Jim R

Interesting... I guess I never associated that approach as much with bigger name labels like Contemporary. But, my knowledge of the business side of music is probably somewhere between 0 and .01

Ah... okay. I'm getting kind of fuzzy (no wisecracks please ) on this stuff. I don't even buy mini LP's, unless no other format is available. Anyway, I guess I'm just "old school" when it comes to associating "TOCJ" with jewel cased CD's...

Shouldn't this thread be titled "JRVG Central"? When somebody says "TOCJ", I still think of the jewel cased (or "BN Works") series with TOCJ followed by the original LP catalog #. The 9000 series are all JRVG's, no? Yes? B)

I hadn't thought about this for awhile, but I seem to recall a discussion on the BN board about OOP OJC's. I thought there were a few that had been deleted, but I can't recall any details now. I agree though, I think a general answer is "no". Coincidentally, I was just thinking about the fact that they DO delete some titles from their regular (non-OJC) catalog. Somebody had asked at AAJ for guitar trio recommendations, and one artist I recommended was Joshua Breakstone. It then dawned on me that Fantasy has deleted ALL of his four releases on the Contemporary label (they dated back to the 1987-1990 period). Those are wonderful albums (3 of the 4 were issued on CD), featuring greats like Pepper Adams, Jimmy Knepper and Tommy Flanagan, and I was very disappointed to realize that they're no longer available.

Cool beans. I've had some single issues of these LP's over the years- they're the solo recordings he made with Norman Granz that are now compiled in the "Complete Pablo Solo Masterpieces" set. Not only great music, but the LP's featured the cover art of David Stone Martin (which would add to their collectability for some folks). I don't know if that artwork was included in this Clef box or not...? My old (1992) Goldmine guide lists this at $150 in NM condition, which would be about $30 per LP... not a bad ballpark price, IMO. I'm not collecting vinyl anymore, but good luck! B)

Let's hope not (hopefully "close behind"). Who knows- maybe we'll even see a domestic version (he quipped). After all, they finally had the good sense to release AT BIRDHOUSE and HERE AND NOW over the past few years. A domestic JAZZTET & JOHN LEWIS would be nice too...

Part of BIG CITY SOUNDS was released on the Chess CD BLUES ON DOWN, but they omitted two tracks ("the cool one" and "lament"). The complete album had: the cool one,blues on down,hi fly,my funny valentine,wonder why,con alma,lament, bean bag,five spot after dark Definitely one to pick up.

Thanks, that makes sense... although it's still disappointing that I couldn't just go and select the disc from a set with 16 frigging CD's!!

Daniel, I can tell you that this session does not appear in the 1986 Ruppli Clef/Verve discography, and a Google search turned up no matches (except for the Corea set, of course).

I'm sure the music's good regardless, and this is not a dig at you, but West Wind is a bullshit label, IMO. They (and other bootleg labels) will put something out with incorrect dates in order to deceive (either that or they're just plain stupid). Those first 5 tracks you refer to were released on Lotus (ORL 8249) many years ago, and the date given was July 23, 1972. Seems to make more sense, as the "Captain Marvel" session (with Corea and Williams, and a couple of the same tunes) was recorded in March of '72. BTW, just the fact that they titled it "Sweet Rain" should tell you something... Oh, and the Dailey/Mraz/Hart material (according to the discog I'm looking at) dates to 1974. It came out on both Joker UPS2075 ("Grand Stan") and Moon MCD20 ("Lover Man")

Wonderful thread. I think I meant to post here months ago, but never got around to it. It's been some time since I listened to Tatum... at least in any depth. I used to keep at least one disc from the Pablo Solo Masterpieces in my 5-disc carousel player at all times (getting through a Tatum box set can take a LONG time, for reasons already well-explained above!). I think it's time I revisited the Group Masterpieces set, which I only got around to acquiring a few years ago. I'm not sure whether or not it was mentioned here (I'll have to go back and read this thread again), but an old favorite- and probably my first exposure to Tatum's playing- was a 1944 session with Tiny Grimes and Slam Stewart. The LP I had (on Musidisc, as I recall) was called "Art Tatum Is Art". The CD release, or at least the version I have, is called "Trio Days": Although Tatum still does not exactly fit the general idea of "ensemble player" on these recordings, there IS quite an interesting interplay and interaction between the three men. Recommended.

Consider yourself fortunate- these days, my problem is trying to figure out how to turn my brain ON.

.... um.... yeah- YEAH, of course, Al... of course I knew that! (... he said, as he realized that he had forgotten to list Fischer in the personnel for that CD in his database...) Can somebody explain to me why that album doesn't seem to be part of Pepper's "Complete Galaxy Recordings" set? Was it not yet released at the time they released the box? Mike, Thanks a lot for all the info.

