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One Night in Birdland There's just something about this one for me. From the opening notes of Wahoo it's just 'perfect'.

I have "Proof readers" as a bonus on one Ornette disc- forget which Yeah forgot it's on Ornette!

Question: have the six tracks that at the time of original release were previously unreleased been released elsewhere since? (i made a mouthful of that sorry). According to Wikipedia they were: "The Tribes of New York" "Rise and Shine" "Mr. and Mrs. People" "I Heard It Over the Radio" "Revolving Doors" "Proof Readers" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauty_Is_a_Rare_Thing I have everything else from the set on disc but am considering picking up the box for many of the reasons people above have mentioned, but also for six whole new-to-me tracks!

Great news.

Looks like the CD option has been reinstated on the website.

I've got some thoughts on Downbeat. Up until about 18 months ago i probably picked up about one issue per year, then randomly the place that sells magazines next to the supermarket that i regularly go to started stocking it. I started buying it pretty much just for the sake of it, got in to the habit and i think i've only missed a couple of issues over the last 18 months or so. When i was a kid i loved videogame magazines, would read them from cover to cover over and over. Also, film magazines and for a period in the mid 2000s i loved the 'low-brow' art magazine Juxtapoz. By comparison, i barely skim through Downbeat and i've read what i want to read from it. Random thoughts: - Almost all the ads are industry related, as in ads for college, for reeds, for intruments and sheetmusic. You don't read a magazine for the ads though, right? Yeah but it definitely adds to the overall dullness of it all. Ads in videogame magazines etc were for things that you actually might be interested in as a fan. - Which leads to the next point: redundancy. Magazines used to be one of the only ways to get news of new stuff, whether via an ad or an article. So if i picked up Downbeat and saw a review for the new whoever: "holy crap, whoever's got a new album out! So glad i picked up DB to find that out and read a bit of info on it'' Nowadays, while DB actually does cover a lot of really cool stuff in it's reviews, you already knew about it via the internet and had the skinny on it months ago. It takes off that shine of discovery that used to come with opening a magazine. - Interviews with artists. I've read some interesting ones, but overall they are dull dull dull. Comparing to Juxtapoz, even if i wasn't in to the artist's work the interviews were usually written in a way that was interesting to read and usually the artist at least had some interestng things to say. I get that with Jazz everyone wants it to be all about the music and not about 'personalities', but we've dug too deeply in to that hole to the point where dull/dry is the rule (see sample article below). And it is possible to be interesting when talking about music! - Lack of unity/celebration. Again comparing to videogame magazines, just about every month there was a game on the cover that videogame fandom as a whole could collectively be excited about. In jazz, no one knows what everyone wants to celebrate so nothing gets celebrated. This... may not be DB's fault as such, more a sign of the times for a magazine that tries to cater to everyone and ends up spreading itself too thin. Sample DB article: Steve Mikkelson has a big year coming up. With a new album coming out on Brown Note records and an upcoming three week stay at Club Pepsi-Cola, thing are looking good for the young up and comer. "Yeah we've been working hard on the music for a long time so it's great to have things coming together at the moment." Mikkelson is no stranger to success. Born in Maybury Minnesotta, he grew up listening to his dad's jazz records. In 1995 he moved to New York to study at Juilliard. "It was a real eye opener for me. It was just amazing to be surrounded by all these people that were just as passionate about the music as i was." After graduating etc etc etc... So what does the future hold for Mikkelson? "I just want to keep playing and working on my music. I've got some shows lined up with Storky Johnson in the new year so that will be a dream come true. Things are looking good at the moment!" They sure are Steve, they sure are. Every... single... freaking... interview with the odd exception to the rule. End rant! Sorry about that but after reading the magazine fairly regularly for the last 18 months i needed to get this out of my system.

Ordered the Lightcap, been looking forward to that one oh yes.

Yeah on the Pi site under 'Latest News' it has it as "Steve Coleman and the Council of Balance “Synovial Joints” will be released in April." I'm not familiar with previous Council of Balance stuff at all, will have to check it out.

