Peter A

I have a record on Muse (MR 5298) released under the name of Woody Shaw ("In The Beginning") which contains the first two recording sessions of Shaw in 1965. Both sessions feature Shaw, Joe Henderson and Joe Chambers. Interesting too is that Larry Young plays piano on the first session! I think this one has not been released on CD yet, although I'm not sure... Peter

Quite a few albums on Prestige have vocals and eh...B-3, for instance: - Mildred Anderson - No More in Life (w. Robert Banks) and Person to Person (w. Shirley Scott); - Betty Roche - Swingin'and Singin' (w. Jack McDuff); - Byrdie Green with Johnny Hammond Smith (four albums); - Trudy Pitts (four very nice albums); - Billy Hawks plays organ and sings on his two Prestige albums. etc. etc. Peter

Patton plays on side 2 of a LP by Clifford Jordan on Vortex (an Atlantic sub-label): "Soul Fountain". I think it's only reissued on CD in Japan.

I have this recording on a Delmark LP under Yusef Lateef's name (Delmark 407). This was planned to being released on Transition records, but - according to the booklet in "The Transition Sessions" of Byrd & Watkins - the label folded and the tapes were bought by Delmark Records at an auction. Music is quite good, nothing special but decent hard bop. The recording is not too bad either, and...lots of euphonium! Peter

Don't know that one, but I have another (double)CD by Baker on Bear Family, which features 60 recordings of Mickey & Silvia. Although I am a huge Mickey Baker fan - he played some really wild guitar on the records of Sammy Price for Savoy - I have to confess this CD was a major disappointment to me. Quite dull, sugary vocal duets, with some occasional guitar riffs. I only keep it because of the wonderful booklet, which has many pictures and an extensive discography. I expect the "Rock With A Sock" CD is much better, with songs as Greasy Spoon (Hank Marr!). If you like an amplified, heavy guitar sound, Baker is your man! Peter

I have a copy of BLP 4218 with the New York USA label, so it obviously exists! However, the disk does not have the "ear" mark stamped into the dead wax area. This means the record was pressed in the "Liberty-era". Peter

Dan, this seems to be their grading system (click on "AGB", then on "Standards"): ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- nm Platte ungespielt, Cover neuwertig m- Platte selten gespielt, Cover weist minimale Gebrauchsspuren auf vg++ Platte mehrfach gespielt, weist leichte Gebrauchsspuren auf, Cover mit kleineren Gebrauchsspuren vg+ Platte oft gespielt, weist kleinere Haarkratzer auf, die in der Regel nicht hörbar sind, Cover mit Abnutzungen an den Ecken, Knicke, Preisabrisse oder sonstige Einrisse möglich vg Platte weist größere, auch hörbare Kratzer auf, Grundrauschen wahrnehmbar, Cover ist geklebt, hat größere Flecken, Einrisse, kleinere Stücke fehlen, insgesamt deutlich abgenutzt --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- vg++ : record has been played more often, record shows minor wear, cover shows minor wear. Looks like an interesting record! By coincidence I also just found two records on the Workshop label recently: Lefty Edwards (209) and George Bohanon Quartet (207). Good luck! Peter

You guessed right, it was released in the Liberty-era. I don't know the exact date, but it must have been around 1967. "The Gigolo" (84212) is another example of a record which has been released (much) later. Peter

This is a very interesting but unusual combination, as Willie Dixon and Lafayette Leake both played amplified Chicago blues at the time, accompanying people such as Little Walter ( a harmonica player too!) and Otis Rush. And Dixon was not a very...well "subtile" bass player, although he played on another jazz related date: "Space Flight" by Sam Lazar w/Grant Green. Anyway, the Chess/Argo discography on Both Sides Now does not mention the date, so we will probably never know how it sounded...

