king ubu

No, I don't like OP by and large, but for me there are exceptions -- for example, the trio with Ellis, with its neo-big band routines on the Stratford and Concertgebouw albums in particular and the Granz album of Basie material. Peterson himself as a soloist, except when he's channeled by those routines, I usually find mechanical and marked by faux bluesiness -- for me, chunks of too many OP solos, once things get rolling, sound like chunks of most every other OP solo; the recurrence of favorite figures is deadening and his much vaunted swing I often find to be instead grinding and airless. Finally, while there are albums where he energizes other players as an accompanist, the Ellis-Brown trio behind Getz for one, too often (again for me) his comping is leaden, for all its surface energy. A good example is the Harry Edison album "Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You," which has the same front line, Edison and Ben Webster, that was buoyed to the skies on the album "Sweets" by the rhythm section of Jimmy Rowles, Barney Kessel, Joe Mondragon, and Alvin Stoller. On "Gee Baby" an OP-led rhythm section (with Ray Brown in for Mondragon, but otherwise the same as on "Sweets") virtually sinks the ship. My recollection is that some of the work that OP did for MPS had a different, more Tatumesque flavor and had its moments. I do keep peeking into OP land, though, in the hopes of finding some OP I like, and the album I mentioned in my first post I do like. Thanks for expanding! Can't even say why, or rather what made me make peace with OP, but some day things just felt differently from before, but I can relate from my own past reactions to what you write. Regarding the two Harry Edison albums, I easily agree - "Sweets" is wonderful and Rowles should have been picked as an accompanist far more often anyways, back then (love his work on the Webster/Mulligan sessions, the two disc set is really something!)

@Larry: sorry if I should know ... but do you like OP or not? Is this just one album you stumbled over by chance and seem to like while you wouldn't know several dozens of others and thus - thread title triggers this question - wouldn't really know which of them might suit tastes of those that don't like OP best? The ones that came to my mind upon reading the thread title on the board's homepage were the two on MPS with George Mraz and Ray Price ("Walking the Line", "Another Day", rec. 1970). Not sure who this Ray Price was, never yet investigate, but that trio was great, alas shortlived. Maybe also "Tristeza on Piano", another one on MPS with Sam Jones and Bobby rimshot Durham (also rec. 1970). Those MPS albums are a fine bunch and come in stellar sound (I know the Most Promising Sound reissues by Universal Germany or whoever really produced them). To me, the trio with Ellis/Brown remained mostly impenetrable. Only when I found access to OP's music (via the Brown/Thigpen and Kessel/Brown trios), I started to really dig the Ellis/Brown trio (and somehow I still prefer the Kessel/Brown edition, guess Kessel was the more imaginative guitar player, all in all).

Yup, Chuck was talking of the upcoming one, not of "Kampen". Great that there's so much recent/new Bradford around, guy really deserves it, as far as his playing goes (not saying he doesn't deserve it as a person, I'm not in a position to judge that, but love his playing a lot).

there was this one, too - OOP, very nice rekkid: http://nobusinessrecords.com/NBLP51.php Don't know that Carter or what to expect, but I'm most curious!

With the rest of the masters, we're at around 7 LPs, I guess -- which would leave room for a selection of alternates. I'm not in the market for this, just curious.

10 LPs ... so it can't hold the same amount of music than the 8 CDs did, I assume? Master takes only?

Never caught him live ... and am not that familiar with his big band music, so .... would love to have such memories though!

Well, we don't even know of a release date yet ... but I guess amazon.fr might have the best prices again, as they usually do on these. The first ones start showing up, with cover pics too, but no dates or prices yet: http://www.amazon.fr/Cpte-Black-Saint-Soul-Records/dp/B011MICIHG/ http://www.amazon.fr/Black-Saint-Soul-Note-Records/dp/B011MICBTQ/ Thought last time I looked some had prices allotted, but not now.

yes, the music came as quite a surprise to me - very, very good!

Quite some! But I guess I dig any chance to hear Billy Mitchell in a small group setting. And that long drum solo by Frank Butler is exceptional, just as his playing in general is - beats me why he's not better known, he's such a fine musician!

