sidewinder

Curiosity had me checking out where this Bourbon St. club was in Toronto. Looks like it was on Queen St W and just down the way from the Rex Hotel, which still survives as a live jazz venue. Looking at pictures of the Victorian era building for the club it was recognisable to me and I will have walked past it on my way to the Rex many times back in the day. Now demolished though. I wonder if Mosaic will consider doing a ‘Jim Hall Complete Live’ box with the Don Thompson recordings also made at this venue for A&M?

By chance, same here too - with addition of disk 3 ‘Dippin’’ too. Great stuff ! I don’t think ‘Slice of the Top’ has sounded better than it does in this version.

Excellent - thanks for confirming.

There is another K and JJ CTI scheduled for reissue on Record Store Day - the rare Japanese-only release. Whether or not that will happen though is anyone’s guess !

Another one recorded by Don Thompson at Bourbon St., Toronto. Nice ! Maybe Mosaic can follow up with a full box of this engagement a la Desmond/Bickert? Recording quality is terrific.

According to the book after about ‘72 it drops off catastrophically and venues such as Southport became much more prominent. Hence the book stopping at about 1970, although there is a short chapter covering 71/72. You need to get a copy of The Book !

Yes, 1968. Part of a 3 hour plus double bill with the Clarke/Boland Band which the book refers to as ‘legendary to this day’. After 1970 things seem to tail off catastrophically with jazz at Free Trade Hall though.

UK mono

Yeah, probably ! It was a bit of a rushed effort and he probably had an appetite after his performance (I was helping the back stage crew in voluntary capacity - got to see Cedar for free though). The other time I met him was at Ronnie Scotts, in punter mode. An extremely pleasant chat - he was telling me that his next gig was in Back Bay, California with Milt Jackson. Whenever possible, I used to make a real effort to get to Cedar’s annual visit to that club. Initially with Eastern Rebellion and later on with his trio.

Somewhere in my racks I have a copy of that Blue Parrot LP. Must dig out !

CD3

What that collection probably needed was one of us to ‘curate’ the sale (hate that damn word but that is what is probably required in this case). It would be nice to know a bit more about condition as well. Not sure I like all that labelling and numbering on the LH side of a lot of the titles. They did a similar bundling exercise some years ago when the late Miles Kington’s jazz collection was auctioned. I used to see him ‘hold court’ in the late lamented jazz specialist shop in Bath (he lived locally).

My ‘Spectrum’ came from Paris Jazz Corner in pristine condition in the days when their vinyl selection was better and they were affordable . Only have ‘Soul Cycle’ on CD and still looking for an ‘Electric Boogaloo Song’ on vinyl. All good stuff ! Incidentally, I once cooked Cedar some popcorn helping out at a jazz club and I don’t think he was over-impressed with my effort. Otherwise, a nice guy !

That was my reaction too. Some real choice offerings there, put me down for that ‘Tubby’s Groove’. Barry McRae used to do that ‘Avant Courier’ column in Jazz Journal. Almost a bastion of modern/free jazz at the time when the rest of the mag was largely fixated on traditional and mainstream.

This upcoming auction on behalf of the Estate of the late critic Barry McRae May be of interest - lots of rare LPs, many signed plus Mosaic sets and CD batches. https://jazzjournal.co.uk/2020/05/21/bazzers-bounty/

Sorry Daniel, it’s heading in the mail today and should be with me early next week so will update when I get it. This one is a UK Transatlantic pressing, which I suspect will be better than the Prestige but we’ll have to see. I have got many of the tracks on that OJC ‘Plays Cedar Walton’ set. The other Prestige original I have of that era is a stereo ‘Spectrum’. Yes, the stereo separation on these can be quirky, to say the least.

Yes you are right, it does add a certain ‘charm’ to these recordings. Very noticeable on Cedar’s debut for Prestige, ‘Cedar’. By coincidence I have just bought a mono vinyl LP of that Walton/Higgins session, a very fine debut by him.

Major moving force behind the esteemed Camden Jazz Week and Bracknell Jazz Festivals of yore, plus the mighty London Jazz Festival of more recent years. Also responsible for a myriad of tours through the Contemporary Music Network and his own Serious Productions organisation. Although he had retired from Serious I believe, still a huge loss to live UK Jazz organisation and great debt owed by those of us who witnessed his various organised festivals and tours. R.I.P and many thanks. https://jazzjournal.co.uk/2020/05/20/obituary-john-cumming/

Japanese Victor. Looks like Bill has signed this one on the back.

That track excerpt sounds great - I’ll likely preorder the vinyl. It would appear that much credit is due to Maxine Gordon in facilitating this release.

Mono issue The title might well have been because the punters were tipping out of the door. Full to capacity apparently and according to Simon Spilletts fine notes the overflow (lots of them) had to peer in through the front windows. Legendary gig in Morecambe by all accounts !

A very under-rated big band from the 1970s. Have that one on vinyl.