Late

Chuck, is it more or less a matter of money, or do other (legal) issues come into the mix? I'd buy that reissue from you in a New Jersey half-minute.

Igor, check here. I'm in general agreement on the sound of Atlantic issues and reissues. The Giuffre, to single out one example, is, however, a considerable improvement — even over the Mosaic (to my ears). The Mingus set (Oh Yeah) also improves over the "Passions of a Man" box. I guess I wouldn't necessarily encourage anyone to rush out for these if they already have the music in another form. If any of these are all-time favorites, though, it's worth trying one. The reason for the thread is simply to enthuse, nothing more. In general, I'm a strong subscriber of placing money toward recordings that are altogether new to a listener.

I understand that some or most of these recordings are not remastered from the original tapes due to the warehouse fire, but damn! This reissue series is a small revelation. So far, I've listened to Oh Yeah (sounds very good) and The Jimmy Giuffre 3 (sounds amazing). For almost all of last year, I was upgrade-itis free, but this series has me jones-ing to hear some of my all-time favorites in better sound. Has anyone else here purchased any of the new WPCR mini-LP discs? Which ones, and how are they? Note: Unlike the original 1998 AMCY series, which also sound good, this series adds bonus tracks where appropriate.

Reading over this thread, I wonder what it would take, logistically speaking, to have those unissued Cherry and Lacy recordings see the light of day on compact disc. Permission from Warner? What else? Curious, that's all. Um, and of course I'm to hear the music.

Agreed. I was about to purchase the 1987 edition used (for quite a bit more) when I discovered that this one was back out on the market. Even for those who don't order from Hiroshi, that CDUniverse price is very fair.

You guys made that easy enough. I just ordered Plays Alto, Tenor, and Baritone as well as Nirvana with Pizzarelli. Well, I probably just needed an excuse to order them. I always used to think that "Knobby Totah" was a nom de groove, but that's the bassist's real name. I think his story was posted here (or on the BNBB) a long time ago, but I can't remember it now. I want to say that he's of Turkish descent, but I think I'm just making that up because my memory can't accurately recall.

By the way, the CD that marcello posted a cover of above is at Dusty Groove for $5.99! Carpe diem.

A handful of the Xanadu downloads at eMusic are still in the 128K mp3 format (which the site marks with a ). Most, however, have been "upgraded" to a variable bit rate. The Cohns, for instance, sound pretty darn good to me. The Billy Mitchell sounds good as well. The Jimmy Rowles-Al Cohn duo set, unfortunately, doesn't sound so good.

Also meant to ask — is the Plays Alto, Tenor, and Baritone album worth picking up? Usually I don't care for overdubbing, but knowing that it's Zoot, I'm kind of interested.

There's actually no indication that I can see in the notes whether or not it's a 24-bit remaster. Even if it's "only" 16-bit, it doesn't matter of course. It was properly done to my ears — the surface noise is left in for the most part (there's not much), and this lets all the ranges (esp. the high range) come in with warmth. This edition (UCCU 9276) was reissued in late '06. What I wonder is — why didn't the Japanese market re-release any of the other Keynote sessions? (I'm going on memory, but I think this was the only one.) It would be great to see the Coleman Hawkins, Lennie Tristano, and Roy Eldridge Keynote Sessions reemerge — especially because I don't have any of them!

This Japanese import is available again ... for the budget price of 1000¥! I've never heard the original 1987 domestic pressing, but I think the current edition might have the same remastering. At any rate, the disc sounds good and the music sounds ... timeless. If you don't already have this disc, I'd strongly recommend it. Superlative Pres. I ordered my copy from Hiroshi, but CDUniverse has it for $12.09 right here. 16 tracks total. A lot of alternates, which I'm usually not crazy about, but in this case they're indispensable.

Just an update. I am now un-dogged. After multiple re-downloading, all the Cuber-invaded tracks play as they should (sans Ronnie). The Xanadu catalog at eMusic is, after all, clean. I guess there was some sort of cyber-glitch when I initially downloaded them. But now I wonder ... what were those mysterious Cuber sounds? (Twilight Zone music plays.) I also notice that when you do a Xanadu label search at eMusic, the top hit is now Sam Noto. Cool! (I wish they would add Walter Bishop Jr.'s Bish Bash to the list, though. I feel like I'm nevuh gonna hear it!)

Getting back to McNeil, I've always meant to check out some of the Steeplechase sessions he's on. The one with Harrell is on the list. How is Glass House?

Me too. Thanks for the heads-up, Randy. (Any Scrabble tournies lately?)

Ubu — you're going to like that Bix/Goldkette disc. Tasty, and (to my ears at least) very good sound. John & Hans — you're absolutely right. I haven't purchased the Archeophone set yet, but intend to — especially after having read so much about it and then listened to sound samples. It's not cheap, though! Have you guys bought anything else on Archeophone? I listened to a ton of sound samples on their site, and liked a LOT. Argh! One disc that I was really taken with was the Arthur Pryor set. That euphonium soloist is excellent. I also dug the "Record of the Week" series. Archeophone was not on my radar until a month or two ago. I was thinking about starting a thread on that label to ask for recommendations and to hear what others thought ...

Well, that does it. I think I'll sell my individual discs (after checking them against the discography), and spring for this set ... around June. Hopefully I'll have some more $ flow around then. (I just ordered the Ellington, so that will certainly tide me over.)

The 1923-1931 Okeh Hot Dance Band Recordings disc appears to be a new reissue on Retrieval. Looks tasty.

Here are details on the NORK set.

I'll give it a spin tomorrow. As I recall (on the 1990 reissue), the distortion, or whatever it is, is only present two or three times on the disc. It sounds similar to the bell of a horn coming too close to the mike — a rattling, overblowing sound. I actually thought that this was the case, but when The Soothsayer, which had the same problem, was "fixed" back in 1998 (— the first reissue was 1990, I believe), it made me think that the same problem might be fixable on Clubhouse. The 1990 Clubhouse reissue also happens to be on the quiet/flat side (to my ears), so perhaps Rudy's amp-it-up treatment might actually be an improvement. I hope they keep the original Toshiba cover! (For some reason, I don't think Blue Note will. They didn't, at least, for Oblique.)

Retrieval also just re-reissued The Complete 1932 Rhythm Makers set. Argh — I want that one too! The only place on the internet I can find these new reissues, however, is Worlds Records. They're a fine e-tailer, but their prices aren't the best.

When I was 14, I loved The Police. I revisited my favorites about a year ago (their first two albums), and sadly just couldn't get with them. Strangely or not, the same wasn't true for another band I loved at that age: U2. Their first two albums still sound good to me. I actually like Branford Marsalis — — — when he makes fun of Sting. Though it's not The Police, I think one Sting tune that's absolutely aged the worst is: "Russians." Egad.

What set do you all recommend seeking out to optimally hear NORK? Now that it's back in-print, I had my eye on the Retrieval, but thought I would ask here first.

This may have been mentioned earlier (haven't read the whole thread), but Dex's duet (completely sans rhythm section) with Al Cohn entitled "On the Trail" on Silver Blue is excellent. It's really interesting to just hear two tenors going back and forth, one creating "rhythm" while the other solos.

... and Jimmy Rowles. If anyone would like to share some jpgs, that would be great!

In the spirit of sharing Xanadu cover art, I'll post a few (smallish) jpegs. They work well for anyone using iTunes. Here's Dolo Coker and Walter Bishop Jr. for starters: