GA Russell

The worst town I've lived in for that sort of thing was Atlanta. I suppose these are the same jerks who loudly speak on their cell phones in public places.

I've been listening to this one for the past five weeks, and I want to add my name to the list of those who recommend it. Although it's Gibbs' record and he gets the most time to shine, to me it would be completely different without Joey DeFrancesco. His organ provides the basic sound of the recording. And he's great! This is my first Eric Alexander record, and I'm not sure that I'm impressed. I don't think his work here would justify my running out to buy one of his albums. The guitarist Dan Faehnle is a new name to me. He seems to be competent enough. He isn't given much solo time, but what he does he does well. The pieces are consistently uptempo, so the CD is not the sort of music to relax by that I prefer, but for what it is I think it is well done.

Regarding Verve, I can imagine that Getz/Gilberto has outsold Jazz Samba over the long run, but Jazz Samba was #1 on the LP charts for a while, so it was very big at its time. Regarding Prestige, Misty was a huge 45, but the album sales would have been split between Soul Message and the album Misty. My bet is that over the long run Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet is their biggest selling album.

I know my eyesight is getting worse, but I've looked everywhere on the internet and don't see this listed anywhere (including Jazzmatazz, Concord or Fantasy). Where did you hear about it? ← JPF, see this thread: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...topic=21336&hl=

Big Al, I second your nominations! I don't know if there were too many albums to fit on three CDs, but how about Cal Tjader with Vince Guaraldi?

Tenderly! Great guitar with supporting organ.

My favorite labels of 50s jazz are Prestige and Riverside, so I have been fortunate that Fantasy has chosen to re-issue and keep in print so many great albums. I hope Concord will continue to keep it all in print. I would also like to see Concord issue entire sessions that have been split over two or more albums, and order the tracks in recording order.

Due out October 4: The Red Garland Quintet with John Coltrane is getting the Prestige Profile treatment. It will be a single CD plus a "unique bonus disc". I have no idea what the bonus disc might be.

I'm surprised by the coolness toward van Gelder I see here, because I never see it on the threads about the Blue Note RVGs. There must be some interest, though, because this thread has over 540 views in less than two days! I'm looking forward to the Miles Quintet release. I have the four LPs, and I assume that this release will have the songs in recorded order, which I would like to hear. I wonder if Concord will allow the OJCs of the albums it has remastered to go out of print. It wouldn't surprise me. Why keep on pressing the old?

Elsa is my favorite of the Evans cannon. I have it on both Riverside and Verve.

I remember reading that quote! I always think of it when I see a photo of Rollins with his Mohican.

Sounds like Eddie and the Cruisers!

The record clubs (I guess there is only one left now) have special contracts with the record companies, which have special provisions in their contracts with the artists. For example, the artists receive only one half the usual royalty on records sold by the record clubs. Some artists, such as The Beatles, refuse to allow their records to be sold by the record clubs, because they refuse to agree to the special terms, such as the lower royalty.

You're right, of course. That's why I don't think of it as a place to go shopping for what I want. I think of it as a place that offers stuff really cheap, so I browse to see if they have anything I might try on a flyer.

Clave at AAJ had a bad experience with an mp3 player, and it might have been a Creative Zen, I don't remember. You might want to post there and ask her.

You get to buy as many or as few as you want, so long as you get at least one per month, and you can quit any time you like.

Musta been the bad eye. ← It was all the cigar smoke!

these have both been released on CD. i have them both. offering is very nice, but the great escape isn't so good, IMO. HOWEVER-fairyland has never been released. that deserved to be out on CD-a live trio with pretty purdie and chuck rainey. ← I'm surprised! I've kept my eye open for them and never seen them. Oh well, I stand corrected.

Spontooneous, I must be losing my mind. I have re-read the liner notes and there is no mention of this being Wynton's first recording. I'll try to edit the sub-caption to correct that. The liner notes do say that Wynton was the new musical director of the band, and coordinated with the sound engineer for the recording.

Mike, the DC Left Bank Jazz Society was an offshoot of the original in Baltimore. It's my vague recollection that the DC LBJS was started in '69, but don't be a stickler about that! I don't remember the name of the concert hall. It's been too long since I've lived there. It was an auditorium with a stage. It's not likely that the Messengers played the Cellar Door twice in one school year. I don't recall any act coming more than once a year, except Miles who came in February of '70 which I went to and again apparently in the fall of that year with the new band for the Cellar Door box recordings. Would that I had gone to that and seen a show recorded for history!

