Clunky

I'm a music lover and I've got a number of these audiophile 45rpm sets. The smallish number I have are largely sessions I'm particularly fond of and would like to get on vinyl in the best possible fidelity. These MM sets tick all these boxes although I've now slowed up purchasing them with none in the last year or so. Their downside is expense and bulk- they take up a lot of cash and shelf space. I don't think I'll be going for any of the 33rpm issues they're planning.

My only wish would be that the "jazz business" recovers sufficiently, so that artists I care about don't have to struggle quite so much.

Both these two are stunning. In fairness I've only listed to them in the last 48 hours but they sound great. The Ensemble disc is simply beautiful yet adventurous music of the highest order , to my ears it a progression form the earlier albums ( which are pretty good as it is). The solo disc benefits from the inclusion of a few standards which really help the cloth ear listener ( me) understand where Alex's radical approach is coming from. These standards offer a key to "understand" what's going on in the originals which make up the bulk of the program. Alex is clearly too modest to blow his own trumpet but these are very nice releases. Well done.

Thanks. I have not mentioned the Roscoe release 'cause it would seem self serving. It is a fine recording. well I'm interested in Roscoe and only have so much money. He's had a number of releases including a Rogue Art. Which one tops the list ?

These all took interesting. Other than the Taylor Ho Bynum which I have on order , I've heard none of these. All artists have been on my radar to some extent in recent years so no doubt some will come my way in 2014.

Very sad , played Undercurrent repeatedly the other day . Such beautiful music. Thanks.

Sir Douglas Quintet - Mendocino - (Smash) Bluesy, slightly country, modestly psychedelic , pretty good. next Urbie Green- ----Urbie Green Septet New Faces - New Sounds ---(Blue Note) - Toshiba 10inch, nice but hardly riveting date, perhaps not too surprising it's not seen domestic CD release.

Prompted by admiring some fantastic photos on the Nessa FB page I pulled out Roscoe's L-R-G etc. disc. I've admired Roscoe's music for 20 years (at least that's when I first bought Sound and Space Ensembles) but I do wonder how much I really understand what is happening in his music. Assuming I don't understand , does that matter or cani just enjoy it. The L-R-G disc is pretty challenging but repeatedly draws me back in to listen again and try once more to understand. For some reason I appear to be hearing more on tonight's listening than usual. Perhaps the photos have helped me. Good value music in that it bears repeated listening and still is full of surprises.

That is the definitive vinyl version of this LP. Other issues of this one (US) sound very 'tinny' and thin to my ears and so do the various CD issues. Not heard the King but the Music Matters edition is very good. Ditched my CD once I got the MM

2 very nice sets on that excellent blog, in pretty decent fidelity all considered. Sharp certainly can play and both bands are top notch.

RIP Captain Adventure. Saw him once in perform a short solo set as part of programme of piano solos.

Agreed , he was an amazing man. His dignity and commitment to equality and forgiveness was inspiring. Thank you.

Just two purchases today , space on the shelves is a limited as finance. Roosevelt Sykes------Honey Dripper/ BVD blues ----------Victor (USA) Earl "Father" Hines----------Reminiscing at Blue Note/ The Father's getaway-------BN 12 inch, yellow/blue label No. 5 ! My earliest Blue Note and one I'd not heard before. Hines is in great and pretty modern sounding form.

Agreed . See my long standing avatar for details

I'd pretty much agree with your comments. Tracks sourced from CD sound a little flatter but the set has very fine sound overall. I'm at a loss to explain why they sourced so many tracks from CDs rather than mint 78s ( given that the metal parts were out of reach). My best guess is that this was probably a last minute decision given that surely many of these must have been potentially available as 78s from collectors . The superiority of the newer transfers does underline how much the art of getting good transfers has progressed over the past decade.

I like this one. is this really a five star record?

something to do with St George.

The only one I know by Claudia Q is "Royal Toast" , I recall liking this one quite a bit, no idea whether this is representative of their oeuvre.

Earlier Hank Mobley set, discs 4-6, I was struck how good they sounded. I've some of this material on Japanese King LPs and I have to admit that the Mosaic CDs sound in most part just as good. Just my opinion , I know others have reservations regarding the Mosaic's SQ. Now........Chico Hamilton set..... Disc 4 Not played this in ages , sad to make it's reacquaintance under these circumstances.

By some margin, I'm interested but that's pretty expensive by any standard.

What an innings !! RIP and thanks for some great music.

Sonny Rollins ---------Now's the time---------(RCA) UK mono A bit of backwards step here but strong none the less.

Bud Shank---------Windmills of your mind-------(Liberty) Very fine Shank session from late 60s. If Mosaic were still doing Selects then Shanks' Pacific/Liberty albums would make great and surprisingly set.

Barry Harris ----- Chasin' the Bird---------(Riverside) stereo original - very fine session and the Riverside pressing good enough.. next. Archie Shepp------The Magic of Ju-ju---------(Impulse UK) 1968 UK stereo edition, Shepp's Impulses are all very strong. I don't see this one getting much love but it's a good date I was a bit underwhelmed by this date, seemed a bit of mess IIRC but it's been a while since I heard it.

"This is a bottle with a message and the message is... beware !" Still got the original vinyl recorded 'Live at the Classic, Silbury Hill' and with Vincent Wong the Sino-Scottish projectionist. Sad to say it , I used to know that LP word- for - word. It was a clever idea ( again) to give the impression of the film ( complete with projector breakdowns) being screened at the Classic.