sidewinder

I have the Sarah Vaughan Roulette and enjoy it. Not essential but very happy to have it. Sonics are very good.

I had CD3 on this morning. ‘Light-Foot’ and ‘Midnight Sun’. Very enjoyable.

Just listening to this one and I can recommend it. Sound is very acceptable for broadcasts of this vintage and there is fine playing from Ronnie Ross in particular. A great supplement to the Philips LPs.

Now there’s an idea. A Viking-style longship a la Sutton Hoo full of LPs, CDs and Mosaics sounds good - and confuse future archaeologists.

The only thing I’ve had to do with my Contour 1.8 Mk IIs is a slight tightening/torquing of the screws on the driver units, otherwise they are as good as the day they were bought, over 20 years ago.

Thanks for posting that. There will be orgasms galore on the Hoff Board. 😂 It’s a good list. I’ll be picking up ‘Slow Drag’ and ‘Demon’s Dance’ for sure. For the rest I have either good originals or Japanese reissues so more debatable. ‘Mr Natural’ I have on the Stanley T. Mosaic box on CD and I think I might also have it on a ‘Jazz File’ vinyl. Will likely go for ‘Midnight Creeper’ as well, although I think I have it on CD (somewhere).

I have a Freedom pressing of that one too. Sound is excellent !

Nice one, neveronfriday. I too have some Dynaudio Contour 1.8 Mk 2s, which I keep on a second system. A lovely speaker and visually great too - a bit harder to drive though than the current Contour range but provided your power amp is up to it, not a problem. Congrats on your retirement - good for the listening time opportunities, for sure !

First impressions from over here is that it is now significantly faster, especially when posting. Thanks !

This has been released by ‘Progressive British Jazz’ aka Matt Parker as a limited CD release and sold out now I think. The origin is unclear but I’m assuming it is from an early 70s BBC broadcast. An important release I think, covering the period of the recordings ‘You Are Here...’ and ‘Dedicated to You...’ with the group including Nic Evans on trombone and Elton Dean on saxes. Note - I see from Bandcamp that a 2LP vinyl release is also forthcoming.

Vertigo ‘spaceship’ label

Freight costs on the 747 must have been off the scale.

I’m inclined to agree. My view of Byrd hasn’t changed since ‘75-76 when I first heard this Byrd/Mizell stuff - catastrophic drop in quality into the 70s. Compared to stuff like ‘Slow Drag’ from a few years earlier, I lost interest. Not through lack of trying to like it though. That synth on the 2nd video sounds like a souped-up stylophone !

Some really good broadcast material on this 2CD set, including a prototype ‘100% Proof’ with his ‘Commonwealth Jazz Orchestra’, which is somewhat revelatory (as Simon Spillett also points out in his notes).

Wow - I know that they have been dealing with the big HQ move from Woking to West Yorkshire and that Matt Parker left to set up his own thing but 20 months is ridiculous ! On the plus side, some of their recent CD releases such as the Henry Lowther and John Taylor have been real finds. I am also very much looking forward to their Neil Ardley bio (also a bit delayed).

Ordered this Harriott release by R&B, along with their new 2CD set of BBC broadcasts by Bill Le Sage’s ‘Directions In Jazz Unit’. It would appear that the first session on the Harriott CD duplicates the music on the (forthcoming) Jazz In Britain Harriott EP on vinyl - the one which has had lengthy delays. The CD will suffice for me for that one. Some good stuff is being quietly put out by R&B Records. Some of their older releases are now available as just CD-R though. Note: edited to say that the EP doesn’t in fact duplicate the music on the CD. They are two separate broadcasts from 1961 with Les Condon on trumpet. So both will be required then !

Argo

More British jazz. UK Columbia, stereo promo copy.

Yeah. The ‘magic of the stones’ works !

Regal Zonophone Never heard of that one - looks like it gets a mention in the Gibbs bio.

Yeah, I just had a quick skim through and on the basis just of his Buddy Rich stories it is an essential read. A great find. Picked it up at a place where you would likely least expect to find such a volume - right next to the Avebury prehistoric stone circle !

I have a good orig. Liberty of ‘Stick Up’. Cost me a tenner ! Have been umming and ahhing over this Tone Poet but will likely pass. Unless Amazon offer it at £25, perhaps.. No doubt I will capitulate..

Picked up an as-new hardback copy of this one for a couple of pounds. Awesome find !

Blue label reel/mike, mono