xybert

I don't take these lists particularly seriously but i don't mind having a bit of a squiz. It'll often make me look at an album in a new light and there can be interesting tidbits (I've had that Polar Bear album for years and didn't know that Ingrid Laubrock played on it!).

Taylor Ho Bynum has a new album coming out on Firehouse 12 on November 12th. It's not showing on the Firehouse 12 website yet, but should be at some point. Worth noting that all their albums can be streamed for free now: http://firehouse12records.com/ Here's an Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Navigation-Taylor-Ho-Bynum-7-Tette/dp/B00FAM0DYQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381618342&sr=8-1&keywords=Taylor+Ho+Bynum Here's a JazzTimes article link: http://jazztimes.com/sections/news/articles/101188-taylor-ho-bynum-sextet-7-tette-to-release-4-album-set From the article: "Firehouse 12 Records will release Navigation (The Complete Firehouse 12 Recordings), a four-album, multi-format set from cornetist and composer Taylor Ho Bynum, on Nov. 12. The project documents four different versions of Bynum’s modular composition “Navigation,” with two sets recorded live with his Sextet (featuring Jim Hobbs on alto saxophone, Bill Lowe on bass trombone and tuba, Mary Halvorson on guitar, Ken Filiano on bass and Tomas Fujiwara on drums and vibraphone), and two sets recorded in studio with the 7-tette (which adds drummer and vibraphonist Chad Taylor). The music was recorded over two days, December 7 and 8, 2012. The live Sextet recordings (subtitled Possibility Abstracts X & XI) will be released as a limited edition double-LP, and the studio 7-tette recordings (Possibility Abstracts XII & XIII) will be released as a double-CD. The entire four-album set will be available digitally, and buyers of either the LPs or CDs will receive a complimentary download coupon for the entire body of music." Great to see Jim Hobbs returning. Don't think i'll pre-order this, think i'll wait and see. I consider myself to be a THB fan but i think i enjoy him as a sideman or co-leader more than as a leader. I enjoyed his last album, Apparent Distance, at the time but i just haven't found myself returning to it, at all, or if i do i take it off pretty quickly. Just not feeling it. I'll probably have a change of heart pretty much as soon as i hit 'post'.

Steve, did you end up picking up the William Parker box set? Not expecting you to have listened to the whole thing yet but any thoughts on the music or the quality of the packaging?

The Max Roach & Cecil Taylor Historic Concerts album has some interview material at the end of disc two, about 16 minutes in total but it's interspersed with music. This album is also a available as part of the Cecil Taylor Black Saint/Soul Note box so technically it's in a box set!

That's a cool line up, from the intense to the slightly more chilled out (actually on second thoughts ROTM can still be intense in it's own way). I seem to come across a lot of people taking jabs at William Parker lately, which is fine i guess. Sometimes i'm bored by his music but i like a lot of it, love some of it. Maybe i'm not the most critical listener but i've never noticed anything 'bad' about his playing, walking or other. For me he's a good example of an artist that arguably may not be Percy Heath when it comes to walking bass lines but can create truly compelling music nevertheless.

Nice read. It's interesting how some artists can criticise the music of other artists and it comes off all good, where as when other artists are critical of other artists it strikes a nerve.

'Jane Fonda Called Again' is probably my favourite (certainly my most played) track off their latest album. Would love to see this group play live. Gary Burton is a true great IMO. His discography is pretty consistently excellent; i don't think i've ever heard a Burton album that i didn't at least like. I've been hearing a lot of good things about his autobiography; i also didn't know that he was a child prodigy (or heard it somewhere but didn't register) this probably added to his connection with Metheny and in particular Lage.

