Late

This is what all music forums should be about. Seconded on Brilliant Circles. The Japanese CD sounds better. Member "Zoltan" sells it from time to time on eBay.

Never heard of Opus Kura. Who did the transfers and the mastering? The EMI set sounds as if noise reduction was applied generously. The remastering engineer for Opus Kura is Kiyoshi Yasuhara. Here's the website. I can strongly endorse their instrumental and chamber series. Very open and lively sound (considering the vintage 78's); I think you'll find a lot to like. If it helps, here's the Amazon search results for the label. I've been collecting titles from this label for a little over a year now. I own over a dozen titles, and only two have seemed sub-par. Overall, a big in terms of historical classical reissues.

Did the Saturn albums listed in the first post ever see the light of day? (I have Cymbals and Crystal Spears. Will have to reread the liner notes.)

If you like/love Casals' interpretation of the cello suites, you need to own this edition. The remastering blows the EMI version(s) away. Opus Kura is a label very much worth exploring.

No, and I should have picked it up long ago. Time to purchase a copy!

On the record? Snuff jazz?

I was rereading the liner notes to Pathways To Unknown Worlds, and noticed that there are three Saturn albums, intended for release on Impulse!, that were never issued — Across The Border of Time, Flight To Mars, and Tone Poem. I'm a little confused. Were these ever on vinyl? I'm guessing yes — that they were on Saturn, but not Impulse? Has anyone here heard them? What exactly is the deal with Ra on Impulse? It seems that soon after Astro Black was issued on Impulse, Ra's contract (or agreement) with the label was yanked, and all his Impulse records were consigned to the cut-out bin. True?

Next is Jeff Goldblum's album on Blue Note.

I couldn't agree more with this sentiment. It seems like the audiophile labels (and I'm glad they're around) really only cater to fans of hardbop. There's nothing wrong with that, but just imagine if the next 25 XRCDs had Art Hodes, John Hardee, Benny Morton, James P. Johnson, Cecil Taylor, Sam Rivers, Andrew Hill, Don Cherry and Ornette Coleman in the queue. I'd buy all of them without a blink. As it is, I haven't yet been able to muster one purchase from this series. I'm sure they're great, but the enthusiasm (for me) just isn't there. I might be the only one too who just isn't into the whole "hardbound book" presentation. I think I'll agree with my agreeing a year (plus) later ... and now leave this highly coded emoticon message:

I really wish Andrew Hill's Point of Departure would make the SACD or XRCD reissue list. I put on the RVG this week, and had to take it off almost instantly. Unfortunately, I've been in a huge fault-finding spree with RVG's remasterings recently, and as a result dumping just about every RVG I have. Not all, but a lot. I was an early supporter of this series, and now, though I really don't want to be, am very sour on the series. Part of this, I think, is that I've configured my stereo set-up (I guess?) to favor TOCJs. At any rate, if a SACD of this title doesn't show up in the next 2-3 years, I'll be emailing Hiroshi for the TOCJ ...

Didn't know that Gerry Mulligan's first sextet record for EmArcy had seen a Japanese reissue. 1991. Anyone have this particular edition?

Harrison James Music?

Southern Horizons. Carpe!

Oops — forgot about that one; downloaded from eMusic. Better go listen to it now! Isn't A Fireside Chat With Lucifer half of Nuclear War? Sometimes straightening out Ra's discography is near impossible.

Quite a few, in my opinion. Here are six, off the top of my head: 1. Discipline 27 II 2. The Soul Vibrations of Man 3. Astro Black 4. The Antique Blacks 5. Voice of the Eternal Tomorrow 6. The Sound Mirror These are all very solid Ra albums in my opinion. (Some Ra records can be aimless unless you're a hardcore fan.) Atavistic was on schedule to reissue Continuation, but it never materialized. Anyone know what happened? Between the Unheard Music Series and Art Yard, Ra reissues are still trickling out. Of the six titles listed above, I consider Discipline 27 II a true Sun Ra classic. This one is trance-like at times.

Good call. I'd also be interested to know what records JLH has heard of those suggested in this thread. I'm trying to think along a Dixon/Hemphill axis (one that I'm also very fond of), but the Steig throws me a little, though I too like that record a lot. If Jimmy Giuffre's Free Fall hadn't been reissued, I'd be screaming for that one. I'm still amazed that Cuscuna put that one out — a beautiful reissue, with intriguing bonus tracks to boot. I think that an Ellington reissue might actually be the most commercially viable, but perhaps not what JLH has in mind.

I'm with you on this one. I wish more people (anybody?) had heard & lived with Iapetus for a while, but Motivation is, like Iapetus, a wholly unique record that has been virtually unheard. As I type, I'm listening to Iapetus on headphones. I gotta say — this really is a great record. More than Motivation, I think, this is a band effort. While Caliman is clearly the leader on the session, the rhythm section has that feel (not muscially, but socially) of the great Hancock-Carter-Williams team. It's weird — tenor players working today would eat this up, I'd think. Meaning, I can't believe that this session hasn't seen a reissue anywhere. The record, though it bears traces of its recording year, has an unusually modern feel to it. This is to say that the music, almost note for note, might easily be heard in a hip club anywhere in the world today. Jonas Kulhammar reissued Utan Misstankar on Moserobie. (Don't know that rekkid? Get it here ... quick! An absolutely brilliant 1965 Swedish in/out session.) Other titles, just as obscure, will be rescued at some point by like-minded individuals.

Just listened to this record in total. Stone classic? Maybe, maybe not. Killer performance? Absolutely! Details: Date: ca. 1972 Location: New York City Label: Savoy Bill Barron (ts), Kenny Barron (p), Chris White (b), Al Hicks (d) 1. Motivation (Bill Barron) 10:22 2. Land of Sunshine (Bill Barron) 3:26 3. Blues for R. A. (Bill Barron) 6:15 4. Cosmos (Kenny Barron) 9:47 5. Hold Back Tomorrow (Bill Barron) 5:12 6. Mental Vibrations (Bill Barron) 4:01 All titles on: Savoy LP 12": 12303 — Motivation The title track really is killer. Not so much in a burning way, but in a makes-you-think and not-copying-Coltrane way. Authentic stuff. Barron is Barron, just like Joe Henderson is Joe Henderson. No overriding influence. Al Hicks on drums sounds like a blend of Elvin Jones (primary) + Max Roach & Louis Hayes (secondary). Super clean, polyrhythmic solos. Tasty, not too long, and razor sharp. I don't know how to post sound clips, but if there's interest, I can try. I'll stay behind this one record as my personal vote for a JLH reissue so to not overload the thread. I know of course it doesn't make economical sense. But neither do wide sideburns ... yet.

I love all of the Rivers trio work I've heard — both the horn-bass-drums trio and the horn-tuba-drums trio. Sizzle is an excellent record. The cover art (if it matters) is fairly ugly however. I keep bidding (and losing) on Japanese versions of Streams on eBay. I'm buying Dogon A.D. when it comes out.

Those three are all excellent — my very favorite Al Cohn on record. A couple of years back, eMusic had a number of Xanadu titles (a lot of them needle drops), and this was the only way I could find to hear them. Finding the four Sam Noto titles this way was a gift.

Ahh. Didn't know that. I'm guessing that's Dixon's son with him?

Has anyone here heard the Jack Brokensha record? And Then I Said ...? That Savoy has eluded me.

Available tomorrow! I was mistaken about what the original cover art looked like. I guess there were two versions, at different times. Edit: I hope JLH doesn't mind me posting the cover art. I'll take them down if it's any cause for concern. I'm just excited about the reissue!