Late

What's the significance of having the test pressing? And the CD comes in a Softpak? Never heard of that; sounds like something that will get crushed/creased in the mail.

I return to this session from time to time to hear the Tadd Dameron tracks. (Sam Rivers!)

I don't know if this video on the Coltrane Dix Hills home restoration project has been posted here before, but just in case ...

Just got done listening to this particular reissue. Some notes/thoughts: • The (single) disc is over 76 minutes long. • The sound is much better than what's on the Revenant box set. • You can hear Peacock's bass notes. On prior issues, they were fairly muddled. (It's still not up to studio-grade sound. It's a live date.) • This reissue is in full cooperation with the Ayler estate. (Desiree Fellows) • There's a cool inner photo of the band by Nils Edstroem. You get to see how close, physically, they played together (and how low Murray liked his drums). • Brian Olewnick wrote the notes. They're to the point and without Art Lange-style pontification. One quote I found odd: "... Ayler venturing into the glossalaliac, supplemented by an odd moaning, presumably from Ayler himself or one of the other musicians." I always thought it was obvious that the moans were coming from Sunny Murray. (Ayler had a mouthpiece stuck in his mouth.) But maybe I've got it wrong. • To fit on a single disc, one alternate track was left off the program. • I'd give this reissue a strong . Even missing the one track, I think the music is worth re-buying for the upgrade in sound. Kudos to Peter Pfister.

Because you despise them? The series came out in 2007. Eleven titles! It was the only way (to my knowledge) to acquire Live At The East on compact disc. It was an excellent series indeed. But I say that not because I loathe them. I don't even detest them. (The last three titles aren't as strong overall as the first eight, in my opinion.) Yes. Perhaps my top choice. I'd also like a reissue of Live In Seattle with the 2011 SHM-CD remastering. That one has been elusive.

20 Impulse! titles on "ultra-high quality" compact disc now listed at CD Japan. I've never purchased a UHQCD. Can't say I'm too excited about this reissue series. It would be nice to know what remasters (old/new) are being used. If they were using the 2011 SHM-CD remasters, then I'd be more interested. Nice to see the McFarland in the list. I've never heard the Jackie Paris title. Twenty titles seems slim to celebrate a 60th anniversary, but maybe that's all the market can bear right now. What titles do you wish had been in this list?

Distant Thunder up now for order at CD Japan. The series is 1200¥.

Gotcha — I'm glad I remembered the quote incorrectly. It makes far more sense with the DON'T in there!

Listening to Yosuke Yamashita's Clay right now. The sound is AMAZING. Yes, it's louder than the vinyl — Solid followed their standard approach to compression — but there's a live presence (it's a live date) that the vinyl doesn't possess. Far more visceral. (The sound does peak at times, but it's infrequent.) I can't recommend this one highly enough. It's been 31 years since this session was on compact disc! If you like Cecil Taylor-esque trios (in this case clarinet, piano, drums), this recording is one you should check out. Yamashita's trio puts more space — and quiet — in between their noise than a typical Taylor session, if that helps to describe the recording. But there definitely is NOISE, in the most positive of ways. It's alive in the best possible (free) way. Takeo Moriyama has got to be one of the most under-valued "free" drummers around. Tony Williams, I think, would have loved his playing. Anyone else have this new disc? What are your reactions? The music (if you like "free" jazz) is heavenly.

Oh man — really? (I'm not disagreeing with you.) That would make the exchange even more intense. But Miles kept playing (albeit briefly) "I Fall In Love Too Easily." When did that drop out of rotation? About ... 1973?

I think Jarrett's point was that Miles was the type of forward-looking musician who, on principle, would steadfastly refuse to recycle his own material, though he did just that in 1986 upon Quincy Jones' prodding. But, agreed! — Jarrett did play the shit out of the electric music he contributed to Miles' band. Whether or not he owns this — well, to me it doesn't seem like it. In that documentary, Jarrett is more than happy to point out that playing electric keyboards is something "he didn't do and doesn't do." Um, and then he did it. And was often filmed doing it. Convulsing in front of the Fender. The Jarrett quote that stuck with me from that documentary was something along the lines of: Miles (to Jarrett): You know why I play ballads? Jarrett (wanting to know why despite already having his own opinion): Why? Miles: Because I like ballads so much. I think Jarrett liked when he recognized (before anyone else in the band) Miles playing "I Fall In Love Too Easily." Michael Henderson would drop out because there wasn't a groove to lay down, and Keith was left to play some fragments under Miles' horn. This latest documentary seemed to push the theory that Ascenseur Pour l'Echafaud pre-figured Kind of Blue. I'm not buying it. I still think George Russell is critical to any discussion of "modal" music, and that — I haven't seen yet. (But maybe there are documentaries out there that do?)

