Stefan Wood

Yeah, I take exception to the Starker comment.

Putting the "cult of mercury" aside, ain't nothing wrong with Starker.

Not a difficult thing to do, but reading between the lines here perhaps they are moving away from the physical cd sales and more towards downloads?

The Mercury Starker is excellent, and I love the Casals. But the Fournier on Archiv has really grabbed me.

A download for me as well.

Finally! On cd!!!!!!! Carl Ruggles

I'll second the Audio Technica, but this Shure M97xe is a very good all arounder as well.

Prices revised, will add some lps tonight.

Al, for the Terumasa Hino, try this link

Thanks all!

Alphonse Mouzon - Funky Snakefoot on Blue Note. 1st time I've ever seen this album. a couple of classic 70's funk tunes, these rest, bleah!! The Jazz Five - The Hooter! on Riverside. Never knew this existed. Blue label with microphone, etc. etc.

Thanks guys! Celebrating with the wife with dinner at Morton's tonight.

In DC? Virginia

Thom, good answers, as my reveals will show.

Track 9 - Salim Washington & RBA - Blossom (from the Accurate cd Love in Exile) Cd can be found here. Mp3 can be found here With Joe Bonner! I thought this would be a nice change of pace after a couple of high energy tracks, a beautiful, spiritual track. Track 10 - Donald Bailey - Variations (from the Talking House cd Blueprints of Jazz, volume 3) Cd can be found here Killer lineup. Track 11 - The Fourth Way - Clouds (from the Japan Capitol reissue cd The Fourth Way) Cd can be found here With Mike Nock, Michael White, Ron McClure, Eddie Marshall. I found this to be a beautiful tune, from a once extremely hard to find album. This cd and Werwolf were recently reissued; I hope they will re release Sun and Moon Have Come Together. Track 12 - Trio Veriditas - A Wind Reads Ruts Saluting the Blue Silk Beyond Pain (from the Clean Feed cd Live at Vision Festival VI) Alfred Harth, Wilbur Morris, and Kevin Norton. More info here from Clean Feed Another outstanding trio recording. Track 13 - Terumasa Hino - Eastern Egg (from the Japanese Sony double cd Into Eternity) Cd can be found here Hideo Mayata on sax, Mikio Masuda on piano, Motohiko Hino on drums, Tsutomu Okada on bass. A 10+ minute kick ass jazz funk fest from 1974 that definitely culls the spirit of Freddie Hubbard and the early CTI sound. The entire double album is just as good. Track 14 - Teruo Nakamura & The Rising Sun - Rising Sun (from the Japanese Sony cd Rising Sun) Cd was purchased at Dusty Groove; is now mucho expensivo here A nice effervescent tune from 1976, again with that CTI feel. Track 15 - Hamid Drake & Bindu - Blissful (from the RogueArt cd Reggaeology) Cd can be found here, but very limited in the States, for some reason. My favorite percussionist.

Track 4 - Steve Swell - Planet Hopping on a Thursday Afternoon (from the RogueArt cd Swimming in a Galaxy of Goodwill & Sorrow) Steve Swell, Jemeel Moondoc, William Parker & Hamid Drake. One word about this entire album -- SOLID!!!!! From the RogueArt website: This is an album to be cherished, because it reaches back and incorporates styles from swing to post-modern free jazz; and because the playing of Steve Swell and the members of his quartet are as near-perfect as you are likely to find; and because the melodies capture the imagination with a complex beauty that hooks into the inner being of soulfulness. It encompasses a unity of elements that comes as close as possible to the transcendental poignancy to which great art often aspires. As a trombonist, Steve Swell is about as good as it gets, and few can match his original fusion of technique and emotion, with obvious influences as diverse as Jack Teagarden, Grachan Moncur, III, and Roswell Rudd… I love most of Swell's work, from Double Diplods to this cd. Always exploring, always challenging, the music is all good. Track 5 - Aldo Romano, Louis Sclavis, Henri Texier, Guy Le Querrec - Entrave (from the Label Bleu cd Carnet de Routes) Cd can be found here Mp3 can be found here One of four cds with this line up, and all are worth hunting down. Sclavis is a very compelling musician, almost Dolphy like in his playing, but he has his own vocabulary, which is shown on the track I put here. Track 6 - Nick Ayoub - Perception (from the Do Right Music cd Ready or Not volume 2) Cd can be found here Mp3 can be found here I picked up the cd from da bastids. The disc is a compilation, the second in a series of hard to find Canadian Broadcasting Company jazz performances from the 60s and 70s. Track 7 - Embryo - For Eva (from the 2 cd compilation Embryo 40) Cds can be found here Mp3s can be found here Christian Burchard is the vibe player, on this excellent tune from the For Eva album, which even as a cd reissue is hard to find. Mal Waldron plays piano. Recorded around 1967. For those who are into Krautrock, this is startling, but this is the band in their (heh) embryonic stage, as they were more jazz influenced. Later they explored psychedelic rock, Indian music and other spacey sounds, playing with many world wide musicians, including Charlie Mariano and Fela! Track 8 - Basso Valdambrini Quintet - Lotar (from the cd Basso Valdambrini Quintet) Cd can be found here Various mp3s can be found here A nice 1959 hard bop tune from Italy!

I'm wrapping things up real soon, but hit me with a download, please!

Thumbs way up on the Carter Bradford! :tup :tup :tup

Since it is the start of summer, and things have slowed down, I will slowly reveal the tracks on the blindfold test over the week, just to generate some interest. Track 1 - Francois Rabbath - Impalas (from the Philips lp Bass Ball) Mp3 version can be found here Cd version, which is where I pulled the track from, can be found here I had the original lp back in college, and sat down with a musician friend to listen. After hearing the whole album, he insisted on trading a bunch of lps for which, which I stupidly accepted. It took me 20 years to track down the album again, thankfully from amazon! A fantastic musician who did not limit himself to genre or style -- he does Bach quite well! A nice overview can be found here Track 2 - ACT - ACT (from the Brooklyn Jazz Underground cd ACT) Ben Wendel, saxaphone/Harish Raghavan, bass/Nate Wood - Drums Mp3 version can be found here An excellent, if certainly little known cd from the independent label Brooklyn Jazz Underground (BJU). The album sounds like an extension of the classic Elvin Jones/Jimmy Garrison/Joe Farrell Blue Note albums from the late 60's. The playing is tight and the music is above average. More info on them can be found here Track 3 - Amir ElSaffar & Hafez Modirzadeh - Facet Two (from the Pi Records cd Radif Suite) Cd can be found here Amir ElSaffar has several outstanding discs on Pi, this being the second. The track I chose has a distinct Ornette flavor. From his website: As a composer, ElSaffar has used the microtones found in maqam music to create a unique approach to harmony and melody, establishing himself as an important voice in an age of cross-cultural music making.

Just a heads up, I will reveal the answers next week, so get your listening in and thinking caps on!

Received the box last night. As usual from this company, a real thorough job in research and remastering. Music is excellent.

Ir makes my white boy 'fro grow. It's not a jazz album as much as it is some trippy heavy duty funk. And that is all right by me.

Got this today from DG. Da bastids!!!! Every single person who enjoys adventurous, funky, intellectual, kick ass jazz should buy this cd. Just when you think you have heard it all, along comes a disc like this. If you've heard Cohran's 60's music, this is just as good, if not better than anything he has done. 85 years old and going strong -- it helps to have most of your family as band mates...... Excellent music!!!!! And yes, the picture is that big because it is that good!!!!!!!!!!! :excited: :excited: :excited: :excited: :excited: :excited: :excited: