Rooster_Ties

I almost never do downloads (3-4 releases total, over the last decade, literally). And I only buy vinyl if there's no other option -- and even then, never "new releases" that are only on vinyl (though I will occasionally buy some older vinyl, for something that's never been on CD ever, or is impossible to find on CD). I suppose eventually I might have to buy actual "new" new releases on vinyl, to avoid downloads (which I hate), but it hasn't come to that yet. I too prefer CD's FAR AND AWAY over every other format, but I guess I'm a dying breed. Might be easier if I was already 70, and my "buying years" were more limited -- but I expect to have some continued interest in music for another 20-25 years, I hope. As a result, 80% of my purchases (overall), have been of older product that was released years ago -- almost always stuff by older artists I'm just discovering now. But new artists, for the most part, I'll never hear 95% of their stuff as a result. I guess I'm entirely the one to blame, but I refuse to dump money into downloads, i.e. data that I won't necessary have reliable access to 10-20 years from now unless all the planets stay in perfect alignment to keep all that virtual music accessible in perpetuity.

I'm almost positive I had Directions on CD at one point, which I sold after I'd gotten everything from it via all the metal-spine boxes. Funny though, I can't for the life of me very specifically remember when I got it -- or when I got rid of it. Used to be 15 years ago, I could look at any CD in my collection, and tell you not only about when I got it (within a year or two), but also WHERE it was that I bought it. Now, I can barely do that with 30% of my collection any more (if that much, even).

#6 on your list is available here... https://remyleboeuf.bandcamp.com/album/assembly-of-shadows NONE of the others are even listed on Discogs.org (actually none of the entire list are), fwiw.

I would agree that Lee Morgan is a better fit, though I don't think Freddie Hubbard was really all that far off. That said, and on a related topic... …I'm sure one could make the argument that Andrew Hill wasn't really the best fit with Hank either (the session of 2-OCT-1963, with Lee Morgan - released in full as the McMaster 1989 edition of No Room For Squares). But I really enjoy that session with Hill, not because its such a 'great fit' (because it isn't really) -- but it's interesting to hear Hank playing in a context that isn't so sympathetic. It's not like Hank being on a real Hill leader-date, but it is a little bit like that now and then. It's a little like how it would be hard to argue that Kenny Dorham was the best fit to play with Andrew Hill -- and yet, it's really quite interesting to hear Dorham with Andrew on Joe Henderson's Our Thing, and also Hill's own Point of Departure. I imagine Hank would have been especially good if Hill had attempted another Grass Roots type session -- perhaps even better than the results of that No Room For Squares session, actually. Food for thought, anyway.

Willie (‘the’ Willie) was apparently a bit of a boxer himself, at least in so much that Miles was one too. No idea if that’s the connection or not, but fwiw... https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/artists/willie-nelson-interview-always-look-for-hope/amp/ > Nelson says: "I have always been interested in keeping fit and doing boxing and wrestling. As a youngster, I loved Charles Atlas, Bruce Lee and Kung Fu. But when I lived in Nashville I switched to doing Taekwondo. Miles is mentioned in passing, as well as some more general thoughts on jazz by Willie.

And here’s the hard way... https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/2636760?ev=rb I’ve been looking for a VG+ copy for less than $55 (incl. shipping to the US) for a few years now, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a copy for anything less than well over $80. Been temped, but that’s a little more than I can bring myself to pay.

Part of it for me *is space* just as much as the outlay of cash for this new set. I've got too damn many CD's as it is, and I really can't justify having two physical copies of that many CD's with the exact same material. Our 1BR, 630 sq-ft apartment is overflowing with too much stuff as it is now. If I got this new Mosaic, I'd really need to get rid of 75% of the individual CD's of that same set -- but in all honesty, I really prefer individual CD's when given the option (because of having the original cover art, and not having albums/original-sessions split across two physical discs). I took the plunge on the Bee Hive box in support of Mosaic, even though I really only was super-interested in about 30% of it. No regrets at all with the Bee Hive, but harder to justify when there isn't even 5 minutes of previously unreleased material (which isn't a complaint about the new Hank set, but it is what it is). May be the same with the Lee Morgan box for me too, we'll see. If they manage to find 6 or 8 previously unreleased tracks (like the rest of that 13-Sept-1968 session, plus a few other alternates here and there), then I might take the plunge for the Lee Morgan.

