king ubu

he he, "birds in bikinis" - great name for a band... (would have been cooler than "the supremes", no?) just saw "the italian job"... michael caine (in "alfie") was the first person I heard using the b-word... (will catch him in "get carter" again tomorrow night - what a great actor!) yes, decca was the label that issued some of that stuff in yurp or the us or wherever domesticated. (I have another LP from my parents - my dad lived in ZA for a year or so in 1968-69, I assume they're from there - which is on decca, then... a pennywhistle compilation, can't remember what it's called)

and here's the part with the credits (I can do the liners like this, too, if you wish):

backcover:

front cover:

My parents have that LP... not as jazzy as you might wish, but it's been a while that I played it. Decca is right. This was the beginning of the european exile of the ZA jazzers... most I think went back, but they had tasted a bit of free air...

Just thought I'd finally watch the Salzau 2004 DVD by the Rava Quintet - great so far! By that time, Andrea Pozza* had replaced Bollani in the quintet - another fine young musician! I forgot that Bonaccorso was the bassist here, too - I love his big woody sound! --- *) doesn't that name mean "the one who smells badly"?

Yes .. Jazzloft $34.99. Maybe elsewhere also, haven't checked around. EDIT: Sorry, strike the above. That's their old web site. Available here at their new web site. Thanks, just sent in an order... hurts my purse, ouch! But I've wanted to get this one for years... totally forgot about it!

Ambrosetti is Swiss indeed... and I think he more often played with Swiss (and American) musicians than with Italians, so I didn't even think of him at all. Anyway, he's a mighty fine musician! (So was his father, Flavio - I had him on my first BFT which was dedicated to Swiss jazz, mostly).

I still need a copy of that "We Did It! We Did It!" - is it still available? Mirabassi is a fabulous clarinet player! His trio with Godard was completed by another of those squeeze box guys, Luciano Biondini. Giovanni Mirabassi did things with Flavio Boltro, who also appeared on some of di Battista's tours - while I like di Battista a lot, I was never sure about Boltro - too much of a Miles clone, I found. And I forgot to add that I quite enjoy the Instabile/Taylor album - it's of course *very* different from what we've come to expect from the Instabile gang, but no one would have seriously expected Taylor to join the fun with "Fantozzi"... Carlo Actis Dato I also forgot to mention. His quartet is great, I have three of their albums: "Fes Montuno" and "Istanbul Rap" on yvp, and "Swingin' Hanoi" (Splasc(h) again, I think). Also I quite like the Leo disc by Tachibana/Actis Dato/Ohta's "TAO" trio, "Tomorrow Night Gig", a live recording. Then, there's Marcello Melis - he did a great album on Soul Note that everybody here loves (do the search yourself, please, probably it was just shortly discussed somewhere in the "rat"). Roswell Rudd is on that album. Pietro Tonolo (sax) also deserves mention. I only have one fairly sweet Egea album ("Oltremare") but he's a sideman on some nice live shows I have. And Alberto Mariano (sax) did an interesting thing with traditional sardinian music and Coltrane ("Coltrane on Launeddas"), but that goes more into mediterranean direction again, with oud, darbuka, and also Black Sea chap Theodosii Spassov (kaval, a reed instrument). Paulo Angeli plays a self-made guitar (with more strings than normal, I think). He did a fine live album in duo with Hamid Drake ("Uotha"). Other fine players from the Instabile orbit are Daniele Cavallanti and Tiziano Tononi. And Sebi Tramontana, Eugenio Colombo...

