clifford_thornton

The ESP was on CD when Calibre/Abraxas did some select titles around 2000. I don't think ESP's vinyl pressing quality did Ran's spare approach any favors. For that matter, neither did c. 1968 Milestone or the atrocious Horo pressings (even though those LPs are musically wonderful). There's a nice one on No Business (LP only) that came out recently, recorded with guitarist David "Knife" Fabris, called Vilnius Noir.

I added this to my running list of things I will buy when I have more bread! Abe is great. I have a few of his LPs kicking around that I enjoy, as well as Jazz Bed and the duos with Takayanagi. Even though there's a little duplication here it looks like a must own. As one of those who blithely forked over for this, I'm curious as hell to see whether the finished set will match my expectations. I have a number of the LPs and they are all excellent, though I've never been willing to fork over crazy prices for them. The only one I spent any extra lunch money on was the chocolate box.

The Henry Franklin and Walter Bishop, Jr. sessions are the ones I return to the most. I've felt that the catalog is full of enjoyable releases - nothing brain-melting, but always worth investigating at a price that's not through the roof. Can't speak for dealing directly because I've never had the experience, but going the Dusty Groove route isn't a bad idea. They're legit and they don't tend to knowingly sell bootlegs or sketchy releases.

Monk - Brilliant Corners - (Riverside, early stereo issue)

Albert Ayler - Spirits - (Transatlantic, mono)

Josh Abrams - Represencing - (Eremite)

Byard Lancaster & J.R. Mitchell - Live at Macalester College - (Dogtown)

Jemeel Moondoc & Muntu - New York Live! - (Cadence)

Oh right, Intoxica, I think I popped in there a few years ago and they didn't have much.

I know! I have the Dark album on CD. It's not bad.

Yeah, that would have been a good deal.

Thoughts? Well done reissue, strong record.

Yeah, I've seen the LP on offer before at a hefty price. I'd be curious to hear it. Shihab and Rosengren together would be interesting, conceivably...

I don't know his work but had guessed he was Stacy Peralta's kid. What a tragic loss.

The Calvin Keys Shawn-neeq was also recently reissued on LP by Tompkins Square. From what I'm told - and it's a little unclear to me - in the recent sale of the masters as a lot, individual tapes could also be purchased. The label purchased the Keys tape and cleared its reissue with Mr. Keys himself, with a new contract drawn up for this reissue. I would assume that Snow Dog has undergone a similar process.

Zodiac is great. I used to have a battered LP copy of it, but sold that for a few hundred bucks. Still have my eyes out for a clean one, or if it ever makes it to CD... I'd say this one is even stronger, but not easy to find (I work off an LP copy from its initial release). Yeah, that one is quite strong too. There's also a nice record by that group on Ogun. I'm pretty sure neither of those two made it to CD, but I could be wrong.

Yeah, that's a strong one. A Scandinavian version of The Trio (Surman/Phillips/Martin), in a way.

Hans Dulfer - El Saxofon - (Catfish)

Ah yes, Tippett's Blueprint (really an Ovary Lodge record) would decidedly fit.

That "one fell swoop" Horo catalog is pretty cool. I would consider doing such a thing in today's dollars, although not every Horo would be my cup of tea and often the pressings are turd-like. Wish I had Lacy's Eronel!

I have probably mentioned this before, but when I bought this LP (Nessa edition) early in college, I came home on a break from work and put it on to check it out. My break lasted two hours as I put it on start-to-finish twice. It was so wonderful I couldn't leave the room.

Bobby Naughton's music of the 1970s; Leo Smith - Kabell, Nessa, and ECM recordings; Marc Levin "The Dragon Suite" on Savoy; Masahiko Togashi "Spiritual Nature" & "Guild for Human Music" (it's been a while since I gave the latter a spin, but I remember it being very spare); Joe Giardullo's ensemble work, to name a few. Of course, just because something is spare or quiet doesn't mean it's not intense, powerful, and emotionally deep.

Hard to say; seems like a cash grab at this stage, but obviously not a bright idea to mess around with teenage/underage horndogs either.

A classic; I've got it in the Dutch Fontana version (b&w photo, yellow & green printing). Wish I had the Debut!