very handsome packages if I do say so.

(Scratch the last one I mentioned-- that's record 1 from Hipnosis. Still wondering about the Tina Brooks stuff)

It's weighted. What Ran Blake can do with the piano, Wadada can do with the trumpet.

Oof. Who owns that stuff? Would they ever release it?

One thing I've never bothered to figure out: are all the cuts from Street Singer available on the Jackie's Bag RVG or is some of this still unreleased in the US? Save Bout Soul and Demon Dance I have every 59-67 McLean session released here by Blue Note. Do I still need to track down Street Singer? And what about the Japanese one with the plain sleeve with (I believe) Sonny Clark? I'm being lazy! Do this work for me!

Yeah, I saw. Just double checking it's strange, the Verve date is frequently mentioned but this is the first I've heard of the Atlantic. I wonder what Lacy sounded like in a trio at that time. Listening to Evidence yesterday, he sounds like himself, but still a small ways off from coming fully into his own style. Also I don't think Brown sounds remotely like Charlie Haden. He plays well, but offers mostly support. I don't know what it would take for Haden to lay back like that.

Still dying to hear that Don Cherry date. Maybe some day. Is the Steve Lacy date the one with Denis Charles & Roswell Rudd that was eventually released? That was done for Verve. Did Lacy also record for Atlantic?

For my money that's THE McLean hard bop date.

I've said it before but I really don't like Adam's Apple. I just don't feel like the tunes are there. The version of "Footprints" doesn't do it for me. All Seeing Eye is nice but muddled to my ears. Give me Night Dreamer, Speak No Evil, Etc, or The Soothsayer any day.

Off the cuff, I'd say I'd blast the hell out of Joe McPhee - "Old Eyes"

Is the Mitchell electrified? Consider it a personal deficiency, but I just never cottoned to the electric bass & keyboard sound so a great deal of 70s jazz just doesn't land with me.

Thanks for checking in again. Very much looking forward to the new one. Do you have an idea of a release date? Also glad to hear the website is up and running again. I'll place the order I've been meaning to for quite some time.

These records are never more than a couple months out of rotation. The 1964-66 music on the Mosaic is certainly the pinnacle, but let's not forget all the wonderful sessions from 1959-1963, my favorites of which are Jackie's Bag and Bluesnik. Of the later stuff, Destination Out! and It's Time stand out. But it's all pretty much perfect. Consequence is slighter than some of the other sessions, and I also don't much care for New & Old Gospel. Still don't have Bout Soul or Demon's Dance. For my money, though, one of the truly great purple patches in jazz music.

You were right.

I wouldn't want to be within a mile of MD myself. FWIW Lennon loathed jazz.

Great to see her still at it. All the best to a total original.

Take pride. As soon as I get my Cecil Taylor FMP box that one is next on the list! I hope the price isn't too inflated in 30 years...

25 euro difference for one disc?!!?

I'll certainly let you know. This is my first Chapin title. Very much looking forward to it.

Thomas Chapin - Never Let Me Go Chicago Trio - Velvet Songs (To Baba Fred Anderson) Anthony Braxton Quartet - Twelve Compositions, Oakland 1993

I've long tossed around the idea of a blog devoted to centralizing information about new jazz releases. I never quite got around to it because I assumed that no one would really care. Maybe that's not true? Ideally I would get input from artists and labels. While all labels have websites, I find that artists today are actually pretty terrible about promoting themselves. Very few have webpages and those that do almost never update them, even when they have recordings coming out.