felser

The Ella/Billie/Carmen CD came out many years ago with several unreleased tracks. Nice to have and of great historical significance.

Chuck, maybe you had to be there to really appreciate that one Seriously though, no reason to worry about that recording.

Now this could cause my first order with Mr. Tanno! That's also the one that jumped out and made my day.

"jazzy wazzy jazz", plus the one that WMMR in Philly (the supposed "real jazz" station here, but it's awful now) actually inflicted us with: "turn on the quiet". Can "all kenny g, all the time" be far behind?

'Sun Ship', to me, clearly ends an era. It's like he had been hanging on a cliff up to that point, then let go starting with 'Kulu Se Mama' the next month. Pharoah Sanders jumped in for the ride when he started the freefall from the cliff. Tyner and Jones were casualties. The transitional recordings of this period can be very painful to listen to (I'm thinking of 'Live in Seattle' and the dreaded 'Om'), in large part because of how at times Tyner and Jones don't fit where the music is going ('Meditations' being the exception - everything somehow came together on that album). Alice Coltrane and Ali were needed to bring some unity of direction. I don't like the late stuff nearly as much as what came before it, but I wouldn't have wanted Trane to stop his journey and repeat himself. I think he had done what he could do with the Tyner/Jones group, and needed to keep going out to see what that held. I actually even find his '67 work (I'm thinking of 'Expression') to be very different than his '66 work ('Live at the Village Vanguard Again', etc.). The fury in so much of the Sanders-era late '65 and '66 recordings was being replaced by something different. Not sure exactly what Trane was looking for in '67 - he didn't find it before passing, at least on record.

That one is pretty cool. It's a quartet with two keyboards (Haynes and Kirk Lightsey), bass, and drums. Some of the Corea/Hancock stuff is pretty nice, but I would have just as soon (in fact rather) had solo renditions. I attended one of their shows in the 70's at the Tower Theatre, and it was pretty tame, all things considered. I find the two-keyboard stuff that Zawinul and Hancock did on the 1970 Joe Zawinul album to be beautiful, but that's in the context of a full group. Likewise, the Corea/Hancock/Zawinul stuff on 'In A Silent Way' is pretty wonderful. The two piano idea seems to work better with electric keyboards because of the differing sounds/textures which can be achieved. Some amazing things have been done with two keyboards in Rock by groups like Procol Harum and Rare Bird.

It would have to, but those Evans overdubbed duo session have always sort of creeped me out.

I really like 'Handscapes' by the Piano Choir, a 1972 Stanley Cowell project which came out on Strata East. Seven pianists participated. Included Cowell, Harold Mabern, Hugh Lawson, Sonelius Smith, Webster Lewis, Danny Mixon, and Nat Jones. Also like 'Rhythm-a-ning', Kenny Barron and John Hicks with bass and drums (Walter Booker, Jimmy Cobb), a 1989 session on Candid. Hard to go wrong with 12+ minute renditions of their greatest compositions, Barron's "Sunshower" and Hicks's "After the Morning". But those are the exceptions to the rule for me. In general, I agree with Chuck, bad idea.

Gee, never thought of it that way (those ways).

I was thinking the same thing - Aric w/o the Chewy persona. The "breaking into the warehouse" line sounded familiar... First clue it wasn't Chewy was that there was no mention of Hank in the rant.

I don't like the last Catalyst album, 'A Smile and a Tear' which had commercial influences of the time. What I heard of Ron Thomas's playing in the 70's (only heard the Muse albums) didn't do anything for me. When I heard him in the 90's, he had a totally different conception, and a gorgeous, Bill Evans-like touch. 'Essence' has never been on CD, at least in the USA. I would have grabbed it immediately if it had been. In the Muse catalog, I most miss it and the best Carlos Garnett albums ('Journey to Enlightenment', 'Let This Melody Ring On') not being on CD.

