montg

The new RVGs--some summer greaze included this time around: Available for preorder at cdunivese for 8.39 (interesting note about the Cookbook CD from the concord home page: "Thanks to the recent discovery of the stereo master tapes, this RVG reissue marks the first appearance of the classic album in true stereo, and also includes a new alternate take of “But Beautiful” as well as the bonus track “Avalon.”" concordnewreleasepage Lockjaw Davis Cookbook Vol. 1 Miles Davis Wallkin' Etta James Don't Go To Strangers Jack McDuff The HoneyDripper John Coltrane Soultrane (sorry, can't find an image for the Etta James CD)

I bought my first CD player with some wedding money when we got married in 1990. I don't remember for sure the first CD I bought, though Bob Dylan's 'Oh Mercy" was surely among the first. My first jazz CD, which I still have and which was a perfect introduction to the music, was actually one of those dreaded Verve compilations, purchased in 1995

The ratio of decent jazz releases to pop has changed dramatically in the last year or two. Rather than the Norah Jones windfall 'subsidizing' jazz, it appears that the Norah Jones succss has just made them hungrier for more of the same

I just dug out Hammond's 'review' of Reminiscing. It's fascinating how intertwined politics, race, and music were for Hammond--and for many other critics in the 30s-50s (don't know about the musicians) "(Ellington) has never shown any desire of aligning himself with forces that are seeking to remove the causes of these disgraceful conditions" (segration/racism).... "The Duke is afraid even to think about himself, his struggles, and his disappointments, and that is why his "Reminiscing" is so formless and shallow a piece of music." For Hammond racial solidarity, leftist thinking, and jazz were all of one piece. These three factors don't seem to be so tightly bound together anymore, at least in public consciousness.

me too!

What are some highlights from this label? The Eddie Henderson looks good.

Glad to see this thread reappear. This is a set I keep intending to order, but I always seem to bump it at the last minute because something new from Mosaic is released that I want a little more.

The relation of the CPUSA/Marxists to jazz is pretty well covered in this book. The problem with Hammond is the weird racial stuff that distorts his 'jazz for the people' leftist thinking. For Hammond, there is a chasm between jazz (aka African American music) and Euro musical forms that should not be crossed. The vitality and purity of jazz is more or less exclusively rooted in its 'negroid' aesthetics.

Not sure why, but I find myself rarely spinning Goodman's CDs anymore. He seems less and less interesting to me, aside from the trio/quartet stuff in the 30s. Nevertheless, happy birthday to the king of swing

This is a pretty interesting read so far, although the preoccupation with race becomes more annoying and less illuminating as the book wears on. How many times do we need to be reminded that Leonard Feather was a white jazz critic and Duke Ellington was a black bandleader and so forth? I've certainly learned a lot about John Hammond--generally, I thought of him as the perceptive scout who 'discovered' Basie, Billie Holiday, Charlie Christian, Dylan... But his views on race and jazz purity were blinded by arrogance. He apparently thought he was the arbiter of authentic 'black music'. His review of Ellington's Reminiscing in Tempo is goofy, calling it "un-Negroid": the "trouble with Duke's music is the fact that he has purposely kept himself from any contact with the troubles of his people...(Ellington) keeps himself from thinking about such problems as those of the southern share croppers, the Scottsboro boys..."

Disc #1 I'm lovin' Qunichette and Lockjaw

This should be posted on the entrance to every academic building in the humanities across the nation, methinks.

Another jazz player going the self-produced route. This is a little different I suppose because people like Dave Douglas and Dave Holland had already built up their audience before going the independent route. Not sure what I think of the music on the CD, though I'm sure Strickland is very promising. marcus strickland sound samples at cdbaby cdbaby

I've been really enjoying the Carnegie Hall (Sony) recording Dexter Gordon made in 1978. cduniverse link It's more than his playing-it's his humanity, or something, that comes through so warmly on that date. I'd really like to get some more late period Dexter..there's obviously a lot out there so any opinions about studio sessions or good- sounding live dates would be helpful in allowing me to navigate the thicket. I'm sure most of his late period stuff is excellent, but are some places better to start than others? (I know there's a monster Dexter thread on this board somewhere, but, as I remember, it's not dedicated to recs. per se). Thanks in advance.

