bolivarblues

And that one's in the books! Great show all around; Holland was all smiles and drummer Eric Harland was a power house, providing the spark that the rest seemed to feed off of. Soloists Robin Eubanks (tb), Sasha Sipiagin (tp) and Antonio Hart (ts) were all in top form, with Sipiagin and Eubanks getting the bulk of the solo space and Hart chiming in with some wonderful, bluesy stylings. Pianist Mulgrew Miller not only was missing in the house mix, but he also seemed to be operating separately from the rest of the group, with his comping and very occasional solo spot more an afterthought than an integral part of the band, which was slightly disappointing. Miller shown brightly, albeit briefly, when afforded the chance, but I couldn't help think that he was perhaps having a hard time fitting in the space Steve Nelson's vibes usually occupy. The set had a few nice surprises, including "Interception" from Conference of the Birds, which featured a hard-hitting, snare-busting solo from Harland, and "Equality" from Dream of the Elders, minus, of course, the Cassandra Wilson vocal. The show was a bit brief at about 90 minutes, including a one-song encore ("Pass It On," dedicated to Ed Blackwell), but I felt privileged to catch the band on a great night. Holland himself seemed a bit surprised by the audiences enthusiastic standing ovation before the encore, remarking "can we do a second night?" after coming back for another bow and one more for the road. If only, if only...

Leaving in just half an hour to see The Dave Holland Sextet in Knoxville, TN.

Could Alan Douglas' influence be part of the problem? I don't know much about the man, but I do know that he was associated somehow with Jimi Hendrix (and other British rock acts), maybe as manager at some point. Could it be that he wasn't as familiar with producing jazz acts? Corea's discography at jazzdisco.org says that the record was recorded at Impact Sound in New York, which I've never heard of, nor can I find evidence of any other recording I own being recorded there. Just speculating, but Douglas could have been an "oustider" as far as jazz goes, and used a studio and engineers that were perhaps familiar to him, but inexperienced with recording jazz artists. Rudy Van Gelder recorded Basra just two years prior, with the same tenor/piano/bass/drums format and with fairly similar modal compositions, and the results are of typical Van Gelder quality - which is to say much better sonically than its sucessor.

Yeah, the piano sounds like it might be a pawn shop upright special in bad need of tuning, but that's a big part of why this record sounds so unique.

Pete LaRoca - Turkish Women At The Bath John Gilmore (ts) Chick Corea (p) Walter Booker (b) Pete LaRoca (d) Recorded May 25, 1967 Pete Sims (née LaRoca) has been one of jazz's most tragically under noticed performer/composers, perhaps owing to the fact that he's spent more time as an attorney than as a jazz musician. His first lawsuit, ironically, was over this week's AOTW, which was released against his wishes on the Muse label as Bliss, under pianist Chick Corea's name. Though he began his career as a timbales player in Latin groups (hence the name change), his initial entry to my collection (and many others, as well) is as drummer on the first track on Sonny Rollins' A Night At The Village Vanguard. Other highlights from his early career include Booker Little's fabulous Booker Little And Friend, Joe Henderson's Our Thing and Page One, along with stints with Jackie McLean, Paul Bley, Steve Kuhn, Marian McPartland, Freddie Hubbard, to name a few. He was also the drummer for John Coltrane's first working quartet, giving way to Billy Higgins, and eventually Elvin Jones. He has since returned to jazz, having recorded one album, 1997's Swingtime (Blue Note). Despite his appearances as a sideman, his real contribution to jazz lore, however brief, was his two solo albums during the 60s, Basra (Blue Note) and Turkish Women At The Bath (Douglas). Perhaps another reason why he is so rarely mentioned in jazz circles is the fact that neither of these recordings is readily available in the United States. Basra was slated for release in the States as a Blue Note RVG series title in February of 2005, but it was pulled at the last minute because someone, presumably LaRoca himself, had reservations about releasing a record with the title "Basra" at a time during which the U.S. was engaged militarily in Iraq. As a result, one must track down the Japanese release or the copy-controlled British RVG in order to enjoy this 60s modal classic, though given the quality of LaRoca's compositions and the fire of Joe Henderson's tenor work, it's well-worth the effort. Turkish Women At The Bath has also suffered a star-crossed past, and is difficult (and at times pricey) to track down. Originally released on Douglas records in 1967, the album's theme came as a suggestion from producer Alan Douglas, who asked LaRoca to record an album based on the famous Ingres painting by the same name. For whatever reason, the recording failed to garner the attention it deserved, and it quickly vanished into obscurity. Further complicating matters is the fact that Douglas sold the record to Muse, who released it under Chick Corea's name. After LaRoca's successful lawsuit, Muse took TWATB off the market, and it remained unavailable until the 32 Jazz label re-released it in 1997. Since 32 Jazz is now defunct, this classic recording, which I rank as one of my top ten favorite jazz recordings, remains out-of-print. To me, the charm of this record lies in its atmospheric sound, which combines spooky modalism with an acoustical ambiance that sounds as if it were recorded in the ball room of a medieval castle. Corea's piano work is hauntingly surreal, and Gilmore's shimmering sax work provides the melodic thrust for LaRoca's inspired compositions, which vary in feel from Middle Eastern to African, at times within the same song. Walter Booker provides a heavy-toned support to the proceedings. LaRoca sounds as if he's been listening some to Elvin Jones (what drummer wasn't at that time?); though his chops are more than adequate for the proceedings, his real contribution is that of composer, having written each of the album's seven offerings. TWATB is a very rewarding listen, one that I go back to often, always finding something new and intriguing each time. It's unfortunate that this record, as well as its inspired predecessor Basra, remains so difficult to obtain; I would encourage any fan of Corea, Gilmore or modal jazz in general to put forth the effort required to acquire these recordings. You won't be disappointed!

