king ubu

It still is - very, very much so! I've been using it for lots of rock and related stuff, and it's very good in many cases. But have you ever tried looking up a French chanson singer? Brel, Françoise Hardy? They're completely useless... and that makes me think how much I'd like them to be better as they are good, after all, to read up stuff quickly, gain some basic information and impressions... but there are huge gaps with respect to non-US music, also in jazz!

L'Histoire des Big Bands / The Story of Big Bands 14.45€ - 2 left of this 10CD set compiled by André Francis & Jean Schwarz (the folks behind the other wallet boxes presenting jazz from the beginnings). Got mine today, outer box somewhat crushed but other than that, all fine.

I don't think the question is about using these guides as sole sources of information and trusting them... I'd be surprised if someone handled them that way! I've never, ever, made my way through a whole Penguin guide, and don't think I ever will (I've got five of them now, just for the fun of it and because they're cheap when you've got some patience). More often than not I look up stuff that I already have, just to see what someone else might think of these records... or I'll be checking out a few things by artists I'm already familiar with. In some cases, I've used the Penguin to check out "new" artists, too - but more with old jazz, where I find them very reliable and where I had not idea where to start - clarinetist George Lewis, for instance... what a flood of albums there are... of course I could have asked here, but then I'd have had to start with 25 of them, I guess... not that the overwhelming enthusiasm and love for the music here is a bad thing, but usually, a mixture of sources (personal recommendations, concerts, web discussions, web searches on AMG, AAJ, wherever) works best for me. There's not one existing source that I'd want to rely on exclusively! Btw, in the latest issue of The Wire (march 2011) there's a short note by Brian Morton on Richard Cook at the beginning in the reader's letters section (he is answering to some other guy's story about Cook that must have been in the Jan or Feb issue - haven't bought those, I think).

Not sure how well this sold as an RCA/Novus release originally, or how available its been since then, but... I'm not at a a Carmen McRae fan, yet I'd highly recommend this one. Very nicely done on all counts and on all fronts. That's a wonderful album! It was out in the Bluebird First Editions CD series. Will have to get a few single ones from both boxes, but have most of what I need, I think. Is the Clifford Brown "Beginning and End" still around? Don't think I've ever seen it in the past 15 years... was it part of Henri Renauds "Jazz Originals" series? Or one of the red-framed "Masterpieces"?

Thanks. Over there, we can only buy the February issue so far (for a whopping 14$ or so... though on the printed price on it says 3.50£ or something like that...). Will try to think of this in two months time... I know this is off-topic, but why do Americans need to have the April issue in the first days of March? Because they own the world?

Is that the march issue or are you guys already in april? French Jazz Magazine/Jazzman (got the march issue today) has an interview with Hersch - very interesting read, with lots of outspoken opinions on his own music, on music in general etc (but I'm not confident enough to translate/quote him here - with outspoken opinions it's important to get the words right, would be too much work for me, sorry... if you want some french quotes, I'll gladly type off a few). He is among other things working on a duo with Moran, btw... Didn't know about the hardness he went through after 2008 (he fell in a coma, almost died, had to learn how to walk, talk and of course play the piano again).

John Surman - Glancing Backwards: The Dawn Anthology Arrived today... apart from not having a personnel listing (relevant only for "Conflagration", actually - and some info mgith be in the liners), this looks like a nice package! Just got it in the mail, haven't listened to any of it yet.

This was in reference to Clifford Thornton's post (#46). Wonder also why that Zodiac remains unreissued! Oh, I'd *love* to get "Zodiac", too! But no way new stuff will appear in such a cheapo series. Alas the "main" series has come to end quite some time ago... too bad, as it was a truly fine series!

Huh. I'd always thought that was Albert and Donald. Should've looked closer, I guess. Me too!

Also, in case anyone still doesn't have the Lyons box - it's compulsory listening in my small world! - that price on amazon.com (post #1 above) is rather ridiculous! Go straight to the source to buy it!

Checked back and just got a reply - seems it was an edition of 2000-2500 originally, and about 500 are left.

Sorry for the belated reply - on French and German Amazon, that "may need 1 or 2 days..." remark is very common and for regular CDs. So far I've only bought two CD-Rs on demand (both by mistake, but happily they start making it more visible when a product isn't a CD) and I must have bought two or three dozen regular CDs with that remark!

That remark is rather common on many amazon listings.

I guess you're right regarding the public they aim at, yes. Why a Wilen set? There was just one disc of his anyway in the Vogue series... would obviously love to see more, but as long as they're just repacking, Wilen's not an option!

I was just in touch with Stephane from Ayler Records (most delightful guy!) about an order and asked about this. He replied that it was not OOP and that they "still have a fair number of copies left"! Not sure where the notion that I was OOP came from! Needless to say, it's a terrific set and to me in many respects the crown jewel of the Ayler catalogue - and absolutely worth every penny!

Carnegie Hall 1949 is very good! Check here for some more JATP discussion:

Recently: Vols. 1, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 9 of the James Brown singles 2CD sets Also yesterday an order from Ayler Records arrived: William Parker - ...and William Dancded Jemeel Moondoc Tentet - Live at the Vision Festival Fred Anderson / Harrison Bankhead - The Great Vision Concert John Stevens Trio - Live at The Plough and also this little jewel:

Weird cover on that one... the photo is from several decades after the music!

The Green is great! carpe diem, as Mr. Sangrey would say!

Which one are you talking of?

Where dat from? The Jamal might be of interest, the parts from "More Sorcery" that were taken from the same live sessions as "The Sorcerer" were added to the Master Edition reissue (which I got fairly recently - it's great!), the remaining parts of "More Sorcery" are from the 1967 Monterey Jazz Festival (with Bill Goodwin instead of Marty Morrell on drums). Not sure I'd buy that again just for these three tunes (they're "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "Spellbinder" and "Comin' Back"). The Coltrane sounds exciting - but is it just unreleased but well-known (widely circulated) or really something new, a gig that was not known to have been taped or anything? Even in the first case, I'd be all over an official release and possible sonic upgrade, but the second case would be much more exciting of course!

Excellent point

i find them worse actually, the recent JiP sets i got a bit used to, plus inside those cardboard things have the complete photographs on them with only little writing (iirc) so when they're open, those boxes don't look bad ... I see... just know them from the outside as I have no need for any of them

Yes, they're ugly... almost as bad the recent Jazz in Paris 3CD sets.

Didn't check, but there were two discs each by Mulligan and by Raney - so these might be complete. Solal had four, Brownie and Dizzy three each (but with Dizzy, the 1953 concert is pretty dispensable... one of what I consider his "fun years" - though I'm sure it wasn't that funny - where he played it to the people and didn't have the best of sidemen).