I received this in my e-mail today. XM's response: Statement to XM Subscribers - The XM Nation Everything we've done at XM since our first minute on the air is about giving you more choices. We provide more channels and music programming than any other network. We play all the music you want to hear including the artists you want to hear but can't find on traditional FM radio. And we offer the best radios with the features you want for your cars, homes, and all places in between. We've developed new radios -- the Inno, Helix and NeXus -- that take innovation to the next level in a totally legal way. Like TiVo, these devices give you the ability to enjoy the sports, talk and music programming whenever you want. And because they are portable, you can enjoy XM wherever you want. The music industry wants to stop your ability to choose when and where you can listen. Their lawyers have filed a meritless lawsuit to try and stop you from enjoying these radios. They don't get it. These devices are clearly legal. Consumers have enjoyed the right to tape off the air for their personal use for decades, from reel-to-reel and the cassette to the VCR and TiVo. Our new radios complement download services, they don't replace them. If you want a copy of a song to transfer to other players or burn onto CDs, we make it easy for you to buy them through XM + Napster. Satellite radio subscribers like you are law-abiding music consumers; a portion of your subscriber fee pays royalties directly to artists. Instead of going after pirates who don't pay a cent, the record labels are attacking the radios used for the enjoyment of music by consumers like you. It's misguided and wrong. We will vigorously defend these radios and your right to enjoy them in court and before Congress, and we expect to win. Thank you for your support.

Now that Sony and BMG have merged, I'd like to see an Earl HInes set covering the 60s comeback period where he recorded some for both RCA and COlumbia.

The point about academics & power is well-taken. But I wonder, does the thesis--critical attitudes helped shape the music--have legs? I'm thinking for instance (in the Brothers! thread) about the West Coast tenors overhauling their style to sound like Rollins. How much of that was due to the critical dismissal of the West Coast players as effete? Or to the critical praise of Rollins? Or was Rollins' influence largely (exclusively) at a musical level? Or maybe at this distance it's not possible to say? I ordered the book, looking forward to it--but I'll read it with a skeptical eye.

Nice thread. I love 'Red Clay', one of those CDs I find myself coming back to over and over. I don't have any other Hubbard CTIs, thanks for the overview.

I picked up 'Songbook' last week and I've been really taken by it. Some nice tunes and outstanding playing. People talk about the new players not having their own sound, but to me KG has a unique sound that's easy to identify. I really like Kenny Kirkland on this too. Does anybody know if Kenny Garrett has been in the studio recently or if he's still recording for Warners? It's been a few years since he released something as a leader. (he sounds great, btw, on the 'tain Watts CD released last year--'Detained at the Blue Note').

The Art Pepper show was responsible for that set leap-froging to the top of my want list. It's probably my favorite Select. And the recent Nelson show really made me take notice too. Before I had only been lukewarm on that set. Thanks for the great work, Ghost. Now how about and Elvin and Max show?

Did anybody catch the opening show of Dylan on XM? It was fabulous. Some really obscure cool stuff from the 40s and 50s (R & B, and gospel, mostly). Mixed in with Sinatra, Jimi Hendirx ('Wind Cried Mary'--Dylan: "This is Jimi trying to write a Curtis Mayfield song"), and Judy Garland (Dylan:"She's from Minnesota, like Prince!"). Great stuff. dylan xm

Freddie Hubbard--Red Clay. I'm wondering if Red Clay marks the road not taken. It's jazz, mostly jazz rhythm, but with electric piano and, a rock song, and some rock sensibilities in rhythm and attack. It seems (to me, at least) that the fusion road traveled in the 70s mostly dumped a lot of jazz content. Red Clay is what could have been--electric hard bop. ANyway, I'm finding it difficult to locate much from this period that moves me the way this album does and I've been listening to it a lot without getting tired of it at all.

I thought Jazz Record Mart had a pretty good web presence. Judge for yourself. Do a search for, say, 'Cannonball Adderley' and see if this is the place where you want to do your online shopping. jrm

Couldn't Jazz Record Mart meet the online challenge if they had a good website and increased their online retail (like dustygroove or Euclid Records)? (edited for idiotic spelling)

Now you tell me! Actually, just going from the sound samples, the duet between Byard and Nance on a somber-sounding version of A-Train is the highlight of the album. mighty-quinn