Daniel A

Just for clarity's sake: would that Booker Ervin date be the "Back from the Gig"/"In a Capricornian Way" session?

Jackie McLean Consequences!!! But only on one condition - the cover MUST look like this:

I just spun this disc, and while it may be pointless to recommend severly OOP albums, I couldn't resist bringing it up (even a Google search comes up with next to nothing): Martial Solal Big Band Initially released on Gaumont Musique 753 804-4 Reissued and promptly deleted in 1991 (Verve 849 381-2) Recorded in 1981 Personnel: Roger Guérin, Eric Le Lann, Tony Russo (t); Jacques Bologneu, Christian Guizien, Hamid Belhocine (tbn); Marc Steckar (tba); François Jeanneau (cl, ts, ss); Jean-Pierre Debarbat (ts, ss); Jean-Louis Chautemps (bcl, as, ss); Pierre Gossez (bs, cl); Pierre Blanchard (vln); Hervé Derrien (clo); Christian Escoude (g); Martial Solal (p); Césarius Alvim (b ); André Ceccarelli (dr) Still at this point, as a new decade arrived Solal had again taken his compositional ideas (focus is on the compositions and arrangements here) a big leap further. I'd dare to say that this is one of the most worthwhile big band recordings of the 80s. The two bowed instruments adds a very peculiar colour, and Blanchard does some soloing as well. There are three shorter pieces, and then the 20 minute "Suite" which occupied one side of the original LP. The Suite is quite remarkable as a big band composition; it shifts through several styles, and does never settle for a steady "groove". I think it manages to keep ones interest during every second. Should you find this album somewhere - buy it! Should it be of no interest I think I can promise that someone else here at the forums would be willing to compensate for expenses, shipping and then a few dollars for the trouble in order to have it. At least now, after my recommendation...

While looking for information on a Friedrich Gulda composition (mentioned in another thread) I came across this Japanese Kenny Wheeler discography: http://www.geocities.co.jp/MusicHall/1069/KWHP/home.html Stated as "incomplete", still it includes a lot of really scarce albums. Nice pictures, too.

I recently got the CD reissue of a title I've been searching for on LP for many years. It's re-release was a very welcome surprise. Friedrich Gulda und sein Eurojazz-Orchester Preiser Records PR90667 Recorded in the summer of 1966. This album features the J.J. Johnson's composition "Eurosuite", which was comissioned by the Eurojazz-Orchester, headed by Friedrich Gulda. Two parts of the suite were included on J.J.'s RCA album 'The Total', recorded half a year later, and reissued on CD by BMG France in the 1990s. To my ears, the playing and soloing is rather better here, which is also the only complete recording of the composition. Johnson's big band arranging skills came to some use in the film studios in the 70s, but there were all too few opportunities for him to head big band dates of his own. The composition mainly features J.J. himself as a soloist, but there are a few solo spots for other members as well, for example Tubby Hayes on flute. Though it appears to be a live recording, everything is played very convincingly by the band, practically consisting of an all-star cast. This won't disappoint anyone who has heard and liked any other of Johnson's big band dates - this is really his big band writing at its best! The other large-scale composition on the album is Gulda's "Variations for Two Pianos and Band", which features Gulda and Joe Zawinul on piano. Not up to the Johnson composition, but a fine example of Gulda as a jazz writer it is. The personnel: Friedrich Gulda (p) Jay Jay Johnson (tb) Joe Zawinul (p) Ernie Royal (tp) Rolf Ericson (tp,flh) Kenny Wheeler (tp, mellophone) Ray Premru (bass tp) Ralf Isakson (frh) Erich Kleinschuster (tbn) Rudolf Josel (bass tbn) Alfie Reece (bass tuba, tenor tuba) Herb Geller (as) Tubby Hayes (ts, fl) Hans Salomon (bcl) Ronnie Ross (bs) Pierre Cavalli (g) Ron Carter (b) Mel Lewis (ds) When I ordered the album a month ago the only web resource I found was Bock's Music Shop in Vienna (good service - recommended), but now I see that it has been popping up at European Amazon as well. Preiser Record's not very user-friendly website gives scant information.

I just had my first experience with Caiman (I wasn't aware of this thread when I placed my order). From an European point of view, it appears to be a way better deal to order from US Amazon rather than UK/German etc. Amazon, since Caiman's prices seem to be the same amounts, whether given in US dollars or Euros. And I'd rather pay 10 USD than 10 Euro's for Martial Solal's Vogue recordings vol. 4... The CD arrived within one week. What's even more strange is that it was shipped from Germany, even though Caiman said it would be shipped from the US.

Have a great birhday, Tom! And a BIG birthday cake!!!

Thanks everybody for joining in! I have not heard either of 'Ballade...' or the Bechet recordings, but I know I'll have to check out the Marc Johnson/Paul Motian album soon. Here's a wonderful example of Solal as a solo pianist: Improvise pour France Musique, rec 1993-94 JMS 18638-2, 2CDs The two discs are culled from a series of broadcasts Solal did for Radio France. Astonishing performances all through, and not a trace of the dryer, (IMO) perhaps too analytical side he displayed on the early 70s RCA solo album "En Solo". This set is however strongly recommended as one of the finest examples of modern solo jazz piano I know of. A link to the JMS website: http://www.jms-creamrecords.com/cata/page036.htm Still a lot of his work from 60s and 70s are buried on LPs which are all but impossible to find. Several were released on French Columbia, and two of those found their way over to the US as Milestone releases at the end of the 60s. I have one of those; it's a good club date, recorded in 1966, and was released as Milestone 9014, "On Home Ground". It's worth to seek out.

I feel exactly the same, Paul! I know this thread, for instance, was started with very good intentions. However, I don't think we should put any pressure on anyone to post more than they feel like. I believe people who have - officially or not - left the forums are not totally removed from this community. Perhaps there's an occasional email exchange with someone still here, or some not-logged-in browsing from time to time. So I don't think any of these people would have to feel that their contributions were not appreciated; they know what's happening, at least to the extension they want to know. Therefore I wish we didn't make such a big deal of this. They will post if they feel comfortable with it, but I think we should respect their decision to stay away for some time (or even permanently).

I recently realized there's no thread here which thoroughly discusses Martial Solal's recordings. Solal is such an unique performer - a brilliant pianist with a very distinctive touch, a clever composer and a supremely gifted arranger. Him being located in France probably explains why he is not more well known in the States, but even here in Europe he deserves a lot more recognition. Luckily for anyone who has started to explore his recorded work, his output since the 50s has been huge, and what's more, remarkably consistent. The downside is that a lot of it is very hard to locate outside of France. Naturally, his style has evolved during the years. Roughly speaking, I tend to divide his playing in three main periods (without trying to sound pretentious here); the swing/bop period of the 50s, the transitional peridod of the 60s, and the "modern" period of the 70s and onwards. Of course, certain elements have been present in varying degree all the way, like influences from classical, and to some extent even avant-garde, music. But there is always his recognizable touch, which somehow seems to adapt so well to all situations, without ever sounding mainstream or remotely like anyone else. In addition to his solo, trio and occasional mid-size group recordings, there are also his marvellous film scores, and all too few big band recordings. If it's one thing in his long career which I sometimes feel could have been given so much more room, it's his big band leading/arranging. A great pity there haven't been more of them through the years, as remarkable as his compositions and arrangements are. There are lots of more things to say about his artistry, but I'm going to begin with listing a few of his albums which are my personal favorites. Solal discographies on the web are not easy to find, nor remotely complete. Together with other members of this board I hope we may at least create a body of recommendations to those wanting to hear more of him. The Complete Vogue Recordings, vols. 1-4, rec. 1953-58 BMG France Solo and various trio, small group and big band settings. Solal's Vogue recordings were released in Germany in the early 90s, I believe, but the project seemed to end with one volume still unreleased. A few years ago a new attempt were made in France. Again, only three CDs came out, inexplicably with somewhat different material, this time leaving out a good slice of the big band recordings. I was happy when I learned this year that volume four at last had been released (I think brownie has posted about this here on the board as well). I seriously recommend anyone who is going to check out Solal for the first time to try these, preferrably at least two volumes, as to have a sample of both his solo, trio and big band dates. It's also very good to have this as a starting point, because you'll have his "initial" style in mind when hearing later recordings, which I've found to add to the enjoyment, and perhaps also understanding of the music. The Vogue recordings represents a variety of set ups, with focus on smaller groups and solo recordings. At this stage Solal still is firmly grounded in a kind of swing idiom, but with apparent influences from completely other kinds of music as well. His technique is already remarkable, but he manages to combine it with a spontanity which may suprise the listener at any moment. Martial Solal at Newport, rec. 1963 RCA, reissued by BMG France with Teddy Kotick (b) and Paul Motian (dr) A track from this album was included on my Organissimo BFT a year ago. Already, he sounds very different from the Vogue recordings. "Poinciana" is like completely different tune altogether, compared to the Vogue trio recording. The pre-bop elements remain to som extent, but there are also some very advanced harmonic influences which today sound more modern than the year of the recording would suggest. Sans Tambour Ni Trompette, rec. 1970 RCA, reissued by BMG France with Gilbert Rovere and Jean-Francois Jenny-Clark (b) Here's an example of the more contemporary style. Again, and this is what makes Solal's music so interesting, there are so evident roots in jazz and other music from the preceding 50 years, and still it's so harmonically advanced that it couldn't have been recorded a day earlier. The two bass players gives a special feel and sound to this session, and I recommend anyone with an interest in Solal, but who have not yet heard this, to check it out. I wouldn't advice anyone to start with it, though. I'll return with more Solal recommendations soon, but I welcome any other comments and suggestions.

