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king ubu

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Posts posted by king ubu

  1. Art Pepper, why he was the best?

    in Artists

    Posted

    yeah, some day I will! But I have so many new CDs lying around (and even more that I listened to once or twice only and want to listen more)...

    "those" germans, yeah! my other name for them is "bastards" if you prefer that!

    Not that I'm complaining, of course ;) (the only thing I complain about is all you board members who bought the Trane box so it was sold out when I ordered... but having two Tatums & Evans, and one each from Pepper & Monk is certainly not bad - rather BAAD, actually!)

    ubu :)

  2. Universal France Reissues

    in Re-issues

    Posted

    Our friend D.D. has posted this over on AAJ:

    28 budget price 24-bit remastered reissues in digipaks:

    1. Stephane Grappelly - Improvisations

    2. Django Reinhart- The Great Blue Star Sessions 1947-53

    3. Sidney Bechet - l'Album Souvenir, 1949

    4. Dizzy Gillespie - The GReat Blue Star Sessions 1952-53

    5. Chet baker Quartet

    6. Miles Davis - Ascenseur pour l'echafaud

    7. Art Blakey - Les Liasons Dangereuses

    8. CHarls Mingus - The Great Jazz Concert (1964)

    9. Michel Legrand - Jazz

    10. Rhoda Scott - In New York

    11. Gil Evans / Laurent Cugny - Rhythm A Ning

    12. Gil Evans / Laurent Cugny - Golden Hair

    13.Stan Getz - Anniversary

    14. Stan Getz - Serenity

    15-16. JJ Johnson - Live at V.V. (2 volums)

    17. Kenny Barron - Other Places

    18. CHarlie Haden Quartet West - Always Say Goodbye

    19. CHristiane Escoupe - Holidays

    20. John Lewis - Private COncert

    21. Dee Dee Bridgewwater - Love and Peace

    22. John McLaughlin - Que Alegria

    23. Abbey Lincoln - A Turtle's Dream

    24. Helen Merrill - Brownie

    25. Bheki Mseleku - Star Seeding

    26. Randy Weston -Saga

    27. Hank Jones - Upon Reflection

    28. Hank Jones - Sarala

    Some comments and questions I posted:

    Thanks for posting the list, D.D.!

    There sure are some nice things here!

    And maybe the fact that some of these double up recordings recently in the Jazz In Paris series is the reason that those are harder to find now?

    I have the Merrill, the Weston, one of the Getz and one of the H. Jones discs, the Barron, and an ooold CD of Legrand Jazz (a true masterpiece!).

    Will have to get the second Getz, the Mingus, the Lewis.

    The Davis, Blakey, Grappelli, Django, Chet Baker and Gillespie stuff is all available in the Jazz in Paris series, I guess? I have the respective CDs.

    Are those J.J. discs the "Standards" and "Live at Village Vanguard"? I only have Standards (it good, but not a favorite of mine).

    I found those to be available at amazon.fr, for around 10 Euros, the Mingus for 18, which seems quite alright.

    ubu

  3. Art Pepper, why he was the best?

    in Artists

    Posted

    Get the Mosaic :g

    The three volumes of "Complete Aladdin Recordings of Art Pepper" (reissued on CD by Blue Note) are very fine! As is the Quartet album available on Fantasy (link).

    I don't have any of his acclaimed Contemporary things, but will have pretty many of them some day, I guess...

    Then, the Vanguard box...

    And I recently got the Galaxy box from those germans, but have not yet found time to listen to anything in there...

    ubu

  6. Kippie Moeketse

    in Artists

    Posted

    Garth, thanks for sharing this story! Love reading those personal memories by people around the music so much longer than I!

    Masekela took part in that "King Kong" thing in London, yes? With Kippie and others, while Dollar Brand stayed back woodshedding in South Africa. I think I have the King Kong LP from my father (and some others with stickers from some record shops in Johannesburg on them, I think. The original mono pressing of "Love Supreme" I have - in horrible condition, though - came from South Africa, too!)

    ubu

  7. AOW 09/21-09/27 is Wilbur Harden & John Coltrane

    in Album Of The Week

    Posted

    I think that Trane's partners here had a lot to do with this -- in particular the several sorts of fairly extreme "laid-backness" that Harden and Louis Hayes display e.g. the former's slow-mo lyricism and the latter's glassily even, behind-the-beat ride cymbal work. Together with Doug Watkins' marvelously precise and also fairly laid-back time feel (laid-back by comparison with P. Chamber's more forward-leaning approach), this perhaps gave Trane just the sort of backdrop -- at once very alive yet kind of "neutral," if you know what I mean (a la, maybe the Basie Band rhythm section of the late '30s) -- that left him free to dump all the snakes out of the sack.

    Wow Lawrence! This strikes me as a very good description of what the rhythm section on the quintet sides is about! They certainly have a laid-back feel, coupled with Flanagan's cool, maybe even slightly distached feel, this makes up for a perfect mix.

    Chiming in a little late, but only yesterday found the time to listen to parts of this album. Thanks to Dmitry for making such a fine choice!

    Some thoughts:

    All those Harden compositions sure are very fine. They fit in the hard bop style perfectly, yet they have something that makes them different - while I don't know what exactly it is, I sure appreciate that.

    Then Harden's lyricism is wonderful. I never actually liked him that much on that Coltrane session (also from 1957, on Prestige). He has a wonderful, warm style of playing (while there are parallels for sure, in this respect he seems to me quite far away from the cool stylings of Miles).

    Coltrane (of course) is mind-boggling! I find him great on all his recordings from that time (1957 being the year he probably recorded most). He is overwhelming, yet does not overpower the whole date - these are NO Coltrane dates!

    The opening track of the first CD is the first highlight of the set. The groove's so tight and the solos are cool, too, can't help liking it!

    Then the sextet dates (I have listened to the second only once, some weeks ago, so I'm only talking about the first one right now): first, there is a clear difference in the time the rhythm section sets up. They're less overtly laid-back, yet I like them almost as good (sure, the great GREAT foundation of Watkins is missed, but his replacement does no bad job either. And maybe it's the fate of Art Taylor that everybody knows his style inside-out because everybody own at least half a dozen mid-to-late fifties dates with him on the drum chair).

    Curtis Fuller's full sound is captured quite well on these tracks (despite the otherwise relatively muddy sound), and I love his playing here (I am not a huge fan of his, though I like the Mosaic quite well, also like the recordings he made with Blakey).

    Once In A While is the best track of that first sextet date. Wonderful solos by Harden and Fuller (he, too, plays overtly lyrical here), and Trane tearing things up.

    Then, what's the matter after the drum solo on Andedac? Is there an edit or do they lose it completely? Everything is upside-down, before the theme settles again in a slower tempo than before. Is this only a problem of my ears?

    Will report back after having listened to the second sextet date.

    ubu

  8. Kippie Moeketse

    in Artists

    Posted

    Wow! Garth, thank you for sharing these memories!

    Cannot say "wish I was there" really (I did express my sort of scepticism above), but if it were for the music only, I'd sure wish!

    Your description of Kippie's style is very accurate! I hear that too (though I know very little about south african music other than jazz, just heard one or two old LPs my father - who stayed in ZA in the late 60ies - brought home from there).

    Kippie Moeketsi and Basil Coetzee are two really great saxophonists, in my opinion. And it's just those embellishments, and the slightly-out-of-tune horn settings which make me love this music that much.

    Did you see Bud Shank when he was in Johannesburg in '58? Or was that after you left? (Or were you not able to make it to Jo'burg then anyway?)

    You sure know that one track with him playing the pennywhistle, don't you?

    And please tell us that story about Masekela's trumpet!

    ubu

  10. Charlie Ventura

    in Artists

    Posted

    Thanks, Garth, so I will look for it! Sounds nice indeed. I only have one Proper so far (the Webster), and of many of them, I have too much already (and then they often do not contain complete sessions) to get them, but at their price, their unbeatable!

    ubu

  11. McCoy Tyner - "Cosmos"

    in Recommendations

    Posted

    Yes, this ought to be on CD! But Tender Moments, too, as well as Expansions!

    I just found Asante, had no chance to listen yet, but the Blue Notes by Tyner I know (Extensions, Real McCoy, Time For Tyner) are very good! These would make a very nice Mosaic (I'm sure the reasons why this won't (?) happen have been discussed here or elsewhere, but maybe someone knows more?)

    ubu

  12. Charlie Ventura

    in Artists

    Posted

    Garth,

    does it make sense to get the Proper if I have the Mosaic already? Is there much non-Clef/Norgran/Verve stuff included besides the Pasadena concert (which, I suppose, would also be available otherwise)?

    thanks,

    ubu

  13. Art Pepper, why he was the best?

    in Artists

    Posted

    The thing that gets me about Pepper is that he always sounds so damn TIGHT. Not in a "non-swinging" way, but just like he's got a LOT of stuff bottled up inside him that he can't and/or won't let go of for whatever reason. I've never heard ANYBODY hug the time as close as he does. It's like a 6 foot tall man doing an intenselyintricate dance in a room that's got a 6.01 foot high ceiling with a half inch on either side. Same thing with his tone - it's full but tight, like Jimmy Rushing's body packed inside Jimmy Scott's skin. You get the feeling like a really messy explosion could happen any second, but it never, NEVER does.

    Jim, this is a very good description of my feelings while listening to later Pepper stuff! It has a terrifying quality to it (while being terrific, and somehow bare-nakedly outright emotional). I guess it's this self-control and self-containment which (actually holding back some more/other/stronger emotions) makes to the music so strong.

    ubu

  14. Helen Merrill

    in Artists

    Posted

    Inspired by your posts, and at lunch time, I´ve bought my 9th and 10th Mrs. Merrill cds: "Casa Forte" and "You and the night and the music". This will be my listening tonight!

    EKE, hope you like them! Casa Forte is a nice addition to the other Gitanes discs.

    By the way, in those "Helen Merrill Presents" series, there were three reissues not by her, but by Tommy Flanagan (with one very fine bonus track featuring Ms Merrill), Al Haig and Roland Hanna (I could not locate the later two). That Flanagan disc is very good, too, in my opinion.

    ubu

  15. Helen Merrill

    in Artists

    Posted

    Yes, I do believe that Monk stopped by the recordings session: here's what I found as personnel:

    323m-1-18 Helen Merrill - Teddy Wilson / Helen Sings, Teddy Swings (Victor SMJX-10111)* Larry Ridley, Lenny MacBrown

    Looks like a real WINNER!

    Sounds cool! RCA could reissue that in their Bluebird First Editions series, no? (By the way, where's the first edition with these?)

    ubu

  18. Dewey Redman

    in Artists

    Posted

    I saw him live half a year ago. He was quite impressive! Beautiful and very strong sound, indeed. His playing Second Balcony Jump was great great fun! And then he had Rita Marcotulli on piano - I never heard her before, not even on CD, and she was quite a revelation for me, too!

    ubu

  20. Need some Columbia Monk

    in Re-issues

    Posted

    I have not yet gotten all of them, but hell!, they're a very nice bunch of albums! I got the 3CD box (thinking along the well-known lines that the Columbia years were sort of uninteresting, nothing new etc etc) and fell in love with that stuff. Have the live ones (all of them), and started on the studio stuff. Got "Monk's Dream", "Straight No Chaser", and the 2CD Solo set (which, by the way, includes "Solo Monk").

    I will sure get more of them as soon as I can afford (and have time to listen).

    "Monk's Dream", for one, is a tremendous disc (though I prefer the take of "Bye-Ya" that starts the box - and that, strangely (keepnews-y?) is not on the reissue of "Monk's Dream" in the same form).

    ubu

  21. forget 'Waldo'... ---> where's Mark Shim????

    in Artists

    Posted

    I think "Art Forum" is Osby's first really great album. The first one that gave a glimpse of what was yet to come. Before that, I'm afraid I kind of only considered him a "Steve Coleman" wanna-be. By the way, I didn't get "Art Forum" until about 2000 or 2001, even though it came out in 1996.

    That's what I think about Art Forum, too. I'm someday going to have all the Blue Notes beginning with it. Have Further Ado, the very cool live quartet disc with Jason Moran, the recent one with strings and the date with Hall, Hill, Colley, Carrington and Thomas. And I like what I hear more and more. Those Osby albums show up in sales here every once and so often, so I'll wait with pickin' up the rest. I did not pay less than 11 or 12 $ for those I already have.

    Should we start an Osby-thread?

    ubu

  22. Helen Merrill

    in Artists

    Posted

    Count me in as a big fan of Ms Merrill!

    The Brownie album and the three collaborations with Dick Katz are among my favorite vocal jazz albums. I like the settings, the surrounding musicians, arrangements very much. Some quite adventurous stuff there! And her husky beautiful voice... :wub:

    The Brownie tribute album, "Clear Out Of This World", "You And the Night and The Music", "Jelena Ana Miketic a.k.a. Helen Merrill", and "Music Makers" (trios with Gordon Beck and either Stéphane Grappelli or Steve Lacy added) are other very good albums. Seems to be a new one coming (it's listed already on amazon).

    Lon, what's that Teddy Wilson thing? And what's the story behind that picture?

    ubu

  23. forget 'Waldo'... ---> where's Mark Shim????

    in Artists

    Posted

    thanks, Rooster. Will look for it. There's some Blue Note sale here, so I picked up "Turbulent Flow" (along with Tyner's "Asante", "Extensions", Osby's "Art Forum" and some others) for 10 or 11$. But they only had the second of Shim's albums.

    But that Osby was one I was looking for for quite some time, so never give up hope on finding a CD...

    ubu

  24. forget 'Waldo'... ---> where's Mark Shim????

    in Artists

    Posted

    I got Mark Shim's "Turbulent Flow" today, just listened to it and am quite impressed!

    Thanks everybody! Only got it because you made him sound quite interesting, and that's at least what he turns out to be. His take of Joe Henderson's "Recorda Me" is quite impressive, Harris and Simon (completely unknown to me) turn in some good solos, too. The only slight drawback (upon first superficial hearing) is the sometimes a little too contemporaneous sound (alright, it's only rhodes, and I'm not opposed to electronics whatsoever, but the sound just sometimes bugged me a little).

    How is his first disc? Worth looking for?

    ubu

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