John L

It sounds like the time is ripe for you to order one of the few remaining box sets from Chuck Nessa. If you like the AEC, you won't regret it. This is the foundation, and there is no duplication with what you have.

A good-sounding prelude to a bad train wreck or a bad sounding prelude to a good train wreck? I've never heard it myself, but I am intrigued.

I myself find the "Brotzmann Plays For Lovers" compilation really drives the ladies wild. I don't know that one. I only have "Brotzmann plays for boar fuckers."

Well, from his knowledge that there were three autopsies after Bird's death, I assume that Dr. Progresso must have performed the third, where chips from Blakey's drumstick were found in Parker's brain. More seriously, that text is weird. Other than the Blakey remarks, everything resembles the usual truncated Bird bio. Furthermore, the Blakey remarks are stated in passing as if they are obvious fact and not subject to any speculation at all. I wonder if Blakey's family knows about this? If I were Blakey's kin, I would try to get it removed.

I assume that this is different than the "Antwerpen" concert from around the same time that has been released on Jazzman?

John, the 4CD box "At Birdland 1950-1951 Volume 1" (got it recently) was also released as two 2CD sets, as far as I know. So maybe you saw volume two of this? ubu Yes, that must be it. I must have somehow confused the second one with the volume 2.

I was fairly sure that I saw a volume 2 in Europe. But I could be wrong. I own the Charly myself. Note: the Cafe Society tracks are not on the Charly Birdland box, but they can be found on quite a number of other reissues.

There is a volume 2 of the Ember set. There is also a an over 90% overlap between the Ember sets and the Charly. If I am not mistaken, the two Ember sets contain everything on the Charly and a couple more obscure sessions. If you already have Ember vol. 1, you should look for volume 2.

James Booker could flat out play. There were a number of great individual New Orleans R&B pianists. Booker was the real virtuoso of the bunch. He could do what everyone else did and more. There are several CDs of his around. The one on Rounder, for example, is excellent: "New Orleans: Piano Wizard: Live!"

Shrdlu: I reminded you of Hitler? Well, I guess that it could have been worse. I could have reminded you of... ...uh... ...mmm... two Hitlers?

I sincerely hope that they don't hit us up with the "Complete Last Sessions" 7-cd box set with all the outakes and false starts due to Horace's fragility. That would be a terrible way to be set back another big head 100.

This is a very interesting thread with a lot of thought-provoking comments. Miles during these years becomes a personal thing. It is still very hard to give an objective assessment as to where all of this astonishing electric music stands relative to the earlier triumphs. As a personal thing, I enjoy Miles immensely through about the time that the Jack Johnson box ends. When Miles got into the wah wahs, the thick multiple guitar backdrop, and added percussion, and when the groove itself seemed to become the focus, as opposed to Miles blowing the blues over a funky backbeat (i.e. Jack Johnson), my soul begins to abandon ship. On the Corner, In Concert, Agartha, Pangaea, and Dark Mangus may be great masterworks. But they will never mean as much to me personally as most of the rest of Miles' discography, including even the highly uneven results of his last decade.

I see where you're coming from. At any rate, even if the music is a big disappointment, Horace Silver, like Max Roach, will be remembered for all of the other great records that he made. Only anal retentive fanatics like us will go after the LAST ALBUM at any cost regardless of the content.

Jim: Sorry if I misinterpreted you. I would still say that your "cynical" story is rather unlikely. There just isn't that much money in jazz reissues these days, particularly post-1970s music. A more likely story (it would seem to me) is that they were interested in bringing more attention and prestige to their label from jazz fans. At any rate, the question of why they gave Horace Silver a deal shouldn't necessarily matter from the musical point of view. The label seems to have a genuine interest in jazz, and most likely did not try to manipulate what Horace did. At this stage of his career, I also doubt that Horace would put up with any crap that compromises his artistic control. I think that the ball was most likely in Horace's court. Let's hear what he did with it.

