Late

I ordered this one with the Mingus UCLA set, so I won't be getting it until after the 26th! (And, while I was at it, I had to throw in Baker's Broken Wing and Hutcherson's Happenings.) The end of the month will be good over here ...

Philly — I'd go with one of the recs that Bentsy and Nate are suggesting above, and then I'd get one of her ECM sessions. That way, you could have at least two discs of hers representing both "faces." Additionally, if you like Anthony Braxton, that's another good avenue to explore Crispell's work. Braxton's quartet with Crispell, Gerry Hemingway, and Mark Dresser is heavy duty. Their stuff on Hat and Leo is top-notch.

I almost sold Storyteller a while after I'd purchased it, but I'm glad I didn't. I'm listening to it right now — expressive, but subtly expressive stuff. I like Peacock a lot better with Crispell than Helias (though I think Helias is great in other contexts), which is one of the initial reasons I thought about dumping it, but, the more I listen, the more I hear Motian stepping up without Peacock on board. Interesting how the dynamics between a group can effect such change. I personally think nothing ever was, anyway is by far Crispell's best record on ECM, and I'd credit that to Annette Peacock's compositions — so much more tension in the playing on that record, but tension spread over a lot of space and quiet, not the tension one hears (or feels) in Cecil Taylor's playing. When I heard Crispell live (promoting Amaryllis at the time), her set, which was solo, was entirely in her "free" context. I wondered what audience members who weren't familiar with her playing thought. Did they buy Amaryllis afterward? I didn't see many copies moving off the sales table. To be fair, the set was supposed to be a trio outing, but Peacock had to pull out at the last minute for health reasons. I thought, wow, it's going to be a duo concert with Paul Motian ... but he decided not to show either. (I still enjoyed the concert.)

I've purposely not been listening to Ellington in preparation and anticipation of this set. I even went a little crazy and sold all the discs I owned that contained this material. Now it will be (um, kind of) like owning this stuff for the first time! I think I'll even purchase a pound of Ethiopian coffee beans for the occasion of the set arriving. Then, when I open the box set, the first scent it will experience (because of course Mosaics are living, animate things) is freshly brewed coffee.

Clifford — I don't know definitively about Kenyatta's actual name. I'm going to assume you're right. But check out this Google search: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=...rince+Haynes%22 Weird. Now I have to track down The Girl from Martinique. Sounds like something I should hear.

I was just trying to steer the conversation back to the album in question (— not a drop of offense taken, Guy!). As for Herbie's organ playing, I agree with what ep1str0phy wrote — it does fit in well with the second part of that album. Still, maybe because of the recording year or because Hancock ostensibly preferred acoustic music at the time, I always find it a little surprising, and in a good way. I wish there more samples of it, but it seems really a one-off. I bet if Larry Young happened to have heard that track from the record at the time, it made him smile.

Anyone like his playing?

Like a trooper, dumb or sincere, I payed full price for every West Coast Classics title, partly because I couldn't find them on sale anywhere, and partly because I actually thought: "If Blue Note's going to reissue this stuff, I'm going to give them my money." (Tries to verify memory ...) Wait a minute — I did buy two of them on sale through Dusty Groove. Still, it's good to own the whole lot, and I'm glad they could make an appearance. I have a friend in SF who only casually likes jazz, and he bought the Cy Touff title on my recommendation and loves it. Now ... back to Hutcherson's Components. What do you guys think of Herbie's organ playing?

Thanks, Ronald. I must have misspelled Kullhammar when doing the search -- I guess? Anyway, I suppose now we have two threads. Has anyone checked out his most recent recording?

I thought there was a thread on this guy already, but the search function didn't bring anything up when I tried it. At any rate, Jonas used to post, way back in the day, on the BNBB. I knew he was a tenor player, but I had no idea how accomplished, or how relatively young, he is. To my ears, when it comes to contemporary tenor players who favor "hard bop" or "post hard bop" or however one might label more mainstream playing, Kullhammar is hands-down one of the best playing on the scene today. And he's only 28! For one, he absolutely nails Sonny Rollins ... let's say circa 1963 — but, more importantly, it's not just that his playing can imitate such a difficult-to-imitate master, it's that he can freely, and unabashedly, infuse his own sense of "soul" (or passion, or enthusiasm, or what have you) into his music. The result, to put it simply, is a lot of fun, and sometimes quite inspiring, music. Check out his stuff on Moserobie (distributed by Dusty Groove). I'd personally recommend this one as a great starting point: Some wailing big band charts on this set. Even better, the diversity of tunes (up, ballad, medium, even quasi-boogaloo) is especially attractive.

White Lightning — if you don't already have this one, it's definitely worth seeking out: This one sets the bar high for arranging. I only wish that it might be remastered again for compact disc reissue. Right now, the sound is only so-so. The music, however, is amazing.

That makes sense ...

If the music is in the genre of electronica, however, it does qualify as electronics — no discount. I actually used the 30% coupon to purchase Tomasz Stanko's Lontano. An over-priced $17.99 became a reasonable $12.59. (Funny how math works that way.)

Following that logic, wouldn't the West Coast Classics series be easy to find? Every rant I've ever read about that series makes them out to be the worst selling line of all time. Of course, the music is great ...

Marcin Wasilewski Hard to pin his style down (from an American perspective, at least) — somewhat like Marilyn Crispell with touches of Paul Bley?

Listening to Lontano right now. Superbly recorded — in France this time, rather than Norway — with very fine playing. For me, the pianist Marcin Wasilewski is the centerpiece of this band. Stanko's playing is very atmospheric, but without Wasilewski behind him, the record wouldn't be the same. Wasilewski is a pianist to look out for in the future. I wish this group were making it up to Oregon. They did for the tour for Suspended Night, and they were great then.

Robin Kenyatta's actual name is Robert Prince Haynes. He was originally from South Carolina. I believe he passed away in 2004.

You guys are missing out. Go to page 5 and the hot stuff really begins — namely, Lyubov:

Apparently Until has made it to cd (but is likely out-of-print): Ekaterina gives it a thumbs-up:

The biggest revelation of the Andrew Hill Mosaic Select for me is Robin Kenyatta — some blistering alto playing there. Prior to hearing this set, I'd only heard Kenyatta on Roswell Rudd's Everywhere. Other recommendations? What (if anything) is readily available?

Was this title ever released in Japan (not as a JRVG)? I'm thinking I'd like to track down a copy. The Connoisseur's sound is so-so.

Is February '07 still the release month for the Tolliver Big Band date on Blue Note? Any projected titles or recent news? Also — the Japanese market is reissuing Impact (in mini-LP format) this November. I wonder how the remastering engineer will handle that album's wonky sound. Great music, but kind of hard to listen to ...

Phew. That's good news. Before I opened this thread again, I feared I'd be reading that other kind of news.

That's at the San Francisco Conservatory, no?

While some titles on Blue Note are discontinued after only being available for roughly two years, Hutcherson's Components, from the innaugral Blue Note Connoisseur batch, is now in its eleventh year of being in-print. Any guesses as to why? Well, for one, the music is excellent ... but does this title sell that well? I always forget that Herbie Hancock plays organ (on "Air" only) on this one. The liner notes don't make any mention at all of this — was this Hancock's first documented recording on the instrument? Another plus to this session — those Joe Chambers compositions are wicked. I wonder if Hall Overton, Chambers' recent mentor at the time, heard this album. Apparently, there was another composer in the Chambers family: Steve Chambers, Joe's older brother. Anyone know anything about this guy?