mikeweil

R.I.P. I must admit that he never was among my favourites as I prefer a less forceful sound on alto, but I had a lot of respect for what he achieved and how he took his stand in the powerful surroundings he chose. McCoy Tyner, Miles Davis, these are high level intensity bands and almost too much for an alto saxophone, but he did it! He was in Mongo Santamaria's band, too, and played some powerful solos there:

Nice album, recommended to me by a fellow board member a few years ago: https://www.discogs.com/Akira-Tana-Secret-Agent-Men/release/10635645

Georges Kazazian is an Egyptian oud player of Armenian descent. I stepped over one of his CDs in a sales bin many years ago, and liked it. Saw this one for a low price on discogs and like it too, and perhaps even more than Rabih Abou-Khalil's albums. Relaxed collective improvisations where the piano does not sound like an alien among oriental instruments, some nice composed passages in between. But what really gets me is the relaxed pace, the moderate tempos, these musicians taking their time. https://www.discogs.com/Georges-Kazazian-Dayra-Jazz/release/3975637

Indeed - I have lots of unread books, and I still hope to find the time someday to read them, but I have only a handful of unheard CDs, mostly bargains of deleted items that I wouldn't want to miss, with music I'm not in the mood for right now.

Lucky guy ... Is that the "Book" you all are talking about?

I remember an interview with Cuscuna where he expressed his initial reluctance with the sound of early CD masterings - cannot recall the exact source, though. It may be that he he said that in connection with Blue Note's entry into the CD market.

I, too, waited a few years, watching the medium politics. The sound was important as well - CDs often sounded harsh in the early years, and I remember that being the reason my Mosaic hesitated to make the transition. Also, I was (and still am) annoyed by labels not taking advantage of the expanded playing time - there are still people in the business with a fictitious one hour time limit in their heads. So I became rather choosy, giving away or selling CDs that sounded inferior, avoiding CDs without available bonus material. Every new format has its pros and cons, and the business people are more often than not irrational or even irresponsible in handling it. Or lacking discographical knowledge.

Now playing another downlaoded album: Blues On The Other Side : Mike Mainieri (vib) Bruce Martin (p) Julius Ruggiero (b) Joe Porcaro (d) New York, September 5, 1962

Listening to the last four Mercer Records tracks that were missing in my collection, bought them as amazon downloads, who probably sourced them from the Chronologal Classics CDs, they sound very good. Howard McGhee (tp) Joe Roland (vib) Kenny Drew (p) Oscar Pettiford (cello) Tommy Potter (b) Art Taylor (d) New York, April 28, 1951 M4025 Swingin' till the girls come home Mercer 1966 M4028 Bei mir bist du schon Mercer 1966 Bill Davis And His Real Gone Organ : Wild Bill Davis (org) Duke Ellington (p) John Collins (g) Jo Jones (d) New York, October, 1950 M4023 Things ain't what they used to be Mercer 1955 M4024 Make no mistake (de out) Mercer 1955 A nice surprise is to hear John Collins soloing! Wish there was more.

http://www.hepjazz.com/hep_jazz_artist_biographies/buddy_defranco.html

That's Max Roach!

Received Classics 1191 today (btw, fastest delivery from an amazon dealer ever, ordered on Monday, they shipped the same day - turned out it was Fenn Music, the series' former distributor in Germany) - brand new copy for a normal price. Half of the disc is from the Mercer catalogue, including all six Pettiford tracks from the Perdido session, and all six with Chubby Kemp - a nice hard driving blues shouter. That unique "New Piano Roll Blues" should be heard (someone posted a YouTube link above). Glad I have it. My collection of original Mercer recording is now complete but for the two Wild Bill Davis cuts. There is a Classics CD with them, but too costly at this time, and I have everything else on it.

Here's an excel file I just complied with most Mercer masters except the tracks from Vogue or Futurama or Joe Roland/Savoy (?) and without the Enchanters. Mercer Records.xls

There are some items that seem strange in the Mercer catalog, like this, but the püblishing co, is Tempo Music .... These Joe Roland tracks were obviously recorded in connection with Savoy, but first issued on Mercer - look at the publisher and the master numbers. Roland was close with Pettiford.

I was lucky that my LPs once were counted by a young boy who was a little bored by the party his parents had taken him along to - back then it was over five thousand. Right now I'm down to about 1500 LPs, but probably 6000 CDs. Isn't there a thread where to post pics of your collection? Go ahead, TTK! Now that's a dream come true.

They did issue a lot of unreleased or rare Ellington stuff. I just read in the liner notes Jack Maher wrote for the Riverside LP reissue that most of the original Mercer tapes were destroyed by a fire in the Apex studios where they were stored ....

Yes they are Mercer recordings. Kemp made a total of eight tracks, two of which remain unissued, one was only on a Up-To-Date LP. Three tracks showed up on different Vogue LPs. All six issued titles are on one of the Duke CDs on Chronological Classics (1950) - just found an affordable copy and ordered it. It gets even more complicated when you consider the Ellington/Strayhorn piano duets and the Pettiford cello tracks, which were reissued on Riverside, later on a Prestige twofer with Duke's Musicraft sides .... The rarest may be the two tracks with Wild Bill Davis.

You have an idea how many LPs there are in your collection?