Moderately keen for that William Parker box. It's a reasonable price, i have a real soft spot for the Raining On The Moon group (Eri Yamamoto is highly under-celebrated IMO). Also haven't listened to much William Parker for a while and i do feel the beginnings of an urge for a bender coming on. Immersing myself in a whole bunch of new William Parker kind of appeals to me at the moment. Wouldn't mind seeing what the box set looks like; i'm guessing it will be cardboard sleeves housed in a larger cardboard sleeve, which is not ideal but i can live with it. Just as a side note i had to do a double take at that Keefe Jackson A Round Goal cover... looks remarkebly like Matt Bauder in that photo!

Too Much Sugar is a smart choice as it's very highly regarded. I guess it would be up to JLH to decide whether it fits their MO. My only problem is that i already have it in my CD collection and yet i have no way whatsoever of hearing Subject To Change unless i buy a turntable and order the LP. I'm thinking my only hope is that JLH gets blown away by it when he hears it. As i've never heard it myself i don't know whether it will or won't; i base my enthusiasm for it purely on the pedigree of the other ATRs and that it's become a bit of a holy grail for myself as the years have gone by. Edit: Having said all that if it's not to be it's not to be. Again, i'm pushing for an album that i've never heard. Back to waiting for ATR to issue it on CD.

Despite what it says on AMG i'm pretty confident that Subject To change has never been released on CD, there certainly doesn't seem to be any trace of it anywhere (aside from the note on AMG and a link to a CD format version on the LP page of Amazon that takes you to a pop-punk compilation of the same name). I'm sure i've read that STC has never been on CD, unlike the first two Threadgill ATRs, although i can't site a source. The ATR website has been like that for many years, i guess there's still hope. It would be great if ATR would do it but a JLH reissue is a mouthwatering plan B. Would be interested to hear whether JLH has any interest in this, what the logistical problems would be etc. It's seems like a no brainer in terms of a reissue that would generate interest. Threadgill's profile is fairly high but he's not that prolific which makes (speaking for myself but i'm sure it's the same for many fans) demand for something new or reissued quite high. Threadgill doesn't have a huge discography as a leader, relatively speaking, and for many fans like myself STC is the only album of his under his own name that we don't have (aside from the ultra rare Live at Koncepts and that vinyl only Zooid release from the mid 2000s).

Usually i will either order directly from the artist or from the record label. If i'm ordering from a particular online retailer it's usually Amazon. Ordering from overseas and what not i guess i just kind of trust them (i've never once had a problem with them), but i think it's more that they were the first online retailer i used and i'm just used to using them. But yeah, never had a problem ordering directly from the artist or the record label before. It's a beautiful thing. I have ordered from other random retailers in the past with mixed results but even with the good ones there's no real incentive for me to re-use them. I think if i lived in the states and some of the online stores were like de facto brick & mortars where i could pick up the phone and speak to someone like i presume some here would do with Jazzloft et al it would probably mean something to me.

A reissue that i could get really, really excited about would be the Henry Threadgill album Subject To Change. As far as i know it's never been released on CD. This would be a reissue to die for IMO.

What about Little Women? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wc9CgKs_8s

So much truth in these old sayings.

Any Ben Allison fans here? According to his website he's got a new album coming out on December 3rd. Looks like he's continuing his journey into fusion as it'll be a line up of guitar, guitar, bass and drums. Will have to wait and see. http://benallison.com/

Ah, didn't realise there was an existing connection between BS/SN and DDQ. Couldn't agree more with you guys about a second Lacy set to feature his larger groups. As much as i dug the first set i was slightly gutted that it didn't include any of the non solo/duo/trio material... my fingers and toes are crossed for a second set and the fact they've done a second Murray set gives me some hope.

I enjoyed Nova Express from the same group, have wishlisted this one but i'm not too enthused about pulling the trigger for whatever reason. I did pull the trigger on Dreamachines and very good it is too. It's knottier than Nova Express but still has its melodic moments. A fine band Just relistened to the Amazon samples and if i had the money at the moment i would get it, sounds really good. For whatever reason when i listened to the samples first time round it sounded good but i just felt kind of nonplussed about it... just one of those 'horse to water' things i guess.

