DrJ

I had been holding out for the past few years for a boxed set of Nina Simone's Philips recordings, so was of course happy to see the recent FOUR WOMEN box finally hit the streets. I have not delved into her music previously, was waiting for the type of perspective collections like this can sometimes give an artist whose influence and place in history is somewhat hard to "place." I have only listened so far to the first disc, which contains IN CONCERT, but have listened real carefully. I'm struck by her individuality - instantly identifiable vocal style, probably closest to someone like Betty Carter if you need a comparison but really that's not satisfactory. Simone is much "simpler" in her approach, less tendency for showing off (I love Carter, but she did go that way sometimes), more direct tapping into the at once more direct and yet also in many ways more avant garde country blues approach. The liners also talk of a link with Billie Holiday, which is there in the emotional vulnerability and directness although the sound of these vocalists is ultimately quite different. In short, it sounds like Simone was basically willing and ready to do whatever worked in service of getting across the emotional content of a song. Whether or not it's "jazz" or not, a long debate apparently about her work, is irrelevant. It represents to me, a kind of culmination and coalescence of decades of the African-American musical tradition at that time. Musically, this is first rate stuff, with a talented band that plays in service of a group sound and getting the song across, not a wasted note anywhere. Coupled with her vocal style, this sparing, reigned in approach really builds an amazing tension in the music. It's ready to explode, but never quite does, except for some really brief sections where Simone and crew let off just enough steam to keep the explosion from happening. Those who are not into jazz with political overtones could possibly be put off by some of the music, but I find Simone walked that tightrope really successfully most of the time. There is clearly a political viewpoint but it's brought across through telling personal, detailed, and vivid stories about people - in other words, it's not the type of sloganeering in the abstract that I absolutely hate as "political statement music." Remastering is good, although the original live recording was certainly not the best that could have been achieved at that time (it's more than adequate, though, intimate and honest, so don't hesitate on that account). In short, I dig it already, but I suspect with time this material will grow on me even more. Can't wait to explore the rest of the box. Anyone else want to comment on Ms. Simone, from this period or others?

This is good news, I had wondered if their plan was still in place for this box. I suspect PD is right, we'll get all the master takes, some salient alternates (although I'm sure there will be quibbles about what is left out) and probably nothing truly "new" (just unissued on CD in the U.S. more likely). Sounds GOOD to me.

Particularly glad to see IT'S MONK'S TIME finally getting US reissue, and with BONUS TRACKS! Superb album, with some unjustly neglected compositions. Hopefully I can soon trade in my old French CD edition, which is showing its age sonically. Speaking of all this - I kind of am amazed that Sony seems to have decided not to do a COMPLETE MONK ON COLUMBIA boxed set...or maybe they will eventually. That is my only reservation about picking some of these individual releases up. They did the sampler box recently, but Monk seems to sell well and I just wonder about whether we'll see a complete Columbia box some day.

What Claude said - totally agree, and will emphasize so people don't think we're focusing too much on the wrong issue: DO NOT PASS ON IT for sound quality considerations alone. It's just good to be an educated consumer, and calling the sound "excellent" would be really misleading. It's not one of Mosaic's best jobs, nor one of McMaster's.

Totally agreed, terrible news. I will be spinning JIMMY KNEPPER IN LA this afternoon in tribute, a blistering example of his art, along with some Mingus dates.

I think this box is not only a wonderful job in terms of remastering (I had much of it in Hep label CD remasterings, which were quite good for the time, and this is a huge step forward), but the music is truly of desert island quality. Billie, Teddy Wilson, Lester, Hodges, Goodman, Jones, and a host of less celebrated but wonderful musicians in their absolute prime, playing definitive jazz for the era. What's not to like? Great buy you got there, too, $80 is way more than reasonable.

I think the future dominant media format is...no dominant format. Vinyl continues a resurgence among the faithful...CDs are going strong...SACD and DVD-A are making inroads but still mostly with the audiophiles...some out there like MP3...and there will most certainly be new things coming down the pipe, but the thing is that the sonic improvements will be less and less readily apparent to someone listening through car stereos and boom boxes and low-end home stereo setups. So all formats will continue to thrive for a while. While the market shares may change over the next few decades, I honestly don't think we'll see a wholesale format changeover a la the switch to CDs for some time, maybe another 50 years or more, because while standard CD sound (and MP3 sound definitely) may have some limitations, they are undeniably convenient and the average person really doesn't care that much about great sound quality, they want something easy to store, durable, and relatively inexpensive.

Claude - We may disagree on this a bit, B) or perhaps system differences are at play as well. For the record: when I'm speaking of comparisons with regular CD, mostly they are good remasterings (or the ones included on the other layer of hybrid discs) and I'm using the Pioneer universal player. For example, I compared the regular CD layer of the Analogue Productions SAXOPHONE COLOSSUS and MEETS THE RHYTHM SECTION discs with the SACD layer, using the Pioneer DV54A to play both layers. For those, although the CD remastering is certainly quite good, the amount of detail, the dynamic range, and the warmth are so much greater on the SACD layer. You hear it in the things like the rattle of snare head, the resonance in Max Roach's toms on COLOSSUS, the sound of air in the horns, the complexity of the cymbal decay. These sound like picayune things, but its actually the overtones and detail that make music music (e.g. that make a sax sound like a sax and not a cheap synthesizer imitation). For MILES SMILES, we definitely disagree. While I do agree that the Columbia boxed set version (which is what I have) sounds very good overall, all of the Legacy Miles reissues, in my view, have a harshness at the high-end that is just not a problem on the SACD. So perhaps a more subtle difference, but it's still there. For the Sonny Clark disc, the old CD version was atrocious. But even compared with the standard CD layer on the new disc (which I had previously raved about on the old BN boards, picking up the hybrid disc before I had the Pioneer player), the SACD is a vast improvement. Again, though, I would never presume to say SACD/DVD-A are "better" or "vital" or "necessary." Heck, I still buy regular CDs over these formats 3 or 4 to 1, because if for no other reason I can listen to a lot more music for the same bucks and I'm mostly into the music, not audio for audio's sake. But I do think, with the cost of universal players coming down and the quality being generally quite good, and the same also occuring for the discs themselves, these expanded resolution formats are just more options to sit alongside your multi-CD changer and turntable (or 2 if you're into 78s!) and add to the fun!

