mjzee

Muzak has been releasing Black Lion titles in Japan. They seem legit. I own some (off the top of my head: Monk's The London Collection, Johnny Griffin's Hush-A-Bye, and Lee Konitz's Storyville material), and sound quality has been amazing. I'm not saying that Brilliant Circles will sound amazing, but it will probably sound as good as can be attained.

Just noticed that I have 5 albums with Extension or Extensions in the title: Extension - George Braith Extension - Clare Fischer Extensions - Dave Holland Extensions - McCoy Tyner Dimensions and Extensions - Sam Rivers

This is the date that Bob Porter talks about in his book Soul Jazz: THE KEY CLUB IN NEWARK, New Jersey, had a strange policy for its weeklong musical engagements. A band would open on Monday night and be off the following evening. They would then resume on Wednesday and work through Sunday. While unusual, it was not the sort of problem that a band could not, routinely, deal with. Yet the problem faced by Charles Earland in mid-September 1970 was a unique and vexing one: the tenor sax player he had opened with on Monday had disappeared by Wednesday, and he had a recording session scheduled to be taped live in the club on Thursday night! His solution was to bring in a young saxophonist who had been living in Philadelphia and supplementing his earnings as a musician by working during the day for a local record wholesaler. There was little time to get things together but the replacement turned out to be a big improvement; and the subsequent album, Living Black (Prestige), was not only a hit but also an introduction to the work of Grover Washington Jr. In short order, Washington Jr. became the “house” tenor player for Prestige and made sideman appearances on that label with Boogaloo Joe Jones, Melvin Sparks, Leon Spencer, and, most importantly, Johnny “Hammond” Smith.

I picked this up, and discover that it's only 27 minutes long. The credits on the original album (back cover reproduced in the booklet) state: Recorded at Van Gelder Recording Studio, New Jersey, June 13, 14 & 20, 1979 Recording engineer: Rudy Van Gelder Cutting lathe operator: Rudy Van Gelder This last credit got me thinking. Was this originally a direct-to-disc LP? That would account for the short running time. But how do two sides get cut direct-to-disc over three days? Maybe one day was a washout. Update: Still don't know if it was direct-to-disc, but it was released at 45 RPM:

Is it preferable to have balanced outputs? I notice many SACD players do not.

I was never a big fan of Mr. Henderson's music, so I will also pass. I acquired 4 of these albums (Page One, Our Thing, In N Out, and Mode For Joe) on a cheapo EMI set (the precursor to the currently available "5 Original Albums"); I also own the Dorham discs. So the only album I'm currently lacking is Inner Urge, which I'm sure I'll acquire at some point (although McCoy is not my favorite backup pianist).

Perhaps Lion & Wolff's perspective was: Most BN albums lost money (only a small percentage were hits), they needed the publishing revenue to make a profit, and Herbie Hancock was a literal nobody at that time. While "Watermelon Man" sounded like it could be a hit, nobody could really know in advance. So in the negotiations with Hancock, Lion & Wolff saw their potential to make money decrease with Hancock's insistence on retaining publishing, and L & W would still bear the entire loss if the record flopped. In the end, they decided to give the cocky new kid a chance, and it turned out well for everyone. Herbie stayed with BN through 1969, so I don't think he bore any grudges.

There were other Dodo Greene BN sessions, fully documented on the CD release of her album.

But here's the thing: they're only pressing 3,500 copies. Even if they sell out, is that enough to keep them as a going concern?

This is one of those glib statements that, if Porter reflected upon it, he'd probably rephrase or withdraw it. Looking at the table of contents of his Soul Jazz book, he extols Illinois Jacquet, Hank Crawford, Jimmy McGriff, and Groove Holmes (to name just a few). For all of these musicians, the bulk of their catalog has been and still is very difficult to find.

This made my day.

Another pet peeve: On most CDs I buy, I cannot get the booklet out of the CD case without bending the paper. A minor problem, perhaps, but incredibly annoying.

Dusty Groove is offering (but just sold out) a fascinating Japanese version of this album. Original cover: Alternate Japanese cover: https://www.dustygroove.com/item/882217?format=lp&new_status=used&sort_order=date_added&page=1

I thought I'd start keeping a running list of the locations shown on my phone screen from obviously spammy calls. Walnut Cove, NC (sounds really nice, doesn't it?)

I hear ya, Ken!

