Daniel A

This might be a matter of personal preference, but I find some tunes to offer endless possibilities of new interpretations that might still sound fresh, like Body and Soul. However, I do not want to hear another version of Take the A Train.

Also the first recorded version from before Corea founded Return to Forever, IIRC. The music on that whole album is great. Could an album having both Corea and Jan Hammer on Fender Rhodes *not* be great?

'Merry Go Round' also had the absurd, gigantic fold-out picture of Elvin. I prefer the CD cover of that one.

No, it's still lousy!

+1

Cannot comment on any hi-res version, but in terms of the balance of the mono recording, it's a good, engaging live recording that is above average for this time period. Maybe the bass is just slightly low in the mix, but everybody are generally captured well, except for short moments off-mike.

Ha!

Mee too.

There seem to be clear cultural differences in between many wester countries in this area. In Sweden, smooth jazz has always been an even smaller niche than "real" jazz, and I have never knowingly heard Kenny G being played anywhere (shops, malls, restaurants). But I will admit not being able to recognize a Kenny G tune.

During my years at the university I often stayed late in the library, as did hundreds of others. When it closed at 9 pm, they always put on what was supposed to be very intrusive music at maximum volume all over the library - more than once screaming free jazz saxophone playing.

Kenny and crowd

They would keep the cigarettes, but also include a graphic health message. Maybe also a spoken warning as track 1.

Just from memory, some digital errors were purposefully introduced that would be overcome by the default error correction circuit of any audio CD player, but supposedly would confuse the ripping software of a computer. It didn't sound like a good concept to begin with, and as it were, some ripping software was able to overcome the "protection". I have never seen any reports that there was any audible artifacts from the protection, but that is not to say there couldn't be any. I believe that these discs were not allowed to be labeled as "Compact Discs" as they deviated from the standard.

I agree. Terrific session! Interesting also to hear Corea backing Hutcherson from that time period. The compositions are all such good starting points for improvisation. I don't think sound is up to RVG standards, but it serves the setting and material well enough. Original vinyl and also the Addey sound best in my opinion. Japanese Toshiba and King are a step behind, and 80 DMM vinyl sounds very dull in comparison. My favorite Hutcherson album.

Yes, Db is a pleasant key for a piano player. Didn't Oscar Peterson do The Girl From Ipanema in Db instead of F, BTW? For reasons I have not analyzed I find Eb to be one of the most comfortable keys to play in (on piano). To instead mention under-played tunes, there is a fantastic tune in a hard key, Richie Powell's 'Jacqui' : It has an AABA form, where the B section is a blues in... B! And now when you got me started... It can be really refreshing to play over-familiar tunes in new keys. I am fortunate to have some skilled musicians in the neighborhood and we usually jam for an hour or two on Sunday afternoons in one of the guys' basement. Last time, we played Buster Williams' 'Firewater' which ends on a minor Eb chord. We vamped the two last bars a couple of times, and then it felt natural to segue into something else, which happened to be Maiden Voyage, but played in Eb rather than D. The change of key really made the whole tune sound so different, fresh and with a lighter character.

Yes, impossible to get rid of!

I've got "Powerhouse" on an Applause CD with the red cover. Sound quality is bad. The Pacific Jazz vinyl sounds better, though perhaps not really hi-fi. Lighthouse '69 is a favorite of mine. I believe there is a post somewhere here (maybe from Kevin B) where Michael Cuscuna is quoted, to the effect that he had prepared the album for CD release with bonus material, but just couldn't go ahead because of the collapse of the CD market and generally poor sales of Pacific Jazz reissues. These two albums ('69 and Powerhouse) were the first two Jazz Crusaders albums I heard and are still the two I return to the most. But as Mike mentioned above, the Chile Con Soul album is also really enjoyable.

I always thought Eb was the "right" key. And I don't know about live versions, but Miles' studio version (with Cannonball et. al) was in Eb. Supposedly the tune was suggested by Cannonball, so maybe he got to select the key as well.

Have not tried, but will do next time. For many years, I have (without reflecting much over it) recorded mono LPs in stereo and then used only one channel - the "better" one if there is a difference - for the final audio file.

I would like to return to the topic of playing "straight-ahead jazz" (a misleading, but nevertheless accepted heading) on a Fender Rhodes. It was mentioned upthread that some players are/were able to play the electric instrument with a bit more of a character. I believe that those who are successful in that, embrace the different timbre and sustain/staccato capabilities of the instrument. Someone recently made me aware of that I tend to play longer lines on piano than on Rhodes. I have reflected on that observation to understand why that is the case. I already knew that I sometimes use different voicings, as I think that the Rhodes sound is an advantage when having two or three notes of the chord close to eachother. I do not know enough of theory to explain, but I am guessing it has something to do with the differing overtone characteristics of piano vs Rhodes. The longer sustain might also encourage me to let some chords ring for longer, which will also affect the choice of chord in the first place and how it sounds together with what else is being played. However, on the other hand it is also hard to resist using the quicker damping of the Rhodes for shorter staccato accents. Overall, this provides more variation in the way the comping supports the soloist (both from the Rhodes itself as well as other instrumentalists). When it comes to the solo lines, I have not come to a conclusion, but a theory is that the two factors above (sustain/damping) are likely to break up also my soloing, whereas solo lines on an acoustical piano are more smoothed out and "flowing". I am sure fellow pianists recognize the fact that individual pianos are different, and sometimes you might encounter an old upright piano with "slow" damping, which might discourage you from playing a lot of quick passages. I find this topic fascinating and would love to hear @Gheorghes and other people's view on this.

And then a failed large-group effort for MPS, followed by a return-to-hard-bop-roots comeback album on Criss Cross in 1980.

Aren't there at least three Lighthouse albums? I like '69 best, but it never had CD release. They were never that different live (or maybe this reflects the choices of the producer), but what is interesting to me is that they were going in two directions at once towards the end of the "jazz" period. Both more "post-boppish" (check out the tunes written by Buster Williams) but there were also the more groove-based material; a precursor of the 70:s "Crusaders" (sans "jazz") era, but with a more "raw" attitude.

I know that this is not what the thread is about, but Mancini did so many great things that do not get enough attention. The score for 'Charade' is great, but the best parts did not make it to the original soundtrack album, something which Manicini himself regretted. There was eventually a CD release which included all of the music. The music for the metro chase scene is terrific.

This edition is apparently $550-600 each. Too much dead wax, maybe? (though hard to tell without a label on) I still don't understand how these were made. Seems unlikely they would run "the original source master" (whatever that is) 999 times. FWIW, they are also making 999 copies of Getz/Gilberto, allegedly engraved one by one directly from the master tape...