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I have that Onaje Allan Gumbs solo CD, and concur that it is really good, as is that Ritual Trio with Pharoah Sanders (really, anything by The Ritual Trio is pretty awesome). I sure wish that Piano Choir recording was commercially available.

Spectacular, and amazing sound quality. I sprung for the 4-CD set.

I'd buy them!

As good as it gets for Disco. Real musicians laying down real grooves, incredible stuff that has held up beautifully:

The five I got from Unlqlo have held up really well also. Andrew Hill Judgement is my favorite, Eric Dolphy Out to Lunch is second. The other three were Freddie Hubbard Hub-Tones, and two Lee Morgan's, Cornbread and The Rumproller.

There are some strange gaps in CD reissues of the BYG Actuel catalog, and that's a big one.

He did a lot of non-jazz studio work for labels like Vanguard. Also, watch Spike Lee's autobiographical movie 'Crooklyn' for insight on Bill's work in that period. Those latter Strata-East records were self-produced musician's collective works and IIRC much more obscure than the initial S-E releases.

1975-1980 (a few more leaked out on CD only in the late 80's). Earlier releases are 1971-1974.

I much prefer it to Muriel Winston, "The Warm Voice of Billy C", etc., from the later days of Strata-East. I agree it is one of the weakest releases on Black Jazz along with Cleveland Eaton and Kellee Patterson, but none of them are bad bad vanity projects like some of the later Strata-East titles.

The extras CD has some great cuts!

Black Jazz was utterly consistent. Strata-East was spectacular at times in the early years, but put out some real dogs later on.

carpe diem! Not a bad release ever on that label.

Totally agree it is by far the weakest of the lot. I remember the disappointment in real time when it came out and I spent my hard earned $3.99 or whatever on it. But still "interesting" in historical context. Never heard the Arista album, would like to. Heard one vocal cut I actually liked, but I know the reputation the album has.

His entire Impulse run of albums is fascinating. Some dog tracks in there, but they're interesting dog tracks. And a lot of gems.

Yep, he was only 16 when it was recorded. I like the Alan Shorter suggestion a lot. Also Charles Tolliver would have worked, was already recording adventurous records with Jackie McLean.

Someone should grab that AEC set, less than $4 a disc!

They've had jerks since the initial induction. And the biggest HOF crime is the ignoring of Sweet Lou Whitaker, though I also agree Evans is more than worthy (certainly much more so than Jim Rice and Harold Baines, for instance). So much ignorance about baseball. 1961 Yankees, despite all of the home run heroics, barely averaged 5 runs per game because they batted Bobby Richardson (.295 OBP, .610 OPS) and Tony Kubek (.306 OBP) at the top of the order.

Proceed immediately to his acknowledged classic 'The Blues and the Abstract Truth' (with Freddie Hubbard, Eric Dolphy, Bill Evans, and others onboard), especially "Stolen Moments", then have fun going backwards into his excellent Prestige dates (especially 'Afro-American Sketches') and forwards into the rest of his catalog. 'Swiss Suite" is a favorite album from his later years for me, but there's a lot of wonderful, varied music of his to discover.

Yes!

I enjoyed Blues Project quite a bit. 'Reunion in Central Park' is a sleeper, and 'Live at Cafe Au Go Go' and 'Projections' are acknowledged gems. I am currently listening to this - quite an amazingly talented lady!

Nice lineup on the Fuller, I need to pull out the CD!

I like the Atlantic Trane, Mingus, and Ornette packaging, also the packaging for the Columbia big boxes that have all of the albums by an artist, such as the Miles Davis 70-something CD set, with the mini-lp sleeves inside a bigger box. I actually don't like the Mosaic packages as they are too big and also don't include the original artwork anywhere.

Make believe: Charles Tolliver, Billy Harper, McCoy Tyner, Reggie Workman, Kahlil El'Zabar.