I joined the BNBB back in 2001 and got a glimpse of how it could be at its best; the decline started shortly afterwards. I then followed a small crowd over to the Harlem board, and then after on or two days further to the AAJ, and ultmately landed here at Organissimo. For various reasons I was barely active here from February 2004 until February this year. Mainly because we moved to a new location which lacked an Internet connection. When I returned, everything here more or less appeared to be as usual, except that there was much talk about nastiness on the board and stuff like that - in threads that typically seemed to generate as much more nastiness as possible. Just during the last couple of days, though, something has gone terribly wrong. I will always remember Lon as the guy who introduced the word "internetish". Roughly, it's the kind of over-reaction to what someone says - often caused by either wilful or just outrageous misconception of what someone else is saying - which is all too typical of Internet message boards. Usually this reaction provokes participants in a discussion to be nasty and and unfriendly, in a way that often is not even remotely typical of their "real-life" (or previous on-line) behaviour. For some reason lots of people around here seem to have gone completely "internetish" during the last weeks. For me, as a relative outsider, this is very apparent, and frankly almost hard to believe. Flame wars, arguments about all and nothing, resulting in public anouncements of departures as well as silent drop-outs. That Jim Alfredson has managed to stay calm during all this shows a supreme and almost supernatural self control. The board activity appears to have reach an all time high lately. That is perhaps not only for the good. Too feverish activity in the various threads can make people stop thinking one extra time before hitting the "submit" button. When the flame war has started it becomes even more important to post as quickly as possible - a few surplus seconds and someone else sneaks in between. As a result, what is posted is given less and less consideration, and if you're going internetish, that is the worst thing that could happen. I would be very sad if these forums had to go. The only thing I can think of to change the current development is so obvious, and at the same time completely impossible: I'm going to post as thoughtfully as possible in a small amount of threads with mostly music-related subjects. As I don't post much, and perhaps not even thoughfully enough, my few posts will of course drown in the mass of ongoing internetish-ness. But I can only hope that there are enough of other members as well that will continue to do what once made this community so great. How about this: tomorrow noone is allowed to post more that ten posts. Eight of those must be in the music-related forums, and this is really hard: all posts must have a meaning. (During my typing probably 50 posts will have been made in this thread, but some things must be allowed to take their time)

A friend in Finland, perhaps? B-)

When I was around 8-9 years this was one of my absolute favorites as well - and that was in the early 80s! In the area where my family spent their summers at that time, there was a café with a jukebox someone got tired of loading with new 45s around 1975. I used to go there, and every time I would (of course) always listen to Terry Jack's wonderful voice once again. When hearing the tune nowadays, I don't like it too much any more. Has jazz destroyed my ears?

He/she is quite remarkably still a "Power Seller", something which is described on eBay's website like this:

As far as jazz recordings are concerned, I don't think there's anything before this (1956), and from what I can remember in this case the stereo master was concieved long afterwards by mixing together two entirely separate recordings.

Nice page (can't judge the accuracy, though): * I Can’t Keep Up With All The Formats *

Welcome to the forums, shawoody! And thanks for the info, although one thread would probably have been enough rather than three, since the subject is the same.

Liner notes: Uncredited as brownie said. Does the Mosaic Select say who produced the session?

A quick scan (sorry for sloppy pasting):

Yes!

Thanks, Bill! I'll look out for these for sure.

Bill, those Manne-Hole discs do sound interesting. Who else were playing on them besides Bunker and Burton?

Mosaic directing complaints to its distributors is an unfortunate development, but I assume it has to do with the nature of the agreement between them. I once came across a faulty disc in a Fantasy box set (the Joe Henderson Milestone box, discs mastered by the dreaded ZYX plant). The set was purchased used here in Sweden. After an email to US Fantasy I got a prompt reply: "We have never encountered this problem before, but send us the faulty disc and we'll immediatly mail out a replacement for you". Two weeks later I had a (US manufactured) replacement disc in the mail, and it had apparently been sent out even before my defective disc had reached them. I was impressed with how they handled it.

There are also some interesting comments from Minasi on his website: http://www.domminasi.com/discography.htm

* Dom Minasi: Time's Tales by John Chacona, January 2004 *