GA Russell

Now I'd like to say a few words about the bonus disk. I was really psyched to hear it. As I suggested above, I would have paid $14.99 for it. But now that I have heard it, I am disappointed. I suppose that those of us who are not collectors of bootlegs need to be reminded that not every discovered tape is of the quality of Monk with Coltrane at Carnegie Hall. I am more positive about the three main disks than Chuck is, because of the recorded order presentation. But I am apparently more negative about the bonus disk than Ed Rhoades is, because of the sound. Thanks for that informative post Ed! To continue the scenario mentioned above, having heard the music, if all four disks were sold separately listed at $17.99 and discounted on the internet to $14.99, I would spend the $14.99 for the three main disks, but I wouldn't buy the bonus disk. Three times $14.99 is $44.97, which is more than the price of the box, so it's still a good deal. I can imagine that those of you who are completists and Trane fanatics would choose to buy the bonus disk and be satisfied, but for most people I don't think the bonus disk cuts the mustard. All of the music is good, but I don't think that any of it is as good as that of the five albums. Maybe Prestige caught lightning in a bottle three times at the three recording sessions. But let's look at the sound. Here's the track list: Max and Mind were performed on The Tonight Show November 17, 1955, the day following the first Prestige session. (Speaking of which, I'm really digging that session now more than ever.) The fidelity of both sounds like 1940s era. Mind sounds like the tape was improperly stored over the years, and shouldn't have been included, except for curiosity's sake. Tune Up and the first Walkin' were performed at a Philly club and caught by a radio show called Bandstand USA on December 8, 1956, six weeks after the final Prestige date. The sound is muffled throughout, but passable. Paul Chambers' Walkin' bass solo suffers from some strong overmodulation. The remaining four tunes were performed May 17, 1958 (48 years ago tonight!) at the Cafe Bohemia, also for Bandstand USA. On all of them, Miles' trumpet is overmodulated. This is particularly annoying during Blackbird because of Miles' use of the mute. As Ed mentioned, Bill Evans has replaced Red Garland for the '58 date. Evans is unrecognizable, playing much funkier on Blackbird and the second Walkin' than anything I've heard of his Riverside recordings. Two Bass Hit is only 53 seconds long before the quick fade out, too short to make a contribution. The disc is 39 minutes, including 4 minutes of Steve Allen introductions. Judging from the many comments about Mosaic boxes, Miles boxes and the Monk with Coltrane at Carnegie Hall disk, there are many of you who value the book. I agree that a good book makes a box set more special, but I don't place the premium on it that many of you do. In this case, the book is an enjoyable read. Much of it is in the style of Ira Gitler liner notes, and the comments on the bonus disk are informative. I would pay the price of a magazine for the book, not much more. In sum, I'm really, really glad to have this box. But I don't expect to listen to the bonus disk very often. edit for typo

Running low - John Coltrane Plays for Lovers It looks like they are getting out of the Fantasy business! I plan to order this one next payday.

Chaney, as stated above, CDU had set their regular price at $48.29. I see that has been changed. I agree with you that pre-ordering to save 16 cents doesn't make much sense, unless you're really hot to trot for an album.

Jim, I had a problem twice yesterday. I was unable to post using the apostrophe key. When I hit it, the later letters would be entered into the File Attachments space. Let's see now. Nope, now it's OK!

Tranemonk, the release date is May 23.

I have spent much of the day listening. Here is what I have found: I should start by saying that I assume that everyone has the five OJCs. I bought the five LPs years ago, and never got the material on CD. I listen to them occasionally, but I do not visit any of my LPs very often. I cannot speak too highly of the three CDs which encompass the five albums. Hearing the songs in recording order is like hearing the music for the first time. The 24 bit sound is terrific. The music sounds great on both my stereo system and my small Sony boombox. (I am not an audiophile. My system was pretty decent when I bought it, but that was years ago.) I will post about the bonus disk later. I do not want this post to run too long. Here is my recommendation: Suppose (as jlhoots wishes) the bonus disk with the eight new tracks were available separately and listed for $17.99, discounted to $14.99 on the internet. Would you spend $14.99 for what I think is fair to call historic music (it was a historic band) and transcriptions of five Miles solos? I imagine that many of us would. CD Universe has pegged its pre-order price at $41.99. Subtracting $14.99 from $41.99 leaves an even $27.00. Is it worth $27.00 to get all five albums in recorded order, sonically upgraded to 24 bit, with a 40-page book? To me, that is a no brainer. A great bargain. If these numbers make sense to you, I recommend that you pre-order the box.

I am a lucky guy. In my mail today arrived an advance copy. The first thing I have done is burn a copy of everything for the car. Now I am going to start listening. In regard to the bonus disc, the eight tracks are: Max is Making Wax aka Chance It It Never Entered My Mind Tune Up Walkin Four Bye Bye Blackbird Walkin (again) and Two Bass Hit Max and Mind are from Steve Allen and The Tonight Show. The others are apparently from radio broadcasts. I will have to read the liner notes to get the details.

