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Shrdlu
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Posts posted by Shrdlu
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My box set idea, however, is trio only, and they are so together that I think that that is a good plan.
The Turrentine dates are easily available, and to add them to the set would bloat it (no disrespect the the music intended).
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A headsup.
I just noticed that the contents of Mosaic 257, " The Columbia and RCA Victor Live Recordings of Louis Armstrong and the All Stars", are available on U.S. Amazon as three 3-CD sets. They are mp3, and one hopes that they are 320, not the cheap 192 that Amazon has used, in my experience.
Here is the link to "Volume 1"
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6 hours ago, mjzee said:
I want to hear the sound quality of the new Mobley box.
John Cleese said "The plumage don't enter into it.".
The CDs of Mobley and Morgan already sound as good as possible.
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"Blue Hour" certainly is a wonderful album. Shortly after The Three Sounds joined Blue Note, they did an album with Lou Donaldson. It is very enjoyable, but it removes the very premise of the trio and becomes Lou backed by a rhythm section. The album with Turrentine manages to combine the horn with The Three Sounds. It being a tenor helps, the alto being rather strident. The LP came from a second attempt, and that had something to do with it.
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I also saw that comment about a Morgan Mosaic, in Mosaic's online blog.
I must admit that I was a bit annoyed when I first heard that there would be a Mobley Mosaic, for reasons already stated above, which I won't repeat. When I read about a Morgan Mosaic, I was even more irritated. But, Mosaic is struggling, and that is probably why they went for these popular big names. Similarly, one could not blame Bill Evans for going from Riverside (starving) to Verve (pays the bills). (Ah, Verve, the waterer-downer.)
I won't be buying either set. I can do without the new alternate take from the "No Room For Squares"/"Turnaround" sessions.
A Wayne Shorter set would be a splendid collection of music, but, again, most of us have it all.
None of these sets is needed.
However, best wishes to Mosaic, of course.
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Glad we cleared that up, Dan. I love that incredibly slow "Things Ain't What They Used To Be" (and "Lil' Darlin'", both originally on "Moods"). They would HAVE to be in any "best of" compilation. My CD came about because I was unable to get the whole June 28, 1960 session onto one CD, and the CD I listed started with the last two tracks from the session - which are great anyway. Then, I added tracks that were not on the June 28 CD.
"Things Ain't What They Used To Be" is an utterly amazing performance. I enjoyed Leonard Feather's comments about it, in the notes to the "Moods" album. Back in the day, I was always glad to see notes by Leonard. He was my favorite liner notes writer.
Yes, those pirate people might have used needle drops, but it would be very hard to find LPs that are not Rice Krispie ones (usually described inaccurately as VG+). If I were pirating, I would go for the Blue Note Works versions.
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I do not mean that that old CD contains bad music. Far from it. At the time (1987), it was useful, and it was, then, the only way to get its tracks on a CD. But the track selection was a bad idea: the title track is from one session and everything elss is from another session. Why not issue "Moods", which is arguably their best album and has never appeared on a CD outside Japan (apart from on one of those multi-album sets that appeared much later)? In any case, that CD is no longer needed, because everything on it has been issued, in an orderly manner, on Japanese CDs with much better sound. The old CD was a constant nuisance when I was making up the 11 CDs.
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That's a great idea. Either that or a "Mosaic Select" set, though I imagine the unissued tracks would take up 4 CDs.
In my analysis above, I was not aware of those "Classic Albums" CD sets. I wonder where they got the material. Stolen Blue Note Works masterings?
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Thanks for the comments. It does sound like it comes down to there not being sufficient demand for such a set. The expense is a bit daunting.
It is frustrating, knowing that there are still about 4 CDs' worth of unissued tracks. They were so well drilled that they went through session after session making most items in one take. There are no blemishes. That is why I am confident that all the unissued material will be good. Plus, the bonus material from the two 1958 sessions exists (on CD) only on an old 1987 version - though I don't recall it sounding bad. It could do with an update.
