DrJ

I am intrigued by this, looking forward to hearing it. I'm a fan of much of Muldaur's work. He's a really talented singer, guitarist, composer, and interpreter of others' music. SECRET HANDSHAKE (Hightone) was one of the more outstanding albums of recent times, reinterpreting and putting his own spin on country blues.

Well, you've sold me. Just need to place the order.

If we're lookin' for a central spot, how about: Heck, if someone brings a generator and a REAL sturdy turntable, we could even have a vinyl party...

The Mingus GREAT CONCERT arrived a couple days back (Amazon France is amazingly fast!). I don't have the prior release to compare, but the sound quality is pretty outstanding. They did "sonic restoration" on the first two cuts, including the opening Jaki Byard piano solo (Art Tatum Fats Waller or ATFW)...apparently the microphones had been placed poorly and the sound was pretty bad. Not sure how they did it but it ends up sounding quite good. The rest of the cuts' original recording sounds superb, really, for the era. One small typographical error - the closing MEDITATIONS ON INTEGRATION is listed as being in the 2 minute range instead of 20 minute range on the inside sleeve (although the error is not present elsewhere, like on the disc). The music is OUTSTANDING. Of this European tour, I only had Volume 1 of the 2 Enjas previously, and I have to say I think this concert captures the group in finer form. The interplay between Jordan and Dolphy is nothing short of breathtaking, and Mingus is in his best and most creative driving, cajoling, threatening mode.

You are a bloody genius! I wonder if someone might be able to do an animation for this one, a favorite BN cover (and album) of mine:

I'm lookin' forward to it. I like the album a lot more than many already. Some of the harder edged cuts are ostensibly "atypical" for the Beatles but yet they have served as blueprints for much of the hard rock of the 70's and even into the current era. The sonic upgrade and stripping away of the strings/choirs will be worth it alone (not that I'm inherently against such overdubs if they are done well, but this stuff was heavy handed, whether the Beatles asked Spector to do it or not - it was a failure). I do wish they'd been a bit more generous and added some/more of the material that's appeared on bootlegs for years...but maybe that's forthcoming.

Hey, that is GREAT news, thanks for sharing this with us! Was there an indication of a release date, Bluerein?

I am definitely IN again for this one. Should be in for one heck of a ride!

Well, sure, they're limited edition, but I'M not buying until I find out who remastered them...

YES - I posted in the past on this issue with Airborne Express too. First, they "lost" my box, although Mosaic kindly sent out a replacement no questions asked. Then they took forever to deliver it; one day left a note they had been there and we needed to call and have them deliver it when we were in. So we did that, only to have them NOT show up during the appointed time. Had to call AGAIN, and the guy showed up this time but LATE....so I called Mosaic and they said they would not use Airborne Express for any further deliveries to me. I thought this might be unique to Sacramento area, but apparently not...a company that needs a MAJOR overhaul, it seems.

WAY COOL, thanks so much for sharing these! Keep 'em coming!

Thanks for the correction; still not a very memorable composition.

I saw a used copy today, but since I hadn't read the discussion thread before I figured I'd wait and check it out to see if I might be interested. Nothing I've read really helps me in terms of reference points...could anyone draw some comparisions with similar music/musicians (I know it won't be "exactly the same," but something to anchor my thinking)?

It's not one of my favorite Mosaic sets, and I really like Jacquet - his tone, his approach, his superior ballad artistry, etc. So yes, there are some definite parallels with Quebec. The sound on the original Jacquet recordings was not great (even for the RCA stuff, somewhat surprising - they sound flat and dull, lacking high end and presence), and the box doesn't work any magic there. There is also quite a bit of formula jump playing, which means it's best enjoyed in small doses. Still, there is the superb material with Fats Navarro and JJ Johnson on board, and every time Jacquet plays a ballad it's worth dropping whatever you're doing and paying the utmost attention. And the jump stuff, well taken several tracks at a time it's great fun. So - I'm glad I have it, but again can't list it at the top of the Mosaic list.

Yes, my point exactly, although as usual Jim says it with a lot more flair and gets the point across better!

I have always loved LEEWAY, a great recording. To me, even on his best recordings Morgan sometimes succumbed to the "I'm going to play my hot licks for the people whether the situation demands it or not" mentality. On LEEWAY, he just seems to have abandoned that and ends up sounding far more thoughtful and restrained (in the positive sense) than usual. I like the symmetry of the album too, 2 great songs per side, with the wonderful Massey pieces bracketing two of Lee's (not his most memorable, but functional). McLean sounds wonderful as always, and I don't even find myself minding Timmons who often got on my nerves. A winner.