Bunch of thoughts here: 1 - I've always liked the album. The track that sticks with me is the great "Love Will Take You There". I was a big fan of Peterson in this era, and he burns here. 2 - I talked to Ron Thomas about 10 years ago when he shared a stage with our friend Ruth Naomi Floyd, and he said he was still in contact with Kloss, and that Kloss was married, had a family, and was still playing very well. So life seemed to turn out well for him, even if his recording career seemed to die off. By the way, Thomas played beautifully on the night I heard him, and he told me how his life had also gone in wonderful directions. He had greatly grown as both a musician and a human being since his recordings with Kloss and Pat Martino on Muse in the 70's. 3 - It seems like musicians sometimes put the most commercially viable names on their resumes rather than the most musically rewarding ones. Tyrone Brown gave me his resume one time when he was playing in Ruth's group, and it didn't mention Catalyst at all, and to me that was (along with his time with Max Roach) an artistic peak of his career. But they were never commercially viable. I have no sense of how well they were known outside of here in Philly, since they were local to us. But they recorded four albums for Muse, three of which are pretty wonderful, and consisted of heavyweight musicians (Odean Pope, Eddie Green, Sherman Ferguson, and Brown). I tried to encourage Brown on how proud he should be of his work in Catalyst, and that I'd love to see it on his resume. BTW, he is an amazing bass player to see live, a commanding physical presence and a gifted musician.

Not sure if I'd call "Europa" great -- it sounds canned to me, a slick and soulless sequel to "Samba Pa Ti". Gato Barbieri gave the definitive reading of this one. Seriously. No argument from me. That whole 'Caliente' album is surprisingly good. Also has the definitive reading of "I Want You" in my book. Tuck Andress did a wonderful "Europa" on 'Love Warriors'. The first three Tuck & Patti albums are classics of their genre, quite untypical for Windham Hill (and the best things that label ever did) and his guitar playing is stunning.

'Amigos' has two great songs ("Dance Sister Dance" and "Europa"), and 'Festival' has the great "Let The Children Play" suite, but otherwise both albums are pretty forgettable. 'Innner Secrets' is actually a consistently better album than either, but has nothing approaching the highlights of those two (the cover of Traffic's "Dealer" is probably the best thing on it). I agree with the assessment of "Open Invitation", an utter embarrasment! 'Zebop' is akin to 'Marathon', maybe just a bit better. 'Oneness' is actually quite excellent, the most underrated album Santana ever did. It is a Carlos solo album rather than a Santnana group album, almost totally instrumental, quite spiritual in it's groove, the last consistently satisfying studio album he ever made.

Ludicrous orchestral overdubbing on this one, avoid it. Better to get the Benson Live at the Casa Caribe material, available on many budget labels if you want live jazz from Benson. Look for something that has the full program, 2 CD's with a little over two hours of music on them. Most of the budget releases just cherry-pick tracks from the concert haphazardly to put on one CD. The live 'Weekend in LA', which came out out Warner Bros. in the late 70's is also pretty good. If you want more CTI Benson (assuming you already have the incredibe 'Beyond the Blue Horizon'). check out 'White Rabbit' and 'Body Talk' and 'Bad Benson'. (edit - 'Breezin', while neither live nor CTI, is an excellent album and belongs in every collection - it's already in a couple million of them, and for good reason. The other career highlight for Benson is his amazing version of "The World is a Ghetto", on the otherwise forgettable 'In Flight').

Many are too expensive for US buyers where used copies of many of these titles are easily available very inexpensively through half.com and amazon.com. Also "Best of" and "Collection" CD's will not be popular items on this board of fanatical collectors :-) Also, they are of a more traditional style than what is most popular on the board, though there are some excellent CD's on your list.

One last bump.

I gave up on the Penguin Guide long ago, found it ludicrous. The early pre-Yanow AMG Guides were also worthless. The only one I use is the Yanow versions of the AMG Guide. I'm a HUGE fan of the long (27 minutes, I think) solo piano piece on 'Young at Heart, Wise in Time', it's marvelous. The only other Abrams I play much are 'Sightsong' and 'Spiral' (live at Montreux 1978), though I do own several others. In fairness, there are a number of his later recordings I have never heard.

