Fer Urbina

Question: the sound on the 1997 box wasn't very good, then? (I haven't had the chance to play my 2014 box yet, and I'm no audiophile - I've been listening to pre-1920 stuff lately, so "bearable" is enough for me). F Really, it's a matter of personal taste. Personally, I would choose other editions. BUT: My collection - and I hope I'm exaggerating here - consists of 50% stuff I bought to have the music (and I'm happy to have it), no matter what the sound quality. What really irks me though is that a lot of it I could have had in better quality. I was impatient, gullible, stupid. And today I don't want to reinvest the money. I'm not the type to buy seven editions of some CD to find the best-sounding one (and I don't have the cash either). Maybe you remember (don't know if you were around way back when) the mass of "24 BIT remastered" ZYX OJC CDs. When they were available from 2001 (German cheapo retailer) I bought several bags full of those. To be quite honest, a 20-year old herring in a 30-year old can sounds better than that shite. A true abomination. I didn't listen to good advice, bought it all ... and hate the world for it today. The same goes for the Verve Master editions. People on here warned me, time and again, and I bought them all. Dumb. The Bill Evans Complete set basically holds all of that stuff. If someone told me today to avoid it, I would (probably ignore him/her to have the music). It's all schizophrenic, really. There's a book in all of this somewhere. THANKS! F

Question: the sound on the 1997 box wasn't very good, then? (I haven't had the chance to play my 2014 box yet, and I'm no audiophile - I've been listening to pre-1920 stuff lately, so "bearable" is enough for me). F

About the sound, I'm no audiophile, but FWIW the box says "Released after 1997 Verve 07314 527 9532 8" and "22-bit remastering" I don't know if that's a new remaster, or if they've taken the 1997 masters verbatim. EDIT: The 1997 was 22-bit too, so my guess is that it is exactly the same sound as the original, rusty one. F PD Even the blurb has been copied verbatim

By the way, the cheaper version of the Bill Evans Complete Verve Box does not carry liner notes. Only discographical info. (No complaints at that price). F

It's already listed (with typo), but at £68.94.

That'd mean the box was produced by Fantasy originally, and that it has been released in Europe by the international branch of Universal, which is based in London. From what I've seen, this would be a Europe-only release, hence an import in the US and Japan. From what a friend's told me, boxes like the Jarrett, with a © line referring especifically to Italy, would mean a product for the local market which can also be exported to others. In practical terms, this would normally imply fewer units manufactured. Given that these guys own the masters they're releasing, I don't think it has anything to do with PD, Ubu. F

It looks like a Concord US release (the barcode indicates US product, if I'm not mistaken) for European markets. FWIW it's not listed in the Concord site and Amazon.com doesn't seem to carry it. (It doesn't appear on Amazon.jp either) I'm only speculating, though. It'd be great if anyone could tell what it says on the actual box. F

They're reissuing Miles Davis's Chronicle box. http://www.universalmusic.it/jazz/news/newsdet.php?idn=5544 F

Given the barcode (0888072335936), I'm not sure this was an Italian release, but I'll include it anyway My hunch is that none of them have been touched sound-wise. F

