sidewinder

NY USA mono copy. Marked ‘Factory Sample’ and with critic Chris Sheridan’s name on the back so presumably his review copy.

That’s good - it has needed a decent reissue. Just too bad they didn’t put it out on Tone Poet to do the sleeve justice. Strangely enough, all originals of ‘Happenings’ that I have heard have been on the noisy side. Mono was worse than stereo in this respect. Having said that, the sonics are stupendous. And talking of Tone Poet, I have ‘Slow Drag’, ‘Blue Spirit’ and ‘The Kicker’ arriving today, post permitting. The latter seems to have been repressed. 😀

I am spoilt for ‘True Blue’. Have it on Conn CD, Mosaic, Classic Records and Music Matters 2x45 as well as King GXK. No original though ! NY USA mono. Lovely copy of a great LP. Elvin on fire ! Billy Harper.

Good one - as are all those Maynard Roulettes.

NY USA stereo

Enjoyable, predictably good sonics and some good playing from Manne, Preview and Mitchell. King Japanese issue. Absolute masterpiece !

Well, by ‘equivalent’ I would suggest a whole heap of MOR acts which aren’t schlager but which cover a similar turf. Everything from Tom Jones to Kylie and Elton John. All the stuff I hate !

Looking at the list and assuming you are located near Frankfurt, I would guess that Neustadt would be the nearest, hardly convenient I guess. Presumably the repertoire would be largely schlager with not much chance of a reprise of the Clarke/Boland material but I guess you never know ! I wonder if she has ever toured the UK? I don’t think she is known as a singer over here, this being effectively a ‘schlager-free zone’ (although we have our own equivalents, sad to say). 😀 This recently found and issued Bobbie Gentry album would definitely qualify and is pretty good.

Gitte has a German tour coming up in the Autumn by the looks of it. Still going strong !

Contemporary DG mono

That Plugged Nickel CD set booklet was an absolute travesty. Thank goodness Mosaic didn’t go down that route with their LP version.

The Pure Pleasure Stata-Easts seem to get mixed reports - all the Tollivers I have are great but for example, London Jazz Collector doesn’t seem to like them and suspects some are needle drops. I haven’t detected that with any of the ones I have - so far pretty happy with them.

Sounds about right. £75 on UK Amazon. UK Fontana, stereo. Almost psychedelic in parts !

Decca I think and from the master tapes - seems to be readily available here in the UK and I would guess that Dusty Groove should stock it. Comes in quite a large box with what seems to be a very comprehensive booklet/book covering Blossom’s career. A real quality release by the sound of it but a limited issue.

I see that Blossom has recently got a ‘Complete Fontana’ CD set out. First CD issue of ‘Soon It’s Gonna Rain’ plus two CDs of new outtakes. Tempting !

Have to say - this Pure Pleasure version sounds better than the Black Lion ever did. Or maybe it is a function of the system I’m playing it on? The sleeve and vinyl quality are superior, for sure. That Black Lion I picked up second hand anyway so when sold to Mole it was 3rd hand. Over the years I’ve actually sold very few LPs. All those DMM Blue Notes, I’ve still got. Maybe not a bad thing as some of them are now attracting crazy prices.

I have that KAPP 2LP set somewhere in a Japanese pressing I think. Will have to dig it out. Overdue spin for this 2LP gem in the Pure Pleasure version. I used to have this on a Black Lion double LP but sold it for something like £2 to Mole Jazz about 40 years ago. What a moron - I guess it indicates how tastes change over time. To me, this sounds as good as or better than the Black Lion, which had different cover art as well.

Very nice shot ! I remember seeing the Bancroft bothers, Phil and Tom, with their band at the Bath Fest, must be best part of 20 years ago now. Alas, that festival (as far as jazz is concerned) is now history.

Bergenfield NJ mono pressing

Not tonight but I have just booked to see Ron Carter with his ‘Foresight’ quartet in London during November. It will be a travel challenge to get in but Ron is worth it ! Never seen Ron Carter to date so should be great (and it will mean that I will then have seen all members of Miles’ Second Great Quintet play). Have just been watching Ron’s documentary film on PBS - hugely impressive.

I would agree that ‘Split’ makes probably more sense as a title. Shame that there’s no more insight as to how this one came to emerge as a straggler German Liberty issue (possibly only getting as far as maybe a handful of prototypes) and yet was shelved at home base in NYC until the 90s ‘Rare Groove’ issue. It seems to me that the death around that time of Francis Wolff may have added to general confusion with the communications to the German ‘outpost’ (and its office of Geeks !). Maybe the answer lies in Germany - perhaps worth asking at the JazzInstitut Darmstadt?

I had a copy of that one in my hand the other day and in the end I backed off because it looked cheaply made. £35 as well so full Tone Poet pricing. In the end I went for the Belgian Jazz 2LP set and glad that I did. Tone Poet this series isn’t.

Excellent !

I will be very interested to hear of the feedback which comes from this. The LP is still sat in my shelves as a curio. What we need is the jazz LP equivalent of ‘Antiques Roadshow’ with Mr Cuscuna in the chair.

Nice one !