mjzee

Vinnie Coliauta's a pretty bad drummer (technically proficient, but overkill), but he was recently eviscerated in a different thread. I've always been disappointed with Robert Williams's work with Beefheart - he sounds so careful, as if he's reading off sheet music. Such a sad comparison with Drumbo, who just swings, drives the music. A great comparison is on Doc At The Radar Station - there's such a difference on the track Drumbo drums on ("Sheriff of Hong Kong"). I've always disliked the drumming on Blonde on Blonde - it's so placid. Again, a good comparison is the one track with The Hawks ("Sooner or Later One of Us Must Know") - I forget if that was Levon Helm or Bobby somebody, probably the latter.

You might also want to empty out the door pockets. It could be the bass notes are making some things in there vibrate.

You have to be of the time. Look for ARs or maybe Bose 901s. My first set of bookshelf speakers were Martins (the guitar company), and I bought my first stereo from Crazy Eddie himself, back when he had one store on Kings Highway in Brooklyn. Though to really replicate the time, your kid needs a changer (with an arm to steady the LP stack), and maybe a penny taped to the cartridge head. Ah, those were the days!

without the prestiges it can't be called complete. at least in my humble opinion. and i'm asking myself the same question than you: who would buy this? I've given my opinion on that a couple of pages before. But let me enumerate why I wouldn't buy it for myself: 1) I recently bought the 5-disc Original Album Classics set. That gave me (I think) the first 5 albums. 2) Already own Kind of Blue (who doesn't?). 3) Have Davis/Dameron in Paris (vinyl). 4) From mid-career, I have At Carnegie Hall (w/Gil Evans). Friday and Saturday Night at the Blackhawk. The Seven Steps to Heaven box set. The '65-'68 box set. Highlights from The Plugged Nickel. The In A Silent Way box. 5) From the electric era, have the Bitches Brew box, the Jack Johnson box, Live Evil, On The Corner, downloaded Go Ahead John from Big Fun (insane version not on the JJ box), It's About That Time, At Fillmore, "Call It Anything" from Isle of Wight (eMusic download), Philharmonic Hall, Dark Magus (Japanese vinyl), Agharta, Pangaea (Japanese vinyl). 6) While I'd really like We Want Miles, I have no use for The Man With The Horn, Star People or anything afterwards (sorry for the absolutes; I suppose there's a chance I'd love Aura if I ever heard it). I don't mean all this to be boasting. It is the result of years of contemplating, comparing, waiting for bargains, panicking when something's going out of print. I've lived with this stuff for years, y'know? And I think a lot of other jazz fans have too; maybe not all, but a lot. So, given what's in the box, is the remainder worth $300? Not, at least, for me.

That's a good way of putting it.

I think Granz said he lost money on most of the Pablos.

I've been a Palm user since they were introduced more than 10 years ago (my first was a Pilot 5000). I migrated to Handspring, and have used a Treo 755p for 2 years now. Sadly, I will not continue with Treo/Palm when this one dies, as I don't think the company will survive long-term. Just MHO. I've used it with Sprint, and I have to say I've never had a problem with them. Sprint doesn't seem to be high up on anybody's list, but coverage has always been OK, customer service is decent, and their pricing is good. So what to do going forward? I'm waiting and hoping that Apple's exclusive deal with AT&T will expire soon, and they'll open up the iPhone to other carriers.

I think he was entrepreneurially a populist - he was very conscious of what audiences liked. It is true that he would rather sign an established artist that connected with an audience and that he could grow further through his JATP concerts - think Stan Getz - than untested artists, but Oscar Peterson is the best example of a new artist he signed because Oscar fit right into this approach. As with any other theory, there are going to be exceptions. Hank Jones, Kenny Drew... Tal Farlow was a relative unknown, and he had a nice run of albums with Verve. And Verve could be adventurous with Lee Konitz and other third-stream purveyors.

I think what some here are calling "The Box" is the Original Album Classics 5-disc set mentioned at the beginning of the thread; it does come in a box-like sleeve. Others are comparing that to the '90's 6-CD box. The challenge with the Original Album Classics releases, based on my experience with the Miles and Monk sets, is that the individual discs are in mini-replicas of the original LP covers, but the discs themselves are the latest remastered versions, with alternate takes and additional songs included. There are no mention of these extras on the LP covers, but they are mentioned on the outer box. But those listings are, perhaps, sometimes not correct.

From a newsletter from Norton previously this year: • WATCH OUT FOR MUCK MUCK! Norton recently took a rocket ride into the vaults of El Saturn Research and arrived back on Earth with a motherlode of unissued early R&B, doo wop, soul and general weirdness featuring Sun Ra and his Arkestra backing a variety of artists. This series will be compiled on several Norton albums and singles including an entire disc by Yochanan (The Space Age Vocalist) backed by Sun Ra and his Arkestra featuring his demented Saturn 45 Muck Muck / Hot Skillet Mama and much more lunacy from yet another Norton turban headed star! These stupendous recordings include Yochanan-Rocket Ship Rock / Nu Sounds - The Second Stop Is Jupiter / Crystals - Honey In The Bee Box / Qualities - If I Only Hadn't Sinned / Ebah - I'm Gonna Unmask The Batman / Don (Dino) Dean - The Space Stroll / Sun Ra - I Am Strange / Cosmic Rays - Daddy's Gonna Tell You No Lie and many, many more. A pretty hot new single too! http://www.dustygroove.com/item.php?id=r5c...%2Bra%2Bstrange This seems to duplicate a lot of the Evidence "The Singles" package. Is that now unavailable?

