montg

Man, I had no idea there was so much interesting material from this period. A revelation to me. Enough, I should think, to keep M. Cuscuna busy for a good long while. Here's hoping he get's really creative with the Select concept and gets some of this out.

Some original Blue Note artists (Turrentine, Jimmy Smith, Hubbard) and new artists (e.g., Ralph Peterson and Bobby Watson) recorded in the early days after Blue Note was reactivated. It's mostly all out of print now--I haven't heard much of it since I really didn't begin listening to jazz until the mid 90s. I'm curious if any of the 80s and early 90s Blue Note stuff holds up well and would be worth reissuing.

I have two things Kendall did for Frog--Eddie South and Django--and the remastering for both is fabulous.

A month or two ago I heard 'Autumn in New York' by BH in a bookstore. It was one of the most moving vocals I'd ever heard but I wasn't sure where to find it. Fortunately, I found it by luck last night and just purchased this recording from 1952: It'll be my first foray into 1950s Billie Holiday.

I started the car today and turned on the local jazz station--almost instantly I recognized Art Tatum. A few bars later a trumpter entered and it was immediately clear the player was Roy Eldridge. It's a truism--the greats really do have unique and identifiable tones (and phrasings) as this thread attests. I suppose it's a cliche to say this, but the dificulty I have with a lot of the university-trained players today is that they all sound so similar. But maybe if I listened to the new guys more (which I'm trying to do) I could pick up some of the identifiers.

I have the 2 CD set put out by Sony a few years ago. Can anyone comment on whether the Mosaic is a substantial improvement? I thought Sony's effort was pretty good, but if the Mosaic is markedly better it might make me rethink about whether to pursue this set (I've been leaning against it so far)

Thanks Hans. It'll be interesting to see who, if anyone in particular, now becomes first call for these types of remastering jobs.

Any word who did the remastering for the Frog reissue?

Thanks Lon. I was hoping for a reissue of the Benny Carter-arranged album (Kansas City Suite) for the centennial, but I guess it's not to be. Still, the 'Basie Story' sounds like an intriguing choice from the Roullette years.

Are both of these compiliations of the Roulette years or are they original lps reproduced on CD?

I can't find any information on the band's web site about upcoming dates (i.e. none are listed). horizonjazz Kind of short sighted on the part of record companies or whoever to release a smokin' album, easily one of the best of the year in my opinion, and not follow it up.

The August issue has results from the critics' poll. The ususal suspects, for the most part: Jazz Album: 1. Dave Holland--Extended Play (ECM) 2. Dave Douglas--Strange Liberation 2. Jason Moran Bandwagon 2.Greg Osby St. Louis SHoes --the only one I have is the Osby, which I really like. Jazz Reissue 1. Miles Davis--Jack Johnson 2. Basie (the Columbia reissue) 3. Miles @ Blackhawk The Mosaic Roy Eldridge was 9th. Snurdy McGurdy was 10th. Record Label: 1. Blue Note 2. ECM. 3. Palmetto 4. Verve (laughable) Alto: 1.Lee Konitz, 2. Greg Osby Soprano: 1.Steve Lacy, 2. Wayne Shorter Tenor: 1. Joe Lovano, 2. Sonny Rollins Trumpet: 1.Dave Douglas, 2. Wynton Bass: 1.Dave Holland, 2. Christian McBride Piano:1. Keith Jarrett, 2. Kenny Barron Guitar: 1.Bill Frisell, 2. Jim Hall Trombone: 1.Steve Turre, 2. Robin Eubanks Composer: 1. Dave Douglas, 2. Wayne Shorter Organ: 1. Joey DeFrancesco, Larry Goldings Vibes: 1. Bobby Hutcherson, 2. Stefon Harris Drums: 1.Roy Haynes, 2. Jack DeJohnette (as I survey this list, I'm surprised how few CDs I have from most of them--the Blue Note veterans being the exception) Rising Stars: Group--1. Bad Plus Trumpet--1. Jeremy Pelt (no argument from me) Tenor --Eric Alexander (#2-no argument from me here either).

