skeith

my favorite working jazz band. I note with some discomfort how the cover charge at the Vanguard keeps inching up - more than double when I first started going. Still it's my favorite jazz club.

ok, i drop it to $15 plus shipping.

Hadn't listened to this one in a while and the other day I picked up my old copy to see if I wanted to upgrade. What struck me most is that the first two tunes(Soul Surge and Cunga Black) are sort of full of cliches and the rhythm section drags, too bad because I love Joe Hen. Then you get to Outer Forces, Blues Spirits, and Jodo with the different personnel in the rhythm section and wow - it's suddenly very lively and engaging--- the reason??????I am giving most of the credit for that to my man PETE LAROCA!!!!!!!!!!!

Count me as another fan of "Young Django" - I love that one.

Congrats to Wayne !!!

With obi strip - it's in mint condition $20 plus shipping.

Wishing you a very happy birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rainy Day, I hear you man. Come on the NYC subways and platforms. Some are ridiculously filthy. And what I have observed people doing with their food and garbage-yuck. Yeah, what about my right not to be surrounded by foul smelling trash. I notice the DC Metro is about 100 times cleaner and more pleasant than NYC - we could use a bit of that. I'll happily trade transit sytem rules with you DC residents who complain. On the other hand, the handcuffs seem a bit over the top.

I'm a big fan, saw them live in the early 70s and got the box, have just heard the first 2 discs and so far, so good. I think they were one of the greatest bands in rock, very underrated,as is Rod Stewart.

Well said Guy, I don't think I could add anything to your comments except that I am a big fan of this record too and have been for 30 years. It amazes me how fresh and wonderful this record sounds today. Yes, the so-called "American Quartet" is more out than the so-called "European Quartet" but I enjoyed them both. Some of the best jazz of the 1970's. I saw this band live just a couple of years after this recording and this record is a good approximation to me of how they sounded.

Given Ray's recent death and the fact that someone said they just got this on LP, I thought I'd bring it up. This is perhaps my favorite Ray Charles record, however those Marty Paich arrangements are just awful with the heavenly choir and strings, but still Ray manages to shine through - I just wish there was a version that stripped off the Paich stuff. However, the Gil Fuller, Gerald Wilson, and Sid Feller arrangements are great. Anyone else like this one?

So, Brownie, sorry to be dense, but it's still confusing- apparently nothing was recorded at the Salle Wagram on April 18th if I read your post correclty because it didn't start until after midnight. Also then my France's Concert disc recorded at the Salle Wagram on the 18th (misprint??) and includes Peggy's Blue Skylight is a completely different concert from what is on the new Verve reissue, right?

Well now that I am looking at my France's Concert disc called "Meditation", I am not sure there is any overlap at all. First my disc says the recording date is April 18, 1964. It has some of the same tracks as the Great Concert , but the times are several minutes off. Also mine has "Peggy's Blue Skylight" on it and Great Concert doesn't. The location listed on my disc is Salle Wagram which is also different. So is it possible my disc is actually a different concert recorded the day before?

Thanks Lon, So now I have to get it.

thanks Lon and Couw, what explains why it was a Presige LP - how does that wind up on Verve? I haven't listened to "Meditation" in a while - so remind me how essential this stuff is?

It's in the new release section of NYC cd stores this week. Is this the same thing as what I have called "Meditation" on the France's Concert label? THis new release is on Verve from its french company and has an original cover (which I vaguely recognize and thought I had on lp and for some reason thought it was on Candid or Prestige) It is remastered and has extra tracks previously unreleased. Looks tasty. Anyone know the details

I love, really love, this session, but I am a big Andrew Hill and Joe Henderson fan and everybody is just so together on this record. As for the sound quality, as I have previously said, I like the new RVGs and I had the Japanese non-RVG version and sold it after comparing them. I usually find the RVG has a bit more "presence" if that is the right word, than other versions. I love the compositions on this record and Blumenthal hit the nail right on the head when he said in the liner notes that the lovely track "McNeil Island" is reminiscent of "Monk's Mood" on the Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane record. Not that you would confuse a Monk tune with Andrew's writing (they are both true originals) - or Andrew or Joe - with Monk and Trane - but I always thought that track reminded me of something and it think Blumenthal got it right.

$20 plus shipping

Jackie's one of my all time favorites- and those classic Blue Notes are pretty much all fantastic (I haven't heard 'Bout Soul, however), but I haven't liked a disc he has made in the last 10 or 15 years except for Nature Boy, which I think is wonderful.

After thinking about it, I can't propose a better choice than John McLaughlin's Extrapolation - and it's from your side of the pond, too, couw!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not sure it would be my top pick, but I like Alabama Concerto too! I so think of it as a Cannonball tour de force that I wonder if I should put it with his stuff.

Hey Bebop, stop asking irrelevant questions. It's all about corporate profits!!!!

Sorry to bring this up, but does anyone like how they sound? So far, I got "Inner Urge" and it sounds much better than the McMaster. Sweet!!!!!!!!!!

I like the PS Audio power conditioners. I have the P300 but it cost about a grand now, works wonders.

Your memory's half right impossible, because yes about half the tunes are as you say and more outside than Extrapolation - but there are some drop dead gorgeous ballads on this disc too - as lyrical as it gets.