DrJ

Pulled the trigger on both today, continuing along in my (mostly) chronological purchasing of Mosaics from earliest to latest released. The Django was a no-brainer - I have many discs worth of stuff from JSP and other labels. I am very eagerly anticipating the sonic upgrade, the comments about sound improvement compared to other releases at the Web site (and seeing Malcolm Addey's name in the credits!) have my mouth watering. Not too much out there on the Kid Ory set though. What can I expect? Anyone very happy or remorseful about picking that one up who can comment?

I think I better understand your point now, thanks for clarifying. I will watch this space for new developments!

I dunno, Mike, your discographical expertise MOST definitely far exceeds mine, so let me preface this by making that totally clear to everyone - no disrespect meant, and I freely admit I could be wrong... ...but with that said, I don't see how you can say with any certainty that the track listing they provide on the CD is correct. I don't have the CD right in front of me but as I recall there is one point where the liners describe a flute 'n vibes tune that HAS to be "Prints Tie," and that is very clearly the last track on the CD DESPITE what the tray card and painted on CD track list say. So what I'm now thinking, after giving your comments a very thorough consideration, is that it's basically impossible to confidently place the name with the tune for all the tracks. Some seem obvious to me because of the instrumental configuration or other characteristics, while others are indeed open to interpretation and perhaps I was overly hasty in pinning down a listing in my prior post.

Probably sacrilege around here, but honestly the more I have listened the more I believe Smith's quality level at Verve was equal to his run at Blue Note - just different in style. When he really hit it on Blue Note, he was at his best for me - COOL BLUES, THE SERMON, and HOUSEPARTY are personal favorites. But overall I think the Blue Notes also suffer from a kind of sameness and tedium for some reason, and there may be nothing as cool on this planet as listening to Jimmy Smith wailing in front of a hip large ensemble arrangement by Oliver Nelson!

I think this one is really good, though probably few would view it as "essential." Whether you pull the trigger or not depends on so many factors. It's full of excellent music, and the earlier sessions of Krupa's in particular I find outstanding (with Red Rodney, Ventura, and others along) and quite exciting - lots of energy. In fact, this material could quite nicely have been issued by Blue Note/EMI on its own, without the James, as a 2-CD set and I think would have turned some heads. It's probably the Harry James material will be the separating factor for many, as it escalates the set price into the "have to think about it" range and probably does merit a bit more reservation and consideration. It's true to my ears that he'd foreclosed on trying to do anything innovative by this point, but in many ways (though not at the same exhalted level of artistry IMHO) I am also reminded of the approach of Pops' later years - continual honing and refining of an already instantly identifiable sound, and James' tone was so damn huge and beautiful that it's honestly worth the price of admission for that alone, particularly given the oustanding depth and presence of these Capitol studio recordings. My guidance: if money is not a huge object, and if you are adventurous and love discovering excellent music that hardly anyone seems to talk about much, go for it. But don't feel overly bad if neither of these apply. Also: to get a taster of the James material, didn't Blue Note/EMI put out a single disc compilation of some of the Capitol stuff in this box? Might be a cost-effective way to find out if you want more.

I've become a big, big Blanchard fan recently. Of all the guys who came to prominence during the "young lions" era he really seems apart from the pack. Well-rounded in his musical pursuits (seems to have really big ears despite playing in a pretty firmly within the boundaries manner), fantastic and very distinctive tone, and impeccable execution of his ideas (both as a player and in the larger sense of putting together bands, recordings). JAZZ IN FILM continues to amaze me and to be one of my favorite recent recordings. More recently I've been enjoying ROMANTIC DEFIANCE quite a bit too, which has the bonus of an on-form Kenny Garrett.

There's a lot of MUSE titles I really love. Heck, the label was great for capturing more Woody Shaw as both leader and side man if nothing else! Love that Roy Brooks live date with Shaw, the Louis Hayes with Shaw, and of course all the Woody leader sessions. Love the Rickey Ford stuff too. And James Spaulding. Worthy label, and I'd compare the vibe of most of their recordings much more to Prestige than Blue Note (just based on feel and sound).

If you like Dolphy, you gotta have 'em. Too bad the sonics aren't a little better but the quality of the music trumps any such reservations ANY day.

Oh come on you guys - you're spending WAY too much time on all this. There are IMPORTANT, PRESSING and CURRENT election issues to be considering - like John Kerry's 30+ year old medals and Bush's national guard service!

I'm with Lon - the SACD floored me back when I had my workmanlike Denon amp-based system, but with a proper DAC and tube amp and good transport the regular CD layer actually sounds BETTER than the SACD later. Now admittedly my SACD player isn't "top of the line" (a Pioneer DV45A) so that could be an issue. But in essence, since I can get Redbook CD to peform so well on my system I'm not really interested in SACD anymore. All that aside - both the standard CD and SACD layers of the Hoffman remaster are really excellent, and a quantum leap forward from the Bainbridge (not to mention the old grey market issues from Europe).

Great music, consistently interesting and enjoyable. Excellent booklet. And personally I love the remastering on the box, it sounds very warm and inviting and vinyl-like to me.

With years of hindsight, I'm impressed not only with the literacy of the lyrics and the incredibly high level of musicianship in their work, but also how FUNNY a lot of their songs were. Back in the late 70's seemed EVERYONE in rock (particularly the "FM rock" crowd that would gravitate towards Steely Dan - not the disco folks, who were partying too much to care) took themselves just a little too seriously. That includes critics, who used to slam them for being overly precious/serious/boring. I just don't get that, nothing could be further from the truth. SUBVERSIVE would be word that comes to mind, there were some real hand grenades sprinkled throughout their songs - musical and lyrical - that people seemed to have completely missed. I love to listen to their stuff on my new listening system, it really does the recordings justice. Particularly enjoying the tune "Pretzel Logic" the other day, which has a typically understated but brilliant Walter Becker guitar solo and some really funny and incredibly evocative lyrics - all layered over a modified blues structure and filtered through a late '70s, Los Angeles FM rock prism (held in the hands of Boston college boys who loved jazz, Atlantic soul, and the blues!): "I would love to tour the Southland In a traveling minstrel show I would love to tour the Southland In a traveling minstrel show Well I'm dyin' to be a star And make them laugh Sound just like a record on the Phonograph Those days are gone forever Over a long time ago Oh yeh" "I have never met Napoleon But I plan to find the time I have never met Napoleon But I plan to find the time" "'Cause he looked so fine Upon that hill They tell me he was lonely He's lonely still Those days are gone forever Over a long time ago Oh yeh" "I stepped up to the platform The man gave me the news He said you must be joking son Where did you get those shoes?" "Well I seen 'em on the TV The movie show They say the times are changin' but I Just don't know Those days are gone forever Over a long time ago Oh yeh" Some of those phrases are almost like the best haiku in their perfection. For sure Becker and Fagan's body of work has to be a contender for the most timeless and artful collection of songs and recordings popular music has ever produced.

Interesting observations, Jim. In a totally different way in terms of sound and impact, I've been really hit lately by the way Benny Golson often did (and still does) the same thing - play WAY far outside the conventional harmonies but you don't immediately recognize it unless you're listening carefully. On a couple of cuts on the recent Tom McIntosh recording he plays on (on the IPO label), if you listen to the solo and imagine the notes played with Eric Dolphy's phrasing and tone, it's startling how much similarity there is in terms of harmonic choices and even intervallic leaps. Anyway, I totally agree with you about Cannonball often doing the same thing. The "soulful veil" over his playing just made it more discrete and easier to digest on initial hearing.

This is gonna be a great one - but I'll have to wait a bit, darn it, as it's down on my "remaining unpurchased Miles boxed sets" list behind the Jack Johnson one and the one I just ordered - CHRONICLES: COMPLETE PRESTIGE (for about half-price). I realize all the Prestige stuff is out on single discs but this was a great price and I like Fantasy's LP-sized booklets, discographies, etc.

I will be picking this one up soon. Thrilled to see this band back in action.

FANTASTIC! Can't wait.

Your comments about the intonation issue are interesting to me Jim because I have found that while I find Golson to be an absolutely brilliant improviser in terms of his harmonic thinking (check out track 2 of the recent WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE CD he plays on - on the IPO label and led by Tom McIntosh) his intonation does sometimes seem off to me. A minor issue given the merits of his playing overall but still... But from what you're saying, the issue here is more with the contrast rather than playing "off pitch?" Could it be both?

