jeffcrom

Although none of us can be sure about other folks' motivations, I doubt that this is a money grab by the GHB group. They've always been pretty aggressive about protecting their holdings. There was a case about 15 or so years ago when Fantasy issued some material that GHB owned (by George Lewis, if I remember correctly). They complained, and settled, but the resolution didn't involve money - GHB withdrew their complaint in return for permission to issue some Kid Ory material owned by Fantasy. And the agreement wasn't exclusive - you could still buy the same material on a Fantasy label at the same time. But yes, it's obvious to me that the new Paramount box is a labor of love, and wasn't designed to make anyone a fortune. I'm with thirdtry that GHB's ownership of Paramount is common knowledge in the music world. If the courts say otherwise, so be it, of course.

Well, they've had a (non-profit) board for years, so I'm not sure how much George Buck's death has had to do with the slowdown in their release schedule. I assumed that it had to do more with the slowdown in CD sales. And I imagine that the market for their product is aging and diminishing even more than the market for most music. No, that's not quite what I said, but I understand how Allen read that into my comments, and I kind of agree with his "issue it or let somebody else do it" statement. And Moms posted while I was writing this. Sure, there are no masters, but there are 78s. Their Paramount issues so far sound pretty good (for Paramount reissues), and presumably were mastered from 78s, so I'm guessing that they some access to the collectors' network. I just think that, whatever the source material they have access to, they haven't done it justice.

I've never seen that album before - I know Time Cycle, but not Echoi. And I know a Larry Rivers portrait when I see one. Cool!

Lars Gullin - Danny's Dream 1951-1954 (Metronome - Sweden)

Interesting stuff. Track 10 sounded familiar to me because I have that excellent album. That's my least favorite track, obviously.

Introducing Eric Kloss (Prestige momo). Pretty impressive debut, with a great rhythm section - Don Patterson, Pat Martino, and Billy James.

I just assumed that the big Paramount box was properly licensed. I will say that I've been quite disappointed with the Jazzology group's handling of the Paramount catalog. They put out an interesting "complete" (no alternate takes) Paramount Charley Patton set - it was arranged, not in chronological order of recording, but in order of issue, so that the listener could experience the music as a series of 78s, as the original record buyers did. They've also issued all (I think) of Johnny Dodds' recordings for Paramount on two CDs - but arranged kind of eccentrically, with some sessions split across the two discs. Beyond that, it's been kind of a mess, with many tracks issued on themed collections rather than in complete, coherent fashion. They issued one Ida Cox disc 18 years ago, with promises to release the rest, but nothing else has appeared. I had the two or three Ma Rainey discs they issued for years, but finally got tired of waiting for them to complete the series - I sold the CDs and bought the JSP set. The JSP set may not be legit, but it exists - at least they issued the stuff. Same for Blind Lemon Jefferson - I have his complete recordings, but not on a GHB label, because they haven't issued the Blind Lemon recordings in any coherent form. The GHB foundation is wise to protect their property, but it's a shame they haven't done more with the amazing treasure trove they are sitting on.

Slavic Soul Party - New York Underground Tapes (Barbes). Matt Moran's hot Balkan brass band.

Thanks, Colin! I'll be ordering directly from Mr. Davidson - more profit for him, I assume, and his shipping is incredibly fast from Spain to the US.

Gil Evans - Priestess (Antilles). I'm in weird place mentally. I usually listen to (or play) music in the evenings. But I like football well enough that tonight I watched three and a half hours of increasingly boring television; now I feel disoriented and not quite myself. This is the album I chose to restore my mental equilibrium. Good choice - although it's far from Evans' best album, I've loved it since it came out in 1983. Billy Harper's "Priestess" is such a moving tune, and it's enhanced by Evans' scoring and great solos. Is this the best Dave Sanborn ever played?

Jack DeJohnette's Directions - Cosmic Chicken (Prestige). One of those nice noisy green-label pressings. DeJohnette did better as leader later, but I'm enjoying this one.

Buck Hill - Capital Hill (Muse)

Hmmm.... I need to look into this.

