sidewinder

Wow ! I reckon he got things just right with the tuba scoring. Does Howard have any other recollections of the session?

That was often the case with "rainbow" series LPs - I sold them all after the CDs were out as they sounded better in every case! This is the Conn LP with 'Wally' in the runout groove, not the 'Rainbow', Mike. After playing this I put it on the VPI cleaner and sound improved no end - more than acceptable. I don't think the original recording was the greatest though - I have the 'Rainbow' LP also and will try to check it out later.

Charles Mingus 'Mingus Ah Um' (Classic records, stereo)

Hank Mobley 'A Slice Of The Top' (BN Conn Edition stereo). 'Wally' pressing.

I hope that the CDs were a batch of Andorran ripoffs. Divine justice. :rsmile:

In fact I nearly missed it. It was on prominent window display - other than waving it in my face couldn't have been more prominent. 99 time out of 100 I would have passed it by ! The other thing they had was a 'Kenton/Wagner' LP. Been looking for a decent copy of that Teutonic curate's egg for a while.

At the time the 'Rainbow' series came out in the US (the early batches also issued in UK but not the later ones) King were the licensee for BN in Japan and my understanding is that they worked with Mr Cuscuna to release over there many of the previously unissued titles put out under the 'Rainbow' series plus several other gems which didn't make it at that time for release in the US (some of the Grant Green/Sonny Clarks and Bobby H's 'Oblique' and 'Inner Glow', for example). The cover art on the Kings was also totally different (much more in the classic BN tradition compared with the arty-farty "neon 'n' buildings" stuff on the 'Rainbows').

It's one of his very best IMO - from any period. Unbelievable that it wasn't released 'back in the day' and had to wait for Mr Cuscuna's 70s reissue tsunami.

Just spinning the Conn LP - yes, the original sound isn't the greatest. Quite muffled, lack of top end. The music though, is incendiary. Not least McCoy Tyner's solo on the first track. Adding Kiane Zawadi (euphonium) and Howard Johnson (tuba) to the mix was a masterstroke. The bottom-heavy arrangements remind me very much of Horace Tapscott's imaginative charts for Sonny Criss's 'Sonny's Dream' and the near-contempoary session of Andrew Hill's for Blue Note - 'Passing Ships'. There's also the bonus on 'Slice' of having James Spaulding and Lee Morgan completing the front line. Dream team.

Are these 'Rainbow' series any good, Bob? I have seen the King pressing on Ebay a few times but I haven't pulled the trigger yet. I assume the Rainbow usually go for much less. Yves - the 'Rainbow' LP is certainly worth picking up (around a tenner at most should do it). Sonically I would definitely go for the King of 'Slice'. Haven't heard that one but suspect it's better (although I don't think the quality of the original recording is amongst BN's greatest of the period - a bit on the 'thin' side). The King pressing is a rarity, I believe - and expect to pay big bucks. The Conn is recommended if you can find it - easier to get for sure.

and I wonder why the Japanese have not also done a mini-LP CD version of 'Hum Dono'? Just diverting briefly from 'Windmill Tilter' I picked up a very interesting little boox in Oxfam last week. 'Jazz Now - The Jazz Centre Society Guide' edited fby Roger Cotterrel and from 1976 on Quartet Books. A nice companion to 'Music Outside', I remember passing on this at the time of issue (big mistake). It has a preface by Spike Milligan and articles on Phil Seaman (tribute), Michael Garrick, Alan and Jimmy Skidmore plus recollections/thoughts by Charles Fox, Peter Clayton and others. At the back are musician biographies of just about everyone on the scene back in 1976, details of jazz record labels operating in the UK, a section on 'Jazz on Film' and a list of specialist record shops (pretty well all of them now gone). At £2.49 - a gift !

The best deal I can recall is one from a few years ago with 20% off of LP box sets. Since then it's been mainly 10% or free shipping. Certainly worth grabbing.

Been a big fan of this one since the days of the 'Rainbow' series LP. Particularly like the bottom-heavy sound with euphonium and Mobley solos like he's been let off the leash (which he had, of course). My Conn Series LP will be going on a bit later.

Grachan Moncur III 'Evolution' (BN NY USA mono)

bev is a man Right, I always assumed that anyway. Those English... It's totally confusing over here, as 'Bev' can either be male or female.

Maynard Ferguson 'The Ballad Style of..' (UK CBS orange label, mono)

Not yet Porcy - but should be ordering some soon. My RRL solution is about to run out !

Now there's a growth industry. You'll always have a job doing that !

1 part alcohol to about 3 parts water should be OK.

That's been my experience too.

An ethyl alcohol and distilled water mix should do the trick - very economically.

Just cracked up listening to the radio on the car drive back home. Comedy radio show with spoof phone-ins - one of these has a middle aged (probably bearded) jazz/blues fan moaning about the lack of jazz vinyl/CDs in the local stores and the ubiquity of box sets, except the one he really wants and can't get hold of - a 20CD (I think that's what he said) Complete Eddie Condon set ! I wonder which particular set they had in mind.. Here's the link to the show ('Down The Line'). Condon Sketch. Probably available for listening tomorrow on 'listen again'. The particular sketch is not too long after the start of the show. Apparently these guys did the piss-take spoof of the jazz MC on the 'Fast Show' for TV so I guess it shouldn't be too much of a suprise.

Stan Kenton 'Kenton/Wagner' (Creative World, stereo). £1.99 in Oxfam.

That's what I've generally found, too.

Maynard Ferguson 'The World of Maynard Ferguson' (UK CBS mono orange label). UK issue of 'MF Horn'.