Despite still being quite skeptical about SACD (or DVD-A for that matter) "replacing" CD as the "standard" medium of the music industry, I did recently kind of back into both formats. Here's the deal, because I think it's important if anyone is curious about these new media to hear about someone who enjoys them for what they are without being a zealot (Mnytime and the others here definitely also fit this bill - funny how we all seem to have the same hesitations about posting on this topic lest we be lumped in with Greg and his fervor!): Our DVD player was one of the first to hit the market and quite primitive (I won't bore you with the limitations). Suffice to say, we were ready to upgrade a little this year, although we're not into having the very best video, just upper middle. We shopped around and found Pioneer makes a couple of players now that play pretty much everything - standard DVD, but also DVD-A, and SACD. Of their models, the Pioneer DV45-A is VERY reasonably priced given that it is a universal player, around $400 or less if you shop around. Throw in all the high quality connectors you will need and you're talking no more than $600. Sure, it's not the very best at doing any of these things, most likely, but I figured if DVD-A and SACD are so great, then with a decent player and good connectors (plus a good amp/speaker combo and the pre-requisite surround speaker set up you need to really enjoy either DVD movies or multichannel SACD/DVD-A) I should be able to hear a big difference compared to my standard CDs. In other words, we spent a couple hundred extra bucks beyond what we would have payed for a mid-range DVD video-only player to give the new formats a whirl. After several months of trying out various formats - DVD-A in stereo, surround; SACD in stereo and multichannel - I have to say that with a good stereo system I am totally confident you will have NO problem noticing an improvement in sound quality compared with most of your standard CDs, even those remastered fairly recently. It is not hype, it's definitely worthwhile if you have the opportunity. I can't imagine even someone with "tin" ears wouldn't notice the difference right away. Some examples from my small, slowly growing collection: ART PEPPER MEETS THE RHYTHM SECTION - no contest, the SACD (stereo only) is amazingly more rich, present, and detailed. Sonny Rollins - SAXOPHONE COLOSSUS - ditto, although perhaps a slightly less huge difference MILES SMILES - also SACD, stereo. Wonderful! All the harshness of Columbia's recent remastering (which was no doubt better than the old CD) is gone. It's like you're right there. Incredible. But the best: SONNY CLARK TRIO (the TIME recording, not the BN one) on SACD stereo. Wow...this one always sounded like crap on the old CD, and now it is up there with Rudy Van G's best work. The face lift here is almost unbelievable. For rock, Pink Floyd's DARK SIDE OF THE MOON reissue with SACD surround is breathtaking. Bjork's VERSPERTINE DVD-A surround mix is equally so - the music just surrounds you and given the layered, detailed approach she takes you literally hear things you never heard before. Neil Young's HARVEST DVD-A surround mix is a bit more eccentric, mixed so the musicians seem to be in a circle - honestly I prefer the DVD-A stereo layer here, but it's fun for a change. And the Stones' London records reissues are all amazing - BEGGARS BANQUET was a revelation, sounds like Keef (or who knows, might have been Dave Mason) is sitting playing acoustic slide right in your living room on "No Expectations." In all - you get much more natural sound with both these formats, with great separation and presence and detail even it very low, comfortable listening volumes. NO ear fatigue. Incredible warmth (far closer to good vinyl than regular CD can approach). Personally, I think SACD sounds a bit warmer and more like high end vinyl, ideal for jazz, but DVD-A sounds much more "ultra-detailed" and "tighter" in bass response to me, and thus seems particularly well-suited to more modern rock/pop sounds like Bjork. So with all that, how do I assess the situation and what would I suggest? 1. Unless you are a super-audiophile snob, I would not even THINK about approaching these new formats as a "replacement" for CD. If you're like me, you have 100s or 1000s of CDs you still love and enjoy and it's improbable to me that you could ever hope to replace most/all of them. Instead, consider them as yet another option and go for a universal player. I now can enjoy stuff on vinyl, CD, SACD, DVD-A, and they all have their benefits. By the way, the CD player in the DV45A is subtly but definitely better than my 6 disc Onkyo multidisc changer...so again, when I feel like really listening and savoring a favorite standard CD, I often use the DV45A instead of the multichanger. 2. Think about approaching the new formats when you're ready to add or update a DVD player to your rig. I can see no reason NOT to buy a universal player in that circumstance, except for those who are looking for ultra high quality video (the DVD movie audio on the Pioneer DV45A is really great, while the video is I'm sure not any better than an upper-mid range quality). 3. Where possible I try to find hybrid discs that play as both regular CDs and SACDs (DVD-A doesn't seem to do this, unfortunately, but the trade off is many of those discs have extras like lyrics, photos, etc that can be viewed on your TV screen). Its a good buy and great for the car. However, I'm not above going with single layer SACD or DVD-A for those sessions I really enjoy and already also have on CD (for car). My approach is to take it slow with acquring these discs, and really savor them...I continue to build my regular CD collection, but will slip in one of these every once in a while, and again I've devoted most of my buying in this realm to favorite artists/desert island stuff. I think it's highly worth it for music you love, I've found myself rediscovering some truly great works that I tend to ignore sometimes in the interest of trying to hear all the great and more obscure music that's out there. 4. You can definitely enjoy SACD and DVD-A with just conventional stereo speaker set-up, but if you can afford it, it's really fun to have the 6-speaker option. Even if you end up preferring the stereo on some discs, its great to have flexibility and options. 5. Make sure to do a lot of research before buying, as it all gets a bit confusing unless you're quite a gear-head. For example, to really enjoy the higher resolution of SACD, you'll need to make sure you have a receiver that is even capable of accepting the SACD player's 6 high quality analog inputs (most newer ones are, but not always, particularly if your rig is even just a few years old and not too high end) AND that doesn't reprocess the high quality analog signal into lower resolution digital (the intricacies of all this are beyond me, but suffice to say there are some receivers that don't take the 6 analog inputs, and apparently still others that do but then reprocess the signal so you in effect lose all the benefit - so you want to make sure your receiver has an output or bypass setting option that avoids this glitch). We've had great performance with a Denon AVR line receiver, which is a little on the old side but fortunately Denon had the forsight to include multiple analog inputs and a direct output option for them.