My favorite Select is the first one, Grachan Moncur III, but this one has really started growing on me lately. Perhaps I set myself up for a let down by getting all excited when I heard it was coming out and pre-ordering the set, but Hill's Mosaic Select didn't do a whole lot for me right away. I'm thinking that maybe the problem was the way the material was sequenced, jumping from a sextet to a string quartet, then to a trio and back to septet and sextet, as well as the different players and styles on each session. I solved this recently by dividing the three CDs up in iTunes using playlists, consisting of each configuration (i.e. 1969 string quartet sessions, Jan. 16-23, 1970 sextet sessions, etc.). The stylistic shifts are much easier to deal with by tackling one at a time. BTW, does anyone have the original track listing for One For One? I'm thinking that using the Mosaic Select set, as well as Pax, one could recreate One For One. Is there anything I'm missing?

Yeah, killer cans there! Thanks for the pic, Unc!

Howie's been a bit busy with "Deal Or No Deal" lately. Maybe that explains the delay.

In the strictly digital realm, you're just copying data, and as long as the data is copied correctly, copy 1,000 should sound the same as copy 1, but the rub is that which each successive generation comes the increased possibility of copying errors, which present themselves as clicks and pops, rather than the sort of anomalies typical of the analog realm, such as decreased s/n ratio and the like. Or at least that's my best guess. I'm not sure what you're talking about when you speak of playing the CD as audio and copying in real-time. As pointed out above, if at any point in the process you're talking about the D/A convertor is introduced, all bets are off. If you're taking a digital copy, which is converted through the D/A convertor to analog for output, then you record the output (which involves the A/D convertor), you've introduced significant loss of quality as early as the second generation.

I'm looking for a .jpg (or any other format) of the cover of Andrew Hill's Mosaic Select box, preferably somewhere around 500 x 500 dpi, for use in my iTunes library. I can only find smaller sizes online, and I don't have a scanner to scan the cover myself.

What's to be ashamed about? Carnegie Hall is a great record. In fact, I'll probably end up getting the newly remastered set sometime soon. Terry Kath is incredible!

I've seen Eat The Document; a good friend of mine has a copy. Some pretty funny stuff there, along with some pretty boring footage. Good bit with Dylan and The Band's Richard Manuel pulling pranks in public. Your best bet for finding a copy is dimeadozen.com. It might take you several attempts to get registered because they have a cap on memberships.

This should be a fairly accurate account of my listening habits during the past year. Ninety-percent of my listening is done in my bedroom, using iTunes on my desktop computer. These results are derived from a "smart playlist" that contains everything that I've listened to at least once since 1/1/06; by sorting the playlist by playcount, I have list of what I've listened to the most. By album: Thelonious Monk With John Coltrane - At Carnegie Hall Andrew Hill - Point of Departure Bill Evans - Waltz For Debby John Coltrane - Live At Birdland Thelonious Monk - Misterioso John Coltrane - The Heavyweight Champion I had to go pretty far down the list to find something outside of jazz, but here's the top five non-jazz listens: A.C. Newman - The Slow Wonder Loose Fur - Born Again In The U.S.A. Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea Dinosaur Jr. - You're Living All Over Me Doug Gillard - Salamander

In no partucular order... Sicily St. Croix Tahiti Coronado Maui Honorable mentions.. Gilligan's Alcatraz Rikers How could you omit the Isle of Lucy? See, that's the problem with these damned lists!

John Coltrane Miles Davis Thelonious Monk Bob Dylan The Beatles

In 1986 or so, one of the very first boxed sets that I can recall was Bruce Springsteen's Live 1975-85, which I received for Christmas that year (in cassettee form, no less!). It was in that big, LP-sized box.

The best Dylan "bang for the buck" going is 16-CD SACD set, which you can get through yourmusic.com for $95.84 (though the prices go up Jan. 1; after that, it will be $16 more). Still, even at the higher prices, you can beat this collection. All SACDs have regular CD layers, as well, so it's fully-compatible. The only real quirk is that there are some puzzling omissions, such as The Times They Are-A-Changin' and Bob Dylan (1st album), though I understand this may have to due with difficulties with the master tapes, rather than any cannonical decision. Five of the discs also have 5.1 mixes. This gives you a pretty good head start if you're interested in owning a serious Dylan collection. Also worth picking up, besides the omitted albums I mentioned, are the Bootleg Series - everyone a winner. There's the classic, and perhaps most crucial of all, Vol. IV 1966 "Royal Albert Hall" Concert (though the RAH designation was a bootlegger's error from the early 70s; it was actually at Manchester Free Trade Hall). I've had numerous bootleg copies over the years, with sound ranging from average to very good, but this version finally has it sounding as good as it possibly can. Then there's the Vol. V 1975 Rolling Thunder Review, with Mick Ronson on lead guitar, playing at his very finest. The Vol. VI 1964 Concert At Philharmonic Hall is the official version of the classic bootleg All Hallow's Eve. Vols. I-III are compiled in a three-CD box set, consisting of various alternate takes, unreleased and live material. This one I don't listen to as much as the live sets, and I don't consider as necessary for the Dylan collector. Outside the realm of legal recordings, there's also the Basement Tapes material, which is also worthy of consideration. The official release suffers in comparison to some of the better bootlegs, which you really don't have to (nor should you) pay for anymore, since it's easily available through CD trading networks and such. I've had the official release, as well as the bootleg The Genuine Basement Tapes, but the best sounding of all, IMO, is the four-volume A Tree With Roots, compiled by the now-defunct Dylan Tree web collective. It's a remastered collection that allegedly consists of all of the available Basement Tapes material. Here's a link where you should be able to find it. If not, drop me a PM and I can likely be of some further assistance. And since we're talking about Dylan and the Band, check out the boot Paint The Daytime Black. Also available in previous incarnations as St. Valentine's Day Massacre, this 1974 concert with the Band has both acts firing on all cylinders. Most of the official Before The Flood was taken from three days worth of recordings from the L.A. Forum; this collection consists of one of those three days, and to me is the better of the two, both in terms of sound quality and performance. And again, these recordings can be found fairly easily through the various trading networks. Just Google a Dylan discussion board and you'll soon be in the right direction, or sign up (which can take a while) to Dimeadozen.com.

Where do you get this info? The USPS website only lists Monday Jan. 1 as a postal holiday. http://www.usps.com/communications/news/uspscalendar.htm Never mind. I just Googled this. More meddling by W, further delaying my important CD deliveries! No disrespect to President Ford, but life must go one.

I've been digging Miles' Blackhawk recordings lately, and I must say ole Hank really shines, as does Wynton Kelly. Hell, they're all in top form! I don't understand how Mobley has the reputation he does; he's one of the most uncessarily maligned players I can think of. But his reply to Miles' alleged criticism was something to the effect of "If Miles thought enough of my playing to hire me, and he told me he liked what I was doing, then that's good enough for me." The man is flat out cookin' on Blakey's Cafe Bohemia records, and he really shows his strength as a baladeer on "Alone Together." He has melodicism to spare, has a smooth, well-roundd tone, is near-perfect in his solo construction and has serious chops when needs to call on a bit of flash. Maybe the problem people have with him is that he's too good; to hear him play, it all sounds so effortless! All this "middleweight champion" stuff is just back-handed put-downs. But he really doesn't need the unanimous praise of the jazz intelligentsia; the man is well-recorded and has volumes to speak for his legacy.

