mikeweil

Fresh Sound has reissued the contents of this LP as bonus tracks to two reissues of Les McCann and Curtis Amy, respectively, as it was their bands playing with Bumble Bee Slim:

If you know Pleasure's complete output of just three LPs worth of material, it's not that much different from his average form. But he was in better form on his last LP for United Artists from 1962, which includes a masterpiece, Swan Blues, a vocalese on Gene Ammons' Hittin' The Jug. In comparison, the Golden Days LP has superior sidemen. Nice to hear Matthew Gee in such a relaxed mood.

Same here - I got one of the last two or three copies available in Germany, for 300 DeutschMarks, which was big money for me back then, but would be a bargain today. Besides the booklet binding, the box is great. The music is fantatic. I'm afraid those labels favor this "Original LP" concept right now, and since the early stuff was not on LP "originally", they don't know how to handle that. It may be as simple as that. Got the Mosaics for the same reason. Once Mosaic is gone, who will take the effort and compile any box set of this kind? But who am I telling this.

There is a double LP / CD announced for December from a concert at the Boston Jazz Workshop, no idea if this is legitimate: The CD lists only two tracks, Hornets & You'll Know When You Get There, Label calls itself HiHat. No idea if the LPs have more. Amazon UK lists this since July, 2015. Should be a British label.

Thanks, I will get me a copy. The live tracks have Jack Wilson accompanying - since an Esther Philips album is missing in my collection, this should be a perfect filler.

I expected him to take the torch from Kenny Barron, but, sadly .... I remember he once was quoted in some liner notes that he tried to play with a little more abandon on each of his own records, and I think this was true. He's really on fire on his live CDs for Max Jazz.

I ordered from JPC for € 49,99, free shipping; I get 5% discount from them on this price. No idea how the current exchange rates are ...

Don't forget Georgie Fame, who was vocalese ambassador and Hendricks/Jordan/Pleasure follower in Great Britain. I just talked my wife into getting me the new Fame box set with his first four albums for Xmas, which includes a lot of vocalese tracks:

http://waxpoetics.com/features/articles/vibraphonist-cal-tjader-one-first-american-jazz-musicians-embrace-latin-music/ This article, originally printed in Wax Poetics 49, is now available online.

Got a copy of the Oliver Nelson Mosaic box from an esteemed board member, and do not regret it, some fabulous big band writing. What bugged me a little in the past about his charts was his high levels of energy and brassiness, but if I listen in small doses, it's fine.

When I first heard the Hamp Stardust on the radio, It went to the top spot on my wish list, if only for the Slam Stewart solo - timeless stuff. Still have that LP. The Gillespie Pasadena concert may be the historically most significant on his label. He did collect an number of gems on his label. R.I.P., and thanks for the music you put into circulation.

That's because it's just four singers - LHR plus Joe Williams, who fits in magnificently - no way a choir could swing that way. I, too, like that one better than the ABC overdub LP. On the latter Hendricks wanted to recreate every trumpet, trombone, and sax part.

Ah, I see ... thanks for this info. But buy the whole box just for a handful of tracks?

Yes it does - as do the Sing a Song of Basie and Sing Along With Basie LPs. There also was a single on United Artists that Michael Cuscuna unfortunately overlooked when he produced the Pacific Jazz reissue, Doodlin' c/w The Spirit Feel, that can be heard on a compilation on the él / Cherry Red label - a nice introductoray overview, fwiw, including some other rare early vocalese stuff:

Thanks for the heads up - I heard some customers were sent a notification e-mail, but I never got one. My purchases were always okay, sorry to read some sellers didn't get their money. Now what other site ofthis type exists, besides Discogs? Musikstack?

I used to search and buy rare vinyl through gemm.com, a platform for second hand dealers worldwide. I can't reach their website anymore - does anyone here know what happened?

Never heard "The Kennedy Dream" ... I have a lot of CDs with Nelson arranging, and like some of it a lot, but never find it as fascinating as Quincy, McFarland, Thad Jones, Gerald Wilson, just to name a few.

Glad I already got the Quincy, Woody, and Ellington Small Group sets, as there are no funds left right now due to unforeseen circumstances. Sound on all is excellent. Hopefully finances will recover before anything else runs low that I still have on the wish list ... I'm not sure if I will regret not getting the Oliver Nelson set - but I have some of it and didn't like "Sound Pieces" very much - guess I like him more as a tenor soloist than arranger.

If they offer that at such a low price, the lady must have had some generous Russian sponsor ... no wonder nobody buys Miklos Spányi's complete recording on period keyboards, all single CDs at normal price. I know he had to pay for the recording sessions himself, the label just finances the pressing and such. But it must be dull to listen to all that on modern piano.

He was great, had his own, was one of the torchkeepers of vocalese. And although I didn't listen to his records often in recent years, one of my all time favourite male singers. R.I.P.

Sound is good, I do not hear any differrence compared to the other reisues. The bonus tracks are worth having, Burrell is great as always, and IMO this is one of his best. p.s. Only bummer is that the stereo image is reversed on the first of the four bonus tracks - they could have corrected that.

Best wishes - a legendary figure that I'd ike to see around for some more years.

Thanks for posting that - for me he catches the essence of Monk better than most.