Daniel A

Did go for the King. Will get back with my impressions.

How's the "Introducing" session with Hamilton?

Correction: One track from 'Swing...' was left out from 'Our Kinda Strauss', the Karl Drewo composition "Claudia".

So many of Fischer's albums were never reissued on CD that I could almost as well have posted this in the vinyl forum, but these are some of my favourites featuring his fine composing and arranging: Extension (Pacific Jazz, 1963) Manteca (Pacific Jazz, 1966) Duality (Discovery, 1969) Easy Living (Revelation, 1963) is solo and piano/bass duo and, as has been mentioned, somewhat low-key but also very beautiful and a fine opportunity to enjoy his piano voicings. Songs for Rainy Day Lovers (Columbia, 1967) could be written of as easy listening, but it's in fact as inventively and beautifully arranged as just about anything he's done, and way more advanced than your typical piano+strings elevator music date. It should be approached with an open ear and mind; not for all tastes, but I couldn't imagine a fan of Fischer's writing and arranging not liking most of it. His collaborations with Bud Shank from 1962, 'Brasamba' and 'Bossa Nova Jazz Samba' (both on Pacific Jazz and none of them reissued on CD) are beatiful examples of cliché-free jazz/bossa nova. I always keep an eye open for albums with Fischer arrangements. The Shearing bossa nova album is one to get, not so much for Shearing who is somewhat faceless on a partly worn-out repertoire, but again for the arrangements which make good use of bass clarinet. I agree with Mike on this point; Clare's untouchable when it comes to scoring for lower woodwinds.

I thought it couldn't hurt with yet another opinion; I find 'Love and Understanding' to be a nice listen, but not too involving if you ask me. I would probably rate some of Heath's Riversides higher. And Heath is a rather, well, "cautious" soloist. Nothing wrong with that - I don't think anyone would find Duke Pearson, whose playing I enjoy greatly, particularly adventurous.

I don't know how to put this without sounding confrontative, but surely you know that selling or trading these CDs away while keeping backup copies in one form or another is illegal - in this case probably a drop in the ocean, but anyway - and also considered unethical by many. Thus, announcing this practice in your trading post here is a good way of upsetting great many serious collectors (some of them part- or full time musicians themselves) who otherwise might be interested in a trade. Just FYI.

I'm bringing this up because I'm choosing between a sealed mono Pacific Jazz pressing and a mint stereo King pressing of the same album. Which one should I go for? If its an early Pacific Jazz issue (say with black label and deep groove) and in excellent condition then I'd be tempted. The sound on some of thise can be very good - just playing several of them yesterday (Feldman, Dick Grove etc.) and I was suprised how full and well balanced the sound was. The later 'Liberty period' LPs from the late 60s on are not quite so good, in my experience. Correction: It was in fact not on Pacific Jazz, but a World Pacific pressing (from -64).

I'm bringing this up because I'm choosing between a sealed mono Pacific Jazz pressing and a mint stereo King pressing of the same album. Which one should I go for?

Jimmy Heath 'Love and Understanding' (Muse) Right now someone on eBay offers a mono pressing of this album. Surely it must be some kind of mistake?

Backups? I'd never have thought of that! Well, I suppose then you could just go on and rip discs and then trading them for something else in eternity...

From that same thread:

For completists, I think all six tracks of 'Love and Understanding' were on a long gone 1990s Xanadu CD.

Talk to Bertrand. He knows how it feels...

It seems that Feldman records sometimes were a bit too much arranged to show off his flexibility, rather than just having him play a set of good tunes (IMO, preferably on piano).

There's too little talk of Victor Feldman these days! Just happened to stumble across this clip, which made want to dig out some more Feldman:

I've got this one (don't ask me why). It's not good. From what I can remember Anthony just recites lyrics in a husky voice over soapy backgrounds. Incindentally, that's what Shatner does on his album too. I guess they couldn't sing very well...

His Wikipedia entry says he passed away 4 pm on the 23rd. No source given. A very fine trombonist indeed.

As I look at it, there's a distinction as to the degree of potential economic damage, but not when it comes to the violation of the intellectual rights. And your solution is, what? Avoid the Shirley Scott albums altogether unless and until Universal/Whoever decides to put them out? Ok, who benefits from that and how, especially if the "unless & until" = never. Go ahead and download the Shirley Scott albums and then contact Universal/Whoever & say, "Here's what I got. I wanna make it right. How much do I owe ya'?"? And they will say, "My name is not Scott, you must have the wrong number." There is not currently a system in place to adequately address and protect all these concerns as they apply to currently available public technologies, true. Does archival "marginal" music get held hostage, perhaps even to die, as a result? Why do we even have intellectual rights? I would like to think that it is because our society thinks artistic work should be considered equal to other crafts. But of course the entertainment business has had efficient lobbyists as well. It's not unnamed studio musicians who are making governments prolong copyrights... But just because it has become ever so easy to get hold of so much (in blogland) these days, it may look and feel more harmless; however, compare an OOP album posted on a blog with making, say, five hundred - or even a thousand - cassette copies and sending them all around the world; how does that feel? Along with millions of others around the world I'm seduced into clicking on links to hear albums I've searched for for years, don't assume anything else, but it is really changing our attitude towards copyrights. I don't think "marginal" music will die without unauthorized distribution, but unquestionably it will be heard by less people. Unfortunately the entertainment business was clueless of what was going on too long, and it will be very hard winning back the customers. The CD will soon be history, and then every blog-download of Shirley Scott will lessen the likeliness of a legal download release. As for "they will never release it", we've all been repeatedly amazed of what has been reissued in Japan. They've got many jazz fans per square mile, which makes distribution of even many obscure releases profitable. Soon, when all is digital, there will be very limited distribution costs. That opens up lots of possibilities, but I'm afraid the attitude change I mentioned above could be causing even more problems when we're all-digital, too.

As I look at it, there's a distinction as to the degree of potential economic damage, but not when it comes to the violation of the intellectual rights.

If it's not the switch itself, a common problem on some older turntables with idler-wheel drive is that the rubber on the wheel has dried out so that it doesn't drive the platter correctly.

...fan of Freddie Hubbard?

Read your mind!

The attachments in this thread are gone and some posts seem to be missing as well. Since, 'Peace-Maker' has been reissued a couple of times in Japan; the sound on the one I've got (Mini-LP edition from 2005) is as good as you'd wish for. Can only compare with Japanese LP, which predictably sounds good, too. Latest Japanese reissue is from 2006, I think, and may still be available from Japan. List price is about half of what Honest Jon is asking. Try an email to Hiroshi Tanno of Early Records, you may get away cheaper that way. EDIT: Have reinstated a couple of the scans above.

It's unfortunate that the two extra tracks were not included on the CD reissue of "Tones". The two tracks from Hubert Laws' "Law's Cause" are probably the best ones from that album anyway, so my advice is that you only look for the LP if you're a diehard Hubert Laws fan. Collectables reissued it together with a completely unrelated album by Eddie Higgins (probably his weakest) and the sound quality of that reissue was among the worst I've encountered (se older thread here). Look for vinyl only if interested.