Daniel A

It's still listed there from what I can see: http://www.earlyrecords.com/list12.html

Excellent, couw! Eh... you're not from Scanidinavia, are you?

The Coles/Pearson thread inspired me to do some Googling, and this article came up: Labels Strive to Rectify Past Archival Problems Some of it is rather scary...

If I'm not mistaken, there were even two more Pearson sessions recorded for Atlantic around the same time, which remained unissued, and then were lost forever in the Atlantic vault fire. Sad.

The Pacific Jazz/World Pacific album listing found here: http://jazzlabels.klacto.net/pacific.html says that Does the label on your copy have the prefix "WP" or "PJ", Tony?

Thanks, Guy! The picture is getting clearer...

I recently found one of those LRC CDs with cheap-looking cover art and meagre discographical info. It has the full contents of the Manny Albam album 'Soul of a City', and roughly half of 'Brass on Fire', both issued on Solid State in 1966. The CD is titled 'Sketches from the Book of Life', cat. no. CDC 9035, and sounds like a dub straight from an LP. The tray card lists the full personnel on the 'Brass on Fire' tracks, but only the soloists on the 'Soul of a City' session. Does anyone around here have the original LP? I wouldn't hope for that the complete personnel is listed there, but I figured I could at least ask... The soloists are given in the AMG entry: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&u...l=Aja1gtq9zbu48

As those who joined my BFT know, I've nothing against vinyl myself. But I can see the frustration that some of the music in these tests will be unavailable or hard to find. However, this is first of all about the music itself, and if interest is raised about something which is not (yet) on CD - well, then there will be even more people longing for that CD release... Regarding the vinyl pops, remember that this was the only way to hear the music for a couple of decades, so unaccustomed as some ears may be, I can't see why LP dubs shouldn't be allowed.

Well, I think the Swedish team may very well be doing its last match in this tournament tonight. On the other hand, that's what I thought when they met Italy, too... BTW, the headline of a Swedish evening paper the other day read something like "The Dutch 'Monster' - His orders: to crush Henrik Larsson!", referring to Jaap Stams.

Of course I don't have a fraction of Bertrand's - or even Bob Belden's - knowledge on this subject, but I always thought the ropy piano on the Fresh Sound sounds curiously alike the piano on the BN set. And for the record: musically, I prefer the Fresh Sound.

Here's a scan of my copy. The stamp in the lead-out says "PJ.670.D2.RE" on side 1, and "PJ.671.D2.RE" on side 2.

Buster Williams looks somewhat suspect, too... Wasn't one joint enough?

I'm not sure about this. From what I've heard, it's not a good idea to limit the bitrate when using VBR. In most situations it would be OK, but I think that the results under some conditions could be worse than a constant bitrate if an especially difficult passage occurs, where the algorithm wants a higher bitrate. If file size is an issue, I think it would be better to adjust the VBR options for heavier compressing (= lower resulting bitrate), or even using ABR, which lets you preset the average bitrate.

...

Thanks, couw! I'm not yet sure if we're coming by boat or through Denmark. But either way, we're not looking for the fastest way down anyway. I'll keep in touch!

How about an evening in the beginning of September...? If the old, green Mercedes holds together me and my fiancée are going from Sweden down to Nice about that time. We're at least going through Germany, Holland and possibly Switzerland on our way. And perhaps Luxembourg, to get some cheap petrol...

I with you there too. I think the marketing expression "CD quality" has helped that misconception. Why would anyone need anything more than "CD quality"?

I admit that I have not done any serious comparsion between SACD and any other format. While I agree that LP can be superior to CD, I suppose that the "crappy" CD sound often is enough for me - that is, with my preferences and equipment. You may have a point, since I think under the right conditions not only die-hard audiophiles are able to distinguish CD sound from LP sound, for example. The problem seems to be that not many care about it. Besides, a cheap turntable does not necessarily sound good - I believe that millions of people nevertheless experienced an improvement when they switched from an entry-level turntable to an entry-level CD player.

This has been discussed before. Brandon, I know the MP3 format wasn't created in the interest of best possible sound, but I'd still say that MP3 created with appropriate software and a suitable bitrate will be indistinguishable from the original to majority of listeners, on a majority of stereo setups. I've carried out blindfold tests together with other interested people, and much better results can be had than people generally seem to think is possible.

