Shrdlu

There was a long thread on this, but the search facility did not find it, so maybe it was deleted. I don't want to draw special attention to myself, but I have only recently heard this "new" album, and I really enjoyed it. The writing, soloing and overall vibe of the session makes it well worth releasing. There were even moments reminiscent of the early Blue Note Hill albums. It's definitely not a dud project. One comment re the instrumentation. Michael (a great producer) operates in a hurry, and sometimes makes a minor error with this (such as the "alto clarinet" that is really an E flat contrabass, and a harpsichord on a rare Hubbard session that was listed as a celeste). I am pretty sure that the instrument played by Joe Farrell, listed as an "English horn", is really a regular oboe. The English horn, known more often as a cor anglais, has a characteristic deep, "nasal" sound that makes it a wonderful tone color in an orchestra; once you've heard one, you will recognize it anytime later. The sound I hear on the Hill date is the lighter, thinner sound of an oboe, and the part played is well within the oboe range; there would be little point in using a cor anglais for that part. A cor anglais passage is usually scored at or near the low end of its range, to take advantage of that special tone color.

Is that another tenor violin, Lon? This instrument came up on the Verve Gil Evans sessions (on the "Invividualism of Gil Evans" CD), played there by Harry Lookofsky. On the old BN board, I asked what the instrument is, and was told that it is a large, almost cello-sized deeper string instrument, about an octave below the regular violin. It is not a viola, and it has a kind of dark, husky tone. I forget which notes the strings are tuned to. Not heard very often - that Evans album is the only one that I have where it can be heard. Harry is listed as playing it on the album called "Jobim", but it is not audible.

12-16 would not be complete takes. Most would have been a few notes, that is, false starts, or takes that were stopped because someone made a mistake, etc. Usually, for a particular tune, there are at most two full takes.

Wonderful player of course. I've seen that site before, I think. A very interesting aspect of Freddie's style is that a lot of his chords sound like a single note. That is a feature of specialist rhythm guitar, and it is discussed either on that website or another one that I once looked at. It is a strange thing, because he is NOT just playing single notes; the other notes are there, but in a kind of phantom way. A lot of more recent guitarists have no idea about this important technique. I also like the story about the time, in the 30s, when Freddie got an amp and brought it along to use with the (Basie) band. The other guys hated it and sabotaged it until Freddie abandoned it! Having listened to people like Tiny Grimes playing an amp of that era, I agree. Now an amp such as Kenny Burrell has used since the mid 50s is another thing entirely.

I remember the LP of this, though I never did get around to buying a copy for myself. It sure is a fine album, with a superb cast. Chick sounds a bit like Herbie Hancock here (and there's nothing wrong with that!), but his style had not completely settled yet. He sounds like McCoy on Cal Tjader's "Soul Burst", and like Monk on those early sessions with Blue Mitchell. Again, who would mind that?

David, they are not certainly going to disappear soon, it's just that I suspect this, based partly on what Universal's Ken Druker said about them pressing only one batch of each - enough, supposedly, to last until the expiry date printed on the wrappers. Plus, the expiry date on the first ones is getting closer. On the subject of the sound on these, I was disappointed with the Steve Kuhn CD, after hearing several yummy Japanese CDs recently. It does not have much presence, but this may be the original engineering - who knows. I sure like the replica of the Impulse gatefold cover, though. The only ones where I can compare the remastering with that on other versions are "Equinox" (Japanese much better, what else is new) and the Mulligan at the Vanguard (Malcolm Addey's work, in the Mosaic set, is superior, though the mini LP one sounds quite good). In the case of the Mulligan, once again I like the gatefold cover, and I keep it in the Mosaic box. (That solves the storage problem, Mike. )

A Mosaic of Gary's work would be a good idea. There is a unity to the things that I have heard, even though there is much variety. Some might consider such things as "Soft Samba" to be too "light", but I am very taken with the arrangements and the feel of these tracks, and I have played them many times. I would challenge anyone else to try to make an album like that and pull it off successfully. (My favorites on that album are the two tracks with Jobim as distinguished guest on guitar. You can tell it's him from the first chord, and his presence there is precious.) The list of people who have played on McFarland's various albums is most impressive.

