sidewinder

Not a reissue but Sky Arts on UK Freeview TV is currently broadcasting the Charlie Watts Orchestra Live at Fulham Town Hall video from 1986. Such a great lineup of musicians, many of whom sadly are now no longer with us. The lineup is very diverse - from a young Courtney Pyne to veterans such as Bill Le Sage and Jimmy Deuchar. Watts on drums also flanked by John Stevens and Bill Eyden.

Notable rare outing with guest Donald Byrd featured on ‘El Dorado’.

First spin - a welcome release. 3LP set German pressing, mastered by Bernie Grundman. Yes, the piano tuning sucks but Elvin is captured really well, as is the occasion. An unexpected gem. The large format booklet is excellent too, with some great memories. A time capsule - of Pookie’s in 1967 and Elvin at a key period of career/life transition.

Heck, I’m still working my way through the humongous Black and White set but I’ll be in for this one I think. Nice that there’s that tempting early bird discount too, which would go some way to offsetting shipping costs. Wonder when JazzMessengers will get this one in stock?

2LP version - some good live Hubbard on this one, with a fine band.

When I looked there was just an XXL in white left. Ridiculous - I can only assume that it was listed earlier in the week and the word got round. 🤔

Yeah. I’ve got the feeling that the photo is from a Gene Norman produced session. On the photo I have the trumpeter’s arm is in shot so likely within seconds of the more famous shot. Wardell’s pose is hardly changed. Wish I’d asked Ray for his recollections.

Wish they had continued with that Singles series as most of them are very good. I saw her once at the Hollywood Bowl. Wasn’t particularly a fan beforehand but was afterwards. Great stage presence and classy performer. Ironically it was with a Cannonball Tribute group backing her, including George Duke I think. Also not a scheduled appearance but something of a surprise.

That shot is one of a sequence of session photos of Wardell by the late Ray Avery. I acquired one of these from Ray himself which he signed but got the date wrong ('61) - it is framed on my wall. I think the trumpeter on the RHS is Conte Candoli so not the same session.

Liberty stereo

Tone Poet of this one just arrived so it will be interesting to compare. A very enjoyable session. Also pending a listen - Elvin’s ‘Live at Pookies’ 3LP. A&M Horizon

There seem to have been a few similar reports for that title on the Hoffmeister board.

Tone Poet

NY mono

Up for this very old thread to say that Trunk Records have just done a limited run of t-shirts with the Mole Jazz logo. Must have been an extremely limited run because by the time I saw the listing they had completely sold out. Hopefully, Trunk will run off another batch.

Those were the days when the Bath Jazz Festival really delivered the goods re: Shorty/NYJO performance. It helped that the local presence of jazz-fan and media star Miles Kington helped to make such things happen. Sadly, no longer to be. Now on deck -

CD5 - what an excellent set this is.

Remember seeing them circa 2000 at Bath Pavilion in an era when Bath Council actually supported live jazz events. Alas no more - and it is a far less interesting place for it. As I recall, it was an intriguing performance. I think they were paired with ‘Supersilent’ - my ears are still recovering from that one.

Yes, I bought this LP when it came out, as a deletion. It is also on the Shorty Rogers Mosaic box set. Never saw Shorty alas but did get to see Pete Jolly and Bill Holman and briefly met Bill - nice guy. I remember Jazz Journal doing features on Shorty’s UK tours in the 70s and 80s. Will have to check those out. Pretty sure Steve Voce wrote the articles.

5CD set

Looks a little bit like the one I used to have - minus the red white and blue. It had ‘Made In Hong Kong’ and an earpiece useful for nocturnal listening to Radio Luxembourg etc.

And a good seller here in the UK. Sales were up there with Spyrogyra !

The ‘In My Own Way’ is a previously unissued session from the 70s. A good one though.

Sunbeam Records - with superb booklet

I remember seeing them circa 1983 when they had just released the ‘Quark’ LP on Virgin. They had just won an award as best UK new jazz group. Of the musicians, altoist Martin Speake went on to greater prominence.