My source material for this 11-CD set was Blue Note Works, where possible, that series covering all of the released LPs. I already mentioned "I'll Be Around (long version). The new tracks came from the mid-2010s (Japanese) reissues. An American CD called "Standards" contains tracks that are nowhere else. Finally, the American CD of "Black Orchid" has two tracks that are nowhere else, and are not on the Japanese CD with the same name. The best I can say about the American CD entitled "Babe's Blues" is that it is an irrelevant nuisance.
Having been thoroughly immersed in all this music, I was in a position to, and decided to make up a CD of favorites. I slung it together kinda haphazardly, but it came out real good and is highly recommended. There are tense vamps and pedal points, lots of superb solos, two brisk quicksteps, and we fade out at the end, to the sound of Gene on the velocopede.
1. I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good
2. Sandu
3. Sometimes I'm Happy
4. Out Of This World
5. For Dancers Only
6. I'll Be Around (long version)
7. My Secret Love
8. Black Orchid
9. A Foggy Day
10. Saucer Eyes
11. At Last
12. Witchcraft
13. Shiny Silk Stockings
14. Goin' Home (take 18, as issued)
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The Three Sounds, Gene Harris (piano), Andy Simpkins (bass) and Bill Dowdy (drums), recorded a superb set of sessions for Blue Note between September 16, 1958 and June 28, 1962, after which they left the label.
A large amount of these recordings were issued on LP in the late 50s and 60s - as much as could be expected at the time. I did not get to hear any of their records until the late 90s, the CD boom. I saw them listed in a Blue Note catalog in the 60s, but I never heard them on the radio and had too much else to collect back then. Somehow, a CD of them came to my attention, and I was very impressed. I quickly discovered that very few CDs were issued in the U.S. (a situation which persists until the present day). But, the Blue Note Works series is exhaustive and all of their LPs came out in that series - with the usual excellent sound. There were several Japanese Rudy van Gelder CDs as well, two having (rarity of rarities) two bonus tracks each, one of which, "I'll Be Around (long version)", has never been issued anywhere else. That one, a very tasty track, is a real needle in a haystack.
Then, starting in about 2015, during Michael Cuscuna's swan song at Japanese Blue Note, when he issued a large amount of new material from Blue Note, a large number of new tracks by the Sounds came out. The CDs bore LP titles and naturally had the LP tracks at the start, with the previously unissued items at the end. This, and the fact that the recordings were scattered over the various LPs back in the day, led me to assemble everything of theirs that has been issued in the order in which the tracks were recorded, to tidy up the "mess".
It has been a ball doing it. It came to 11 CDs.
NOW!
Because of this, and the fact that there are many tracks that have never been issued, may I suggest a Mosaic set of all the 58-62 material? This music is of a consistently high standard and is never boring. Such a set would come to about 13 CDs. I can, upfront, suggest a reason not to do this: Their sets are $17 per CD, so the set would cost about $221. But that aside, it's a great idea.
I very strongly doubt that the unissued tracks are bad.
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Bertrand, may we have the details of the rare audio?
There are three late 60s Blue Note tracks I would love to have. One, "Dialogo" (10/21/69), only came out in the "Mosaic Select" set, which seems to have disappeared off the map. The other two, "Is That So?" ( 10/3/69) and " Come On Over, My Love" (10/21/69), have never been issued. Duke obviously intended to put the output from these two sessions onto an album, but I guess it got forgotten. (A later session by Duke was issued.) Please join me in lobbying for a release of that album. The Blue Note site, however, has no contact details for Don Was.
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When searching on eBay, I often see a remark, in lighter print, saying that they will handle the customs charges. Yeah, I bet they will. I avoid any item like that. Obviously, a seller has an option of requesting this "service".
When eBay first started, the buyer and seller dealt directly with each other, without any "help" from eBay. You could pay with cash or check, too. And, ... the fees were very low. And, ... there was NO Paypal fee. I sold lots of things on eBay back then.
Today, with stiff eBay fees and stiff Paypal fees on top of that ... No way am I going to sell there. It is still handy for buying consumer goods, which is all I use it for.
