T.D.

Many thanks, great info on both books. Blue Nippon is one of the university press books I alluded to earlier. Interesting question: should I go for that, or the Soejima? Can't say right now...I'm more interested in the freer music, but Blue Nippon might be the better read. Granted one can't expect stylish prose from a Ph.D. thesis. 😉

Thanks. I think I'll pass given the $40 price and my lack of background knowledge. I searched for other (English language) books on Japanese jazz, but all I could find was 2 apparently oop university press publications that appear scarce/costly. Will keep looking.

Could be a Roland Hanna situation. From the liner notes to Sir Roland Hanna's Duke Ellington Piano Solos: He laughed when asked about the size of his hands. "Bigger than I am," he answered. "They're not long, but they're wide. With my thumb and little finger, I can make an eleventh, from C to F."

I'd also like to read about Akira Sakata. According to Allmusic, Japan's vanguard saxophonist, clarinetist, and bandleader Akira Sakata is the very definition of a polymath. Though a musician by trade, he is also an actor, a talk show host, a popular essayist, and a trained marine biologist whose work on the mijinka (water flea) has been hailed by the Japanese government. Will try to research...maybe there's something (even a chapter of a more general book) available.

The 2 albums I have, which were both recommended on this forum, are Montreux Afterglow and Hot Menu. Afraid I don't know the chronology of drummers...the 2 albums were recorded (as far as I can make out from the microscopic typeface on the Japanese CD art) in 1976 and 1979 respectively, a bit later than Clay. I auditioned both on YT. Sakata kills it on these recordings, and he's definitely a name I'll be searching for.

Thanks. Mast Books is the source I found via Google. By coincidence, two of the very few Japanese free jazz recordings I own are trios led by Yamashita (p) with Sakata (as), Koyama (d), and both are seriously good!

From whom did you order? I searched a bit but only found a single (NYC) source. Looks very interesting, but despite owning a few CDs, I know so little about the subject that the narrative might not resonate. Though I did notice the pianist in the photo is Yamashita. 🧐

I'll take Bill Evans's word on Nardis. As many times as Bill played/recorded that tune, he's got to be the authority. 🤣

I made a couple (or 3? not sure) of CD orders from JIB Bandcamp that went OK. I prefer to order through DG because in the odd-lot quantities I purchase, that's significantly cheaper when shipping is figured in. [UK-US shipping cost for a coffee-table size book would be daunting.] And no int'l shipping hassles. But I now think preorder is the way to go with Dusty, because when I wait for "in-stock" e-mails the items are often sold out before I can respond. Thanks, I didn't think to look under "Merchandise". But shipping cost renders it a no-go for me, will hope DG gets some copies.

Excellent. But weirdly, I can't find any trace or announcement of this release on either JIB's website (which refers me to Bandcamp) or Bandcamp page. Even if it already sold out, I'd expect to see at least an image.

+1 Held off for a long time, bought it used after many years, probably should have passed. Don't really care for the "fusion" material. Not the fact that it's fusion per se, but this particular performance.

My bad. Like a dumbass I always assumed that if there's a Volume 1 there must be a Volume 2. But on the plus side, I haven't missed out. 😄

It be good.

Cool! There was a release by the Ensemble Modern that's much easier to find (CD or LP), but it of course lacks the awesome DG cover art. Same deal for the DG 20th Century Classics reissue paired with Tactil. Looking at discogs, I'm surprised at how rare the original LP is. Something to search for long term... I dig Kagel because of his sense of humor, a commodity exceedingly rare in classical music.

My late father had a CD of this. I generally like Kagel but wasn't knocked out by it. I sold the disc for him years ago because I was able to get $36 (iirc) for it. I'm more into Kagel's "radio play" type compositions, especially if humorous / ironic. My favorite is >>...den 24.xii.1931<<, which is on Youtube, Apple Music, ... The radio plays Der Tribun and Nach einer Lektüre von Orwell are really funny, but non-musical, long and in German. Also can be found online.

I think those albums are pretty good (the Wilbur Ware is the only set from that Mosaic that I'm indifferent about), but I agree that they both sound rather dark and melancholy. Though Jordan's Glass Bead Games, also on the Mosaic, is better than ...C J in the World. Agreed on the photos...you can see the same thing in the Mosaic Beehive set's pics of straight-ahead players from the late '70s/early '80s.

Recently picked up a reissue of this. Excellent album recorded in UK with top British jazzmen. Much less out than I expected, in fact almost totally straight-ahead, but extremely swinging.

Agreed, outstanding. My only beef is that engineer Richard Alderson provided his customary out-of-tune piano (as so often happened at Prestige 🙄), which detracts somewhat from Walton's sound.

+1. I'm not big on vocals, but they work with the Tapscott material. And Dwight Trible is really excellent, I enjoy the other Nimbus West (and Build an Ark) albums on which he appears, and am considering purchasing his recordings as leader.

Zodiac (along with Clifford Jordan in the World, where KD played on a couple of tracks) was included in the Clifford Jordan Strata-East Mosaic, which is how I acquired it. I actually own Showboat and one of the Jazz Prophet releases (Volume 1; of course I have the Blue Note live Cafe Bohemia recording). Showboat is really good and the Jazz Prophets Volume 1 is recommendable. Will have to look for Volume 2, that's an omission.

Agreed. Looking at the booklet of the 2-CD P-APA Live at IUCC (1979), it appears that the only piece with choir is the short concluding "Lift Every Voice". By analogy, and recognizing some of the titles, I expect the same from the 1978 recording. Don't have time to listen to "1979" tonight, may check tomorrow.

To date I avoided this album because I figured I'd hate it, but I agree it's interesting, and the sidemen are impressive. I've been listening to Phil Ranelin lately, another instrumentalist who can't sing but somehow pulls it off. Ranelin doesn't do much more than speak and has very limited range, but his voice is smoother and more...mellifluous? than KD's. OTOH, KD has more range and does a lot of really interesting technical things, some of which I dig and others about which I'm more...equivocal. Going to have to explore the recording, thanks for the tip.

Dusty Groove now shows the 2-cd on their "Coming soon" page, expected release 15 April. https://www.dustygroove.com/item/141973/Pan-Afrikan-People-s-Arkestra:Live-At-IUCC-11-26-78-Church-Recordings-Vol-1-2CD-set?cat=jazz&incl_cs=1&no_incl_in=1&sort_order=release_date