Brad

I really can't put my finger on it but I just love his music, especially his 50s to early 60s stuff. He's not screamin' out at you. He's the personification of funk. His sound is mellow and Mr. Hard Bop of that era. If you love hard bop, you'll love Hank. My first Mosaic and one of the first people I listened to, a la Lon, was Hank. Make the investment and you'll be a fan for sure.

Folks, In no special order, here's a list of some of the cds you all don't like, some of them apparently classics: Blue Train Something Else Cool Struttin' Page One Undercurrent Una Mas Whistle Stop Go Stop and Listen Open House/Plain Talk LD + 3 Star Bright Some of you also don't care for Herbie Nichols, Baby Face, George Braith, Jimmy Smith and probably a few others. I think somebody mentioned Hank Mobley, but I may be wrong about this. This happens to be in my opinion a great bunch of recordings and artists, whether or not I find everyone to my taste. I may not find all of George Braith's recordings to my taste but so what. That doesn't mean he didn't make a contribution (significant or otherwise) to the Blue Note catalogue. Soul Stream likes him as do others so that's enough. Some of you think Go is smooth (I know, not Kenny G style) or he's trying too hard or whatever. That's nice. Maybe we're forgetting the Pres influence there. I think it's a classic and so did Dex. Must be something when the artist thinks that. But then again maybe not. Look I know this was a thread to express what you like or didn't so we (including me) did. Fortunately, our opinions don't mean a hell of a lot. It's a big world and you can't please everybody with everything. Thank goodness Alfred and Frank had a vision of what they wanted to record and that they did so.

Don't know about that Jim. Marlena does it for me B) . Wonder if Alfred would have approved of the title of the album.

Ghost, Did you get it. Absolutely fantastic album. If this is any indication of his Phillips output, bring on the Mosaic! :rsmile: :rsmile:

lukrion was upset with the way the old BNBB was going and wanted to see some forums cut back (e.g. the Political forum). So he can't be all too happy that it's been replicated here. Maybe that's why he hasn't been around. Hope Bill Fenohr comes back. He has a lot to offer, as does the Mule.

I thought the price on these were dropping. Guess there's been a spike in the market.

Agreed. This is a great place. What I meant to say and this may not have come across clearly is that there people who used to visit the BNBB but now don't visit any board or who were interested in jazz but dropped out.

I think the corporate types were getting perturbed about some of the forums like Offering (offering not just BN threads), Politics (obvious reasons), Reissues (discussing more than BN) so they took them away. They even took away the Mosaic forum for a short while. Of course we all got upset and went ballistic and people started posting a lot of anti BN, anti Norah stuff, then Jim Sangrey posted a very eloquent letter to Tom Evered (tomatbluenote) and he took a jerky position that "it's our board and we can do what we want with it". After that people started migrating to AAJ and B3er organized this Board, people got more negative at the BN Board and they closed it. As Lon said, it was supposed to reopen but didn't and it appears to be on permanent hiatus for now. That's the story in a nutshell. What's sad is that they destroyed a community and although we've been able to resurrect it here to a certain extent, there are people who left and probably will never come back. That's very sad.

Oh, man, Weizen is going to flip when he says what you said about Blue Train. He might have to sell all __ (fill in the number) copies that he has. Go smooth? Cheesecake and Second Balcony Jump smooth? Ralphie, come back to us dude

Ralphie boy, Now you've gone way beyond the pale (as procol harum might say) . Go is a classic . I guess you don't like Dex. Too bad.

I met Mike Fitzgerald last year. I sold him a bunch of Jazz Times and Cadences and we met over at Shanghai Jazz in Madison for a drink. Very enjoyable to hear about his experience. Guys I'd love to meet (in no special order): Tod, Weizen, Lon, Jim, Ed, Dan, Jim R. and Chuck (talked to him on the phone a couple of times when ordering cds). Heck, I'd like to meet all you guys!

The great thing about this thread is that obviously we don't agree on everything and it's like reading True Confessions: JAZZ FANS BARE ALL! Just hope there's no ax murdererers or worse here . Cool Struttin' is a great cd, IMHO. Autumn Leaves on Somethin' Else is the gold standard for me. Lee Morgan's Standards I liked, particularly Blue Gardenia. Brownie, did you mean Alfred would have never released this because I believe it was recorded while he was in charge.