Then I take back every nice thing I've had to say about Concord and how they started out managing the Fantasy holdings. They seem to have decided to take the low road after all. We can "look forward" to the Keepnews Collection mindless regurgitations and the "... plays for Lovers" idiocy and that's it? Not a penny of mine will go towards any of that. I will, however, buy the Trane box as soon as it comes out. Man, we're fickle! On the one hand we complain that Concord is too fixed on the bottom line by cutting the chaff and re-releasing the same old money-making stuff; on the other we bitch that they may not be releasing one of the more commercial/profitable entries in their reissue series. Not fickle at all. Give me a configuration and package and remaster that makes some sense and utilizes the capabilities of the CD medium better than what's been out before, and I'll buy it. The boxes they had come out with the past 6-12 months were beautiful. Reissue the same 36 minute albums on CD's with an Orrin Keepnews monogram being the primary difference, and I won't rebuy it. And I sure ain't buying ".... plays for Lovers"! I don't expect them to reissue John Dennis, Joe Holiday, couldn't believe it when Fantasy did the first time. I do expect them to be respectful with the catalogue. And if I didn't already own the titles and the K2's weren't available, I'd buy the Keepnews editions. Again, not sure what's fickle about any of that.

Yup -- Free at Last. I think this one is in-print, at least in Europe. Guy And it's well worth picking up, as is all of the Waldron stuff from that period (all of his stuff from any period, actually).

Then I take back every nice thing I've had to say about Concord and how they started out managing the Fantasy holdings. They seem to have decided to take the low road after all. We can "look forward" to the Keepnews Collection mindless regurgitations and the "... plays for Lovers" idiocy and that's it? Not a penny of mine will go towards any of that. I will, however, buy the Trane box as soon as it comes out.

While logic makes it's demands, emotion lends it's voice. You'd better have those five smiley faces on there!

Also my favorites along with 'Lee Morgan'. 'Infinity' and 'Lee-Way' are also pretty great. '

I have multipes of the following CD's available. All are new and still sealed, and unless noted, have no cutout marks or promo marks. US shipping is $2.50 for the first CD and $1.00 for each additional CD, up to a $5.00 maximum shipping charge. Also willing to consider trades for all titles. Xanadu CD's Barry Harris - Bird of Red and Gold $4 Dexter Gordon - True Blue $6 Bud Powell - Bud in Paris $6 Shorty Rogers/Art Pepper - Popo $5 Red Garland - Keystones $6 Georgie Auld - Homage $5 Jimmy Raney/Sonny Clark - Together $5 Dolo Coker - California Hard $6 Charles McPherson - Beautiful $7 J.R. Monterose - Straight Ahead $7 Sam Most - Mostly Flute $10 Terry Gibbs - Bopstacle Course $6 Kenny Drew- Home Is Where The Soul Is $6 Charlie Parker/Clifford Brown/Phil Woods - International Jam Sessions $4 New World CD's (cutout marks) Ricky Ford - Loxodonta Africana $6 DCC CD's (some have cutout marks, some don't - specify if that matters to you) Sonny Stitt - Live at Ronnie Scott's $4 Don Sebesky - Three Works $4 Phil Woods - Song for Sisyphus $4 Bob Brookmeyer - Small Group Vol. 1 $4 Naked City CD's Art Pepper - Live in Toronto 1979 $4 Bud Powell - Live in Lausanne 1962 $4 Warne Marsh - Live in Las Vegas 1962 $2 (great music, wretched sound) Zoot Sims - Live at the Half Note 1965 $4 Dave Schildkraudt - Last Date $4 Percy France - I Should Care $4 contact me at john.felser@verizon.net

Totally with you on Cornbread, it has always amounted to much less than the sum of the parts. The Rajah is better than the albums you mention because of some good Cal Massey tunes written for it.