John Tapscott

Thank you Free for all and Amen! One of the greatest of all trombone players, perhaps not quite as explosive as Rosolino, but Carl was nearly nearly unbeatable for melodic flow. Bill Watrous was a really big fan of Carl's. Two fine recordings in my collection (besides this one) come to mine. Heavyweights - a mid-90's quintet recording by Bobby Shew and Carl (on Mama) Bobby Knight's Great American Trombone Company (from around '78). Carl and Ros' are guest soloists, and my memory is slipping here, but I think they play together on a couple of tracks. There is one funny story in the liners about how Carl was late for the gig one night because of a traffic jam. As soon as he stepped on stage Knight called an uptempo "I Got Rhythm" and let Carl take the first solo. Carl sailed through it. (it's on the recording). He said he figured Knight would do this and so had been warming up on his mouthpiece in the cab!

I got the Mulligan today (#119) and I've listened to half of CD #1 and so far I think the sound is fabulous. (I haven't hard the Verve mini LP). And it came through with no taxes or package fee added by the Canadian Post office. Thank you, Mosaic!

Thanks Pryan, I've heard enough Woody Shaw over the years so that I can probably distinguish the trumpeters. But we can compare notes after we've both heard the CD. It just bothers when liner notes expect us to be such experts that WE have to do the work. It tells me that the liner note writer is not such an expert himself. BTW, you may not have to wait too long for these. I'm in Canada, too. Check my recent posting in the Conn thread.

I haven't heard this disc, yet, but am really looking forward to it. I've got to say however, that it REALLY bugs me when there are two of the same instrument on a date and the liner don't tell who's soloing when. This REALLY, REALLY bugs me. Even if they would say left channel/ right channel it would be enough. I'm really surprised that Cuscuna would let this slip through. For what they're charging for the Conn's, they should give us this information. I was listening to Ike Quebec's Congo Lament Lp the other day and Michael does a great job in giving the solo order and telling when it's Quebec and when it's Turrentine.

Just ordered the Hill, Morgan and Mobley discs from hmv.com at $19.99 Canadian per disc (15$ US) and free shipping. They say 2-3 days shipping. We'll see.

Oh yeah, this is going to be a great set. My brother-in-law was asking me the other day what I wanted for Christmas. Now I know! Top of the list.

The fact that the web-site has dropped the price of the new Conns is almost an admission that the list price is too high. (Of course, most new releases generally sell well below list). But if the RVG's became more popular when the price was dropped, why wouldn't the same apply to the Conns? And it seems to me the RVG's must be as expensive to produce - at least they generally have new liner notes.

Until I joined the old BNBB, I never paid much attention to whether something was an RVG or a Conn, or just a Blue Note CD with no special designation To me, it was a BN and that's all that mattered. But if memory serves me correctly the first RVG I ever bought was Hank Mobley - Soul Station. Actually, I had several before that because a friend of mine was a Capitol/EMI rep and he used to give me some extra promos he had around. So before the Mobley I had already the RVG's of Dolphy's Out to Lunch and Rollins' Vol 2 on my shelves (and maybe a few others).

Yes, LFR is a great session, and Bob's notes are good on this one. I love the little story where Jackie talks about how Hank Jones would tune him up before a gig. Jackie would play and A, Hank a B, and they'd be off and running, as close to being "in tune" as possbile.

Gee, I don't know. Maybe for a symphony or studio musician, but I'm not sure it's a necessity for a jazz musician. This topic probably deserves its own thread. Now I will admit that Strozier is far from my favorite alto player (I have this session), but Jackie McLean is one of my favorites, and nobody ever accused Jackie of playing in tune. In fact, it's his wayward pitch which makes his alto sound so personal. I love it. To stay with altoists, I 'm not sure Art Pepper's playing (especially after his comeback) was in always in tune, either. But I wouldn't get rid of any of it.

BTW, what the heck is going on over at www.cheap-cds.com ? They used to be right on the ball with the new Conns and RVG's, even shipping them out before the street date. ( I have bought LOTS of cds from them). But they don't even have the new Conns listed. And their back stock has reduced to nearly zilch. Most CD's (except for the very latest) for most artists are listed as NONE.

As Pryan pointed out, we here in Canada will have to wait a bit longer for these Conns. But I am already looking forward to what you guys are going to say about them. I expect to see reviews beginning on Oct 7th starting around 12 Noon EST. I'm really looking forward to comments re the Hill, Morgan and Mobley CD's.

The problem with the one star review is that it will forever drag down the average review of this set. Both these reviews should be removed from the site.

Mach 3 and they're very good, though expensive ( I wish the patent would run out soon so we could start to get the generic kind), plus whatever shaving cream my wife buys on sale - either Foamy or Edge gel (which I prefer, thankfully she brought home 3 cans just the other day).

This is a great album (in spite of Costello) and I think may be their best since Nostalgia in Times Square. And don't forget that it's not just the Big Band on this CD but the Mingus Orchestra on half the tracks, a smaller band, and very interesting.

