Late

I listened again, and that track is definitely not "What is There to Say." It's a major blues, and it's tasty! Still — it's a weird shift to go from the ballad "I Should Care" to Cuber belting it out. (Listens again.) OK. Crap. This track is all effed up. After Cuber ends his blues, there's a pause, then a fade-in: Noto finishing his solo on "I Should Care." AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! eMusic is dogging me.

Shane — per your tip, I contacted eMusic (with the "defective track" e-mail option). We'll see what they say. And, lo and behold, this same glitch is on a Xanadu Sam Noto track too (from Act One). Argh! This one is stranger though. Noto's not even on the track! It starts off with Barry Harris playing "I Should Care." Then right around 1:53 there's an edit, Barry starts swinging all of a sudden, and ... here comes Ronnie Cuber again. The track, however, is listed as "I Should Care/What is There to Say" — but Cuber's not on the album, and I don't think he's actually playing "What is There to Say." Do you think this track should be reported too? Would anyone mind checking this track from Act One if you've downloaded it from eMusic? What the heck is going on? The playing is great, but Ronnie keeps jumping into albums that he wasn't on!

Thanks jazzshrink! Luke — if you've already scanned the cover and feel like sharing it here, that would be great.

If anyone knows where a CD copy of this album can be purchased (*), or is selling one, please PM! I'm aching to hear this record. * If buying it directly from ECM in Munich for (approximately) $30 is the only route — well, I guess that's what I'll have to do. When it was available domestically (U.S.), it was around $13.

Thanks for the tip, Shane. Is your "Ladybird" screwed up? When you have a chance to listen to it, I'd be interested in knowing. Maybe when eMusic updated (years back) their Xanadu listings to variable bit rate, something happened? Oh — the mystery continues (forgot to mention this): After I downloaded this title, my download count never went down. Am I missing something? I logged out, logged back in, and it was as if I'd never downloaded the album. More

I've been on a huge Xanadu binge this week — really listening closely to the albums I have on this label (not many), and just enjoying the hell out of them. One thing, and this may already be obvious to some here — if you've tended to think that Al Cohn and Barry Harris are merely "excellent" musicians, listen to their Xanadu records. The Xanadus are by far my favorite Cohn on record, and Harris's touch on these records has a sensitivity to it that doesn't seem to surface as much on earlier recordings. In my opinion, both Cohn and Harris are examples of musicians who improved by a considerable margin with age — as opposed to just hitting a comfortable plateau and staying there. Their work in the 70's (what I've heard, and I want to hear more) just knocks me out. I have nearly all of Cohn's RCA work, but for me it pales, and by a lot, in comparison with his Xanadu work. Before I forget, here's a pretty good Barry Harris discography, with cover scans included. Would anyone mind posting some Xanadu cover scans here? I'm looking for three in particular: Ronnie Cuber: Eleventh Day of Aquarius Sam Noto: Notes to You Various: Late Flight to Dakar

I recently downloaded Dexter Gordon/Al Cohn's True Blue on Xanadu, and something odd is going on. First of all, when you d/l this album, you get four tracks — even though eMusic advertises only three. You get two versions of "Ladybird," which are actually the same version, except that one is extended for two additional minutes. Now, here's where it gets strange: The track "Ladybird" starts off great — two tenors, two trumpets, and rhythm section. Dexter gets the first solo, and he cooks. Then, right at 1:30, there's a severe edit, and all of a sudden ... Ronnie Cuber is playing "All The Things You Are"! What the hell? Does anyone know what I'm talking about here? Is this on the original vinyl, or is eMusic f--king with us? I'm fairly sure it's Cuber, but I suppose it could be Cohn on baritone. Still, this goes way beyond even a crazy Dick Bock edit. If anyone has the original vinyl, can you chime in? At least right now, this a bizarre mystery. Then, almost as if to make things like: "Hey, that didn't really happen" — right after Cuber's solo finishes ... "Ladybird" comes back (ensemble), and the tune ends. Any eMusic experts here want to tell me what's going on? Have I been sucked into The Xanadu/eMusic vortex?

Fuck. I wasn't even five months old.

Isn't Walter Booker the bassist on Andrew Hill's quartet recording with Sam Rivers (to be reissued next year as Change)? He is a monster on that recording — blew me away when I heard it for the first time. He's also great on Rollins' On Impulse. Sad news indeed, but it looks like he left a fine legacy for us all to enjoy. What other notable sessions did Booker grace?

I've been waiting for the Tyner for some time. It'll be nice to hear, one session after another. (I sold off my single sessions so long ago that some of the music will be like I'm hearing it for the first time!) The Herman, of which I've only heard part of, should be excellent as well. The track "23 Red" is fairly amazing.

Hey ... how come Norah's new album (to be released December 5th) is entitled Not Too Late? I mean, she came over once, we had some decaf, I played all my Cecil Taylor records ... I don't get it.

Financial matters aside, here's how I'd prioritize acquiring Bix: 1. The Mosaic 2. The JSP (there are enough instrumental-only takes to make the set more than worthwhile) 3. Retrieval 79040: Bix Beiderbecke with Jean Goldkette's Orchestra, 1924-1927 (excellent single disc) 4. The two Columbia discs (remastering involves some no-noising, but the sound is still OK) If you just want one disc, I'd say go for the first volume of the Columbia. I have the JSP and really like it — J.R.T. Davies did the remastering on that one. You're in for a huge treat either way!