I'm with Claude. The decent thing to do would be to issue only hybrids with BOTH layers in the best possible remastering (K2 or otherwise - I don't care as long as it sounds as good as it can with the present technology). But alas, Fantasy seem to be trying to milk the cow dry by repackaging the same classic stuff as many ways as possible.

This is downright silly. Who CARES how the man speaks during an inteview? He plays his ASS off on a very regular basis as Jim points out and is most definitely the real thing in terms of musical credentials and chops. Fantastic trumpeter as well as one mean conga player (sat in on congas with McCoy Tyner's big band at the Blue Note one night when I was lucky enough to be there and brought an already hot night - Eddie Henderson was truly on fire - to a WHOLE other level). I don't care if tomorrow he started exclusively appearing in public in only a pink tutu, speaking in a Prince-influenced falsetto, and walking the John Cleese Ministry of Silly Walks walk - as long as he keeps PLAYING the way he does.

As my frame of reference has widened, I would agree with what people mention here - it's more entertaining and useful as a pointer toward stuff that you may not read much about elsewhere (at least in the U.S.) than for the "reviews." However, as a beginner I found PENGUIN quite useful for its reviews - not to slavishly follow them (e.g. "buy all the 4-star and crown recordings") but to investigate material they dug. In doing that, I found I agreed with them on many accounts but disagreed on others. Helped me figure out what I liked and didn't and then allowed me to "go it alone" in the vast jazz discography with at least a few signposts to find my way. So the thing I love about this book as opposed to All Music is its very subjectiveness - two guys with pretty consistent and clearly discernable taste, so it serves as a useful reference point. With All Music, it's a perfect example of too many cooks spoiling the broth - the internal inconsistencies are many and wildly unpredictable. Biggest dislike - their inconsistent policy about what's included and the resulting gaping holes. IN fact I really can't discern any real rhyme or reason to what goes into each edition. They claim they don't list limited editions like Mosaic, but then they'll include something like a West Coast Classic (e.g. Curtis Amy's KATANGA is in there), as well as a whole slew of ultra-hard to find European labels that I'm sure are WAY more obscure and limited in run than the stuff they omit.

Wow, BLACK CHRIST was pretty much completely unknown to me, and I have to say it's a real unexpected gem. I enjoy the "with voices," more religious tracks more than I expected I might, but it's ultimately the trio material that really keeps bringing me back. And I have to say I agree that this "Ain't Necessarily So" is absolutely amazing. In a TOTALLY different way, it rivals Grant Green's remarkable take on this tune (w/ Sonny Clark and Blakey) for "best ever" interpretation. And speaking of Green, was so pleasantly surprised to hear his distinctive bluesy licks on a couple of the larger ensemble tracks! "My Blue Heaven" and "Miss D D" and "Fungus Among Us" (it both skewers and lights a path for the avant garde at the same time!) and Billy Taylor's "Grand Night for Swinging" are also all absolutely desert island piano trio performances. Man, I look forward to many years of delving DEEP into this stuff. This has set me on a mission to hear all the Williams I can (before this, only things by Williams in my collection were I MADE YOU LOVE PARIS from the Jazz in Paris series and the Andy Kirk Clouds of Joy compilation on Decca).

Grant Green.

I look at A BEAUTIFUL DAY and the Jazzpar large group CDs as two different sides of the same coin in many ways...basically, the Jazzpar CD seems more realized from a conceptual standpoint (it seems to me that Hill's big group conception sounds more "lived in" and natural here, and there's an appealing edge that I hear in his best work) but the individual players other than Hill and Nasheet Waits are pretty anonymous. Conversely, there's some fantastic individual playing on BEAUTIFUL DAY but, as others have noted, the ensembles sound more ragged and tentative, not fully cohesive. Both are WELL worth having, particularly if you're committed to really exploring Hill's world beyond one or two acknowledged classics.

I like the BLUE SPIRITS CD a lot in terms of music. More uneven than the best of Freddie's BNs but some damn classic stuff in there ("Jodo") and it's never less than interesting. I agree that the RVGs have a lot of bass presence as usual but on my listening system usually it sounds very natural and nice. Not so on BLUE SPIRITS - overdone.

Thanks Master Sangrey, for your weighing in on the tenor/alto question - I'm with you.