Rob C

One I like that hasn't been mentioned is Tern by Louis Moholo/Keith Tippett/Larry Stabbins. Good stuff. What's with the Hamid Drake backlash? I know he gets praised to the skies in many quarters, so he could arguably be called "overrated", but he sure doesn't suck!

Just got Phase One, and is it great. Anyway, question on the new "with Fontella Bass" on Free America, if anybody knows. Is it by any chance the same recording as disc 2 of the "Live in Paris" that was reissued on BYG/Fuel 2000 recently? The track timings look familiar. Thanks.

FYI, Dusty Groove has Reese and Mu for $6.99 each....

I had hardly heard the AEC until about six months ago when I picked up Live in Paris and then sealed the deal with Full Force--I've been on a heavy kick since then, picking up the 67/68 box, Reese and the Smooth Ones, Fanfare for the Warriors, and the "American Swinging in Paris" disc with Les Stances a Sophie and People in Sorrow (which I just got a few days ago). I've also had the chance to hear "The Paris Sessions" and Tribute to Lester. I have some trouble getting my ears around some of it, but overall these guys are my most exciting recent discovery. (BTW, I picked up Reese along Don Cherry's Mu in the "New Traditionalists" box, which is a great deal--Mu is an excellent disc in its own right.) Anyway, of the ones listed above, my top rec would have to be the American Swinging in Paris disc or the single disc version of Les Stances. I'm pretty partial to Reese as well.

Hey, I almost went to this show but wasn't feeling that well that night. I might pick this up, depending on the reviews. I did go to the show, and I probably won't bother to pick up the disc. It was just okay.

I saw Maurice Brown for a second time this weekend, this time with Earnest Dawkins' New Horizons band (which I really liked, and I'd describe as a freer Jazz Messengers, more or less). Anyway, it's confirmed. This guy is the real deal. I think he's going places, because not only is he technically superb, and also really creative, but he's quite a showman. That's the killer combination, IMO, for making it outside the usual jazz subculture that everyone on this forum belongs to. Anyway, I'm really curious to hear thoughts on his CD....

I recently got the Parker JSP box and I think it's wonderful. However, it is not "complete". It surveys his studio recordings from the beginning (1940) through the Savoy and Dial years, ending 1948. It has only one take of each tune (other than including both the "Famous Alto Break", an incomplete take of Night in Tunisia, and a full take of NIT). It does not include any alt. takes. Also note that the takes that ARE included aren't necessarily the "master" takes. At least, they don't all match the takes on my Dial Masters set on Spotlite. Almost half of those takes are different. But who cares? If you're not a completist, this is a great way to get an overview of Parker's entire recording career pre-Verve. The sound is mostly pretty good, I think. The notes are nothing special, as someone else noted. Bottom line is, for the price I don't think you can do much better. If you have no or little Bird in your collection, you can't go wrong with this, and if you decide to get the complete Dials or Savoys at some point, you won't have wasted much dough on this set, and you'll have a decent amount of stuff that wasn't on those labels in the first place (the Jay McShann years, the sessions with Dizzy on Shaw Nuff, HotHouse and so on).

Scott Yanow's review in Cadence mentions a "bonus" disc in addition to the 9 "official" discs!

The answer clearly states that John Surman is a rarely used member of the saxophone family. I thought that was his record, so I said soprano. Isn't that Surman's "preferred" instrument?

I got basically the same work done a few years ago WITH dental insurance and it still cost me about a grand out of pocket!

Oh, and the Six Monk's Compositions is a good one to get, too.

I believe Dortmund (Quartet) 1976 is still available on hatology. A classic. Get it! The seventies quartets are probably the best place to start with Braxton, and it's unfortunate that so many are OOP. But I've managed to find quite a bit of OOP Braxton over several years of searching used record stores (including my most recent find, Performance (Quartet) 1979, which I believe is still scheduled for re-release on hat--a very, very nice one!). The Crispell/Dresser/Hemingway quartet is great, but, IMO, not the best place to start trying to appreciate Braxton's music. (I should know, their Santa Cruz disc was my first Braxton, and I couldn't make heads nor tails of it.) I like this band a lot now--when I'm in the right mood for it.

