Head Man

I agree that this is a terrific session but the Ronnie Ross/Allan Ganley is excellent also. This is one of the better of the Collectables 'twofers'. However on some of these 'twofers' they had to omit tracks in order to get two albums to fit onto a single CD - the Lars Gullin release comes to mind as being one of those, but I'm pretty sure that both the Joe Castro & the Ronnie Ross/Allan Ganley sessions are in their entirety. Has anyone seen a track list for these two new releases so that I can check this? If there are additional tracks then I might be tempted.

Dave, many thanks for giving me the link. I've tried several of the programs but none of them seems to be able to read this particular file. One of them comes up with the message 'file does not exist' even though it looks perfectly OK in the list of files to be renamed. It seems there is a major problem with this particular file so I'll go back to Plan B - delete it! Thanks once again to everyone who tried to help.

When I click the right button on the mouse the only options I get are: 'open', 'open with', 'play' and 'send to', none of which work with this particular file. It doesn't have a virus but has a very long file name with brackets in it. I suppose what I'm looking for is some software that would allow me to rename any file regardless of its name or extension. If no-one can help then I'll give up and burn the CD without this particular track. Thanks for all your help so far.

Sorry if my explanation of the problem was a bit sketchy. Here's the 'full' version: I have a number of FLAC files that I'm trying to burn to CD and all but one them converts OK to WAVE. When I look at the file description of the unconverted file I can see that there are several invalid characters present so what I want to do is to rename the file from 'xxxrubbish.FLAC' to 'xxxxnotrubbish.FLAC'. However when I right click on the invalid file I can't get the option to rename the file. This option is available for all the other valid FLAC files. So my question is - 'How can I rename a FLAC file with an 'invalid' file name?'

Here's a 'techy' question from a 'non-techy' person. I have a FLAC file that I want to burn to a CD but it appears to have an invalid file name. Can anyone tell me how I can rename it to a valid filename? When I right-click on the file the 'Rename' option isn't available. My operating system is Window XP.

Well, none of those are worth getting excited about. What has happened to Verve recently?

Message sent re four of the James Spaulding CDs: Songs of courage Escapade Brilliant corners Gotstabe a better way

I have both of Woody's Elektra Musician LPs and rate the music on them as good as anything he's done. Does anyone know why these have never had a CD release - or have they?

The two by Stanley Cowell certainly are.

Hey, what's wrong with the feet? They're my best feature!

But not that interesting!

Yes, it's strange isn't it. I'm also a Hampton Hawes fan and when I first bought this set, decades ago on vinyl, I loved it - I even replaced it with the 2-CD Japanese re-issue a few years ago. But playing it again recently I found that it really doesn't do anything for me anymore and I now much prefer his other trio outings.

The Harry Beckett's certainly are, anyway. They are shown on Amazon and on the Dutton Vocalioan website: Dutton Vocalion I find that when Vocalion recordings are first released they are very difficult to obtain through Amazon so I generally buy them direct from Vocalion, albeit at full price! Service & delivery are first class.

Now this could cause my first order with Mr. Tanno! That's also the one that jumped out and made my day. Yep! That's the one that caught my attention. I was going to ask if anyone could recommend it but I guess now I know what the answer is! I feel another e-mail to Hiroshi coming on!

My notice came this morning also. This is one I've really been looking forward to and the delays have only whetted my appetite!

Dewey Redman recorded this in January, 1966 and it was one of a terrific series of free jazz recordings issued later in the 1960s by Fontana in Europe. I believe it was subsequently re-issued on CD in Japan but since then it seems to have disappeared. Does anyone know whether it is still available from somewhere or whether there are any plans to re-issue it?

Spelling his name with two 't's might help!

Hot from the press! The Mike Taylor tribute album - 'Mike Taylor Remembered', by The New Jazz Orchestra is due to be released on 18 August by Dusk Fire records. I bought a copy from the late Neil Ardley many years ago but this version is apparently re-mastered from Neil's original master tapes so should sound even better. I can really recommend it. Further details: Dusk Fire Records

How much did it end up costing from RO, with postage to UK? 28.80 euros. That's just under £20 in 'real' money! Quite pricey but I don't think you will be able to get it much cheaper anywhere else.

Volume 2 arrived from redoctopus this morning & I've managed to play both CDs once. Disc 1 with Art Farmer & Jimmy Heath is uniformly excellent, with both the lead musicians on top form and sounding completely at home with the rest of the group. Art Farmer, in particular, sounds wonderful and the arrangements - by Erik Kleinschuster? - are crisp and unfussy. All in all a terrific listen. I also agree with Mike Weill about the excellence of the drummer, Erich Bachtragel. He really drives the group forward and sounds completely at ease with all the different tempos. To me, Disc 2 suffers in comparison. It's not bad but it doesn't reach the heights of the first disc. This may be because the guest soloist and arranger Slide Hampton had not played as often with the sextet as had Art Farmer & Jimmy Heath or perhaps it's just that the tunes are not as memorable. Anyway it doesn't have the impact of the first disc but perhaps it will sound better after a few more plays. This release, plus the earlier Volume 1, shows the high standard of music being played in Europe in the late 60s & early 70s and it would be great to hear more from the same source. Does anyone know whether there are any plans to release further volumes in this series?

That's great news. I have Volume 1 with Joe Henderson & it's terrific! The problem I have with trying to buy Volume 2 through www.redoctopus.at is that I can't speak German and there doesn't seem to be an 'English' translation on the website. Does anyone know if there is another 'English' site selling the CD or can someone tell me which buttons to press on the 'redoctopus' site in order to make a purchase.

I have mentioned before that the Marion Brown - Juba-Lee recording is available as a CD-R from Downtown Music Gallery DMG It comes with artwork and is probably a copy of the CD that came out in Japan some years ago. Whilst it is not my favourite Marion Brown recording it has its moments and it certainly does contain some fierce Bennie Maupin!

I probably shouldn't be saying this but I think I've mentioned before that many of these Fontana releases are currently available as CD-Rs from Downtown Music Gallery. DMG Included are both 'Blood' by Paul Bley & 'Consequences' by the New York Contemporary Five. They appear to be copies of the set that came out in Japan some years ago and come with copied artwork of the Marte Roling covers etc. This is such good music and almost impossible to find elsewhere.

I'd start with 'Flight 19'. 'Live at I.U.C.C.' is OK but rather unfocused - it has the feel of a rehearsal session. I've not heard 'The Call' but unless you are in a hurry I would wait for the CD re-issue. It may have additional tracks.

My only recording by him is 'Big Jim's Tango'. It's excellent.