Corrected spelling of his name in my initial post... Thanks, Mike!

Comments added...

OK folks, most of the tracks were identified, but here comes the personnel in detail. There are some minor data missing, such as the names of a few producers. I'm not writing this from home, so I'm relying on what can be found on the Web (and in my memory). I'll complete the details in a few days. There was a theme - not a very original one - namely pianists. All tracks were recorded under the leadership of, composed by, arranged by or otherwise featuring a pianist, except one track (noted below). 1. MANTECA (Gillespie) – Clare Fischer (3:36) Clare Fischer (org, arr); Conte Candoli, Bobby Bryant, Don Smith, A D Brisbois (tp); Gil Falco, Bob Edmondson (tbn); Ernie Tack (btbn); Ralph Pena (b ); Nicholas “Cuco” Martinez (timb); Adolfo ”Chino” Valdes, Carlos Vidal (cong); Rudy Calzado (cencero, guiro) Producer: Richard Bock Engineer: Richard Bock Recorded in 1966 Issued on Pacific Jazz PJ-10096 'Manteca' Not reissued on CD The writer of the liner notes, John William Hardy, rambles somewhat about the trumpet solos on Manteca, and he obviously cannot be trusted regarding the order of the soloists, since there are two different muted trumpet soloists: “...the bursting trumpet work on ‘Manteca’, beginning with Candoli in muted flight, followed by Bryant, rich and open, again Candoli, this time open and really singing, and then the fantastic Brisbois boiling to the top of his horn in a truly harrowing display of upper registry...”. Who is Brisbois? It sure sounds like a pseudonym. In fact the confused Hardy suddenly speaks about Buddy Briswold as being in the trumpet section – are they one and the same? Anyway, Clare Fischer is a pianist I like very much, allthough perhaps more as, well, a pianist rather than an organist. I find nothing wrong with his playing here, thouhg, which is totally in line with the somewhat kitsch surroundings. I also think he's a very fine arranger. Perhaps there are other examples from his Pacific Jazz albums which highlights his sense of harmonics better, but I thought this was a good track to kick off the disc with. 2. HAVE YOU MET MISS JONES (Rodgers-Hart) – Hank Jones (3:16) Hank Jones (p) Producer: Ozzie Cadena Engineer: Rudy Van Gelder Recorded on August 8, 1956 Issued on Savoy MG-12084 'Have You Met Hank Jones?' Not reissued on CD Hank Jones has in my opinion the finest touch off all jazz pianists. He manages to sound measured and at the same time totally honest in his playing. I can't think of any other word that describes it better than "tasteful", and not in some bland sense, but so wonderfully attratcive. He's held highly in regard by many other pianists (for instance, he was Duke Pearson's favorite), and there is always a lot more depth in his playing than the unattentive listener would suspect.This is probably my favorite piano solo album, and it's absolutely outrageous that it hasn't been reissued on CD. Will it ever be? 3. JACQUI (Richie Powell) – Clifford Brown (5:09) Clifford Brown (tp); Harold Land (ts); Richie Powell (p); George Morrow (b ); Max Roach (dr) Producer: ? Engineer: ? Recorded on February 25, 1955 Issued on EmArcy MG-36037 'Study in Brown' On CD: Yes In print: Yes From a classic session I was sure many of you would recognize. I included this track mainly because of Powell's composition; he's not credited with too many, and allthough somewhat in a Horace Silverish vein (as some noted) I think it shows some originality as well. BTW, I think Harold Land does not get as much credit these days as he should, I couldn't think of a better voice as a complement to Brownie. 4. POINCIANA (Bernier-Simon) – Martial Solal (4:33) Martial Solal (p); Teddy Kotick (b ); Paul Motian (dr) Producer: George Avakian Engineer: Recorded in July, 1963 Issued on RCA LSP-2777 'At Newport '63' On CD: Yes In print: Yes Martial Solal really sounds like noone else, and he's had a marvellous output from the early 50s up to now which should be better known - as it is much of it has not been reissued for decades. His touch is somewhat old-fashioned in spots, at the same time as his harmonic sense always has been very much contemporary. There's a mid 50s Solal recording of 'Poinciana' on Vogue (do you have it, brownie?) where the theme already is pretty much reharmonized, but some 8 years later he really makes something completely new of it. The AMG's coverage of Solal is fatally incomplete, and I think many of his recordings are virtually unheard of in the US. If anyone new to Solal appreciated this, there is a wealth of fantastic sessions yet to discover! 