Late

The Betty Carter sounds great. Are these available in the U.S.?

Are these the 1923-26 solo recordings? 1923 and 1924 solo piano recordings, on Gennett and Paramount. I'm guessing that you already have J.R.T. Davies transfers of this material on Retrieval? I just listened to them tonight. They don't sound like Off the Record transfers, but they don't sound too bad to my ears. Maybe a little too much noise reduction?

Noticed that Dusty Groove is selling Spotlite CDs currently for $9.99. I tried to purchase their Peter King titles, and then got the dreaded "sold out" e-mail. They'll probably get them back in stock at some point, however. I, too, first heard King on that Watts/Bird project. In fact, his playing is all I can remember from that recording (haven't heard it since circa 1992; it was my then-roommate's).

Are these the 1923-26 solo recordings? I don't know what kind of licensing nightmare it would entail, but perhaps those eight QRS sides could be combined with the four great Okeh solos from the same period and the 1932 Brunswick/Columbia solos (only two titles, but five takes). And throw in the two Blue Note tracks as well?

Dolphy's solo on the track "Iron Man" is probably my very favorite Dolphy (studio) solo.

Earl Hines' QRS piano solos. I'm not familiar with those sides, but they sound intriguing. I have very little Hines in my collection.

The film is definitely worth Netflix-ing, etc. Ringo's narration is (yes) charming. The (sometimes improvised?) script, from an animated feature point of view, also makes excellent use of interruption during dialogue — something you almost never hear in animated features. Characters commonly don't finish their sentences because others are persistently butting in. It's not an emphasis of the film, but it's there (and not in the soundtrack). Also, you get to quote The Count (a la Saturday Night Live quotes) over and over after you've watched it: The Count: "I groomed you. Oooh how I groomed you! I cultivated you like a rare flower!"

Norah was photo-shopped in?

Well, since this thread has turned into a discussion of McLean's sound/intonation, I'll throw my 2¢ in. My reaction is about the same as Clunky's. At first, I couldn't handle McLean's intonation — I even felt like his bandmates were doing him a disservice by not telling him that he was going sharp! (I think of Bluesnik as a reference here, where McLean doesn't seem to mesh with Hubbard for a lot of unison lines.) Then, somewhere along the line, it clicked in ... with a fury! Now McLean is one of my very favorite alto players. But, he actually can, and does, play in tune — check out the heads, for example, on Hank Mobley's Hi Voltage. McLean's totally in sync here — not impressing his sound/intonation on the band at all. I read an article (of course I can't remember what magazine) a number of years ago where McLean was attempting to explain Billie Holiday's sense of intonation, and how her singing deeply affected him. I think this was part of the "clicking in" for me re. McLean. I actually now hear their music (McLean/Holiday) very similarly. But I can appreciate how a listener would struggle liking McLean's sound (or, simply, not like it). Personally, I still struggle with Don Cherry's playing. I love his compositions, I love his improvisational ideas, but sometimes I just can't get with his execution. I think the contention over the idea of gimmickry is that it tends to preclude any sense of authenticity. To me, Jackie McLean is one of the most authentic voices in jazz.

Wasn't there a Blue Note Jimmy Smith record titled "Master of His Organ"? The title of this thread keeps making me think of the R/L switcheroo, which I'm guessing Mr. 201 Regular Pepsi Cola intended?

I'm guessing you've heard Nilsson's "The Point"? If not, I think it's a great record. I grew up listening to the LP (along with Bill Cosby's "To Russell My Brother Whom I Slept With"). The animated film that accompanies it is also fine — narrated by Ringo Starr (after Dustin Hoffman recorded/narrated the whole thing, but whose contribution wasn't used). Some non-jazz artists I've been paying attention to, and really loving: • Patsy Cline • Ernest Tubb • Otto Klemperer (conducting Mahler; great new French EMI set available) • Water Gieseking (playing Mendelssohn and Grieg, but not the awful U.S. EMI References set) • Long John Hunter • Little Bob & The Lollipops • Markos Vamvakaris (the 1932-37 JSP set)

Received my copy today. After my ears adjusted (I'd just been listening to "74 Miles Away"), it just gets better and better. Toward the last part of the disc (track 17 on), it's hard to believe that you're listening to music that was recorded in the 20's. Let's hope Off the Record won't have to wait another six years before its next reissue. What would be a good candidate?

