Shrdlu

I missed that album! Thanks for pointing it out! I'm a big Ogermann fan. He gets so next to Jobim and the other Brasilian guys. Big eyes for those arrangements! There's a Warner Bros CD, Terra Brasilis, of a later double LP set that reprises a lot of Jobim standards. It was only about $10, and runs nearly 80 gorgeous minutes. Talk about value for money! His album with Bill Evans is great, too. I don't know if that one came out as a single CD, but it's in the rusty box. And the LP should be obtainable on eBay.

You may know J.J.'s superb Impulse album, "Proof Positive". It's one of his best ever albums. I got the LP when it first came out, and it's been a favorite album ever since. On all but one track, it features his quartet of the time, but a track with Toots Thielemans, McCoy Tyner, Richard Davis and Elvin Jones, "Lullaby Of Jazzland", completes the album. Naturally, it's a cooker! I had the old Jepsen discography back then, and saw that that session also produced two tracks released only on Impulse 45-227. Here's the details: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- J.J. Johnson Quintet J.J. Johnson (tb), Toots Thielemans (hca, g), McCoy Tyner (p), Richard Davis (b), Elvin Jones (d). Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, circa July 4, 1964. Lullaby Of Jazzland, Impulse A 68 Across The Karoo , Impulse 45-227 Theme From Lilies Of The Field (aka Amen), Impulse 45-227 * J.J. Johnson - Proof Positive (Impulse A 68; MCA 29072; Impulse GRD 145) * J.J. Johnson - Across The Karoo c/w Theme From Lilies Of The Field (Impulse 45-227) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When Michael Cuscuna put out the CD of "Proof Positive", I was excited, as I thought the two 45 tracks would be included. We all know he would have put them in there if he could have. But he was unable to locate a copy of the 45. (In case you didn't know, most of the Impulse session reels were tossed out sometime in the 1970s. So Michael could not go to the originals.) He did include the cut that was on one of the Definitive Jazz Scene LPs, though - a track by the quartet. Well, after a lot of searching, I was able to get a copy of the 45! Great jubilation! You guessed it, it's not mint, but it's very listenable. In true 45 manner, it's in-your-face mono, and an RVG pressing to boot. The two tracks are superb. On "Across The Karoo" (now there's a title for someone who spent 5 years in South Africa!), Toots plays guitar and whistles. Elvin wails on sticks with a Latino beat! On "Amen", Toots plays his harmonica, and there's a surprise, as McCoy is on harpsichord. Both tunes are the kind that leave you humming them for the next day, and J.J. really digs in on them. These need to be included on a new CD reissue of "Proof Positive", and I recently emailed Michael to ask how this could be set up, using my 45. This music needs to be heard, and I don't want to sit on it. Turns out that Universal is again a mess, so nothing can be done for awhile. I don't keep up with the doings of Universal/Verve anymore. I suppose I could upload it onto the hard drive with Musicmatch, and maybe share an MP3 file over MSN if anyone is interested. But I don't want the FBI on my tail, ha, ha! Maybe it's already a 10 year rap for even thinking about it! I'm not a music thief, and I'm not trying to rip off Universal. What I'd really like to do is to get them to put out a new CD. What's the best way to deal with this?

The LP in the 70s twofer ("Leonard Feather Series", MCA) has great sound. Stereo, as you might expect. The other album in the set is "Jazz In The Space Age", which is also very interesting. Much more difficult, and not such a groover, but that's not what it's about. It features both Bill Evans and Paul Bley, and for all the zillions of hours I've spent listening to Bill, I have a hard time telling which pianist is which! It's because the material calls on them not to play their favorite licks. They must have been really concentrating! Thanks, Brownie and King Ubu! That's real nice of you. Great to be back!

The mono of Curtis Fuller's "Soul Trombone" isn't folded-down stereo. The album actually lists two different engineers, one each for mono and stereo. I don't see why they didn't just use one engineer, but there you are.

Mickey Roker and Arthur Harper! Tasty rhythm section! Would love to have heard that trio!

Well, with a name like yours, you better!

I'm glad to say that you don't have to cough up $45 - $60 for most Impulses on eBay. And I mean LPs in good shape - I don't buy noisy ones. Re the mono, my first copy of Freddie Hubbard's "Ready For Freddie" was a mono, and it really sang out when the seller test-played it for me on their cheap turntable. Art Davis's bass almost jumped into the room. Mind you, that album starts real hot. Talk about an album selling itself! Wooowee!