5. TONES FOR JOAN’S BONES (Chick Corea) – Blue Mitchell (6:38) Blue Mitchell (tp); Julian Priester (tb); Jerry Dodgion (f, as); Junior Cook (ts); Pepper Adams (bari); Chick Corea (p); Gene Taylor (b ); Mickey Roker (d); Duke Pearson (arr) Producer: Alfred Lion Engineer: Rudy Van Gelder Recorded on November 17, 1966 Issued on Blue Note BST 84257 'Boss Horn' On CD: Yes/No (Only as part of Mosaic set or as a Spanish Blue Note release)release) In print: No OK, I thought I should sneak in Duke Pearson somewhere on this compilation, if not as a pianist at least as an arranger. I've always thought this is one of Chick Corea's best compositions, and this particular recording also has one of (again in my opinion) his earliest really significant solos. A matter of weeks later this composition would be the title cut on Corea's first own album, but I've always found his solo much more interesting on the Mitchell recording. Some commented on Blue's tone, which surprised me, because I've always felt there were signs of decline already at this stage. Corea's playing here perhaps still shows some influence from Tyner, Hancock and others, but he was developing very fast then, as a comparsion with sessions from just a year or two further on will show. 6. THIS COULD BE THE START OF SOMETHING BIG (Allen) - Oscar Peterson (4:46) Oscar Peterson (p); Ray Brown (b ); Ed Thigpen (dr) Producer: Engineer: Recorded on September 26, 1962 Issued on Verve V 8516 'Affinity' On CD: Yes In print: Yes I was rather amused that those not familiar with this Peterson album hesitated to name it as such an album, roughly because it was just a bit too good to be Peterson! I deliberately chose a track with no traces of his sometime "one mood". To call Peterson "underrated" perhaps doesn't seem right, but the word "neglected" has at least some validity. 7. UPSTAIRS (Bacharach-David) – The Jazz Crusaders (3:14) Wayne Henderson (tbn); Wilton Felder (ts); Joe Sample (p); Buster Williams (b ); Nesbert ’Stix’ Hooper (dr) Producer: Richard Bock Engineer: Thorne Nogar Recorded in 1968 Issued on World Pacific Jazz ST-20136 'Powerhouse' On CD: Well, only as one of the infamous Applause reissues of Liberty material In print: No I agree that this cut is much too short - the Jazz Crusaders was changing direction at this time - but the short glimpse of Felder shows that he was a very convincing player in this style. I selected this track because it's from one of their lesser known albums, and because of the composition, which is from the Bacharach-David musical 'Promises, Promises'; the title tune from that show was also covered on 'Powerhouse'. I don't have access to any discography other than the AMG, but I'm not aware of any cover of 'Upstairs' other than this one (which is much better than the original version, I can assure you). The Jazz Crusaders deserve to be reissued in some form, and I know they have been considered for a possible Mosaic Select. Incidentally, the album 'Powerhouse' also featured the first recording of Buster Williams's tune 'Firewater' (also sometimes called 'Dual Force'), which Herbie Hancock arranged for a larger group a year later on his last Blue Note album, 'The Prisoner'. 8. MAIDEN VOYAGE (Herbie Hancock) – Denny Zeitlin (7:36) Denny Zeitlin (p); Joe Halpin (b ); Oliver Johnson (dr) Producer: Johnny Hammond Engineer: Recorded in March, 1967 Issued on Columbia CS 9548 'Zeitgeist' Not reissued on CD This was the first recording of 'Maiden Voyage' which did not feature Hancock himself. Zeitlin can sometimes be a bit dry, but I'm obviously not as easily bored as some others, as I'm enjoying this version. Which is clearly not a groundbreaking masterpiece, but still... 