DMP

I think JSngry's post is right on the money. The last "Jazz Crusader" album - "Old Socks..." - was pretty light on the jazz content, and the whole sound was kind of odd. When I bought their next album ("Pass the Plate") I didn't even notice the word "Jazz" was no longer in play. My favorite from that period was "Crusaders 2" - a 2 LP set now available from Japan - long cuts, good solos from everyone. In terms of the PJ material... The group starts out strong, but after the third LP (the original "Lighthouse" - the one with "Appointment in Ghana") falls off for a period. "Heat Wave" and "Tough Talk" are fairly inconsequential - short tracks, I recall a harpsichord in there somewhere, nothing special. The one with Joe Pass and Monk Montgomery (Stretchin' Out") returns them to form, and, of course, the Buster Williams editions (and subsequent "live" albums, particularly "Festival Album") are strong. So, I think people will mostly enjoy the Mosaic set - it's great to come across music you may not be familiar with, instead of the usual suspects.

The McCann/Wilson LP is good, but maybe not all that it could have been given the names involved. There is a nice ballad with the band, and a couple of trio tracks. There may be a cut from the album on that Rhino McCann compilation. (I feel the same about the McCann/Jazz Crusaders collaboration - good, but doesn't live up to the promise.)

A couple of the earlier ones were out on "budget" CDs - they could still be around somewhere.

Got the Billy Larkin & the Delegates CD the other day - it's on some UK EMI label. Since there's almost nothing out by this group (a stray track here or there on some Blue Note compilations) (and they made at least half a dozen records for World Pacific) this is a great introduction - cuts from almost all their albums. (Dusty Groove has it.)

Daniel A - Right, I should have remembered (have them both) - but "dubious" was the right word - it's painful to listen to them. There were several good (Lou Donaldson, Bobby Hutcherson) but unlistenable titles on that label!

So, what are we talking about here? "Heat Wave?" "Tough Talk?" "Lookin' Ahead?" The one with Joe Pass? The ones with Buster Williams? ("Powerhouse" and "Uh Huh.") (About the only studio dates to make it to CD were their first - "Freedom Sound" - and the Latin album. There was a "Best Of.." collection which included studio material and a couple of cuts from the first Lighthouse album.) The "Festival Album" is one of their best - 4 long tracks.

Jazz Kat - Good list. Parts of some of these albums have been out on various releases. Don't forget "Hard Days Night" and the Cadet albums of leftovers from that engagement - a lot of that has surfaced on some cheap labels.

An earlier album from the Bohemian Caverns has never been reissued (although some of it showed up in that misguided series of double-CD reissues) - it was actually a little bit of a "hit" - the single version of "Something You Got" had some airplay. The album is mostly known for the long "West Side Story" medley, but also had a good version (hard to believe!) of "People." A lot of extra material from the Lighthouse "Hard Day's Night" gig has surfaced over the years in "official" and unofficial releases - that could make a nice package. (Although it's not exactly Bill Evans at the Vanguard...)

An "Ice" magazine from a couple of months ago listed several Verve SACD hybrids - Wes Montgomery's "California Dreaming," a Bill Evans, Charlie Parker - several more titles - for January. The next issue said they were bumped to April. But, as noted above, they seem to have disappeared.

I just bought one of the Fantasy collections of Jack McDuff's Prestige material - "Silken Soul" - and a young Martino is on 11 of the 13 tracks. Excellent, some of the best organ/tenor/guitar there is. (By the way - the reissue of McDuff's Prestige material is a discographical nightmare - it's all over the place.) (But hate to think what Concord might do, so I won't complain.) Martino was also a part of Willis Jackson's working group, and there are good reissues of this, too. And don't miss his appearance on Don Patterson's "These Are Soulful Days" - only one of 2 organ sessions with Jimmy Heath that I can think of off the top of my head.

