DrJ

Haven't heard the McDuff, but will second Stefan's endorsement of SAY IT LOUD!, I like a lot of the later BN stuff by Donaldson and that is one of the funkier albums to me.

I just related a story in another thread in this Vinyl forum about dropping the tone arm right in the middle of track 2 of the Dave Burns WARMING UP! album (Vanguard), otherwise a pristine reissue pressing. Now there's a click for 30 seconds right in the middle of a stellar Bobby Hutcherson solo! Ah well...

I had foolishly believed the rather lukewarm comments about this material in the Penguin Guide for a long time, but upon scoring the Mosaic set of the Complete Vogue and Black Lion recordings I've finally been giving this music its due. It is truly top drawer Monk IMHO, and I agree that the solo recordings (especially the stuff corresponding to Disc 2 of the Mosaic CD set) are most remarkable. "Trinkle Trinkle"

Toss up between Chaloff (that's who I voted for) and Carney, two very different styles. While I enjoy Pepper and Brignola and the fire and brimstone crowd, honestly I like my baritone sax sound just a little but rounder and smoother than that.

There are so many greats I really can't name a favorite. But I voted for Kuumba Frank Lacy because he's so criminally under-recognized. A really fiery player, and he did some interesting but totally obscure leader work for the Tutu label a while back (which I think is a sub-label of Enja). TONAL WEIGHTS AND BLUE FIRE, despite the title, is not so much out or free but just remarkably good music, closest to freeish bop but that doesn't even begin to capture the range of emotions and styles that Lacy encompasses here. The great Michael Carvin is along on drums, too. You can get this one at Cadence. I just noticed that there was an over/under 50 poll - assuming Kuumba really is under 50, move these comments mentally to the under 50 thread.

Someone mentioned CIRRUS and I'd forgotten about that one, a real gem. Let me tell you that is one that is LONG overdue for being dredged from the BN vaults for a Conn (probably) or even a surprise RVG (doubt that would ever happen though). In addition to Hutcherson, Woody Shaw on board, in prime form, need I say more? OK, I will - it's very strong, somewhat in the ilk of the LIVE AT MONTREUX Hutch/Shaw CD from 1994 on BN.

If you aren't into the discussion, why are you reading it Shrdlu? Perhaps you ought to GO BACK to the politics section if you're spoiling for a fight. Quite an attitude. For the record: I'd listen to this great stuff even if it was only available on a broken 78. But that aside, you know, it IS possible to enjoy music AND care about the quality of recording and remastering (considering the recording was done in an era in which the technology allowed a quality job of course).

Clunky, to answer your question, that Harold Land/Red Mitchell HEAR YE date is indeed a strong one, worth picking up for sure. Hutcherson and Land made a great combination. I think it worked best on the MEDINA sessions and TOTAL ECLIPSE (my personal fave).

Fascinating stories! So the next logical question for me is - does Mr. Leavitt actually listen to any of his collection as far as people can tell, or is he basically in the "collecting for the fun of collecting" camp? That would be a real tradgedy in my view, but it's pretty common. Hopefully he loves BOTH the hunt AND the music... And to get totally off-topic Garth: if you hadn't heard, Dusty Groove has a notice up about McKusick's CROSS SECTION SAXES supposedly pending reissue on CD in Japan sometime soon....and DG has plans to stock it.

Thanks Harold, very much appreciate the info. Sounds like it's worth it for sure especially because the price on the LP set is I think quite reasonable (20 bucks).

Never knew that Wurlitzer made two distinct types of instruments, thanks for the info!

Thanks Chuck. Re: the Epic LP set being spotty, that was my impression too although my collection of early Teagarden is so inadequate right now that it would still fill it out some, at least for a while. As an aside, it's interesting how the whole expansion of amount of material allowed by CDs and the "complete" boxed set boom has totally changed the playing field. Hadn't really thought about it until your post, but 3 LP sets used to seem VAST to me not so very long ago.

(Typically) well put!

I agree that Dorough with Miles was a real odd pairing - perhaps one of the oddest in history. Still, I have a soft spot in my heart for that anti-Christmas tune they did, somehow it works for me and it's great to spin it after several weeks of Muzak'd holiday tunes piped in to malls, elevators, etc have you in a homicidal rage. And a Happy New Year!

No problem Hans, thanks for trying to help! Hopefully someone else will chime in.

Well I was thinkin' about Wurlitzer, but didn't know if it was considered more like an organ or an electric piano or what. Regardless, if we're talkin' that instrument, Alice Coltrane ought to be mentioned in here for sure!

Thanks JAW, I saw that on the Mosaic site. However I know for sure that the Teagarden 3 LP set is not FULLY subsumed within the Mosaic, because it covers music up through 1940 while the Mosaic only goes up to 1934. So there are at least some tracks on the Epic 3 LP set not in the Mosaic, I am just trying to figure out how much non-overlap there is. It's really confusing because the Web sites I've found that have info on the Epic 3 LP set don't have complete info, so I'm having to guess based on comparing track lengths and titles with the Mosaic discography, which is a dangerous game.