Ha! More specifically, I have every one of these albums on CD, including the 2012 TOCJ Japanese reissue of Third Season -- the one with the alternate of "Don't Cry, Just Sigh" (and the only release with that alternate) -- which I'm pretty sure is the only rare track on this new Mosaic, and the only one that's 'sorta new' (since it's only been released once, on just that one Japanese reissue).

I have (occasionally, and years ago) bought Mosaic booklets for particular sets -- separate from the set -- direct from Mosaic. Mostly only for the Miles Davis LP sets that were compliments to the metal-spine boxes (I think I have booklets-only from the Miles & Gil, 1965-68, and Plugged Nickel sets, iirc, all purchased direct from Mosaic at the time). That said, I might be temping to get the booklets (only) for this new Hank set, and also for the new Lee Morgan set too -- seeing as I already have every last track of the Hank on CD, and that may be the case for the Lee Morgan as well (tbd, since we don't know the exact contents of it yet). Anyone know Mosiac's current stance on selling booklets apart from the sets they go with these days? (It's so hard to justify buying this new Hank set, since I've literally already got every last track, 100%, on legit CD's already. But I wouldn't mind having a copy of the new liners, I will admit that.)

I have the last 4 (vols 5-8), all hardback, which I think cover 1961-64 (iirc), or maybe 1960-63 (I can't remember). Fellow board member "Tom in RI" sold them to me for $125 total about 4-5 years ago, and they were in excellent condition - quite a reasonable price, I thought (about $32 per volume, including shipping).

Zappa always seemed like a pretty impenetrable sort, who very few people could probably have a good conversation with -- other than (perhaps) people for whom the name "Frank Zappa" might not mean anything. Without anything specific to back this up, I suspect Frank looked at every social interaction with anyone who knew who he was, as a sort of mini battle of wills. Or battle of intellects. Or battle of something. Wasn't there a documentary a few years ago that was nearly all segments of interviews (long and short) with Frank? I only half remember it, just enough to think that I may have actually seen it (which would have been in an actual theater here in DC, if you can imagine - and I even seem to think I dragged my wife to go see it with me). Maybe I posted about it here, even. Anyway, I only barely remember seeing it -- but I do have this (admittedly vague) memory of just how damn difficult and sort of full of himself Frank seemed to always be. But I *also* seem to (vaguely) remember thinking that he was half-to-be-forgiven (maybe), simply because he was so full of interesting (or at least half-interesting) ideas, not only about music, but about EVERYTHING. (Emphasis on the "HALF-interesting" though.) If you liked the man generally, as I (generally) do -- then, all that nonsense was genuinely sort of interesting and/or entertaining to watch. But I also would be foolish not to recognize how tiring I'm sure it got to be dealing with Frank, whether you worked for him, or whatever. I don't primarly think of (i.e. conceptualize) musicians as being "the boss" super often, within the bands they formed. Clearly band leaders are that, but in most cases, their role as "boss" is just one hat, and just a necessary part of getting shit done. But that "I'm the boss" aspect of Frank seemed every present, and it seemed to permeate his interaction with the world (not that he was the boss of everything, but he did give off that "I'm in charge" vibe in seemingly every interaction that I've seen captured of the man -- interview footage, and print-interviews, etc. Even his book comes off that way. I've got about 80% of his entire catalog on CD (though I haven't kept up with the new archival stuff that's come out in the last 10 years). About once every 5 years, I'll get in the mood for a bunch of Zappa, but then I might not listen to anything by him for 2-3 years (not a note). Obviously a brilliant mind, but I imagine he was also tiresome.