Agreed. I've always wondered if that session became something of a motivation for Coltrane to clean up and get his playing together. How would Rollins have fared, just a few years later, on Giant Steps?

I really liked that series — when they were in jewel cases and with red spines. Often the booklets had more information than when hat switched over to paper sleeves — particularly with Lacy titles and Franz Koglmann titles. And of course a fair number hatART titles never made it into the hatOLOGY series. Oddly, in my own Tower experience, I never saw hatART titles for sale. I found most of mine at Amoeba or through special order.

Listened to 32XD-571 (Crescent) this week. Sounds amazingly close to vinyl. Natural, and with virtually no ear fatigue. The music itself, of course, is incredible. I purchased this title at the Piccadilly Circus Tower.

I like that the documentary gives ample space to Miles' 70's and 80's output. Frances Davis was perhaps given too much time (making sure, more than once, to talk about her legs). It would've been nice to hear from Chick Corea and Dave Holland, or even Keith Jarrett — but I guess that's another documentary. And no interview clips with Tony Williams? Surely some exist.

Thanks for posting that blog link to Tower in Tokyo, Cliff. In case anyone missed it above, here it is again: Tower In Tokyo According to the documentary (Colin Hanks!), there are 85 Tower Records stores in Japan. Those stores broke off from U.S. ownership in 2002. Tower closed in 2006. Who else here has been to a Tower in Japan? Didn't the Shibuya store actually have its own in-house label? I know there are obis around (for classical at least) that say something to the effect of Tower Records Employee Pick. Something like that. Anyone here have one of those discs? The 9-story Shibuya store:

Agreed! Many times I stayed right up until midnight browsing the racks. I remember buying my first Herbie Nichols album at the Tower on Sunset some time around midnight.

Tower Records, when it was around, used to have a great jazz (and classical) section. Share your stories of the Tower that you used to frequent! • Where was it? • What years did you frequent the store? • How many different Towers did you visit? • Any particular titles you remember purchasing at a Tower? There were two in Oregon: Gresham and Beaverton; I purchased many Miles Davis imports at the latter. There were six in California that I visited: San Francisco, Los Angeles on Sunset, UCLA campus, Sherman Oaks Outlet, Costa Mesa in Orange County, and El Toro. I don't know how a Tower made it to that last location, but they had some Roland Kirk titles I'd never seen anywhere else!

I'd totally forgotten about the transparent floor tiles. (In fact, I may never have noticed them to begin with.) I do remember the jazz section, however. It competed easily in its offerings with the Tower on Sunset in Los Angeles. Is the only Tower still standing in Tokyo? That should probably be another thread — the various Tower Records that board members here used to frequent.

Here's what discogs lists for the 1991 MVCI titles. True. I've seen that too. I admit it feels something like a "creative anachronism society" to start a thread on a series of discs that are now 33 years old. What if a person bought the lot way back in 1987 and was then done with it? There'd be less of a need for eBay, less of a collecting bug, and money could go toward ... cognac, or some other accompanying endeavor. I don't know if the MVCI series has a German equivalent. On a personal note — way back in 1994 — I remember seeing a large number of Japanese and German Impulse! titles filling the racks at the Piccadilly Tower Records. The underground stop, if I'm not mistaken, had an elevator that took you up right into the store.