Scooped by Aric!

The Fuller Mosaic (meaning any of his own BN dates) is desert island material for me - all the sessions are great, though THE OPENER (w/Mobley) and VOLUME 3 (w/Art Farmer, and probably my favorite Fuller overall) are the best. Like Hank Mobley and Sonny Clark, Fuller at his best just exuded a sort of cool, unfussy, and earnest hipness in his music around this time. All the Savoys are worth having - I'm a big fan of Yusef Lateef, so the one with him on it (I always get the names of these sessions mixed up) is my favorite there. Don't overlook some of his more obscure (in the U.S.) dates as a leader for Epic and Impulse!, they have all lately been reissued on either CD or vinyl and show up in hipper used/new stores. SOUL TROMBONE (Impulse!) is particularly strong if you want to sample just one. Finally, as far as "sideman" appearances, there are no greater ones than his dates with Blakey's Messengers, particularly FREE FOR ALL and INDESTRUCTIBLE! (BN). People who haven't heard the latter date yet because of its unjustly obscure reissue status are going to be blown away when the upcoming RVG hits the streets. Not only is Fuller a monster as a soloist, but his compositions (as on his own BNs) will stick in your head for days.

Here's a definitely unexpected sighting of Dolphy and his music: don't know if anyone else has heard this, but they are actually using "Hat and Beard" from OUT TO LUNCH as background music in an American Plastics Council (?!?!?!?) commercial that's currently airing. I almost fell out of my chair last night when I heard it!

Fantastic series. So many great ones - the Slide Hampton, Lucky Thompsons, Rene Thomases, Jaspars, Bacsiks, Crollas (one could feast on just the relatively obscure guitarists featured alone), the list just goes on. Stellar remastering too...and nice cover photos although I find the liners are pretty useless beyond the basic track and personnel listing (pretty fluffy and basically restate the obvious, akin to the Dan Morganstern jobs for the RVG series - he can and has done much better). That 2CD set sounds too good to pass up - more vintage Slide Hampton!

I am big on Mobley. It's funny because when I first really got into jazz full scale, I listened almost exclusively to Blue Note once I had discovered my first few classic era recordings...and Mobley was just so ubiquitous, in his own dates and with others, that I immediately assumed, "well, this is what jazz tenor sounds like." It really wasn't until I began listening beyond that sphere, to jazz across all eras and on multiple labels, that I began to appreciate how unique Mobley's sound and approach really were. He's pretty much INSTANTLY identifiable...I've never once been crossed up in trying to figure out whether it was Hank or someone else playing, which I can't say about many musicians period. The identity was forged on multiple levels. There's that great resonant but hollow, heavy but light tone...man, it's just unmistakeable. As Lon rightly points out, there's lots of Pres there, and yet Hank sounds not even remotely like the whole school of folks heavily influenced by Pres (Getz, Cohn, Sims, etc), so it's more than that. Probably it's the bluesy underpinnings, the SOUL. Then there's the phrasing...and in particular, as Jim mentions, his amazing facility with rhythm. When I first started listening to Hank, there were times I thought he was stumbling or getting behind the beat due to technical limitations, and as my ear has become more sophisticated, I realize it's all by design...you've heard of microtonality, well, Hank was doing micrometerality! Truly remarkable how subtly he was able to subdivide the beat, even making someone as legendary in that realm as Joe Henderson look like a beginner! Put those things together and then add a huge dose of humility and supreme lack of unnecessary fuss and bluster (even at its most heated, there is at the core an almost Zen-like calmness in Mobley's best playing - which I find in very few other "hard bop" era musicians' work, maybe the best of Sonny Clark's), and you have the recipe for a timeless style and, well, hipness...funny how much that word is associated with Mobley these days!

I'm somewhat ashamed to say I still have not managed to catch up with EZZ-THETIC which by all accounts is a real classic...can't wait to hear it (have kind of been hoping to wait for an updated remastering in Fantasy's 20 bit series). Nor have I heard the Pony Poindexter yet but have it on the list as well (as I do just about everything in Koch's outstanding jazz reissue series). What are your impressions of these, Ghost of Miles?