I enjoyed Nova Express from the same group, have wishlisted this one but i'm not too enthused about pulling the trigger for whatever reason.

That would be cool. It does seem like Cam Jazz are branching out in to other Italian record labels. What's the word on the Gaslini? Looks interesting, i'm not familiar with him. I'll listen to some samples when i get home i guess.

fwiw, I just got a new copy off of Amazon to check this out, and I get no constant popping/fluttering sound on those cuts. Some momentary points of distortion, like the VUs got pegged for a second, , yeah. On 7 & & 10, I get some weird sound like a drummer hitting a practice pad, but it's not constant, it only happens whole Lacy's playing, and its in time with the music. I did the math, and if there's just three people playing, I'm not really sure where it could be coming from (somebody's foot doing something is the only trio-based solution?), so I do think it's an "artifact" of some sort, but since it's not constant and is always in time...I dunno. But that's another issue. The one that you & others have detailed, my copy does not have. I'll not even begin to hazard a guess how that happened. Maye it'll show up on my PC or in the car...hope not! I think we are all talking about the same thing, i was just a bit more lazy and hadn't actually listened to the album in a while. Just listened now, and tracks 8 & 9 don't really have the 'constant popping/fluttering' while Lacy is playing, more just traditional clipping/peak distortion at certain times. Tracks 7 & 10 have the constant popping/fluttering. I think that's what you're hearing as sounding like drummer hitting a practice pad, and the part about it only happening when Lacy is playing and being in time with the music coincides with what i was saying about it sounding like Lacy is overloading the mic or it's a faulty mic. A guess it can't be Lacy overloading the mic or a faulty mic if it can't be heard on the original release, but that's what it sounds like to me... some sort of mastering issue then? Weird things can happen with tape, is this the result of some issue that's arisen over time with the master tapes (or whatever source this was taken from or the source of the original reissue that this is ripped off from)?

My son is almost 7 months old. He seems to like music but it's hard to tell, he's generally pretty happy unless he's hungry or tired. I honestly can't remember what we were listening to around the house while my wife was pregnant so I can't test to see if he recognises anything... he doesn't seem to have any particular reaction to different types of music other than what i might project. He definitely responds to sound but it's not like i see him particularly light up when Monk is playing or whatever. It's all good stimulas, i guess.

I have this album and I'd be keen to hear your thoughts on it if you get a chance... cheers.

Went through a brief but intense phase where i thought i'd finally clicked with the MJQ about a year or so ago. I was really tempted to get the Mosaic set but ended up compromising and just getting quite a few of the individual CDs, as well as a couple of well regarded live concert double CDs that i can't think of the names right now (think they were 'The Final Concert' and 'For Connie'). I don't completely regret my spree but it definitely ended up being an eyes bigger than my stomach sort of thing as i found it to be more and more of a struggle to get through the albums i was buying. Nutshell = after years of ambivalence i immersed myself in the groups albums and for a short period thought that i finally got it. The phase passed and i'm not quite back to square one but definitely back to liking the idea of the MJQ more than the reality on record.

For me, Harris Eisenstadt is one of the rare cats that i follow to the point that if it's got his name as the leader i'm pretty much getting it (unless it looks particularly unappealing, but that's yet to happen. Or if it's not available on CD). The only leader album from him i've less than loved over the last five years or so was the first September Trio album. Everything else has totally engaged me. Funnily enough when the promo video for Golden State was first released at the beginning of the year i actually did think it was something that i might skip. Totally in the mood for it now. I'm pretty keen for that Adam Lane Trio album...

Harris Eisenstadt - Golden State Featuring Mark Dresser, Nicole Mitchell & Sara Schoenbeck. This is now available to be ordered directly from Eisenstadt's website, will be available via Amazon in October. The instrumentation of drums, bass, flute and bassoon sounds quite refreshing; really looking froward to this. http://www.harriseisenstadt.com/albums/harris-eisenstadt/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BbIxpKxj90