Yes indeed, masters only alas - but still lots of music I haven't been able to get so far. And it's rather nicely done, alike their Felsted set (not the cheaper one on five discs by some other PD label but the Freshsound one ... though the cheaper offers more or less the same information/reprint of original liners, I think).

Agreed. As far as I'm aware, she only provided some details about the live recording with Warne Marsh (where his heirs were involved in clearing the recording for release - alas download only as well, but well worth it). Though the other point (I think she told some of that story about the Tampa album?) is: even if there's legal stuff around and even if she might be infringing it: did the label behave correctly, pay royalties etc? As far as the Tampa album goes, it seems the answer is no. So where does that leave us? At the point of giving up and not releasing anything anymore because you can't get it right once it's (or you'd) been wronged? And what about other sidemen and their heirs (I'm weary of heirs anyway, I think in general that 50 year thing in place over here is perfectly sound -- wife and kids, alright, certainly, but all others, no thank you, go and earn your living please). Assuming though sidemen were agreed a one-off fee at the session and no further rights/royalties, that shouldn't be much of an issue?

Yeah, "Duke Dreams" is the one I've scored on vinyl and it's wonderful indeed!

52€ at amazon.it when checking out (shipping to be added, not for me though - too good to pass up, although I'd prefer to have it all with the presentation of the old Japanese series)

For me, at least, the Pike is a nay. The miking somehow picks up Pike's "chanting" to a level where it competes with the instrument. Perhaps not a problem for some, but I find it disturbing. And while it could have been refreshing to hear Bill Evans on up-tempo material in a non-trio context I find his contributions to be far below, for example, the George Russell "N.Y." album (which admittedly is tremendous). It may be ten years since I actually listened to the album. I might try it in the car tonight when I'm going to the recycling station. The Burton is better in my opinion, but ultimately more enjoyable for Jim Hall's playing than Burton's, who I believe still was in his teens. Nothing really sticks out that would make me want to pull this album from the shelf. ha ha ... actually I have a couw burn of the Pike - but rather than leaving at the recycling station I'd pass it on to a friend Thanks everyone for the feedback so far!

Guess we should really have separate threads for those that want to know what rare albums are part of these series ... stuff gets buried so fast in these BluSpec vs. SACD vs. whatever discussions I keep losing track Some albums I'd be interested in include these: Lenny Hambro: Message from HambroLenny Hambro: Nature of ThingsDave Pike: Pike's PeakGary Burton: New Vibe Man in TownGary Burton: Something's Coming!Dave Brubeck: JackpotDave Brubeck: In AmsterdamTeddy Wilson: Mr. WilsonTeddy Wilson: And Then They WroteMonica Zetterlund: The Lost Tapes at Bell Sound Studios NYCKimiko Kasai: Thanks DearKimiko Kasai: Tokyo SpecialKimiko Kasai: In PersonCharles Lloyd: NirvanaCharles Lloyd: DiscoveryCurtis Fuller: South American Cookin'Curtis Fuller: The Magnificent Trombone of Curtis FullerRay Bryant: Little SusieCharlie Rouse/Seldon Powell: We Paid Our DuesAny yays and nays? I enjoy Verve period Wilson quite some, gather these two would be similar? As for Rouse/Powell, I've got the Epic/US/whatever reissue of "Yeah.", so I think only the Powell half would be new to me ... worth it? And then Kimiko Kasai ... all I know is the album she made with Herbie Hancoc - how do these three compare?

Nothing. But I don't know it. However, if I knew it, most likely I would still answer: nothing. I've once had copies of their two Basie OT sets, and they sounded muffled and I would not be surprised to find them MP3 sourced. At least, with that lousy sound quality, you do for once not get the impression that they just copied the Mosaic straight (because sound on the Mosaic is fine).

I didn't but as that's the only one I've bought so far, that's really too bad! Lousy job!

Wwhich, luckily, is part of the series - mighty fine album!

