Brad

Claude, thanks. I guess they'll be new to me since I've only had 2 version of this date. Do you know if the alternates of Our Man in Paris have been out before?

I was looking at the jazzmatazz site last night and noticed that the Blue Train and Our Man in Paris RVGs coming out next week include alternate takes. Hadn't noticed this before. Have these been out before? I've owned the MFSL and the JRVG of Blue Train and no alternates there. Also, the Dex box doesn't have any alternate takes for Our Man in Paris. I was going to skip over these but I'll pick them up now for sure next week.

I was dying to pick this one up after hearing the Willette, which really grabbed my attention. He was every bit as good on his recording. Shame, there's not more out there of his, either as sideman or leader. Same goes for Harold Vick, although I believe there's a few more dates where he's a sideman.

Yup, that Verve list ain't that much to get excited about although in all honesty, the reissues from about a month ago weren't bad: Sonny Stitt, Billy Mitchell, Nat Adderley. They do put out a lot of junk though. As we've said before, thank god for Japan.

The music on this is so fine it's eye popping. I particularly dug Speakin' My Piece and On the Spur of the Moment with the Turrentines, especially Oh So Blue.

That's a hell of a review and controversy that Mule posted. I've heard too much of these stories and certainly don't want to read a book like that. Life is dreary enough without having to have something like that rehashed. Plus, we know all about these kinds of stories.

Two that come to mind are Mobley's Thinking of Home and a better example, Mose Allison's Back Country Suite, which is a heck of a recording, with Mose Allison (p), Taylor La Fargue (bass) and Frank Isola (ds).

Thank you Hans and Jim for posting that. Don't know why I couldn't find it. There are some real classics in there. Since he's a dealer he obviously know what he's doing because some of those prices will start climbing soon. If what he says about the condition is true (and based upon his perfect feedback there's no reason to doubt him), it can only make you water. Anyone who doesn't have the DeFranco-Clark box ought to seriously think about this one. One of the great Mosaic boxes. Buddy is under appreciated and his playing on these records, chorus after chorus after chorus, makes you shake your head in wonderment.

Do you have a link. I didn't see 'em on Ebay today.

I can echo about Volume 3 about being hard to find. It also has fetched a handsome price on Ebay when it shows up there.

I'm glad to see everybody's back. As we get older, more things happen to us. I have a bad back but it's not cancer. BTW, Tod Irzyk (Out to Lunch) has been going through a tough time lately with chemo as well. So I'm sure a few pm or emails would be appreciated. He'll probably kill me for mentioning this but he's a hell of a good guy and livens up this board.

montg beat me to it. Jazz Review is the best. They have some darn good articles in there and they review or advertise some albums that I'd like to get and wouldn't see in the other two. I've never liked DB and while I get JT, I generally find it a waste of time. I let Cadence lapse but they have some good interviews in there. I need to reup. Plus, I like the Scott Yanow reviews on the reissues.

The Powell for sure. That's on the top of the list. I'll be getting the Henderson and maybe the Shorter. Have the others.

Sorry about that. Actually Old Testament would be a lot more powerful than medieval.

Periodically I check over there and they now have a link to Jazz Corner and AAJ. Aren't they forgetting somebody or is that accidentally on purpose? What's up with that?

I called Mosaic just now and they're down to 143 so I guess I'll put my order in today to be on the safe side. I just received a True Blue catalog yesterday (what a coincidence ) so I guess I'll use the promotion.

These are some very insightful and interesting comments and while I don't really agree with them completely I do understand them. Sonny has been down these roads before but I think he plays them here with fire. One of his attractions in general is how he plays what he plays. As I like to say, it's Sonny doing what he does best. I like that out of Sonny. However, as Soulstream said, you know he's been down those streets before (great imagery, BTW). That's also his attraction and part of his problem. You know what you're getting with him but you'd like to see what he might have been had he embraced some current trends. I think I've mentioned this before but this is what probably got A. Lion upset at the "infamous" Sonny-Dex session; it was the same old stuff. Maybe it's the same old stuff with Sonny but man he does it so well.

Have to agree on the Blue Trane. How many times should these be reissued when there's more pressing needs.

Both Grantstand and Horace Silver Trio. Have the others although I might upgrade sonically on the Blakey. Have JRVGs of the others.

One last point: my wife hated it. Just goes to show you can't please everybody

I'm late on this one but what the hell. This is a great, great album. I loved every minute of it. After I finished listening to it for the second time, I just said "why the hell is this not out on cd?". I love the gospel. Gospel is part of the roots of jazz. How many musicians were befriended by the churches or drew inspiration from it? Countless, I'm sure. Clifford Scott? Yeah! Charles Kynard? Yeah, yeah!!! Very inspirational record. We insist, no we demand: Liberate this record from the vaults!!!!

Both enthusiastic yes. Be warned however, that the sound on the Clark is not good (if that's important to you). However, the music is fantastic. Haven't listened to the Hawkins in a while but recommend it also.

Agreed on I Got Rhythm. He starts off in a slow mode but revs it up and then goes out the same way. There's a lot of nuggets in this album such as Just Friends or I Can't Get Started. After relistening to Just Friends several times, it's hard to say if I've ever heard a better one (excepting maybe Bird maybe but it's close). Also, Grooving High just sounds so fresh, it's like it was recorded yesterday. Sonny on these two records was at a peak comparable to his mid 50s Verve-Roost output, maybe even better. He'd obviously gone back or just decided to make two damn good albums. This was my first Sonny and I hadn't listened to it for awhile and thank you to Jim (as usual) for putting the thought in my head.

Just got back from vacation and saw this thread. Put me down as one who will buy a few copies for friends and myself. I have all of Uptown's Bird's stuff and I recommend it highly not to mention all the other stuff I have of theirs from this era. The Eager that just came out also has some Bird on it. Very neat disc. Jim has said it all. This will be very important. What's amazing how lucky we are that somebody who loves music happened to pick this up. This is just one of those lucky happenstances that we thank our asses for in years to come. It's almost a freak of nature. Almost reminds me of those stories of finding rare Mickey Mantle or Honus Wagner cards in the attics. But for this accident, it might have been lost to history and tossed in the garbage.

What if you're still doin it while you're in the 50s. Hope so.