John L

I think that jazz would be much less interesting and rewarding if all we had were a handful of "greatest" musicians. Thank God for all of the variety, the hundreds of distinctive voices.

Clem: I'm feeling some deja vu here related to our discussion about Aretha. Somehow, you feel differently about the early brilliant work of an artist if the later work was not up to par. Why can't the earlier work just stand by itself in that case? Artistic inspiration is not apparently something that can be easily contolled. Some people get it for a limited time and then lose it. That is much better than par for the course in this life, which is never to get it at all.

A few others: Jaki Byard George Adams/Don Pullen Arthur Blythe Billy Harper Randy Weston

Yes, thanks MG. I saw Orchestre Baobob live a couple years ago. It was enjoyable, but pretty standard old school rhumba, not nearly as satisfying as the recordings on "Pirate's Choice."

Wow. I never realized that the Keynote discography was so large. Like many others here, I find the Lester Young quartet session to be something close to heaven on earth.

I don't know about its rarity, but the Ward Singers on Savoy is some damn good music.

Thanks, MG. I know Aster Aweke, but I am unfamiliar with Magic System or Zouglou music. I will check them out on your recommendation. Like you, I have grown a bit tired of Zouk over the years, but sometimes a little twist is sufficient to make it sound fresh again.

Not a bad idea at all. If they put the Savoy, Jubilee, V-Disc, and Lang-Worth studio material together with the existing live broadcasts, this project could amount to 5 discs or so of dynamite not-often-heard music. Should we write Michael C. a line about this?

Yea, that would make a lot of sense. When I first bought the chronological classic Count Basie discs, I really enjoyed hearing the remaining tracks without Pres solos, some of which I was completely unfamiliar with. Since the only comprehensive reissue of this material was The Lester Young Story, many of these tracks were completely out of print in the 70s and 80s. At least now, they are available in some form.

Nice playlist, although all of those tracks won't be on the Mosaic since Pres doesn't solo on some of them.

Yea, it sounds similar to the recordings made of Monk at Minton's in the early 40s.

First they'll get you to fall in love with one their damn robots... ...and the love will only grow during the time that the body part warranty runs out. Then they will hit you up good and hard for new body parts. They will set up the robot hardware to make you REGRET not springing for the luxury accessory set. :angry: And do you think that the damn robot will care when they cut off the heat and repossess the car? She will just laugh and spread her legs out on the street in the snow. :angry: :angry: What if she gets her hands on your credit cards ?????

And there's more where that came from on Volume 2. The Ace King Soul compilations were quite nice, particularly considering the obscurity of many of the artists. Ace has given us quite a number of great soul compilations in recent years. One that I keep coming back to is the 3-disc "Hotatlanta" series that documents Sam Dee's brand of Atlanta soul in the 1970s. I loved this stuff when it was first released, and it has aged remarkably well. The three volumes are: 1) Good Guys Don't Always Win 2) Full Time Groovers 3) Holding the Winning Hand The singers include Sam Dees himself (who also has two fine discs to himself on Ace), Peggy Scott, Bill Brandon, Rozetta Johnson, Fredrick Knight, and other lesser known names of mostly high quality.

Yes, they are DRM, unfortunately. I have already listened to them. The sound is generally good, the price is right, and the music is quite nice, fantastic in parts. I especially like the version of Misterioso here.

Thanks for the heads up, Bertrand. I think that I will download them as well.

I appreciate the recs, guys. I will certainly check those albums out.

If this were upheld and some at least partially enforced, it would not help independent CD producers, or any CD producers at all. It would be a boom for Apple, iTunes, and other major download businesses. Since MP3s have now taken over as the preferred medium for musical listening, people who currently buy CDs would switch to downloads, as opposed to buying CDs that they couldn't turn into MP3s even for their own use.

Nice idea for a thread. I have a very specific question: I got heavily into African music in the 1980s, but became less interested as a number of my favorite artists started giving up their distinctive regional styles in favor of a more generic "World Music" style (i.e. Soukous, Makossa, Afro-Beat), usually for financial reasons. On the other hand, I am sure that a lot of great African music was made in the last 15 years. What is the consensus among people who still follow African music closely? What are some of the best records made in the last 15 years, in particular by newer younger artists who would not be on my radar screen? (I still pick up a few newer albums from people I know well like Salif Keita.)

One way into free jazz (the route that I took) is through the blues. The blues has a logic and asthetic realm that can function without much of the accumulated baggage of straightahead jazz through the 1950s. A good amount of free jazz in the 60s and 70s was about doing something new with the blues by stripping it down to its bare elements: Ornette, Ayler, Shepp, and Hemphill, for example.

One of the most interesting parts of the Horace Tapscott autobiography are his memories of Earl Anderza. Tapscott claims that Anderza was playing stuff in the mid-50s that was even more "out" than Ornette.

Thank you so much for that thought. That one I can handle. Apparently, she can handle it too. You really have to hand it to her.

Did you run with the Lester Young Story Columbia 2-LP sets of the late 70s? That was a priceless series! Oh, man! Volume 1 came out just at the time when I was discovering Pres (later to become something like my greatest love in music). I remember waiting so impatiently for the other volumes to come out. It took them a number of years to get all 5 released. I have now made iTunes playlists that replicate this set (although I keep the Teddy Wilson-Billie Holiday and other tracks on separate playlists. It don't get no better. I can't wait for this set!

An early example of using "Sex" to market music. The Glenn Hardman session in question has a track called "Upright Organ Blues."

Yea, Plant is certainly the weak link in the band (IMO). If it wasn't for him, I would probably listen to Led Zepplin more. I do like Jimmy Page (at least as a musician), and I admire Led Zepplin very much as one of the few British bands that was able to do something original and compelling with the blues.

Well, I doubt if stuff recorded by firms like Specialty, Peacock or Chess, for example, can be what this project is interested in. Those firms, and some others, all ended up in the hands of other companies - generally because they were interested in the other stuff that had been recorded by the original companies - and if owned by Universal or Concord, can't be regarded as lost. Even so, what of artists like the Cherebin Gospel Singers, the Stripes of Glory, Ralph Skipper (inc in my BFT), or Little Sammy Stevens and the Gospel Organ (and what I wouldn't pay for that fabulous single!), who each made only one 45 for Peacock/Songbird and which are somewhere in the Universal vaults. Isn't it true to say that material is, to all intents and purposes, lost? (Even though I don't think that is the focus of the project.) But there have always been lots of labels specialising in Gospel, or which did little of any interest apart from Gospel, that no one would have thought of buying. And those labels just disappear into the ether. Who owns the masters of small labels like Missouri? Or Colt? Or much larger ones like Bibletone, which issued hundreds of Gospel and Sacred (and some Classical) recordings between 1945 and 1958? Or Tennessee/Republic, which issued hundreds of singles (inc R&B & C&W) between 1950 and 1956? I have a strong feeling, seeing their entry in the ARLD dating guide, that there may have been more Bibletone issues than Specialty Gospel singles. Whether any of it is any good, I can't say - I've never come across any. But I can't see a company lasting 13 years making nothing but crappy Gospel and Sacred recordings; there must have been some good stuff in there. MG Interesting, MG. I will be very interested to hear what becomes of this project.