I haven't picked up that big Monster box yet, but it's something I think I'm going to have trouble resisting for more than 6 months or so. I'm debating between getting the big box, or just the two-CD set (with the alternate remix of the main album itself, which I've heard a few tracks from on-line). Either way, I'm sure (my) resistance will be futile! What I really want to know, though, is how is that disk of unreleased demos?? I'm a total sucker for that sort of thing with some bands, but less so with others. I've heard some non-LP REM stuff before (instrumentals and such), but all of it was pre-Monster stuff. And (believe it or not!), Monster is really the earliest(!) REM album that I'm really all that fanatical about (along with New Adventures and Reveal). More generally, while I am a fairly big fan of REM in general, I would only put them in my personal top-25 list (maybe down pretty close to the #20 spot too), so they're not really an absolute favorite of mine. Feedback on the big box, demos and the live stuff especially, would be appreciated. I'm already sold of getting the remix-version of Monster (i.e. the 2CD set), it's just a question of whether I spring for the really big box or not).

I've always wondered what (if anything?) that Duke Pearson might have had to do with Third Season, since it's a similarly larger-size group. But Duke is *not* credited in the liners, far as I'm remembering. If I remember right, didn't Duke possibly do the arranging on Slice because of a short time Hank spent in jail(?!) right before Slice was recorded? I don't have my Slice liners in front of me, but I seem to remember some of that album was written while Hank was in jail for a time around then. ANYWAY, my main point is that I've always wondered if Duke also the arranging of Third Season, or if those really were Hank's arrangements. Perhaps the new liners of this new Mobley 60's box will shed some light on that.

Much worst-sounding than the absolute worst sounding Jimi Hendrix boot I ever heard, which is really saying something. At least from my memory of last having heard it on some CDR I got somewhere along the line 10-12 years ago.

Herbie was a young giant in the 60's, but he certainly became a much bigger and quite different sort of giant in the 70's.

I had a TON of those Miles albums as individual titles, incl. a fair number as Japanese imports too. Directions I especially remember being a bear to find on CD, and I even had the Japanese editions of Sorcerer and Nefertiti about a year or two before they'd ever come out in the US on CD. Anyway, while I completely agree the boxes disagreeably discard the original album-sequencing, I ultimately couldn't justify owning ALL that material twice -- for reasons of space/storage as much as anything. I never got rid of jewel boxes, and was probably up around 5,000 CD's by the time I decided to part with all those individual Miles albums on CD. Do I regret not having them any more? Sure. But given our tiny 630 sq-ft, 1BR apartment here in DC, there's no way in hell I could justify having that much duplicated material. I've burned a couple CDR's here and there, with the original sequences, but not all that many. Sorcerer and Nefertiti both fit wonderfully on one CD (sans "Nothing Like You..."). And a number of other key albums are in the original LP-sequences on the metal-spine boxes. And I did keep Kind of Blue, of course - which for those rare times I want to hear it, I really want to hear the actual album as intended. No big regrets, but I totally understand the impulse to have a lot of them as originally sequenced.

I just got the Resonance 2CD comp in the mail today, and looking forward to hearing the 1.5 albums that I didn't already have from it. Been a while since I listened to the one album from this that I do have (Light Lines), and I remember it being both adventuresome and also sonically less in-your-face than a lot of similar stuff. For instance, back when I first got Light Lines, I had it on with my wife around (a few times even!) - and she *didn't* run screaming from the room, which is quite a rarity for something with adventuresome bass clarinet playing on it.

Billy Harper, Woody Shaw, and probably Charles Tolliver too. Stanley Cowell too if you want to consider some of Tolliver’s Music Inc dates as co-leader dates - which is not entirely true, but not entirely wrong either! Anthony Braxton surely. Who else am I missing?

