DrJ

Anything but "licorice pizza."

Haven't heard any of the obscurities mentioned so far. Personally, I'm a big fan of Ming Tea, another of his many side projects/groups. Anyone heard this latest project of Sweet's (along with some other prominent names)? The Thorns My only exposure so far has been on a listening station at Tower. Nice, melodic, well-crafted, but honestly I think the reviewer hits it dead on. It could have (and should have) been so much more.

Still lots of Ayler for me to experience, but I have so far really enjoyed the material I have heard - the Impulse! live 2 CD set from a few years back, NEW GRASS, and SPIRITUAL UNITY. I don't really get why he's considered SO difficult and hard to take by so many. There's a rootsiness and universality to his music that I would think people would be able to tap into despite the dissonance and startling viscerality of some of his music.

If my ears don't deceive me, U2's The Edge uses a whole bunch of ring modulator effects on the landmark ACHTUNG BABY album (that intro sound on "Mysterious Ways," the riff on "The Fly," intro to "Zoo Station," etc).

Got my copy today, will plan on some serious listening over the weekend!

I have CD-R's of all those, kindly supplied by a friend in the UK as I could never locate them here. Really glad to hear they are being reissued, hopefully with better distribution in the U.S. this time! They are uniformly excellent. Someday I'd love to see a complete, chronological issue of this music with vault stuff if it exists and with better liners (the Camdens are very bare-bones). You might use the search function on the board to find a recent thread where we discussed this material and other jazz from South Africa - although I can't recall the title of the thread, sorry. His first in the U.S., DUKE ELLINGTON PRESENTS THE DOLLAR BRAND TRIO is a sentimental favorite, and I also enjoy his soundtrack work for NO FEAR, NO DIE.

Yeah, I can't endorse that opinion about Hank and Jackie and Lee not meshing as a three man front line either, although it's cool you feel that way. CARAMBA! is an EXCELLENT album...there's a spark there, although it's not the "Latin" influenced album you think it might be when you first pick it up. The spark is Lee beginning to stretch out the forms and his thinking, moving toward his final period style as evidenced on the LEE MORGAN final 2 LP set.

I'm late into this discussion - been hectic lately. Obviously you can tell I'm a fan. TRUST isn't my very favorite EC album but it makes for a great avatar and it certainly is one of his best - I still have the old Rykodisc reissue, which sounds superb (in general I'm not convinced the Rhinos sound as good actually - I traded in a Ryko of IMPERIAL BEDROOM before really comparing them closely and I now actually regret it). However, it would be nice to have the extra discs of extras. Either way, a great one. Personally of the new reissues I've most been enjoying GET HAPPY! I wouldn't put it up with my "top flight" Elvis albums, but having only had a whipped vinyl copy - and the sides were so long the grooves were small and the sound quality was not good toward the label - I feel like in many ways I'm hearing the songs for the first time. Scattered among some mundane stuff are some of his most succinct and finest tunes - "New Amsterdam," "King Horse," and "Posession" certainly belong in that category. In closing, my "must have" Elvis Costello: THIS YEAR'S MODEL ARMED FORCES (a bit less consistently riveting than the others I've listed here, but the high points are WAY high) TRUST IMPERIAL BEDROOM (sounded like such a departure at the time, but in retrospect this is actually closer to capturing his essence than any other of his records - staggeringly good) KING OF AMERICA (just a hair behind, truly wonderful) BRUTAL YOUTH (a later career sleeper - don't miss it) This sampling covers pretty much all his facets well up until his latest era. IMPERIAL and KING I'd rank within my Top 20 rock albums of all time.

