Daniel A

I think there's a lot more to Johansson than the somewhat sombre album of Swedish traditional songs that is the main reason he's still remembered in Sweden. He did work for orchestras and larger bands, wrote film music and so on. Whether that is ECM-ish or not I'll leave to others, but I didn't think so.

I discovered Rob Madna by coincidence a while back when searching for recordings of the saxophonist Ferdinand Povel. The 5CD box mentioned by Larry above is excellent. Madna's arrangements are intricate and have a lot beyond the surface, while they are also swinging and accessible. He is also a very fine pianist with splendid timing.

I agree with what has been said about the ever-present streak of melancholy, and I also think he had the potential to achieve much more. I watched the documentary many years ago and cannot recall details, but what does this mean; "tragic figure on a lot of levels"? What is it that was tragic besides his death and maybe to some extent unfulfilled promise?

BTW, are incandescent light bulbs still available in the US? They have been ruled out here, except for some very specific exceptions where LED lights would melt or otherwise be destroyed (ovens etc). However, before they disappeared, I built up a stock of hundreds of light bulbs in various shapes, sizes and wattages, so that I can always play back vinyl through my tube amp and read the liner notes in 100 percent incandescent light.

They don't. The liners don't explain the album title, though there is a nice picture of power plants.

As mentioned elsewhere by me and others, this is a solid effort from the Jazz Crusaders and a personal favorite of mine. Especially, there is some interesting material, such as two seldom-played Bacharach tunes - 'Promises, Promises' and 'Upstairs' - which I've never heard played any better than this. Now on to some serious questions: why does Buster Williams have two cigarettes on the cover photo? Different flavors, or maybe he had to hold Wilton Felder's cigarrette while he was tapping the dog?

Incidentally, that was your 27.000th post, brownie. Thanks for sharing your amazing stories from the most exciting years of European jazz!

For some of these releases SUISA is listed as the "Rights society" on Discogs. I suppose it says so on the actual CDs. If that is true, some mechanical rights seem to be honored at least. To me, this makes it unlikely that these are "true" bootlegs, but what do I know?

Better looking than the Blue Note watch...

Edit to add that I'm actually digitizing some old recordings: cassettes, reel-to-reel, and VHS. But that is because they (and the playback equipment) is self-destructing to a much higher degree.

I don't necessarily agree. There are LPs I've had for more than 30 years. Sure, they might not be exactly in the condition they were, but they still play fine. A printed book will degrade over the years. Does that make me want to scan it to PDF? No, I like the feel of the cover, the handling of the LP and the awareness of gradual wear actually brings a sense of urgency to my listening session. In short, higher quality time in comparison to digital playback.

Interesting to read this old (15+ years) thread. Some predictions were right. Others very wrong.

Well, "The Blue Note Kid" should know! 😄

This is possibly of interest to noone (or possibly maybe to Clifford, the thread starter), but I just happened to find an obscurity. In a 1994 Swedish issue of Microsoft Magazine, Harald Hult appears in an ad for NEC laser printers. He's the man in tie on the top right. I remember when I saw this ad back then, and thought that the surly but dedicated jazz shop owner was unlikely in the role as some kind of office manager. Just happened to find this almost 30 year old magazine in the basement.

This is an obscure album worth looking for. It features J.J. in a complete version of his big band composition Eurosuite. Some parts were on an RCA album, but not the complete suite. And the playing on this live recording is more engaging than the RCA studio date.

Not "SACD" Greg...? 🙂

I believe I paid 20 Euro, or even less for my green label vinyl copy, but that was probably 20 years ago. The records are the thinnest and flimsiest I have seen in my whole life!

I agree that the blurb is terrible. This review seems rather positive: http://www.ayler.co.uk/html/what_s_new.html Let's wait for a review from these quarters.

TTK, I'll arrange a private concert with my band for you when you come. I've met four board members over the years, two of them when they were on visit over here, one in Germany (twice) and one in Luxembourg. Only one of them is still active here, but all of them were very nice encounters.

The first thing that comes up in that article is a picture of that sticker. The layout is so plain that you might be forgiven for thinking it's not the actual sticker.

Yellow vinyl version is a limited edition; all titles seem to be released in black also.

This is not too bad:

Blue Haze is definitely my favorite, if partly for nostalgic reasons (my father had and played that album and it was part of my introduction to jazz). The one tune with Schildkraut, I'll Remember April, is really outstanding. Dave's solo is boppish and kind of melancholic at the same time, and that cut transmits an atmosphere that the rest of the album - or even the rest of the Schildkraut session - can't fully match. The rest is a bit mixed. Miles does not always appear to be on top form, but I enjoy hearing him in a quartet format, and the support is stellar.

https://craftrecordings.com/pages/uk-store-update When asked, through the address at that very page, they replied that they "are no longer the Fulfilment partner of this store." and referred to Concord. They, in turn, say that they "are going to ask the US partner to fulfill outstanding orders", which obviously will not work for sold-out titles. But I suppose there are still copies out there.

The UK distributor of Craft Recordings has went into administration. Craft says that orders will be fulfilled, but lately, they seem to have stopped answering to queries and obviously some recent titles have sold out. https://craftrecordings.com/pages/uk-store-update