xybert

One of my favourite Braxton albums, so good.

Cecil Taylor and Ornette Coleman came to mind for me... massively influential, although if i was being completely ruthless and objective i'm not sure they would make my top ten of all time for all of jazz.... impossible to fit in every highly influential artist... not being in the top ten doesn't mean they weren't extremely influential... it's a bit like trying to pick your all time favourite top ten... very hard...

Stephen King - Joyland

All things going according to plan i'll be getting the trio disc with Darren Johnston a bit further down the line when i have some cash, will probably order the duo disc with Daisy at the same time. Latest clean feed batch is out; i'm keen on the Revis and the new Lawnmower (feat. Jim Hobbs and Luther Gray) album.

Coleman Hawkins Classic Sessions 1922-1947 (Mosaic) The Complete Bud Powell on Verve Coleman Hawkins - The Hawk Flies High ... and that will be me for the foreseeable future...

Yes, i believe Gramavision is now owned by Warners. Not sure about the other albums, i think the Sterns are still easy to come by, however Blue Matter (FWIW, hasn't actually been announced as part of this series) starts at $105.00 new, $29.99 second hand on Amazon US. I'm sure it can be found cheaper elsewhere, but still.

I freakin loved Pilotwings back in the day. Soyo Oka composed the soundtrack. I've never looked her up before... interesting to see that she also composed the music for Super Mario Kart, probably my favourite game of all time (and the music was a huge part of it). Her wiki page sites Chick Corea and Lyle Mays among her influences... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyo_Oka

I probably overstated it a bit by saying "This sounds so much like something from a late eighties/early nineties Nintendo game it's ridiculous." It's more of a 'reminds me of' rather than 'sounds exactly like'. Anyway, i think it comes down to japanese videogame soundtrack composers being influenced by jazz and jazz fusion of the time.

I hope that Scofield's Blue Matter is in the next batch... had a now deleted library rip of that album... awesome 'Nintendo jazz'... really liked it. I also have a soft spot for Mike Stern of that era... might pick those up. This sounds so much like something from a late eighties/early nineties Nintendo game it's ridiculous: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSMTw-Fu1qw

I think that it's interesting to note that a lot of the stuff that gets listened to that some would argue is not jazz because it doesn't swing or have the blues enough pretty much only gets covered and talked about by jazz press/websites/forums/blogs etc. It's not jazz, but apparently the jazz audience is the only audience that cares about it. It's almost like jazz is organically evolving...

Insane, can't believe he's coming to New Zealand! I'm not that huge of a fan but i do like the handful of his albums that i have (The Bishop's Move with Evan Parker is a favourite). Can't pass up the rare opportunity to see a living legend like Brotzmann perform live. On a side note, also just found out that Chick Corea & Gary Burton are playing NZ in June (a dream come true for me)! It's all happening this year Now the mantra begins: Please don't cancel, please don't cancel, please don't cancel...

Thanks colinmce; your input and a PM i received helped me to shake my last minute jitters... i'll be travelling next week so i'll wait until i get home to place my order; don't want to take any risks with deliveries while i'm away Edit: Just wanted to share a memory that struck me as quite funny. Back in about 2006 when i was starting to get heavily in to jazz i heard about an old guy at my work who was also in to jazz. I went to talk to him all excited and asked him who he was in to; i distinctly remember him talking about Coleman Hawkins, his face screwing up in close eyed ecstasy as he talked about his playing on a particular record, and me thinking "damn, he's in to the old fogey stuff. Guess we won't really have anything to talk about afterall." Much like i really wish i could have a drink with my late grandfather and compare notes i really wish i could go back to that guy and say "Dude! Coleman Hawkins!" Not in those exact words but you know what i mean...

Thanks for the heads up, was wondering what was happening with this one.