Al, While you're out Christmas shopping, pick up one of these:

Thanks for all the replies so far. I'm beginning to get a better sense of what Fischer is/was about, and this info will help me to sort out the variety of works he has recorded. I'm not a huge big band fan, and haven't as yet developed too much fondness for the fusion of jazz and classical, but I'm probably as open as I've ever been to both of those aspects of his work. For now, though, I suppose I'd like to focus on his piano recordings ("Just Me", or "Alone Together", which seems to have gotten some impressive reviews) or smaller group Brazilian sessions (the "Symbiosis" session with Helio Delmiro looks intriguing, for example). One thing I'm aware of is his use of electric (or as one of the website's descriptions described it, "digital") piano. Apparently he fell in love with a particular brand of acoustic piano at some point, but I don't really know how long he's been recording with it. I don't really have anything against the non-acoustic variety per se, but I would have to admit that I do prefer the sound of an acoustic, given a choice. I'm a wee bit confused regarding the availability of some of his recordings. There's something on the website about older recordings (aside from those reissued on the list of CD's for sale) possibly being available by special request. I'm not quite ready to order anything anyway, but has anybody ever investigated that option (or bought any of the CD's available through the site)? Mike- "So Danço Samba" was one that I had in mind! B) BTW, I wonder if there could be any overlap between that and Bud Shank's "Bossa Nova Jazz Samba", on which Fischer plays piano and composed 7 of the 8 tracks (available as part of the Shank CD on Ubatuqui "Bossa Nova Years"). Oh, FWIW, here's a link to that thread on "pensativa" (in the Musicians forum, which sees less action...): I don't know whether I've heard his composition "Morning"... I'll have to look into that. Any album/CD references including that tune are welcome...

I recently became very aware of how much I enjoy the Clare Fischer tune "pensativa" (just started a thread about that in the Musicans forum, BTW). This has led me to be curious about Fischer, whom I've never really investigated. While searching for info on "pensativa", I discovered his website: Clarefischer.com I'm intrigued by some of the CD's I see listed there, but I don't think I've heard much of any of the contents. So... this thread is designed for anybody out there who knows Fischer's work to (please) clue me in... Thanks

bmccorma, Great to bump into another fan of Louis. Welcome to the board. Although I've heard of "Joycenotes", I've never heard it and am not familiar with its content. Can you tell us about that please? I know that the old "Milesian Source" album was inspired by James Joyce's writing... is this Villa recording at all similar? Your LP copy of "Louis The First" is definitely worth something. Not only have I heard over the years that it's difficult to find, but I remember paying a lot (something like $40) for a few of his later LP's, which I believe I purchased from a place called "Jazz Record Revival" about 15 years ago. "Alone Together" is indeed a stunner. What ever happened to Brian Dunning? "GIFT" is one of those obscurities that make me so thankful for the internet. I doubt I would have been able to purchase a copy (or even hear about its existence) otherwise. I'm quite a fan of Charlap too, so this disc was one I just HAD to have. "No album has yet to capture Louis at the full extent of his powers..." That is VERY true. "Overdrive", it seems to me, comes pretty close in terms of catching his true bebop side, but of course Louis is so much more than just a great soloist, and more than just a bebopper. I have a number of private recordings (audio as well as video), and I would say that it is perhaps not possible to capture ALL of Louis on one album/CD. One thing I really appreciate about Louis, though (and I always have) is the way he leads and inspires the lesser players that have shared the stage with him. He brings out their best, and I've never seen a musician "teach" onstage the way Louis does. The way he encourages players to break out of their ruts (especially by altering tempos, rhythms, and finishing tunes in creative ways) is really marvelous.

Track 5 seems to be credited to one "Sylvester Stewart"! B) Not very discreet of me, but I think the cat was pretty well out of the bag (and the cat was out of HIS bag, I might add! )

True, and (I'm down on my knees now) PLEASE tell me that is a good assumption! Please?

Okay, since I posted that, two others have suggested Woody Herman's band. I did a search, and couldn't find any album title (why do I get the feeling Jim planned it that way ), but I did find this: see: "Sex..." So, it looks like Herman did record it. What I don't quite "get" is why nobody else seems to have recognized the tune (although I'll admit it's not the most distinctive composition). Nobody else had this? Am I THAT old? (don't answer that! )

Damn. It seems I can no longer get KUSP over the airwaves (some contemporary hard rock station is dominating that frequency on this side of the Santa Cruz mountains). At least not tonight. On top of that, my RealPlayer stream kept quitting ("server timed out"). @#$%. I've never had this much trouble with RealPlayer before... listened to Ghost of Miles' program once, and that Gigi Gryce show from NYC that Mike Fitzgerald posted about... but I can't pick up a damn show from 30 miles away. Oh well, it's still good to know that Pete aired this. B)

Yowza! Thanks for the heads up, Jim. I should be paying more attention. I can sometimes pick the station up here over the airwaves (if the proper planets are aligned, the weather is right, and none of the neighbors are doing anything weird ). I may have to go out in the car to listen, if the reception is better out there. Pete is a hell of an organ historian. I wish he was posting here, in fact! I invited him to the BN board once, and he posted a couple of times. Everybody should check out his website, too: The Doodlin' Lounge

FWIW, here's the sequence: RLP 12 242 Monk's Music / Thelonious Monk RLP 12 243 Blues for Tomorrow / v.a. RLP 12 244 Jazz for Lovers / v.a. RLP 12 245 Great Ideas of Western Mann / Herbie Mann RLP 12 246 Duke with a Difference / Clark Terry RLP 12 247 Mulligan Meets Monk / Gerry Mulligan RLP 12 248 Seven Standards and a Blues / Ernie Henry I have one book that says blue labels began with 243, and another that suggests (indirectly) that blue began with 246.

Lyrics? On disc 2, track 11?

Happy Birthday to one of our resident graphics wizards. Have a great day!