Elvin Jones - Mr. Jones (BN). After Coalition, I wanted to hear some more Elvin on Blue Note.

Elvin Jones - Coalition (BN Liberty). My first time hearing this in many years. I once had it on 8-track tape (!); I just found a near-mint copy. Even better than I remembered.

Gil Evans - Previously Released Recordings (Verve). Three cuts on this 1973 album are available on the CD issue of The Individualism of Gil Evans, but there are two quartet tracks which have only appeared here: Evans, bass trombonist Tony Studd, Paul Chambers, and Clifford Jarvis play Bird's "Cheryl" (mistitled "Blues in Orbit") and Al Cohn's "Ah Moore" (mistitled Isabel). Evans intended these to be studio "sketches," and after this album came out, asked that they never be issued again. They're very good, though, and I'm glad to have them.

That 1949 Christmas Eve show is also on this fine Jass CD, with the rest of that great concert. This is apparently hard to find at a reasonable price these days.

And jeez - I do know the difference between "there" and "their." Fixed in my original post.

Here are some recommendations based strictly on the extremely high quality of Bird's playing, not on sound quality or how easy they may be to find: The 1947 Carnegie Hall Concert with Dizzy Gillespie. Bird and Diz played a 25-minute set before Gillespie's big band took over. John Lewis's piano playing is practically inaudible, but Bird is on fire, as is Gillespie. This session has been issued on various labels, but is probably best heard on a 1997 Blue Note/Roost CD called Diz 'n' Bird at Carnegie Hall, which also contains as much of the big band set as has survived. Live recordings by Bird's late 1949/early 1950 quintet with Red Rodney show him on an amazing streak, consistently playing at a seemingly superhuman level. It sounds as if you might already have Bird at St. Nick's, which is probably the best choice in terms of sound quality. But there's an equally fine session from four days earlier, with J.J. Johnson added, recorded at Birdland. I have a brutally-edited version on the French EPM label, but I'm sure it's been issued elsewhere. Sound quality is pretty bad, but the music is stunning. And there's a November, 1949 session from the Pershing ballroom in Chicago that's equally fine, issued in most complete form on the Philology CD Bird's Eyes, Vol. 2/3 (which apparently combines two LPs). I'll let somebody else talk about two 1950 Birdland sessions, one with Fats Navarro and one with Dizzy Gillespie and Bud Powell, but they're not to be missed.

Mostly. It got above freezing around noon today, and most of the roads are now in good shape. Most school systems will remain closed tomorrow - a combination of erring on the side of caution and recognizing that many students and teachers spent Tuesday night at school or stranded on buses, and might need some more time to decompress and catch up on sleep. Recriminations are flying, and the governor and head of emergency management for the state have admitted that they dropped the ball. The mayor remain oddly defiant. I hope that folks here use this experience to reevaluate their love of cars and disdain for public transportation. But nobody died, although there were some near misses with folks stranded for hours without their medications. And a gorgeous baby named Grace was born in a car stranded on I-285; mom and baby are doing fine.

Martial Solal - Son 66 (French Columbia/EMI mono)

Now that I finally made my contribution to #118, I'd like in on #119. Green download, please.

Didn't know about the Sullivan, but I'll keep my eyes open.

Yup that's a very nice LP. Years ago I bought a dubious vinyl "reissue" of this that sounded horrible...not long after bought a CD which sounded equally bad..until I finally found a mint original issue about 7 years ago and the sound on the original is amazing. No clipping in the saxophone and deep strong bass. A great session! I play this one more then some of his other post-prestige/new jazz 60s lps like "forest and the zoo" or "Sortie". The most recent reissue is the CD from the Free Factory:: Have either of you heard this particular reissue? And yes, that LP is awfully nice! Yes, I have it, because I don't have Sortie in any other form. The sound on Disposability on this issue is just horrible. There are some sort of digital clicks through the music. It's not just my copy, others have confirmed their presence. If I ever find a copy of Sortie that I can afford, this CD is going into the trash.

Interpretations by the Stan Getz Quintet (Norgran)