About Instabile: I find the Instabile Festival 2CD set on Leo to be quite good - various line-ups, from trios to big band (only on a few pieces). Also the other disc on Leo is very good, in my opinion (possibly my favourite, but I don't have "Litania Sibilante" yet, neither the Nel Jazz [?] disc). Mario Schiano did a pretty nice album with Sam Rivers ("Rendez-Vous", I think on Red Records). Then there's Eric Legnini (is he French actually? His sideman are, his first name isn't "Enrico", so...), a mighty fine pianist, follower of Phineas Newborn, so probably much more to the taste of those who find Pieranunzi a boring player (I don't know him well enough to make a judgement). There's of course Giorgio Gaslini (three volumes of "L'intégrale" 2CD set on Soul Note, the solo piano discs dedicated to Ayler and Monk's music - all great, except I don't have the third Intégrale volume yet, so I can't tell about that one). Then Gil Cuppini - his album with Barney Wilen is terrific! Enrico Rava did lots of interesting things. I like his quartet album on ECM with Roswell Rudd a lot (there's at least one long, bad-sounding live recording of that band that's floating around). Trovesi of course is one of the best, and I even think his ECM discs are good (though in the end those he did for Enja and Soul Note are probably quite a bit better). The duo with Gianni Coscia is sentimental and sweet, their Weill programme is fun though (only have live shows from that), the other ECM ("In cerca di cibo") I find pretty lame, but their disc for Egea (another label too cute and sweet for most, I assume?) I found much better, it's called "Radici" I think. Speaking clarinets, there's Gabriele Mirabassi (not sure if he's related to rather uninteresting pianist Giovanni Mirabassi who did several albums for the defunct Sketch label). He's got a disc in trio (with Michel Godard) on Enja that I don't have yet (but it's on my wantlist). Also he's got a fine disc of Pixinguinha songs on Egea, called "1 - 0 (uno a zero)". Egea has more good things to offer, including the napolitan banda albums by Marco Zurzolo - I have two of them and love them! (They're "Napoli, Ventre del sud" and "Pulcinella") Then there's Pino Minafra, mastermind of the Instabile gang - his album on Victo is terrific! It's called "Sudori". I also have an album of his and the "December 30 Trio" (including pianist Giorgio Occhipinti), which is pretty good (I think that one's on Splasch(s)). Talking of Occhipinti, there's his long OOP Leo disc, "Kaos Legend", very good one! Oh, and talking Leo: a live show by Minafra with Han Bennink and Ernst Reijseger, "Noci... strani frutti" is pretty decent, too. Then there's Gianni Gebbia - simply da shit, as they say - his "Arcana Major/Sonic Tarots Session" solo disc is one of the most stunning listening experiences I've had. I also have his disc "Outland" (again I think on Splasc(h)), which is quite enjoyable, and also "A Night in Palermo", a co-led group thing with Gino Robair, Garth Powell and others. Then there's the trio he has with Powell and Matt Goodheart - their disc is called "Zen Window" and belongs to bay area rather than Italian jazz, I guess, but go check them out if they play your town... (I was lucky enough to be able to hear them live here, several years ago). Paolo Fresu, then... a highly melodic player, probably too sweet again, but check out the trio P.A.F. (Paolo Fresu, Antonello Salis, Furio di Castri). They're good, and no, they're not sweet and easy. Pianist Salis is another great musician, ranging from solo shows to playing accordion in bands, and doing free improv wiht Evan Parker (there are two trio discs I think with Mauro Orselli on percussion, I only have one, "improvisazioni", I think again on Splasc(d) - sorry, my list does not mention labels...) Then there's Stefano Bollani... And also more on the mainstream side: Rosario Giuliani (alto sax) - I have his "Mr. Dodo" (Dreyfus?), pretty fine album. Another alto player (both he and Giuliani have been discussed here before) is Stefano di Battista, in whose group normall you'll find two thirds of the Eric Legnini Trio (Legnini himself, and bass player extraordinaire, Rosario Bonaccorso). He did several albums on Blue Note, including the first one with Elvin Jones appearing as a special guest. I assume that almost covers my italian jazz exposure so far... ah, no, the "La Banda" 2CD set on Enja is worth mentioning. Trovesi, Willem Breuker, Bruno Tommaso and a few others doing banda music, the first disc just pure stuff (Verdi arias, mainly), and the second disc compositions/arrangements by the mentioned jazz musicisans (Tommaso did a great Nino Rota medley - hey signor Muti, that's the way it should be done... though that disc with the Scala orchestra isn't bad either...) The mastermind behind that banda + jazz project was again Pino Minafra, I assume (and the german producer who also produced some other very good Enja Italian/Mediterranean jazz-related albums, such as Trovesi's fantastic "Round About A Midsummernight's Dream"). Oh, and to end just one word for Giancarlo Schiaffini - I only have the not that great disc "Let" he did with Trovesi and percussionist Fulivio Maras and some electronics, but he's an incredible trombone player!

huh?

of course... would be weird if not, wouldn't it? I've gotten used to not having any cat around anymore... but there's still one living in the house (a double-house, with four big and one tiny flat each), and now that ours is gone, that other one sometimes spends whole days in our flat.

But both "Monk" and "Monk's Time" already were reissued again... the other two are, I think, the only Columbias that weren't re-done yet, and I'd love to get them in newly done versions (I don't have them at all yet, kept waiting/hoping... love those reissued Columbia Sony/Legacy Monk discs a lot!)

yeah, I know... but I keep hoping against all odds...

yeah, sometimes... at other times she was... well, a nasty bitch

finally found a way to hook up my cellphone wiht the computer (and hence now I have some cool ringtones, by Odell Brown, Schlippenbach and the like...) - here's the one photo I have, her looking through our kitchen window at the snowy backyard in mid november:

There's a great discographical website I happend to find coincidentally a couple of days ago: http://www.geocities.com/moron200/gainsbou...ds/records.html And here's the cover of said 5CD box:

I like him quite some - mostly his early stuff, but also some of the later things. Also caught "Anna" a couple of months ago (reported about it in the film corner, I think) - great soundtrack, a few great cameos by Serge himself, and of course the lovely Anna Karina all the way through... While in Paris last autumn I bought the "100 meilleurs chansons" box of his (that's a series of 5CD boxes, you'll get one for Brel, Trenet, Aznavour etc. etc.). I assume that will do for a while... on the other hand, a store in town has several of his albums in mini LP packages (all 60s and 70s albums) that look rather nice...