Very interesting. But the funny thing is, some of the mid-sixties Prestige dates really sound terrific - almost Blue Note quality sound. Take for instance, Freddie Roach' "Soul Book" (PR 7490, recorded June 13, 1966) or Sonny Stitt (& Don Patterson) "Night Crawler". I think these two dates were very well recorded (music-wise very nice too!). However, Soul Stream, I agree with you (and George Braith) that The Laughing Soul does not sound very well. Frankly, I am afraid I do not like the record music wise too much either, although I am a big Braith fan. I am curious if the other Prestige date of George Braith - "Musart" - is any better...

Paul, I have just found the number of Living Blues which contains the obituary of Earl Philips (no. 97) but unfortunately there is not much info of his "jazz adventures". Philips came to Chicago in 1940 at the age of 20 and until he started recording for Chess "he played jazz, swing and eventually blues". As expected, the article is focussed on his playing with Howlin' Wolf and Jimmy Reed (and other Vee Jay artists such as Eddie Taylor and Billy Boy Arnold). No mentioning that he ever played guitar! Peter

I will add the personel from the Prestige sessions: Testifying (Aug. 2, 1960): Joe Holiday (ts) Thornell Schwartz (g) Jimmie Smith (drs) Young Blues (Sep. 30, 1960): Thornell Schwartz (g) Wendell Marshall (B) Jimmie Smith (drs) Groove Street (Feb. 27, 1962) Bill Leslie (ts) Thornell Schwartz (g) Jimmie Smith (drs) Don't know if any of them are still with us. Peter

Chuck, Could you please give me some info on Bob Graf (where/with whom did he play -- was he ever recorded). Thanks. Peter

Sorry, I don't know the year. Here's the link to the site -- which appears to be exploited by Sharony Andrews Green (yeah, from the biography): The Green Room

I stumbled upon this interesting (vintage) picture of Grant Green. I have never seen him playing - only on photographs of course - on a solid body guitar before. It looks like a Fender Stratocaster. The name of the horn player is Bobby Graff (?). To me the picture has the same atmosphere as certain pictures of Magic Sam or Otis Rush, taken in Chicago clubs in the fifties.

Talking about "sublime" music: I recently picked up an LP of the Charles McPerson Sextet on the Discovery label: THE PROPHET (recorded in LA in 1983). Very interesting, what one could call "post bop" jazz. Much more advanced music then what I expected.

This one is a bit less exciting:

I've got one from the third series: Patterns by Bobby Hutcherson. I have seen copies of Solid by Grant Green and The Procrastinator by Lee Morgan too. I am almost certain this third series was the last batch issued on vinyl.

RT, The cover you posted is from the (Japanese) CD-edition -- TOCJ-1620. The cover shown in the cover art book (GXF-3066) is from the vinyl version (Japanese King issue). Peter

This has always been one of my favourites. Good news they improved the sound a bit, as the original recording was rather "flat" sounding. I even bought the Mobile Fidelity reissue on vinyl, but it was no improvement. Great there are extra tracks too.

That's great news! I presume they will reissue the soundtrack to the film "Ascenseur pour l'échafaud" too in the future? And, please, a couple of Bobby Jaspar LP's...

Dan, According to the instructions one should hit the button "Bestellen", but (with me) it did not work. I also received the message from my service provider that I am "not allowed to view the page"etc. I believe only habitants from Germany, Austria or Switzerland can order via the website. Sorry! Peter

It depends what you are looking for. I think the discography you are referring to (by Cuscuna/Ruppli) lists ALL recordings - in chronological order ? - ever made by Blue Note. You might want to buy the (Japanese) Blue Note Book - Jazz Critique Edition. I have it myself. This book lists all issued recordings in numerical order (complete with line ups), starting with 10" records. It also lists the Japanese LP's issued in the (late) seventies. Very nice pictures too, alot of them in color. A lot of the text is in Japanese, but fortunately crucial info (song titles, line ups) is in English. You can find it for only $ 24.99 at Dusty Groove, here's a link: Dusty Groove Peter