Excellent book. I got it a couple of years ago at a similarly low price. Somebody (here?) scored the $7 copy! Not bad for a hardcover book + compact disc.

Blue Noted

Tapscott fans will probably want this book at some point.

(Attachments is the original cover; big pic is the CD cover.) This is Kenny Barron's LP debut, if I'm not mistaken.

That's an exciting prospect. I didn't know about this unfinished album. I wonder if it's related at all to the "Birth of The New Cool" project. I seem to recall that Tapscott had wanted different musicians for that session with Sonny Criss (— a session that still sounds great to me). Imagine Arthur Blythe in that setting! At any rate, I really hope The Giant Is Awakened sees reissue. Though I've lived with the music for some time now, it'd be great to hear this recording with the JLH treatment. As with the other IP reissues, I'll purchase a copy on Day One. I haven't heard a note of the Steig, but I'm purchasing a copy of this one too.

Hybrid SACD, no? The 1954 Lucerne concert is at least hybrid SACD. Personally, I'm not sure that SACD or DVD-A would make all that much difference in this case. Jonathan's remastering — for all three reissues, so far — sounds better to me than some of the (hybrid) SACDs I own. I don't own an SACD player, by the way (adding import to Hans's observation). I would own one ... if I didn't spend my money on reissues! These International Phonograph reissues sound as good to me as Audio Wave's XRCD reissues (another niche market program).

I have both the domestic (U.S.) issue (1991) and TOCJ 9348, the latter of which isn't horrible, but halfway through you can begin to hear the "bell rattle" (a remastering artifact?) which plagued the initial reissues of The Soothsayer and Clubhouse. I love this session, and am wanting to hear the first Japanese reissue. Apparently it's TOCJ 5888 and not 5884?

I'm looking for the 1994 Japanese issue of Cecil Taylor's Jazz Advance, TOCJ 5884. If you have any leads, please PM! I noticed that there are currently two copies at amazon.co.jp — I've never purchased from Amazon Japan, so thoughts/tips/advice in this regard are welcomed. Thanks!

Thanks for the heads-up! Listening to sound samples right now — very nice.

Trumpet, piano, drums. Sound samples at Amazon. Interesting song selections (Coleman, Lacy, Ra, Hemphill, Bley), and a nice Douglas-like sound. I usually ignore Steeplechase releases, but this is one to check out (if only for sound samples at the least). Fans of Dave Douglas (I'm one) will like this CD, I think. Knuffke has a more adventuresome CD on Clean Feed that might be even better.

You can say that again. Listened to this CD three times today. Gorgeous sound/remastering. The Gil Evans influence is present, but not derivative. This is certainly Clare Fischer's music, and the way he moves the clarinet voicings, for one example, doesn't sound like Evans to me at all (while, in contrast, the French horns sound noticeably Evans-esque). This is one of those CDs that somehow makes your stereo system sound better. It's a joy just to listen to, but the music itself, when closely attended to, pays dividends. This isn't of course high-speed hardbop — nor is it some kind of sleepy orchestral jazz. This is music for hearing, and, as a result, thinking about. It won't be everyone's cup of tea. But, in the end, I think its durability will hold up. If it makes any sense, this is patient music. Very little seems patient these days.

I actually first encountered that word while reading The Penguin Guide to Jazz. I also learned the word "shibboleth" from the PGJ. Using the phrase "one-off" was not in my lexicon until reading the PGJ as well. There are a few other terms from that book (2nd ed. is the one I read most) that will come to mind sooner or later. And as for the Urban Dictionary (linked above), I had no idea about the term "Shaniqua" and all its connotations. Now I know better ...

In that case, you only have about 659 varieties to choose from! "Pollen Valley" — yes indeed. The tree pollen is killing me right now.