mjzee

I have fond memories of twofers, which were great for a young kid with a limited budget and a curiosity about music. I think my first jazz twofer was a Mingus release on Columbia, "Better Get It In Your Soul," which contained Ah Um and Dynasty. I bought it for $2.99 (new) in I think 1970. On Fantasy/Prestige/Milestone, I loved the Monk "April In Paris" and the Mingus "Reincarnation of a Lovebird." I also picked up a lot of French Fantasy twofers (with the cellophane lamination that peeled off), such as a Red Garland (Soul Junction) and a Kenny Burrell (All Day Long and All Night Long). Verve: Billie Holiday's "Stormy Blues" was a great introduction to late Billie, and Ben Webster's "Soulville" gave me some peak Ben (along with some piano player whose name escapes me right now). The "Soulville" twofer was not a fold-out cover, but rather had both discs stuffed into one sleeve - anyone remember that batch of releases? Anyone remember "Masters of the Modern Piano," curated by Gary Giddins, which (somehow) combined Bud Powell, Bill Evans, Mary Lou Williams, Wynton Kelly, and Cecil Taylor? And Savoy... I'm still looking for a replacement copy of Sammy Price's "Rib Joint." I also had a solid Sahib Shihab. The ABC/Impulse series: the Albert Ayler "Village Concerts," a great one with Sonny Criss (disc 1) and Kenny Dorham (disc 2), and the brilliant pairing of Duke Ellington with Coleman Hawkins (disc 1) and John Coltrane (disc 2) (Cuscuna was behind those ABC releases). How about Chess? I had one with a Blakey (disc 1) and Max Roach (disc 2); the music was fairly forgettable, though. The Blue Note twofers were good too; Jackie McLean's "Hipnosis" had what's probably my favorite McLean date (the one from 1962 with Sonny Clark and Kenny Dorham). The Blakey "Live Messengers." RCA Bluebird: a great Fletcher Henderson. I may be a heretic regarding this, but I also liked the new covers with new artwork. I'm a big fan of graphics and typography (and paper too!), and thought a lot of the packaging greatly enhanced the presentation of the music.

IIRC, Ornette characterized Chappaqua Suite as an unauthorized release. I think there was a list of what he considered authorized and unauthorized in the Body Meta booklet.

First sighting of the Masters of Jazz label on eMusic: Dizzy

I have a basic monthly subscription: $5.99, which buys me $6.49 of music. Upon monthly renewal, I buy a $35 booster pack, which buys me $45 of music. So I've spent $40.99 and can download $51.49 of music. The advantage of this approach, as opposed to buying a larger subscription, is that I'm not locked in to spend a large monthly amount. I've found the sound quality to be comparable to Amazon or Apple downloads. And I have no problem with selection: even after all I've downloaded, I have close to 400 "saved items."

Does anyone remember when he was on The Odd Couple? The dialogue went something like this: "When did you begin to hate your mother?" "When I realized she named me Bubba."

Just got an email that they're shipping Philly 4/6/82.

Discussion from swingdjs.com

With family surrounding him onstage and even more admirers watching from the wings and in the audience, Grammy Award-winning percussionist, composer and songwriter Ralph MacDonald was honored with a day all to himself Wednesday, just before entertaining the crowd on the final evening of the Jazz up July music festival. MacDonald, a 35-year Stamford resident, was emotionally overcome by the surprise honor, which came in the form of a proclamation by Mayor Michael Pavia. Read more: http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/local/article/Stamford-Grammy-winning-musician-earns-surprise-1617571.php#ixzz1TRzQJsj6

Probably because, without the Monk tunes, they didn't have enough material to fill a CD. The 4/7/52 session yielded only 6 master takes and 2 alternates.

The soundtrack for a film about Manfred Eicher! Sounds and Silence: Travels with Manfred Eicher

They've just listed all the recent Impulse twofers, @ $6.99.

'Everything fell in my lap, sort of," said Paul Motian, sitting in an office of ECM, a music label he's been associated with for nearly half his 80 years. "I never tried to push things." Mr. Motian referred to the arc of his career. But he might as well have meant his manner of playing drums, so relaxed and unforced are his iterations of swinging time. Whether within a trio or a larger ensemble, such as the septet he will bring to the Village Vanguard here beginning Tuesday, Mr. Motian is both a peaceful presence and a locus of swirling power. A few cymbal strikes are all he needs to indicate velocity and flow. He employs moments of silence with equal emphasis as bass-drum kicks. He distills jazz's pulses into pithy implication through rhythmic phrases that sound personal. By now, he is both eminence and enigma: Everyone wants to play with him; no one can play like him. More here: WSJ

Thanks for that, Unk; interesting site. The posted discography seems to go only through 1944. There must be additional pages, but I don't see a way to navigate to them. Does anyone else experience this?

I think Jim really intended to trash this Oscar Peterson thread. Otherwise, he would have said his piece and gotten out. If someone did the same thing to a Monday Michiru thread, he might get an idea of what it's like on the other side.

Has anyone noticed this thread starting to take a nasty tone?

Citigroup looking to sell EMI, PDQ

A lot of good ECM values on eMusic. For example, I did a search on Gary Peacock: Tales of Another - $2.94 December Poems - $2.94 Shift In The Wind - $3.43

They'll honor the cheaper price if it drops before release date.

I found OP Plays Count Basie very pleasant and enjoyable.

Have a happy birthday!

My general impression of Oscar's playing is one of franticness - he's trying to squeeze every note possible into his playing, and thinks people will judge him harshly if he allows more space. Just my impression, and one borne mostly by the '70's and '80's Pablo (though I've heard some '50's stuff like this too). I think one can critique his playing in a simple manner, by commenting on the music alone (also by stating your piece and getting out). The thread after his death had many crude, vindictive, hostile, nasty, and scary personal comments. Comments regarding Eric Dolphy or John Coltrane should be posted in threads devoted to their music.

The difference is that all the Dylan "bootleg" material was owned and recorded by Columbia (now Sony) (and I know there were some certain exceptions to this, such as the Witmark release, but by and large this is true). The Miles material may well be radio recordings, audience recordings, and the like, that were never in Sony's vaults. It'll be interesting therefore to hear the audio quality of what they'll be releasing.

The programming's identical. Capitol owns the rights, and originally granted a limited license to Mosaic (also, Capitol is a part-owner of Mosaic). The "packaging" (such as it is) of the Capitol Vault sets doesn't mention Mosaic, so there's nothing to re-license back.

Bring a solar battery recharger!

The term "chitlin' circuit" has congealed into showbiz cliché denoting a shabby, second-rate purgatory where oldies acts like Sam and Dave toiled before crossing over to mainstream success. As music journalist Preston Lauterbach discovered, the whole subject hasn't received much serious attention, never mind respect. In books that mention the circuit he noticed a denigrating trend: "Artists were relegated to the chitlin' circuit. Working it was a grind. Even its title is depressing, derived from what black people call a hog's small intestine." It takes a former circuit star named Sax Kari, retired to a trailer on the edge of a Florida swamp, to set Mr. Lauterbach straight about a phenomenon so underground that it didn't appear in print, even in the black press, until a 1972 item in the Chicago Defender plugging an Ike and Tina Turner concert. Behind the color line was an intricate, wildly variegated underworld of entertainment and vice. Its venues ran the gamut from a converted South Carolina tobacco barn to the opulent Bronze Peacock Dinner and Dance Club in Houston, 8,000 square feet of wall-to-wall swank. Full article here: Wall Street Journal