An email went out to everyone on the Pi mailing list about a week ago with some details about the new release. I don't see anything wrong with copy/pasting most of it below but FWIW here's a link to their website where you can sign up to be on their mailing list: http://pirecordings.com/. Looks very interesting, i'm wondering if the 21 Musicians will perform on every track or if there will be variations of personnel from track to track (a bit like on Weaving Symbolics). Many great names in the group but i'm extra thrilled to see the return of Shyu and Gilmore. Synovial Joints is the most ambitious project in Coleman’s 30-year career as a bandleader. The music is written for 21 musicians, encompassing his core Five Elements group, augmented by musicians from jazz, Afro-Cuban, Afro-Brazilian and contemporary classical circles. The music was based on ideas that reflect the processes, functions and rhythms of the human body. Coleman’s intention was to model individual elements of the musical composition on the physiological movements within the nervous, respiratory, cardiovascular, lymphatic, endocrine, and exocrine systems of the human body. Many of these systems are cyclical, involving the circulation of fluids, gases, and electrochemical signals throughout the body using various methods of rhythmic contraction and relaxation. He uses these rhythmic cycles to further advance the concept of musical flow, creating forward motion not just in a linear fashion, but with cyclical spin or rotation. The overall musical structure of the composition is held together based on the musculoskeletal system, hence the title. Coleman also explores a concept he calls “camouflage orchestration” in these works. The orchestration of this music was inspired by listening to natural sounds recorded in the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest, where Coleman spends parts of each year. He uses cycles of overlapping rhythms that gradually move instrumental colors from foreground to middle ground to background, much as the variety of layered sounds reveal themselves as overlapping phrases in the rainforest. Alto Saxophone: Steve Coleman Trumpet: Jonathan Finlayson Tenor Saxophone: Maria Grand Flute: Barry Crawford Clarinet: Rane Moore Trumpet: Jeff Missal Trombone: David Nelson Trombone: Tim Albright Violin: Kristin Lee Viola: Chris Otto Cello: Jay Campbell Contrabass: Greg Chudzik Piano: David Bryant Guitar: Miles Okazaki Bass: Anthony Tidd Percussion: Alex Lipowski Percussion: Nei Sacramento Percussion: Mauricio Hererra Percussion: Ramon Garcia Perez Vocals: Jen Shyu Drums: Marcus Gilmore

Also thought it was 'douche'! Except i thought it was 'roamer' rather than 'runner'.

Just got reminded of one... I always puzzled over this one and i've only just found out that it's: R-E-S-P-E-C-T Find out what it means to me R-E-S-P-E-C-T Take care, TCB Where it goes 'Take care, TCB' i always thought it was 'Take out T-C-P'. As in, "i've just spelled out R-E-S-P-E-C-T, take out T-C-P and what does that give you? R-E-S-E, that's what." But i could never figure out what R-E-S-E stood for or if i was mishearing it slightly or or or.

I'm pretty sure that however good the Miles movie is it will be the final straw that brings about the jazz-internet-osphere apocalypse.

I only just noticed that his finger is apparently inserted in to the heel of her foot. Foxie! The James albums i mentioned ordering went from being 'usually available in 7-11 days' to 'temporarily out of stock'. Still wouldn't mind having them but the fever had passed so i ended up cancelling my order and just created a new order for 'Two of a Kind' (non-2015 edition) only and some other random albums by other artists.

I was a bit underwhelmed on first listen, shelved it. Have recently been revisiting it, it's definitely a grower. I love Blade's playing here, it's fun to just focus on him, he's constantly doing something interesting and he keeps it engaging. Corea's playing on standards in a trio format, fine as it is, doesn't always hold my interest, but the aforementioned playing of Blade, who is ably assisted by McBride (who kind of acts like the glue, excuse the cliche), really brings it to life for me. Great group chemistry overall really. The new material is the standout for me, particularly The Moon which i kind of see as the main event. Anyway, i'm a big Corea fan, this is another winner in my book.

