felser

a few observations 1 - to their credit, it looks like Blue Note eventually got just about everything in that series out on CD. 2 - Teasing the Korean got both the long and short of it from board members, and got a proper introduction to Chuck.

I got this as part of a lot of Anita O'Day CD's off Ebay, and I would like to trade it for another book or CD, or else sell it for a fair price. This is the 1982 Berkley paperback, used but not abused. Let me know if interested, and we'll work something out.

Agreeing with what is expressed here - neither "All Right Now" nor Bad Company begin to indicate the majesty of the best of Free's music. I'm not as sold on 'Tons of Sobs' as the others, but do agree with 'Fire and Water'. Polygram Chronicles put out 'Molten Gold' a very good 2CD set of their best several years ago, and that literally contains most of what they recorded. You can get that for less than $20.

Ooookaaaaay... we can see you're really gonna add a lot of original insight to the discussions around here....

I have the CD right in front of me. Came out on CD in 1998, one of those Impulse digipacks. Not sure if the CD is still in print. I bought a cutout of the vinly at Woolworth's in my very early jazz days, and it was a wonderful experience for my new ears.

This little gem was recorded on August 8, 1963. Fascinating personnel - the Coltrane rhythm section (Tyner/Garrison/Jones) is joined by three forward thinking, woefully underrecorded (especially in that era) hornmen: Sonny Simmons, Prince Lasha, and Charles Davis. The album is very brief, 31 minutes, but all of the selections are memorable. 'Nuttin Out Jones' and 'Gettin On Way' are firy features for Simmons. 'Half and Half' and 'Just Us Blues' are excellent features for Davis, who IMO has his career moment on this album. 'Oriental Flower' is a gorgeous feature for Tyner. 'Aborigine Dance in Scotland' is a goofy tune, but it frames a spectacular (and not over-long) drum solo by Jones. Regrets on this album are that it is so brief and that Lasha is underutilized. The music is not 'New Thing' as such, but also is not caught up in the hard bop cliches of the era, straddling the line between those two sub-genres as much of the most exciting music of that era did. It is an album that 43 years later still sounds fresh and original, and gives a much-appreciated opportunity to hear Simmons and Davis at their peaks playing with the most dynamic rhythm section ever assembled, as well as presenting a performance of rare beauty by Tyner on his feature.

Saxes Inc was reviewed by Ira. BTW, in another thread I pointed out DB gave Ellington's In Orbit 2.5 stars. You gotta know the reviewers, the context and the music. Who were the best of the reviewers in that era? Who are the best since then? The real answer is "who matches up with my tastes most often". One thing you might not think of is the reviewer's friendship with the artist or producer. So, they are all good if you know your shit. But most of us are outside the industry, and aren't able to factor in things like the reviewer's relationship with the artist. I understand that you need a proper paradigm to optimally benefit from a reviewer, but while some just have different tastes (Milo Fine in Cadence loved free jazz back when I was reading Cadence faithfully, and I'm a more marginal fan, but he was a good read. Bob Rusch was the guy my tastes matched up much better with, plus he was also excellent), some are just better than others (Scott Yanow was a huge improvement over Wynn and Nastos in the Allmusic Guide when he came in), more able to explain what's going on in the music, and able to explain why they give a certain evaluation to a certain album. Some, like Nate Dorward in Coda, are just such utterly enjoyable writers, I don't have to agree with them to appreciate their reviews.

Saxes Inc was reviewed by Ira. BTW, in another thread I pointed out DB gave Ellington's In Orbit 2.5 stars. You gotta know the reviewers, the context and the music. Who were the best of the reviewers in that era? Who are the best since then?

That can be arranged...

When I first started listening to jazz, I picked up a 3 LP sampler called 'Impulse Energy Essentials'. It had "Hora Decubitus" on it, my first exposure to both Mingus and Dolphy. Dolphy's solo is a thing of wonder - no one else could have conceptualized that solo. Another great moment I remember on that set was "Nuttin' Out Jones" from the 'Illuminations' album, my introduction to Sonny Simmons. And Dolphy showed up on 'Teenies Blues' by Oliver Nelson.

My thoughts also. Dolphy was great, especially in the context of Mingus's music, but I can't imagine anything improving on what Mariano contributed to this work. Dolphy's playing likely would have been out of context for this music, which draws on the Ellington (and Johnny Hodges with Ellington) tradition so much in places.

Great idea, and it seems like Mingus may have well had that in mind based on his naming of the sections. If it hasn't been, I'll challenge my daughter to the task. She looks to be a legitimate dance major when she goes to college. BTW, if anyone is knowledgeable on collegiate dance programs, please contact me!

