T.D.

[Italics added] I posted about the Westbrook on a "British jazz reissues" thread a couple of weeks ago. This release initially confused me, but the way I read the non-compete agreement the "unreleased Hat Hut archives" stip allows him to release material by living musicians that's in said archives. Although it's not entirely clear: does "exceptions" apply to both the "living" clause and the "historic" clause, or just to the latter? After some thought I concluded both. Granted, I could be giving Werner too much credit on ethical matters... AlAy Ltd. is subject to a non-competition agreement starting June 2025 with a term of three years in Switzerland. During this period, AlAy Ltd. may not accept or release recordings by living composers/musicians. Our releases during this period will therefore focus on historic recordings from the past. Exceptions are unreleased recordings from the archive of the former Hat Hut Records Ltd. 4106 Therwil, which changed its name to AlAy Ltd. in June 2025.

Thank you. I held off ordering due to fear of something of the sort (lack of concrete KD info), and have been waiting for reviews. Re. lack of editor, sadly that seems practically the norm nowadays.

I really dig the bowed bass in #2, which ought to give some pointer, but no guess as yet.

I also got early Ra vibes from the intro of #1, but eventually decided it's probably somebody else.

Liking this so far. 11 is the only one I recognize offhand: A4 here, though I have it on a multi-artist compilation.

This is indeed good. https://futuramarge.bandcamp.com/album/aigu-grave

I skipped the lengthy critical preface (to the Penguin edition) because the book is so long, but will have to read it once I finish. There's plenty of other nasty Dombey behavior. I'm about 200 pages in and have been struck by a) the way he bailed out Walter Gay's uncle just to show the young son "the power money has over people" and subsequently b) assigned Walter to fill a position in Barbados, where he is likely to die young because of the virulent diseases there. [Walter being a young man who has a thing for the neglected daughter.] From what I can tell, the critical preface, among other things, relates various characters to Dickens's early life.

Why this? Long story (pun intended). Haven't read any Dickens in ages. Doing so requires some investment of time.

Couple of French reissues

Thanks! I was going to ask (time? Rough Draft or Tubby's?), but looked it up: 6-10 PM @ Tubby's The Quietus recently ran an article: https://thequietus.com/culture/books/alice-coltrane-eternity-book-review/

Japanese reissue of this forthcoming:

Thanks. Definitely got my interest. Have been jumping around that 2023 American Pianists Awards set. I wish there were more youtube, etc. clips available.

Thanks! A track from one of his 8 Bold Souls albums was included in a (fairly) recent Blindfold Test, and got my attention.

Not technically a reissue, but previously unreleased from the Hat archives: https://mikewestbrook.bandcamp.com/album/the-piano-in-the-room-and-the-blues It's on the "new" AlAy label https://www.alay.ch/ (Note the "non-competition agreement" disclosure that pops up on the alay link 🧐)

I don't consider that unusual by DG standards. I often check their "CD Deals" page and find a variety of Blue Notes, Prestige, OJC, ... Here's a link to today's (12 Mar 2026) deals, many from the above labels on the first page: https://www.dustygroove.com/new-cds-under-9

Dusty and cdjapan both indicate the preorderable discs are SACD, which explains the high price. My bad.

Available for preorder: 4000 yen per disc ($25.38) at cdjapan, $30.99 apiece at "The Bastards". If I needed more reason to pass...

I bought that a few years ago and think it's great. Relistening to this recent Jazz in Britain acquisition: