felser

To do penance for my last Topic and to pay tribute to the Late, at one time Great Tower Records, we can do Blue Note Desert Island Discs. Here's the rules. You can vote one time. You can pick up to 10 Blue Note Albums (not artists) which you would want if you were stuck on a desert island and could only have 10 of them. Any multi-album sets count as the number of albums contained in the set. So the 4 CD Jackie McLean Mosaic, which contains six albums, would be a vote for each of those six albums and would take up six of your ten eligible slots. After the traffic dies down, I will tally up the votes and present the overall list of Blue Note Desert Island Discs. Then we can do the same with other labels. If no one else posts their lists, then my ten titles (when I post them) win!

Everybody loves Blue Note here, everybody has many titles on that label which are priceless to them.

Totally agree with that.

That lightens things up. I'm not enough of a Byrds' fan to comment, but I do know that they gained when David Crosby split - The Asshole of the Earth. Actually, they lost bigtime in musical terms when Clark and then Crosby split. The McGuinn/Clark/Crosby trio was the magic of the Byrds. All had their moments in the years afterwards, obviously, but nothing that holds a candle to the magic of the first four Byrds albums (five if you want to count 'Preflyte', which is fine with me). Not that this has anything to do with the original intent of the thread, but the prime Byrds are my favorite rock group of all time, so I can't resist comment

Yep, let's boycott the NEA and the Nobel Peace Prize until they see the light and award the Mizell Brothers and the Blackbyrds!

Jim, that can be true if an entire artist is being dismissed, (good point made later about artists vs. albums being discounted) but is a dangerous general assumption even then. I agree that I need to dismiss myself from judging good hip-hop from bad hip-hop, etc. because I can't "hear" any of it. But when I dig 'Spring' and am left cold by 'Lifetime', when I love 'The Gigolo' but feel lukewarm towards 'Cornbread', when I am crazy about 'Complete Communion' but can barely listen to 'Symphony for Improvisors', when I will take 'Ready for Freddie' to the grave but never feel any urge to play 'Hub-Tones' or 'Night of the Cookers' something different is going on there other than 'I don't get it simple as that'. There has to be aesthetic involved even within a sub-genre.

Well. that's what this is, the thread on overrated Blue Note albums. So I'll try to do a tally when the traffic stops.

Actually, what made me think about this for some time is that it seems like every time any 60's Blue Note album is mentioned, people are jumping on and declaring it one of the great masterpieces of all time, regardless of title. I'm trying to stimulate people, especially some of the newer/younger guys, to think/listen through some of this. I mean, I love the Blue Note sound, but not every title is among the greatest. If there are 500 of them, then 100 of those rank in the bottom 20%. (BTW, I think 'Speak No Evil' is awesome).

'Course he didn't release 'Jacknife' until then either, and that's a stone classic. I'm sorry to see that we're so many posts into this thread, and no one else has added any albums.

This is one I've wanted to do for awhile. What are some of the so-called "classic" Blue Note dates which leave you cold? I'm not talking about 'Jimmy Smith Plays Fats Waller' or Donald Byrd's 'I'm Trying To Get Home' or Dodo Greene, I'm talking about the ones that get spoken of in hushed, reverential tones, yet at the end of the day sort of leave you cold. Here are a few that come to mind for me: Jackie McLean - New and Old Gospel Jackie McLean - Tippin' The Scales Jackie McLean - 'Bout Soul (but I LOVE McLean's stuff overall, but some belonged in the can) Freddie Redd- all of them, especially 'The Connection' Ornette Coleman - At The Golden Circle Tony Williams - Lifetime Grant Green - 'The Latin Bit' 'Goin' West', 'Feelin' The Spirit' Lee Morgan - Cornbread (it's good, but the composing disappoints me) Bobby Hutcherson - Components Don Cherry - Symphony For Improvisors

Good show, beautiful venue. Rollins hobbled out onto stage, looking his full 76 years old, played with tremendous power and vitality for over two hours, and then hobbled back off. Amazing and truly inspiring. Clifton Anderson played better than I've ever heard him. The Bob Cranshaw/Victor Lewis rhythm section was spectacular. Percussionist Kimati Dinizulu played well and was well integrated into the sound, but to me was somewhat superfluous because Lewis is so strong. The only player who didn't seem to fit well or have a good night was guitarist Bobby Broom. He is apparently a temporary member of the group, based on Rollins' stage announcements, and his heart didn't really seem in it to me. I like Broom as a guitarist, but he's more comfortable in organ combos. The tune selection, to me, was pretty unimaginative. It was nice to hear "Tenor Madness" as the encore, but I thought there were too many calypsos. Overall, a really nice experience, great way to spend a Friday night.

