GA Russell

Abraham, because he had a lot of descendants (issues).

Sidewinder, yes I saw that. Thats a great deal, about $9.50 per CD. For the past few years EMI in Britain and Collector's Choice in the US have been issueing 2 LPs on 1 CD of the Freshman, and I have picked up four albums that way. So I think the only 50s albums I don't have are the first, Voices in Modern, which has relatively recently been issued on CD for the first time, and In Person, which I don't believe has been made available on CD except for the Mosaic box. About 1990 I wrote Mosaic a long letter with my suggestions regarding sets they should issue, and one of my ideas was The Four Freshmen. I was glad to see them take me up on it, but by the time they did I already had almost everything in the box.

I grew up with The Four Freshmen in my house. When I was little, my older sister had two of their albums, Five Trombones and Voices in Love. Then in high school there was no escaping The Beach Boys, who put the Freshmen harmonies over a rock beat. (In fact, I remember bringing home a re-release of the Freshmen's Best Of album back in '74, and my roommate asked, "Who is this group? They sound just like The Beach Boys."(!!)) In '77 I was delighted to find a re-release of their second album Freshmen Favorites. In the mid-80s I found that Pausa had re-issues many of their 50s Capitol albums, and I picked up the four that I could. But I found that unfortunately the group did not age well. I picked up a re-issue of their '69 Liberty album In a Class By Themselves, and it wasn't very good. About that time, I saw them on TV on a PBS show, and they weren't very good at all. About 1990 I saw them in concert at a club in Atlanta. By that time the group was lead singer Bob Flanagan and three young guys. It was a real treat to see Flanagan and to meet him afterwards as he worked the crowd, but the other three guys were pretty weak. In '93 I bought their Christmas album Freshmas, and it was awful. I never listen to it. So I came to the conclusion that the Four Freshman were a thing of the past. Flanagan retired in 1992. Imagine my surprise when I saw in 2000 that they won the Downbeat Readers Poll for Vocal Group of the Year. There was a comment by the editor indicating that Downbeat had exchanged correspondence with the Four Freshman fan club, apparently suggesting that they were stuffing the ballot box. And I can imagine the fan club replying that all the votes were legitimate, and it wasn't up to the editors to disqualify the group because they didn't like them. Last January I received an email from someone I didn't know who had seen something I wrote about the Freshmen at AAJ, telling me of the group's new album In Session, and how the group was maybe the best lineup ever. I figured that the writer was a fan club fanatic, and didn't take it seriously. Then just a few weeks ago I saw Doug Ramsey on his Rifftides blog say some kind words about the album, so I decided to give it a try. I respect Ramsey's opinion a great deal. I'm glad I did. It turns out that my correspondent from January was right. In Session is a great album, and the current lineup may indeed be the best the group has ever been. The album has eleven songs, nine of which are standards, and of the two new to me one is by Michel Legrand. My favorite is You've Changed, but It's All Right With Me, Skylark, If I Only Had a Brain, Early Autumn, Something Gotta Give, September Song and If I Had You are all great. The selection is a good mix between uptempo and ballads. The group plays its own instruments - trumpet, guitar, bass and drums, with a little trombone and piano thrown in. For a vocal group, they are surprisingly good on their instruments. I don't know how widely the album is distributed. It was issued by the fan club, not a record label. I have found it for twenty bucks at Amazon and the www.fourfreshmen.com website. Highly recommended, and a very pleasant surprise!

Of the older sets, the Gerald Wilson box. Of the newer sets, the Johnny Richards Select. Of the future sets, the McCoy Tyner Select.

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?