Exactly. Same experience here. And then there were both the similarly-produced ONYX LPs on early 40s swing and the 50s live recordings (Bob Andrews! The Jerry Newman of the 50s!!) on Xanadu that added importantly to the discographies of the key artists and leaders. Compared to that - sorry to say - those latter-day recordings (70s onwards) on Xanadu always appeared a bit like fillers to me. They may have been (and are) nice to ALSO have, but the essentials dated farther back and were milestones in the appreciation of the music from the bebop era by a wider audience who had not been around when the 78s were current and accessible. I can relate to that of course ... but coming to jazz (and earth) some years later than you, Xanadu's historical releases never played a part in my listening at all - they weren't around at all, with very few exceptions (the one of which I ever bought - semi historical one rather -, after buying, I brought back to the store which luckily took it back, too: a Lucky Thompson release containing french recordings that were either on the two Vogue discs or on one of the jazz in Paris CDs). Not sure how much music I'm missing out on or how much of it I have in other (CD) editions - however even if I miss out on some of it, with most artists concerned I was probably able to buy quite a bit more than you could, so I've not felt like missing out on too much really. (I may be wrong though, but please don't tell me .) So the main focus, if I hear Xanadu, to me is their own productions, which again I've not really had access to on any larger scale. I scored "Picture of Heath", one of the Dolo Cokers, a Red Garland (bought from somone here, I think?), and that's already it, other than a few instances of "carpe diem" (some vinyl rips). So, never having heard most of these Al Cohn dates, only having the wonderful Sonny Criss on a copy provided by some friend, not knowing the Teddy Edwards ones ... there's indeed plenty of attraction there, to me! Barry Harris, too ... would be nice for sure to see a second round of 25, but as they do them in smaller batches, I guess that might as well be it, and we won't get any of those Sam Noto albums back.

Happy Birthday, Tom!

I've always liked his solos on "Balcony Rock", where he shows he could play the blues (though I can't think of any other examples) and Le Souk, where he goes East a few years before Miles and Coltrane did. Both on Jazz Goes to College. Well, there's of course some fabulous blues playing on "Blue Rondo à la Turk", too But yes, "Balcony Rock" is pretty nice indeed!

Trying to sort things out - asterisk means inlcuded: *Max Roach Featuring Anthony Braxton - Birth and Rebirth (Black Saint BSR 0024) Max Roach - Pictures in a Frame (Soul Note SN 1003) *Max Roach and Cecil Taylor - Historic Concerts (Soul Note SN 1100/1) *Max Roach and Cecil Taylor - Historic Concerts (Soul Note 121100/1-2) Max Roach - In the Light (Soul Note SN 1053) Max Roach Double Quartet Live at Vielharmonic (Soul Note SN 1073) Max Roach - Scott Free (Soul Note SN 1103) Max Roach - It's Christmas Again (Soul Note SN 1153) *M'Boom - Collage (Soul Note SN 1059) *Max Roach - Survivors (Soul Note SN 1093) Max Roach Double Quartet - Easy Winners (Soul Note SN 1109) *Max Roach Double Quartet - Bright Moments (Soul Note SN 1159) So there really seems to be no rationale ... but with six more albums remaining, I guess chances for a second box aren't all that bad - at least I hope so! (With Muhal, I don't dare hoping so, thus got the missing pieces one by one - not exactly easy with some of them.)

Re: early Desmond - hellyeah! Some of those very early sides for Fantasy with Brubeck are pure magic! "You Go to My Head" and "Over the Rainbow" from Storyville, Boston, October 1952 (on the CD "Dave Brubeck/Paul Desmond" - there's a blue one also titled "Stardust" and red one with a b/w pic that's just "Dave Brubeck/Paul Desmond" and both contain their share of amazing music), or the longer take of "Stardust" (on the blue disc, obviously), live from Berkely, March 1, 1954. And if you want to hear Desmond playing FAST (!) and treaing it up and adding boppish phrases to the mix, get "Jazz at Oberlin" (March 2, 1953). No real clue as to why Desmond ended up being Desmond, but these early sides cover so much territory and some of the stuff going on between him and Brubeck is pure magic indeed. Regarding early Columbia, one track I've always been particularly fond of because of Desmond is "Audrey" on the album "Brubeck Time" (rec. Oct 1954).