mikeweil

Thanks for the nice words - the LPs are in surprisingly good condition, I played two of them today. The groove the band hits is still fresh and exciting, and some of the songs still do move me. The singer he featured on From South Africa to South Carolina, Victor Brown, had such a powerful voice ... and what lyrics, his vision was so clear: You know there won't be no more killings and no more talk of class; your sons and your daughters won't die in the hour glass. I'm convinced this vision will stay alive as long it is not fulfilled. This afternoon my wife and I had conversation with a 30-year old choirmaster who had asked me to accompany his students' choir in a performance ln mid-June; his father, an engineer, came to the German Democratic Republic from Uganda and married a colleague there. He still gets comments from people who are amazed at his fluent German, once was denied access to the organ culprit when he was supposed to give a recital etc. etc. - Scott-Heron's vision still has to be realized.

Turns out I still have all the four LPs I bought in the late 1970's - I lked his music a lot back then, although I didn't understand all of his messages, I must admit. Compared to his engaging lyrics about all kinds of social and political issues most other songs of his contemporaries sound like childish love songs. We have kind of a German counterpart in Konstantin Wecker, substance problems included. I remember I pulled all four from cutout bins - he never was a big seller over here. He always placed a rather peaceful song at the end of his albums - I wish him peace where he is now. I will miss his charming voice ... and hope there will always be a songwriter as engaged as he was.

I'm McRae fan, as I confessed elsewhere - I must admit I like her versions better than Vaughan's ... Having Shirley Horn do the backing was a grand idea.

The first copy of Mingus Presents Mingus I ever bought was a late 1970's French America pressing, and even then I wondered about the sound. I was pretty much disappointed when I got me a Candid reissue a few years ago. Sounds muffled, like most of the treble range filtered to remove tape hiss. How does this session sound on the Mosaic?

That would be great!

Any news about the blogs?

Straight Ahead is indispensable! The first time her daring self was captured on record. The Riversides are nice, too, kind of preparatory sessions - the Candid is the glorious result. That Max Roach title is Kardouba.

Thanks much - the Esposito version of Empty Ballroom Blues I have on Four Star 1294 (a 10 inch 78 rpm record) runs over 5 minutes and is in two parts spread over both sides, so it must be adifferent version. I'm asking because the common discographies list it as recorded in May 1949 with basically the same personnel as the session on which Tjader plays bongos, but the saxist does not the least sound like Claude Gilroy, who is a "brother", and the bassist sings along with his bowed solo - in fact he sounds a lot like Slam Stewart. Some discographical mystery, it seems ...

Can some kind soul with this set in his/her posession tell me what it says about Nick Esposito and possibly other sessions of this guitarist for other labels? Any session notes?What is the Playing time of Empty Ballroom Blues, and what is the solo order? If someone could send me an MP3 of this track for comparison with another Esposito recording it would be extremely helpful ... Thanks in advance!

That's what the label says ... not on their website, but the mail order shops cite their press release saying so. I ordered them - samples sounded really good.

But: here's another pressing of the same ten-incher made from blue vinyl:

Red vinyl was used most often by Fantasy, e.g.:

Yes, it's a different take, in mono and sounding audibly worse than the take on the Newport Rebels album.

I'll donate as soon as I get my tax refunds, which will be in June or July.

A lot more subtle than appropriate for a messenger. I see Pearson in the line of great lyrical pianists in jazz, from Teddy Wilson over John Lewis - beautiful, delicate touch. I think I have all of his leader dates except for the two first Blue Note Trio albums, which are a bit too tentative for my taste - I sold the japanse Copies I had a few years ago, But all the others ... impossible to choose one favourite!

The Cologne date should follow soon - it's just been released over here.

Correct!

FWIW - the German Jazzline label released CD and LP versions of two 1957 and 159 concerts of the MJQ in Cologne and Bonn, respectively - sound seems to be excellent, as they had access to the original tapes of the WDR broadcasting company:

Me too - that's what may have kept me from buying it, since I have the VHS. Audio and video were said to be identical to the videotape available, I now recall. I also remember someone raised the question why the Zappa family didn't take care of a proper DVD edition.

I'm afraid you may be right ...

There's this new CD to increase the mess ... If you buy single CDs you get a lot of duplicates. The complete Newport Rebels ? Not really. Just the tracks issued on the LP with that title, but not the complete session: Date: November 1, 1960 Location: Nola Penthouse Sound Studios, New York City Label: Candid The Jazz Artists Guild (ldr), Eric Dolphy (as), Walter Benton (ts), Cecil Payne (bar), Benny Bailey, Booker Little (t), Kenny Dorham (t, p), Julian Priester (tb), Peck Morrison (b), Jo Jones, Max Roach (d), Abbey Lincoln (v) a. Oh Yeah, Oh Yeah (Kenny Dorham) b. Cliff Walk - 9:45 (Booker Little) c. Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do - 7:18 (Porter Grainger, Everett Robbins) d. tk 3 alt Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do - 7:47 (Porter Grainger, Everett Robbins) Eric Dolphy (as) on c-d; Walter Benton (ts) on a-b; Cecil Payne (bar) on a; Benny Bailey (t) on a, c-d; Kenny Dorham (t) on a; (p) on c-d; Booker Little (t) on b; Julian Priester (tb) on a-b; Jo Jones (d) on b-d; Max Roach (d) on a-b; Abbey Lincoln (v) on c-d. Source: http://jazzdiscograp...oln/al-disc.htm

There was a difference between the LP and CD versions of the Mosaic. The CD version came out a while after the LP version and added those two tracks that had been discovered after the LP version had been issued. That new box set includes everything from the Mosaic CD version and adds two bonus tracks from the November 1, 1960 Newport Rebels sessions without Mingus among the players - they probably added them to avoid being accused of simply copying the Mosaic CD set. Since there is no other matching session to reissue them - except perhaps the Freedom Now Suite or the Abbey Lincoln disc - and one would have to buy other CDs and duplicate material, why not add them? They are: Cliff Walk 09: 41 T'ain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do 07: 14 There is another one with Kenny Dorham, Oh Yeah Oh Yeah, and an alternate take of T'ain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do that's still missing from that session. I made my own CDR of the Freedom Now Suite adding them as bonus tracks. Candid would have served the collectors better if they had released CDs with completed sessions analog to the Mosaic discs instead of simply reissuing the original LPs and several other compilations of unreleased or scattered material, like the Reincarnation of a Lovebird, Mysterious Blues, Newport Rebels, The Jazz Life, and Candid Dolphy CDs - that makes eight (!) CDs just to get the Mingus material that easily fits on three. And they duplicated tracks along the way and made discographical errors in the credits ...