Guy Berger

This is pretty ridiculous... though slightly less ridiculous than paying $39K/year for an education. Guy

I went on a bit of a binge, but for $136 or so it was a great deal (all new): Mozart, The Symphonies 11 CD box (Pinnock) Haydn, Sturm und Drang Symphonies 6 CD box (Pinnock) Tony Williams, Spring Duke Ellington, Such Sweet Thunder Duke Ellington, The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse Gateway, Gateway 2 Eric Dolphy, Far Cry Art Blakey, Three Blind Mice vol 2

No doubt about that. I'm of the opinion that the price was lowered because there are many alternatives that more or less perform equally well and cost much less. I think this is more or less right. In two years, you'll be able to get a 20GB MP3 player for $100 or less. Apple can claim some sort of "coolness" price premium, but as the competition gets fiercer... Guy

The alternates of Idle Moments also fit well into the mood of the CD -- it's one CD I'm not likely to stop or eject as soon as the original LP ends. Guy

A question about the 40 CD box -- how is the documentation relative to the Classics CDs? So I went for Eclipse (and Such Sweet Thunder, which I was set on picking up), though I'm sure a purchase of Uptown lies somewhere in my future. Hopefully in a couple of months, once I work off the backlog created by yesterday's CD purchasing insanity, I'll be able to get to work on the early Ellington stuff. Guy

I think an interesting tangential question is why there weren't any prominent "progressive" post-bop guitarists during the 1960s. This was a period where Miles, Trane, Mingus, Eric Dolphy, Grachan Moncur, Jackie McLean, Woody Shaw, Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson, Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Bobby Hutcherson, Larry Young, Walt Dickerson, Elvin Jones, Richard Davis, Tony Williams and others were all slowly pushing the boundaries of bebop and moving in various degrees toward more challenging settings. But I have a hard time thinking of major guitarists playing in the same style -- they mostly seemed rooted in bebop language. For example, Grant Green plays on a couple of more "progressive" BN dates (Solid, Into Somethin') and while he holds his own, he's always the most conservative musician on the date. Kenny Burrell, Joe Pass, Wes Montgomery, Barney Kessel... same thing. There's Sonny Sharrock, but he's not really a post-bop guy. Actually, I just thought of one guy who might fit the bill -- Gabor Szabo. Some of his stuff with Chico does take jazz guitar past bebop. And of course, John McLaughlin records a major post-bop guitar date on Extrapolation, but that's near the end of the decade. And some of Pat Martino's playing during the late 60s fits the bill as well. Any thoughts?

I've been posting a bit too much on this thread, but just wanted to say that I had a surprising rediscovery of the last 12/23 set. (Disc 7.) It's shorter than the other sets but has some of the best playing. It has maybe the best "Stella" of the engagement and the performance of "Yesterdays" (particularly Hancock's solo -- I like how he alludes to "Giant Steps") is terrific. The version of "All Blues" actually reminded of Mingus. And this set also has one of the best "Theme"s in the box. Guy

Today I was listening to a recording of Miles in Portland (1966). A great performance, six months after the Plugged Nickel engagement, with Richard Davis subbing in on bass. Davis is (unsurprisingly) much more active than Carter -- a bit of foreshadowing for Dave Holland's role in the group. Anyway, Miles is absolutely smoking on this album. It's kind of a shock -- I'd been listening to the Plugged Nickel stuff a lot over the previous week, and yeah Miles plays better on 12/23/65 compared to 12/22/65, but on the May '66 date he's on fire. He's playing as well as he did on Miles Smiles. This date is also cool because it has the earliest (AFAIK) recorded version of this quintet doing "Gingerbread Boy". They do it over a straight-eight rhythm rather than the more Ornette-ish version of October. Guy

My question is whether Andrew!!! will ever get reissued separately on CD. I slept on the Hill Mosaic but I really want to hear this session. Guy

Anybody else see the movie "Coffee and Cigarettes"? A couple of the characters discuss how they like to drink coffee before they go to sleep because it makes them dream faster. Guy

Just thought of another one... the alternate of Keith Jarrett's "Everything That Lives, Laments" from the Mysteries box set. Not sure if either take of "The Man I Love" (from Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants) counts as an "alternate", but they are both pretty awesome. Guy

Most often true but how about the labels not carried by Alldirect, such as Leo Records releases for $13.59 each, after discount? I actually noticed that the Mozart Symphonies set I want to pick up (conductor Pinnock) is actually cheaper with the Tower sale. Guy

Hey folks, I'm finally starting to dig into the Ellington catalogue and have two questions before I place any orders: 1) If I were to buy only one of Ellington Uptown or Afro-Eurasian Eclipse, which one should it be? (I'm leaning toward the former.) 2) As far as early stuff, am I better off picking up the Okeh (Columbia) and Brunswick/Vocalion (Decca/GRP) sets, or taking the Chronological Classics route. Would those two sets be sufficiently comprehensive for the years they cover, or would I be missing major recordings? Which set is better to start with? Guy

Unfortunately Tower's stuff is sufficiently overpriced that even a 15% off coupon doesn't make it cheaper than AllDirect. (At least fo rsingle CDs.) Guy

One more thought to add to Lazaro's -- listen to Miles's live recordings once Shorter joined the band (as early as September '64) and compare them to what Sam was doing on his BN albums. Guy

I'm pleased with the new Blanton/Webster reissue, though this is also the first encounter I've had with most of the music. The surface noise decreases dramatically as you make your way through the set. Guy

What about the alternate "Right Now" off Jackie Mac's album of the same name? Guy

I've been listening to this set a lot for the past week. A couple of things that stood out: "So What" (disc 5) is one of the best performances on the entire set. Miles has a great solo, and Wayne's explosive interchange with Tony Williams is one of the top 10 moments of the entire box. Herbie's solo on the second evening's "Milestones" (disc 6) is absolutely smoking! One of his best solos, IMHO.

I've had this for a while (bought it on Ebay one or two years ago). It's a great album, my second favorite of the five 60s AH albums I own. I'm not as familiar with it as I should be, but it has some of Joe Henderson's best 1963 playing. Guy

Thanks to John S. for tapping me. Recorded live at the Village Vanguard, February 24 1973. Personnel: Keith Jarrett (piano, soprano sax, percussion), Dewey Redman (tenor saxophone, musette, percussion), Charlie Haden (bass), Paul Motian (drums, percussion), Danny Johnson (percussion) I'm jumping the gun a bit here but thought I'd give people a chance to pick this up before July 25. It's available individually or (with bonus material) on the excellent Impulse Years, 1973-1974 box set. I'll save my comments on this wonderful, interesting album for next week.

Screw cities. It's all about Californian suburbia. North, south, I don't care, just give me wide roads and no tall buildings. Guy

Wasn't there a quote from Grace Slick about how "White Rabbit" was composed after heavy listening to Sketches of Spain? Guy

Yeah, that's what Hill said in an interview a while back. Lazaro, are you sure the liner notes say "Sam Rivers"? I'm not sure Rivers makes sense chronologically. Point of Departure was recorded in late March, but Rivers didn't join Miles until April. Wasn't he still in Boston until Miles called him up for the gig? Guy

I'm embarrassed to say that I only listened to this solo for the first time last night. Anyway, it sounded pretty great to me! By the way, there's that bit where Wein is trying to pull Duke off the stage... his foolishness is preserved for posterity on the record. (Though to be sympathetic, it's tough to be an event organizer!) Guy

David, I'm probably regurgitating stuff you've seen, but have you checked out the liner notes for the SR Mosaic? Michael Cuscuna includes some interesting comments from one of the rhythm section members about Sam's tenure in the band. Not sure if you've checked out Rick Lopez's website, but he quotes the following about Rivers's tenure with Miles: I think the bit about Miles approaching Dolphy is interesting. Maybe Eric's death could have been avoided... On the other hand, this pairing would probably have been a disaster. Also... I wonder whether Miles's feelings about Cecil had changed over the next few years. Chick's playing with the Lost Quintet drew a lot of inspiration from Cecil... Guy