king ubu

Got the Dr. John, Warren Zevon and Otis Redding of these - they're thinner than the Sony ones, with just a filmsy cardboard box, but the sleeves are done nicely, though of course with no info... and there seems to be no website to look up the details (as there is for the Sony/Legacy sets).

Yeah, but if you don't have either absolute pitch or are very good at it, you won't get it "right"... I don't try to do this, unless someone whom I trust gives me exact information. It's mostly not just "up a half step" or "down 35 cents", but the speed issues on such old recordings often aren't constant or don't affect all the tunes etc etc... it's too tricky for these bootleggers to get right.

Yes, that's a good one, got it (but not that Savoy, alas...)

These might run at a wrong speed... those annoying labels never get the details right, they just lift off whatever they can. THAT gets me pissed. I understand that people may prefer having these as real, pressed CDs, and I've never been one of the traders who claims to own anything, not at all... but these bunch of labels (probably it's just one guy anyway who had started 20 or these by now?) should get it right and should get the upgrades and fixes around in the traders community!

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag! :party:

"Tango in Harlem" might be my lonely island Teddy Edwards album! "Live in Paris" is somewhat flawed by all the added production, I find, but still a very strong one!

Btw, a Mal Waldron box would be most welcome, too!

Allen's right. I've removed the lyrics. Give me a break. You guys are kidding, right? april's fool...

In the shape of a Commodore, of course:

The Kühn is great - part of a series of 5 CDs reissued to celebrate his (Rolf's, that is) birthday last fall. Impressions, the Kühn Brothers one with Karl Berger (still called Karlhanns there) and the Rolf Kühn with Klaus Doldinger are all fine. I didn't get the two fusion ones, as I bet I wouldn't like them much...

How about Mosaic Saturn? I hear Sun Ra wants his stuff presented in a 200CD and 350LP black box, too! Sold on Saturn exclusively!

Mighty fine one! I never understood why a lot of people didn't like it... and Edwards' arrangements are suiting the music just fine, too! Some fun tune choices, too... "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" next to "Baltimore Oriole"!

I still have to get the CD - and here it was a club setting as well... it was the final gig of the tour and they just all seemed to be in a jesting and upbeat mood and enjoyed playing a bit longer and taking requests etc. Ballsy, yes indeed! And he dares to be ugly... his sound is still often pretty cool, but he can get that much emotion out of it, it's astonishing! And often he seems to rail on falling off track, playing such weird runs and notes or notes that don't fit our Western tuning at all (microtones if you will... more like just bent and slurred stuff, I guess though), and he is a master in bringing it back just in the right moment. Similarly with the pianist... in the opening number he took a long time joining in, and when he did he threw in chords that were indeed totally "false" (not just weird suppositions, I think, but actually chords that wouldn't fit the key of the tune at all) but he always made it work. I guess in some ways this group could be compared to Wayne Shorter's great quartet (which I've never seen live so far, alas), in how they walk the tightrope. Yes Shorter is younger and his chops and stamina are intact, so I somehow find Lee all the more impressive and daring!

Amazing concert last night! As usual with Lee, completely acoustic (except for a pickup and an amp hidden behind the curtain for the double bass), two hours without a break... (they announced it would last 90 minutes). Two or three tunes into the concert, Lee started to take requests, and all the time he was joking with the audience and the guys in the band... some terrific piano playing from this guy Florian Weber, and some very good drumming as well! Ziv Ravitz, the drummer, did one truly great solo on brushes, which sort of made me think of Fred Astaire at his most graceful... the drums really started to dance in my imagination! They did the usual old hat of tunes, Stella, Valentine, April, Body & Soul, but some of the requests were pretty cool: 'Round Midnight and Now's the Time, for instance, the later inspiring Lee to some weird, idiosyncratic yet clearly blues playing, the former leading to a whole new interpretation of the theme... which of course he always does... and Valentine... someone in the audience said "oh, that's a romantic one"... and the pianist mumbled - I sat in the front row so I could hear it all... - "yeah, I bet it is..." with a mean grin... and on they went doing a poised mid-up version, morphing into Softly As in a Morning Sunrise halfway through. Lee also did a fantastic duo with the drummer, on some old standard that I couldn't pin down but recognized... and to end things, they did an amazing take on "Cherokee" (and as in most themes, Lee just kind of touched the theme here and there, but did all of his own stuff all the way through). Even though his technique probably isn't what it was, it's truly amazing to see how he re-invents himself and this same bag of tunes again and again, after all these years, never playing the same thing twice! And having him play "Now's the Time" really made me think... this guy was around when Bird was around! And he's still doing his thing... now how great is that? A fantastic night!

According to what I can gather, it is not! For Duke at Carnegie in the 40s completists, there is also that 2CD on Vintage Jazz Classics from the November 13, 1948 concert It contains what is supposed to be the only performance of 'Lush Life' by the Ellington orchestra! If I recall correctly (I used to have it at the radio station where I worked) Billy comes on stage to accompany Kay Davis in a vocal version -- no orchestra, and no Duke. The Storyville "Duke Box" has the first half of the '43 concert on disc 5, and the remainder takes most of disc 6. So it IS there, thanks for confirming... I'm agonizing about the logica equina at this moment...

Just wanted to say thanks and put up a public - very fast delivery, discs in perfect shape! Happy customer here!

Thanks, Flurin, and (absolutely) ... no problem! Let's keep it rollin' here and elsewhere. Yup... somewhen next year I might get the Basie thing started again (with major help from you...?) - hopefully... my blog hasn't been updated in many months. Time is just too rare! We can still target the 110th b-day and 30th year of death in 2014, in any case...

Volkher, sorry to read this! And happy about the prognosticated outcome at the same time! I thought about you several times, probably should have written... sorry I didn't, but as I said, very glad to hear you're on the road up!

[...] too much muscle and rock beats [...] that didn't seem very organic with the rest of the band... I don't know his music at all though, so maybe if I stumble over that set again, I should reconsider... r.i.p. My problem, exactly. You nailed it. A lot of his varying output was simply too generic. So where to look to get familiar a bit? Are there some treasures hidden in the box that my quick sampling didn't unearth? Should I get it if the price is right? Or is there something else to look for?

I have those... and as others said, sound is less than good. It always takes me a few cuts to get over it and into the music, and then I just start from the beginning again (omitting God Save the Queen or whatever crappy chorale they have to start with) and all is fine... unless I read here that the new box is a major upgrade, I'll stick to what I have That one's part of Storyville's "Duke Box", I think, right? Don't have it at hand to check...

That box didn't sound so thrilling to me - to much muscle and rock beats that didn't seem very organic with the rest of the band... I don't know his music at all though, so maybe if I stumble over that set again, I should reconsider... r.i.p.

Chuck those two VMEs one should get in addition to the 10CD set? Any others that are decidedly better-sounding than what's in the box?

I should slow down, yes indeed... but then I still feel like exploring so much new stuff! This of course results in huge piles of discs I've played once or twice, but there's always the possible rationalization that this helps to keep the music fresh and unexpected (you know, after all jazz is about improvisation and surprise...)

... which seems to have worked! :excited: will take me two years I guess to digest all that's coming... crazy, but I'm always happy to know I have this or that and don't need to worry when it runs out and I'm short of dinero... (which is what I'll be after this ordering excess...) As for the Mobley - it's one of the finest among the Blue Note Mosaics, for sure! I really don't get why it hasn't sold out years ago. I've had it for many years, and the music sure is fine as hell! And definitely as good as his more famous 60s albums, including my own favourite "Soul Station"!

how 'bout Ninotchka?