This post is meant simply as a resource for those who collect Impulse! titles initially reissued in 1987 by the German and Japanese markets. The sound on some of these titles is excellent; quiet, and usually with little, if any, compression. I think both German and Japanese editions use the same remastering. Below is a list of titles. Numbers in parentheses are the German catalog numbers while the 32XD prefixes refer to the Japanese titles (55XD for double disc sets). Feel free to post corrections and/or additions, and to post your thoughts on this reissue series in general. (I've attached the list in a Word doc as well.) John Coltrane: Ballads (254 607-2) 32XD-570 John Coltrane: Crescent (254 608-2) 32XD-571 John Coltrane: Coltrane (254 609-2) 32XD-572 John Coltrane: Transition (254 611-2) 32XD-575 John Coltrane: With Johnny Hartman (254 617-2) 32XD-576 John Coltrane: Ascension (Edition II) (254 618-2) 32XD-577 John Coltrane: Quartet Plays (254 619-2) 32XD-578 John Coltrane: Meditations (254 621-2) 32XD-581 John Coltrane: Live at the Village Vanguard (254 627-2) 32XD-582 John Coltrane: Impressions (254 628-2) 32XD-583 John Coltrane: Ascension (Edition I) (254 745-2) 32XD-584 John Coltrane: Selflessness (254 629-2) 32XD-585 John Coltrane: Sun Ship (254 630-2) 32XD-586 John Coltrane: Duke Ellington & John Coltrane (254 636-2) 32XD-587 John Coltrane: Live At Birdland (254 637-2) 32XD-588 John Coltrane: Africa Brass (254 638-2) 32XD-589 John Coltrane: Om (254 640-2) 32XD-592 John Coltrane: A Love Supreme (254 557-2) 32XD-595 John Coltrane: Kulu Sé Mama (254 645-2) 32XD-596 John Coltrane: Expression (254 646-2) 32XD-597 John Coltrane: Live at the Village Vanguard Again (254 647-2) 32XD-598 John Coltrane: Africa Brass Vol. 2 (254 648-2) 32XD-599 John Coltrane: Mastery of Vol. III "Jupiter Variation” (254 649-2) 32XD-600 John Coltrane: Live In Japan Vol. 1 (254 610-2) 55XD-573~574 John Coltrane: Live In Japan Vol. 2 (254 620-2) 55XD-579~580 John Coltrane: The Other Village Vanguard Tapes (254 639-2) 55XD-590~591 John Coltrane: Mastery of Vol. I "Feelin' Good" (254 641-2) 55XD-593~594 John Coltrane: Mastery of Vol. IV "Trane's Modes" (254 650-2) 55XD-601~602 Keith Jarrett: Death and the Flower (254 612-2) 32XD-603 Keith Jarrett: Treasure Island (254 623-2) 32XD-604 Keith Jarrett: Byablue (254 632-2) 32XD-605 Keith Jarrett: Mysteries (254 642-2) 32XD-606 Sonny Rollins: On Impulse! (254 613-2) 32XD-607 Sonny Rollins: Alfie (254 651-2) 32XD-608 McCoy Tyner: Nights of Ballads & Blues (254 614-2) 32XD-609 McCoy Tyner: Reaching Fourth (254 652-2) 32XD-610 The Gil Evans Orchestra: Out of the Cool (254 615-2) 32XD-611 The Gil Evans Orchestra: Into the Hot (254 626-2) 32XD-612 Johnny Hartman: I Just Dropped By to Say Hello (254 616-2) 32XD-613 Count Basie: Count Basie and the Kansas City 7 (254 622-2) 32XD-614 Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers (254 624-2) 32XD-615 Elvin Jones and Richard Davis: Heavy Sounds (254 625-2) 32XD-616 Oliver Nelson: Blues and the Abstract Truth (254 631-2) 32XD-617 Oliver Nelson: More Blues and the Abstract Truth (254 643-2) 32XD-618 Charlie Haden: Liberation Music Orchestra (254 633-2) 32XD-619 J.J. Johnson & Kai Winding: The Great Kai & J.J. (254 634-2) 32XD-620 Albert Ayler: In Greenwich Village (254 635-2) 32XD-621 Charlie Mingus: The Black Saint & The Sinner Lady (254 562-2) 32XD-622 Archie Shepp: Four For Trane (254 644-2) 32XD-623 Quincy Jones and His Orchestra: The Quintessence (254 560-2) 32XD-624 1987 32XD Impulse! titles.docx

Teenagers?

I adore his debut on Reprise. After that, I tend to gravitate to the solo recordings. Hamba Khale is an exception though. • On another note, I was just thinking how, in 2020, and contrary to widespread U.S. reporting, the compact disc is actually not dead. Thanks to Japan, the medium — as unwieldy, cumbersome, and space-depleting as it is — is still around! Distant Thunder is a true "reissue."

Up Popped The Devil is excellent. Recorded well though very up close — hopefully Solid doesn't do too much with the transfer. Reggie Workman's bass sounds really good on this date. The Pepper Adams session, Julian, is also very good. Recommended. I haven't connected with the Dollar Brand date for some reason. It's certainly a solid session, but ... maybe I just need to listen to it more. I'm excited to finally have Distant Thunder on compact disc!!! Akira Sakata just kills. Fierce music — not for listeners who don't like "noise" in their tea!

Bam!