sidewinder

I think I might have seen him once in the Swanage ‘Trad’ tent - but maybe I am thinking of someone else. Certainly remember his Trog cartoons. Must be something about Trad jazz and cartoons, with Humph also being very proficient. RIP.

‘Schizophrenia’ Liberty was one of the ones Wayne signed for me on the back. Not sure about the others, will have to check. No doubt though I will be tempted when it hits the shops. The Conn version I have is on CD.

More Wayne - always felt that this one was very under-rated. Almost a manifesto for his compositional approach - and sort of missing link between the ‘Phantom Navigator’ era and the late Quartet. I think this gem is coming out on the Tone Poet vinyl series. A welcome vinyl reissue.

Thanks. Nice archive recollections from time of Wayne’s 80th by Phil Schaap and Eric Person on at the moment, focussing on the final Quartet.

Wonderful portrait, excellent album.

King LP

Blue label stereo. Such a great album and a great sounding pressing.

Interesting. I caught him just before he got on a band bus on one occasion to sign a couple of LPs, which he very kindly did. Didn’t say a word (my impression was a man of few words) but it was friendly - thank you Wayne. Just glad that he toured the UK and Europe quite a bit after the late 90s. Caught the quartet in London on 3-4 occasions, plus concerts at NorthSea and Poole. The last London gig I caught was with chamber orchestra on the second part.

2-Eye stereo. Some really strong playing and compositions from Wayne on this one. In fact, it seems more of a Wayne Shorter album than a Miles Davis album. RIP.

Not much to add but this is pretty devastating news. RIP, a huge legacy. Very strange coincidence but right as I read this news I was replaying film of him on the TV playing with Miles in 1969 in that Ronnie Scott documentary.

Excellent overview of Hawkins on Impulse. This afternoon’s listening.

No doubt included a few words about ‘fusion confusion’ !

Only saw Lou the once but that was with Dr Lonnie Smith. I remember when the Timeless ‘Forgotten Man’ came out - it got lukewarm reviews over here. Lou’s profile had dropped significantly after the end of his long stint on Blue Note. Recovery started in the mid 80s. The Japanese never lost interest though, reissuing ‘Blues Walk’ and the like. It is time to put on Lou’s Blue Note Mosaic set !

But with the difference that the Tone Poet series does tend to concentrate on the more obscure items.

Yeah, the chances of seeing many of those ‘limited edition’ releases put out is pretty well zilch. I suspect it will be more churning out of the Miles/Monk/Coltrane/Evans/Baker etc. catalogues.

Craft have just announced today that they are reintroducing the OJC series with Kevin Gray/RTI/tip-on and two initial releases in March. I would have been interested but I pretty well have everything I need on the old Fantasy labels on LP and CD. No doubt there will be meltdown on the Hoffmann Board. Remember seeing Oliver doing his solo show in the 90s.

Yes, apparently it was a boot of the ‘Commonwealth Blues’ CD. There is a rumour of a forthcoming Tubby Hayes release coming up in great sound from the master tape and I’m suspecting it will be this one, based on BBC transcription recordings for overseas broadcast.

Very sorry to hear this sad news - RIP. Very versatile player - didn’t he start out on Mellophonium? News such as this is pretty depressing as I always thought of him as a key West Coast ‘keeper of the flame’.

Harkit LP. Good music (unsurprisingly) but below par mastering.

I’ve got the Polydor/Schaap CD and the 2CD compilation mentioned above. Music great, recording diabolical. Having said that, all that distortion does have a certain appeal. Yes, that was one of the highlights of the Verve 2CD series for me. Covers all the releases through to ‘Old Bum’s Rush’, which gets a lot of stick but which I rather like.

Jeff’s profile says that he last visited the site in Sept 2022 and I remember a post he made and the responses, so looks like he is ‘around’.

The two disc purple vinyl set/monstrosity.