As suggested by King Ubu, these are the box sets released by the Italian branch of Universal Music. The list will be edited as more titles are released (or are known about - all help will be welcome!). As far as I know, these are low-priced, verbatim reissues of previous releases. NOTE: When the title includes the word "albums", it's safe to assume that the set will be a collection of the albums of the relevant artist as leader, not including the recordings as sideman for the same label(s). LINKS: Universal Music Italia's note about their special offers these boxes and their booklets Universal Italy jazz mid-price releases Universal Italy jazz news In alphabetical order: Chet Baker - The Riverside & Jazzland Albums (7 CDs) (0600753364147, BOX SET 0600753364130, Universal Music Italia, 2013) Count Basie - The Original American Decca Recordings (3 CDs) (0600753428368, "Verve", 2013) Booklet: reprint of the 1992 original The Complete EmArcy Recordings of Clifford Brown (10 CDs) (Realised [sic] after the 1989 box BROWNIE: THE COMPLETE EmArcy RECORDINGS OF CLIFFORD BROWN (EmArcy 004228383062)) Booklet: reprint of the original 60-page booklet (0600753422533, BOX SET 0600753422526, Universal Music Italia, 2013) John Coltrane - The Prestige Recordings (16 CDs) (0888072335936 - Not Italian, but EU release, 2012) John Coltrane - His Prestige Albums (12 CDs) (0600753343203, BOX SET 0600753343180, Universal Music Italia, 2011) Chick Corea - The GRP Albums (7 CDs) (06007 535 8759 1, Universal Music Italia, 2015) Miles Davis - All Miles - The Prestige Albums (14 CDs) (0600753217566, 2009) (0600753315729, 2010) Miles Davis - Steamin'/Workin'/Relaxin'/Cookin' (4 CDs) (0600753412992, "Concord", 2012) Miles Davis - Chronicle / The Complete Prestige Recordings 1951-1956 (8 CDs) (P) 1987 © 2013 Concord Music Group, Inc. 100 N. Crescent Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. Made in the EU. LC 15025. 0888072342309 Booklet: reprint of the 64-page booklet from 1987 Eric Dolphy - His Prestige/New Jazz Albums (11 CDs) (0600753381793, Universal Music Italia, 2012) Duke Ellington - Carnegie Hall Concerts 1943-1947 (8 CDs) Booklet: reprint of the original 48-page booklet (0600753232491, "Concord", 2010) Duke Ellington - The Complete Brunswick and Vocalion Recordings 1926-1931 (3 CDs) (Released after the 1994 GRP box EARLY ELLINGTON (GRP 36402) (0600753424681, Universal Music Italia, 2013) Booklet: reprint of the original 60-page booklet Bill Evans - The Riverside & Milestone Albums 1956-1963 (15 CDs) (0600753312063, Universal Music Italia, 2011) Bill Evans - The Complete Bill Evans on Verve (18 CDs) (22-bit remastering / Released after 1997 Verve 07314 527 9532 8) (0600753484050, Universal Music Italia, 2014) No liner notes, only discography and tiny reproductions of original LP covers. Bill Evans - The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings 1961 (3 CDs) (This album was mastered in analog utilizing 20-bit K2 Super Coding System) (0600753400593, Universal Music Italia, 2012) Bill Evans - The Complete Fantasy Recordings (9 CDs) (00888072370128, Concord, Available June 2015) Paolo Fresu - The Blue Note Albums (8 CDs) (00602547305237, Blue Note, Available April 2015) Stan Getz - The Bossa Nova Years (4 CDs) (00600753769638, Universal, 2017 - Cannot confirm, but this looks like a straight reissue of Verve/PolyGram 823 611-2 from 1989. Herbie Hancock - The Blue Note Albums (7 CDs) (00600753610862, Blue Note, Available May 2015) The Complete Billie Holiday on Verve 1945-1959 (10 CDs) (Realised [sic] after the 1992 box The Complete Billie Holiday on Verve 1945-1959 (Verve 07314 517 6582 7)) (0600753433911, BOX SET 0600753433904, Universal Music Italia, 2013) Booklet: No liner notes, no images. Just discographical information and production credits. Keith Jarrett - The Impulse Years (9 CDs) (Realised [sic] after the boxes The Impulse Years 1973-1974 (IMPD5237, 1997) and Mysteries: The Impulse Years 1975-1976 (IMPD4189, 1996)) (0600753445129, BOX SET 0600753445112, Universal Music Italia, 2013) Booklet: reprint of the 1996/7 originals. Lee Konitz - The Milestone Albums (6 CDs) (0600753384626, Universal Music Italia, 2012) Charles Mingus - Leader on Debut (7 CDs) (0600753426104, BOX SET 0600753426081, Universal Music Italia, 2013) Charles Mingus - The Impulse Albums (3 CDs) (0600753484241, Universal Music Italia, 2014) Thelonious Monk - His Prestige Albums (3 CDs) (0600753428450, "Concord", 2013) Thelonious Monk - All Monk: The Riverside Albums (16 CDs) (0600753270660, "Concord", 2010) (No outtakes. Booklet with no liner notes, only album covers, track listings and personnel.) Thelonious Monk - The Complete Riverside Recordings (15 CDs) (00888072360020, Concord, Available May 2015) * Note: see this by king ubu on the difference between Thelonious Monk's two Riverside sets. Bird - The Complete Charlie Parker on Verve (10 CDs) (OOP, 2005) (0600753422503, BOX SET 0600753425497, Universal Music Italia, 2013) Booklet: reprint of the 100-page booklet from 1992 Michel Petrucciani: The Blue Note Albums (9 CDs) (00600753582800, Universal Music Italia, 2015) Bud Powell - The Complete Bud Powell on Verve (5 CDs) (Released after the 1994 Verve box THE COMPLETE BUD POWELL ON VERVE (Verve 0731452166920)) (0600753476185, BOX SET 0600753476147, Universal Music Italia, 2014) Bud Powell - The Complete Amazing Bud Powell (5 CDs) (00600753824498, Universal Music Italia, 2018) Sonny Rollins - The Prestige Albums (8 CDs) (0600753232606, "Concord", 2009) Wayne Shorter - The Blue Note Albums (11 CDs) (00600753631928) No liner notes, only discography and tiny reproductions of original LP covers Art Tatum - The Solo Masterpieces (8 CDs) (00600753312001, "Concord", 2010) Art Tatum - The Group Masterpieces (8 CDs) (00600753312032, "Concord", 2010) Lester Young - Complete Verve Recordings (8 CDs) (00602498362754, 2006) VA - Jazz at the Philharmonic 1944-49 (10 CDs) OOP, 2006 ------------------------------- 5 ORIGINAL ALBUMS SERIES (See LINK for more sets) Chick Corea (Light as a Feather, Hymn of the 7th Galaxy, Where Have I Known You Before, No Mystery, My Spanish Heart) Bill Evans (Trio '64, A Simple Matter of Conviction, Further Conversations with Myself, At the Montreux Jazz Festival, What's New? (with Jeremy Steig)) Ella Fitzgerald (Ella Swings Lightly, Sings Sweet Songs for Swingers, Ella in Berlin, Hello Dolly, Whisper Not) Astrud Gilberto (The Astrud Gilberto Album, Look to the Rainbow, A Certain Smile, Windy, I Haven't Got Anything Better to Do) Stan Getz (West Coast Jazz, Stan Getz in Stockholm, The Steamer, And the Cool Sounds, Stan Meets Chet) Billie Holiday (Lady Sings the Blues, Body and Soul, Songs for Distingué Lovers, Stay with Me, All or Nothing at All) Charlie Parker (Night and Day, April in Paris, Now's the Time, Bird and Diz, Plays Cole Porter) Oscar Peterson (Plays Count Basie, A Jazz Portrait of Frank Sinatra, The Jazz Soul of Oscar Peterson, Plays Porgy & Bess, West Side Story) 3 ESSENTIAL ALBUMS SERIES (See LINK)