No problemo, hermano! The sad thing is that, when you have heard the LPs, you want to replace all the CDs! But I have too many Impulse CDs to do that. Ironically, I have LPs (with better sound!) of less important albums, and many of the major ones I have only on CD. I got the first Japanese CD issue (mid 90s) of Milt Jackson's "Jazz 'N' Samba" album (a longtime favorite!), and that CD has awesome sound. Those CDs are very hard to come by now.

It would be hard for anyone into jazz not to have heard at least something about George Russell, but when the music is happening, and there are so many great albums all over the place, you can't hear and collect everything. Back in the 60s, there was so much Miles and Trane and Bird (and lots of others) to keep up with, that I didn't get to hear any of George Russell's own albums. Sure, others, such as Gil Evans, recorded pieces that George wrote, but that's not the same. The recent Mulligan Mosaic, with the awesome "All About Rosie", sparked my curiosity, and I started to check Russell out. After all, there are so many top guys playing on his albums. It turned out that there are plenty of his LPs on eBay, though there are several CD reissues. First up had to be the Columbia "Modern Jazz Concert" LP, to hear that Bill Evans solo that they all rave about. They were right! This is a very interesting album. You can get it all on a Bill Evans CD, too - saw it on Amazon. But the one that really got ahold of me is the "New York, N.Y." album. Ya gotta hear that! I got it as one of two LPs in an early 70s twofer, but it's on CD too. The LP set had no personnel details, so I listened as a blindfold test, just for fun. Wow, lots of major guys there! Hey, that's Bill Evans, ... , Bobby Brookmeyer, ... and Trane, ... wait, there's Art Farmer, ... Benny Golson, and on and on. Then, I found the personnel from discographies online, but the blindfold test was fun. What happening sounds on that album! You don't analyse it, you just let it happen. Russell is a genius, and it feels great too. Check it out! (I'll tell ya something, as a tenor player: your reading chops would have to be in good shape to read those charts, though.)

Yo, Dude! I looked at the Kippie thread again (it goes back a couple of years) and I posted pretty much all I could think of there. Totsiens.

Yeah, that CD is one of the all time great organ/tenor boogaloo records! Bob Cranshaw is killing on bass on that session. Who in the hell thought "Blowin' in the Wind" could be swung to death like that! That "Blowin' In The Wind" track is a real cooker! I love the grunts from the drummer, heard pretty much all the way through, as he kicks it along. Not all the tracks are boogaloo on that CD. As I listened to that track, it hit me that Shirley is kinda doing an Oscar Peterson on organ there.

The original (black and orange label) pressings and the next ones, with the black labels and red outer ring, are sonically the same, that is, you get that great original sound. The reason why you don't always see RVG in the dead wax is that, right from the start of Impulse, Rudy was not always the engineer. A & R and others did quite a lot. Generally, you only see RVG in the dead wax if Rudy was the engineer, though there are exceptions. The ones that Rudy didn't do still sound terrific. You will see RVG on the red and black ones that Rudy recorded. I usually avoid the later pressings of the 60s albums, but I did accidentally get one, with the green label, and it sounded great. (It was one of those excellent "Definitive Jazz Scene" LPs.) But I did an A/B comparison with an original pressing and a green label issue of one of the Lateefs, and there was a noticeable difference. You would not have to be an audiophile to prefer the original one. As for stereo/mono, I just prefer stereo if it's available, and I'm happy with it. After about 1963 or so, the monos were just collapsed-down stereo anyway, but before that, Rudy did separate mono and stereo versions. Hope that helps. It's good that you can still get Impulse LPs on eBay without having to sell the Lamborghini! I still find it amazing what people will pay for the Blue Notes, which are, to me, on the same level as the Impulses, and always were. By the way, Rudy also did a lot of the 60s Verves, and many have RVG on them. And they are also affordable.

Thx, Dude! Stay cool!

Thx, Chuck! That's nice!

Yeah, Red! I'm glad you opened this up again! Thanks, Dude!

Wow, that's a great pic of Kippie, UBU! I was in Jo'burg 1972-1976, and I played with a lot of the guys there, including Kippie. Even with the heavy dude goverment of the day, there was a very healthy jazz scene in S.A. then, and we just played with anyone of any color. I didn't give a **** what anyone thought! Nothing actually happened, apart from an occasional comment from the Suid Afrikaanse Polisie. We were also swimming in dagga, which carried a 5 year rap, but they never bothered us about that either. Used to get it from Maseru, Lesotho when I was down there - I filled in for a friend there in the band at the Holiday Inn. Thanks for starting the thread. Will check the Kippie thread, now, as I posted a few memories about S.A. jazz on this board awhile back.