I received in the mail today a press release from Concord, listing upcoming releases. Due in Q1, 2006, are: The Miles Davis Quintet featuring John Coltrane - The Legendary Quintet Sessions, 1956, a 3-CD set. I said here earlier that I expected them to do this, but I wonder why they haven't included the first recordings from 1955. Sonny Stitt - Stitt's Bits: The Bebop Recordings, 1949-1952, a 3-CD set on Prestige. Due in Q2, 2006, are Rudy Van Gelder Remasters on Prestige: Eric Dolphy - Out There Gene Ammons - Boss Tenor John Coltrane - Lush Life Miles Davis - Relaxin' Sonny Rollins - Saxophone Colossus Coleman Hawkins - The Hawk Relaxes Burrell/Coltrane - Kenny Burrell/John Coltrane Kenny Dorham - Quiet Kenny Red Garland - Red Garland's Piano The Modern Jazz Quartet - Django Any thoughts?

Mike, Blakey's appearance at The Cellar Door was during my sophomore year in college. If you insist that it was during the first semester rather than the second, I won't argue. The concert I went to was a Washington, DC, Left Bank Jazz Society affair. Since you do not have a record of who was in the band, maybe Blakey didn't have a regular band at the time, and this was merely some pick-up arrangement. Maybe that is why the playing was uninspired, although as I recall it was not the case that the musicians were just going through the motions. I remember feeling pretty much the same way when I went to another DC Left Bank Jazz Society concert, with Horace Silver. It was my feeling at the time that hard bop had run its course. I was young, of course, and didn't know a great deal, even if I knew more than my classmates. It all seemed tired to me.

I'm not aware of anything that attempts to appeal to my demographic. A few years ago, AARP put out a magazine that did, and assumed that we were all both self-absorbed and liberal Democrats. That fiasco ended when they had Bernadette Dohrn and her husband on the cover, saying that they wished they had blown up more buildings. That issue came out the week of 9/11.

The recent thread on favorite Blakey live recordings reminded me of something I've been meaning to post for a while. So here we are. Last year Concord released without much fanfare a 2 CD set (2 CDs for the price of 1) called Blakey's Beat. It is made up of two albums, both recorded live at Keystone Korner in San Francisco. The albums are much better than I expected. I didn't know that hard bop was alive and well circa 1980. (A personal aside. In the spring of 1970, two friends went to see Blakey and the Messengers at The Cellar Door, and came back raving about the front line of Randy Brecker and Carlos Garnett. I went to see the band about a year later, and was disappointed. I don't remember who was in the group, but I had not heard of any of them at the time. The hard bop they played seemed tired compared to some of the exciting jazz-rock I was hearing at the time. As the 70s progressed, I wasn't finding hard bop in the record stores, and I pretty much came to the conclusion that it was a thing of the past.) The first album is In This Korner, from 1978. The personnel is Valery Ponomarev on trumpet, Bobby Watson on alto, David Schnitter on tenor, James Williams on piano and Dennis Irwin on bass. The only standard is The Song Is You. All other songs were written by members of the group except one by George Cables. Valery Ponomarev is good! I'm not familiar with his work, and maybe some of you can recommend albums he's been on since. But as good as he is, the star of the show is Bobby Watson. He exhibits a lot of fun in his playing. James Williams on piano also exhibits noteworthy talent. The second album is Straight Ahead, from 1981. The lineup is Wynton Marsalis on trumpet, Bobby Watson on alto, Bill Pierce on tenor, James Williams on piano and Charles Fambrough on bass. [Edit: Wynton was the band's new musical director.] I find this album to be a little bit more enjoyable, perhaps because so many of the songs are familiar: Falling In Love With Love, My Romance, How Deep Is The Ocean and Miles' The Theme. Also included is a Bud Powell tune called Webb City, which I haven't come across before. Watson gives the most dominant solos, but I wouldn't say that they are as good as his solos on In This Korner. Wynton isn't given as much time to solo as Ponomarev was, but he shows great talent. His notes are very clean, and his runs in the high register are impressive. At the set's end, Wynton gets the biggest applause. I won't compare these groups to Blakey's bands of the 50s and 60s with people like Clifford Brown and Wayne Shorter, but I will say that I think this is a great buy for the money. I've been listening to it a lot. Anybody else familiar with these albums? Anybody have any opinions or recommendations of the players' other albums?

Two more from ECM: Just finished John Abercrombie - Abercrombie Quartet, from 1980 with Richie Beirach, George Mraz and Peter Donald on drums. Now playing Paul Motian Trio - Le Voyage, from 1979 with JF Jenny-Clark on bass and Charles Brackeen on tenor and soprano.