3 CD Master Takes available from Your Music for $17.97: http://www.yourmusic.com/browse/album/Char...SCO_1582_ALBUMS

I have found a price lower than CD Universe's. It's at the Concord website. This surprises me, because it has been my experience that manufacturers offer their wares at list price, and leave it to the retailers to offer discounts. Yesterday I received the Concord Spring Sale Catalog. It has the box on sale for $44.98. And just below it, it says: Order online at www.concordcatalog.com and receive an additional 10% discount. Promo Code: CATALOG2006 The 10% discount would make the price $39.99. Also, order $100 or more (tax and shipping not included) and get free shipping (ground service). Jim, maybe Concord will offer you a piece of the action for a direct link to their website. They have quite a few OJCs on sale for $8.98.

Yesterday I received the Concord Spring Sale Catalog. It says that on June 27 they will release "Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane, The Complete 1957 Riverside Recordings".

AK, here are the artists my database says I picked up from Wayside Music between 1980 and 1986. My recollection is that the vast majority were recorded between 1975 and 1979. Dom Um Romao The Lounge Lizards Stanley Cowell Soft Machine French TV Captain Beefheart Area Kit Watkins Gary Windo Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Co. Happy the Man Cyrille Verdeaux Quiet Sun Francois Breant The Muffins Peka Pohjola Mike Oldfield Alain Markusfeld Elton Dean Quintet, Ninesense Maneige Neil Ardley Klaus Schulze Turning Point Annette Peacock Clearlight Chick Corea Robert Wyatt National Health Ben Mink Paul Bley Zytron Gowen, Miller, Sinclair, Tomkins Dean/Gallivan/Wheeler Terry Plumeri Ian Carr's Nucleus El Skid Vanessa Transit Express Allan Holdsworth Wigwam Dudu Pukwana Heldon Zao Terje Rypdal Khan Mirage Aquarelle Cecil Taylor Marc Hollander Nova Secret Oyster National Health Isotope Sam Rivers Kevin Ayers Patrick Forgas Cos Gryphon FM Jack Lancaster and Robin Lumley As I recall, all but a few exceptions cost $2.00 each.

AK, I'll make a note to go through my database tomorrow to give you a list. The violins that I remember right off the bat were Didier Lockwood and a Quebec band called Aquarelle.

Now available from eMusic here: http://www.emusic.com/album/10917/10917971.html Apparently you can listen to it all there.

I didn't know that Cryptogramophone records are available at eMusic. Randy, if you're going to download Penumbra, I also recommend that you download Jeff Gauthier's One and the Same. I really like it.

Thanks Chuck!

Looks like something for Your Music!

Anybody know what year the Kenton was issued? I prefer his 50s work. I picked up the Cannonball in college for $1.99. IMO, it's not that great.

I don't understand this negativity at all. I think you guys are nuts!!! First of all, I'm sure we all will agree that we would like to see more good music reissued. But I think that every label that recorded jazz between 1945 and 1980 is guilty of sitting on good material. Why pick on Milestone? This would be a boring website if every thread on jazz included a rant about a record label that hadn't reissued something. Second of all, the compilations. If you don't like compilations, don't buy 'em. I too usually prefer the original albums intact over a compilation. But I for one don't have the money to buy every album ever made. Take the Jimmy Smith for example. I'm not interested enough in the guy to purchase five Milestone albums of his, even if they were all available. And I don't have the money to buy them and everything else that appeals to me. But I'd like to hear a sampler of what he did for the label because I am unfamiliar with it. When I was in college, I knew rich kids from New York City for whom apparently money was no object. They would often sneer at anything that was not the best, without ever considering the price and the value. I found them tiresome. Finally, I am assuming (I have no inside knowledge, but I think that it is a fair assumption) that Concord/Fantasy is issuing this Milestone series because the Prestige series was financially successful. Think about what that means. The company is successfully persuading the people of America to fork over their hard cash FOR GOOD MUSIC. More power to them for that! Rant over.