Yes, Dr. J. is Tony Jerant (er, uh...me!). I gave posting a break for a while after the BN board's demise and will be keeping it much lighter than in the past (hey, I'm now over 10 posts, glad I'm no longer a "newbie!") but for very positive reasons. We have a baby due any day now - thus the avatar, which is tongue in cheek of course, we're thrilled! - and lots of good things going on at work. Nonetheless, I found I missed conversing with all you nice, knowledgeable folks way too much to remain exclusively a lurker. B)

Been on an Eric Dolphy kick lately, and began thinking about the broad variety of dates he played on with others. I'm not so much thinking of the obvious ones, like his work with Mingus, Coltrane, Hill, but the more obscure ones. Three in particular I've been giving a listen to this week: 1. CHICO HAMILTON QUINTET WITH STRINGS ATTACHED (Warner Bros, 1959): This would probably be the hardest to find currently, although I believe Fresh Sound had a reissue CD out at one point. Of the recordings mentioned here, this is actually my favorite overall. It was Dolphy's first recorded work with the Quintet, pre-dating the GONGS EAST recordings by about 2 months and the ORIGINAL ELLINGTON SUITE w/Dolphy on board that saw the light of day recently by about 3 months. It's fascinating to hear Eric this early - the wide intervallic leaps are there, the craggy approach to phrasing, the rich tone, but it's like all the edges have been smoothed just a bit (or more accurately, it's like he's begun sculpting his sound but hasn't quite got all the grooves and niches chiseled as deeply yet). He plays flute, alto sax, and bass clarinet on various tracks and this "incomplete scuplting" applies especially to his work on bass clarinet and flute - you really only get a hint of the wonderful, idiosyncratic approach and fruity tone he'd later cultivate. The alto sax approach is most like his later work, although you definitely hear a lot more of his classic bebop/Parker roots coming through. His playing is superb, nonetheless, on all three instruments and I would say this is really a wonderful session all around, highly complimentary to the roughly contemporary Pacific Jazz material now included in the Mosaic box and ORIGINAL ELLINGTON SUITE CD that came to light after the box had been released. For those with an aversion to jazz with strings, I can only say that cellist Fred Katz has a very unique approach to arranging for strings and the music steers well clear of "soft jazz" tendencies, although it does have that Chico "chamber" feeling. Dennis Budimir on guitar is another big plus. I have a mono LP of this date and I see it pop up frequently in the used stores - it sounds really good, Warner did a quality job in that era. Though I haven't heard the Fresh Sound CD, I am not as a whole impressed with their work. 2. ESSENCE: JOHN LEWIS PLAYS THE COMPOSITIONS & ARRANGEMENTS OF GARY McFARLAND (Atlantic, 1962). Seems Lewis gets little respect on the boards based on my observations, but I'm a big fan of much that he did and his Atlantic run at this time was particularly productive. Dolphy works in the ensembles here, not soloing, but lending his distinctive alto sound to some very nice arrangements. Not Lewis' best album, but full of interesting work, and his piano playing is as always fascinatingly "open" (there are times here where he is so sparing with note choices that he makes someone as fastidious as, say, Duke Ellington, sound like Art Tatum!). It strikes me as odd, with years of retrospection, that someone as influential and ground-breaking as Dolphy would be doing section work like this, but on further reflection in 1962 he was probably still relatively little-known outside of more informed jazz circles and considered rather esoteric by many in America. I think this came out in the Collectables series recently paired with another Lewis date, but as with Fresh Sound, I am not a fan of the Collectables bunch (in my view, poor sound and lousy packaging). The vinyl pops up in used bins and sounds quite good. 3. MACK THE KNIFE & OTHER BERLIN THEATRE SONGS OF KURT WEILL - Sextet of Orchestra USA (RCA 1966). Of the trio of dates listed here, this is the one anyone, even a casual listener, would hear and say "Dolphy!" Actually he's only on the first three tracks, but leaves a strong mark on both alto sax and bass clarinet. By 1966 the signature sound was of course fully in place. I have mixed feelings about the date as a whole. It's wonderful to get a glimpse of Michael Zwerin, who directs the sextet and plays the wonderfully rich sounding bass trumpet, and the supporting cast (including John Lewis, Richard Davis, Thad Jones, Jerome Richardson, Connie Kay, and Jimmy Raney) is stellar. Frankly, though, while Dolphy plays amazingly well when considered in isolation, he really sounds at times like he's playing on an entirely different session. Not that I'm against throwing a slightly "out" wild card into a more mainstream date, but I just don't think it comes off here. It just doesn't quite mesh, and truly the 4 tracks without Dolphy sound much more cohesive and fully realized. I hope none of those slight criticisms puts people off taking a very careful listen to this fascinating date, its worth it to get a greater appreciation of some relatively obscure (to jazz fans) Weill songs if nothing else, and to hear Zwerin. Koch reissued this date on CD in 2001 and I think did a nice job with the remastering. Anyone else appreciate these Dolphy sightings? Any other obscure ones you favor?

