John L

Well, the Basie band is quite a lot of musicans for a singer to take in during a one night stand.

That makes sense for the post-78 era. But any single disc collection of early Billie Holiday is going to be some sort of selected works. I don't know if the original LPs packaged this music in any more of a logical way than more recent "Best ofs."

Sad news. RIP

So we are talking Love Supreme in embryo here? That sounds like an important piece of musical history. When will the bastards see fit to share it?

Are you thinking of the recording from France in 1965 (included on the recent deluxe Love Supreme Impulse release)? As far as I know, that is the only known live recording of Resolution. It is often not easy to tell what key Coltrane is playing in on that recording.

I can't trace it now, but I've seen something on a BB about it, or maybe had an e-mail from Mosaic that I didn't keep (unlikely). Apparently, it's only going to include records Les made as a sole leader, so the ones he made with Groove Holmes, Jazz Crusaders, Teddy Edwards & Clifford Scott won't be included. MG Edit - It's not in the Mosaic upcoming projects list yet. Man, I would love to get all those Pacific Jazz trio sessions on one collection.

I would suggest to get the individual discs. Virtually all of them can be found. Other than incompleteness (and Impulse! knew damn well that it was incomplete when they issued it. Unissued tracks began showing up on new compilations almost immediately), the programming on the box pretty much sucks. For example, half of "Crescent" is tacked on to half of "Ballads" on one ridiculous disc. When I bought the box, I later regretted selling my individual CDs. I then made CDRs equivalent to what I sold.

I just received my copy and am REALLY enjoying it. I had forgotten just how good a jazz band that these guys were. They mixed groove, swing, and horn lines in a unique way. This stuff stands the test of time just fine.

OK, I'm intrigued. I am going to have to check out Ms. Monday. If I understand the essence of Jim's last post, it is "when you're in love, she can do no wrong, even with pop drum machine programs."

I am very happy to see you here again, Milan! John

Uh oh! Move over Newk, Trane, and Bill. We've got Lester Young, Live at the Village Vanguard!

Thanks for that sound link. Is that it, or is there more?

Larry: Thanks for your (as always) very articulate and insightful comments. Yes, I thought that the racial angle in the book was an interesting one, but I also recall feeling that he may have taken it too far, i.e. a case of trying to make everything fit into a single "black and white" thesis.

I enjoyed the book quite a bit. It is a quite thoughtful attempt to come to grips with Bebop, even if we all might want to take issue with a number of the conjectures and points of emphasis. I would like to hear more from Jim S. on why he feels that Deveaux didn't treat Bebop as "more than just music." It's been a while since I read it, but I recall a quite serious attempt to put Bebop in historical context. As far as pre-bop influences, I was a bit surprised at the emphasis put on Coleman Hawkins relative to Lester Young. The former is treated as something like the founder of Bebop, whereas the latter is hardly mentioned. I had always considered Pres' sense of rhythmic and harmonic freedom to be as important a precursor to Bop as Hawkins' harmonic complexity. Hawk may have surrounded himself with younger musicians, but the younger musicians surrounded Pres.

Yes, "the Stuff that Dreams are Made of" is the shit A relatively cheap option is E-music: virtually the entire Yazoo catalog can be downloaded there.

The Complete Duke/Peacock Singles. That would be the reissue project of the decade! In the early 1990s, I recall that there was a limited edition Japanese release of the complete O.V. Wright on Duke/Backbeat (6 CDs). I hesitated due to the price, and then it was too late. When will there be another chance? I'm ready to pay through the nose this time.

Understood. In some sense, "bootleg" is even a rather generous term for what Pewburner sells, as it usually refers the marking of permanent (commercial) CDs as opposed to CDRs, which generally don't last more than 5-6 years.

Jim: That is strange indeed. I have a good share of the Pewburner discs, and have made copies of mine. I also have them ripped into iTunes. I did find, however, that the paper labels screwed up the readings in my computer drive in certain cases. So I removed the paper and the problem was solved. Unless there is proof, I somehow doubt that Opal uses copy contol. He is not even sophisticated enough to know how to remaster the discs properly. That really pisses me off sometimes. After all, he charges the prices of commercial CDs. The second disc (volume 2) of the Sensational Nightingales, for example, is a complete disaster. The music speeds up and slows down, one minute the Chipmunks, the next minute Barry White. As you can see from my posts above, I no longer make unqualified recommendations on line that people purchase these discs. I know Opal, and he is a good guy.

Understood. Malaco (Savoy) will release only what it thinks it can make a good profit on. Universal (Peacock) has the same attitude. I would have no problem with that as long as these companies would give up the copyrights the material that they don't want to release so that collector lables could release it for them. As far as I am concerned, they are holding a good part of the American musical heritage hostage. It is not fair to the listening public and (especially) the artists who deserve to be better known. Look at the list of music that I posted for the Pewburner CDRs. Almost all of it is not in print. That is simply a crime.

As shown above, his birth certificate not only shows no middle name. It shows no name at all. Maybe we should start calling him "the Artist Formerly Known as Charlie Parker."

Other favorites of mine include Until the Real Thing Comes Along, Darn That Dream, I'm in the Mood for Love, and This Year's Kisses.

I said that, as far as CDs are concerned, the Peacock catalogue was almost dead in the water and the Savoy catalog is not in much better shape. I would say that your link is a testimony to that. Almost everything available from the golden age is cassette tape only. Actually, I do stand corrected, however. The Japanese have released a good share of golden age gospel Savoy recordings on CD. On the other hand, other than a few nice "Best of" collections for the Davis Sisters and Roberta Martin Singers, Malaco has done next to nothing for getting the Savoy catalog on CD.

Unfortunately, even this doesn't help:

As far as CDs are concerned, the Peacock gospel catalog is almost entirely dead in the water. (But certaintly make sure and buy the budget "Best of" discs on MCA of the Sensational Nightingales and the Blind Boys of Mississippi) The Savoy catalog is not in much better shape. There is the source that Jim S. mentioned, as well as this source, although here we are talking rather expensive and poorly remastered CDRs: http://www.pewburner.com/ In addition to the Specialty discs (and who knows how much longer Concord will make them available), Collectables has done a good job with the Vee Jay catalog. On Vee Jay, especially make sure and pick up the Swan Silvertones, Blind Boys of Mississippi, the Staple Singers, the Harmonizing Four, the Caravans, and the first two-fer of the Highway QCs. Savoy has put out a great disc on the Davis Sisters, as has Heritage (no duplication). Acrobat records did a great service in releasing some of the greatest gospel records ever make last year on a double CD: The Spirit of Memphis: Happy in the Service of the Lord (the King recordings). That is just the tip of the iceberg.