Here's one that will soon become OOP: the Japanese CD of "The Individualism of Gil Evans", and it just happens to be one of the best albums ever. This particular reissue has an incredibly short "availability window" of six months, which will be up any day now. Although it won't vanish the next day, I would not wait too long. Available from the usual suspects, of course. Sometimes, when an OOP date arrives, the stores are told to send any unsold copies back to the distributor for destruction. Horrors, but that's the way it works. An example is the 12 CD Ellington "Private Collection" box in the U.K. Great stuff, it goes OOP, and is pulverised. Uggh!

Heartily agreed! All the 60s and early 70s Mendes albums are terrific. I couldn't resist getting the recent Japanese CDs of them all. Great stuff, and it makes a change from straight jazz.

That was what I thought must be true about a diesel engine, but I wanted to check, just to be sure. The oil is different, but that mixes with the fuel, unlike the coolant.

I have never heard the "Succeed" album, though the word is that it's very good, and I don't doubt it. I nearly got it on eBay a few days ago, but the bidding went higher than I was prepared to go. It was a CD reissue that also contained a Bob Brookmeyer album. I have the album with Bill Evans, as part of the Evans Verve box set. It is a superb session, I think, with a very good cast of sidemen. There is presently a mono LP of it on eBay, with no bids so far. You could probably grab that. I'm not going to bid, as I have it on CD. If you are unable to find the personnel, I can list that for you. (I made a custom CD of that session, also taking advantage of Nero's facility to "pan in" the stereo, which was too widely panned for my liking, especially on headphones. The result is a very clear-sounding CD, even though it is probably only 16 bit.)

It really is good, and I hope you can get one. I would never have tried to get it back in the 60s, but it's very interesting, and I'm glad to have caught up with it now. The CD is probably not in print, and any copies in stores will be remainders from when it was around. Its availability window is 1998-2000. I suspect that those 20 bit Japanese Impulse CDs will be repeated in their more recent mini LP 24 bit format. Just how the sounds of the two series compare, I do not know. The DCC CDs are also well worth getting and are considerably cheaper, of course, and also sound just as good.

I had a good chuckle years ago when the Volvo dealership had a poster which said "Use only genuine Volvo oil"! My son recently bought a Citröen, and, as it is a diesel, I phoned and asked if it used the same antifreeze as for a gasoline engine (it does, by the way). The guy said to use genuine Citröen antifreeze!! Maybe that can also be used when playing a B-3 in cold climates.

I don't have time to post much detail, but I got these recently and want to recommend them: "Point of Departure" - Japanese Impulse. Very interesting, with Willie Dennis, Richie Kamuca (oboe as well as tenor), Jimmy Raney, Steve Swallow and Mel Lewis. Mel and Willie were already on my mind from the Mulligan band albums. "Does The Sun Really Shine On The Moon" - DCC compact classic reissue of the Skye LP. Some really enjoyable arrangements and soloing, and a couple of tracks in the "Soft Samba" style. There's a really good 3/4 item that cooks. "America The Beautiful" - DCC compact classic reissue of the Skye LP. Very interesting large group (jazz instruments, strings etc.) with fine arrangements. The DCCs can be picked up for a song via constant eBay listings by "amyscds" - a guy called Tom Port sends the emails - I don't know whether there really is an Amy. The remastering is A-1.

I got burns of the TOCJs awhile back - I was curious, and the completist in me was operating. To be honest, these are, for me, strictly in the "play once" category. And I'm a big Blakey fan, and I don't mind a lot of drums. I think the best of those Blakey multi-percussion dates was the one with Lee Morgan, which has some blowing as well as drumming. I forget the title (maybe "Drums Around The Corner"?). I don't reach for it often, though.

... and then there's the picture of the Fats Waller group at the then RCA Victor studio, all crowded around the one mike! (I guess the engineer knew where to place that one, too. )

For Hans.

Il n'y a pas d'image. Mais merci.

