six string

I'm a big fan of Chris Anderson's too and if I could insert myself into this possibility for this AlSut album too I'd be most appreciative. I have the Inverted Image album on Jazzland and some cds but not the one you're talking about here. Although I like Love Locked Out a lot, I think I prefer the one he did with Charlie Haden even more None But The Lonely Heart. There was an album listed on Amazon a year or two ago that I was wanting to get but there either wasn't any available and it or they were prohibitively expensive. I don't know if it's this one on AlSut or not but I'd certainly be interested in acquiring one either way.

I have two interesting ones from a SF Bay Area perspective. A Hampton Hawes lp with a stamp with Dick Conte's name and address on Grant St. in San Francisco, who was a famous dj at KJAZ. The other is an lp by James Talley, Blackjack Choir signed "To Greil Marcus who started it all. All the (hard to read) Best? James Talley." I picked them up in Berkeley so not a big surprise that these guys would have lps in the used market here.

Indeed! After a self made hold on buying Bill Evans product after many years of "catching up" I have found myself binging on his output released after his passing. In just the last three months I bought the above box, the Keystone Korner set (The Last Waltz) and most recently the Top Of The Gate recording which I bought on vinyl. It's amazing how strong his playing was on those two from his last summer.

Looks good!

That's what I got (digipaks) I guess. I didn't know it had been reissued.

I know I have some music with him drumming outside of Quartet West but damn, I can't think of one at the moment. Even so, if he had only played with QW I would still say he made an important mark in jazz music. Keep on drummin' Larance. Save me a seat!

six string, would you like to share the link with us so that others can share in your find? I apologize for not seeing this earlier but I bought it at a brick and mortar shop in town so there was only one copy. Had there been more, I would have left a link for everyone. I'm not the kind of guy that would crow about something like that without sharing in the good fortune if it was available. The store was having a moving sale so the $36 price tag was reduced another 25% which made it irresistable. Is $36 a good price for it? I haven't been watching this one at all as I made a concious decision not to get it when it was released as I had so much Bill Evans and didn't feel I needed anymore but then many years passed and it had been so long since I heard any "new" music by him that I got weak and changed my mind especially at that price.

It's not a festival but Yoshi's in the SF Bay Area, both venues are hosting fewer jazz artists on any given week or month. I realise that many of the old guard have passed on in recent years but it's not like there aren't new jazz artists available to fill the void. It makes me wonder if the younger artists are finding other ways of making money like teaching and so have no use for traveling the country/world to play their music. It seems that the jazz audience has shrunk even more in the last decade or so to the point that jazz clubs and festivals can't expect big sales at the box office anymore. Lets face it, older fans don't get out as much as they did when they were younger which only compounds the problems of funding.

I wonder how many Barry Sadler purses will sell?

I just found the whole enchilada for less than thirty dollars so of course, I bought it.

I bought the final Bill Evans VV performances, Turn Out the Stars yesterday after holding out for how many years? From the first notes I knew it was going to be special. I've only heard the first two discs so far but I'm looking forward to hearing it all at some point. So far I have to say I prefer it to The Last Waltz, the Keystone Korner residencey a few months later. It has better sound and the performances so far are just a wee bit more inspired. That venue seems to draw out the best in anyone who's called it home.

I've always liked the official release and I own the Japanese cd and lp. Not only do we get to hear Rivers play in this great band but Tony Williams is a monster on this album. His highhat work is superb. It's my favorite period of Tony's, before he discovered his tom toms.

I found vol.2 a month ago and then a few days ago I found vol.1 (both on vinyl btw). I like them quite a bit though I haven't really had a chance to play them a lot (yet). Anyone w/Hank Jones on piano is bound to get my attention.

I haven't seen the Fishbone doc. yet but I have seen the Bernie Worrell one and I really enjoyed it. For those who have Netlix, you can stream it.

Am I alone in thinking that is a bizarre idea? Not so much a tribute to MJ or even a jazz tribute to MJ but a jazz tribute to MJ by ER?

Indeed, and his sound is so huge! SO many sax players (including Bird) sacrifice sound for speed. There was never any issue for Sonny, it seems - a sound as big as Jug's or Grant Green's - the speed of a Sonny Stitt - and the funkiness of no one else. MG So true! I never play his music casually in the house. I have to be ready to listen when I play a Sonny Criss record. His playing demands it.

If it's the material collected in early quartets - Clouds in my head; Shimri; Green shading into blue - then i've the vinyls. I'd say they were all interesting but maybe not essential. I feel they're let down a little by the writing. The playing is generally very good. I hear a rigidness to the arrangements and perhaps a rhythmic deficit which is inexplicable if you consider Andersen's ability - maybe the drummers? I purchased them primarily to hear Juhanni Aaltonen, sax and flute, a personal favourite whose contributions are very strong. Overall they rarely seem to catch fire and display a certain tentativeness. Compared to the near contemporaneous Garbarek/Stenson dates (also just compiled in a box) then they're less adventurous My favourite of them is Shimri. If you see Lifelines (w. Kenny Wheeler) then grab it, it's everything the quartets aren't and it has Kenny Wheeler which is good enough for anyone, surely Agreed with the points above. I also really like his performance on Nana, with Edward Vesala and Juhani Aaltonen, but that's way earlier. Thanks guys! Duly noted. That's the thing about albums though. Having great musicians is one thing, they sometimes need really good material to complete the picture. They might be able to improve simpler songs with their personal sound/technique but ultimately better songs will yield better recordings. Excuse me for maybe stating the obvious. I can't remember the titles but the lps of Andersen's were like 1977 and/or 1978 or there abouts so what I would surmise as his early (first) albums under his own name on ECM. I've enjoyed his playing a lot over the years on other people's albums.