Don't think so ... the universalmusic.it site is messy ... but after all the discussion about these sets, we really should start a dedicated thread and try and put together a list in the opening post!

Apparently, the Clifford Brown (going for €27.56 in Amazon.it, 24.72 quid in Amazon.co.uk) is a verbatim replica of the Japanese PolyGram set (click for image). Is there an "official" list of these reissues by Universal Italy? F PS A low price Dinah Washington would be quite something..

Now that there's even a cheaper version of Clifford Brown's complete EmArcy recordings, originally released by PolyGram/Japan, wouldn't it be nice if they did the Roland Kirk and the Keynote boxes... F

"Strictly Instrumental", I presume. The info regarding the Winner's Circle recordings is not very precise regarding the actual dates, but personnel is clear. You can see it in the Oscar Pettiford discography and jazzdisco.org (the info on this one is correct, AFAIK). F

Paco de Lucía did one album with John McLaughlin and Larry Coryell (Castro Marín, 1981), and three with McLaughlin and Al di Meola (Friday Night in San Francisco, 1981, Passion, Grace and Fire, 1983, and The Guitar Trio, 1996). Famous as they are, I don't think they give a fair measure of Paco's artistry. Anyone interested in his work should check out Siroco, Zyryab, and Sólo quiero caminar and Live... One Summer Night (these two with the sextet) and going further back Almoraima or his first solo album, recorded when he as 19, La Fabulosa Guitarra de Paco de Lucía. Even the 2-CD compilations Universal has released over the years are not so bad. I've written about Paco in my blog. This has hit harder than expected, and in my case it may be because Paco was the first musician I was ever aware of (I was three when "Entre dos aguas" came out), and his rumbas are the first syncopated music I ever heard. F

Got them a couple of weeks ago in London.

FWIW Source. F

Gopnik wants to make a point and to do that, he makes up a premise which doesn't hold water at all, and it is so far away from the truth that you have to question either his ability as a listener, or his honesty as a writer. And that gets published in The New Yorker. F

So far the only confirmation I've seen is on Jazzcorner's FB page. Silver had been ill with Alzheimer's for some time. Rest in peace. F PS Gheorghe, you meant this? Thanks!

Not being facetious, but did they really swang their pelvises while marching? F

The late Peter Broadbent seemed to have (from what he said on the second edition of his Charlie Christian bio) the acetate of the famous "Topsy" (a/k/a "Swing to Bop", a/k/a "Charlie's Choice"), but as far as I know he sold it before he died. Also, Jerry Newman seems to have been pretty busy on May 8, 1941. The "Stompin' at the Savoy" from Minton's (with Charlie Christian et al) only released on Volume 9 of the Masters of Jazz CD series is also from that date. F

I don't start many threads, but boy, has this one gone intense... Anyway, I don't get much into these arguments among other things because I think that you Americans have to do a lot of talk among yourselves about race issues (not that us Europeans are free from any of that). Besides the fact that those "communities" imply some sort of generalization (I'm not talking about neighbourhoods), I don't think we can talk about a single African American community, at least not one covering the whole of the USA. I think the differences between the African American lower and the middle classes are clear enough and deep enough for us to speak about a uniform group of people, from the different ideologies of African American leaders, to the reaction to and relationship with popular African American music (blues and jazz, for instance). F

Off jazz, I don't think I've ever seen George Brassens's 14-CD set L'intégrale des albums originaux at €30 + shipping. From Amazon France. F

This Savoy reissue reunites all the studio and live recordings, if I'm not mistaken. F

I know what you mean, but having read 2/3 of the book I gotta say that the criticism rings more true than the compliments, which seem a bit forced. FWIW, I was really looking forward to this book, in spite of having more than a passing knowledge of Crouch's writings about jazz. Let me give you just one example of what I think it's wrong with the book. I love this one, because it's at the end of an odd page. The paragraph begins : End of page. I love Lester Young and I could easily fill a page off the cuff with reasons why I love Lester Young and why I think he's important. And so could many people I know anyway. So, you turn the page to I don't know what others make of this, but IMHO it's vague, unnecessary and uninformative. The direct witnesses' accounts are great, but the rest... F