Swinging Swede

I'm pretty sure James T. Cat is under there. Or maybe I've seen too many animated gifs...

It could be that you simply got a bad copy. Have you tried playing it on the computer? Does it play like a normal CD? On the Cactus Datashield discs that EMI now is putting out in Europe the audio tracks can't be played at all. Instead compressed files on the data section of the disc are played through a special player program that is included on the disc and wants to install itself the first time you insert a Cactus Datashield disc. You can't use other programs like Windows Media Player for example. I haven't heard anything about EMI starting to release copy protected discs in the U.S. yet. If they were to do that, I suppose they would use the same format as in Europe. But who knows, maybe they have other evil plans for the U.S. market? Surely someone else on the board has gotten the U.S. version and can report back if there are any problems like yours?

Where did you buy it? Where does it say it is manufactured? I've seen the European version here in Sweden and it's definitely copy protected. But it does say so on the cover, so it wouldn't come as a surprise, at least not if one picked it up in a physical store.

You actually have the plural form! It's the singular form you don't have, or at least don't use much anymore. 'Ye/you' always was the plural form, while 'thou/thee' was the singular form, which for some reason was abandoned. Perhaps it's time to revive it? What dost thou think about that idea? Or maybe that should be: What thinkst thou about that idea?

I've had no problems with this board, but the AAJ board has been painfully slow for several weeks now. Anyone else experience this?

Thanks, Claude and J.A.W. I’ll stay away from the ZYX versions then. Getting the Japanese releases is indeed tempting, but may be a bit pricey compared to getting the regular Fantasy releases.

Any comments on the five Chet Baker 1965 Prestige CDs? I was considering getting them as they have original cover art and original track order, but if they are among the bad ones, I will get the three Fantasy CDs with the same material instead.

How about "McMastered"?

The track listings for the 12” LPs are as follows: The Fabulous Fats Navarro, Volume 1 (BLP 1531) 1. OUR DELIGHT (alternate master) 2. OUR DELIGHT 3. THE SQUIRREL (alternate master) 4. THE SQUIRREL 5. THE CHASE (alternate master) 6. THE CHASE 7. WAIL (alternate master) 8. BOUNCING WITH BUD (alternate master #2) 9. DOUBLE TALK 10. DAMERONIA (alternate master) 11. DAMERONIA The Fabulous Fats Navarro, Volume 2 (BLP 1532) 1. LADY BIRD (alternate master) 2. LADY BIRD 3. JAHBERO (alternate master) 4. JAHBERO 5. SYMPHONETTE (alternate master) 6. SYMPHONETTE 7. DOUBLE TALK (alternate master) 8. BOUNCING WITH BUD (alternate master #1) 9. DANCE OF THE INFIDELS (alternate master) 10. THE SKUNK (alternate master) 11. BOPERATION Note that some of these tracks now are on Bud Powell CDs, and that the Navarro/Dameron set contains material not originally on the 12” LPs, including Capitol sessions. And as Mike mentioned, since these tracks were recorded in the late 40’s, they were neither on 12” LPs nor even 10” LPs originally, but on 78 rpm records.

It was probably Chain Gang from 1942, composed and arranged by Bob Haggart. Yank Lawson on trumpet, and Nappy Lamare on guitar. You can hear a one-minute sample here.

Or Ray Draper on the tuba!?

My copies arrived from CD Universe yesterday. It was the first time I ordered Blue Note releases from the US instead, so I tested ordering five items at the same time. Inexperienced maybe, since this caused duties to be added which made them slightly more expensive than the copy protected versions on cdon.com (Swedish online store), but only slightly, and still cheaper than in regular shops here in Sweden. In the future I will take the advice of others here and order maybe two items at a time. That should avoid duties being added, and make them clearly cheaper than the copy protected discs. Despite the duties that were added this time (but hopefully not in the future), I regard this test as a success. Everything went smoothly. And most importantly, I have CD versions of the Conns now, not crippled inferior discs! So I can only agree with Claude and Clunky. Ordering from America is the way to go for Europeans!

Symphony For Improvisers was in the second batch of Connoisseurs. These were the two first batches: 12th July 1994 Ornette Coleman - The Empty Foxhole Andrew Hill - Judgment Bobby Hutcherson - Components Freddie Redd - The Connection Wayne Shorter - The All Seeing Eye Baby Face Willette - Stop And Listen 20th September 1994 Tina Brooks - True Blue Don Cherry - Symphony For Improvisers Kenny Dorham - Whistle Stop Johnny Griffin - The Congregation Clifford Jordan & John Gilmore - Blowing In From Chicago J. R. Monterose I was completely unaware of it at the time though. Back then there was no Internet, and I can’t remember seeing these in local shops, which was the only way for me to learn about and get new releases. These days anything can be looked up on the Internet, and I have ordered online from countries on several continents. Things certainly have changed dramatically in less than a decade!