There should probably be a Louis Armstrong Corner here under Artists. Anyway... Apple Original Films announces definitive Louis Armstrong documentary “Black & Blues: The Colorful Ballad of Louis Armstrong” Imagine-produced documentary feature tells Armstrong’s story entirely through the revolutionary musician’s own words See: https://www.apple.com/tv-pr/news/2021/04/apple-original-films-announce-definitive-louis-armstrong-documentary-black-and-blues-the-colorful-ballad-of-louis-armstrong/

Y'know what I hate? When personnel listings use the "As" "except" and "replaces" conventions. Example: from "All Star Swing Groups: The Savoy Sessions" (Savoy LP): Side A 6-7, B 1-2: Emmett Berry: trumpet, Walter "Foots" Thomas: alto sax, tenor sax, Budd Johnson: Coleman Hawkins: tenor sax, Johnny Guarnieri: piano, Max Shopnick: bass, Cozy Cole: drums. May 1, 1944 Side B 3-6: As May 1, except Eddie Barefield: alto sax, replaces Johnson and Sid Weiss: bass, replaces Shopnick. New York, June 14, 1944 I would much prefer they list the entire personnel on the 6/14/44 session, even though it means repeating the names of Berry, Thomas, et al. Just really bugs me.

Great news! But why oh why didn't they also reissue the BN album Freedom? I've never seen that one in the wild. And this is weird: they're adding two additional tracks to the Argo Village Vanguard set: I Can't See For Lookin' and Cheek To Cheek. But what about Afternoon In Paris and Tricotism? I have those on a Chess compilation called Recapitulation. They should have been added here.

RIP. He brought us some great music. I also liked his book.

There's a nice review of this album in today's Wall St Journal.

I have a download of the Definitive release of the Zorthian tape. Here's a comparison of the Verve to the Definitive: LP 3 Side A July 14, 1952 Party at Jirayr Zorthian’s Ranch, top of Fair Oaks Avenue, Altadena, California Definitive 1. Scrapple from the Apple (incomplete)................................................................................. 5:44. 6:04 2. Au Privave/Dance of the Infidels......................................................................................... 13:11. 13:14 Side B 1. Night in Tunisia...................................................................................................................... 7:33. 7:00 2. How High the Moon/Ornithology......................................................................................... 7:31. 6:57 3. Party Chatter into Embraceable You .................................................................................... 3:45 3:45 LP 4 Side A 1. Hot House ............................................................................................................................. 7:07. 6:36 2. Cool Blues............................................................................................................................ 12:15. 12:29 Side B 1. March Noodling/Dixie........................................................................................................... 4:12. 4:23 Probably July 28, 1952 at Zorthian’s Ranch 2. Scrapple from the Apple...................................................................................................... 13:14. 13:24 So it's probably a net wash, and the differences in timing could be due to conversation being attached to one track instead of another. There are also differences in track order. This may be due to Verve's needing to sequence this material for LP sides. The order on the Definitive: Night In Tunisia, Ornithology, Embraceable You, Hot House, Scrapple (long version), Cool Blues, Dixie/March, Scrapple (short version), Au Privave/Dance.

Looks like the first legitimate release of the Jirayr Zorthian material. Curious what their sources are.

I made my first visit today to Houston's Cactus Music in a year. Felt good to browse in a real record store again. Everyone wore masks, and they asked customers to hand-sanitize before shopping. Pretty good haul: Paul Winter Consort - Icarus (Living Music reissue) Oregon/Elvin Jones Together (Vanguard) Junior Mance - Live At The Top (Guest Artist: David Newman) (Atlantic) Herbie Mann Live At Newport (Atlantic) Johnny Hammond Smith - Imagination (Warwick) And for 97 cents each: Keith Jarrett - Spirits (ECM) Bennie Wallace - Twilight Time (Blue Note) Sam Most - Flute Flight (Xanadu)

Beethoven: The Complete Works, from Warner (formerly EMI). 80 discs, $96.56. https://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Complete-Works/dp/B07X7D9W6N/ref=pd_sim_14?pd_rd_w=LvWMI&pf_rd_p=dc435707-6f1f-492e-b80d-8408db56abc9&pf_rd_r=58PSFD836NWXQDJ0X3B9&pd_rd_r=4e432d0e-ddb4-4967-88cb-48ad27438800&pd_rd_wg=LSI79&pd_rd_i=B07X7D9W6N&psc=1

I've never heard of him. I guess that's one of my incentives in posting these releases - these are working musicians who don't get much attention or promotion, and I'd like to know more about them. If I could afford them, I'd buy all these new releases...instead, I keep my ears open to see what's out there.