JSngry

Freddie's records on Columbia were only sometimes uninspired, never awful, and in the case of The Love Connection, sone of his absolutely best playing on record. Truth be told, many "serious jazz listeners" are serious fans, period, and can't hear past the surface. That's why so damn many "jazz records" sound the same. I don't begrudge anybody any of that, but if you can't hear, say, Stanley Turrentine playing brilliantly on a CTI record, then you aren't hearing the music, you're hearing the record. And vice-versa. That's why I rate Creed Taylor as totally legit, he could aim at both targets equally well.

Amber Pistolle - When Laws Are Outlawed Only Outlaws Will Have Laws

The Nutty Squirrels The Nutty Professor Cracker Jack

Do you have factual backup for this, or is this just your impression? I don't get any mockery out of it at all. Inspired wackiness, yes. Mockery, no. The liners of the Dusty Groove (label) reissue posit that Stepney was a HUGE fan of Bacahrach-David (just as he was of The Beatles) and that the album had to be titled as it was because The Dells audience (i.e. Black) would NEVER accept them doing a tribute to Burt Bacarach. The notion was, they say, Stepney claiming his right to expand on this music just as much as he was ANY music, marketplace/racial barriers be damned. Sorry, but absent any first-hand documentation that this was a put-on (and why the hell would it be?), I just can't buy it.

That would be great!

Horns were EVERYWHERE!!!! Whether the needed to be there or not!!!!!

Pepper Adams Ronnie Cuber Miss Cone

If it's all from one TV show and they have the entire broadcast, what I guess I would ask is how long is the entire show? Did they do does in clean 30-60-etc blocks. or were they more open-ended about it? Trying to get a feel for the likelihood of there being more footage and/or more episodes.

I would suggest comparing Lion's output to Wolff's. The latter focused on funky organ jazz that hardly was aimed at these "serious" jazz listeners. Also, Wolff got a sound out of RVG that was a LOT closer to CTI than to Lion's Blue Note. This is the sound of Red Clay, space waiting to be filled. Besides, "serious" jazz listeners, just who the hell is that? The people who bought the Jimmy Smith and Lou Donaldson records or the people who bought the Andrew Hill records? The people who had a grasp of the musical specifics or the people who just dug the vibe and nothing else? It's a mythology, that's what it is. The only people they were making records for were the people they hoped would buy them. Of course they had standards, but if you only bought one jazz record a year and it was a 3 Sounds record, I seriously doubt that they cared if you were a connoisseur of subtle piano trio architecture or just wanted some music that gave off a "hip" feeling to themselves and their friends and family. I think that CTI gets a bad rap, at times a hostile rap, for doing exactly what they set out to do and doing it extremely well and, god forbid, successfully. I'll throw this out there too - a lot of the best CTI/Sebesky stuff was made with the small group recorded first, and then Sebesky wrote the orchestra in and around that. No, that's not a documentation, live theatre approach, but it is a perfectly legitimate approach to making both music and a record. At it's best, it's imaginative and engaging. At it's worst, it's totally disposable. And in between, hey, whatever works for you. In that regard it is no different than anything else in life. Anything.

Or this 1975 one of Duke, months away from his death, a stark reminder that yes, he was gone, and that wow, he really was OLD. Ray Brown looks like a teenager by comparison. The early-mid 70s were not a time of contemplating mortality. It was usually a time in jazz where death was a bit of a shock. And to their credit, whatever else Pablo did, they never shied away from the fact that people got old, sometimes very old, and sometimes so old that death was just around the corner.

On 1974, this was a damn near arresting cover. Nothing about it sought to create the illusion that it was anything other than what it was - a death record.

The biggest difference between Alfred Lion and Creed Taylor is that Lion quit while he was ahead. Taylor didn't.

No, seriously. Lion: 1. Paid rehearsals 2. Schving 3. Tightly controlled studio sound 4. Tightly controlled graphics 5. Personally oversaw the mastering of his records, singlehandedly creating and maintaining "The Blue Note Sound" 6. Better fade out skills than anybody except maybe Brian Wilson 7. Publishing! 8. Indulged artists on their term as long as they were his terms Alfred Lion was extremely slick, and that is nothing but a compliment. And in terms of having a vision for a product and then creating it and maintaining it, him and Creed Taylor were a lot more similar than they were different Some people maybe like records that create the illusion that they're not product. Alfred Lion was a master at making records that created that illusion. Creed Taylor gave that illusion the finger in no uncertain terms. But, at least until things went bad, I feel pretty confident in saying that there was more overall coasting on Lion's Blue Note than on Creed Taylor's records (and there wasn't that much on Lion's). Taylor made movies. Lion directed theatre. But none of it is real. If you think it is, find a club anywhere in the world that sounds like an Alfred Lion record. Or even better, find a piano that soundsike a RVG piano. That sounds does not exist in the natural world.

Sweet Pea Atkinson Billy Strayhorn Olive Oyl

You can never overpay for a record with Hancoal Donuts on it! But good news - you never have to!!!!

The first Pablos weren't even distributed by RCA. It was strictly a Granz thing, and there was a definite aura of conisseur-ness to them. But Granz did what Granz did - flooded the market with more product than all but the most devoted could keep up with. I know that at some point I just stopped caring, you know, Basie Jam 37, who cares? With distance comes a time to catch your breath and co back to catch up at your own pace, and ok, yeah, Basie Jam 56ight have been pretty rote BUT it's got Hancoal Donuts on it and THAT is always a treat! If you think that Alfred Lion was not extremely slick, you have not been paying attention.

Can I get me one of them things at Cabela's? Bass Pro Shop, maybe?

I need somebody to define "slickness" for me, please. And why it's by definition a bad thing. When I grew up, "slick" was usually a compliment.

This. Probably long forgotten, but Pablo initially had a list price that was a dollar higher than everybody else, with glossy covers to boot. The stark black and white thing stood out in the bins, as did CTI on the other end of the design spectrum (but they both had glossy covers). The message was that these were prestige products. And for a while they were.

Vince Vance Prince Valiant The Atlanta Braves

There's also Cherry a co-lead date with Stanley Turrentine. It's a typical CTI gambit, with a rhythm section that might raise eyebrows, but the result is a good straight-ahead session with a 70s sheen. Ignore it at your own peril! The only Milt CTI that underperforms imo is Olinga.

David Lee the drummer?

Gotta go to some of these. All if possible.

Try If You Could See Me Now, Muse 1979. Everybody's still spry.

Mockery? Seriously?