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Munster Dummel High Fidelity.
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Yeah, I also heard that story about Trane's solo on "Manhattan". The whole Russell album is great. Trane, by the way, was a good sight-reader. It is said that he was reading the changes for "Some Day My Prince Will Come" with Miles in 1961, though it's hard to believe that he hadn't heard the song. Anyway, the changes are easy, and tasty to solo on.
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Years ago, pianist Denny Zeitlin recorded a rather experimental trio album. He issued it on vinyl and it was mail-order only. It was about 1975. I still have a copy. His scheme seems to have worked. The album would have been well at home with E.C.M. Interesting album.
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That's well put, Jim. There are many superb alternate takes, but we don't need rehearsal footage. Art couldn't read music, by the way.
I often wonder if guys who "can't read music" (of which there have been several in jazz) are really unable to make head or tail of all written material. They must surely have been able to pick it out to some degree. How far does it extend: are they lost if you say "Let's play this in Ab."? Do they know where C is?
I have the U.S. 2CD set, but haven't dug it out in years.
The title, "John Coltrane, The Bethlehem Years", is misleading to anyone not familiar with Trane. He had no years at Bethlehem. They should reverse the order of words.
Mention of this reminds me of Trane's participation in George Russell's "New York" album (1958), on the track "Manhattan" (only). His remarkable solo on that must have raised some eyebrows amongst the musicians. There is some overlap between that lineup and the one at the Bethlehem big-band session. On Miles's live "So What" video (1959), you can see Trane grabbing Frank Rehak's attention - a great moment.
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I have that mini-LP version. The insert you mention must be the mainly-Japanese info sheet. In English, it has the tune titles, and a nice discography of Doug Watkins. I was hoping for a replica of the Transition LP note booklet. These loose inserts can be missing from second-hand Japanese CDs. Some people go nuts about the OBI strip: CDs with those can command much higher prices; Kupiku makes a big deal about them.
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Ken, I was disgusted to hear that, in the 60s, some distributors were not paying Blue Note quickly, or at all. This at a time when Alfred Lion's health was deteriorating because of the stress of running the business. The "Sidewinder" phenomenon didn't help. Funnily enough, I am not greatly impressed by "The Sidewinder", and I got tired of a would-be follow up being required for several other sessions.
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This set is well worth getting.
There is a session with Freddie Green, but he only plays on one track. What a difference he made to the overall sound. I wish he had played on every track. One of the finest sounds in all music.
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Yes. That issue of "Byrd's Eye View" is an excellent package in every way. I also have "Watkins At Large" in that little series. The Transition LPs didn't have the album notes on the back cover. Instead, a loose booklet was inside the cover. My copy of "Bird's Eye View" has a cute replica of the booklet, but when "Watkins At Large" arrived, it had no booklet. Do you, or anyone else, have that CD, and did it come with a booklet?
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Thanks, Lon.
That sure was a quick reply.
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I have often wondered why some jazz labels succeeded and others didn't, and why the players didn't get far with their own labels. Obviously, an active musician did not have time to administer a record business, but still ...
Look at Prestige: just one guy. And Blue Note: just two guys. Yet both labels continued for years.
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Lon, do you prefer the sound on the JRVG CDs?
There has been criticism of Rudy's CD reissues over the years. I have a large number of them, both U.S. and Japanese, and I've never heard a bad one.
A tangentially related question: Have you heard the 2019 CD of "Bobby Hutcherson's "Total Eclipse" (UCCQ-9516)? I have the 80s U.S. CD, but I suspect that the new version will be better. We are often not told who remastered Japanese CDs, and new issues often re-use earlier masterings.
What vinyl are you spinning right now??
in The Vinyl Frontier
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Hutch, that must be a tasty album. You will like the album Dex and NHØP did for Blue Note. It has Donald Byrd on one track, and Arthur Taylor.
NHØP was an amazing bass player. I have the 1965 "Violin Summit", featuring four violinists, and Nils-Henning steals the show. (Not that the fiddle players are not good.)