I agree with those who advise not getting rid of stuff too quickly. I can't tell you how many times I've given something a listen or two and thought, "Well, that's OK, but not great," and filed it away. But then I came back to it years later, listened to it anew, and raised my opinion of it. Sometimes it works the other way, of course, but usually the movement is upward. I have 4,000 + jazz CD's, Lp's and cassettes amassed over the past 30 years. Not excessive, perhaps, and I'm not a big seller, though I did sell 500 or so LP's about 20 years ago, when I returned to school for three years. But I'm glad I have all of them, and going back to listen to something I haven't heard for a long while (especially my LP's) is almost like listening to it for the first time. it's a very enjoyable experience. And I'm glad I have many of the AOTW's. I have a job where I work alone some of the time and so can listen to a lot of music on the job. And to be honest, I find jazz just as enjoyable and exciting as ever. I don't consider myself a collector but a big fan. I rarely if ever, buy anything just for the sake of buying it. I buy to listen. And I especially enjoy discovering new artists. I'm with Bev on this. So many times I've bought a recording just out of curiosity and probably 95 times out of a 100 I've been more than pleasantly surprised.

Oh man, I thought you were talking about listening to jazz and collecting jazz records!

Zero here. Ok by me.

I don't have too long to comment, other than to say this is just a wonderful album, which I thoroughly enjoyed revisiting. And Shad Collins - what a trememdous trumpet player, beautiful tone, flowing solos, sadly underrated. There is one long and very subtly "bent" blue note in his Old Fashioned Love solo which is a joy to hear. Also the tune Sir Charles at Home is small group swing at its best. Great choice for AOTW.

Tenor man David Schnitter has a nice version on his first Muse album ("Invitation"). The Mickey Tucker thread brought it to mind since Mickey's on the date. I think they were both in Blakey's group at the time ( '76). BTW, whatever happened to David, a really fine hard-bop tenor player?

I have this LP, but haven't heard it for a LONG time. As I recall though, it's a real good one. I have several of Mickey's records from the '70's on Xanadu and Denon. Whatever happened to him?

All over the map in the last couple of weeks: Jackie McLean - Let Freedom Ring Lee Morgan - Search for the New Land Kim Richmond Concert Jazz Orchestra - Refractions Dizzy Gillespie - Dizzy's Diamonds Archie Shepp - Four For Trane Vic Dickenson - The Essential (2 LP's) John Taylor/Marc Johnson/Joey Baron - Rosslyn Keith Jarrett - Koln Concert Cecil Taylor - For Olim - (yes really, and I actually dug parts of it) Jim Snidero - Storm Rising Jazz MN Big Band Bob Florence - Whatever Bubbles Up Kenny Wheeler (with Winstone, Taylor & the Maritime Jazz Orch) - Siren's Song Carmell Jones - Mosaic Select Bill Charlap - Distant Star Up next Grover Mitchell's All Star Big Band - Hip Shakin' The Maritime Jazz Orch. (w. Wheeler, Winstone & Taylor) - Now and Now Again

The only one I've gotten so for is Lee's SFTNL. I've never heard it before and I really like it, esp. the title track and Mr. Kenyatta. The sound is just fine as far as I'm concerned, and including Grant Green on this album was an inspired move. I think Canadian guitarist Sonny Greenwich must have listened to this album a great deal. There's a lot of Green influence in his playing, esp. from this album's title track.

Jim: That's exactly how I felt in January '94 when the doctor told my wife she was expecting. My wife was much calmer about the whole thing than I was! In October this year, our daughter Julie will turn 9 and I can tell you that fatherhood is one of the very best things that ever happened to me. It's amazing the things you can do for your own child, that you've never done before, didn't know you could do, and wouldn't think of doing for anyone else. So take it easy. It should work out just fine. And I'm sure everyone will understand if it takes a bit longer to fix Board glirches in the first 2 or 3 months after the baby's arrival! One thing that was really helpful was to have the baby's room and furniture ready about two months before she was born. I can't imagine trying to do that right after the child is born. There's just too much other stuff to do. All the best.

I've really been digging this record. There is much to enjoy here. The arrangements, Rudd, and the swinging rhythm section are just some of the highlights for me. But I have significant reservations about Shepp's playing. I think he plays quite well here when he's interacting with the other horns, but on his own, especially when the tempo is up a bit, he sounds flat-footed, at least to me. On Syeeda's for example, the rhythm section is swinging very nicely, but Archie never quite gets in the groove, or catches the wave, so to speak. A lot of his phrases don't get "fit". It's not quite as noticeable when the tempo is down, but it's still there all the same, and for me, mars his work. Yes, I know it's an avant-garde technique to play against the rhythm section, but to do it all the time indicates to me a player who has some time problems. (Ornette sometimes played against the time, but he could also swing like crazy with the rhythm section. ) And I'm not sure Archie ever really solved this problem, not even on the later Sheep records I've heard. To put it simply, Archie doesn't swing enough for me. Also, I can't say I find his tone particulary pleasant, though I will grant that some people really dig it. Part of my problem, perhaps, is that I've been listening a lot to "Mode for Joe". Joe Hen is such a masterful tenor player, that when I hear Archie's playing, I honestly feel I'm listening to someone who's not in the same league.