I found it enjoyable plus these two titans had never met before but the liner notes indicate that as the session went on, Alfred Lion got more upset with the proceedings and was not happy that they were rehashing hackneyed standards so he put a stop to it.

Maybe it's just me and I should give the Lost Sessions another listen but after listening to the cd, I could understand why they weren't issued. There were not a lot of great performances there and maybe it would have been better left in the vaults. However, I have always enjoyed the lone Dexter/Sonny session and enjoyed what the Dexter Complete BN set said about it: something like, "no harm done."

Alan has these listed as coming out tomorrow. But I happened to be at Border's yesterday (looking for some books for a project my son is working on) and saw Sonny Stitt's New York Jazz. Didn't know the other titles. I just started listening this am to Sonny and it really sizzles. There is some high octane Sonny on there. Borders may have jumped the gun here since CD Universe has them listed as coming out tomorrow. Others that appear to be coming out tomorrow are Lee Konitz's Motion, Cannonball's Julian "Cannonball" Adderley , Billy Mitchell's This is Billy Mitchell, and John Klemmer's Involvement.

I think the best, and I'd call it the gold standard, is the one Bird did for Dial, which also includes the "famous alto break." It's really fabulous. Another good one is from Art Blakey's Night at Birdland, alluded to earlier.

Well, that's some strong stuff and although I disagree with most of it, there's a strong kernel of truth to what SEK about what happened after Alfred Lion left the label. The output is just not as strong.

Since overrated may not be the correct work, I'll settle for don't like. There's very few that I don't like. From the 50s, probably none. I love the music from that period. From the 60s, there's more to choose from. The George Braith material I don't find appealing (sorry, Soul Stream). Also Don Wilkerson's Preach Brother. Although the other Don's are ok. Didn't care for Byrd's Slow Drag and I know it's heresy here, but I don't care for Andrew Hill. That's why I only have Grass Roots in my collection.

For obvious reasons I voted for Dizzy but in a strong second is Miles, whose playing I don't find shaky at all. Miles is part of that fabled Charlie Parker quintet of the late 40s and he was an integral member of that unit. Bird obviously saw something in him to give him the trumpet chair. His future brilliance can be glimpsed from his first session as a leader on Savoy, where Bird played tenor. I like his playing from this period and to pick anyone else other than Dizzy doesn't make sense to me.

I'd have to disagree about Bob Blumenthal. I happen to like the notes he writes and look forward to reading them when I know he's done them. I think the notes he's done for Mosaic are all superb.

I don't know what to say about this album. I haven't listened to all of it yet but it's jazz and folk and american music and part of the great jazz tradition and music inspired by the tradition of early african american traditions. Like the liner notes say, if all W.C. Handy had ever written was St. Louis Blues, his reputation would have been cemented. But I loved the folk spirit imbued in Long Gone. Touched the times when I was a folk music junkie a long, long time ago. I'm not always big on vocals but I couldn't wait to hear Louis sing. Has anyone ever had a voice like that, in jazz or out? I was really touched by what Lon said. It's not often that someone really, really opens up here and it really touched a chord here. While I was reading it, I was saying "Man, he should write his memoirs!" Perhaps his musical transition is what I empathasize with. Thank you for sharing that with us.

Dude, that's chump change for you

Sal, You should definitely wait. This is only one cd, a sort of best of. Even if you don't like strings, you'll be getting material from Jazz at the Philharmonic, the Jazz Scene (absolutely wonderful cd, btw), material from his Quartet and Quintet and the the jam session that took place in Hollywood in 1952 (material with Bird, Johnny Hodges, Charlie Shavers, Barney Kessel, Ben Webster, etc. -- this stuff really cooks!). Now, the strings. Even if you don't like it, he makes this come alive, Bird floating on top of a strings is really good: Just Friends (a classic!), Laura, April in Paris, I'll Remember April. You just can't go wrong. Hey, Lon's right, it's Bird B)

The only quibble I have with this set are the liner notes. I was hoping for some sort of mini book but all Sony has done is reproduced the original notes with some supplemental notes by Eddie Henderson. I would presume that when it comes out in Mosaic, the liner notes will be ample.

Dave, If you want a remastered Blues Walk, have you considered buying LD's Mosaic?