ghost of miles

Just got back from seeing Jeff Parker perform a set of his music with the Plummer Jazz Sextet (an ongoing group of IU’s best jazz students, named in honor of saxophonist Paul Plummer, who gave two million dollars about 10 years ago to found an IU jazz studies endowment). A beautiful performance to match the evening’s weather.

To my less-than-audiophile ears, yes—more than acceptable. And so good to have such a trove of Scott with George Coleman. Three vocals from Ernie Andrews as well.

Yes indeed! 👍 Oh man, so digging this:

A Betty Carter set covering late 1950s through end of 70s—but I realize that would be a multi-label licensing nightmare. (And who owns the Bet-Car catalogue now?) A Geri Allen set of some kind… maybe 1980s/90s leader and side musician dates. And definitely some sort of Mary Lou Williams 1940s box.

Classic!

Love Bud’s “Straight No Chaser” solo on the recent Stockholm 1962 CD. Wonderful that performances like this keep surfacing… more evidence of how often he could still summon melodic verve and the emotional intensity of his previous work in this era. I probably listen more to early-1960s Bud than any other period in recent years, though that may be a result of having listened so frequently to the classic 1945-53 recordings over the years that I’m often more curious to revisit the expatriate sides. Or to hear new releases from that late 1950s/early 60s stretch like this one, which gets filed in my head under “Bud in good form.”

Would've killed to see this one, especially given that configuration. Caught McCraven here in Bloomington several years ago in a small-group context and it was outstanding.

Wowza! Memory Lane Express. I see that back in January of 2002 I was suggesting that Mosaic do Roy Eldridge and Illinois Jacquet sets drawn from their Verve recordings. One out of two ain't bad... can only add my love and appreciation for this board to what's already been said. Still by far the best place on the Internet to discuss jazz afaic, thanks to Jim's stewardship and the great mix of members. Some significant friendships made and much knowledge acquired here. Hell yeah to another 20 years!

You’re correct, and my earlier post was mistaken—he’s 63. Michael is 74.

Given that I believe Michael and Scott are both in their 70s now, I think it’s asking a lot for them to somehow reinvent the wheel that is Mosaic. And I have no inside knowledge, but I don’t sense that there’s anybody in line to take over once they retire. Maybe Zev Feldman or somebody else will make a bid for the label if it’s put up for sale. The Braxton set surely came about in part because of MC’s direct involvement in those records. I seem to recall hearing that it sold reasonably well, which doesn’t surprise me, given the international base of Braxton fans and the significance of what he did on Arista. No idea about the Threadgill set’s sales, but it obviously didn’t tank the label. From what I understand, though, one very poor-selling set *could* sink them. (Niche markets are a tricky business anyway, even in the best of economic circumstances.) That may account for playing it safe at this late date in the Mosaic story. Mosaic’s going to mark its 40th anniversary this year, correct? They’ve had an amazing run, and I hope they can keep going for a few more years. I’m the kind of customer/listener who buys the Threadgill and Braxton sets *and* the JATP, swing-era and Blue Note boxes (I know I’m far from alone in that regard on this board), and I’ll likely be in line for whatever’s next, whether it’s a Sonny Clark or an Anthony Davis collection. It’s amazing to contemplate the Mosaic discography and the wealth of jazz history that their sets represent, and that they’ve managed to stay afloat amid all of the changes in the music marketplace—the rise of streaming in particular. And as somebody noted earlier in this thread, they still put out the occasional jaw-dropper, like the Tristano private collection or the Savory box. Grateful for all of it, and to MC and Charlie Lourie and Scott for sustaining such a mission of love; they’ve accomplished much. If the concept of physical-media anthologies survives, whether in the form of vinyl or CDs or some sort of virtual-reality hologrammy “Anthony Davis plays in your living room” form (I’m only half-kidding… the future’s getting weirder all the time and continues to arrive on schedule), then I imagine that we’ll see some of the suggestions in this thread eventually come to pass, albeit likely from a non-Mosaic source. If nothing else, the reissue industry always needs new past eras to mine. What about an M-Base or Medeski, Martin and Wood set? Probably not of interest to many here, but the 1980s and 90s have already become well-mined in popular culture (the ongoing 90s nostalgia/retro appeal among my younger 20something friends is intense) and the jazz from those decades is now as far back in the rearview mirror as Monk’s Blue Note sides were when Mosaic started. As Jsngry said, *somebody* will do the Anthony Davis set… and if it’s done well, it doesn’t really matter to me whether it comes from Mosaic or not. The sadly-departed Revenant did a fantastic job with their Ayler box (good Lord, did that come out nearly 20 years ago?) and the Tubby Hayes Fontana has been one of my favorites in recent years. Agreed! Also add my lament that James Carter’s Roots and Folklore cycle remains uncollected, per previous comments that also alluded to the inherent licensing difficulties that series presents.

Great Bowie record for ending the 70s and beginning the 80s. A New Romantics keystone. Coincidentally I’m listening right now to a Lou Reed record from around the same time:

Re-airing this week and upping today in honor of Thad's centennial: The Thad Jones Songbook

Yeah, never got to this, though I suppose I still could—just pulled that Pacific piano-trio Mosaic Select off the shelf the other day, actually. And yes, the Chambers book did come out… I can’t even remember now what I’d heard about some possible indefinite delay.

This one tain’t too bad either:

This is a beautiful record:

It seems to rate highly in the critical canon today, but did it get a cool reception when it came out? Interesting that Lennon and McCartney both put out such stripped-down records for their respective solo debuts. The Lennon one hits pretty deep with me whenever I listen to it.

Some new-to-me Ellington:

More above-par early-1960s Bud. My appreciation for this period has only deepened as I’ve gotten older: