Clunky

Ronnie Scott- Serious Gold (Pye)- Coltranesque but nice stuff Introducing Villegas- Columbia (6 eye)- pretty beat but rather flashy pianist with a slightly unusual approach- don't know much (anything) about him. Jazz at the Plaza Vol 2- rather distant sounding Ellington plus guests, presumably recorded at the same bash that gave rise to the Miles Plaza set.

Fopp in UK has this for £5 at the moment, exciting stuff but sounds wise it's a little harsh on the ears but still acceptable enough. Woods never seems to get much attention other than being a Bird copyist but I like what I've heard so far.

Clunky - I can tell you exectly when these came out. Summer of 1976. I remember picking up a bundle with some of my very hard earned Summer job cash. The jackets were from the US and a bit worn, even as new. The vinyl was pristine - in fact the version of 'Love Supreme' I have from this vintage is about the best I've ever heard. From that first batch I also picked up 'Blues and the Abstract Truth'. At the time they were a source of major excitement, as Impulses were pretty thin on the ground here in the UK (I believe that the originals were issued here in the UK on the HMV label with dog logo - I have an Archie Shepp LP with this). The one Impulse pressing that I thoroughly hate are those mid-70s flimsy green pressings. Every time I look at them they just reek of 70s oil price escalation and third-hand inferior vinyl. And they are always invariably warped.. Thanks, sleeve is actually pretty crisp and vinyl is super quiet, I follow your advice and avoid any green Impulses !!

Nice Hines

Earl Hines- A Monday Date- Riverside (Mono)- produced by our own ChrisA

Anthony Braxton- For trio- Arista Bud Freeman trio- Commodore Jimmy Ryans Uptown Cafe- Commodore Barry Harris- Argo LP - I forget the name

Ray Bryant - Alone with the blues- Esquire 32-106 ( solos from Dec19th 1958), no idea what label these orginate from, fine playing even if there is a fair bit of crackle

Shirley Scott- For members only- Impulse (Mono, original issue). Took a chance on this, not really wowed by this kind of thing but it's a nice set with trio one side and Oliver Nelson's orchestrations on the other. Great sound too. A snip at £2. Great find or no !!!!

thanks

What Hep issue,?? I wasn't aware of any Hines on Hep.

presumably from the Verve vaults, recorded 1952/54

The Hathut 2 CD is interesting but fairly abraisive stuff, the recording is very clear but hard as a result, not for bacground listening. I've had this for several years and listen to it in small chunks but I do always return to it, ................ so.....

Lou Bennett - Amen - RCA - groovy ( very clean original pressing) Woody Herman Discovery Vol 2- ( just broke the seal on this one) Mars recordings with a few solo spots by Arno Marsh.

I recently got the Basie "Kansas City Suite" LP , it's a Forum pressing which I believe was a grocery store off shoot of Roulette. No personnel or date of recording is given. I presume this was on the Mosaic set. Anyone prepared to post the info as AMG wasn't much help.?

This one was floated as possible reissue by MPS but I'm not sure how concrete the plans might be. I'd certainly like to hear it

same here, back then the brochures also had a brief article or even an interview elevating it above being a mere sales leaflet ....

for Woody's Phillips recordings, recently got all five at once ; 1963, Big Band Goodies, Encore 1963, 1964, Live in Holywood (?). All British issue LPs in fine condition. Goodies seems to be derived from outakes from the previous four sessions, it's none the worse for it. Perhaps there could be more in the vaults?

here and welcome by the way fresh sounds spain

Recently picked up and have generally been enjoying a couple of Boyd Raeburn LPs ( Man with horns and Boyd meets Stravinsky) both on Savoy ( and irritatingly dates of recordings not given). Now some of the vocals are pretty dire but the sound of the band and the Handy arrangemnts sound pretty radical for 1945/6. These Savoy sides are a nice complement to "Standard Transcriptions" 2CD on Hep. Hep have another set of Jubilee broadcasts too which I've not heard. Unfortunately the Savoys have no sessions featuring Lucky Thompson but we get a host of excellent soloists including Gillespie, Chaloff and a host of talent but otherwise obscure ( to me at least) players. Raeburn doesn't get much of shout these days. Was his music a deadend or did Kenton or others take it further? There is also something 3rd stream and quite cool about this stuff.

Errol Garner -Soliloquy ( 6 eye -if that's important) - it's a 1957 solo session with 6 great tracks, I'm not at all familiar with Garner but this album strikes me as very strong, not sure if it's been out on CD. He sounds more modern and less gushingly romantic here than I expected. Liners state that 16 tracks were recorded at the session in Feb 1957, so i guess some must have been available on other LPs.

I just noticed that 2 tracks on the LT disc "Yesterdays Child" Musidisc 500602 are recorded live and though uncredited must be from the session "Live At Cook County Jail". The tracks are On green dolphin street and Everything happens to me Missing from this session is Cherokee, any available sources??

Crazy jazz are having a OOP Mosaic auction crazy jazz I have no connection with them...............

My only beef with DG is the grading of LPs. I have bought just 2 both graded as VG and VG-. The latter one had plenty of visible deep scratches but was just playable but not "Very good" however it's defined. Perhaps that's how it works but it struck me as a little misleading.

Italian LP (No 82) of Lucky Thompson's last session, sadly it omits one track Elijah ?

Correct, solo honours evenly divided between Malaby, Cheek and Curtis Fowlkes. Miguel Zenon himself was no slouch either, the two trumpet players had few opportunities really but Mike Rodriguez had a nice brief solo on "Amazing Grace". Malaby's gruff intensity played off against Cheeks warm and fluffy style. Both utterly different but equally compelling soloist. Oh and Fowlkes can really blast it. He was the tops. Haden announced the music as a message to send Bush and Chaney to the North Pole. What the North Pole had done to deserve this wasn't actually made clear , Anyway pieces followed on in one 90 min. set with Haden's "Not in our name", Metheny, Bley, America the beautiful, Amazing Grace, an unknown, and finally Samuel Barber's "Adagio". Bleys characteristic kaleidoscope of musical influences was fully on show with Mexican marching band jostling with gospel cadences and even a hint of reggae juxtaposed in her surreal manner. Either you like it or hate it. I favour the former. Haden and Bley had little solo space and neither didn't do much on their own instruments to excite. Ensemble work was tight and punchy. The theme of America being a place capable of transcending the current political problems was etched out to the rapturous audience which lapped it up and appauled every bit of anti-Bush sentiment. Haden seemed happy and gave the impression that he thought it was, on balance, worth his while coming to Edinburgh. 8 out of 10.