Daniel A

I'm very sorry to hear this. Wess was on the first real jazz album I heard and then listened to over and over; "Flutes and Reeds" with Jerome Richardson.

The quality of King pressings of Blue Note titles have been discussed previously. But how are King pressings of releases from other labels? I have a few, but not enough to have an informed opinion.

To return to the subject of the suprise alternate takes on 'Out To Lunch', I found thread while searching for something else. If there's any truth to it, it seems as if the tape vault is not comprehesively indexed. If the "real" master tapes of OTL weren't used until 2008 it could explain why the alternates weren't on any previous reissues. Of course, if they were on the session log, they should have been in the discography anyway.

Since April 1, 2013 apparently EMI Japan is owned by Universal.

This is about the best congratulatory post I've seen. Well-deserved, too!

Thanks, folks! I can see that my 30th birthday thread was revived for this anniversary; it adds to the festive atmosphere. My birthday was exactly as I had hoped for, including a surprise gift from my wife that actually surprised me. Lots of things going on at the moment - two children (one newborn), move to a house of our own next month and so on - but still room for music. We'll have a generous 30 sqm room just for music and where I finally can have all CDs and LPs in one place which I'm looking forward to immensly. We'll see how long it will last before the kids take it into their possession!

Guy, you are a true gentleman and it's good to have you around on the forums. I wish you a happy birthday!

LP only releases seems to be a new trend in Sweden. I know of several recent albums that have been released only on LP and as a download (or from a streaming service). The Kullhammar album was only released on LP, though, - no download as I know of - and it has already sold out. Jonas' quartet recently dissolved after 15 years and their last album will be out in November. As always, he has other interesting projects going on, however. The idea for the ALS project apparently came from a German jazz festival that wished to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Impulse records.

Clearly this is an ironic post, but you are excused for not using any emoticon since I agree that there's not any of them that fits. Maybe we should introduce a subtle device like a slightly different background color for situations like this? An observation that may not mean anything is that there are mostly Europeans left in this discussion. Maybe just a time zone problem?

Re: the breakdown after Hubbard's solo. It happened during Shorter's solo during his own session and I can imagine many reasons to why Shorter himself wouldn't want to see it released. Indeed, most artists would probably not want to see anything released that was once "rejected". I'm a bit selfish and happy whenever we get the possibility to hear unheard material from artists and sessions we know. But if the decision to reject something came from artistic reasons, and not for example time constrictions, I think that it should generally be respected even if the artist is no longer with us. However, a discography has significance in itself as a historical document; where and when was something recorded, how many takes, who was supposed to be there but didn't show up etc. I think that kind of information should be preserved and I don't believe it does the artist any harm.

Maybe a certain amount of time has to pass. Lots of Charlie Parker alternates and breakdown takes have been released, but you don't hear the claim that those are threatening his legacy. On the other hand, not many people are expecting to see rejected takes or breakdowns listed in discographies for sessions from the 90s. When the first edition of the Ruppli/Cuscuna Blue Note discography was published many of these sessions were only 20-25 years old. If it was revised today maybe Cuscuna would reconsider. Or he had to, since the alternates have been released. Since breakdowns etc were listed in the Coltrane discography one would hope that someone, someday would be willing to compile the same information regarding other artists as well. Speaking for myself, I find that kind of information interesting and enlightening, even if I never get to hear what's been rejected.

So it would seem that session logs were used for some entries in the Cuscuna/Ruppli (sessions lost altogether) but not for sessions that had actually been issued/reissued. Were takes "not meant to be heard" deliberately excluded? I suppose it would still fit the definition of a "discography", but not in the sense many of us would hope.

A new $50 speaker is probably not better (and maybe even worse) than much of what you can find used for the same price. If you're not into used hifi equipment I can see that the process of buying a pair of used speakers would appear as more of an obstacle, though. Would you want to disclose what equipment you are using now?

Many thanks for sharing this information, David! Also, accept my apology for confusing your name in an earlier post (now corrected).

For me personally, it's the alternates from 'Speak No Evil' that are the most interesting. On a sideline, when I was googling for info about the session I found that a rejected attempt at the 'Speak No Evil' album with Billy Higgins instead of Elvin Jones was recorded two months earlier: Freddie Hubbard (trumpet) Wayne Shorter (tenor saxophone) Herbie Hancock (piano) Ron Carter (bass) Billy Higgins (drums) Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, November 2, 1964 Witch Hunt Blue Note rejected Dance Cadaverous - rejected Speak No Evil - rejected I never knew about that session.

How long wires do you need? This may sound controversial, but for shorter lengths - up to 15-20 feet - you could probably use plain 120/240 V electrical wire if you don't own an audiophile system. It's very cheap and can easily be found in various shapes. I know of more than one well-regarded loudspeaker constructor that has stated this. Internal wiring in average speakers is often fairly basic.

Very interesting, romualdo! Does the discography offer any explanation why the matrix numbers for 'Blue Train' are out of sequence with the other titles recorded at the same session?

I'll wait for a report from an owner of the latest release, but if they are not there it would seem like an inaccuracy of the discography. If David Weiss is allowed to disclose any info it would be very interesting to hear how these alternates were discovered, if previously hidden or not mentioned.

If these new alternates are indeed releasable, I find it strange that they have not been considered for any previous reissues. I don't have Cuscuna/Ruppli's Blue Note Discography but would be interested what it says about these takes. Rejected?

Thanks for your post, Gheorghe. Much of what you wrote was new to me.

The difference is you save your money to buy something else which does go to the artist or a high-quality reissuer. I save my money by not buying the PD set. Making a copy of any of the available releases is another matter to me.

Making a copy of a PD label set, as suggested above, seems no better morally than copying the source itself, be it a Cuscuna reissue or whatever.

Thanks for mentioning the Rearward releases. Has the trio session been released elsewhere before, or is this previously unissued? Haven't been able to figure that out from info on the web.

"Stanley Crouch recounts rise of jazz giant Charlie 'Bird' Parker": http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/july-dec13/kansascity_10-16.html