Cliff Englewood

No posts in the "Count Basie Zone" since March 2004. I should talk, after pretty much ignoring his music for years; I have become a real convert to both the Old and New Testaments. I really love this photo of the man himself; if anyone has a better quality version of it, please post it. I found this kinda interesting page on the one and only Freddie Green. Freddie Green. I am constantly amazed by the way he makes himself heard in both the Old and New Testament bands, (without an amplifier???). It really does add to the overall sound of the band and I can't believe he got lucky with ALL the sound engineers that recorded the various groups, it had to be his own work.

I was listening to discs 3, 4, 5 and 6 last night and really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really enjoyed it.

"Keepin' It Greazy." Keepin' what Greazy??? Is it your Ibanez??? Please tell me it's your Ibanez.

"Slather it on. Works as a lubricant as well." Works as a lubricant for what?

Yea, nice one, I have to say I was just blown away by the finish, it just looked so good, too good in fact to have come from China. I know that's not the most important thing, and the action and fittings seem to be of very high quality too, just looked/felt better than the Korean Epiphone's which are around the same price. And now for some guitar porn...... They also do a "spalted maple" version, although there is no mention of it on the offical site.....

Does anyone here play an Ibanez? I have seen one of their ES-335 type guitars and was quite impressed with it? Any opinions? Thanks in advance.

Yes, "Blues of a Sort" is included on the Definitive Records release, and why wouldn't it be, I mean they are called "Definitive" Records.

The madness starts again today, it's Sunderland 0-0 Tottenham at half time.

So people must have this by now, what's the general consensus, I though there would be a bit more of a response to this release.

Everyone's a critic.

All 4 discs of this one are getting a spin this evening; Sound quality is better than I remember too.

JPF, I should have added this to my original review, from the liner notes; "Note: occasional instances of drop-out or phasing are in the original mono recording and cannot be corrected." Although it doesn't say who actually recorded it originally, I have to say that whoever did do it, they did a good job, as they are very occasional instances of drop-out or phasing.

You're very welcome.

Nice one Robert, I'll have to check this one out now.

No, they didn't copy your notes and they probably didn't copy the Mosaic either, as it doesn't have any of the alternative takes that the Mosaic has. They have some generic interview snippets from Konitz where he mentions Tristano and Barry Ulanov's notes from "Tristano". They also have the studio tracks from "Tristano". Product Description This Collection Includes the Complete Master Takes of the Lennie Tristano Quartet with Lee Konitz at the Confucius Restaurant’s Sing Song Room in New York. All of These Tracks were Recorded on the Night of June 11, 1955. We have Added a Studio Session that was Originally Issued on LP with the First Batch of Confucius Material, Combining Live and Studio Tracks on the Same Release. Track Listings Disc: 1 1. Sweet and Lovely 2. Background Music 3. If I Had You 4. 317 E 32nd 5. These Foolish Things 6. 'S Wonderful 7. You Go to My Head 8. All the Things You Are 9. Lennie-Bird 10. My Melancholy Baby Disc: 2 1. April 2. Pennies in Minor 3. Mean to Me 4. Confucius Blues 5. Ghost of a Chance 6. Whispering 7. There Will Never Be Another You 8. Donna Lee 9. East Thirty Second [*] 10. Line Up [*] 11. Turkish Mambo [*] 12. Requiem [*]

I don't know why but Tower in Dublin had this on sale late last week for the very reasonable price of €20, normally doubles are in the €25-€30 range. It's a similar situation to the Monk/Trane at Carnegie disc, in that they had it early and at a bargain price, €10, only for it to go up later, it's now nearly €20. Also I think Blue Note are doing something similar by calling it the "CHARLES MINGUS SEXTET W/ ERIC DOLPHY", getting two name artists on the cover. I mean, I don't think Mingus gigs were advertised "with Eric Dolphy" or even "featuring Eric Dolphy" back in the day but I could be wrong. The artwork is also kind of similar to the Monk/Trane release as well, so if you didn't like that one. I have listened to this twice now and I'll start off on the negative side, if you had problems with the sound of the recently released "At UCLA 1965", I didn't by the way, you might not like this. The liners say "Mastered by Mark Wilder, Sony Studios", and I think the "Editorial Review" on Amazon sums it up quite well, "The sound here is less crisp than The Great Concert, thick in the middle and ill-defined when it comes to Richmond's drums, leaving the group's interplay like an ear-magnet." Nothing majorly bad though, disc one seems a bit better that disc two to my ears, and it's definitely better than some of the Bootlegs from the '64 Tour of Europe. Another minor gripe is on the first disc they have track 1 listed as "Opening", it's just 17 seconds of applause; don't know why they needed to have it as a separate track. The booklet liners are by Gary Giddins, nothing major, just functional and informative,(Keepnews take note, you fuck head) but he does make a good point about the fact that no one knew this Concert existed before Sue Mingus found the tapes, it was not listed anywhere before now, which is kinda weird. Also that Dolphy went and recorded "Point of Departure" three days after this, you know, as you do. I thought there were too many people involved in the liners for the Monk/Trane disc, some of them were so shit, so it's good in that respect, however I think they could have put a few more photos in this one, especially considering that the one photo they do have doesn't even show Coles. :crazy: The tunes that really impressed me are "Fables of Faubus", maybe the best I've heard it, but I haven't heard all of them mind you, "Take the "A" Train", which is totally manic and I get the impression that it went on longer than they originally intended, "Jitterbug Waltz", which is so good you'll wonder why they didn't do it more often on that Tour. "Orange Was the Colour of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk", "Meditations", "ATFW You", "Sophisticated Lady" are at the level of other recordings from that Tour i.e. excellent and "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" is a bit of a laugh, nothing more nothing less. It's only "So Long Eric" that is a bit of a let down for me, not as good as it would be a few weeks later on "Town Hall Concert", which I think is a high point of Mingus' career, never mind that Tour. The version here seems a bit too slow or something, Mingus seems to be unhappy with Coles' solo and when Coles finishes and Byard starts his, Mingus seems to saying something like "get us straight, get us straight", like he feels they've gone off the boil. And boiling would be a good word to describe the performance as a whole, they really do kick ass, and both buttocks at that. Mingus seems to be in a great mood because he is doing loads of the famous hollering throughout. Byard is so good and Richmond's solo and exchanges with Mingus on "Take the "A" Train" have me thinking of Max Roach. All in all a really excellent listening experience and well done to everyone involved in getting this released.

I didn't know about this one myself, this is the cover from Amazon;

The Board looks excellent and seems to be running faster, well done and thanks for all your hard work.

Cornell 1964 is available in Dublin as I bought it last week; Only listened to the first disc so far and it's excellent, good sound too, I will post more when I have more time.

"yeah i was very impressed by that album too, on first listen." Well, we'll both have to listen to it again then.

Funny you should post this today because yesterday I was buying a few CDs, even after I told myself I wouldn't for at least a month, , and I happened to see Dorothy Ashby -- Rubaiyat Of Dorothy Ashby in a second hand rack for a very reasonable €8. As I am a fan of Afro-Harping I decided I would go for it and after listening to it last night was complely blow away, it's an absolute mind bender, , and actually much better then Afro-Harping. So in answer to "How is this working anyway", on the strength of this one I would say very well.

"All roads lead to Scarlett." Yea Shawn, you need to get over it. Big time. You're a few steps away from a restraining order.

Thanks Late, I believe this is the session where Tristano was really into Warne Marsh's solos when he heard a personal copy, and in a round about way, this got the session released, or am I confusing it with something else?

Thanks Niko.

Will any kind soul answer my query???