mjzee

Release date July 18: Embarking on an exhilarating journey into uncharted musical territories, pianist Bram de Looze assembles a quartet of extraordinary talent, featuring Joey Baron on drums, Thomas Morgan on double bass, and Hank Roberts on cello. This convergence of masterful musicians promises a transcendental exploration of sonic landscapes, where spontaneity, intuition, and boundless creativity intertwine.At Brussels Jazz Festival in Flagey, the four musicians proved to be world class storytellers through music. With unexpected twists and turns, they weaved an evocative narrative, always supporting the music, claiming the moment as a group without feeling the need to overpower each other. This magical performance was captured by VRT Radio Klara and, luckily, will be enjoyed for generations.

Release date August 8: Renowned Russian jazz pianist Ivan Farmakovskiy makes his highly anticipated debut on SteepleChase Records with a stunning new album. Blending his signature hard-bop style with modern jazz sensibilities, Farmakovskiy delivers a masterful performance that bridges tradition and innovation with American rhythm section of Christian McBride and Jack DeJohnette. Ivan won the 1994 bi-annual Russia Jazz Competition, the biggest contest for young Russian performers and he won another prize at the 1997 Europe Jazz Contest in Belgium.

Release date July 18: I always try to create a story, Alex Sipiagin says. "For me, the pieces are totally connected, even if they don't sound that way - a standard could connect with some free composition or complicated odd meter. It's a very logical line from the beginning until the end." With an eye towards realizing that aspiration on his 14th Criss Cross leader album, titled Reverberations, Sipiagin booked a six-concert tour in November by a sextet of long-time friends and bandmates from several files of activity that constitute his thriving career. After a few days off, they convened at a well-appointed studio in Bassano del Grappa, the grappa capital of Italy, a 10-minute drive from Sandrigo, the village in the north Italian region of Vicenza, where Sipiagin resides with his wife, Melissa Tham. The album's back story dates to label founder Gerry Teekens' suggestion after the 2017 release of Sipiagin's Moments Captured that the trumpet grandmaster consider making a standards album as a follow-up. Teekens was responding to an exploratory session comprising seven characteristically episodic, harmonically challenging, rhythmically layered, contrapuntal, melody-rich Sipiagin originals evoking an ambiance, as I wrote in the liner notes to the similarly ambitious 2011 album Destinations Unknown [Criss-1336], of "long-form stories with multiple plot lines that reflect an array of moods and colors."Sipiagin and his band of potential poll-winners render them - as alto saxophonist Will Vinson put it in a profile I wrote about Sipiagin for Downbeat in 2016 - with "balls-to-the-wall, Coltrane-era energy." On two pieces Sipiagin inserted soprano singer Alina Engibaryan on the front line with all-world partners Vinson and Chris Potter on two tunes. On several others, he gave pianist John Escreet free rein to deploy the immense lexicon of bespoke sounds at his disposal on Prophet 6 synthesizer, and also included on "Evija Bridge" Escreet's verbatim, first-take overdub of Potter's extremely complicated tenor solo. "It's the New York sound, " Sipiagin told me several years later. "You go for it a hundred percent - there are amazing rhythm sections everywhere; everything is musical and perfect." The Album was recorded November 10 / 11, 2024 at the Art Music Studio in Bassano del Grappa (Italy). Recording engineer: Diego Piotto. Editing, mixing and mastering by Mike Marciano at Systems Two NYC. Produced by Jerry Teekens. Photography by Sasha Maschin

The Cleveland Quartet - The Complete RCA Album Collection, disc 19 (quartet #14, and Grosse Fuge).

Riccardo Muti - The Complete Warner Symphonic Recordings, disc 58.

The Cleveland Quartet - The Complete RCA Album Collection, disc 18 (String Quartet #13, Op. 130).

It's part of this 40-CD box I bought in the mid-90's: https://www.discogs.com/release/5679460-Duke-Ellington-And-His-Orchestra-The-Duke-Edward-Kennedy-Ellington I found the sound quality acceptable. The "Ellington In Order" downloads were far better, but this box is good for all the non-Sony material.

That session was recorded for English Decca. I have it on this:

Landslide has a new cover for its Tone Poet reissue:

Riccardo Muti - The Complete Warner Symphonic Recordings, disc 57.

I think from this point on in the series, everything's available on either the Mosaic box or the RCA centennial box, so maybe continuing the series isn't that vital. I'll miss it, though.

Per the Hoffman forums, Sony has let go key people in the department who worked on their digital reissues. There used to be weekly listings of their reissued titles; those seemed to have stopped.

I actually agree with you. I chose "You're Still The One" because it was the only song on the album that was anywhere near contemporaneous - and even that song was about 20 years old when Scofield did it. The rest... let's just say that Grant Green could have covered them on "Goin' West." I don't think Sco actually listens to country music. He's always been heavily into wordplay, so I'm convinced the genesis of this album was when he saw the movie "No Country For Old Men." He looked in the mirror, saw an old guy staring back at him, and said "Hey! I can do a country album called "Country For Old Men"! Cool!" But then the challenge was in actually doing the album. I'd challenge him to do a cover album of Morgan Wallen songs.

The Cleveland Quartet - The Complete RCA Album Collection, disc 17.

Good responses. I also thought he sounded like Stitt at times. Already identified. Correct song title. Not Pat. Nice observation about the title, which is not (exactly) Red Cross. Good identification of everyone except the bass, who is the leader. Not Teddy Edwards. Chicago guy. Not John Lewis, if that's who you mean, but there is some element of the MJQ here. Correct. Kinda like JATP under the name of a leader. Not Louis (like Beatlemania, "an incredible simulation!"). Your observation about a Japanese audience is dead-on.

Riccardo Muti - The Complete Warner Symphonic Recordings, disc 56.

My doctor said the theory is that while you're taking the med, you naturally eat less because you're not as hungry. If you develop healthy eating habits during this phase, you may be able to discontinue the med. I've read, though, that the problem then is that the hunger pangs come roaring back. Maybe at that point micro-dosing is the answer. I'm still on the fence and haven't embarked on treatment (pre-diabetic phase).

Thanks. #9 was my "how can I include a Monk performance that people wouldn't guess was Monk?" It could have been worse - the album Columbia wanted him to do after this was "Monk Plays The Beatles."

The Cleveland Quartet - The Complete RCA Album Collection, disc 16.

I love Milt Jackson's music, he's one of my favorites in all of jazz. John Lewis: he's pretty boring in the context of MJQ (IMHO), but I do like a few of his solo efforts on Atlantic (for example, "The Golden Striker") and RCA. I would blame the MJQ dynamic more on the success of the format: the tuxes, the composed demeanor, the demure performances. Of course they could really swing, but when they did, it was still really polite. But it was marketable, which I do not criticize.

Riccardo Muti - The Complete Warner Symphonic Recordings, disc 55.

There's ongoing consolidation in the high-end audio market. In November, Bose bought McIntosh and Sonus Faber. See: https://www.stereophile.com/content/bose-corporation-acquires-mcintosh-group

Don't get me started on Connie Kay's finger cymbals.

Correct.