Д.Д.

Something seems to be not right with the distribution of Zappa's Ryko CDs (at least judging by amazon.com listings). Earlier this year quite a few disappeared temporarily for quite some time, and now some seem to be available only as amazon CD-R editions ("Guitar", for example). I don't know the details of the ZFT / Ryko agreement; but I think there was some acrimony there. Ryko overtake by Warner Bros. also didn't help, perhaps. ZFT has the original tapes, and is allowed to release their versions of the albums in Ryko's possession (albeit using different mastering and under different titles, and without using the original artwork - like in the case of MOFO and Lumpy/Money). Anybody knows anything specific?

Have been listening to some great Ocora stuff recently, decided to check if there is anything on the label at organissimo, and here I am. Great label, I don;t have that many discs yet. Here is what I can recommend for the four people who are interested in this stuff here: Cordes D'Africue (Strings of Africa) - 3-CD set of string/vocal music from Madagascar / Burundi / Sierra Leone. Available relaitively cheap at amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co...ollectorzcom-21 You will hear where the blues came from . Get it while it is available, as individual CDs seem to be OOP. Albania. Pays Labe. - Plaintes et chants d'amour / Complaints and Love Songs. I am a fan of polyphonic singing, and this is quite unique stuff. India - Inde: Rajasthan. Les Musiciens du desert. Exhilarating vocal music from Rajahstan (India). Very energetic. Ocora website: http://sites.radiofr...ion=21&chaine=0

Interesting thread. In addition to McLean, Roscoe Mitchell and Braxton (of the latter I have 45 albums, including some multi-CD boxes, and I did spend substantial amount of time listening to his music) mentioned above, I would say Mingus. I have most of his stuff, and I am not sure if I ever really liked it that much. First, I can't appreciate his bass playing (sound too tense and contrived; solos boring and often too busy, IMHO), and his compositions and arrangements I find somewhat formulaic and stifling (I like "What Love?", though). Might be also due to Dannie Richmond's presence - don't like his style either. At the moment, Mingus Plays Piano is the only album of his I return to often. Then, Ornette. I think I have his complete discography, save for a couple of items. Love his compositions, particularly the earlier ones, never managed to appreciate his solos - they all sound very much the same to me (again, earlier ones I find more appealing).

Would you be able to compare with the original CD issues?

I've been looking for this one for a few years now... The best bet would be some second hand CD shops in France...

That reminded me of some of those Playboy jazz polls- Paul McCartney on bass, Edgar Winter on sax, Chuck Mangione on trumpet, etc. Don't forget Eric Clapton on guitar There's a thread over on the Hoffman forum about Clapton playing "jazz" - at least according to some bright minds over there And Phil Collins on drums

Let me highly recommend the recently released compilation Captain Beefheart's Jukebox (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Captain-Beefhearts-Jukebox-Various-Artists/dp/B0024DIZPI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1271961759&sr=8-1). It is well researched and thoughtfully compiled, with good liner notes. Mainly consists of excellent blues numbers (and I am not too knowledgeable about the blues, so most of the stuff was new for me), and really highlights the fact that good Captain didn't appear fully formed out of nowhere, but developed on what has been done before him.

I wouldn't be surprised if they just repackaged the original CDs. That's my assumption too, even though the Cam Jazz website says "patiently integrally remastered paying strict attention to the sound quality".

Comments on the sound of these vs. the single CD editions would be appreciated.

http://www.freedomofthecity.org

I placed 4-5 orders with the over the last few years. Never had any problems.

I think Waldron is best in duos - he really tends to bring out the best in his partners in such a setting. In addition to numerous duos with Lacy, I would recommend: "Songs of Love and Regret" with Marion Brown "After Hours" with Jeanne Lee "Left Alone '86" with Jackie McLean "Left Alone Revisited" with Archie Shepp (Waldron's last, I think) and conditionally, "One More Time" with Jean-Jacques Avenel (Avenel overplays a bit, but Waldron's solo "All Alone" is phenomenal, and there are a couple of wonderful tracks with Lacy).

