montg

Thanks P.D. For some reason I've never really warmed up to the 40s JATP compilation I have. Perhaps it's your point that there's a certain lack of organization (background riffs, more interplay) to the Granz material. Still the quality of the players on this set, stretching out in their prime in the studio, make it awful enticing.

According to the recent Jazz times magazine (this magazine really bugs me---I don't know why I ever buy it, but that's another story. The reviews are generally written at the high school sophmore level, "his playing is as soft as butter on this delectable CD..") anyway, it's a Lester Young phrase that implies learning to deal with life and transcend the times no matter how tough things may be.

Are these on par in terms of quality with the Columbia Buck Clayton jam sessions?(the only comparison I have to go by)

Me too! Anybody???

From among those boxes I have, and that are still in print, I find the most consistently satisfying from beginning to end are (in no order): 1. Hodges 2. Mobley 3. Turrentine (although I haven't gotten through them completely yet, the Eldridge and Jazztet sets are also likely going to be among the best of the best). I agree with some of the other observations that the Selects may be a bit more inconsistent..I think the Patton is the best of the bunch in terms of pretty regularly delivering.

The True Blue catalog from Mosaic has this listed as 5 CDs.

I didn't like the sound on this at all--the first RVG I have purchased where I was disappointed. The bass seems terribly underrecorded to me. Generally, I find a lot of variation from session to session in the RVG studio regarding the prominence and clarity of the bass, but this particular issue was the worst I've heard. Couple that with tape deterioration or some other flaw in the source, and you've got, in my opinion, real problems (aurally--the usual disclaimers about the music being otherwise great apply). If we ever get a Mosaic Tyner box, perhaps Malcolm Addey will work some magic.

Thanks for the input--sounds like I can't go wrong. I'll start with one or two of the mid 90s Blue Notes and go on from there.

It may be worth noting that Proper is a BIG advertiser for Jazz Journal (at least it was when I stopped subscribing a couple of years ago.) Huge back cover ads--and then, not coincidentally I think, every issue of JJ has some reviewer throwing out the flowers and hosannas for a proper reissue.

Good point..I usually prefer quintets or midsize groups but, of course, enjoy the full range (trio to Big Band--not much for solo piano albums.) Thanks, Mike, I'll check out the discography.

I've heard positive things about her work over the years, but so far, for whatever reason, I haven't bought anything. Any suggestions about where to start would be appreciated.

Thanks--finding out Edmond Hall will be here is a great bonus!

I'm not really familiar with Marlow Morris--does anyone know who's on the quintet album ("Play the Thing")?

I think this is supposed to be issued in Janurary. I heard from Scott, I believe, that there's a whole CD worth of unreleased Ruby Braff. I can't wait for this set!!!

Thanks--that sounds great!

There's a 3 CD set of this group coming out next week. sfjazz

Who's on the Hill record (besides, of course, Hill)? I'd look it up on AMG, but the new site aggravates me.

The Vanguard recordings by Buck Clayton and Jo Jones are some other great 50s small group Basie. I've been looking for the Joe Newman (at a fair price, not twice the list price) for some time..still no luck.

Thanks!

If I'm following correctly, the disc 7 problem is in the disc itself rather than in the remastering/source material. I don't know the technicalities of how CDs are made...is there an easy or straightforwad explantion for how a disc malfunction would be responsible for the distortion? It seems unusual...I don't think I've ever had to return a disc for a manufacturing problem.

Basie at Newport VME has some nice Lester Young. Also, the combination of the New Testament band with Ellington's on 'First Time' (Sony) is really good. It's hard to think of Ellington and Basie being underrated, but I think this CD tends to get overlooked.... I really like it. The Japanese just reissued a lot of the Verve 50s material. It's avaliable at redtrumpet.com...I picked up two that I'm waiting for ('The Count!' and 'On My Way Shoutin'). ALso, there's a lot of live material out there. I'm fortunate to have some of the Mosaic material (live in Sweden) thanks to a board memer ...It's very well recorded and, not surprisingly, exciting stuff.

A new website and a new CD: mauricebrown I'm curious if anyone has heard the CD yet. I can't tell much from the sound samples.

Basie was born on 8/21 in 1904. Happy Birthday Count! I'll be celebrating tomrrow with all-day Basie in the car, kitchen, living room etc.

I'll be interested to learn how this sounds....The bass on the Verve Elite "Here and Now" was barely audible. It looks like most of the sessions were recorded in the same studio as that particular session. Malcolm Addey doing the remastering, however, is a good sign.

There are exceptions, for sure, but GENERALLY speaking, the quality of jazz criticism is light years behind the quality of the music.