That Tony Jerant, what a smart fella! (And Late certainly is too, of course, for bringing this out again). This IS a killer album. Having heard both this and the Mainstreams Lon rightly singles out, I would personally give the egde to the Savoy by quite a large margin - for some reason it just sounds so fresh and full of possibilities - but they are certainly ALL worth the closest attention and there will be others who will certainly be inclined to favor the later Mainstreams. For what it's worth, I really LOVE the cover, it was partly what sold me on this CD when I picked it up, knowing nothing about Jeffrey but figuring with an early sighting of the Billy Hart/George Cables pairing it couldn't be half bad. Like the music, that photo is just so fresh and innocent, so UN-contrived, so obviously NOT trying to cultivate any trendy style or anything. You can look at it as an homage to the things he loved dearly right at that moment in time: his axe (WITH electronics), his town, his dog, AND his brand new Nehru jacket (weren't those ALREADY out of style with the true trend-setters by 1968?)! So square it's flat out endearing.

Connoisseur, if you're looking for hard bop, you won't like the later Duke Pearson BN material. See my first post in this thread for how I'd describe the music. That might excite you or repel you! I have a CD-R of MERRY OLE SOUL and it's really about the most unique album of jazzy holiday music I've ever heard. HOW INSENSITIVE tends toward lightness but it's still a good one. I DON'T CARE WHO KNOWS IT as I said before is superb. The rest I await hearing eagerly. In honesty, there are certainly a couple of numbers that just don't work in the later stuff I've heard, and the vocals are in fact kind of an acquired taste, but I give the man credit for reaching and trying something new rather than making SWEETER HONEY BEE, SWEETEST HONEY BEE, etc. And after a few listens with an open mind, this stuff has its own internal logic, it's really unique and also damn enjoyable. "Subversive" might be the best word, but not in an in-your-face, Cecil Taylor (seemed an apt comparison based on that earlier post!) kind of way, more in the "you think this is Muzak but it'll get inside your head and then one day, maybe several months from now, hit you and quietly 'f' you up" sense.

See my original message Mike - I think it's a killer, hard to fathom how it never saw light of day the first time around. Stefan, we may disagree a bit on the sound quality of the first 2 Selects, but that's cool. I don't think they are horrible or anything - certainly there is a vast improvement on sessions like ONE STEP BEYOND compared with the old U.S. Collectors Choice I had - but I personally am not a huge fan of some of Ron McMaster's work. No disrespect meant, just a personal thing. I find that the sound on the Weston set is much warmer and fuller and alive, even though many of the sessions are OLDER than those in, say, the Moncur Select. Based on Lon's post, I went back and looked at the Mosaic site (I'm at work) and lo and behold - no WONDER it's better sounding, it WAS indeed done by Malcolm Addy and not McMaster (sorry for propagating misinformation, it was not intentional). I'm a big fan of Addy's work (recently got the Peggy Lee/June Christy box and the work on that is absolutely startling - how does he do it?). Since I didn't know this, and actually thought it was a particularly good McMaster job until now, this just confirms there's more to this difference than a "hearing the liner notes" phenomenon. There IS an actual difference in the approach to remastering for these two men, I think, and clearly my ears much prefer Addy's approach. Your mileage my differ, of course.

