clifford_thornton

I dunno man, it's a weird world we live in. My understanding is that the NYAQ box did well but I'm not sure how many are left - there are just a handful of the Taylor sitting around. At least in collector parlance, I'm sure we've both spent more on worse music. But I get your point - they are marketed towards people who are in a position to throw down bread. Full disclosure: I will be reviewing this set, though I'm already more enthusiastic about the content than I was expecting to be - Lowe is always a good voice to have on record, but he's on another level here (as are Bowie, Reid and Parker).

Indeed they are unfortunately rather pricey but they are high-quality.

http://www.triplepointrecords.com/ Always really dug Lowe but this thing... Damn! Unhinged and grooving at the same time, just absolutely hot and sounds like one is present at Ali's Survival studio during the recording. Mind-blowing free jazz vividly captured. Jaw meet floor.

Frank Lowe - Out Loud - (Triple Point Records) Holy smokes. Sounds like you're in the damn studio.

Thanks for your observations Jim. Probably too much time spent with other weird shit and not enough with the "classics" lately so I need to go back and listen to some of these albums again that I'd logged heavy listening hours with years ago. My thoughts on Complete Communion have long been that it's a beautiful record but misses some of the rawness that I appreciate in a number of renditions of that material - that lickety-split ragged charm running through Togetherness, for example. But Blackwell sounds amazing there and yes, I need to revisit. Unit Structures and Conquistador were very important both for Cecil and for his audience, such as it was at the time. They capture a world of improvisation and organization in concise hints that was more fully explored but rarely heard live. I'm told that Cecil also got paid more for these records than his previous dates, and they were pretty easily available to the student of his music. However, I've also been told that Cecil and other members of the group had issue with how they were recorded, and that RvG's mike placement was very "off" and could not capture the essence of what the ensemble was really trying to do. Alan Silva has said this on a number of occasions - that the dynamic range of the group was flattened out. It makes sense, though what we have is what we have - and the fidelity on 4237 and 4260 are far better than what he might've got from an ESP recording (Alderson and Scholtze both have their pluses). Not to mention the music is superb... Certainly BN had a "brand aesthetic" that went from jackets to liners to the way in which recordings were captured. The same could be said for Impulse and ESP. Love a lot of ESP records but their creative fidelity and pressing issues didn't do anyone any real favors (charming though the inconsistencies might be). Agreed about NYIN vs Love Call. Paris Concert is not legitimately on CD - I have the Japanese LP set, which sounds great though was completely unauthorized from what I gather.

It seems to me - and it's been a while since I've listened to the quartet with Dewey - that those recordings have a bit less Parkeriana in them, even compared to the Gyllen Cirkeln records or (especially) the ESP, and they feel less bright. They are a bit more diffuse, especially as I don't think Elvin and Garrison, as great as they are, necessarily lock into Ornette's compositions the way that Haden and Higgins or Blackwell do, or Izenzon and Moffett. So the rhythmic aspect seems heavier and maybe a bit more syrupy sometimes. When I think about it, the sessions with Dewey that I enjoy seem to include either Blackwell or Denardo who are part of Ornette's conception from the get-go.

I love Love Call too. It was one of the first I heard of his so that might explain my partiality. Yeah, they are very good, just not the Ornette records I - personally - grab first. Complete Communion is a gas, though I find myself digging into the record with Berger, Jenny-Clark and Aldo Romano more regularly. Even though I don't like the mastering on those three volumes that ESP released several years ago, it must've been fun to watch the quintet (Bo Stief in for J-F Jenny-Clark) in action. Ankara is cool, though I was actually referring to material from a year or two earlier that has circulated, with Maffy Falay and Bernt Rosengren's outfits (among others). And of course the fact that the GL Unit was essentially a workshop orchestra for Don Cherry's music just makes the mouth water...

I think people with good intentions tried.

it's up there for sure, though there are some other high-priced EPs out in the jazz collecting world. I believe that the Francois Tusques/Don Cherry EP, La Maison Fille du Soleil, goes for at least that much if not more. I would expect similarly high prices on some of those Frippe Nordstrom EPs - where he recorded himself blowing over Miles Davis records, for example.

I only know the informed gossip of those close to the source, but apparently mental health issues and poor handling of Lacy estate matters have left her in a serious pickle. Unless you were asking an aesthetic question... I have no problem with her aesthetically though I agree her voice is an acquired taste.

Of the mid-60s (cutoff say 1968) Bill Dixon and his circle, Albert Ayler, Ornette, Cecil, Frank Wright, Sunny Murray, Paul Bley, Archie Shepp, the early AACM catalog... and of course lots of European musicians who wouldn't be particularly relevant here. The Gyllen Cirkeln recordings of Ornette's trio are fabulous; I'd somehow spaced out for a moment that those were in the BN catalog. I like the Don Cherry records but feel he did better work with the Swedish/Turkish crew (they were perhaps more under his "sway") and I also think that live recordings captured the environment of his suites better than the RvG studios, ramshackle thought they might be.

The whole overrated/underrated thing is kinda tough; for me, almost all of this music is underrated by the general public, yet at the same time there were valuable musical activities that Blue Note did not document extensively (if at all). With the "hits" I tend to think they are often excellent recordings and my mood that day can greatly affect how much I'm "feeling" the music. That said, though I'm obviously a huge fan of avant-garde jazz, most of the progressive Blue Notes of the mid-60s don't really hit me very hard - Hutcherson, Hill, Rivers, Henderson, Larry Young - though I do get into the McLean/Moncur dates and the Anthony Williams records. I don't think BN documented Cecil's music correctly, but I'm glad that Conquistador and Unit Structures are there - amazing music though RvG didn't record them quite right. The Blue Note records I find myself returning to are more along the lines of hard bop staples, Ike Quebec records, and of course non-staples like Tina Brooks and Sonny Clark. Rarely dive into Jimmy Smith (more of a Freddie Roach fan) or Lou Donaldson but their appeal and vitality is undeniable.

Yeah, totally an all-star game on paper. It's a very good record but not Hill's best IMO (Black Fire is still my favorite of his BN output).

Agreed - it's strong, but not the be-all end-all of Hill's discography. I think a lot of the lavish praise heaped on it beyond being the only time Dolphy recorded with Hill was that for some time it was the leader's only consistently in-print CD. When I bought it in the latter half of the 1990s, in a shop in Lawrence, Kansas, it was the only title by Hill that they could order from their distributor (this was before I'd learned of Cadence). Availability often affects how an artist or a recording is seen within the canon.

Yeah, this one: http://www.popsike.com/Emcee-5-Volume-One-Mega-rare-1962-Alpha-7-Ian-Carr/370189300790.html tres rare!

I'm 6'7" and can deal. What is the problem with some of these people?

From an AAJ review by Stuart Broomer for another release of the Art Ford material:

I'd like to hear "Vibrations." The first pressing of Spiritual Unity looks super cool though it's always far from my price range.

I bet it'll be good. Occupy the World is stunning. relyles will enjoy his copy

make of that what you will...

it's more complicated than that.

I'll have to give this a listen. I was recently reminded of how much I enjoy her earlier work (not familiar with later Astrud).

I've been surprised to hear some strong recordings by Mehldau; my general default on him is that he's not very original and has a bad attitude, but there was a double live disc from maybe 5-6 years ago that seemed quite strong, and I like him in the trio with Konitz and Haden.

Prince Lasha/Sonny Simmons - The Cry! - (Contemporary black label stereo)

The Montmartre records are just sublime. This one is cool too, if you can deal with Bennink :