The more I listen to this the more I like it--some great stuff in heavy rotation since I bought it last month. This isn't a session where the guys came in, learned the tunes, and started to blow. A lot of nuances in the compostions, things have been worked out, band members familiar with one another and playing off of each others' ideas...Bobby Watson and Terell Stafford are a great front line, no question, but Victor Lewis on drums deserves a lot of credit... he's really powerful, never lets up, but he's always playing with the band not against it. Some great tunes, also. Lemoncello, The Love We Had Yesterday, Eeeyyess, and Bacharach's "Look of Love" are some of my favorites.

Thank you--it's looking great!

I have the Dreyfus CD and I think it's superior to the RCA Lasker remasterings. There's a companion volume, 'Take the A Train' from Dreyfus that extends through the mid 40s..it's also worth picking up.

nprjazz recs This is the part that perplexes me. At the risk of sounding naive, how can these be so widely available in the US if they're illegal. Even our own government encourages us to buy them--sort of...follow the link (above) and check out NPR's reccomendations to buy the Bechet and Hampton Proper boxes, along with other imports of p.d. maerial (Topaz, Prism...).

...that Gonsalves rocked Newport and, ostensibly at least, revived Ellington's career. Just listened to Gonsalves' solo and it really is a thing of beauty. No honking or over-the top theatrics (not that there's necessarily anything wrong with that ). Just pure invention and swing. Here's to Paul And George Wein, I guess.

That would be universal music (Verve), so no surprise it is rotting in the vaults somewhere. Verve has shown no interest in any of the prewar material they own (including Decca and some years of Brunswick).

I recently recieved mine as a birthday present and opened it over the weekend... I'm through the first couple of discs and I'm loving every minute. Dan Morgenstern makes a good point in the liners about the tempo on some of these songs being somewhat obsolete these days. Kind of a mid tempo blues that builds and builds in intensity..when Roy reaches the fiery end where he's in the upper register it sucks the breath right out of me. Great stuff. Onto the jam session material next. ALso, props to Ray Brown on these first few sessions...coming through clearly and keeping everything swinging.

I've done this at Borders also and, sure enough, the new release was back in the stock room. I'm heading out tomorrow to pick up the Blakey.

Coincidentally, I was just listening to this a couple of nights ago. The Red Allen session knocks me out..the material is a little off the wall but that suits Allen's approach--his phrasing, tone etc. is a little off center anyway. I think it's great and the sound is really good too. The Clayton/Edison session has Jimmy Forrest (who's superb here and probably deserved equal billing) and Freddie Green. The themes are a little weak, but it's a blowing session and the blowin' is fine. If you like mainstream swing, from the original masters, I wouldn't think twice about picking this up.. especially if there's a copy on hand somewhere. I had a tough time tracking this down a couple of years ago (finally found it on a Canadian online store) and it's been long out of print.

Ideally, a non-profit organaization with public funding (Smithsonian perhaps) would take an interest in leasing the masters from Verve of some of the more obscure jazz artists, clean them up and present them. A small gov't subsidy to support this art form seems reasonable to me. I'd be interested in hearing about the sound quality of some of the reissues where the freshsound folks presumably are working from originals since the 50 year copyright isn't expired on them: I have in mind stuff like the Jimmy Hamilton release (Swing low sweet clarinet originally from Everest I think), the jazztone recordings of Coleman Hawkins, and this Ruby Braff release from Stereo-craft and this Pepper Adams release

In general, the Decca catalog has been completely dormant since it was purchased by Verve a few years ago. A lot of stuff there, from the 30s through the Milt Gabler years of the 40s and 50s that could be carved into Mosaic sets.

That's encouraging! Do you know if it would be a Select comprised of UA material or something larger?