Pim

You're a lucky man Clunky! Excellent live music Nice gesture by the seller also. Great to see those sellers still exist.

I’m in!

Brie Larson Kevin Bacon Fiona Apple

Wow what a haul! Enjoy it!

Did not know that. No harmful intentions, and I am sure pglbooks knows that. Did not mean to question anything. I saw pglbooks bumped a couple of times and wanted to help.

Discogs for example. Median price for the set is around 60 euros. Have to say that most sellers are above that price.

Isn’t the price a little high? One could get a copy for around 60 or 70 euros elsewhere on the internet?

Heard good thing about it so it’s on my ‘to listen’ list.

My wife is 6 days without symptoms now and my third test today came out negative again. This means I can go to work again tomorrow. We have the luck that it was just a mild case. Unfortunately that does not go for everyone of course. thanks guys for all your kind messages. It’s not a weird thing but is nevertheless very special when people from all over the world wish you good health.

Yup it’s the one from the Village Gate concert.

Great to see many of you are already vaccined yet. Things are still progressing pretty slow here...As a thirty year old I think its gonna be my turn somewhere around July. I must say that I am not to happy to get the AstraZeneca as the people I know who had that one experienced pretty serious side effects. Like a serious fever for multiple days, extreme headaches, throwing up etc. So I prefer any other vaccine.

Thanks Clunky, that was exactly what I wanted to achieve with writing the blog so that is a huge compliment! Small teaser for the Utopia discs with Jim Pepper, for I have the feeling these Tutu discs are still pretty unknown.

Another milestone: we are now entering the '90's. I was born in 1990 and it feels some kind of special that I was alive when this stuff was recorded. It feels sometimes like you missed the bus or something: all of those legends who you adore that you were never managed to see in real life for they passed away already or you were to young. This week is full of encounters with fantastic saxophone players: Jim Pepper, Charlie Mariano, Barney Wilen and 4 albums with Steve Lacy. It felt logic to combine some records into one review. Monday was the day of Mal's great encounter with Barney Wilen: on French Story they play movie theme's that are mostly affiliated with French cinema. Of course there's the theme of Ascenseur Pour 'Echafaud but also other great selections including a stunning version of Mal's All Alone (here titled Quiet Temples as it was originally released in 1964 on a Powertree release). It's beautiful, atmospheric very straightahead jazz. It has this cliche 'film noir' feeling I very much like. Autumn Dreams with Charlie Mariano has a little of the same feeling but is not as appealing. Both such great musicians they could have picked more exciting compositions which would have resulted in more.... exciting music. It's a nice listen anyway but does not fully meet up one's expectations. The concerts with Jim Pepper at the Utopia jazz club are insanely good. Lot's of chemistry, powerful playing by all of the guys and they just swing so freakin' hard. This really was a stunning band. 2 more Tutu discs that are very much worth having. So unfortunate that Jim Pepper passed away not long after these sessions. It would be their last recordings together. The end of a very fruitful relationship. For Tutu he was replaced by Nicolas Simion, a great and highly underrated saxophone player from Romania. If all works out well I have an interview with him coming weekend. Then there's all the stuff with Lacy: four records in only 3 years but they are again all worth having. I Remember Thelonious is probably the least interesting for it contains mostly more interpretations by Monk. Always lovely to have a few of them on a record but here I miss some of their own work. It is nevertheless still very good and people on the web seem to disagree with me. Japan Dream is pretty rare for it was released on the Japanese Egg Farm label. It's very good with an astonishing version of Lacy's 'Blues for Aida'. Favorites for this week are the studio session Hot House and the live session Let's Call This...Esteem. Filled with compositions by Lacy, Waldron, Duke Ellington, Monk, Bud and Herbie Nichols it hardly could go wrong. The chemistry is immense, the setting is awesome. Great music for a very low price. Spring in Prague is the only trio session for this week. Not as good as 'No More Tears for Lady Day' it still is highly enjoyable record with the same group. It's Mal in a very accesible way. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes is nothing more than a compilation of the trio sessions with Carduso and Betsch plus a selection from the record with Wilen. It does contain 2 new tracks but both are not very good. One more thing: David Friesen performs with his trio monday night the 29th of March at 20:00 European time. One could find the concert at that time at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn_EAcyUhNk

Yeah can’t wait to spin them Was looking for them for quite a while. They have to be shipped from Japan so I have to be patient...

Harold Land - The Peace Maker Bobby Hutcherson - Patterns Patterns is really difficult to obtain these days. Managed to find a copy trough proxy shopping for 22 euros

Again a negative test result. Let’s hope it remains so!

Not really a big fan of Garnett’s leader dates like ‘Black Love’. But his playing on Mtume’s Umoja Ensemble or Norman Connor’s Dance of Magic is excellent. What is it you don’t like in his style?

Oh yeah I will definitely get this!

I am mostly glad that the release is again confirmed by Nimbus. I was a little afraid it would be cancelled. I could wait 2 more months.....

Haha of course I know you wish that for me I was just kidding. But I also know that I might still get the infection, that's why I said: It's all still possible. Netherlands is still largely in a lockdown and predictions are not good. They think it might last until June but the support for it get's smaller everyday. Partly for very strange decisions. Also the Dutch government was very slow with two very important weapons against the virus: first testing and then the vaccination program. Were getting up now but that is of course too late for all of those who died unnecessary because of those mistakes. They opened all primary schools and the high schools partially a month ago. You don't have to be Nostradamus to predict that infections will rise again. Research in the Netherlands proved that schools might be the biggest source of contamination. So rates are going up since the opening of the schools and now there is not even a small opportunity for shops or restaurants to open under strict conditions. They are closed for 3 months now and the economical effects are really alarming now. I work at a high school as a teacher. When they opened up our school they promised us quick testing at our location. Were one month further now and there's not even a plan for it anymore. They really should be ashamed of themselves.

Thanks for that hopeful message Bresna My wife's symptoms seem to vanish little by little. Hardest thing right now is to remain calm yourself. With every cough or sneeze I think to myself: oh dear, is this it? My 2.5 years old son really enjoys our quaraintine time together. All that attention!

If was wondering if they were going to do that one! Thanks.

This week was again full of pleasant surprises but also a few slight dissapointments. The diversity in sound and setting is incredible. The second duet with Marion Brown, Much More is as you might expect: it's great. Brown's sound here is so soft, it's like he's whispering trough his horn. It might had something to do with his then recently fixed teeth but I really dig it. It's not as good as their first but it's lovely anyway. Then there's one of my favorite Waldron recordings with such an awesome group: Crowd Scene really seems to be overlooked in his discography and that is very unjustified. Sonny Fortune is steaming here but it's Ricky Ford that really blow's me away. He really is on fire on the first track: one hell of an intense solo. The whole album is in that lovely Waldron style: the music is tense, dark, brooding and it swings very hard. Mal's interactions with Workman are almost thelepathic. Where Are You is a bit surpising in the sense that it's the same group and was recorded the very same day but the sound is very different. It's more gentle and mainstream so to say. Also less intense and for that reason probably a little less interesting. Both Soul Note records I'll Be Around (with Enrico Rava and singer Tiziana Ghighlioni) and Up and Down (with Chico Freeman and the same singer) fail to really make a lasting impression. Have to say that Ghiglioni's voice is moderate and okay to listen to. But the music on both disc lacks a creative kind of spark that I expected with players like Rava and Freeman. The music isn't bad in any way but it all just sounds like it wasn't really their day. The encounter with Freeman definitely has it's moments. On some of the tracks it comes clear that there was some chemistry and the more uptempo songs are the best. The pretty rare record with French reed player Thierry Bruneau is really a dissapointment. Live at the Kave has a kickass rhythm session and Mal is in fine form but I have some serious doubts about Bruneau's technical capabilities to play his instruments the right way. I know someone on this board used to own this record and I am curious to how he sees that. The last record for this week is the disc with German vibist and drummer Christian Burchard. Into the Light combines them in a duo setting and a quartet setting. It leads to some interesting moments with incredible interplay. The music is mostly freely improvised on the spot. Interesting stuff but not as good as the Embryo records. There are also some weird choices in the musical selection as some of the tracks are cut off.... Last but not least was the interview with bassist David Friesen on his time with Mal of course.

@Dave GarrettI know. But my wife was infectious from Tuesday. Of course it’s all still possible. ...

Me own test got out negative... don’t know what to think of it. Was I the source of contamination more than a week a ago? Have I already had COVID and do I already have antibodies?