I agree with Al. Well I don't. There are so many versions of this tune. . . this is not one of my favorite ones. But . . . you go guys! I don't either. I love the 'Jazz at Massey Hall' version, and the Art Blakey version on Blue Note, off the top of my head.

Agreed (especially 'The Gigolo'), and his last albums ('Live at the Lighthouse' and 'Lee Morgan') are equally magnificent and even more distinctive. He's one Blue Note artist (John Patton and Larry Young are two others) who seems to have been able to totally reinvent himself post-hardbop without a hint of sellout. Very wonderful occurrence considering the obvious artistic cul-de-sac he was in during the late 60's ('Charisma', 'Carumba',etc.).

I hear that. Brick and mortars are becoming a thing of the past here. There is nowhere in our general area (Western Suburban Philly) that I'm aware of to get good cutouts or good, reasonably priced used discs anymore. I'm 100% online now for my CD purchases.

May not eat at all - if we do, looking for no reservations, reasonably quick in and out, lower price levels, kind of food not that important, just want it to be a step up from Wendy's or McDonald's and something we can get done and get to the show on time. I have to work my work day in Malvern and get home, then we have to make it into town from King of Prussia, and the Schuykill Expwy on a Friday evening can be nightmarish as you know. Would love to catch a bargain on parking if one is around. Our seats for the show are Door C Orch Tier Row E seats 120-121 if you, LennyH, or anyone else has a chance to stop by and meet us. I'll send you and LennyH PM's with our cell phone #.

For my birthday (today, 52), my wife got us tickets to Sonny Rollins at the Kimmel Center this Friday, Dec. 1. It will be our first time at the Kimmel Center. Anyone else going? Anything I should know about the venue? Any suggestions on parking, dining? Looking forward to it. We saw him live at Penn's Landing ca. 1989-90 when we were dating, and enjoyed it immensely. 'Course that show was free, and this one is $59/ticket, but it should still be a nice night. Amazing woman, that wife of mine. I'm a blessed man.

I like them both quite a bit. Very different tenor players, of course, apples and oranges. I think Griff's work with Monk is underrated. I like both of the albums quite a bit.

Yes, unfortunately, that bad of sound.

They have been releasing a whole new series of sets since they took over, reconfiguring Miles and Trane into smaller boxes, releasing the complete Prestige Bebop Stitt, the Complete VV Evans, the Complete Monk/Trane, The Complete Prelude Garland. All are beautifully done, and all except the Miles Quintet box incredibly low priced, list price of $10/CD. Check out their web site. I haven't checked to see if the old Fantasy boxes are still available, since I have what I want of those.

I was. My brain auto-corrected to Concord.

They've done a great job on the prices so far on almost all of their historical sets. The 3 CD sets have had a $30 list price to date (Evans, Stitt) , so should be available for $20-25. And the other sized sets (Coltrane, Monk/Trane. Garland) have also had a $10/disc list price. The only exception I'm aware of is the Miles Quintet box with the newly licensed material on CD4. I think they're really doing a commendable job on their historical reissues so far, much better than we probably had any right to expect.

Absolutely. Wonderful stuff.

I remember those. The Hubbard was made up of 'Here To Stay' and 'Hubcap' ("Luana" is a favorite of mine). The Weston was UA material, available on the Mosaic Select now. The Turrentine and McLean are already discussed here. Jim is right, it's the "High Frequency" session on the 'Jacknife' twofer which hasn't seen the digital light of day yet.

A GREAT jazz singer, and a survivor. It's a miracle that she lived to 87, and I'm thankful for her musical legacy.

And surprisingly well!