I thought she'd always been old. I'm a great fan of her playing but I don't detect that she's playing better now that when I first heard her many years ago. She's always played beautifully. What do you mean by "I thought she'd always been old." ?? Did you mean good instead of old? When I say she's gotten better in no way do I mean she was not good before. She was great imo and she's become even greater in recent years. The difference? She's slowed her playing down for the most part and makes every note count. Many musicians feel like they have to "prove" they are worthy by playing fast and Jessica can play as fast as anybody out there. She doesn't feel a need to play "who's the fastest gun in town" game anymore. So I really like what she's saying these days but make no mistake, I liked what she was saying back in the 80s and 90s too. Which is whay a also said I was still waiting on James Carter. I saw him a couple of times in his earlier days and he was a little too bombastic to me yet you can hear the shear talent this guy has. One of these days I hope he figures that out. To be clear also, I'm not comparing Jessica to James or vice versa.

Today I saw a few albums by Arild Andersen from the late 70s, both quartet recordings and the same band members though I can't regurgitate that info. Has anyone heard or owned some of his early stuff? I know him primarily with Bobo Stenson recordings and a few others but I've not heard his own stuff. Any help would be appreciated.

My first jazz album was either I Sing The Body Electric or Bitches Brew, I'm not sure. I wouldn't say either of them got me really hooked because it took a lot of plays for those albums to click with me. What really got me to be a total jazz head was going to a local jazz club back in the mid 80s and listening to Jessica Williams play on Wednesday nights every week and then going to her house concerts once a month which were hosted by local fans at Jessican's house. It was always a potluck and bring your favorite beverage, ahem. Jessica played either solo or with any number of musicians up to maybe four but usually smaller. I met a lot of wonderful people who have become life long friends and some of them and Jessica were my guides into the exotic (to me) world of jazz. That's when I almost completely stopped listening to anything else but jazz which went on for almost a decade. I am indebted to those friends for helping me find my way and I try to return the favor with others when they are receptive to it. They are some of my favorite jazz moments. Jessica played either solo or trio format, usually with John Witala and Kenny Wolleson for many years until Kenny moved off to NY and became a go to guy in the drum department. Fun times, fun times.

At a small antique store last week I found a couple of great bargains. A Night In Tunisia - Art Blakey (one side is a 47 West 63rd label and the other is a NY label) 1984 - Yusef Lateef (Impulse) Black and Orange label, stereo pressing All Of You and Alhambra by Ahmad Jamal on Argo (dark blue stereo labels) Jazz Contemporary - Kenny Dorham on Time Records stereo pressing Softly As A Summer Breeze - Jimmy Smith (Blue Note)mono New York pressing All of them in great shape and only $5 each. He had some other good titles but I already had them so I left them behind. I'm going to be watching that space for a while.

In case anyone here thought I was crazy, no I didn't stay in Needles. I went to Sacramento which some people would say is just as bad but I would beg to differ. Anyway, records did not suffer one bit.

I moved close to 1,000 lps in 1985 from Texas to California in October. When I pulled into Needles, Ca at 6pm it was 100 degrees (f). My records survived without any trouble. I had them in the back of a pickup truck with a campershell on back. I bought the truck just before I moved so I could do it. I had a couple of cases of wine that I wasn't able to drink up and most of them survived as well. I remember one bottle of Cabernet that tasted a little barnyard like when I got around to opening it a year later but that wouldn't have been from the heat though the temp might have pushed those attributes up a little. If you pack them as instructed above I'm sure they'll be fine though I understand your worry. It's natural. Good luck on your roadtrip and your new life in NYC. Part of me wishes I was doing the same but the majority of me is glad I'm not moving anymore. Well at least not until they put the tag on my toe and give me my last ride on a gurney.

What you might want to consider is having the Mbari cover on the inside fold of the cd cover so that one could "fold" the cover inside out and have the Mbari cover showing instead of the Arista/Freedom cover. I did that with a Monk reissue on Columbia. Coincidently I found a vinyl copy of 'Coon Bid'ness recently in Berkeley. When I took it to the counter with my other purchases the guy ringing up my finds stopped for a moment when he came to that one and told me he was glad I found that copy in the store. I see Chuck's post now in between editing so never mind on the cover thing.

Great news. I probably have the tracks spread over those other albums on cd but I'd like to have them all together and with the MM treatment they'll sound ace.