A Love Supreme has never been one of my favorite Coltranes, let alone one of my favorite jazz albums. On the other hand, I think that ever since jazz became listening music, as opposed to dance music, Birth of the Cool is one of the most listenable albums (listenable to the most people). edit for typo

Apparently the Prestige Profiles series out last Christmastime was a success, because Concord/Fantasy is going to put out five "Best of" Milestones called Milestone Profiles on June 6. I'm looking really looking forward to the Joe Henderson, and almost as much to the Sonny Rollins and McCoy Tyner. It may be blasphemy to say this here, but I've been listening to Joey DeFrancesco's Organic Vibes so much the past few weeks that I'm not sure that I'm going to be ready for another organ album, even if it is Jimmy Smith. I can't say that Jimmy Scott has ever appealed to me, and I plan to give that one a pass. Each of the Prestige Profiles came with its own bonus disc. It looks like all of the Milestone Profiles will come with the same bonus disc. Here's the press release I received yesterday: Founded in New York by producer Orrin Keepnews in 1966, two years after the demise of his earlier label Riverside, Milestone Records quickly established itself as a forward-thinking company that attracted major artists such as McCoy Tyner, Sonny Rollins, Lee Konitz, and Gary Bartz. It was acquired by Fantasy, Inc. in 1972 (Keepnews joined Fantasy that same year) and continued to record a wide array of jazz, Latin, and world artists--Flora Purim, Ron Carter, Jerry Gonzalez and the Fort Apache Band, and Hank Crawford, to name just a few. Single-disc retrospectives of five artists' work for the label will be released next month (6/6) in the MILESTONE PROFILES series, in celebration of the venerable imprint's 40th anniversary. The CDs were compiled by Nick Phillips, Vice President, Artist & Catalog Development for the Concord Music Group, which acquired Milestone in November 2004. ============ JOE HENDERSON, an early Milestone signing, was a mainstay of its roster for nearly a decade. His new Profiles CD draws from classic albums such as Power to the People (1969), In Japan (1971), and In Pursuit of Blackness (1972), which feature the saxophonist with Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Woody Shaw, Jack DeJohnette, and many others. McCOY TYNER's long and prolific relationship with Milestone and producer Orrin Keepnews began in 1972 with his Grammy-nominated Sahara. Over the next ten years, Tyner recorded in a multitude of settings--from solo to big band, live and in the studio, with working groups and all-star aggregations. His new Profiles CD offers a rich sampling. The SONNY ROLLINS disc includes material from his very first Milestone release (Next Album's "Skylark," 1972) and his latest (the 2006 Grammy winner "Why Was I Born?," from Without a Song). In between are seven other exceptional tracks, among them the live "Autumn Nocturne" (1978), "Duke of Iron" (1987), and "Biji" (1995). JIMMY SMITH's Milestone discography is comprised of two studio dates (1989's Prime Time; '93's Sum Serious Blues, arranged by Johnny Pate), and three live albums (two cut in 1990 with Stanley Turrentine and Kenny Burrell; a 1981 Keystone Korner recording with Eddie Harris). Selections from each appear on the Smith Profile. Balladeer JIMMY SCOTT joined Milestone in 2000 in the midst of a busy comeback. His new set offers 11 highlights from his four Todd Barkan-produced CDs for the label--Mood Indigo, Over the Rainbow, But Beautiful, Moon Glow--with empathic support from a cast including Hank Crawford, George Mraz, and Cyrus Chestnut. A 45-minute bonus disc--with tracks by Hank Crawford/Jimmy McGriff, Flora Purim, and Jim Hall/Ron Carter as well as the five Profiled artists--is packaged with each set. ============ Orrin Keepnews, when reminded that his second label had hit the 40-year mark, recalled early Milestone as "a fragile, drastically underfinanced independent jazz label." While Riverside "had flourished during the 1950s Golden Age of jazz," he noted, "Milestone began life at a time when many people were firmly convinced that jazz was dead--or at least badly wounded by the defection of much of its audience in the direction of the Beatles, the Kingston Trio, and/or assorted other upstarts." After Riverside’s shuttering, and almost two years of "freelance scuffling," Keepnews "joined forces with a young pianist/producer named Dick Katz (who was able to supply enough capital to finance a couple of projects) and jumped back into the whirlpool with a new label. Actually, the times were still 'golden' enough for us to assemble a rather formidable roster of future stars and underappreciated veterans. Early New York-based Milestone meant a lot of impressive work by Joe Henderson, Gary Bartz, and Lee Konitz, reunions with such ex-Riverside associates as Wynton Kelly, Bobby Timmons, and Nat Adderley, and--as we picked up the pace entering the '70s--the addition of young McCoy Tyner (then still best-known for his historic association with John Coltrane) and the wonderful, ageless Sonny Rollins (who has remained Milestone's brightest star for more than three decades)." ============ 6/27 edit subtitle 6/29 edit subtitle 7/1 edit subtitle 7/2 edit subtitle 7/3 edit subtitle

Running low - The Best of Bill Evans 14 tracks, one from each of his Riverside albums. I ordered it today.

Thanks for the suggestions, Adam. I've never heard of Jenny Scheinman before. This goes on sale Tuesday. I see that CD Universe now has sound samples of it up on their website.

This goes on sale Tuesday. I see that CD Universe now has sound samples of it up on their website.

Larry, I had that one in college! Maybe I still have it around somewhere. I remember there was one song that took off, but eventually went over the edge for me. I saw a picture of Hampel not too many years ago. He looked terrible. The years really got to his face.