So, i have no other Coleman Hawkins as a 'leader' in my collection other than a Naxos compilation. I've kind of had my heart set on getting this set, but it didn't seem like i'd have the money for a while. Somewhat miraculously i now have just enough money to buy it and get it shipped to me. Of course, now the cold feet strike, as i'm looking at the money and thinking "damn, i could get a lot of CDs for that money. Maybe i should just get the JSP set to cover the early years, get a few other CDs like The Hawk Flies High and then i'll have enough left over to get those new releases i've had my eye on." So, and i sincerely hope this gets taken the right way, putting aside all considerations of PD or (highly justified) loyalty to Mosaic etc... i guess i'm not really asking whether you would get the Mosaic or get the PD sets, i guess what i want to ask is, from the viewpoint of people that know Hawk's music, is this Mosaic set awesome and does it, more or less, provide the best overall coverage of Hawk's music for the period it covers? Unless i'm a life or death completist, does this set pretty much cover it up until 1947? If i was to invest the money could i sit back safe in the knowledge that i've got the essential Hawk pretty much covered for this period in my collection? Any other thoughts on the set are welcome. Cheers.

I've recently discovered Lester Young. I already had the Basie Decca set and the America's Number 1 Band Columbia set but they didn't make me go crazy for Prez for whatever reason. Anyway, i enjoyed listening to early Dexter Gordon so much recently, and then comments that Ellery Eskelin made about Prez in an interview finally got me looking. I picked up a 10 CD box set on German label Past Perfect from 2001 second hand, in mint condition for next to nothing; apparently a PD set but it's decent enough quality and i'm saving for the Coleman Hawkins Mosaic. Anyway, all i can say is what most here will already know, and that is that Lester Young rules. It's just so right, so enjoyable. I almost wish i could wipe my last 8 or so years of listening and restart with guys like Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins and work my way back up through the years. But i had to listen to all the other stuff to get to this, my ears just weren't ready for guys like Prez and Hawk until now. Amazing.

The Thumbscrew album is very nice. Halvorson fans should also keep an eye out for Reverse Blue on Relative Pitch hopefully in the very near future.

Yup, it's audible on my RVG too. Not sure what caused it but it's like the level drops or someone/something suddenly EQed out the low frequencies or something. It's also audible on this youtube upload: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDcj0JibZRY

I dig his playing on From the Soul and i used to have Pianism and quite liked it... I really want to get that trio album with Jim Hall and Wayne Shorter again; used to have it but there was this weird frequency that i heard through out the recording that ruined it for me... after trading it i discovered an issue with my speakers that was creating weird audio defects on some albums... always wondered if this albums was affected by it.

Someone might get to it before me but i'll have a listen to my copy when i get home in about 8 hours time.

Thank you! The CD arrive for me yesterday and i thought i'd comment in a FWIW kind of way that this label really offers good value in terms of the physical product: a decent quality digipak for only 12 EUR including international shipping is a steal for me. I'd add that on the first couple of listens I'm finding this an enjoyable set. For me the rhythm section seems key (unsurprising with Hollenback on board) and it's good to here Blaser 'pushed' to play with such strong rhythm. He still plays those long extended notes occasionally and plays behind the beat a fair bit. But this is the first time I've heard him open up and play 'hot' and whilst he's not Roswell Rudd (who is?) it's interesting to hear in comparison to previous discs. My initial impression is that the album sounds not disimilar to a Henri Texier date - which is a good thing indeed, in this household I'm still on early listens but i agree, an enjoyable album. One thing that i'm finding adds an interesting flavour is the apparent co-lead nature of it. It's not unusual to have different members contributing compositions in a leader/group situation, but somehow this album sounds different... it's not a hodgepodge, there's still something that unifies it and glues it all together, but yeah, interesting.

Thank you! The CD arrive for me yesterday and i thought i'd comment in a FWIW kind of way that this label really offers good value in terms of the physical product: a decent quality digipak for only 12 EUR including international shipping is a steal for me.

Thanks for posting that... i only skimmed through the tracks but it sounds really good; i'll be getting this. Jones and McHenry combine very nicely.

Will the universe implode if Steve Reynolds posts about Tony Malaby in an actual Tony Malaby thread?

I've really enjoyed the new album, sounds like the live show would be a blast.