Well, ”series” was maybe not the correct word, but there were a few titles that appeared in Japan, that didn’t appear in the US, because ’unissued’ was interpreted differently. In the US Cuscuna wanted to release only titles that never had been released in any form before, while they in Japan also included titles that only had been released as part of Mosaic sets, and never as inidividual albums. Two of them were Tina Brooks’s The Waiting Game and Freddie Redd’s Redd’s Blues. Those two titles did however come out in a later Connoisseur batch. The Quebec title didn’t. But it’s not too late. It even included a couple of originally rejected tracks that weren’t in the Mosaic box.

Since there are only six titles in a Connoisseur batch, I’ll limit myself to that number. It would be easy otherwise to mention more or less every title I don’t have! Louis Smith – Smithville In stereo for the first time, and with the two additional tracks from the same session that only were on the Japanese ”The other side of the Blue Note 1500 series” compilation. Conte Candoli/Herb Geller a.o. – Best From The West, Volume 1 & 2 Two 10-inchers that actually were on Blue Note originally. Ike Quebec - From Hackensack To Englewood Cliffs It came out in the Japanese Lost Sessions series, but was not among the US Lost Sessions Connoisseurs. Why not release it now? The remaster is already done. Jimmy Smith – Minor Fare Unissued 1961 session – his only that year. Jackie McLean – Consequence Larry Young – Of Love And Peace I would have liked to include George Lewis’s Concert! in the list, but since a traditional jazz album isn’t likely to be a Connoisseur anyway, I chose six other titles instead. But it really is something I would like to see on CD. I only have an old very scratchy LP copy of this spirited album.

Some of the BN RVGs from the 10" era were not engineered by van Gelder either.

A couple of other plausible RVGs would be Delightfulee and Alligator Bogaloo. Maybe a Stanley Turrentine title? Another Hutcherson? Maybe even a later Three Sounds? Hmm, it’s not easy to come up with other likely candidates, but since there have been a few RVG surprises in the past, who knows what might be thrown in?

The new JRVG series may give a hint since the same remasters nowadays are used for the US RVG series. Other post-1965 JRVGs are : Midnight Creeper Mustang Move Your Hand Green Is Beautiful Hi Voltage Merry Ole Soul Boss Horn Schizophrenia Moon Rappin’ The Song Of Singing Blackjack Think! How Insensitive Reach Out! Turning Point and another Tyner album: Time For Tyner Not that I think that all or even most of them will come out as US RVGS, but some may, since the remastering already is done.

And Tender Moments has indeed already been announced as one of the upcoming US RVGs in 2004. Duke Pearson’s Sweet Honey Bee, Horace Silver’s Serenade To A Soul Sister , Cecil Taylor’s Conquistador, and Lee Morgan’s The Sixth Sense also fit the description. Surprising to see the Morgan title so soon again. It was reissued as late as 1999, and now again?! By the way, notice on the old CD version of Tender Moments how they not only added the Compact Disc logo, but also changed the BN logo:

Sorry, hadn't seen the new posts when I posted. Presumably Getz heard the tune when he visited Sweden, and was intrigued by its possibilities. The name was probably changed to make it more marketable in the English-speaking world.

Yes, it's a Swedish folk tune whose real title is "Ack Värmeland du sköna", which means "Oh Värmeland you beautiful". Värm(e)land is a province in western Sweden. The classic version of this tune was recorded by Stan Getz for Metronome in 1951 when he visited Sweden. It was also released in the US and made an impact there, and that's the version Miles Davis and other jazz musicians heard. The Getz version has often been heard in the background on TV programs in Sweden and has also been used in commercials I think. I agree that it's a gorgeous tune, and the Getz version is a must-have. One way to get it is to get Classics' latest Getz volume 1951, where it was included.

It's being reissued next month as a JRVG. Since some of the new van Gelder remasters are coming out both as JRVGs and US RVGs (unlike how it used to be when he remastered them separately), it's not unlikely that the Turrentine eventually will appear as a US RVG too. And it's not on the Mosaic set.

The previously unissued 1945 Town Hall concert with Bird & Diz. Reportedly in good sound too!

Guys! I just realized something! The Lee Morgan Conn has no copy control information … because it can't have any copy control! It is a very long disc, since it includes two original LPs – probably around 75 minutes – so there just wouldn’t be enough room for compressed files of the same tunes. (Unless they were to be reduced to an unacceptably low quality.) I’m almost certain that is the reason. So this means that whenever an album is over a certain length it has to be released in the CD format, if it is to be playable on a computer (early copy protected formats weren’t). That’s interesting!