Hard to add much more of substance, things have been expressed so well here. I have the Complete PJ Recordings of Mulligan/Baker 4 CD set that came out a few years back and quite enjoy it, even if it's not in my top drawer stuff category. I particularly like Baker's playing from this era. Not perhaps very novel observations but here goes: sometimes he gets flack for being a Miles imitator, and other than having a soft-ish tone, I don't hear it at all. His approach to improvisation sounds completely different to me, he's one of those guys who you can really hear was literally playing it by ear rather than thinking a lot about how to approach a tune harmonically (even at his most melodic, I find Miles from this era still generally approached improv with a heavily harmonic approach). A lot of the time it resulted in some pleasantly "out of left field" ideas, both in terms of note choice and a tendency to cross bar lines - maybe not particularly heavy stuff but smile inducing and suprising. As the other side of that particular coin: sometimes you can literally hear himself getting wedged into and then hastily backing out of corners he finds himself in. And then there were some pitch problems, too. But you find yourself forgiving and even ROOTING for him because he comes up with so many of those little victories. A populist jazzer. I would have liked a more daring bassist and drummer to push this music along at more than that "chug chug" pace, for sure, but it's generally delightful stuff.

Killer choice, who cares if it's well known, not well known, etc. It's a great album! Looking forward to revisiting it.

ADAMS APPLE is a really great one, for sure. "El Gaucho" and the Jimmy Rowles cover just slay me every time. Would like to have seen Joe Chambers work with Shorter more during that era, he brings a different feel to the session - given the intensity (almost rock-like at times) he brings, Shorter and Herbie almost seem to take their own intensity down a notch or two to keep the balance, and it's an interesting dynamic as a result, different sounding than any of Wayne's other BNs. He maybe doesn't work out quite as well on "Footprints;" Chambers is fine there but when you place that reading against the epochal one on MILES SMILES, you realize that the plasticity Tony Williams brought to the pulse was the deal clincher. Man, I love all those Shorter Blue Notes - Jim, you're not alone, ODYSSEY OF ISKA is a real stunner and way overdue for a decent CD remastering. And then I also love NIGHT DREAMER at the other end of his tenure, which while ostensibly a little more conventional and still in the Coltrane influence bag is still great jazz.

Sonny Red's OUT OF THE BLUE is one of the weakest Blue Note recordings ever - if not for the great rhythm section salvaging things it would be a total disaster. I actively avoided anything with Red on it for several years after hearing that one, and then was later pleasantly surprised when some of his work elsewhere (to my ears, he's much better on Byrd's SLOW DRAG for example, and even better on a Bill Hardman date for Savoy) kind of grabbed me as much better. Interestingly, the "extra" date on OUT OF THE BLUE is a bit stronger - the originally issued one, though, is painful when Red is playing.

Brad, I could be remembering incorrectly, but there was a long involved thread about this issue of which reissues come from the original masters on the old BN BB. As I recall, the upshot was that most (all?) TOCJ's DO NOT come from the original tapes, but rather 2nd generation copies residing in Japan. Some have even been transferred from pristine LPs in cases where master tapes weren't available (darn if I can remember which titles, but there are some TOCJs where people have reported clearly audible LP surface noise on isolated quiet passages). This would certainly partially explain why the TOCJs have an LP-like warmth to them but, again to my ears, often sound less detailed. I'm less certain about the JRVG's, but again recall that there was some info that these were not done using the original tapes. It didn't have so much to do with lack of quality concerns by the Japanese but rather the logistics of getting the original master tapes. I think my ears tell me this is true - how else to explain the different sound quality of some of the titles for which there are both JRVG and US RVG versions (in most cases the US versions sound better to me, but the point is everyone seems to agree they sound different)? Can anyone who recalls this discussion whose memory may be better than mine chime in to clarify? Happy to be proved wrong if my memory is faulty.

It's worth having. Personally I think it's uneven, but the best is damn good Morgan and that is very good after all.

What a sad loss. Lanphere was playing beautifully right up until the end, based on his soloing in the fine SEATTLE JAZZ REPERTORY LIVE recording (Origin) from 2002. It will be relatively hard to locate, but get it if you can. Rep material but varied and well-chosen - Mingus, Thad Jones, Ellington, Basie, Miles, others - and then the big band, full of Seattle area giants, plays the hell out of it. Raucous and refined at the same time, and excellent live recording quality. Here's the AMG review: "Outside of New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles, there are few areas, if any, that have the depth and breadth of talent to support a major repertory orchestra. And perhaps even with these, the major markets might have a problem putting together a permanently standing aggregation which meets the definition of repertory in the manner that the rotating 17-member Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra has done since their inception in 1995. According to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, repertory refers to "a company that presents several different plays, opera, or [musical] pieces usually alternatively in the course of a season." This is precisely what is presented on this CD. There are pieces played and/or written by such jazz giants as Count Basie, Jimmie Lunceford, and Charles Mingus played by the orchestra live from 1997 though 2001. But the favorites are Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, who are represented by four items. Not only are these two favored, but the concept that the orchestra is the instrument developed by Ellington is clearly the preference of the orchestra's co-directors, Clarence Acox and Michael Brockman. But like Ellington's bands, there is plenty of room for solos. And what a crew to pick from. There's the veteran saxman Don Lanphere, top-ranked pianist Marc Seales, multi-virtuoso Jay Thomas, alto sax player Mark Taylor, David Marriott Jr. on trombone, and Floyd Standifer on trumpet. The band is driven by Acox on drums and they show no mercy on such cuts as "Jumpin' at the Woodside." Most of these players have CDs of their own on the market. The group not only can swing, but oozes sophistication and elegance on "Blue and Sentimental," which features a bluesy clarinet by Dan Wickham. All around good stuff; this CD is highly recommended. — Dave Nathan"

I finally caught up with this one this week, ordered it along with the Ellington Reprise box and the new Allen Eager Uptown release. Outstanding! I had all the music, but 3/4 of it only in the form of CD-R's, not all of them in the greatest of sound for some reason, or, in the case of the CONGO LAMENT stuff, a very old Collectors Choice remastering (Ike Quebec's EASY LIVING). So this music has never sounded better to me! McMaster did a very fine job on this set, some of the problems with muffling and harshness at the high end that I find on the Moncur Select did not occur here. Green's trombone sounds full and rich, you can really better appreciate his unique tone now. The music itself is just fun from start to finish, some of the most enjoyable mainstream stuff of the era. The swing and jump influence, more prevalent here than in much hard bop, really does set it apart. Check it out!

Update on the used copy: arrived with a taped spot on the box and a dented corner despite being listed as "very good." OK, was prepared to live with that given the really good price, but then when I attempted to play Disc 5 a week or so ago I discovered there were TWO DISC 4's and no Disc 5! Pissed to say the least, but in fairness to Wherehouse music, they took it back no questions asked and only 3 days later they are already processing the refund to my credit card. In meantime, I ordered and received yesterday a pristine copy from Mosaic at full price, with all the discs included...interestingly, it was numbered an even 5000! Well worth it to have it all. So after listening to Disc 5 last night, let me also add the Mary Poppins stuff is a lot of fun. No, this ain't the heaviest Ellington you'll find, but it's remarkable what the band does with these tunes. It's a real testament to Strayhorn's arranging skills, if nothing else, but I wouldn't stop there - it's also a blast to listen to this stuff with a new perspective. Remarkable, remarkable boxed set...and the more I learn about Ellington the more I realize there's almost NOTHING in his entire vast discography that a fan can safely pass up without feeling they're going to miss something special. Drat!

Jazzmoose, if it helps in clarifying and getting you to spend what money you have left over that HASN'T already been spent on CDs... I would definitely not use "hit or miss" to describe her music, certainly not the stuff in the FOUR WOMEN box. It's uniformly strong, and the majority is outstanding, easily as good a track record as most other major artists I can think of. I was just saying that for me personally, she's one of those musicians whom I really tend to enjoy most when I'm in the right frame of mind. There are some - say, Hank Mobley or Woody Shaw - where it's rare that I'm NOT in the mood. For Simone, it's not like it's once in a blue moon, but on the wrong day her stuff can grate on me a little. There are a lot of other really great musicians who I enjoy that are in the same category, to be honest (although they might grate on me for different reasons than Simone) - for example, even Dexter Gordon, one of my favorites, can on the wrong day can exasperate me ("what, ANOTHER quote?").

