Rooster_Ties

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

I’ll echo Jim’s “who else?” inquiry. I suspect an entire book-length subject on this sort of exploration might be welcome too! (as well as radio.)

Given the new Mobley and (presumably) Lee Morgan 60's sets -- it would seem a Chick Corea Blue Note set would be something very possible, given the sort of thinking that is giving us those Mobley and Morgan sets. Before the announcement of the Mobley, I wouldn't have really thought there'd be much chance for a Chick BN set -- but who knows, maybe there really could be one. I think(?) I own most everything that might be included on it, but maybe I'm forgetting some things that I don't actually have. In any case, I'd be glad to purchase such a set. I passed on the Mobley (since I already had every last cut of it on CD), but I just might buy the forthcoming Lee Morgan set (we'll see), especially if they can manage to eak out a good handful of previously-unreleased tracks.

BTW, there's just as much jazz from the 70's that *isn't* my cup of tea, than what is. That said, I can't imagine a more unfairly maligned decade for jazz than the 70's. I think a lot of people write off practically the entire decade, when there really was a lot of interesting stuff going on, though much of it under the radar at the time (I suspect, since I was born in 1969, and didn't even get into jazz until the late 80's in college). Although technically the 60's are probably my favorite jazz decade, I often cite the 70's as having the most recordings that I'm the most enthusiastic about sharing with people -- albums that I'm nearly positive that most folks haven't ever heard, or even heard of. Should be an awesome series of blog entries to follow closely throughout 2020. No decade would have me checking nearly daily -- or at least several times a week -- like the 70's will, so an excellent choice there!! - imho, of course.

Maybe more 'weird' than controversial, but ever since I was a kid (maybe 7 years old), I've always loved mustard on french fries -- WAY more than ketchup. There are some curry-ketchups I've had (at some 'German'-street-food restaurants here in DC in the last 6-8 years) that are pretty good too. But 90% of the time, it's mustard for me on french fries -- for as long as I can remember (i.e going on 44 years now).

STILL need and wish I had Sun Ra’s Other Voices Other Blues on CD, even if it was only a grey-market silver-disc (non-cdr) as good as the non-legit issue of New Steps that came out on CD with nice packaging and good liners (if you can imagine) some 10(!) years ago. I do have a legit copy of OVOB on LP, that I got back in college around 1990, and both of those quartet albums (both double-LP’s) are phenomenal.

It's all up on Spotify now, I've heard (and I streamed the one entirely new track "Steal Away" from there earlier, so I presume everything else is there). On the mega-huge Hoffman thread about it, someone said that CD's 4 & 5 were combined at looked like just one CD (at least on one of the streaming platforms, or maybe that was Amazon). In any case, if you're looking for it, and only see 4 CD's -- the last "CD" may actually be discs #4 & #5 combined. FWIW. I'll get the whole thing on CD in the next 6 months, I'm sure.

Hasn't the speculation that most (or at least many!) of Mosaic's sets have "timed-out" over the years, before they actually hit their maximum (contractually-limited) sales allotment? Most of their contracts limited sales to a specific time-frame (i.e. # of years), iirc -- at least from what I've read around here. And *if so*, then I think there was some further speculation I've heard that (somehow?) Michael managed to keep the Mobley 50's sessions in print *considerably* longer than practically any other set Mosaic has ever done (that they didn't own the rights to). Speculation, on top of speculation, I fully realize. In any case, I too wonder how it came to be that the earlier Mobley set was in-print for over a decade! - isn't that right? Discogs says it came out in 1998. When did it go OOP?? - something like 4-5 years ago? - give or take. Not more than 5 years ago (and not much less than 3). In any case, it had to be in print for something like 15 years. Has Mosaic ever kept ANY other title in print for anything even close to that?

Are there any other Morgan unissued leader-dates? - or partial sessions that have only been half-released (as in this case). There’s also that one odd very one-off single, with the two movie tunes. Have both sides of that single been issued on CD? I’m sure the A-side has (on some movie-themed BN comp), but what about the b-side? Mind you, I’m not pining for that single myself, but as long as we’re making conversation about a potential Lee 60’s sessions box, Anything else? Oh. I thought they were all labeled with that same song-title. Which tracks (uploads) are which??