mjzee

I'd only add Lion's desire to document music he liked. Witness the Herbie Nichols records - they didn't sell then (I'll bet they still don't sell much), but Lion thought he was an important voice. This approach goes all the way back to Monk - at the time BN recorded him, I wonder whether they ever expected him to sell.

Inspired by the ongoing thread about Blue Note CDs that are overrated... As has been noted by many posters over the years, both here and on the BNBB, a bigger problem is that too many Prestige CDs are underrated. Whether because of the sheer number of titles released in many different subgenres by Prestige, the mystique of the BN extra day of rehearsals, or good management of the BN brand through the CD era, there are probably far more great Prestige titles that are unknown or undervalued than there are Blue Notes. So, excluding the obvious (like the Coltrane titles), what are some Prestiges you think cry out for more awareness and a larger audience?

Release date September 9 (at least as per Amazon):

Release date September 9:

Release date was August 12:

Fripp Launches King Crimson Focused YouTube Channel - JamBase

Interesting. None of it is on the 13 CD box on United Archives.

Yes not boring but for me Lee and Billy Higgins are the standout on this tune. Hank's solo of course wasn't bad and he never is bad but I've also heard better from him. The best playing of Hank IMO is on Miles' Blackhawk albums. That's the great thing about Hank. Yes, get into it for Lee and Billy, but after you play the album a few times, you start to find Hank's solos insinuating themselves inside you. He doesn't hit you over the head at first listen, but there's a lot of things happening there.

With Mobley, you want the ones with other strong players and that showcase his great writing and arranging skills. I'd try one or two of the following: Workout (with Grant Green), And His All-Stars (with Milt Jackson), Dippin' (Lee Morgan), Hi Voltage (Jackie McLean and Blue Mitchell), and A Slice Of The Top (nice larger ensemble).

My opinions on BNs simply mirror my tastes elsewhere. Much avant-garde leaves me cold, so I avoid the Cecils, Ornettes, and those that are AG-tinged (Andrew Hill, Bobby Hutcherson - Dialogue, Basra, etc). I love gutbucket jazz with intelligence, so I generally love the Dexters, Mobleys, Morgans, etc. Not so intelligent, I don't love so much: the Lou Donaldsons, Reuben Wilson, etc. A lot of the late-50's dates, the ones that rely on standards, I don't love so much. But as prior posters pointed out, a date isn't "overrated" if it was never much loved to begin with: Night of the Cookers, Dodo Greene. But as another poster said, I'm not as much interested in pointing out disappointing dates as I am hunting down dates I might love. I'm therefore looking forward to hearing more Freddie Roach and BN Elvin Jones (I just downloaded the Mosaic box from iTunes for $30).

Another thumbs-up for this one. High energy music, just a delight.

Does anyone here own the CD + DVD package of Dexter @ North Sea Jazz? Was wondering if it's worth getting for the DVD.

I think you'll be very pleasantly surprised by the Jazz Crusaders set; a lot of substance there.

I know we've had dedicated threads for the (first) Ry Cooder and Little Feat boxes, but thought we can gather info about any forthcoming boxes here. Release date September 29:

Here are two I love: Also, don't overlook these:

You can verify it yourself. Here's the discography from the Mosaic website; look for all the "LH-vcl" mentions: Hamp.

Oh, yeah, lots of vocals, most of them by "Lionel Hampton, vocal, & His Orchestra". Specifically: Disc one: 14 out of 23 tracks Disc two: 10 out of 17 tracks Disc three: 10 out of 24 tracks Disc four: 6 out of 23 tracks Disc five: 6 out of 20 tracks

They did the same thing on the Self-Portrait set, and I have resisted the deluxe version, even though it is the only major missing piece in my Dylan collection. The Self Portrait set was the first deluxe set I bought, and it was only for the Isle of Wight disc (which is pretty great). I must say that the books and presentation are handsome, but (IMHO) the music and approach didn't live up to the price (I saw no real integration of the Self Portrait and New Morning sessions, or a coherent overview of what was going on with Dylan during that time; Greil Marcus's essay was unimpressive). I will probably buy the 6-CD set, but agree about the too-high price. Hopefully, someplace like amazon.co.uk will have it for less.

A corollary article could be written about directors in Hollywood.

It seemed to me like a predominantly vocal set, with many alternate takes. Hampton's vocals are pleasant enough, but be prepared for a lot of them. I'm not sad I bought it, but wish it were somehow...different.

France will soon experience something similar.

I think if tapes existed, they would have been included in the Miles/Evans box.

I'm always intrigued by something I read in Rolling Stone, not long before he died, that there was a planned collaboration between Buckley, Jackson Browne and Gregg Allman. Was that the same Marc McClure who did this?:

Wonderful news re TBT. As for the other release, Elvis Costello's participation sours it for me; explanation for that would have to go into the Politics section.