I haven't, but would be mighty interested. I am a huge fan of the Jang recording TWO FLOWERS ON A STEM (Soul Note), which features Murray and Jang but also James Newton, Billy Hart, Santi Debriano, and a traditional Chinese musician named Chen Liebeng playing Erhu, a stringed instrument that has a really haunting sound. One of my favorite recent jazz recordings.

I think Jim hits it pretty much on the head, although I'm not quite as hard on Krall's singing. But no matter how I slice it, she still comes up strictly middle of the road in terms of her talent at this point. When you start comparisons with someone like, say, Shirley Horn, it's easy to see this. But she does have potential, no question, to become something great. I think her vocal deficiencies go from forgiveable to "hand me the remote for the disc changer so I can get that horrid sound to stop" when she sings in front of orchestral arrangements. She flat out can't carry it off, in my opinion. So a friend of mine burned the audio track from the live DVD she has out, and I distilled it down further to just the stuff with the small group, which I actually enjoyed more than I expected (she IS making progress, this sounded far superior to me than her earlier small group dates, even the Cole tribute which was solid). Every time the strings started in (and I'm not morally opposed to jazz with strings like some) it sounded mawkish and awful, and it had nothing to do with the arrangements which weren't bad at all.

I've long been trumpeting this album and this configuration (or, close to it, with Hubbard in place of Morgan) as a Blakey band for the ages. INDESTRUCTIBLE! and the equally remarkable FREE FOR ALL combine an incredible drive and grit with superior compositions and thoughtful (yet heated) playing like few other vintage era hard bop jazz albums I can think of. I'm really stoked that this RVG is getting more people into a classic record, and hope FREE FOR ALL appears in that series REAL soon...I believe I saw also that BUHAINA'S DELIGHT and maybe MOSAIC are going to be RVG'd, which is fine too - although I must say, for me, neither of these quite reaches the intensity of the others I've already lauded.

I would advise hanging on to THE PRISONER for a while and listening over time. I wondered what all the fuss was about initially, but this is the kind of music that gets into your subconscious. I think it's a fantastic album, if not quite at the same level of MAIDEN VOYAGE or EMPYREAN ISLES (what IS)? Long ago I also felt it was Herbie's worst BN, but now I rank it very highly, and I'd say that honor for "worst" would go to MY POINT OF VIEW (not a bad album by any means, but just has the least to distinguish itself among Herbie's incredibly stellar output for BN). DIMENSIONS and SPEAK LIKE A CHILD go right near THE PRISONER too. FWIW - I love the Warner Bros. stuff Herbie did, although I agree that I'm not as hot on HEAD HUNTERS as much of the rest of the world seems to be. During the Warner years he struck a very difficult to maintain balance between jazz, rock, and funk. If you haven't heard that stuff, check it out.

Thanks for the review, JohnS - not something it seems should be a real high priority.

I've seen the Bethlehem and Blue Moon and HatArt stuff and passed on them in the past for lack of any word on whether it was worthwhile or not...will need to start exploring, it looks like.

Just ordered a copy of FORCES IN MOTION for about 6 bucks at Amazon, thanks for the tip Jim. I've been looking for a way to get a bit more understanding of Braxton's thinking and music and, if nothing else, the way he titles his pieces!

I'm not sure why people always make these kinds of connections...right off the top of my head I can think of at least several instances in which BN was issuing single sessions by an artist at the same time Mosaic was putting out (or still had available) boxes that included those sessions. The Andrew Hill (he had BLACK FIRE, POINT OF DEPARTURE, JUDGEMENT!, and SMOKESTACK all available when the Mosaic hit the streets), Donald Byrd (lots of his box stuff was still pretty available - and they put out the RVG of BYRD IN HAND shortly after the Mosaic hit the streets), and Patton Select (GOT A GOOD THING GOIN' and his debut recording are both still around and yet we just got a Select) all fit in that category, just right off the top of my head. So the two occurances - a new RVG and Mosaic box by the same artist - don't have to be mutually exclusive. I don't look at such reissue programs as competitive. People who have some of an artist's work but end up wanting more will "trade up" to the box. Completists will want the box. Everyone else will stay happy with the stuff they have. Win-win.