And I was in college and went whole hog for it. Never bought "No Energy Crisis" because I had so much of it on original albums by that point. The On Tour was nice because that material was not on other albums. Love the Klemmer cut especially. Impulse was the generally available label to buy then. The classic BN's were largely out of print by then, though they could be found in cut out bins and used stores.
Well, first off, anyone really into this sub-genre is gonna own basically everything on there. Second, a couple of strange choices. Not sure how "A Taste of Honey" by Phil Woods jumps out as "spiritual jazz". That being said, nice series, and there is a lot of really wonderful music on this set.
My apologies if this has been discussed in the past - what do people consider to be the essential books about Dylan? I just finished the Griel Marcus "Dylan 1968-2010" collection of his writings on Dylan, and have read the Robert Shelton "No Direction Home" and Dylan's own "Chronicles" and have the "Lyrics 1962-1985" book. And I have a couple of others laying around - "The Bob Dylan Scrapbook", "The Bob Dylan Companion", Hajdu's "Positively 4th Street", Heylin's "Behind The Shades (Revisited)" , Ricks's "Dylan's Visions of Sin", all collected in used/outlet book store shopping trips through the years. And I have McGregor's "Retrospective" on the way. And several videos including the deluxe "Don't Look Back" and the Scorsese "No Direction Home", which I have watched. What am I missing that I need? Which of the unread ones I have are or are not worth my time? BTW, love the new "Rough and Rowdy Ways"!
'Sightsong' is one of my favorite Abrams albums, along with 'Young at Heart/Wise in Time' (for the solo side, my favorite solo piano ever) and 'Spiral: Live at Montreux' (which desperately needs CD issue).
Also had fine recordings by Teddy Edwards, Howard McGhee. Hampton Hawes, Curtis Counce, Art Farmer, Benny Golson, Sonny Rollins, Cecil Tayor, Joe Gordon, Gerald Wiggins. Sonny Simmons, Prince Lasha, Harold Land, Woody Shaw, Chico Freeman, Ray Brown.
They work great for novices but have limited use beyond that. I've bought 3 or 4 of their rock ones. Was happy enough playing them once (and the price and booklets are exemplary) but don't realistically see myself returning to them. When I was new to the music in the early 70's, Impulse had a 3 LP set called "Energy Essentials" which turned me onto a lot of great artists and albums. It wouldn't do anything for me today, but was a landmark experience for me then.