sidewinder

Sonny Simmons 'Rumasuma' (Contemporary)

Clifford - I wasn't sure. IMO this session is undeservedly obscure and deserves a reissue (although I think Chuck voiced some reservations about the music in a past thread). Personal view, I like it. Beautifully recorded/mastered by Contemporary and up to the standard of 'Firebirds' in that respect.

Gotta enforce some standards and decorum around here ! Currently spinning the Horace Silver 'Cape Verdean Blues' NY USA stereo. So much to admire with this album, the great lineup with Woody Shaw, Joe H and JJ, the great Silver originals and just love that cover art. Priceless !

Some of the best live Buddy Rich is on that RCA double 'Very Alive at Ronnie Scotts', with the Pat LaBarbera era lineup. Starts off at warp factor 10 with a great version of 'Moments Notice'. I'm not sure if its ever been reissued on CD but well worth picking up the LP set if you see it. I saw Rich and the orchestra at Ronnie's a couple of times in the early 1980s and the drive, energy and precision was just incredible for a guy who had suffered heart attacks. The repartee between Buddy and Ronnie was also great, each one trying to out-do the other in the humour stakes. On one of those evenings they put in a half hour live broadcast for BBC TV before the main show which I never did get the chance to see ( ).

Sidewinder, the Sextet is swinging through D.C. in late-Jan w/Terence Blanchard, John Hicks and Javon Jackson now listed as being on board......soooo? I'm sure going to make every effort to hit this one. Thanks, Weizen. Sounds like a great show. I'll be sure to reserve my seat at Ronnie's when this one rolls in to London.

Thanks for posting the lineup. The Saturday session looks particularly good - nice to see Garrick, Winstone and co. in the lineup. No sign of Harry Beckett though? The Barbican booklet mentions something about UK jazz films being shown during the weekend. Any idea what these might be? Certainly remember Working Week and 'Venceremos'. In fact the first time I heard it was Gilles Peterson playing it on one of his radio shows of the time.

Digital sample alert !

I use 'cube' units (4 partitions per unit) from a neat store over here called Habitat. They are perfectly sized to take LPs and come in beech and oak-faced laminate. As the collection increases ( ) you can then add more units as you require until your rooms are totally taken over. They look particularly good with the Mosaic boxes in-situ.

Loads of big-time Helen Merrill fans here amongst the site membership !

The new suite which Kenny previewed on his UK tour is very much in the same style as the 'large ensemble' content of this set and features many of the same UK musicians in the band. Absolutely, gob-smackingly wonderful. I hope ECM record it soon. Both JohnS and I were at the Southampton show and I believe Bev saw the Manchester one. In fact I'm just spinning 'Gentle Piece', which was a major highlight of the first half.

Aha - Wroughton. I know the place. Swindon is a place that has changed enormously over the past 25 years and not for the better. Urban sprawl at its worst. I guess your recollections were before the rot began. I used to visit a lot around 15-20 years ago and I'm quite shocked at the changes that have taken place over that time. So much for progress..

In celebration of Kenny Wheeler's 75th birthday and UK tour this week, I'm spinning the Man: 'Music For Large and Small Ensembles' (ECM) 2LPs Followed by: 'Windmill Tilter' (Fontana) Will see if I can find the Braxton 'New York Fall 1974' (Arista) a little later.

Yes, West Kennet Longbarrow is a good one. Always fun to have a shufties inside ! You must have lived somewhere around RAF Lyneham/Wooton Basset.

Get the garlic out !

Can't waste valuable Blue Note/Mosaic listening time on clearing snow. It's worth the $15 !

Great place. I used to pass through there quite often. Strange vibe as you come by car through the village at night with those giant stones looming over you. Great memories indeed of walking the Ridgeway near there and also checking out Wayland's Smithy and Silbury Hill. Reminder to self to get back up there one Sunday.. Must have been heartbreaking to have lived there when they did the original excavations (1920s?) and half of the village was totally destroyed to uncover the stones. Awesome to think that the original extent was considerably larger than what is there now, that it preceded Stonehenge by millenia and also dwarfed it.

The Monk smoking jacket and high school books sound pretty cool

Wow, sounds like you guys are getting some serious weather over there. No snow here but some very strong winds over the past week of the 80mph+ variety, coming in West from the Atlantic. I lost an old elm tree on my property border last week in a storm and the tree surgeons have been in today with the chainsaws to sort it out. For sure we are now seeing the effects of 'global warming' very clearly.

Some discussion of this one here: Auction

Anyone noticed the stylistic similarities between 'Rated X' and Sun Ra's 'Disco 3000'?

'Maiysha' presumably. Sure - it hints towards a lighter, more MOR side and Al Foster was putting down the same groove as on the second part of this number when I heard Miles in 1982. A harder version of 'Maiysha' is on the 'Agharta' recording - this is the superior version to my ears and Sonny Fortune's flute playing is just wonderful on this.

Is that Avebury on your avatar Bev?

Interesting writeup in The Times about that QEH gig. The balance was apparently all to pot in the first half with the small group but they sorted it out for the second half. No such problems at the Southampton gig a few days later. Will be interesting to hear how that QEH concert comes out on the Radio 3 broadcast, looking forward to hearing that one.

Don't know if you have this one on your Ronnie Ross site Tooter but here you go - another Rossian sideman appearance. Aside - looks like the 'Palace Theatre' (Shaftesbury Avenue?) in the photo.

Just checking my 'Cape Verdean Blues'. Plastilite with the ear NY USA, no mention of Liberty. I don't have the 'Smokestack to hand but I think it is NY USA sleeve and labels, Liberty-era vinyl, no ear. Have also checked the 'Unit Structures' and it is a Liberty sleeve with NY USA labels, Liberty-era vinyl, no ear. Another one from this transitional period would be Andrew Hill's 'Compulsion'.