John L

Dan: Guy's point may actually be a good one. As understand, Evans joined and quit the band before Kind of Blue. Miles brought him back for the recording. (I seem to recall that, although I could be mistaken.) Of course, the few recordings made during Evans' tenure probably do not properly reflect the musical interaction that Miles and Evans were having in the modal sphere. Kind of Blue is probably the best evidence of that.

I seem to recall that Miles takes up the question of Evans in his Autobiography. As I understood, Miles was fascinated at the time in taking the modal thing as far as it could go, and hooked up with Evans for that reason. No?

How much longer are you going to keep us in this kind of bird deprevation, Chuck?????

I've finally had a chance to go through this incredible box. The Cellar Cafe and Copenhagen recordings are fantastic, but they were not new to me. I got the most new charge by far from discs 6 and 7. Newport, the Coltrane Funeral, the New York concert, the France concert. Fabulous stuff! On the other hand, I have to say that the huge amount of live material from Cleveland with Don Ayler and Michel Sampson was overkill for me. I usually have a hard time staying with this band for too long. Spirits Rejoice and the Village concerts on Impulse give me my fill.

Good God!

Really? The TV Guide has always terrified me.

I can just see the liner notes already: "The sellout of Miles Davis had many unfortunate consequences for American culture, including a cheap pop rock desecration of the memory of Jack Johnson. From the depths of this devastation, only a single living jazz titan possesses the power to restore musical dignity and nobility to the memory of the great pugalist..."

Sounds great! We have no shortage of jazz books, but very few truly good ones. I have not doubt that this is one of the latter.

I don't know. If Brotzmann shook his booty to some James Brown, I think that would make one grand canyon. And don't tell me that some kind of pothole could contain him.

That was a different time. I think that's what Brownie meant. For sheer brilliance, I have to go with James Carter. I don't always like what he decides to play, but that man has a streak of sheer musical genius in him.

Friday seems to be the day. Mine is scheduled to arrive on Friday too. It's going to be TGIF tomorrow for a lot of people. But not me, actually. I am currently not at home, and won't get my hands on it until the 16th.

So is the Live at the Cellar Door box dead in the basement?

Welcome to Pennsylvania, home of alcohol socialism. Yea, I can remember living in Philly in the 1980s. I recall a cartoon from that period about "Soviet Emigrants in Philadelphia." It showed a long line of people in the snow in heavy coats and Russian fur hats in front of a State Store.

The Prestige Dolphy is one of my very favorite box sets. The average quality of the music is incredible high, one home run after another, and it is all sooooooo satisfying and soothing to the jazz-hungry soul.

The Night in Tunisia from Billy Berg's is just a scrap, the head and no solos.

I solved my problem, or at least part of it. I bought a little 120 GB external hard drive where I now hold 62 GB of music. That is close to 2000 albums The interface with the iPod is simple, so I can constantly adust what music I hold on the iPod. I didn't have time to load more before I left town. But I am really happy that I have as much as I do. So far, I haven't had the sudden urge for something I didn't load. Technology is really amazing.

Good luck trying to fit Cannonball into a corner! Julian Adderley was truly larger than life. As time goes by, my appreciation of him and his music just grows and grows.

Ace Records just released all of the Modern (RPM) recordings in superior sound. They actually found new acetates. I haven't heard the Bear Family releases, but the Chess Box sounds good to my ears. The Chess Box also makes a good selection from the cream of almost all of Wolf's recordings. I believe that Bear Family releases only the earlier (Memphis) recordings that were not licensed to either Modern or Chess. (Chuck: I don't think that the Bear Family discs actually contain any of the Modern (RPM) material, although they do contain a number of alternate takes from sessions at Sun that were the source of some of the first Modern sides. All of the tracks on Bear Family were also included on a Charly box set of all of Wolf's Chess records (with alternates) and there was no duplication with the Modern (RPM) stuff.) There is another 2-disc set that supplements the Chess Box with no duplications: "Ain't Gonna Be Your Dog." Those 5 Chess CDs and the Ace CD are the cornerstones of a Wolf collection (IMO). As for the DVD, it's fantastic. Get it!

I especially can't wait to hear the previously unissued Mort Fega number.

Well, there you have it! Oscar Peterson is really Oscar Pettiford?

This Train (is Bound for Glory)

I have some free CD's to use up at Columbia House. Are these the discs you mention? They have the other 3 availble, too. Billie Holiday Collection Vol. 4 1. Man I Love, The 2. Ghost Of Yesterday 3. Body And Soul 4. Falling In Love Again 5. St. Louis Blues 6. Loveless Love 7. Let's Do It 8. Georgia On My Mind 9. All Of Me 10. God Bless The Child 11. Am I Blue? 12. Solitude 13. I Cover The Waterfront 14. Love Me Or Leave Me 15. Gloomy Sunday 16. Until The Real Thing Comes Along 17. Do Nothing Til You Hear From Me 18. I Love My Man (Billie's Blues Wolff: I don't know that particular series. So someone else should confirm that those are the latest remasters. I imagine that anything that Columbia issued after their Complete Lady Day set should have the new remasters.

Opinions differ, but I consider the Bag's Groove session with Bags, Miles, Klook et al to be one of the greatest existing jazz recordings, immediate desert island material for me. That is already 1/3 of the set. As my Avatar suggests, the trio recordings on Prestige are also among my very favorite Monk records, despite the out-of-tune piano. Then you have Friday the 13th with Rollins and other stellar material. No, I wouldn't take this set too lightly, even relative to the magnificent Blue Note and Riverside boxes. The fact is, you need all three, and still won't survive without a good dose of Monk on Columbia. That is just my extremely biased and subjective opinion.

I actually prefer Hubbard's work as a sideman on Blue Note to his dates as a leader. I particularly like his playing with Herbie Hancock and Art Blakey. "Open Sesame" is really a Tina Brooks date. Right? Tina wrote and arranged the majority of it.

I agree. That album sounded really dynamic when it came out. It almost makes you wonder what could have happened if David Byrne didn't get sidetracked shortly after that trying to change his country of birth to Brazil. I remember being in Berkeley during the Remain in Light tour. I was getting ready to take my new wife, who I had just brought to America from the Soviet Union to the concert. Then I noticed that Sonny Sitt was billed as playing in the cafeteria across the street. I thought, "she should really hear Stitt while she still can." So I took her to see Stitt. It was surreal. Stitt, the band, and about 10 of us sat up on the cafeteria tables. A huge crowd lined up for Talking Heads. Stitt didn't seem to be in great health, and he had a cigarette lit at all times. But he still dished up a good set of straight bop. One month later, he was dead. My wife still can't believe that she missed the Remain in Light tour because of me.