I don't 'do' chesse, but otherwise, this sounds fantastic. Could you express mail some to El Salvador? Oh, and no butter in/on those croissants. I know, picky, picky. The recipe can be done without cheese — although, out here in crazy vegetarian land some of the tofu cheeses are fairly good — but I've never heard of a croissant made without butter! Bebop, you're vegan? Easy, or difficult to do in El Salvador?

To my knowledge (and I think this was commented on earlier), the Cox will be one disc, with everything fitting in. (Now watch, a guy risks sharing some information he gets in an e-mail from Cuscuna ... the information is somewhat premature ... and I'm banned. )

Right — my mistake. I was thinking "east" of Germany, and typed "East Germany." There is certainly a difference.

No word that I've heard. The only two that have been given the go-ahead (as far as I know) are Andrew Hill's Change (with Sam Rivers), and Kenny Cox's Introducing-Multidirection. I'll be getting both for sure. That leaves four more titles ...

No turkey. But a vegetarian Thanksgiving can be tasty! Here's a shepherd's pie that was pretty good last year. Serves about eight people: • Six croissants, sliced in half length-wise -- use for crust, bottom and top • Thinly sliced yam and squash (get the pre-peeled and cubed packages at Trader Joe's for convenience!) • mushroom gravy • sliced tempeh • dried cranberries • grated Romano cheese, some fontina cheese • grated carrot Top with remaining cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes.

Make some room after your COL-trane (or COR-ea or COT-trell) section in your cd rack. It looks like the Kenny COX two-fer is a "definite" for the 2007 Connoisseur series — says The Source in Connecticut. This, of course, is still "unofficial" — at least until the bar codes come out. (Hopefully I won't be shamed by our leading Blue Note Insidemen on this board for posting this.)

Unfortunately, I'm going to take a raincheck on this one for now, and not put an order in. Not because it's not likely good — it seems very interesting — but because funds are not looking up right now. I allowed myself "one more" (yeah, we've all said that) for a period of time, and instead went with the (also East German) Focus Jazz: More Music from the Wewerka Vaults. Cheaper, and with a diversity of musicians from the same geographical area and time period. I'll still be interested to read a review if anyone here decides to pick it up. (Watch, the review will rave, and then I'll "have" to buy it. But it will have already gone out of print in Japan ... )

Tower currently has the new Wewerka compilation (Focus Jazz: 1966-1969), pictured above, for $3 less than The Bards. Here.

Has anyone picked this one up? It was apparently supposed to be a release on Atlantic, but never materialized at the time. Now Polystar Japan has released it. I'm interested, though the price is fairly steep (2415¥), and wanted to check in here first.

This is essentially a "Tadd Dameron" thread in general, so I thought I'd post here that I'm listening to Dameron's 1961 Blue Note recordings for the first time (thanks Al) — wow! Better than I anticipated. Hearing Sam Rivers in this context is just short of a revelation, and the recording is beautiful. I'm grateful that four tunes were reissued, but, man, what I wouldn't do to hear/see a fully formed session (with Reid Miles cover art). Nevertheless, I'm content to spin these sides with repeated enthusiasm. It bears saying again: Tadd Dameron is truly one of the great composers in jazz history.

Chas — the Pozar session strikes me as bearing a resemblance to some of Ornette's work from around 1961 (the Pozar was recorded in 1966). It has that open, free-but-not-too-free sound to it. It just made me think that it could have been recorded four or five years earlier for Atlantic — hypothetically, of course — and then lost in the infamous Atlantic warehouse fire that took with it unissued Ornette recordings from the period. Just my imagination roaming! Wig — Yes, but mostly in Japan. A couple years back (2001, 2002?), Denon Japan reissued a large amount of Savoy sessions in mini-LP. They broke them up into genres (bebop, "modern," etc.), and some of the rarer recordings being discussed here actually saw the light of day on compact disc. From memory, (some) of those were: • Paul Bley: Footloose! • Bill Barron: The Tenor Stylings of Bill Barron • Bill Barron: Modern Windows • Bill Barron: Hot Line! • Vincent Hill Trio • Valdo Williams: New Advanced Jazz • Paul Jeffrey: The Electrifying Sounds of • Charles Moffett: The Gift There were a ton more (esp. from the "bebop" genre), but that's what I remember right now (after one cup of coffee). They're worth buying on the spot. The sound is usually superb.

My listening is all over the map today. After Frank Wright, for some reason I put on Ziggy Elman's 1938-1939 disc from Chronological Classics. All I can say is — wow. Maybe it's because this is one of the few Classics discs that isn't bogged down with a ton of vocals, or maybe it's just my mood, but this is sounding to me right now like a GREAT disc. I try to be measured in my praise here, but I have to give this one three (out of two) thumbs-up. Elman isn't Harry James or Muggsy Spanier or Wingy Manone, but (damn) he can play. The arrangements and the band are tasty as well. Who knew that Frank Wright and Ziggy Elman would go so well together?

Holy fonk — listening to Solos & Duets, Vol.s 1&2 right now. This stuff isn't just intense, it's loud. Wright probably never had to use a microphone ... in his life. I've heard saxophonists play loud, but nothing like this. At times, it verges on bombast, but I think more often than not it avoids it. Overall: very cathartic. This album would probably also work as a natural pesticide, too. Play it, and all the ants/cockroaches will get the hell out. A guaranteed date-ender as well. (You never know, could be a good thing -- "Oh, let me play this album for you that I love ...") Thanks to certain places in the ephemeral blogus-voidus-goofusphere, one can hear a lot of The Wright Things these days, to which I say: .