Not sure if this qualifies as "obscure," but since I see little discussion of it, I put it in that category: Jon Jang - TWO FLOWERS ON A STEM (Soul Note) Don't let the cover or title fool you into thinking this is some kind of new agey, wishy washy pap. This is challenging yet melodic jazz, with overtones from China in the writing, arranging, and inclusion of an erhu player (a Chinese stringed instrument that has a wailing, cello-like sound). Worth it for the best version around of Mingus' "Meditations on Integration" alone, but don't let that keep you from enjoying the rest - some of Jang's excellent and under-heard compositions, David Murray's rich bass clarinet work (even if you're not a huge fan of Murray and his tendency to live in the dog range frequencies on tenor, you'll love this sound), and Billy Hart's forceful yet subtle trap work. And best of all - JAMES NEWTON! Beefy flute, ahoy! If you are typically disappointed with the rather thin, wispy sound most "multireedist" jazz flautists seem to get in comparison with the best latin jazz players, this is the antidote. Also spectacularly well recorded. Easily one of the top 10 new jazz releases of the past decade. And an update: it's selling on Amazon's used list for $9.99 (not my copy, by the way)!

Having waited many years for this one, I have to wonder WHY it is there isn't more buzz on the board about it (or, if there is, please direct me to it!). Perhaps more than any other Mosaic, this one captures the exponential early growth of an artist, you can so easily hear - almost as though you're listening to a 33 1/3 record played at 78 - the rapid development of a signature style and artistic maturity occuring within just a few short years. Not to say that the earlier dates are greatly inferior, because they are outstanding, but just that you hear more and more Randy Weston coming through with each session. UHURU AFRIKA and HIGHLIFE contain by far the most "mature" Weston music in my view. The "climax" piece on UHURU, "Kucheza Blues," always brings tears of joy to my eyes and a lump to my throat. If you can listen to this music without moving and smiling, you are just not human! It may be deeply infused with the spirit of Africa, but I also view this as universal, good feeling music. Outside of those, my next favorite session is the previously unreleased session. Man, what were they thinking not putting this one out? I love the fact it provides more exposure to Cecil Payne, too, who seemed to get no respect in that era - I would guess if you did a tally, he would come up on unreleased sessions more often than any other saxophonist, kind of like Kevin Costner used to get axed from films all the time before finally "making it" (although in his case, Hollywood should have stayed the course...). Hell, though, everything in this box is wonderful - the early Jubilee trio session, the rightfully legendary LITTLE NILES and AT THE 5 SPOT...just wonderful. Anyone else excited? I also have to say I think Ron McMaster did a fine job on this one (I find the sound much improved compared with the first two Selects, far warmer and less harsh sounding).

Etcetera is my choice. Chambers was indeed the perfect drummer for Wayne around that time, and adding McBee gives this one a very different sound than the typical "inside/out" BN date of the era, tipping the balance just a bit more towards "out." Remarkably contemporary sounding 37 years later, sounds as though it could have been recorded yesterday. But we're talking about a rating scale for these recordings that starts with "great" and runs through" greater" and then "greatest."

Duke Pearson was just a great all-around musician, and I totally agree with the comments about his music exuding a warmth and good humor. I can't wait for the Mosaic Select either. I am personally glad they are planning to focus on later dates (I have all the earlier stuff, although for much of it, it'd be nice to have updated remasterings). What I have of the later BN's, I really enjoy - particularly I DON'T CARE WHO KNOWS IT, which has some outstanding music. Duke was way ahead of the pack in creating an organic mixture of rock, funk, bossa nova, and other "world" music sounds that still bore his individual stamp (as opposed to sounding like he was just trying to ride trends), and he even had a signature sound on electric piano. Bring on those more obscure titles! Let's also not forget the major role Pearson played on Donald Byrd's THE CAT WALK. What a great session, perhaps Byrd's best on BN and maybe one of the quintessential BN dates, period. Pearson left his mark all over it with his classy writing and arrangements and distinctive pianistic touches.

He's cool, great musician and entertainer. "Chico and the Man" theme always made me smile and has aged well (while the SHOW has NOT!).