sidewinder

Ah yes, presumably those are the tracks with the Wade Marcus arrangements. Forgot about those.

Up again for this thread in recognition of Abdullah Ibrahim's magnificent performance last night with his trio at Bath. Somehow his work has always passed me by - I think the only one of his LPs I've got is the very early Fontana with the Marte Roling sleeve art. Anyway, with his current trio he is playing superbly well in the manner of a great 'old master'. Beautiful and sensitive playing - catch them while you can !

Little John Big John Patton Long John Baldry

I don't have the CD cases to hand but off the top of my head, tracks from the following are definitely included: 'Visions' 'Live at the Lighthouse' 'Alive' 'Green Is Beautiful' 'Carryin' On' and possibly also 'The Final Comedown'

Very sad - I'm sorry to hear this, RIP. I was just recently watching one of those 'Jazz Scene' DVDs of the show hosted by Oscar. I much enjoyed his infectious enthusiasm for the music.

Children of Agharta Miles Dewey Davis III Scritti Politti

Gordon Brown John Knox Martin Luther

No problem ! I have 'Visions' on a Liberty LP and this is a good excuse to dust it off and give it a re-spin. As I recall, this one was very much tailored for FM airplay but there's some nice playing by Grant on it. Must be due for domestic reissue sometime soon I would think. He may have got more commercial in the final years but the music was always full of soul.

Jacqui Dankworth Jackie McLean Jaki Byard

There are one or two tracks from 'Visions', which I'm not sure has been out on 'domestic' CD.

Here's a scan:

The 'Chitinous Ensemble' CD is most definitely out. My local dealer had 6 copies of this earlier last week but they flew out of the door literally on day 1. A lot of pent-up demand for this title and the Garricks, in particular, out there. Of the initial batch the only ones he had in stock were the Gonsalves and the Henry Lowther. Once things settle down you should start seeing copies of this one Stateside (hopefully the Bards will stock up). The only one I have heard negative comments about is the Terry Durham 'Crystal Telephone' - on AAJ. Apparently there's not a lot of jazz content even though Evan Parker is on it. I have a copy of the latest Dutton Vocalion catalogue and there's a mouth-watering 2 pages featuring all of the new releases.

Giles Peterson Oscar Peterson Oscar Hammerstein III

If ever any further proof were needed that half the population over here are morons, this is it.. Geez, even my brother-in-law paid the £3.50 or whatever to download this sh*te. That 'Axel F' was a bad enough tune when it came out the first time round in the mid-80s. Aaaaargh...

Django Bates Django Reinhardt Tintin

These CDs are very much recommended ! Picked up the 'Aint it Funky' and 'Mellow' compilations from my local outlet at mid-price (they didn't have the third for some reason). Full of gems from Grant's second BN period. A different player entirely from the one of 5-10 years earlier but in this R&B groove he was entirely convincing, IMO. The tune selections are good - 'Fancy Free' and 'Maiden Voyage' on the 'Mellow' set are very fine performances. Theres also a fantastic and very greazy version of 'Dracula' with Blue Mitchell featured, on the 'Aint it Funky' compilation. Interesting (but brief-ish) sleeve notes from Bob Porter round off the package and the nice art work is from Patrick Roques. I have these installed at the moment in the car CD changer and they are just perfect for that ! Interesting the mention of Scofield's jam stuff being similar to Grant's music of this vintage. One of the tracks on 'Groove Elation' is an absolute dead ringer for the first track off of 'Alive' so Sco has been doing his homework.

The Dutton Vocalions are now in the shops and I was able to pick up one so far ( ) - a good one though. The Paul Gonsalves 'Humming Bird' has Gonsalves featured with a mid-sized modern/mainstream UK band with some fine work from the tenor player and prominence also to a young Kenny Wheeler. Re-mastering is well up to standard and the quality of the CD sleeve is well up to scratch. There still seems to be a hold-up with the Mike Westbrook 'Love Songs' - now word either of when or if it will actually be issued. Looks like the Westbrook approval stages might be throwing a wobbly.

The back cover of this 'Music Box' issue gives the Y Records address in Uxbridge Road, W12 UK but then an address for 'Music Box' in Athens right underneath it. Crazy ! Talking about crazy, was Ra serious when he thought that Columbia would issue the title track as a possible mainstream radio hit?

Yes, I believe it is. Have done a bit more delving and it looks as though there were two issues - one Greek and the other through Italy. Here's the info from the Robert Campbell site: quote:- 99. Sun Ra Nuclear War Music Box SMB 40242 (Greece, LP and cassette) Y RA 2 (Italy, LP, 1984) Side A: Nuclear War (Ra) Retrospect (Ra) Drop Me Off in Harlem (Ellington) Sometimes I'm Happy (Caesar-Youmans) Side B: Celestial Love (Ra) Blue Intensity (Ra) Nameless One #2 (Ra) Smile (Chaplin) From the Variety Studios sessions of 9/82 (see previous two items). Y Records in England planned an album from these sessions -- to be titled Rays from the Outer Tomorrow -- but went out of business before it could be released. The same sequence of tracks appeared on this Greek LP and cassette licensed from Y Records and on the Italian Y release. Drop Me Off In Harlem is the only track not released on either Saturn. [Webber and Trent; thanks to Corbett for information on the Italian Y release]

I've recently got hold of a vinyl copy of Sun Ra's 'Nuclear War' LP put out by 'Y Records' of the UK in 1984 but apparently never properly distributed. I've always been under the impression that the LPs of this one which did get out actually originated from Italy. The LP looks to have been put out under Y-Records licence by 'Music Box' of Athens, Greece though ( ). Anyone shed any light as to the history of this one? (even by Sun Ra standards its a pretty damn weird set of release circumstances..)

Gilbert O'Sullivan Gil Evans Jimmy Hendrix

Did I tell you about those Dutton Vocalion Brit-jazz reissues yet?

uh man, somehow I just ended up with an order confirmation in my mailbox... I blame you, Mr. winder! If this is not to my or my credit card's liking, I will send you the bill ←

There's very little you can do on a rainy Sunday in Hemel Hemstead..