Finished listening to the last disc of the Dial set last night, have been slowly working through the Benedetti set. Enjoyable times.

Bump. I just ordered a few Bob James albums from Amazon Japan. Looks like most of his seventies and early eighties stuff has been reissued in a 1000 yen type way (anyway, 2015 release date and they're in that price range but i'm not sure with regards to remasters or other details or what 'series' they're officially part of). Yeah there's probably smarter things to spend my money on but what the hell. The new releases i want to get are still a month or so off and i've got money burning a hole in my pocket. I've always wanted to get Touchdown, and the price is right and i figured i throw a few other albums in so it wouldn't be lonely in my collection (Lucky 7 and two albums with Earl Klugh, the one with the matches on the cover and the one with the playing cards on the cover). In selecting the albums that i wanted to get along with Touchdown i did quite a bit of listening to individual tracks on Youtube, Allmusic samples and what i could find on Spotify. So, not a Bob James expert by any stretch but it definitely strikes me that in general there's one or two tracks that i really dig per album and the rest is not so enjoyable. Frustratingly quite a lot of his songs start cool but then the bell-bottoms/Love Boat descends. What i've heard of Touchdown and Lucky 7 i really dig though, and the two early albums with Klugh as well.

Love seeing these business cards, very cool and interesting.

This'll be for the release of the new album i'm guessing... can't wait!

Lovers in the air, everywhere i look around. (Love Is In the Air) After the Poison summer has gone. (The Boys of Summer)

The Pi site is showing that a new Zooid album, 'In For a Penny, In For a Pound' is coming out in May. Ridiculously good news.

Just about: excluding the shorts on The Tracey Ullman show, the main series started in 1989. We watched for a long, long time. but last year was the last season for us. I just no longer found enough of interest to keep watching. Now if they find a way to resurrect Futurama (again) I am so there (right in front of the tube)! Yeah my viewing of the new episodes as they screen has been pretty patchy over the last 15 years or so, however over here they play reruns pretty much every night and if i'm at home i almost always watch those or at least have them on in the background. Mostly they've stuck to older seasons but in the last couple of years they've finally started slipping some of the newer episodes in to the rerun rotation. I have to say some of them have been quite funny! Futurama is quality!

Seeing characters in The Simpsons using tablets, social media, and referring to other things that weren't everyday in the early nineties, always seemed so wrong to me. I've gotten more used to it now but for a long time i wished that they'd kept the show as an early nineties period piece. In before 'you still watch The Simpsons?' Not religiously but yeah it's part of my DNA at this point.

Saturn Sings, along with Dragons Head, i guess were kind of her break out albums. From memory Saturn Sings was on on top or near the top of so many 'Top Ten' lists that year. Anyway, my impression was that it was a bit of a big deal (or relatively anyway) at the time. I remember liking it but thinking it was a bit overrated at first. It grew on me and on my last revisit (maybe about a year ago?) i felt like it had held up nicely for what it is. I feel like i have heard progression with each of her leader dates on Firehouse 12 since then, and my admiration has grown deeper with each album. Best place to start is hard to pick, but for me she's definitely an artist where more is more, in depth listening over more than a couple of albums pays dividends. It's such a pleasure to be able to follow along in real time and hear her story as it unfolds.

Up In Dodo's Room https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=159BAogggnU

Sorry, i just made that up for the purposes of the analogy as i hurried through it. I love mustard too! Also, i came home from work and wanted to double check for the 'swooshing' again, and yeah i heard it, although it sounded less 'digital artifact' like this time round. But then i had a large meal of Spaghetti Bolognaise for dinner, and now i can't hear it anymore, like, at all. So there you go, don't over eat on pasta when attempting to do critical listening. On a serious note (although seriously, the pasta did affect my hearing) i did compare Diggin' Diz from the Dial set versus the version that i had on The Complete Studio Chronicle set prior to eating, and the version on the Dial set just totally blows it out of the water. Loving the Dodo Marmarosa stuff BTW! Loving this set!