Late

The Ayler appears to be a two-disc reissue of: I never got around to picking up the Stockholm/Berlin set, so it's nice that it'll be available once again. I also have Yasmina, but not Blasé, so the Shepp too is a welcome reissue. I hope that Werner keeps digging through the hat archive as well as other labels. If ezz-thetics essentially becomes a reissue label, I'm for it.

Any thoughts, twelve years later, as to what compact disc edition of Pithecanthropus Erectus sounds best? ("Best" being a relative term, of course.) I have a Japanese K2 20-bit edition, and Mingus's bass is artificially boosted. Anyone here happen to have heard the (ridiculous term ahead) MQA-UHQCD edition? The music, it goes without saying, is irreproachable.

Maybe Cecil united all his Units at one point and we just didn't know about it.

"United"?

You're gonna love it. It's always seemed a little more heartfelt to me than his Prestige dates. The young Bobby Few on piano adds a slight twist.

I don't find the album horrible, but I do think it's curious that perhaps the most interesting track ("My Heart Stood Still") was left off the album. My guess is that Creed Taylor didn't like Gary Peacock's solo (which seems to be giving the middle finger to the proceedings). I like Olga Albizu's paintings:

The Day Elvin Jones Fired Up Milwaukee's Lakefront Festival of Art in 1972 I love this quartet. Wouldn't be the same without Grossman.

During a blindfold test, Bill Evans listened to Cecil Taylor. He had positive things to say. ================== What about Lennie Tristano's influence on Herbie? Anyone hear that? It can readily be heard in Evans.

Maybe the closest we can get to that setting (Davis, Evans, LaFaro, Motian) are the ballads from Seven Steps To Heaven. Feldman sounds (to me) like he'd been listening to Evans a fair amount. Had that quartet actually recorded, I'm sure the ballads would've been amazing. ================= Connecting back to the discussion in 2009 (about Hancock's influences, Evans being one of them), I've often wondered to what extent Herbie listened to Tristano. If Herbie is influenced by Bill Evans (which I think he is), then he'd have picked up some Tristano influence via Evans. Another question — is this statement valid? --> No George Russell = no Kind of Blue. In other words, would that recording exist as we know it without Russell's thinking on harmony?

The stories about seeing/meeting Simmons in San Francisco in the 80's are intriguing to me. In 1985, I was in downtown San Francisco as part of a YMCA trip (I was 15) when I stopped to listen to an alto saxophonist playing on the street. I had just started seriously listening to jazz music, the alto in particular, and my entry points were Ornette Coleman and Eric Dolphy. (Bird came a little later.) I ended up chatting with the street musician, and he told me that he'd played with Dolphy. I had a hard time believing that — Dolphy had been dead for over twenty years! Only decades later did I realize that the street musician may have been Sonny Simmons, and he was just sharing his history with me.

Intrigued ...

Recent podcast interview with Mahanthappa. I didn't know he was at Princeton now.

Sonny Simmons is one of America's most under-valued musicians. It's amazing he's still with us. Recommended recordings: • The Cry (Contemporary) 1962 • Staying On The Watch (ESP) 1966 • Music From The Spheres (ESP) 1966 • Firebirds (Contemporary) 1967 • Rumasuma (Contemporary) 1969 • Burning Spirits (Contemporary) 1970 And, yes, all the recordings thereafter (especially from the 90's).

Agreed. I burned various comps long ago (Dial, Savoy, Verve), but these new sets do have an appeal. And for people who don't have this music, this is where I'd point them.

Two Bird reissues: Vol 1.: Selected Dial Recordings & Vol 2.: Selected Savoy Recordings. Most members here, I'm guessing, already have these recordings, but I bet the sound is good. Peter Pfister has done a remarkable job with the Ayler recordings, the Coltrane, and the Giuffre. I wonder what's next in "ezz-thetics" list. What else might be "revisited"?

It is kinda weird that the Japanese market, for the most part, seems to have overlooked Hamilton's Impulse! work. Gabor Szabo gets reissued, but not El Chico. Make An Entrance indeed!

Couldn't find a thread on this album. What do you all think? Prince Lasha is listed as playing Bb clarinet, but to me it sounds like he's actually playing an alto clarinet. Dig that first solo of the record. And I love the Charles Davis feature ("Half and Half")!

Not many jazz drummers can pull off the stiletto heel~ankle length trouser-blousy top look. Mr. Hamilton did.

This one sounds really good in the new UHQCD format (not the "ultra high quality" material, but rather the remastering). Much better than the U.S. digipak edition, though that one needs to be kept because of its three bonus tracks. Still, "Out of This World" never sounded better. We definitely need more Chico. Campaign we must.

Agreed. Malcolm Addey did the mastering — were the transfers done by someone else? It did take me a while to get used to the sound on this set, I must admit. At first I didn't like how Faraway Lands sounded (too dry), while I thought A Slice Of The Top sounded amazing (noticeable space between horns). Overall, this set sounds more "alive" to me than McMasters; close to the sound of the Japanese SHM-CD TYCJ/UCCQ series. Half of this set I previously owned only as downloads, so that made the purchase much easier for me. I think Mobley fans will be glad to own the set. The quality and consistency of the mastering is probably a tipping point. That said, if you already have all the albums ... you can probably apply funds toward new music.

I picked up a few titles from this series. Zero bonus tracks. This one does sound better to me than the U.S. edition: One thing in particular about this UHQCD series (of those I've heard): little to no compression. You have to turn the volume knob UP. Wider soundstage too. Makes me think that these are new remasters, but that's just a guess. The inner ring catalog number, which is sometimes a tell (if it uses an old catalog number), is new.

I was thinking recently about how timely Shepp's work feels — particularly mid-2020. I've been listening to: I need to spin The Way Ahead next.

Connie Crothers: Perception I love this album. I haven't actually heard much Crothers outside of this one ("Swish" and a few others), but I keep coming back to this Steeplechase effort. If you're going to try just one Crothers album, I'd make it this one. Lenny Popkin: Falling Free Great trio record under the Warne Marsh influence. Popkin takes more chances here than he did/does later on. This album holds up over time. Liz Gorill: Dreamflight Say what you will about Gorrill (I didn't know that she changed her name), but this 1990 solo album is very good. Also get that Konitz Half Note album (on Verve) pictured above. And if you can find that 1965 Tristano solo concert on DVD, it's very much worth owning.

History of the Ampersand Art Blakey & The 27th Letter