It's funny Mike, I guess everyone has their own taste. Personally I've always thought that Fantasy's boxed sets, like the Coltrane Prestige, are a low point in boxed set packaging excitement. They're only marginally more colorful than the Mosaics, but the discographical info is always hard to use (you have to flip back and forth to figure out what's what), the essays are usually far less revealing than with the Mosaics, and the photo repro quality is always a lot poorer than with Mosaics. The only strength I'd say is that they do include (very small) full color images of the original LP covers with most of their sets, that I do appreciate. Of all the Fantasy boxes, really only the Dolphy Prestige and Pepper Galaxy box booklets would I call excellent.

Wouldn't call either Bob Dorough or Dave Frishberg great singers in terms of chops, for sure, but I find both of their styles kind of endearing. On the surface both could be criticized for being "cute" or overly clever, but I personally find there's a depth to both of them that allows them to (usually) avoid that trap. I'm personally a far bigger fan of Frishberg's, because I find him warmer and to have a little more depth - and he's a very fine pianist as well by the way. Not an all-time favorite, and a little goes a long way, but not my "worst ever" by a long shot! I voted for Connick, which could I suppose be called kicking a puppy - he's ostensibly harmless, but the thing that bugs me about him is that he sounds to me to be getting a whole lot WORSE at what he does as the years go by, which is kind of inexcusable. That new album of holiday music he's pitching on TV sounds truly insufferable.

My personal favorite version of the classic tune "Jeannine" is on a fairly obscure Verve CD (I believe it was Japanese only but was distributed in the U.S. for a while) called ALTO MEMORIES from 1995 with Gary Bartz and Sonny Fortune in the front line, Kenny Barron on piano, and I'm not sure but I think Al Foster is on drums and Buster Williams on bass. Bartz and Fortune absolutely tear it up. The whole CD is fantastic, by the way, full of passionate playing and beautifully (simply) recorded.

This is a great set! I'd suggest anyone looking for it check places other than Ebay before pulling the trigger there, I found a copy long after it was officially OOP at half.com for a really great price.

I have a line on the 3 LP Teagarden comp KING OF THE BLUES TROMBONE (Epic). Tea's discography is, to a relative newcomer like me, confusing to say the least. Can anyone comment on how much (or little) overlap there is between this LP set and the Tea/Bix/Tram OKeh and Brunswick Mosaic set, which I plan to get eventually? I believe Sony owns all these labels' holdings (Epic, OKeh, Brunswick) and don't want to get the LP set if most of the material is in the Mosaic. Trying to piece it together at All Music and Mosaic, it appears there is at least some overlap.

But that's just it - AM I BLUE? just doesn't sound very soulful to me. They're gamely trying, but "missed it by that much," as someone on TV used to say. Not trying to "convince" anyone to feel the same, by the way, you and others will continue to disagree I am sure. But I personally stand firm on this. I've tried and tried and tried to get more into this session - from back when I had the TOCJ version, before the RVG - hell, it's got the GREEN AND PATTON AND DIXON axis - but just can't say I've really warmed to it, whereas I love dozens of other similarly inclined recordings (I'm not a "straight ahead or nothing" guy). BTW, none of this means I'm planning to trade in my RVG - I do listen occasionally, and enjoy (the title track to me is the best-realized piece here and if the whole thing played like that one it'd be in the changer a lot more), but its one of my least played Green discs and will remain so. I also disagree that IDLE MOMENTS and STREET OF DREAMS can be called more "straight ahead jazz" albums. Both are fresh and far from the usual beaten path, at times almost hallucinatory in their beauty and floating quality, and the latter is as quietly soulful as anything I've ever heard. In sum, I just think people need to leave the possibility open that a similarly broad-minded listener simply might not like this one a lot!

Interesting info, thanks. One thing though - I doubt the Mosaic LP has the high end rolled off, rather I think we're all used to the "digital brightness" inherent in CDs...not saying it's a bad thing, necessarily, but I think our ears are accustomed to a slightly over-emphasized high end from CD rather than the other way around.

To me, once you've seen the original cover art a couple times (you can do this with the cover art books if you haven't seen the LPs or CD reissues), it's burned into your head anyway and I don't miss it. The Mosaics are the best way to go with this stuff IMHO. Most are in very good sound and the booklets are usually far more useful than the liners from the original albums (some of these are actually included in the booklets). They are LP sized (except for the new Mosaic Selects which are slightly larger than usual CD size) and most are outstanding, with discographical info, essays, commentaries, etc. Don't limit yourself to the BN dates Mosaic has reissued either! But if you're the type of person who really likes to hear the original album sequences etc and doesn't want to hassle with programming your CD player, then you might not like the Mosaics.