I'm sure it will be. It's the only business model that makes sense for them. Sonny Rollins and Monk can't be far behind. What are the two upcoming Trane boxes? According to the Fearless Leader booklet, two more Prestige-era Trane boxes are due - one focusing on his albums as co-leader (w/ Burrell, Quinichette, etc.) and all-star jam sessions, and the other his sideman work. Combined with Fearless Leader, you'll have everything that was in the previous Coltrane Prestige box, albeit with improved remastering and in smaller, easier-to-digest chunks. Thanks. That's a great way to handle it, though I could live without paying for yet another reissue of his stuff with Miles, since I have the Miles set already. As with the previous Prestige box, the Miles stuff is not included.

I've been a member for about 2 years, and the customer service/shipping times haven't always been so poor. It's really only been in the last couple of months that the decline has been evident. As for customer service - what customer service? E-mail is the only way to reach them (using a web form), and they have not replied to the last three or four messages I've sent, regarding serious problems I was having where my orders were doubling and tripling themselves (order one disc, then I check history and it says two discs, next time three discs...). Shipping notification e-mails, if I get one, are often very late - my last notification came the day after the item had already arrived. The "order history" feature is about useless - the shipment date isn't posted usually until several days after it ships. I wonder if they are making a deliberate attempt to slow down service. I was typically getting a CD shipped out within two days of ordering, and then the shipment was taking four days. There was no real need to pay for expedited shipping since the regular shipping was so prompt. And since they can't do anything about how quickly the postal service ships your order, they can sit on the package for a few extra days and slow things down a bit. I used the $7.99 expedited shipping option before Christmas because the website said it was the only way to get the order in time for Christmas. Three business days after the order, there it was at my front door, courtesy DHS. But item sent from my queue, just two days after that order, showed up yesterday - a good week and a half after the expedited item. I typically don't do business with anyone that shows such utter lack of concern for customer service, but even at $6.99 each, with the lastest Blue Notes available within 4-6 months of their release, I guess I'll stay on board.

I'm sure it will be. It's the only business model that makes sense for them. Sonny Rollins and Monk can't be far behind. What are the two upcoming Trane boxes? According to the Fearless Leader booklet, two more Prestige-era Trane boxes are due - one focusing on his albums as co-leader (w/ Burrell, Quinichette, etc.) and all-star jam sessions, and the other his sideman work. Combined with Fearless Leader, you'll have everything that was in the previous Coltrane Prestige box, albeit with improved remastering and in smaller, easier-to-digest chunks.

After giving it another go, it seems to me that Williams sounds a bit more subdued, if there's such a thing as far as he goes. Maybe "subdued" isn't the proper word, but there seems to be less of his push and pull he does with the tempo, as in "Eighty-One," where at 3:15 he's playing accented 1/16th notes on his ride cymbal, then around 3:29 switches up with long, syncopated notes that seem to temporarily suspend the meter, back to the 1/16ths, then the long notes, then sending the groove skipping into a shuffle beat around 3:49. Contrast that with "Paraphranellia" where his series of Blakey-esque press rolls seem to demarcate various sections of the song; the bits in between those rolls aren't quite as phrenetic as usual, and the result is that the band has more space to work with, hence the gradual progression towards In A Silent Way. As Williams goes, so goes the quintet, and it seems that his evolving style is leading the group towards more open sonic landscapes and away from the more frenzied, hyper-bop of the previous three records. Or, in classic chicken/egg fashion, was Williams merely responding to Miles' directions? Perhaps a bit of both. Disclaimer: I am not a drummer, so if there are any drummers out there, please forgive me if my terminology isn't exactly right. I think it's properly conveying what I hear, but then again, there's a chance I could be wrong. It's happened before.

Damn, I keep trying to pull the trigger on the Basie box! I just haven't been able to do it, yet. Perhaps I should before time runs out, in two days! I have, however, picked up Miles Davis' Get Up With It and Trio Beyond's Saudades as last-minute purchases. Still waiting...Is it me, or has yourmusic gotten significantly slower with their delivery times over the last few months?

Thanks for mentioning this record; I'm going to give it another listen here in a few minutes. Like a few others here, it's one of my least favorite records of the second quintet, but that's not to belittle its greatness, at all; the least of their records still shames the best of most others. But being somewhat transitional in nature, I tend to favor Miles Smiles, Sorcerer and Nefertiti on one end, and In a Silent Way on the other. So it gets lost in the shuffle a bit, so I'm going to give it a fresh spin and see how it goes.