Late

Brilliant Corners I wanted to bring to the board's attention the literary journal out of Lycoming College (in Williamsport, Pennsylvania) called Brilliant Corners. It focuses on all things related to jazz in literary forms. The current issue contains work by Yusef Komunyakaa and Billy Collins, among others. I was fortunate to have poems on Albert Ayler and Nina Simone included in this issue as well. Copies are usually $7 (and not just the recent issue). Support the indies if you're curious!

Indispensable: The track "Blue Tango" is perfection.

These are all available as downloads at Amazon (U.S.). Great to see all three volumes of the Tuba Trio Circle albums. These and three other albums are recommendable: • Paragon • The Quest • Sizzle I always wanted Mosaic to do a Rivers trio set, but this is good. Anyone have Samthology? Looks like a comp of sorts. And I'm guessing it's been licensed from Rivers' daughter:

Braxton was being kind. There's a saxophone even smaller than the sopranino. Behold the sopranissimo (or "soprillo") saxophone:

Picked this one up recently without even checking the personnel: I had it on but was doing something else at the moment. As soon as Lock came on, I turned my head to the speakers. What the ... ? Lock?! He has that way of grabbing your attention. I didn't even check the line-up, and Lock finished his (albeit brief) solo. Fine album, by the way. Also have to put a plug in for this one:

Did anyone pick this one up? Sound samples can be found on YouTube. Tasty. It appears to already be out-of-stock at CD Japan.

This disc appears to collect his early solo work, though the marketplace price is ... prohibitive. Maybe it's best just to pick up the Mosaic. This disc looks really interesting. Anyone here happen to have it?

No Coming, No Going is really, really good. The 2-disc set comes from Latvia. Took about a week to arrive in the U.S. Kuhn wrote the liner notes, and they're excellent — a brief musical autobiography of sorts, reflecting on fellow musicians, his problems with substance abuse and later recovery, and his way in and out (and then back in) to the music. I don't usually enjoy liner notes, but these were memorable. Some great anecdotes about Frank Lowe and Billy Bang in particular. The music is killer. If you like free jazz — and this is free jazz that doesn't just try to blow the door down — you'll want to hear this. The trumpet player Arthur Williams plays some of the best free trumpet I've ever heard. Thoughtful, brilliant stuff. And with William Parker and Denis Charles on board, you almost can't lose. Pick this one up (if you're inclined toward this type of music) before it falls into oblivion. I'm very glad I did.

Is there a recommendable single disc of Hines' earlier piano solo work? I'm listening to the Hines Hep CD right now. Brilliant.

My first exposure to Kelvyn Bell. Great solo later in the program. Denis Charles seems like a halfway point between Art Blakey and Ed Blackwell. I've always liked his playing, and it's great to see footage of how he used the kit. Motörhead

Any fans of Peter Kuhn's work on clarinet? Check out this video from the 70's. Great Denis Charles therein.

Of the four Black Jazz compilations that Snow Dog put out around 2013 (the others were by Gilles Peterson, DJ Muro, and DJ Mitsu), this one, in my opinion, is the best. Parrish's mix really works, and the way he overlaps some of the tracks is pretty artistic. This set initially had two discs, one mixed and one unmixed, but now it seems that only the mixed version is available for sale. Don't worry though — I actually think it's the better one of the two. Three Awakening tunes in a row! If you find this disc for a decent price, carpe! It clocks in at just over 77 minutes.

Which cover are you thinking of? or The first cover looks like it could be from the mid-50's? I've always liked the original "Croscrane" from this album.

This is an excellent debut recording. At first I thought Riley was simply copping Gonsalves and Webster, but no. He puts his own spin on the breathy tenor approach. And I usually don't care for the obligatory soprano double on a few tunes, but this album slapped me straight. I've never quite heard soprano playing like this, where Riley's soprano almost sounds like a C-melody saxophone. Bizarre, and really nice. (There's also one tune with alto clarinet.)

1980, Berlin. What a killer quartet:

Jazz Connoisseur Series I hope this series continues, even though it seems an anomaly in 2017. It'll be interesting to see what gets chosen for reissue next. It would be nice if the Fats Sadi-led Vogue session saw reissue (with its original cover art) in this series.

