xybert

Finally received Bloom in the post a few days ago and i've probably listened to it about 6 times since then. I'm really digging it. It's a fine follow up to Grace, there's continuity there without being a repeat. Overall songs are slightly shorter and feel more concise, which somewhat hearkens back to the trio records. This is definitely not a bad thing and the songs work (boy do the they work!) but sometimes it does feel like the plug gets pulled right when a song is flowing. For me Bloom proves that Grace wasn't a fluke, nor was it completely reliant on the sidemen. Allen is in control and knows exactly what he is doing.

Saturday morning, just watched Green Lantern, Adventure Time and Regular Show.

Haven't spun this much since getting it when it came out, just haven't been in the mood for this type of thing. My take is that you pretty much get exactly what it says on the box, The Bad Plus performing The Rite Of Spring, and even though i'm a TBP fan and there's nothing particulary wrong with it it's just ever so slightly underwhelming some how. It feels like they recorded it to document their performance of the Rite of Spring once and for all but having performed it for a few years now maybe they're striking while the iron is cold? TL/DR = I like it, don't love it, but i think i need to give it some more spins when i'm feeling in a more receptive mood. Bring on their next album.

I'm definitely interested.

FWIW i had a quick listen and it's gotten me pretty keen on hearing the JLH release of the Daley material when it eventually comes out. I feel like i had a similar reaction when that link was posted at some earlier date, possibly elsewhere, but somewhere along the line i forgot about it. Anyway, this time round i've firmly planted it in my brain (Joe Daley Joe Daley Joe Daley) to keep an eye out for the official release.

The other thread you've linked to covered a lot of the other Simpson/Jazz references i was going to cite. There's also since been the episode where Bart became a successful jazz drummer on the scene (much to Lisa's disgust). Was full of stereotypes, but then that's The Simpsons!

Darn those expectations anyway! But, geographically speaking, it isn't that far to North Korea either. Not expecting to find many TOCJs there. Or maybe that's where they all go and why they're so hard to find? I mean, him looking at squeeze boxes is a strong indication the regime loves jazz, isn't it? This thread really made me laugh. I guess it would be pretty obscure/in-jokey, but "Not expecting to find many TOCJs there" might just become my new euphemism for some place i don't want to go. It used to be "express elevator to hell, going down!" (Aliens reference). Gotta go visit Aunt Mabel? Damn, not expecting to find many TOCJs there!

I must say that i found shopping for jazz CDs in China to be pretty disappointing (especially compared to Japan, which, you know, geographically not too far apart and all = i had high expectations! )

Never knew these existed either! (or at least never registered that they existed or were worth investigating).

Thanks for posting that Ubu, so glad that not only is this a legit release but it seems to be a quality product all round.

I really like Jeremy Pelt's Men of Honor and the Talented Mr Pelt on High Note, and JD Allen's first two albums on Savant (still waiting for Bloom to arrive in the post). Really top notch stuff.

Listening to Presente on Spotify now. Beautiful music, thanks for posting.

Finally purchased this set (thanks Lon!) and i am seriously digging this music. Worth noting that i had never heard any of this material before, this is my first exposure, un-edited or otherwise. This is instant favourite stuff for me, sort of blows any arguments about whether we should be listening to new stuff or old stuff out of the water. To me this music makes the most sense out of any of the post Bitches Brew stuff i've heard. It just works. 'Call it anything' etc but i guess free funk is as good a descriptor as any, it's just so funky and abstract, reminds me a lot of the way that the free bop of the Tony/Wayne/Ron/Herbie group was so swinging and abstract. This feels like a natural progression. Sound quality of the main event is excellent, the bonus tracks sound rough but apart from a quick 10 second listen i've skipped them so far (i'll get to them, i know they'll be worth listening to, just don't want to interrupt the main trip right now!). Anyway, loving this, don't really feel like listening to anything else right now. This is not a 'for hardcore fans only' live release or 'for completists only, you can live without it' thing. Utterly compelling, essential music in my opinion.

PM sent on The Sun Died.

Just ordered my copy from an Amazon UK seller (avatarmusic)... really looking forward to this.