I wouldn't worry too much about Horace getting "exploited" at this point. The market that you are describing is so thin that I don't think anybody in the record business whould think of basing a money-making strategy on it. Even the rights to the classic Sliver Blue Notes would not put much money in your pocket at this point. The big question in my head is does Horace still have it? I found the last two albums to be quite dull, although the one before that (Hard Bop Grandpop) had some nice moments (IMO).

I'm with Jim S. "Dancing in Your Head" and "Tone Dialing" are the electric Ornette that I reach for the most. "Of Human Feelings" is also close. It took me a long time for "Dancing in Your Head" to click. But one day my head just started feeling that Watoosi coming on.

This is good music, but I've never been as excited about this one as much as I would have expected, being a solid Turrentine and Gene Harris fan. For my money, the later collaboration of Turrentine and Harris on Concord (Gene Harris Trio Plus One) is considerably more satisfying. But I am probably in a minority.

It's kind of a no-brainer for me. Although I love a lot of jazz from the entire history of the music, all of pre-bop contains much more for me (in a quatitative sense) than any other single listed period. That period is also the foundation for everything that came later, and therefore has prime "importance" for all other periods of jazz.

Double Amen and another indeed.

Jim S. Your reaction makes perfect sense to me, and I am not a jazz musician who can feel all that you do in that respect. Passing Ships is clearly a diamond in the rough, but a diamond nevertheless, and quite a brilliant one at that. I had the pleasure of listening to this the day it came out prior to seeing any of the hype here (of which I was soon the first to become guilty of!). I was expecting something deeply flawed that had been rejected for issue numerous times, but nevertheless vintage Andrew Hill. When I put it on, I just couldn't believe what I was hearing. I still don't!

Somehow I don't think that one would get very far. Of course, we could somehow strike it rich and get "yes, there are many widespread misconceptions in my views, but I stick to them anyway. When I was thrown into the spotlight as a young kid, I did a lot of talking. Yes, I trashed Miles post-69. In fact, I made a statement to Down Beat in 1981 to the effect that nobody did anything of any importance in jazz in the entire decade of the 1970s. I said that we have to get back to work on the artistic plane of Armstrong and Ellington. I said a lot of other things too. Maybe I should have toned it down a bit back then. But, you understand, I can't look back now. My credibility is on the line. I have to keep doing larger and larger projects that are more and more ambitious to keep up my image, to keep the musical complexity over the critics head, to keep the debate going that maybe, just maybe I AM working on the artistic plane of Armstrong and Ellington Now that I combined a symphony orchestra, a jazz band, and world music on my last extended work (Rise Up), I am going to have to move on to a large jazz band, a chamber string quartet, an Australian Dijeridoos ensemble, and a Georgian choir. Look, I have to do it. Don't you understand? I've got no choice. There is no turning back."

The Curtis Amy Select is going to be SWEET.

I think that this is an excellent series. They are produced under license from Document Records, the European firm that has been reissuing the complete early blues discography. The choice of material is usually quite good although, somewhat frustratingly, they don't include any discographical information and sometimes seem to follow a random ordering for the tracks. The price is unbeatable. They are basically doing what the French firm Fremeaux et Associes is doing in France, although (as might be expected from Americans with regard to the blues) in a somewhat more careless and less educated way. For some reason Fremeaux also likes to stop at 18 short tracks on each of two disks. What is it about the number 18 anyway?

I sure wish I would have seen Ayler live. My father took me to a good number of rock concerts in the 60s, but no jazz. The first time I heard Ayler on record was in the mid-1970s. Some pseudo-intellectual documentary on the "counterculture" had as part of its soundtrack Ayler's "Sun Watcher." In fact, it may have only been the brief introduction to "Sun Watcher." I was blown away. I had never heard a saxophone like that in my life. I caught Ayler's name and Sun Watcher in the credits and was off to the record store. I came back with the Impusle! 2-fer "The Best of the Impulse Years." Ayler has been a favorite of mine every since. Ayler was like a modern-day Sidney Bechet. His vibrato was so extreme, yet controlled, that he could build solos not just of notes, but of sequential sound intervals.