My first exposure to Ashby, actually as a little kid, was this album: Perhaps the hippest X-mas album (if that's possible) I've ever heard. Ashby has short, but very funky, solos throughout the album. The whole thing's on YouTube, and the album itself was just recently remastered and reissued on compact disc.

Doing some research on Gary Karr, I came upon this — Karr & Richard Davis: And, different context altogether, Richard Davis with Ted Dunbar:

Listening right now to: • Walter Davis: Scorpio Rising (highly recommended!) — Santi Debriano on bass adds a lot to this session. Also recommend: • Sadik Hakim: Witches, Goblins, etc. • Paul Bley: Questions • Chris Byars Octet: Lucky Strikes Again (an excellent homage to Thompson)

In 2016, Silver Saucer Records reissued on compact disc The Damned's first studio recording. Kevin Gray (who's remastered Blue Note titles for Music Matters and Acoustic Sounds) did the remastering. There are now at least three different digital editions of this record. This is the one to own. Sound is not compressed, has depth, and ... a punk album sounds good! If you know this record and like it, look for the Silver Saucer edition. A half hour of punk bliss.

Great recommendations — thanks, and keep them coming! Some of the cellists listed above are entirely new to me. A few questions/comments: • Aldo Parisot — Is the Kodaly/Bach disc only available as a CD-R? Amazon gives me that impression. (Are you just as well off purchasing the mp3's?) • Paul Watkins — Thanks for bringing him to my attention. Raphael Wallfisch has been making a parallel series of British music for cello (mostly reissued on Naxos) that I would recommend. Wallfisch's recordings on Nimbus are ... extensive. • Antonio Janigro — That Beethoven with Zecchi is really nice! I'm supposing it's not available digitally anywhere. Does anyone here have Janigro's Bach Suites on Doremi? Worth the investment? I'm kind of overloaded on versions of the Suites, but I'm always open to one more. Three more recommended cellists to add to the list: • György Déri — These are all works for solo cello. Look at that list of composers! When Ligeti is the most recognizable name (well, that'd be my guess), you know you're in for some surprises. Déri has an appealing dark sound (that I always look/listen for in cellists). • Esther Nyffenegger — Has anyone here heard, or heard of, the Swiss cellist Esther Nyffenegger? The (cheaply-titled) "Cello Jewels" is a 7-disc affordably-priced box set that contains standard sonata repertoire along with some lesser known works for cello and piano. Nyffenegger's Beethoven can stand alongside much more famous recordings with ease. Her Brahms, I'd say, is superior to many more familiar recordings. Nyffenegger studied with Casals around the same time that Jacqueline du Pré did, and while du Pré's star shone much more brightly, Nyffenegger quietly made excellent, and contemporaneous, recordings. • Wen-Sinn Yang — Piatti is to the cello what Paganini is to the violin. This is quite possibly the most virtuosic cello playing I have ever heard. Yang is an utterly flawless cellist, never playing out-of-tune, and always paying attention to the finest details of articulation and phrasing. I suspect that some listeners would find his playing somewhat calculated, and perhaps that's true, but one thing (I'd say) is also true: Yang isn't flashy, and his playing doesn't bear the sometimes off-putting qualities of the virtuoso. Yang has also recorded Kodaly, Cassado, and various other virtuoso works.

There's already a thread here for the Bach Cello Suites, and, expanding on the good recommendations there, I thought I'd solicit recommendations for music for cello in general. What music for cello (sonatas, concerti, unaccompanied, chamber ensemble, etc.) do you particularly like? I'll start with a disc I'm listening to right now: This Tortelier recording really clicks for me. It doesn't try to be historically informed (at least to my ears), the harpsichord notwithstanding. The recorded sound from 1965 is superb.

Still canceled as of today.

Nicely said. I think you'd like/appreciate Gilles Peterson's Ra comp mentioned in the other concurrent Ra thread. I got it fairly cheap and originally thought: "It'll be nice supplemental Ra." I was wrong. It is a very good comp indeed. The remastering is so good that I actually would recommend it as a starter for those wanting to check out Ra.

Instead, this is a good read.