Head Man

Yes.....and......yes.

Phil Upchurch - Love and Peace from his album "Darkness, Darkness" http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=RxvCGRNMWDw&list=ALBTKoXRg38BATYeWHlrXTmPNJiXlqWr_n

I've just received an-mail from Harkit Records stating that they will be re-issuing an album entitled "Joe Harriott and The British Jazz All-Stars - Jazz Britannia 1956" in the near future. Heres' the blurb I received: "Our occasional forays into the world of jazz are usually for a good reason. A delve into a hugely rare and groundbreaking series of recordings by British legends Joe Harriott, Don Rendell, Kenny Graham, Derek Smith and Jimmy Watson are gathered together from 1956 sessions to appear here for the first time on CD. The cool cover was how our Americans cousins perceived us across the water! Who better than Simon Spillett to explain everything in the usual packed Harkit notes…" I see that Amazon are advertising a similar sounding album as an mp3 download here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jazz-Britannia-British-All-Stars/dp/B0072FTI68 Anyone know anything more about either the music or the release itself?

It's not a needledrop but the sound isn't brilliant. I have no reason to doubt Ace's assertion that the releases are remastered from original tapes so I guess the sound on these is as good as it's ever going to be.

And here comes Hurst! He's got... (Wolstenholme's attention is diverted by some of the crowd spilling onto the pitch) Some people are on the pitch! They think it's all over! (Geoff Hurst scores to put England two goals ahead) It is now, it's four!

Good enough for me to buy them all ......twice..... IMO the best of the bunch is the Carl Perkins. It's his only outing as leader and if you've got the Dexter Gordon then you'll know how good he is. The Curtis Counce was his final recording as leader and IMO is not quite as good as his Contemporary releases. However this could be put down to the much poorer sound. The Buddy Collette is fine. He's not one of my favourite musicians but it's a solid effort. My original Carl Perkins and Dexter Gordon CDs are still available for the cost of shipping if anyone's interested.

Nice one....

You'd need a very big cup to dunk that work of art in.....

Here's what's shown on the slipcases for Curtis Counce, Carl Perkins & Buddy Collette. There's nothing shown for Dexter Gordon http://www.flickr.com/photos/98708939@N06/9582547078/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/98708939@N06/9582541106/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/98708939@N06/9582544130/

OK, I've now listened to them all and here are my thoughts on how they 'sound': Firstly, they are all 'brighter' than my existing copies as well as being slightly louder. I don't find the new sound wearing or difficult to listen to, however I must say that the overall sound quality on both these and my existing copies is not brilliant. For instance the Curtis Counce album is notably inferior in sound to the four he made earlier for Contemporary...... and they are all in mono. So, I would say that if you already own copies of these albums then I would stick with them. I don't think the sound of these remasters is sufficiently better to warrant replacing them.

One of the very few writers whose whole output I have on my bookshelf. A terrific writer whose greatest strength was his dialogue. I'm always surprised that more of his books weren't made into films. Two of the most successful that come to mind are the western "Hombre" with Paul Newman and "Out of Sight" with George Clooney & Jennifer Lopez. I'll dig out one of his early novels to read tomorrow. RIP

Many of the Ace remasters I bought over the last few years were mastered quite loud, some were too loud to my ears. They also had boosted highs, making them sound a tad harsh. They were fatiguing. How do these CDs fare? I've only played two of them at present but they both seemed OK. The Carl Perkins is slightly brighter than my Fresh Sounds copy but doesn't sound 'loud' to my ears. However, I do realise that 'sound' and 'loudness' can be subjective. Anyway, hopefully I'll get time to play them all over the next few days....I'll post my thoughts in a few days time.

Back on track, these arrived this morning: I've played the Curtis Counce and Carl Perkins albums and they definitely sound better than my current copies...not brilliant, but better. Since the slipcase shows a photo of the original master tapes from which this music was re-mastered, I guess this is as good as they're ever going to sound. Another plus plus point is that they each come with a decent booklet, up to the usual "Ace Records" standard. So I now have an unwanted copy of the Curtis Counce, Carl Perkins and Dexter Gordon albums; on Dootone, Fresh Sounds and Black Bird respectively. Going for the cost of shipping is anyone's interested.

Previously discussed here:

OK, that's more like it. It looks like Clare Fischer's Pacific Jazz album "So Danco Samba" is part of this seies also. That is a killer album! Yes it is.........Perhaps that's my favourite Clare Fischer album, not "Manteca!"...but what about "Extension"..oh dear, back to the listening booth.

A "nice enough big band album???" My thoughts exactly!....one of my favourite Clare Fischer albums. Thanks for the "heads-up" on the other releases BTW, it reminded me that I never got round to ordering "Bossa Nova Jazz Samba".

No ambivalence from me...I love his playing.

Is that a recommendation....?

It seems that this is the only Art Blakey biography in print at the moment Can anyone recommend it (or not)...or recommend something else?

...but some end up being more equal than others......

I went out when the teams were at tea and came back expecting Australia to have won...what a lovely surprise to learn that Broad had bundled them out and that we were 3-0 up! I still think there's not a great deal to choose between the two teams. We've won this series but it will be interesting to see whether/how Australia can come back in time for when we're out there in the winter. I reckon it's these two countries that are keeping Test Cricket alive. Without England and Australia and probably South Africa, all we'd be seeing is the crash-bang-wallop of 20-over cricket.

Amazing......and, NO, I won't be buying it! Seriously though, I wonder who WILL buy it?

Who else will tell us which CDs are too loud?

Nope....sorry.