There is no mystery about the French words. An "ascenseur" is an elevator (lift in the U.K. of course), and, in the movie, the killer gets stuck in an elevator because the power is shut off. "échafaud" means scaffold, or, gallows. Of course, the means of execution in France was the guillotine. It was amusing that, in Australia, an LP called "Jazz Track" was put out, consisting of the "Green Dolphin Street" session (but not "Love For Sale") and, on the other side, three tracks from the "Milestones" album, and NO tracks at all from the movie! I was not aware of existence of the movie tracks at the time (late 50s or early 60s) and the LP title, though ridiculous now, actually seemed to fit! Tracks of music by a superb jazz group.

Well now, the recordings are all we have. Live playing sounds much clearer, but sadly we don't have that in Scott's case. But the recordings, especially those with Bill, are outstanding, and I think it is most inappropriate to start revisionist dissing of Scott's work after all these years. I think the proof is there. In a letter to a friend of mine, Bill Evans said that the four albums he did with Scott give a pretty good representation of their work together. I have never heard a finer jazz bassist on a recording. And Bill really liked his work - that's about the best opinion you could get. I want to add that Scott's style isn't my favourite style, though, so I have no personal crusade to promote. I am not in favor of the bass player always soloing on every piece. I think that a bassist's principal job is to accompany. My personal favorite, for many years, is Ron Carter, almost the antithesis of Scott LaFaro. I also prefer Paul Chambers, as he always gave such a good "feel" to a performance (though he was also an outstanding soloist of course).

"Spring" and "Night Dreamer" are superb, I heartily agree. I have Japanese versions, he, he he! The JRVGs of these are excellent - I'm saying this as these are very variable in quality.

King, Zoot Sims is definitely heard at the Paris concert. Jim Reider is also present, as section tenor, but he takes some solos which sound similar to Zoot. One way to distinguish them is that Zoot has a soulful vibrato but Jim does not. (By the way, the trombonist's name is spelled Raph, and the altoist's name is Donovan.) The titles not on your CD are "Spring Is Sprung", "My Funny Valentine", "Go Home", "Blueport" and "Utter Chaos". (Also, the track labeled "Moten Swing" is "Broadway".) "Spring Is Sprung" is very similar to "Let My People Go", from the Village Vanguard set; it has solos by all three trumpeters, and this section goes on for far too long, I think. The failure to include all the tracks on your one CD has nothing to do with it being an SACD. The playing time is over 80 minutes, and so no-one could release it all on one CD. I do not have time to play it all again to check for Zoot's solos, but, from memory, I think he is only heard on "Apple Core", "Come Rain ..." and, of course, "Go Home". He also plays on those on the Verve "On Tour" album. Why not order the 2 CD set from hmv.co.uk, which sells it for only 5.99 pounds plus postage? Any ONE of the two CDs is worth more than that. I hope this helps. Sorry to hear about your disappointment.

My favorite is Eric Dolphy. I also really like Charles McPherson's alto work on that 1973 live album (I forget the album's name, but it's the one with Gerry Mulligan and Gene Ammons, who also play real well, but were not Mingus regulars.)

I've never heard negative criticism of Scott before. All the musicians that I've played with, especially the bassists, have raved about him. And, the proof is in the pudding: his recorded work sounds outstanding. No-one else in jazz could play the bass fiddle as well as Scott. The other guys that we love are fantastic in many cases, but are on a lower plane than Scott LaFaro.

"Time Out" is such a classic that, as Rudy would say, it would be a desecration to open up the session reels and issue studio coughs and false starts etc. I doubt that there is anything extra available anyway. That album was hard work, according to Dave, and I am sure that Dave wouldn't want alternates to be released. I do not believe that there ever was a piano solo on "Take Five". They were still feeling their way in 5/4, and Dave was occupied with providing that constant vamp to help everyone know where "one" was. Possibly, the vamp was thought to be necessary to help the listener, too; there was quite a fuss about that time signature back then, and I remember people complaining about it. I still maintain that Gene Wright was just a journeyman bassist. Reliable, amiable and good, but nothing like the top jazz guys such as Oscar Pettiford, Paul Chambers, Doug Watkins, Ron Carter etc. He was just what that quartet needed, providing a steady background for the soloists. My favorite Brubeck bassist was Norman Bates, though he was not in the top echelon either. He only left the group because he didn't want to travel so much.