I wouldn't call myself a "hard bopper at heart", but those years make up the core of my collection so far, too... but more with interest towards the boundary-stretching stuff, Mingus, Coltrane, Shepp, Dolphy, Hill... But I have many of bop's most important recordings, too, as well as getting more and more into earlier jazz (Duke, Prez, Basie, Lunceford, to name a few favourites). The 70's are covered rather thinly, so are the 80s, after which I have more again. Also I have some out stuff discussion of which was restricted mostly to the funny rat (r.i.p.) thread here, of late, however, my listening has been more conservative again, I guess... less challenging stuff just fits better if time is short or if it's just background listening at work. But in the end, what is my favourite era - I'm not sure I could really answer that question, as the accidental way in which I'm building up my collection doesn't necessarily reflect what I love best. Also as far as live concerts are concerned, my taste is *much* more progressive and into free stuff, I'd likely never attend any of those young post-boppers live (never did so at least, to this day) - things like Instabile, ICP, lots of free improv, Sclavis, local people, Irene Schweizer, Co Streiff, but also occasionally some old guys if I get a chance (Benny Golson, for instance, or the late Benny Bailey, or Dr. Lonnie Smith). But I really wouldn't see a point to hear anyone live whose music is heavily leaning onto all those great Blue Note albums - if I want that, I open a bottle of my favourite alcoholic brew and sit down in our living room to enjoy the real thing.

I assume like the following: ?

RDK's signature (You can do what you like with jazz as long as it doesn't lose it's Deep Dark Blue Center." - Hoagy Carmichael) made me think of this one: Thanks Al, I'll try and grab the files tonight! With good reason you thought of that, Flurin. Collier took his title from Hoagy's quote (which is where I first heard it, in Collier's liner notes). Ah, that's cool, I didn't know about that (don't know much about Collier anyway) - I love Hoagy! Watch out for the forthcoming CD reissue of 'DDBC' - in stereo, featuring my LP ! cool, I think you mentioned that before but I forgot about it - will have to look for it to go legit with that one, finally!

What about the third Coltrane box?

Do you happen to have attended that weird (and ultimately pretty bad, I found) trio concert of Solal's with Johnny Griffin (most likely pretty drunk...) and the late NHOP at the Tonhalle some six or seven years ago? Solal was dazzling now and then, but the whole concert was quite a mess, only NHOP I found to play on more or less steady a level, Griffin totally out of it, and Solal changing between too few moments of brilliance and some pretty lacklustre playing... Where did you find the France Musique 2CD set? It seems by now it's not that easy to find, at least I never managed to get a "real" copy of it... No, I did not attend this concert, seems that I did not miss that much. I found the France Musique 2CD set on priceminister.com, a French site, kind of a marketplace similar to amazon. They currently have the set for €10,65. Service was fine: Quick delivery, cd in impeccable condition. Thanks, I'll have to check that site out some day! There was a thread dedicated to this Douglas/Solal disc, I think, I'm sure you can find it by doing a search. I don't have it, and as Douglas isn't one of my bigger heroes (it's sort of some I like a lot, some I just don't care about at all, and his own trumpet playing... well, he certainly is skilled and all, but he's too much of a thinker, probably).

RDK's signature (You can do what you like with jazz as long as it doesn't lose it's Deep Dark Blue Center." - Hoagy Carmichael) made me think of this one: Thanks Al, I'll try and grab the files tonight! With good reason you thought of that, Flurin. Collier took his title from Hoagy's quote (which is where I first heard it, in Collier's liner notes). Ah, that's cool, I didn't know about that (don't know much about Collier anyway) - I love Hoagy!

I have my third sets of passports, I think... always had one, got a new one last year as after that the merikins would require a genetic sample (my left index finger and/or thumb, I guess) in order for me to enter their paranoid yet free country... also got a new aussie passport a couple of years ago. And in addition (passport costs amount to almost a smaller Mosaic set) I have an ID card - many EU countries have laws that require you have an ID with you all of the time (or they'll claim your head to make an i-d, I assume...), or so I was told in Vienna this summer. Also you need an ID card to pick up parcels from the post office, of course (and those effing creeps like to do power games and even though it's wrong tell you that an expired passport or ID card won't be accepted...)