sidewinder

Live versions of 'Autumn Leaves' by Miles. The Tokyo and Antibes versions come immediately to mind.

This one is an old favourite of mine. I have the session on a Pathe Macaroni DMM vinyl (worth having just for the great sleeve design ) and also on the Rivers Mosaic. I've always liked Steve Ellington's playing on this session - drives it forward well, nothing too fancy. Byrd and Spaulding are clearly operating on the 'outer limits' but that's part of the appeal. When Rivers bursts in on his solos it is with such incredible authority. Julian Priester seems to handle things pretty well too !

Hi Marcus - message sent !

I've just got hold of the Ardley 'Greek Variations', cost about £10. Beautifully remastered from the original tapes. sounds excellent. The first part (side 1 of the LP) is the 'suite' by Ardley plus orchstra, Rendell/Carr being extensively featured. The second part (side 2 of the suite) has small-group material, again featuring Rendell/Carr. Great stuff ! Looks also like these are in major demand. The guy at the shop I bought the Ardley from confirmed that they were encountering delays with re-ordering this title. Will probably opt for the Mike Taylor and Amancio D'Silva next...

Wow - news can't have got out that this one is OOP and therefore verboten down there in Brazil !

Two particular favourites - Herbie's intro to Bobby Hutcherson's 'Till Then' (Oblique) and Bobby's intro on Jackie McLean's 'Plight' (Action). Herbie's intro to Lee Morgan's 'Ceora' is also pretty damn great !

Sounds good John. One of the local CD places has the RVGs for £5 each. No sign of the two 'Cookers' CDs yet but I'll pick them up when I hit town. I got hold of 'Action' the other day as a 'car hi fi' copy (great session). Compared it with the vinyl though and the vinyl 'kicked ass', so to speak. At least though the copy protection didn't throw a wobbly this time.

Great news about the 'Jazz Crusaders' Mosaic and sounds like it's a full Mosaic set and not a Select. Now that I've got hold of just about all their studio sessions on vinyl I'll probably end up getting the Mosaic just coz I want the booklet and the picture on the front of the box..

Is it worth getting hold of John? I hear so many negatives about this session that I've held back for now. Amazing really, considering the lineup. I passed on the Spanish Blue Note version of this recently, even though it was only £5. Wonder how the sound quality compares?

That one sure is a fine album, and the extra big band tracks are very good, too. My favorite on that is "Night Flite", with a terrific trumpet solo; McCoy's solo, where the horns riff behind him, is a fine moment, too. But pretty much all the Morgan stuff is very welcome. I can't remember hearing him play badly. Joe Henderson's solo on this one is pretty damn amazing too. As is the contribution of Billy Higgins.

VSOP 'Tempest in the Colosseum' CBS Sony 2LP set.

:rsmile: Late - there's an advert for the 'Impressed Repressed' series at the back of June's 'Jazzwise' magazine. Here are the items currently out or just about to be issued: Mike Taylor Trio - 'Trio' Michael Garrick - 'Troppo' Amancio D'Silva - 'Integration' Neil Ardley, Ian Carr & Don Rendell - 'Greek Variations' Mike Westbrook Concert Band - 'Celebration'. Most of these items were, of course, in their original LP form extremely rare. A copy of the Taylor 'Trio' LP has apparently recently been sold at auction for over £1k. The Garrick 'Troppo' also originally sold in very limited quantities when it came out in 1974 in the hundreds only ! Looks like the cover art for some of these is also now lost - the CD of 'Troppo' shows evidence of cover ring wear so it is taken from an old LP copy. Basically, the above list is a partial holy grail of very rare UK jazz - you can get most of these in the shops here from between £8 and £11 so they are excellent value compared with extortionate prices fetched by the LPs. There's quite a few items earmarked for issue (according to the 'Impressed 2' sleevenotes). These include the Ardley 'Symphony of Aramanths', a total rediscovery from Lansdowne (never issued) called 'Mike Taylor Remembered', an new Amancio D'Silva session (discovered by his widow apparently in a box of belongings) and other such gems. The 'Celebration' disk is a great one. I have a copy on the previous Deram reissue and it is probably my favourite Westbrook recording. A real freshness to the music - obvious Mingus and Gil Evans influences but with clear influence of British choral and brass band music. Surman is also really hot on this session. Somewhat comparable in terms of feel and quality to the Surman/Warren 'Tales of the Algonquin' (an ABSOLUTE classic ). The cheapest price I have seen for 'Impressed 2' has been £8.99 at the Amazon UK web site. Having said that, most of the UK high street shops are peddling it around £15, which is a rip-off. Both it and 'Impressed Vol 1' are very highly recommended (they get regular airplay on my system). Great times for reissued British Jazz !

