king ubu

Here's a short Robbie Jansen & Spencer Mbadu documentary (in part 2 documenting, in part 3 promoting, the Western Cape Musicians Association):

Catching up bigtime on the old Ekaya albums... just started playing side 2 of the so far magnificient "Ekaya (Home)" (Ekapa-005), of which I got a NM or even better vinyl. Magnificient SOUNDING album, too - Cecil McBee's bass is gloriously captured by RVG! Also recently got hold of "Water from an Ancient Well", "Mindif", and finally a real copy of "African River" (used to live with copies of lots of my dad's Ibrahim CDs, about to finish my buying them all), as well as "Mantra Mode" and "Duke's Memories" with different bands (well, "Mindif" isn't quite Ekaya either). I guess "No Fear, No Die" will remain a sentimental favorite as I've had it for years and love several tunes on it (Calypso Minor, Angelica, Nisa...), but "Water..." might after all be the most excellent of the bunch! Ricky Ford often sounds rather tame here (in his own apeshit-measurement, that is) - and all the better for that! "Duke's Memories" is from the Black & Blue label and has been totally off my radar until recently when I saw it on some website and immediately ordered a copy! It's all Carlos Ward, from 1981 - in the middle of the period when Ward was most often the lone horn on such great discs as "South Africa" and "Zimbabwe", as well as "At Montreux" (where Craig Harris is added, nonetheless it's the least favorite of the bunch). "Mantra Mode" is from 1991 and was recorded in Cape Town with some old friends from South Africa: Robbie Jansen and Basil Coetzee stand out on alto/baritone/flute and tenor, respectively, Johnny Mekoa is on trumpet, Errol Dyers is on guitar (an instrument rarely heard with Ibrahim's groups... he had Lawrence Lucie on banjo for a second on "African Marketplace" though), Monty Webber keeps the good groove, and Spencer Mbadu plays bass. The disc contains some classic Ibrahim tunes such as "Barakaat", "Mantra Mode" or "Tsakwe", one track with Ibrahim on drums ("Beautiful Love" an Ibrahim tune, not the standard), and there's also the great "Tafelberg Samba/Carnival Samba". Ultimately, the album falls short on its expectations... or rather my expectations. It's a delight to have more of Jansen's and Mannenberg's blowing and it's a lovely disc, but it's not as great as I'd hoped for (in vain actually, as I played half of it in a store several years ago and actually knew - but I still got to have it!).

Got that one in the mail today! Looking forward to giving it a first spin later on! It was partly (four of the six cuts, I think) on CD, as was the entire (I think) "African Herbs" - sure those Kaz/Camden discs are (to my best knowledge) bootlegs, but I don't think there's any market for reissues of these. And they're anyway pretty far from what Jonathan is looking for, I think.

I see Niko has filled you in there... they played Willisau in 1997 and I think that concert is even better! That's still my favorite Tiny Bell disc! Better than "Constellations" and the disc on Arabesque, I think! Another idea might be to check out some reeds/cello/drums trios, such as Clusone? Sure, the cello can fill the traditional bass part much easier than a guitar can (or rather: it sounds much more natural done by a cello than by a guitar), but with far out guys such as Ernst Reijseger, you still might get a few clues? Also Clusone 3 has done lots of standards! This might be a good starting point (I think it was reprinted recently and should be around):

Ellery Eskelin / Marc Ribot / Kenny Wollesen: mighty fine disc! :tup

Got the BoB Live at Willisau - no sign that it's a reissue. Either they found some more copies in the cellar or they had it repressed. The only date shown is 1994, the © & (p) date of the original CD issue of it.

i have these in their standalone edition, which i think you are referring to. and i also have some of the older editions, like grey december. an advantage of the newer ones is that they replicate the original edition, with its proper cover and its choice of songs. so they're no compilations, like some of the old ones used to be. but they would duplicate material. that's for sure. but, on the other hand, you would get a better sound (at least only because they're contemporary. well, as contemporary as a cd from 2004 can be). as for your question, i'm not sure. i would prefer the newer editions. but if you already have the material and are happy with it, or its sound... I forgot to add that in the meantime I did get nearly all the new versions replicating the original albums! I gave away the older discs (Grey December was one of them), still need the 2004 reissue of "Big Band", got the old one (that adds the Sextet date, but the 2004 Sextet reissue has the most intriguing Bob Zieff bonus session!) Another old one I'll keep is "Young Chet", with a few overdubbed quartet tracks (several titles w/Bill Perkins, one with Jimmy Giuffre added) and the remainders of "Chet Baker & Crew" (of which, too, I'll stick with the older version). One of the reasons it took me so long - actually the main reason - to get these updated editions is that they all stem from the short period when EMI yurp threw out copy-crap editions hence these only turned up in such versions in the local bins.

Joyeux anniversaire, Claude! :party:

Gave that one a first spin yesterday - very, very nice! And yes, the Billie Holiday tribute is great!