I have tried in my other AOTW postings to nominate either exemplary works which may have flown under the radar for a lot of listeners on the board, or else works that seemed to be calling out for re-evaluation. I take a break from those purposes this time around, and instead select a work simply because it may be the most beautiful piece of music I've ever heard. Charles Mingus recorded 'The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady' for Impulse Records in January of 1963. AMG says of the album "...one of the greatest achievements in orchestration by any composer in jazz history...Charles Mingus consciously designed the six-part ballet as his magnum opus, and ... it's as much an examination of his own tortured psyche as it is a conceptual piece about love and struggle. It veers between so many emotions that it defies easy encapsulation...Yet the work soon reveals itself as a masterpiece of rich, multi-layered texture and swirling tonal colors, manipulated with a painter's attention to detail. There are a few stylistic reference points — Ellington, the contemporary avant-garde, several flamenco guitar breaks — but the totality is quite unlike what came before it. ..Mingus was sometimes pigeonholed as a firebrand, but the personal exorcism of Black Saint deserves the reputation — one needn't be able to follow the story line to hear the suffering, mourning, frustration, and caged fury pouring out of the music...The result is one of the high-water marks for avant-garde jazz in the '60s and arguably Mingus' most brilliant moment." I'll add two points. One is that this is Charlie Mariano's career moment - his playing is stunning on this album. The other is that if you're a young guy or new to the music,and haven't heard this, don't rest until you have it in your possession and playing on your music playback equipment of choice.

Great conversation, but I find the CD unlistenable because of the vocals. May just be a subjective style preference on my part...

No, the disservice would be to not present a complete cross-section of experience with Caimen. Allowing only negative experiences with them to be presented, but not positive experiences, amounts to propaganda. You can get absolute delivery and the best prices imaginable on things like remastered British Import rock CD's from them, and people should know that, as well as knowing that they aren't going to come up with that long OOP gem which hasn't been removed from the catalog. Blame Amazon for the "float" problem (it's their policy to charge the card immediately), but if $10 sitting for a month on a credit card statement creates a fiscal crisis, you shouldn't be buying the CD in the first place.

PM sent on Terry Gibbs-Buddy DeFranco "Chicago Fire" Contemporary $6

A few things to throw into the discussion here. First, Collectables in the old days was always perfectly happy to do a needle drop of an old album for a CD release, and was notorious for releasing some of the worst-sounding CD's ever. They cleaned up their act quite a bit as the years went on, and have put out some terrific-sounding rock CD's in recent times, maybe thanks to CBS/Sony and EMI special products divisions. Second, we're talking about 50's-60's Atlantic recordings here, and it's worth remembering that the reason Coltrane left Atlantic for Impulse! was because he felt the sound quaility of his Atlantic albums was unacceptable. I still cringe when I hear Tommy Flanagan's piano on "Giant Steps". Third, it's easy to say "Get the Mosaic" on everything, but these are real dollars (euro's, yen, whatever) that are being spent here, and are you really going to listen to 'Kelly At Midnight' often enough and get enough marginal difference to pay the inflated OOP Mosaic prices rather than the $10 the Collectables CD will cost you? If money is no object go for it, but how many of us can take that approach?

They have 400,000 feedbacks on Amazon alone in just calender year '06, which probably means they are moving well over a million items a year. I know how out of date my trade lists can get moving 100-200 items a year from it. They make an honest attempt to acquire any title and to keep up with what is current. They ship very quickly on some items (which they likely have in their Florida warehouse) , and slower on others, and occasionally they are out of stock and cannot obtain, and they will keep trying to get it for as long as you're willing to wait, and very glad to refund your purchase price if you cancel the backordered item. That's not fraud any more than your corner CD store putting in a special order for you and not receiving the item. They are doing the best they can to mesh their business model (which is a sensible one for they volume they are moving) with Amazon's business model (which ensures Amazon gets their cut up front). I think they're a great organization, and an honorable one, and will continue to buy 80% of my Amazon CD purchases through them, as I have in the past year. To call them fraudulant is ludicrous.

I have found that all of the big sellers on Amazon work the same way with not keeping stock. They are moving staggering amounts of CD's. I actually find them to be the best as far as fill rate on the harder to find CD's, and they are my seller of choice on Amazon/Ebay. And I have done well with their customer service in the past when I've had a problem.

PM sent on Crazy Horse

I was one, too, Wharton '76. Saw some amazing music at the Empty Foxhole Cafe in the basement of St. Mary's church on campus back in that era (mostly right after I graduated). Cecil Taylor, Clifford Jordan, Jimmy Heath, Richie Cole with Eddie Jefferson, Archie Shepp, Richard Davis, and more that I can't remember at this point. Leo Gadsen also had a great series at the Ethical Society downtown (10-15 blocks away) in those days - Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers. Juju, Jackie McLean, George Adams & Hannibal Marvin Peterson, and others I can't remember. He used really good local talent like Monette Sudler and Sumi Tanooka as opening acts. At both venues, admission was incredibly low, like $5 or something. Good days (music-wise, that is - I have no desire to relive them otherwise).

I only liked the 'n Brass. The others were problematic with the voices and stuff.

Don't think that one has ever come out on CD. A lot of that late period (70's) Blue Note stuff is MIA on CD, mostly justifiable, though this album was pretty good.

Cook came before McLean. The way I think it worked was: Cook and Hayes co-led a group together, Shaw joined that group (the CD Ichi-Ban has that group), Cook left and was replaced by McLean, with Shaw becoming co-leader with Hayes.

'Solid' was issued around '79-'80, nice enough set but I can understand why it sat in the can. Chewy-Chewy-Chew needs to listeny-listeny-listen to 'Idle Moments' , 'Green Street' ,'Matador', 'Grants First Stand', and 'Talkin About', and then report back to us on the relative and absolute merits of pre-Funky Grant Green.