Yes, lovely story. I would have given almost anything to get the chance to visit the 61st street office and pick up a sackload of the 'monos'. With that in mind, I'm just throwing on the platter the mono Donald Byrd 'Cat Walk' (4075). I wonder how that mono 'Basra' compares with the stereo version sonically?

Nice to see the Billy Bauer 'Plectrist' and the Johnny Smith out again in Japan - two of my favourites from the old 'Verve Elite' series.

Thanks !

Here's the track lineup on the LPs just in case anyone is able to check on the CDs.. 'Three Blind Mice' on Solid State 18033 (Liberty pressing, 1968) 'Plexus' 'Up Jumped Spring' 'When Lights Are Low' 'Three Blind Mice' 'Blue Moon' 'That Old Feeling' 'Live Messengers' on 'Blue Note Jazz Classic' series (1978) 'The Promised Land' 'Arabia' 'Its Only A Paper Moon' 'Mosaic' 'Ping Pong' 'Up Jumped Spring' (Alternate) :rsmile:

...closely followed by Art Farmer's 'Blame it on my Youth' on Contemporary.

Yes, not to overlook Bobby. Again, there's a superlative run of 60s sessions from 'Dialogue' (with 'The Kicker' not to be discounted either) through to 'Total Eclipse'. From then on for me it falters a bit (with 'Natural Illusions' hitting a bit of a low note) but nevertheless, another incredible run of sessions. 'Dialogue', 'Happenings', 'Components' and 'Oblique' for sure set an incredible standard.

Don't have any of the CD sets but I have a double LP from the French RCA 'Jazz Tribune' series back in the 1970s which has some of the best 1940s Dizzy Gillespie Big Band material on it (RCA PM 42408). That one (or its CD equivalent) is very highly recommended . If my memory is correct there were very fine releases by Sonny Rollins (his RCA sessions) on this series too.

Isn't it Mrs Cobham sat on the fence on this one?

In terms of leader dates, my initial shortlist would be Blakey, Shorter, Hancock and Silver. In terms of musical development, it would be a close run thing for me between Shorter and Hancock, possibly Shorter by a whisker thanks to that superlative run from 'Night Dreamer' through to 'Schizophrenia', an incredible artistic achievement. In terms of overall 'best run' it has to be Horace - with the exception of a couple of his 70s sessions (and even these have high interest factor) I'm a sucker for anything this guy ever comitted to wax. It all swings like the clappers and has really stood the test of time.

French CBS 3LP set 'The Essential Miles Davis'. LP3 (Shorter quintet and electric stuff).

Affirmative ! I gave this set a spin last night and it didn't disappoint. Great sound and 3 sides of the set are from these sessions (with 4th side for the Brownie material, as you pointed out JS), so in combination with the Solid State LP looks like I've got most of it. How did I overlook this one?

Heck, I actually have a copy of that 'Live Messengers' twofer gathering dust on one of my shelves. Looks like I'm probably well covered with this material on vinyl. Thanks for the reminder ! Once again, the 'Blue Note Reissue Series' saves the day..