9. ODIN’S EYE (Carl-Axel Dominique) – Jan Allan (4:21) Jan Allan (tp); Lennart Åberg (ss); Bobo Stenson (p); Palle Danielsson (b ); Jon Christensen (dr) Producer: Håkan Elmquist Engineer: Rune Persson Recorded in September, 1969 Issued on MCA MAP 1782 'Jan Allan -70' On CD: Yes In Print: Yes Jan Allan is one of Sweden's finest trumpet players; he played with Lars Gullin in the 50s and still remains very active today. The bigger part of 'Jan Allan -70' is taken up by a couple of works for augmented big band and trumpet soloist by pianist Nils Lindberg, but the album was rounded out with three small-group tracks, two of which were composed by another pianist, Carl-Axel Dominique. From your comments, it's apparent that soprano sax players for some reason appear to risk being fired more often than other instrumentalists. I admit that Åberg's playing here does not comfort me too much, but I wonder if the aversion to soprano players has to do with their intonation, rather than what they actually play (se further my notes for track #11). The liner notes (in Swedish and English) can be found here: www.mic.stim.se/avd/mic/prod/phono.nsf/0/1c98a3e2135a3b2e412567f30035a983?OpenDocument BTW, it was not Elvin on drums. 10. MORNING STAR (Rodgers Grant) – Hubert Laws (7:56) Hubert Laws (fl, afl, picc); Alan Rubin, Marvin Stamm (tp, flh); Garnett Brown (tbn); James Buffington (fr hn); Phil Bodner (fl, picc, cl); Romeo Penque (fl, afl, picc, eng hn); Jack Knitzer (bassoon); John Tropea (g); Bob James (el p); Ron Carter (b ); Billy Cobham (dr); Dave Friedman (vib, perc); Ralph McDonald (perc); Don Sebesky (arr, cond) Producer: Creed Taylor Engineer: Rudy Van Gelder Recorded in 1972 Issued on CTI 6022 'Morning Star' Not reissued on CD This was in my opinion Huber Laws' finest moment. He plays fine on a couple of CTI's (often for other leaders) and espescially on his last Atlantic album, 'Laws' Cause'. However, I think he never played a better solo than here. I've never thought the electronics (or is it just an octave pedal?) distracted from the playing. In fact, I just think it gets better from it! Both Bob James and Hubert himself would soon be far from anything remotely jazzy, not to speak of Cobham, who was perhaps never a great jazz drummer. The tune itself, which could stand to be covered more often, was written by pianist Rodgers Grant who had collaborated with Laws in the 60s. Unfortunately I have no idea what became of him after that. 11. BRITE PIECE (Dave Liebman) – Elvin Jones (4:46) Joe Farrell, David Liebman, Steve Grossman (ss); Jan Hammer (p); Gene Perla (b ); Elvin Jones (d); Don Alias (perc) Producer: George Butler Engineer: Rudy Van Gelder Recorded on December 16, 1971 Issued on Blue Note BST 84414 'Merry-Go-Round' On CD: Yes, in the Elvin Jones Mosaic set In print: Yes I'm surprised noone who knew this album commented on the pianist. In a matter of years from this recording he would be helplessly lost in a world of dismal synths and sequencers, and he nowadays seems to be best remebered for his score to 'Miami Vice'. Initially I planned to include another track from this Jones album - a composition by Jan Hammer himself - but I thought this track was alltogether more interesting. Contrary to many of you I have nothing to object to Liebman's playing. Again, I wonder how much people are disturbed by the soprano sound and characteristic intonation rather than the actual notes. I think Liebman plays well here, and even when the soprano wanders slightly off tune, I think it fits just great! Hammer would rarely appear on acoustical piano after this, and when he did it was most often augmented by some synthesizers of one kind or another. I'm not sure about how much jazz chops he has left, but from I can understand he was happy with the career choice he made. 12. I COVER THE WATERFRONT (Green-Heyman) – Peter Asplund (9:37) Peter Asplund, Hans Dyvik, Anders Gustafsson, Patrik Skoog, Fredrik Oscarsson (tp); Mikael Råberg, Dicken Hedrenius, Karin Hammar (tbn); Mattias Cederberg (btbn); Johan Hörlén (as, fl); Magnus Blom (as); Per "Texas" Johansson (ts); Karl-Martin Almqvist, Magnus Lindgren (ts, fl); Alberto Pinton (bari); Jacob Karlzon (p); Hans Andersson (b ); Johan Löfcrantz (dr) Producers: Peter Asplund, Lars-Göran