Another one who sounds great every time I hear a performance! Recently been digging "Latin Shadows", arr. by Gary McFarland. That's a very tasty LP. As I'm a big Turrentine fan (who isn't?), I have her recordings with Stanley. "Common Touch" is a real groove - I play it over and over, especially "Lonely Avenue", but it's all fantastic. The CD comes with a long bonus track, "Ain't No Way", from a session that seems to have produced nothing else. The CD is its proper home, now.

Yusef's "A Flat, G Flat and C". Awesome. Rudy pressing. Mmmm!

Not really going through the whole set, but am listening to disk 13 of the Trane Prestige set as I type. Dug it out to check the key of "I Want To Talk About You" (it's in Eb!), and stayed with the disk. What else needs to be said about that set? Does a 2 CD set count as a box set? 'Cause if it does, I want to recommend a very tasty pack: Lonehill put out a 2 CD set of the three Clark Terry/Bob Brookmeyer Mainstream LPs. Very nice, as you would expect. It omits the info that Hank Jones is on the last session, by the way. And the vocals by Clark are supported by Dave Bailey. Trouble is, after getting the CDs, I was tempted to get the three LPs (which I did not hear when new) on eBay.

Great guy for a thread! Been into Lateef since the 60s, when he was on Cannonball's "In New York" album and injected a lot of life there. Yusef's Impulses are great! Bluesman just mentioned "A Flat, G flat and C". That's an absolute classic! As soon as it ends, you want to spin it again, baby! So bluesy! Doesn't hurt to have Hugh Lawson on piano. Such deep blues! I hope it comes out on CD, but Impulse vinyl is easy to get on eBay, and Rudy's pressings sound so great. (If you don't already know, you want the first pressings, black and orange, or the second ones, black with a red ring. These both have the nice laminated gatefold covers.) This particular album gives a rare chance to hear Yusef on alto, plus, on the last track, he plays a special Japanese wood flute, for an unforgettably atmospheric end to the album. I also really like "Jazz Around The World", with support from Richard Williams - but Lateef gets most of the solo space. There's a stunning oboe solo in the soprano sax vein, with a long note bent a quarter tone up! Wow! Can the guy ever play blues! On tenor, he really digs in on a version of "Frère Jaques" - Yusef's French Brother, ha! Ya know, it might be easier to post his bad recordings. Would probably be an empty list!

Thanks for starting this, Seewhy! I haven't waded through all the posts (guesswhy? ), but LP to CDr transfers are definitely the way to go. I only have low-end stuff (I won't even list the brands and models) as I cannot afford better, but even with what I've got, my amateur results are better than the best Japanese CDs, apart from whatever crackles are present, of course. Why indeed don't the record companies put out transferred LPs on CD regularly? They have done it in a few cases where the original tapes are lost (Duke Pearson's "Sweet Honey Bee" being one example), but that is not what we are talking about. Dare I even suggest transfers from LP of the now absurdly overpriced Blue Note LPs - even in mono at times. There have been some RVGs made from ageing tapes where the LP would be far better. Like many others, I have been grabbing vinyl, as much as I can afford, before the LPs become even harder to find. Apart from Blue Notes, most LPs are still pretty reasonable on eBay, too, sometimes surprisingly so, and many have yet to appear on CD. For the record, on the computer, I use Musicmatch for analog ---> digital (it is very user-friendly) and then Nero for the burns. Nero, in case anyone doesn't know, has a lot of editing features, such as the ability to trim each track at either end, to equalize volumes across the whole CDr, and to pan in and out. A lot of early stereo was panned too hard, and sounds uncomfortable on headphones, and Nero's pan in facility is very useful in such cases. And now, back to the troll, already in progress ...

Herbie's "Inventions and Dimensions" is a really enjoyable set - very absorbing. And with a fine alternate take, that was only rejected because it was a tad too long for the LP. Willie Bobo's snare work on this sounds a lot like Roy Haynes. Ron did a great job with the sound on this in the 20 bit Hancock box set. I haven't heard the TOCJ.

I agree with you, Chris. Bill Evans said much the same thing - somewhere in the notes to the Verve box set, I think.

Not to be niggling, but the C# and F# need to be doubly labled as Db and Gb, respectively, as those names are used a lot.

Another for these. Absolutely fascinating. The solo stuff reinforces the comment that Monk was not a bopper, but rather an advanced stride pianist. The solo and trio selections were all done at the one session, by the way. These performances show what was lost when Monk went to Columbia from Riverside. (Plus, the Rouse partnership, great at first, went on for too long and became kinda stale.) Really, one could say that these recordings are about the only good thing to have resulted from that ill-conceived "Giants of Jazz" tour. I first heard these in the Mosaic set, but the sound is much better on the Black Lion CDs, which are also very cheap and contain three takes not found in the Mosaic. Full marks to the Poms for taking advantage of the golden opportunity to make these recordings.