Didn't end up making it to the Auckland show after all... i got double booked but thought i'd still be able to make it to the show afterwards with time to spare so i wasn't too concerned about pulling out of the other thing... show started at 6:00 but with 4 opening acts and the usual delays i thought there's no way he's going to take the stage before 9:00pm... next minute i get a txt at 7:30pm from a friend advising me that Brotzmann's on stage and i'm missing out! Life eh? Bit like that movie, Sliding Doors... seeing Brotzmann live might have completely altered the direction of my life... i guess i'll never know... either way i feel oddly empty this morning.

I'll be ordering this at some point, Giuffre is the man.

Wouldn't surprise me if these recordings are from the same sessions as Jasmine. Either way, calling it Last Dance could be construed as being a bit cynical and manipulative on ECM's part, but i guess benefit of the doubt and all that.

Threadgill is one of my favourite artists. Thankfully one of the few artists where almost everything he's ever done as a leader is relatively easy to find on CD. This set filled so many gaps in my collection in one fell swoop.

Hmmm, i actually quite enjoyed their last duet disc, Jasmine. Might pick this up if i come across it in a store.

You seem to have missed this e-mail from Mosaic: While we try to always give our customers a reasonable lead time when a set is going out of print, sometimes circumstances beyond our control force us to delete sets on short notice. During the recent sale of EMI Music, pieces of the company were sold to Warner Bros. rather than Universal Music. As a result, we lost the rights to manufacture more of our Sarah Vaughan (Roulette) and Django Reinhardt (EMI France) sets. The supplies we have on both sets are very low and will only be available for a short time. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Yeah i got that email but things don't always line up... i guess the most simple explanation (whether it was or wasn't showing as being backordered on their website they still had a very small amount in stock and now they're gone) is the most likely.

It's weird, yeah as of this posting there doesn't seem to be any trace of the Django set on the Mosaic site. I wanted to check because i could've sworn it was listed as backordered until the second half of 2014 along with a whole bunch of other sets i was looking at getting recently... wondered how that would factor in to the whole 'last chance' thing... i could be mistaken though and it might have still been available, could've sworn though...

Just picked this up today and can confirm that it sounds significantly better than the Atlantic Original Sound digipak version from 1998 (not sure if this is the version you're referring to), which i found to be annoyingly hot and harsh. Actually pretty stoked with this; ummed and ahhed in the store but i guess i gambled and won on this one. I'm not usually one for re-buying stuff that i already have for the sake of better sound but i'm starting to see the positive side of it. thanks and what is the catalogue number of the version you purchased? That's the one!

Just picked this up today and can confirm that it sounds significantly better than the Atlantic Original Sound digipak version from 1998 (not sure if this is the version you're referring to), which i found to be annoyingly hot and harsh. Actually pretty stoked with this; ummed and ahhed in the store but i guess i gambled and won on this one. I'm not usually one for re-buying stuff that i already have for the sake of better sound but i'm starting to see the positive side of it. I would agree with that. I have both versions too and the new '1000 Yen' series issue sounds significantly better all round. I'm actually quite taken aback by how much of a difference the better sound has made to my enjoyment of this album! When i listened last night i only intended to do a quick comparison with the old version and then move on to other things, didn't really feel like listening to TFJB at all, but i ended up listening to the whole album, just couldn't take it off. Outstanding.

I really like it. I have a soft spot for solo sax albums for a few reasons, one of which is that i simply find them to be great background music. There's a relaxed intimacy about them; i love having a solo saxophone album playing while i pot around the house from one room to another. Almost feels like the artist is chilling in one of the rooms of your house. In particular with this Steve Coleman album i'd always loved his playing but found the production on his eighties and nineties albums to be really off putting. An album with him unaccompanied really laid his playing bare. I'm not sure what it is but his playing really speaks to me so i found this album to be really engaging. I also really dug what i'd heard of him on his albums unaccompanied (for example track one of Weaving Symbolics) and thought "yeah i could dig a whole albums of this". That's pretty much what you get. This thread made for interesting reading. Just like with any artist YMMV but you can't really judge recent Steve Coleman by his eighties or nineties stuff. Sometimes i feel like Steve Coleman's career is on the reverse trajectory of Miles'. Judging current Steve on albums like Tao of the Mad Phat would be like judging Miles purely on Tutu. In Marcus Gilmore he found a drummer that could be funky without being stuck on a grid. Jen Shyu's vocals will be a deal breaker for some, but for me her voice adds a wonderful surreal edge and some amazing colours (i also really dig Irene Aebi's vocals, so... ) Finally picked this up. This is great!!!