colinmce

Well, I was presuming there'd be a price, a la Wolfgang's Vault or something.

I'm not much of a digital music person at all, but it seems like the best of all worlds would be to somehow have the entire collection available to stream or download. Via a dedicated website? I dunno, I know nothing about these things, but that would be nice.

Looks like I'll miss out on the bonus CD-R unfortunately, but I'll put my order in later this month.

Another what? I like his writings but he's not one to let nuance get in the way of a good story. I especially feel this about Lush Life. Another mainstream jazz commentator/historian with a troubled record of, as you alluded to, working off of reductions, cliches and suppositions. I also find him to be crotchety and rather dull.

Ugh, very sad. What a tremendous career all the way to the end.

I agree. I like reading Friedwald on the swing era, singers, GAS, etc. On more recent music and other sundry topics, less so.

Really great essay on Taylor's music in this month's Point of Departure: http://www.pointofdeparture.org/PoD45/PoD45PageOne.html

For one, I like the idea, but it's often the musicians who don't fulfill the bargain by offering short, pat responses.

I liked that Keefe Jackson one, too. Speaking of Chicago, the third & fourth releases from Dave Rempis' label are now available on his website aerophonicrecords.com. One is a duo with Tim Daisy and the other is a trio with Josh Abrams and Avreeyal Ra.

Hajdu's another one ...

IMO the Muhal, Dixon, Lewis & Hemphill are the must-owns.

I've also been on the hunt for that box.

I haven't read Setting the Tempo but I have Piazza's jazz recordings guide. I keep it around because it's useful for ID'ing the contents of a lot of 80s/90s reissue packages of 20-50s jazz, but his snotty tone for anything that doesn't suit his tastes is a chore and a half. I recall a particularly ignorant passage against Cecil Taylor. It's always amazing that someone with so much knowledge and erudition can be so assured of their closemindedness.

For any boarders in the Boston area this looks like a good one: Big gig alert: Ran plays the Regattabar in Boston on Wednesday, February 5 at 7:30 p.m. To commemorate the recent reissue of Ran Blake Plays Solo Piano on CD, Ran will play the 1965 album from start to finish. For more information and to reserve a ticket, visit the Regattabar's website.

I have, all was smooth.

Not ... really the ones I'd pick.

I do want that Borgmann 2LP but the fucking thing would run me over $40. That's mental; just can't do it.

Also a new Resonance Ensemble double album (apparently funded via Kickstarter-- wish I'd known): http://catalyticsound.com/shop/resonance-ensemble-head-above-water-feet-out-of-the-fire-2cd/ People really, really ought to put their preconceptions re: Vandermark aside for this tremendous group. But I know they won't ....

http://www.amazon.com/Thumbscrew-Mary-Halvorson-Michael-Formanek-Tomas-Fujiwara/dp/B00GTSVL8C/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1385957817&sr=8-4&keywords=mary+halvorson Yes, please.

Crouch also stinks up notes for better artists. On Jimmy Lyons' GIVE IT UP he praises Jimmy to high heaven-- mostly for his likeness to Parker-- while simultaneously writing off the rest of the avant grade as faker bullshit. He says not word one about the other musicians on the date.

Important Records is offering 35% off their back catalogue at the moment (or maybe always?), which is already very reasonably priced. Not a ton of jazz-connected stuff on the label, but some.

FWIW I hate the sort of stuffy, classical-derived, hyper-technical, hyper-critical mode of jazz criticism, but I can take it from Schuller. Maybe it's just that I like him on a personal level.

These also seem to be up on Amazon FWIW. Here's OTL, for example: http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00E9R3L74/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new Not sure how these stack up pricewise against CD Japan, which I've never used, but it seems reasonable at a little over $20 all told.

Hmm. I wonder what the holdup was?

Yes, that's one of the great ones by Mr. Lacy. Thirded, though I only have the slightly abridged CD edition, Cliches.