I was at the show, and that was a very nice write-up of it. I also liked Corey Wilkes better than I had in the past, I thought he and Roscoe engaged in some actual interplay, unlike the last time I saw them together (at the Malachi Favors memorial concert). Ted Sirota's Rebel Souls were no slouches, either, they played a very good set. But Roscoe is in another sphere all together--I haven't seen him live but a few times, but that was far and away the best playing I've seen from him, and his band was right there with him.

I just got two more Lacys, The Beat Suite and The Cry. Both are quite good, and I'm especially fond of The Beat Suite. I'm definitely coming around to Aebi's voice (every tune on both records is based on her singing of poems), which has taken me some time. (If nothing else, given Lacy's comments about her as his muse, and her role in his work of setting words to music, I have to imagine that his music would be a different and perhaps lesser thing without her.)

I've been listening to a lot of Lacy in the past week (and searching out threads on him, obviously). What a master. Anyway, I happened to pick up Dutch Masters last weekend. It's really good. Basically, a "blowing session", head-solos-head type of thing, relaxed and very enjoyable. You can't go wrong with the band: Mengelberg, Lacy, George Lewis, Ernst Reyseger and Han Bennink. Two comps each by Lacy, Mengelberg and (of course) Monk. I haven't heard Change of Season or Regeneration, earlier records by similarly constituted bands, but Dutch Masters is a winner. I'm curious about The Beat Suite. I could get a reasonably cheap copy, but I haven't seen a whole lot about it on the boards. Anybody have any thoughts...?

I saw it too, and thought he was pretty exciting. Also with Roscoe Mitchell's big band!

The "Lady" scene may well be the greatest scene in the history of television.

"I know what you're saying: 'But Mr. Rosso, if I don't drink, I won't be cool!' Well, maybe if you don't drink... you WILL be cool." This thread can just be dedicated to good quotes from the show. To bring this back round to jazz, sort of: "Some friends and relatives have told me they find it painful, uncomfortable, or too intense." A friend told me that Cecil Taylor made them nervous. I replied, "Well, me too. But sometimes I like to be nervous."

Got my DVDs yesterday (the regular edition), and watched the first episode. I'm just thrilled to have these, this may be my favorite show ever. They got the tone just absolutely RIGHT on this show: equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking. Nice package, too, even in the non-collector's item edition. "Six more pieces and it'll be bigger than Neil Peart's!"

He played last year's Chicago Jazz Fest with Roscoe Mitchell's big band and a bebop jam. I was very impressed by his playing in both instances, and by the fact that he functioned so well in both contexts. One notable trait, to me, was that he wasn't afraid to leave some space in his playing. I'm looking forward to hearing more from this guy.

I've been slowly coming around to Cecil (and Jimmy Lyons, too) for a few years. I would say that the just-reissued Conquistador! would be a great place to start exploring a little further. It's one of the best records I've heard from him. Haven't heard a ton of the FMPs, but I think Celebrated Blazons is a nice one.

I put on Unit Structures the other night and liked the music more than I remembered. But the sound is not very good (this is the domestic CD). The sound on the Conquistador! RVG is MUCH better. I think this may partially account for my strong perference for the latter.

I've been listening to this for the past few days, and I was thinking along those lines, too. To me, this sounds like a combination of Cecil's own unique style, a more "mainstream" '60s free jazz sound, and Blue Note's house sound. I love it. I've heard a cross section of Cecil's work from various periods from the '50s to the '90s, and while I admire it all, this is my favorite so far. (And Unit Structures might be my least favorite!)

Hmm, I guess I just can't hear it on my computer speakers. Well, anyway, I've made my peace with the buzz.

I guess that particular drum track was just badly recorded or mixed.... I watched a little of the CD-ROM video last night. That piece--and it's just the first track on the record that has this problem--seems to have three overdubbed drum tracks. The CD-ROM includes that track, and I don't hear the buzzing there! Weird. Well, a (fairly) minor complaint about a good record.