Gentle Giant's "Free Hand", "The Power and the Glory" and "In a Glass House" will be reissued in the end of January. These are the remasters from the original 1/4-inch tapes, which were apparently not available for the previous reissues. Some audio and video bonus material is going to be included too. Available for pre-order at amazon and cduniverse.

It appears that this is related to an imminent reissuing of much of the Zappa catalog. Most of these 1995 CDs are now discounted at Amazon and DeepDiscount.com if they are still available. Has anyone heard these new versions yet? I can't seem to find a ton of info on release dates and am trying to decide whether it's worthwhile to just pick up the old versions. My main goal is to avoid the albums that FZ butchered with redone drums and so forth (I know some of the 1995 series suffered from this). Imminent reissues? I very much doubt it. ZFT can barely handle issuing a couple of titles per year, them reissuing the whole FZ catalog of 70+ titles in unthinkable. Just two recent ZFT releases can conditionally qualify as reissues: MOFO (which contains the original mono mix of Freak Out!), and Lumpy / Money containing mono mix of "We're Only in it for the Money" and an a few rare versions of "Lumpy Gravy". Many FZ titles desperately need a new reissue treatment, "Hot Rats", "Uncle Meat" and "Sheik Yerbouti" in particular.

Why, we already see what happens. Old FMP stuff is being reissued on jazzwerkstatt (http://www.jazzwerkstatt-online.de/ ), and there are new FMP releases on "FMP-Publishing" : http://www.fmp-label.de/ . The "old" FMP (http://free-music-production.de/ ) is now only in charge of TMM festival, it seems.

I finished this a while ago myself and would agree 100% with your comments, especially the "quite depressing" one. It shows that they really started breaking up around MMT and it was basically a very slow, painful death. I think I mentioned it further up the thread that after you read this, none of them come out of it looking good, Paul in particular, he really does come across as a complete arsehole, the "McCartney Overide" and the whole McCartney/Lennon thing being the iceing and the cherry on that particular cake. I think that "Revolution in the Head" and "You Never Give Me Your Money" are probably the definitive works on the Fab Four, great "warts and all" pieces of work, although I haven't started reading "Shout" by Philip Norman yet, but it's supposed to be excellent. They make a great trio of Beatles books. :tup I didn't think any of them comes looking particularly "bad" except for Lennon. His behavior was the most selfish (or erratic, at least) and destructive. McCartney made it quite clear from the beginning that he wanted out of the Apple partnership if Klein was managing it, and his further actions were consistent with this position. There is no consistency in Lennon's actions (even less so in his words). The "McCartney override" was negotiated on behalf of McCartney / MPL alone and was not done to the detriment of the other Beatles. As for McCartney / Lennon, I am left with the impression that McCartney was the only one making a conscious effort to reconcile.

Just finished reading "You Never Give Me Your Money". Excellent read, although the story is quite depressing - more so than I though it would be. Well researched, excellently written, and refreshingly impartial, given the sensitivity and complexity of the subject.

I am in.

JETman, thanks for the heads up. I received my set today - the presentation is truly outstanding, and the sound quality seems to be very good. Even with the shipping and customs fees this is still much cheaper than I could ever obtain it here in Europe.

The European music entrepreneurs (Werner at Hat Hut, Manfred at ECM, Bonandrini at Black Saint and Soul Note, and the guy at Steeplchase (forget his name)) will NEVER license their stuff out. They look at it as their life's work. I think Bonandrinis are not in charge of the Black Saint / Soul Note catalog after it was acquired by CAM Jazz. Incidentally, most of Black Saint Air and Threadgill releases are since recently available as downloads only.

Letov is academically trained.

Paul Bley played with both Chalrie and Evan Parker - how about that? With Ornette too. Buell Neidlinger played with a lot of people.

Ryko 1995 editions of "Hot Rats" and "Uncle Meat" seem to have gone OOP.

Oh yeah, and one more: Matthew Sperry / Jack Wright : Duets 1998. Sperry was a very talented musician (played wit hToma Waits, among others), died tragically young. A few samples are available here: http://www.limitedsedition.com/matthewsperry.html