sidewinder

Interesting !

This album is like a bottle-stopped geyser trying to get out there !

Useful review from London Jazz News here - https://londonjazznews.com/2020/08/31/neil-swainson-quintet-49th-parallel/ The new sleeve notes by Neil S. in interview with Cory Weeds and by Phil Dwyer are fascinating. Essentially a private project when it was recorded, Concord only issued it after Swainson joined George Shearing’s touring group. The notes mention that it appeared in Canada as a US import and didn’t even get nominated for a Juno. I remember buying it from Sam’s in Toronto as one of those very imports. Also remember hearing at least one track from it on the local radio around that time - maybe Ted O’Reilly’s programme? Neil’s comments confirm that it sold ‘fairly well’ at the time. Great reissue !

I bought a copy of the vinyl of this at the weekend. Excellent reissue - the Concord sound was always good but the Toronto crew’s remastering have brought out additional richness in the sonics, to my ears. Some good sleeve notes too, with reminiscences from Neil Swainson and others plus some new photographs. Apparently Joe H. arrived late and missed the first day of the recordings. Yes, this is a Cory Weeds-led label out of BC putting this out. I think the remastering team also did the Mosaic Paul Desmond.

I think the Hoffmann Board has mentioned 2000 copies total with 600 only in the USA. By all accounts they flew off the shelves everywhere though and most stores seem to have only had a couple of copies. There’s another thread on this board which mentions this one, reputedly, also coming out on CD in the fall.

Yep - I followed it up with ‘Footprints’, also on 32Jazz. This one is good - I have one of those Hobgood/Torff/Wertigo’s on Naim somewhere. Beautifully recorded.

The bank balance is less stressed out though. The approach used for these Decca Davy Graham’s is interesting. Mastered from original analogue sources by Caspar at Gearbox, pressed by Optimal. I will put money on it that they will use exactly the same approach for the (supposedly forthcoming) British Jazz reissues coming up from Decca/Universal. Bodes well - plus we might actually get a decent pressing of NJO ‘Western Reunion’.

The Vol 1 ( I assume that is what is on the double LP) is up on Spotify. Very nice !

The booklet is well worth the wait. Well written.

These reissues are really good - well worth it. I too have never come across really good original copies of the key titles, not that I was particularly looking. Wish they would do the same treatment for the titles with Harold McNair and Danny Thompson on them. By the way, Ray Horricks personal copies looked to be in great nick and were auctioned off for nice $ by (alas, long gone) jazzinvinyl.com.

The UK saves the day !

I’ve got one of the Sun Ra RSD boxes in the mail, consider myself lucky to have found one after the 6pm cutoff. Failing that, I would have been happy with a copy of the forthcoming CD release. When I asked my local store today, they said they had been given just 2-3 copies and that they went very quickly on Saturday. That story must have played out everywhere. In the UK, Juno is showing it as a ‘forthcoming release’ so it might be worth keeping an eye on that.

Recorded with his then wife as vocalist - not as renowned as the Shirley Collins album but there’s plenty of fine playing. Both of the albums were produced by Ray Horricks of Decca. It’s sort of nice because I have some of Ray’s old records in my collection, sadly not any of the Davy Grahams.

At the cost of probably about a 20th of the cost of a decent original, I’m a happy camper. They have also reissued ‘The Holly Kaleidoscope’ as well for the RSD, on kaleidoscopic swirl vinyl. Again, this one sounds great though. I suspect these are being put out in tandem with a HD tracks streaming release, which seems to have been the case with the ‘Kawaida’ too. Same model that was used on the Rendell/Carr reissues.

Sonic standout - I’ll bet it far improves on the original. Gearbox/Optimal production - lovely stuff. As usual, Davy throws some jazz in too.

First copy I’ve had of this Herbie/Tootie/Heath Family/Cherry opus. A UK issue - hmm.

Another good’n.

Very nicely remastered by Dave Sikula, richer sound than the original CD. Love it ! Additional unreleased track ‘Labyrinth’ downloadable.

Did they have any 75p Mike Taylor or Rendell/Carr LPs?

Popped into my ‘local’ this morning and surprised to see that they still had a couple of copies of most of the jazz titles in stock. Thank goodness jazz is not a mass market or in mega demand like Bowie, Black Crowes etc. No Ron Carter (not sure if it made it across the pond) or Sun Ra (2-3 they had went very fast). I did change my mind and opt in for the Neil Swainson though. Still no sign of Hitchhiker’s Guide !

Obscene !

2LP version. Nice sound, very nice performance (although the drummer does have a tendency to speed up).