48 boxes, 43 booklets, NO CD's... https://www.ebay.com/itm/MOSAIC-LIMITED-EDITION-BOX-COLLECTION-48-Boxes-43-Booklets-NO-CDS/254443225084?hash=item3b3dff7ffc

Damn! Great score!!

OK, fess up. How much did the Tolliver BB Select set you back? Hopefully you scored a deal!

OK, ok, ok. Somehow, despite owning nearly 90% (95%?) of the rest of Tolliver's entire output -- including as a sideman -- somehow(??!!!) I've never heard Song for my Lady. Gotta get around to that one, clearly then. The universe is reminding me of that here, now, and I oughta listen.

I'll just say that I think it's a crime that these early 70's Tolliver big band recordings are out of print, and fairly expensive to find on-line secondhand. I have the whole Select set myself, of course (both Tolliver Selects, in fact) -- but I almost can't imagine a release that ought to be more widely known that the two Strata East albums with big band especially. I don't know how well they sold at the time, but they swing like mad, and yet are as fiery in terms of playing as it gets. Tuneful, approachable -- hell, my wife even likes this stuff and always catches on when any of the same tunes come up in smaller combo contexts (non-big-band) on other Tolliver and Stanley Cowell recordings, and she's not always one to remember jazz tunes. Some of the best music recorded that entire decade.

I rather strongly suspect the "Clapton & Baker were both plodders" is mostly the reason for my reaction to Cream live. I very, VERY specifically remember in high school my senior year, and in college listening to those two Live Cream LP's I had, and thinking "why the hell isn't this clicking for me? - after all, I've got a metric-ton of live Jimi Hendrix (my very first deep musical love), and ostensibly Cream isn't really that much different, are they?". Jimi couldn't have been any less loud and insane to record live (from an engineering/tech standpoint), and I've never heard a Hendrix recording - even the lesser ones - that left me feeling as 'ho, hum" as those live Cream albums. Even Jimi's Woodstock performance -- sonically pretty bleh, and maybe musically one of the 'least together' documents of any Jimi ever played live (that got released commercially, anyway) -- even Woodstock is a little better, for me, than the live Cream I've heard (IMHO, FWIW, YMMV). Sorry, I'm really threadcrapping here, I realize -- and no offense intended to those all stoked for this new live set.

I've always liked studio-Cream a LOT better than live-Cream, though admittedly I haven't listened to much of their live stuff in years. Maybe it was the quality of the recordings? - I seem to always remember them sounding very loud, and very boomy - like they were all recorded in a basketball arena or something. The only live Cream I have now is from that year 2005 2CD "Gold" compilation (Universal/Polydor), which collects up live tracks from Live Cream, Wheels of Fire, Live Cream Vol. 2, and Goodbye Cream. (And 30-35 years ago, I think I had both volumes of Live Cream too, but got rid of them 25 years ago.) Maybe it's just what the band sounded like live, no matter where they played. I recall that CD compilation live CD (the second disc is all live, which I haven't spun in years) being pretty universally "bloated" sounding. I do spin the first disc of studio recordings, to hear Jack Bruce's voice as much anything else, which I quite like. I've been meaning to pick up a copy of Bruce's Songs For A Tailor for years, and maybe I'll finally get around to it one of these days. Speaking of Jack's voice, here's a dandy early 90's remake of "Rawalpindi Blues" (from Escalator over the Hill)... Bass, Voice – Jack BruceDrums [Trap Drums] – Marvin "Smitty" Smith, Robbie Ameen*Engineer – Mike KrowiakGuitar – Leo NocentelliMusic By – Carla BleyPiano – Don Pullen This YouTube upload of it starts really quietly, but it jumps up in volume around 0:40. (Disc 1, track 7 on this multi-artist tribute to Paul Haines.) https://www.discogs.com/Paul-Haines-Darn-It/release/2944643