T.D.

A local paper finally published a significant obit. Karl Berger, music pioneer: His mind and work will live on - Hudson Valley One

I looked on discogs, https://www.discogs.com/artist/164253-Ahmad-Jamal?type=Credits&subtype=Instruments-Performance&filter_anv=0&page=1 There was an album with Yusef Lateef as co-leaders and an album where he backed Shirley Horn on a couple of tracks

In-stock notices from DG are notoriously ephemeral. I can't tell you how many times I've clicked on the link in their notice e-mail, only to find the "Just Sold Out!" announcement. I try to preorder titles I really want from them.

I'm also very curious about these boxes. Getting increasingly interested, but they're significant investments. I'm more inclined to duos, but the material on the solo 5-disc set looks more diverse and is (on first impression) slightly more attractive. On the other hand, the solo set has multiple performances of several pieces, which may not be a plus.

[Emphasis added] Agreed, especially on non-Amazon sources. I prefer this kind of CD packaging, but have some qualms about the "remastering" in view of mjzee's comments above. Can live w/o alternate takes.

Weirdly, I AM in the market for this...I have a lot of Mingus recordings, but the '70s output is severely underrepresented (granted, because I thought it was more, uh, mixed quality). I'll likely go for the CDs, don't bemoan the extra track details...I suppose the vinyl buyers need some kind of carrot given the silly prices vinyl goes for these days. 😉

Very much the same for me. I've significantly reduced my subjective weighting of Amazon reviews over the years, but still consult them to some extent.

For those who worried about jazz choir, there are no vocal numbers on the album. [Mine arrived today and I just listened to the whole thing.] The track Lately's Solo (opener of disc 2) sure sounds a lot like Milestones.

Thanks. I just requested a copy via interlibrary loan. I'm covered by a really good ILL network and have read some excellent titles that way.

Thanks, I may go the DL route as the set is appealing to say the least.

Yes, I have quite a few recordings w. Miller as sideman. There's this 3-CD collection featuring him as leader, which is scarce as hen's teeth. Michael (on behalf of Scott aka freejazz) sold one on this forum, but I snoozed and lost out. 😢

That's one I happen to own (collection in this general area is not extensive). I'd like to get more recordings with Harry Miller as leader but they're not easy to find. Excellent indeed!

(Hozan Yamamoto and Masabumi Kikuchi, Ginkai)

Looks like a hoax / joke to me. If so, chapeau to the perpetrator , rather cleverly done IMO.

Good question about Ledell Johnson. As far as I can tell, Ledell Johnson is an oft-cited source for at least part of "the Devil Legend". See https://www.facebook.com/BluesAdvocate/photos/celebrating-the-life-and-music-of-legendary-bluesman-robert-johnson-born-may-8-1/502188696554305/ Further details were absorbed from the imaginative retellings by Greil Marcus[60] and Robert Palmer.[61] Most significantly, the detail was added that Johnson received his gift from a large black man at a crossroads. There is dispute as to how and when the crossroads detail was attached to the Robert Johnson story. All the published evidence, including a full chapter on the subject in the biography Crossroads by Tom Graves, suggests an origin in the story of Blues musician Tommy Johnson. This story was collected from his [Tommy's? TD] musical associate Ishman Bracey and his elder brother Ledell in the 1960s.[62] One version of Ledell Johnson's account was published in David Evans's 1971 biography of Tommy,[63] and was repeated in print in 1982 alongside Son House's story in the widely read Searching for Robert Johnson.[64] In another version, Ledell placed the meeting not at a crossroads but in a graveyard. This resembles the story told to Steve LaVere that Ike Zinnerman of Hazlehurst, Mississippi learned to play the guitar at midnight while sitting on tombstones. Zinnerman is believed to have influenced the playing of the young Robert Johnson.[65] Recent research by blues scholar Bruce Conforth, in Living Blues magazine, makes the story clearer. Johnson and Ike Zimmerman did practice in a graveyard at night, because it was quiet and no one would disturb them, but it was not the Hazlehurst cemetery as had been believed. Zimmerman (his actual name as it was reportedly spelled on census records for the family going back into the early 1800s, his social security card, social security death notice, funeral program, and by his daughters) was not from Hazlehurst but nearby Beauregard. And he didn't practice in one graveyard, but in several in the area.[66] Johnson spent about a year living with and learning from Zimmerman, who ultimately accompanied Johnson back to the Delta to look after him. Speaking of Conforth, I very recently saw the following 2019 book in a shop. I'm far more likely to read this than McCormick's opus.

Thanks, very interesting article...though I kind of skimmed it at warp speed. Bookmarking it for when I see a copy of the book in a store. Enjoyed the article, but definitely passing on the book. That McCormick dude seems too crazy to believe whatever he wrote. I applaud but don't envy the researcher(s) who spend a lot of time down the rabbit hole of "The Monster".

My ETA (from the label) is Tuesday. Shipped from Albuquerque...if you had preordered from Nimbus West you'd have it by now. 😉

Good catch! Took me a while to notice the 31 Nov. 🙄

Good album! This brings back memories of my top BFT guessing accomplishment, which I'll likely never equal 🤣 ...felser included a track in one of his BFTs. Not knowing of the recent reissue he expected nobody to guess it...having purchased the reissue a few months prior, I immediately recognized the tune.

Joe Fonda was on this recording (if it exists 😉). He's (at least semi-) local, you could probably ask him. I've communicated with Joe before via his website.

DG site says 4/30 (there), presumably sooner direct from label.

The latter Aketa[gawa]'s Erotical Piano Solo & Grotesque Piano Trio

! This is one of my favorite Kirk albums! Though I skip the LP side 4 track (silence with brief phone call intermission). 😄