I had the same question about a second version of "Hello.." - checked the Tom Lord discography, and there was no listing. Could there be a performance on one of those (fairly) recent "Live" volumes on High Note? (I really don't think so, but don't have all 3.) The Berlin version is also one of my favorites.

I think he plays electric piano on Freddie Hubbard's "Skydive" album. And I saw him play it with that group he had (briefly) with Gary Burton (Sam Brown on guitar - same as on the Atlantic album). (And didn't Victor Feldman turn down Miles?)

I think Chuck Nessa is right about the time (and reasons) for this practice. Of course, 45's were never wrapped as far as I know, and they accounted for a lot of sales in that period.

The 3 1961 cuts turned up on the Rhino "Deluxe Edition" of "Oh Yeah." (They were apparently from the same session.) Have the earlier cuts also turned up somewhere else? (Don't have a discography handy.)

Back in the 50's and early '60's it was possible to go to your local record store and get the clerks to play records for you. Some stores even had private listening booths. Shrink wraping put an end to that!

This continues Fantasy's recent trend of retitling the Shelly Manne catalog for the 21st century.

Listening to Mel Torme's "Comin' Home Baby" album today, wondered who the swinging drummer was on the big band tracks - actually made a trip to the library to check the Tom Lord discography. Larry Bunker! (He gave up a lot of lucrative studio work to go with Bill Evans, but ultimately couldn't deal with the personal problems that haunted Evans, according to the bio mentioned above.)

I've lost track, but a couple interesting bills were Miles Davis and Ornette Coleman (August, '67 - Village Gate) and a triple bill (!!) of Dizzy, Carmen McRae, and the Horace Silver group with Woody Shaw and Tyrone Washington (Village Gate - 65?). Also Roland Kirk (with Horace Parlan - he was plugging his new Mercury "flute album") and Ramsey Lewis (pre- "In Crowd") at Leo's Casino, on Euclid Avenue in Cleveland - Flip Wilson was the MC. Also saw Coltane at Birdland the summer of 63 - Terry Gibbs was the other group, that's where Coltrane met Alice. And the last time Cannonball Adderley played. Never saw Lee Morgan or Wes Montgomery. Had tickets to see Wes, but he passed away before the concert.

Is there any recorded documentation of his brief tenure with Coltrane? (I know this has been discussed somewhere.) And, reading the notes to "The Incredible.." there's mention of him sitting in with Horace Silver at the Village Vanguard the week of the recording - now THAT would be a good one!

It's something how we buy the same stuff over and over - I've had 6 different versions of "Kind of Blue" in the digital age, and 6 of "A Love Supreme." (This isn't counting the LP versions.) I've only bought 3 CD versions of "ROM" so far, almost conservative.

Also a sideman with Cannonball.

Jim R - 5 unissued performances showed up on a Wes Montgomery package called "Classics" in 1987 (the dawn of the CD era!) - it was part of an "A&M 25th Anniversary" series of releases. (Carpenters, anyone?) The performances are fairly short (only 2 are more than 4 minutes), but pretty straight-forward. The best is "Pata Pata," but there's also "My Favorite Things" and "Hello Young Lovers." Other than the year, there is no information. Considering what was being released at the time, these are pretty good. Are they the tip of the iceberg? Are there other Montgomery sessions in the A&M vaults? I think the CD I have has come out more recently under a "Greatest Hits" title - should be easy to find.

There are a few "previously unreleased" tracks on an A&M "greatest hits" package (it's been out with at least 2 different titles), and they are far stronger (and more straight-ahead) than the stuff we're familiar with from that period.

I've always considered Carmen McRae's "Live at Sugar Hill" one of her 2 best albums. The Maynard Ferguson's are also very good, and the Buddy Terry was a real sleeper. The best part of the label, in the later years, were the covers - you don't see photos like that every day!

Harold Alexander's "Sunshine Man" is available, and so is the first Leon Thomas. Also, there are a couple of budget compilations - "Flying Groove," "Flying Funk," not sure of the titles.