Others have made great points and I suspect a combo of label indifference at Prestige and some other factors played into the seemingly "overnight" change. Another thing to ponder: in reading the Mosaic booklet, Young seemed like the type of dude who really had issues related to self-confidence - he needed to feel like he had an audience who dug/appreciated him (as I'm sure many or even most musicians do). After the BN years and then Lifetime he really foundered looking for a context and audience and I think his music suffered for it. I don't think it's out of the question that the "factor X" that led to the change from the Prestige to BN sessions, then, was simply feeling like he'd found musicians and patrons (Lion and Wolff) who "got" what he was hoping to do and gave him basically free reign to explore his muse. That would have been the key, and all the other stuff (creative juices begin flowing, accompanied by hitting the woodshed with new enthusiasm, for example) would typically follow. That's my suspicion, but it's an unfounded guess of course.

I've been eyeing several of the new Verve reissues - SNAP YOUR FINGERS, the JJ BROADWAY album, heck all of them - including Masakela's entry. This would be my first exposure to his music. Can anyone give a review?

Yeah, THE PROCRASTINATOR is one of my favorite Morgan sessions! A good candidate to be RVG'd someday (they've done it with several prior Conns, after all).

Big second for SHADES as an initial entry into Hill's music. A superb album and ear friendly for the uninitiated. Way harder to find, but if you see it you might also consider BLUE BLACK (East Wind, going to have to go Japanese import for this) as a nice entry point. Has many of the same merits as SHADES, although perhaps not quite as successful.

Yes, I do have it and I think it's excellent overall. I must admit that this was my first detailed exposure to Simone's work, and I find I have to be in the right mood to fully enjoy her music because there is a certain amount of baggage that comes through some of it that can rub me the wrong way sometimes. Not that I "blame" her for telling it like she saw it - in fact, admire her for it - but sometimes I'm just not up to hearing it, you know? However, that's not apparent in all her work, and musically this is uniformly first rate stuff (she had a remarkable gift for stripping away the bullshit and getting to the essence of a great pop song and was accompanied on most of the non-orchestral dates by a really responsive band) and there's a lot more humor and levity than I think she's typically been given credit for by some of her harsher critics. Is she a "jazz" singer? Well, I would actually say "no" if for no other reason than she was far more willfully eclectic than that, well before it was fashionable to be so. Not sure if she's ever mentioned it, but I think Cassandra Wilson owes a lot to Ms. Simone. The booklet is great as so many of the Verve group box booklets are. Sound quality is not the best work they've done - perhaps it's the original session tapes, but much of the music sounds more muffled and dead than I'd prefer - but certainly quite listenable.

Interesting range of opinions on the "extra" date on the new SONIC BOOM. Personally, I really like it - there's a gorgeous version of "Stormy Weather." It is certainly somewhat more subdued than many Morgan sessions but I find it very enjoyable, showcasing the more lyrical and "arranged" side of Morgan's talent. If anyone has the STANDARDS date that was issued in the U.S. a few years back, it has a comparable feel to it in many ways despite the different lineup of players.

BruceH - what can I say, the new Conn of FUCHSIA just sounds way better to me than the Mosaic, can't say I can explain it except that the Mosaic box is now 7 years old and remastering techniques have likely improved. There is no comparison - more alive, better balance and dynamic range, less tinny. Really a fine job, Ron McMaster deserves props for this and I've often been a vocal detractor. I've been listening and relistening to this old favorite, what an amazing album musically - spans the gamut of jazz history to that point, adventurous while definitely accessible. Love it! Malcom Addey did the Andrew Hill and it's SUPERB - the impact of the tuba in particular is shocking for a recording made in 1969.