Ulander Engineer: Maurice Mogard Recorded in September, 2000 Issued on Sittel SITCD 9268 'Satch as Such' In print: Yes The singer turns out to be - not Björk, but Rigmor Gustafsson. I can definitely hear where the Björk suggestions are coming from, and I've heard others comment on the similarity to Björk in the intro of this track (or perhaps only the first phrases), but she's in fact considered a pure jazz singer here in Sweden, and I agree. The track comes from a Louis Armstrong tribute album led by Swedish trumpeter Peter Asplund. The concept of the album was the (admittedly not too original) idea of putting tunes associated with Armstrong in a more contemporary framework. The different tunes feature Asplund or different members of the orchestra, which mostly consists of competent Swedish players in their 30s. The reason I included this cut was the arrangement which I think is lovely (made by Asplund and saxophonist Magnus Blom) and because pianist Karlzon gets some room to stretch out; I think he's one of Sweden's better pianists today. It's hard for me to really tell, but I suspect that there's something very European to his playing, no? The rhythm section, together with a few other musicians and Gustafsson made up a band (not sure if they're active) under Asplund's leadership, called 'Melos', where Gustafsson's wordless singing played a prominent role. Just a few days ago Asplund released a quartet album - his first new album in four years - with that same rhythm section, but I've not been able to check it out yet. A useful link for those who wants to know more about Rigmor Gustafsson: www.rigmorgustafsson.com Peter Asplund has a website too, but it seems to be mainly in Swedish: www.peterasplund.com 13. ANCESTORS (Renee Rosnes) – Renee Rosnes (9:42) Nicholas Payton (tp); Chris Potter (ts); Renee Rosnes (p); Peter Washington (b ); Al Foster (dr); Don Alias (perc) Producer: Bob Belden Engineer: David Baker Recorded in October, 1995 Issued on Blue Note 34634 In print: No Renee Rosnes appears to still be with Blue Note, despite her titles consequently being deleted not long after they are released. I consider Payton to be the best soloist here, but I think Rosnes is capable as well, not least in that she has a good sense of form in her soloing. 14. HERE’S THAT RAINY DAY (Burke-van Heusen) – Bud Shank (3:13) Bud Shank, John Lowe, Bill Perkins, Jack Nimitz, Bob Hardaway, Bob Cooper (sax), Bob Florence (p, arr); Dennis Budimir (g); Ray Brown (B); Larry Bunker (dr) Producer: Richard Bock Engineer: Bruce Botnick Recorded in December, 1966 Issued on Pacific Jazz ST-20110 'Bud Shank Meets the Sax Section' Not reissued on CD This LP gives the impression of a rather slick "commercial" effort that was typical of its time (except for the downright criminal appearances of a few of the members of the sax section on the LP cover photo; I'll post a scan when I get home!). However, the arrangements by Bob Florence are more than just easy listening. I know there are conflicting opinions regarding Bob Florence's merits, but I've appreciated what I've heard so far. Speaking of Bud Shank, apparently he's not inclined - or allowed - to stretch out very much here... 15. DARK EYES – Bill Evans & Stan Getz (1:18) Stan Getz (ts); Bill Evans (p); Richard Davis (b ); Elvin Jones (d) Producer: Engineer: Recorded on May 5, 1964 Issued on Verve 314 527 953 2 'The Complete Bill Evans on Verve' In print: Yes I was scanning the massive Verve box for something that would not immediatly sound as Evans, and found this instead. More of joke than anything else, but on the other hand noone could tell it was Bill Evans... This is from the sessions released long after they were recorded as 'Stan Getz and Bill Evans'.

Here's another interesting discussion, allthough the infamous 'Len Armssrong' (sic) hasn't joined in yet: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=10898

OK, folks! I just need to straighten out some useless discographical details... In the meantime everyone must guess who are playing on track #15! They are extremely famous, BTW...

I'll check with my copy as soon as I get home (I'm away for this week). I'm pretty sure it's on Pacific Jazz, though.