sidewinder

So sorry to hear this. He was a big part of my jazz education with those sleeve notes and Mosaic booklet essays. His contribution will be missed - RIP.

So sorry to hear the news of the recent death of British drummer Martin France at the young age of 60. He was invariably superb - whether with Loose Tubes in his younger days or as part of John Taylor's trio or the Kenny Wheeler Big Band. So tasteful and versatile. I think the first time I saw him was in 1989 with Loose Tubes (open air concert in Toronto) and the last time must have been last year at Swanage when he was part of Yazz Ahmed's group. It was always a sign of a good gig coming up if Martin was on drums. He will be very much missed for sure - RIP.

A fair bit of the first set sounded familiar and I do have it I think on vinyl on Trunk's 'KPM' release. This CD version sounds superb though and I'm very glad to have it on CD. The CBBB are one of those bands where if you want to listen to them you want to hear it for several hours continuous so CD is very great to have. Also nice to have these two sets in their entirety with the idiosyncratic Campi packaging ! I just wish that someone had put out a decent legit reissue of the 'Folk Bag' LP. My so called German vinyl reissue sounds like a damn MP3.. Updated - CD2 of the first box actually has half of the 'Folk Bag' album. Too bad it isn't all of it.

Does what it says on the tin.. Definitely. Hopefully no need for rust remover !

Quite a bit of the first box still is - especially those suites. Less so the second box but it does include the 'Open Door' album which I have on Muse vinyl and it is good to have it on CD. I like the CD sound on set 1 - nice and clear, not compressed. I'm assuming that set 2 will be similar. There's also nice booklet notes in both sets which keep the likes of me happy. Not sure about the metallic box cover in set 1 though - it must have been done by the metal/rust fetishist who did the Bill Evans Verve monstrosity.🤡

Yes - it's taken me decades to get this and the second Emanon set but my CBBB collection is now complete. 🙂

Some good previously-unissued material on this 2CD set put out by Gigi Campi.

I've got a couple of those Liberty pressings with 43W73rd labels - an Ike Quebec and an early Hubbard. Sonics are very good.

Those 'White Heat' etc. albums weren't in the shops here when they came out, as I recall it. Again, must have been German-only issues. I only got copies many years later when they came up on jazzinvinyl. Worth hearing but personally I think that Humble, Persson and Clarke are missed.

You got a truly great and obscene deal on that one, John (hi, by the way!). Those Tokyo jazz used CD stores were and are awesome. Up again for this very old but very entertaining thread. I've finally managed to source decent copies of both the Campi/Emanon CD boxes. Still worth getting I think because of the otherwise unreleased suites, especially in the first box, even though Rearward has since reissued some of the content in both boxes. Don't think I ever saw this one in the UK - must have been a German-only issue. Not on CD but strangely enough MPS under their new ownership did digitise it and put it on Spotify.

Strangely enough, 'Other Folks Music' has always been my favourite of the albums in 'Aces Back To Back'. Benefits from Hilton Ruiz on piano.

Gearbox did a good job on the Tubby Hayes Fontana box. I have pretty well all of the original LPs and think that the sonics of the box holds up fairly nicely in comparison. I'll have to give that Blakey LP another listen. From memory the recording quality is not great and yes, it was a bit of an informal live session and lacking that usual 'Jazz Messengers' discipline.

Sheila Jordan - don't think she recorded with him but she certainly knew him in the 50s and must have gigged at least informally.

Guitarist Dick Garcia (Montreal 53).

Yes, indeed they were. I remember seeing the first batch at the RFH around 84/85 after a Miles Davis concert and buying 'Inner Urge' on the spot. These titles were literally mythical in the UK at that point unless you could snag scarce UA imports some years earlier. Heck, I was even desperate enough to buy 'Sixth Sense' as a Liberty deletion cassette (still have it). The current vinyl reissue situation on Blue Note (plus related UA and Pacific Jazz releases) is literally a plethora of riches.

If I didn't already have a copy of this book I would have emailed you pronto Anthony ! A very interesting read with great photos. Our late and missed friend BillF also attended quite a few of the engagements shown I recall.

No problem. From my experience you can't really go wrong with the Tone Poets. Two very recent issues which I've been particularly impressed with are Bobby Hutcherson's 'Medina' and Wayne Shorter's 'Odyssey of Iska'. The latter also has an insert with new sleeve notes. Real attention to detail - the (again recent) Donald Byrd/Doug Watkins Transition titles also have facsimile Transition booklets. I just wish that this series had been around in the 1980s when the best we were offered was the Pathe Marconi reissues. One thing to mention is that the pressing quality of the Tone Poets by RTI in the US tends to be superior. Their quality control of late has been very good as well. Both series are in 180g pressings. They are cut by Kevin Gray so do differ sonically from original Van Gelders but I haven't found that to be a serious negative.

I have a few of the Classics and all seem to be made in Europe - I think they are pressed by Optimal in Germany. They sound fine albeit the sleeves are a bit skimpy. The Tone Poets IMO are better all round and more expensive - pressed by RTI in the US (as with the Music Matters series from some years back) and with tip-on sleeves and original photography from the Wolff photo archive (ex-Mosaic). I find this series to be generally outstanding and up to Music Matters standards. Note that titles previously put out on Music Matters have been issued as Classics and not Tone Poets. Honest Jon's and Juno have good selections of both series by mail order. The Blue Note UK store did have a recent 20% off sale but unfortunately it ended last night. Both if these are good series - the Tone Poets being top notch. Some of the older titles previously sold out have been given re-presses so worth keeping an eye open for these.

Agree that it is not his best - his music took a (sadly, not well documented) interesting turn with the electronic stuff/Zyklus with John L. Walters around 1980 which is documented in the two CDs with the book. I'll bet that the Gearbox LP will improve on the original so it is going to be tempting. An intriguing 'what if' might have been an Ardley collaboration with Walters and 'Landscape'. Maybe it would have made TOTP? Only sad though that I didn't get to see one of those 'Kakeidoscope..' UK tour dates. I seem to recall they did a reunion in the 90s/2000s.

Being a major label release in the original, it's a common LP to find in the racks over here. My Derek Jewell Ardley archive file includes contents of the 'Spheres' press pack which were included (or at least some of it) in the Viv Ardley biography of Neil.

I remember seeing Stowell play with just bass in a restaurant setting. As shown above, he has that unusual way of holding the guitar, almost like a lutier ( echoes of Julian Bream). The other solo guitarist I saw a number of times in similar settings was Gene Bertoncini. Funnily enough, I'm just listening to him on the Tone Poet LP of Wayne Shorter's 'Odyssey of Iska' - inspired casting.

He collaborated with and provided arrangements for the OTC sessions that included 'Ife'.

Nearly bought an original copy of this recently - usually like pretty well everything Teddy ever did so that is interesting to hear.

I remember seeing him do 'Ife' with Stern, Evans, Foster, Miller and Cinelu at the UK comeback performance at Hammersmith Odeon in 1982. Always wondered at the time if Paul Buckmaster might have been in the audience that night and that this might have been a 'dedication' of sorts.

Nice !