sidewinder

Wish they would video Skype their Open House !

Have to say that when I phoned them up for a replacement CD they were very helpful and checked on the issue with the CD skipping with their production side (‘no fault found’). So no qualms from me.

CD3 CDs 3 and 4

The first 2 LPs were only issued at the time in mono - not unusual for UK early to mid 60s issues. ‘Phase III’ was the first to come out in stereo as well as mono. BGO also worked from original tapes but I’m not sure if it was the ‘originals’ or some other copy held by Universal. Jazzman seem to have had access to the originals (the booklet has photos of the tape boxes from the Lansdowne Studio).

Damn - beginning to think that that mythical box of 50 at ‘Sounds’ was an urban myth. Where the heck are copies 1-900? (probably quite a few went to reviewers as I noticed that just about everyone at Jazzwise this month had it on their Reissue of the Year list, so there’s 10 at least ). I think it was Clifford who mentioned that Dusty had a bundle but can’t have been many as they were gone within an hour or so.

Yes, it is possible that their licence was for limited number. No idea on the details though and I haven’t seen any comment from Jazzman Gerald to confirm either way. Sound quality - pretty excellent, I have played all of the LPs through. The sound is a definite improvement on BGO in terms of fidelity/detail, probably helped a lot by the Abbey Road processes through to all analogue cutting. I’ll bet those studio masters sound fantastic and if I had a top notch streamer, I’d be very tempted with that option. The box version of ‘Shades’ and ‘Dusk Fire’ are in stereo, whereas the Columbia originals were mono. One thing I did notice was some ‘ghost echo’ before tracks on the reissues. An outcome of the new cutting process, perhaps?

I think there’s a reasonable chance of a second pressing/issue, thanks to the unprecedented demand for the first one (don’t quote me on that though). Hopefully 5,000 or so next time. Fingers crossed ! I did try phoning ‘Sounds of the Universe’ yesterday just on the offchance of a spare and they had their phone set to answer machine. Probably inundated with calls from across the planet.

Check out the Hoffman board. There was a rumour of a shop in Soho, London with a box of 50 copies in store yesterday (reputedly) but these are probably now long gone. Got mine from Jazzman direct. By the end of the first day on sale they had sold out from them - all seem to have had numbers in the 900s so probably Jazzman had no more than a hundred in total, with most of the rest scattered far and wide on pre-orders. Altenatively - the studio master streaming sites (e.g. HDTracks) now seem to have FLAC studio masters of all 5 albums so that would be a good option for anyone with a good streamer. No doubt these were mastered at the same time as the LP set.

Happy Mosaicing Birthday !

I have one CD from them which skips no matter how many replacement copies I get of it. It’s the ‘Live at the Bell’ (Maidenhead) with Dick Morissey, Red Price and Ray Warleigh. Good, rare music and fine Spillett essay but - frustrating ! It is a long CD so may be a quirk of the player. Their Tubby Hayes rare gig material CDs are fascinating and - for me - indispensable. Again, superb Simon S. essays to round off the package. Sound is often very patchybut considering the circumstances, entirely acceptable.

From the RendellCarr Lansdowne box. Sounded great from the off but a spin in the RCM was worthwhile.

I have the Japanese issue as well but I think I prefer the UK in this case ! It cost me either £2.99 or £3.25 from my local outlet, back in the day. A week’s pocket money..

UK first press. Still sounding great after 45 years !

UK CBS orange label, stereo

The two Uptown CDs have some great later period playing by him - and also interesting essays concerning his 60s work and challenges.

French CBS Henri Renaud production (3LPs) with bonus EP ‘Great Expectations/The Little Blue Frog’.

I have the Griffin/Lockjaw, Hubbard and Woody Shaw. All 3 are excellent. Diz and Elvin next.

Perfect post-office therapy..

Very sad news, RIP. This has been an absolute bummer of a year for jazz passings.

More from the box. Stereo in this version.

From the Jazzman box.

Wow - not seen that before, thanks for the link.

Sawano reissue