Why are liner notes specially trustworthy? Of course the time distance is much shorter... but if some writer gets some info and a test pressing, why would his information be particularly accurate? Or were the liners written by Dick Bock and was he present during the sessions? Not doubting any of the information on display here, just wondering!

someone better grab that "radio box"!

Happy Birthday! :party:

There's also this one from Paris: http://www.amazon.fr/Chet-Baker-Quintet-Bobby-Jaspar/dp/B00394S542/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1301641691&sr=1-2 For those not willing to shelve out lots of money for the big box and not in possession of the old four discs and unwilling to give $$ to the thieves.

Thanks for bearing with me, Jim! Much appreciated!

So there's only one version - then I won't need to compare, thanks! Your reasoning makes a lot of sense to me, too. So the mistake was that the (1989) "Best of" disc had the date and line-up from the instrumental takes but actually contained the vocal take. If that's all there is to it in the end, and others copied that mistake, it's not such a big issue, after all. So the book was correct, after all? But what with Lord's date as of October 3 instead of October 27?

Two instrumental takes are on here, #15 & 16: Chet Baker Quartet Featuring Russ Freeman So the question that remains is all about the vocal take(s) on "Chet Baker Sings" and "Best of Chet Baker Sings" - to find out if they're identical, I'll have to compare the two later on at home. Jim, how many vocal versions of the tune does the Mosaic contain? I think I have the discographical information at home, but I can only check tonight. Allmusic has no track listing, alas.

Hm, so if there are indeed two versions (I've not had time to compare yet), I need to keep the "Best of" just because of that! These are the two discs in question: Chet Baker Sings and The Best of Chet Baker Sings (the latter carried a subtitle/title on the back of the cover and on the disc, but not on front and neither on the back tray, "Let's Get Lost"). EDIT: Oh, so there are even three takes! Thanks for that, will have to compare then... but I assume the "Best of" may indeed contain one of the earlier tracks then. How silly that they didn't add that version (or both of them) to a later reissue! But the earlier tracks are said to be instrumental only? Then the vocal track would be the same one again... what a mess. Will have to look into it tomorrow! Thanks a lot, Jim!

Got "Chet Baker Sings" today and can now dispose of the old "The Best of Chet Baker Sings" (for the anal ones: that one has 20 tracks, #1-8 and #15-20 are from "Chet Baker Sings", #9-14 are from "Chet Baker Sings and Plays"). Small discographical question: the old "Best of" CD says #1 "The Thrill Is Gone" is by Chet, Russ Freeman, Joe Mondragon and Shelly Manne and was recorded on October 27, 1953 at Radio Recorders (the same session also yielded three more tracks that were included on the West Coast Classic CD "Chet Baker Quartet Featuring Russ Freeman", they are "I Fall in Love Too Easily" and two takes of "Winter Wonderland", Chet only sings on "I Fall..." but plays trumpet on them all). The later CD of "Chet Baker Sings" lumps that track "The Thrill Is Gone" with the February 15, 1954 session (with Freeman, Carson Smith and Bob Neel, that session yielded seven other tracks with vocals, all to be found on "Chet Baker Sings" as well as on "The Best of Chet Baker Sings"). What's the correct information there? Bruyninckx has the Oct. 27, 1953 date - not that it matters too much in the end, but it would be nice to know who's playing in the rhythm section. Also that Oct. 27, 1953 date was his first date which included singing.

Ok, thanks. I've been buying more and more from Amazon UK lately anyway, will have to remember to check there not just for more Tubby Hayes and Spotlite/Dials I've got the BoB Willisau on its way from Amazon UK as I type this, but when I ordered it a few days ago I was just happy to see it back in stock at a more or less reasonable price and didn't check if it was a new reissue or not.

Missed that, too! Is there a working website? Other than: http://www.cadillacjazz.co.uk/code/ogncat.html "Exile" isn't listed there... would love to get updates, but never got any mails or anything, though I bought the Blue Notes box straight from them.

Yes! Very enjoyable compilation! I didn't pin down the Moholo, alas I must have played it four times at least, but never when I could take any notes, so I apologize for not having posted my impressions, but I enjoyed it a lot! - except for a few tracks (for instance #1 which seemed much too cool and too "professional" for me, but actually I like Hilton as a piano player elsewhere) Again, many thanks and humble apologies! Addition: I've heard the Lewis/Mangelsdorff and the Milt Ward - DOH! As for the Moholo, I don't have that disc (yet) - would be inclined to think Evans is the soloist, not sure Malfatti ever played that way - but don't take my word for it, it's just a guess (and not a very "educated" one, either).

June Christy Imelda May January Jones

Is this a reissue? Or what kind of weird listing? http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=5485188&style=music&meid=12491&x=2436620754330 I thought Ogun sort of gave up or rather went to become much smaller and not doing much any longer?

Great news, Chuck! Will get this with the Braxton/McDonough!

Yes, I was very happy to get Vol. 5, too! Those must be the most fascinating ones (64-69 or so)