HutchFan

Essential Jazz Classics. But I think that may be a different name for the same company. It's very much a "grey market" edition. But it's also the only version -- to the best of my knowledge -- that has all the takes in unedited form.

I was sort of surprised that Elemental didn't reissue it as part of the Xanadu Master Edition series. Damaged/destroyed tapes may well have been the cause. But I don't know.

One of Rowles' very best, IMO.

Discs 1 & 2

Audiophiles having an existential crisis over an abstraction like having DSD added to the sound reproduction chain is one of the reasons that I am not an audiophile. Not that I don't enjoy excellent musical AQ. I do. But I think this "scandal" is just another case of folks putting the cart (sound) in front of the horse (music). My 2 cents.

Now listening to The Complete Yusef Lateef (Atlantic, 1967), one of the albums included in this 32 Jazz reissue: Earlier: Happy Birthday, Pops!

Next up:

I have that same release, and I agree re: the bonus cut. Understandable why it wasn't issued back in day. It isn't on the same exalted level as the original three cuts, IMO. I'm just now listening to Olé Coltrane, and I think I can hear what you were talking about. Seems like Tyner's modalism became "part of the vocabulary" for many pianists -- especially guys like Stanley Cowell, John Hicks, and (a bit later) Mulgrew Miller.

One of those movies that you can watch over and over (and over) again -- and it never gets old.

I'd never thought about that -- but it makes sense. Tyner's influence was so far-reaching. I'll give it a spin and see if I can hear the same.

Yeah, I'd rate Olé Coltrane right up there with his best too.

Kenny Drew & Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen - Duo (SteepleChase, 1973)

Jim, I strongly agree with everything you're saying -- EXCEPT for the statement I've quoted above. I think Blakey's "comeback" band with Bobby Watson and James Williams is an important aspect of his legacy. Listen to records like In My Prime (Vols. 1 & 2), Reflections in Blue, Album of the Year, In This Korner, and Straight Ahead. They build on and extend what Blakey was doing from the beginning. It's not just re-hash or regurgitation. It's something different and new precisely because those bands had personalities of their own. Better than Wayne and Cedar and Lee and Hubbard? Of course not. But different? Yes. Unique? Yes!

Blakey could do things that Max couldn't. And Max could do things Blakey couldn't. Both changed the sound of a band from the drum chair. Think about Thelonious with Max. And think about Thelonious with Blakey. Different worlds! They're both complete musical personalities. That's what makes them both irreplaceable, IMO.

I couldn't ever choose between the two. Blakey was foundational in my discovery of jazz. And, in some ways, I appreciate some aspects of Blakey's music now more than I ever have: The soulfulness and directness of it. But Max is Max. His music is so important and so vital on so many levels. For me, it's an impossible choice.

More HH: The Hampton Hawes Trio - The Seance (Contemporary/OJC, rec. 1966) with Red Mitchell and Donald Bailey

John Lewis, et al - Grand Encounter: 2° East - 3° West (Pacific Jazz, 1956)

More from O Bruxo: Hermeto Pascoal e Grupo - Lagoa Da Canoa Município De Arapiraca (Som Da Gente, Brazil, 1984)

Hermeto Pascoal & Grupo - S/T (Som Da Gente, Brazil, 1982) and Shelly Manne & His Men at the Black Hawk, Vol. 1 (Contemporary/OJC, 1960)

And now the sequel: Richie Beirach - Ballads II (Sony Japan, 1987)

Richie Beirach - Ballads (Sony Japan, 1986)

My selections from last week now posted on MORE FAVORITES: Reflections on Jazz in the 1980s. Steve Turre - Viewpoint (LP); Viewpoints and Vibrations (CD) (Stash, 1987) For whatever reason, Steve Turre didn't release his first album until he was in his late-30s -- so this debut doesn't sound like one. Hermeto Pascoal e Grupo - Só Não Toca Quem Não Quer (Only If You Don't Want It, You Can't Do It) (Som Da Gente/Intuition/Capitol, 1987) Americans tend to associate Hermeto with the 1970s -- with Airto, Miles, Slaves Mass, and so on. But I think Pascoal's series of LPs in the 80s -- after he'd returned to Brazil and featuring his amazing Grupo -- are the most interesting records he ever made. Pat Metheny Group - Still Life (Talking) (Geffen, 1987) Other albums that Metheny made during the 1980s are more jazz-oriented -- records 80/81, Rejoicing, and Question & Answer. But I think Still Life (Talking) represents Metheny at his best. No one else could have made it. And the sound of Metheny's music isn't just subtly different; it's VERY different, entirely unique. Aside from (possibly) Chick Corea and Joe Zawinul, has there ever been another jazz musician who made such "orchestral" electric music sound so organic?