However, it looks like this set has four alternate takes missing on the Complete set (which I just recently bought for better or worse but haven't yet received): You Are My Lucky Star, I Could Write a Book, There Will Never Be Another You, and Yesterdays. All 4 of these are included in the RCA box (assuming the Yesterdays is the version with Coleman Hawkins). The box also has Don't Stop The Carnival and Jungoso.

Some of those Original Album Classics collections are pretty amazing for the cost. I picked up the Miles, which has Round About Midnight, Milestones, 1958 Sessions, Miles Ahead and Porgy & Bess, a few weeks ago for $9.50 or so: Miles I've been thinking about the George Benson for awhile (Bad Benson, The George Benson Cookbook, It's Uptown, Body Talk and Beyond The Blue Horizon for $9.69): http://www.amazon.com/Original-Album-Class...ref=pd_sim_m_12 The Ellington's also a great value at $9.55 (contains Ellington Uptown, Such Sweet Thunder, Black Brown & Beige, Anatomy Of A Murder and First Time): http://www.amazon.com/Original-Album-Class.../ref=pd_sim_m_8 And how about this Jeff Beck for $15.23 (Rough And Ready (1971), Jeff Beck Group (1972), Blow By Blow (1975), Wired (1976) and Jeff Beck Group With Jan Hammer Live (1977)): http://www.amazon.com/Original-Album-Class.../ref=pd_sim_m_4 Keep in mind that those titles in the series that are at higher prices will, based on experience, come down to these levels eventually.

I've just tried Audacity and do not like it. I don't find it intuitively designed or easy to use. I much prefer Amadeus Pro, which is available at the Apple online store for $40.

Some other great Burtons on ECM: Hotel Hello (with Steve Swallow), Live in Zurich (with Chick Corea), and, of course, Crystal Silence (also with Chick). I recently heard for the first time Matchbook (with Ralph Towner), and it makes me want to hear it again, which is a good sign. IMHO, his mid-'80's ECM albums began to sound more formulaic (Real Life Hits, Whiz Kids); then, once he moved to GRP, forget about it.

For those who want to read the Getz review in WSJ: Getz WSJ

I don't know if you want to go down-market, but this is such a ridiculous price that you should consider, if only as an add-on to whatever you wind up buying. Meade Lux Lewis has 7 tracks scattered across these 10 CDs (tracks are Randini's Boogie, Bearcat Crawl, Whistlin' Blues, Bass On Top, Honky Tonk Train Blues, Lux's Boogie, and Glendale Glide...no discographical data is provided). $15.49 from an Amazon reseller (yes, for 10 CDs):

You never know. They're manufacturing X number of copies, based on sales forecasts. What if it's a dud sales-wise? It may not get remaindered through Amazon; instead, it could be through some no-name reseller on Ebay. Remember, by and large, I don't think this is meant to appeal to jazz buffs, since they'll already have most of the music (and why pay such a high price just for fill-ins)? Instead, I think it's intended for gift purposes, similar to, oh I don't know, the complete Get Smart on DVD. Sure, there's a market, but did they nail the forecast accurately? That's the question.

I think the whole point of releasing this box now is as a Christmas gift. You know someone, maybe a corporate client, it's both a safe bet and an impressive gift. Who cares what they do with it after they receive it? Probably give it to some high school nephew. I think we should keep an eye out for remainders, maybe around January.

Gary Burton really did have a great run of albums in the mid-70's. I feel a loss for how much he's fallen since. A lot of the success of his ECM albums could be due to Eicher, whether through his producing or the creative atmosphere his label allowed. John Abercrombie has had an interesting run too, going through many varied styles. Some titles I love: The Paul Bley Quartet Keith Jarrett - The Koln Concert (props where they're due) Tomasz Stanko - From The Green Hill Steve Reich - Music For 18 Musicians Ralph Towner - Ana Jan Garbarek/Hilliard Ensemble - Officium Circle - Paris Concert Keith Jarrett - Nude Ants Dino Saluzzi - Cite de la Musique

From the sound, I would have put him in his '70's. Very strong player.

Yeppers:

Is there anyone alive who could be asked about the gig? Ben Riley? I wonder what Coltrane's 1967 style sounded like in the context of Monk's quartet. I would have loved to hear Coltrane and Charlie Rouse trading 4's!

For those who are interested, Amazon mp3 is featuring a number of albums (jazz and otherwise) for $5 each. The jazz titles include: Conference of the Birds Brown/Roach at Basin Street Metheny - Offramp Blakey - Moanin' Oregon Ahmad Jamal Jimmy Smith Gary Burton Hamp & Getz Ben Webster/Oscar Peterson Coltrane - My Favorite Things, Blue Train, w/Johnny Hartman Mingus Presents Mingus Dizzy - Afro Sonny Rollins - Alfie Pres & Teddy Bird/Dizzy Town Hall 6/22/45 Pharaoh Sanders - Thembi Blakey & Jazz Messengers (Impulse) Ornette - This Is Our Music Complete jazz list can be found here: Amazon

One of the Andorran labels released a single disc titled "The Complete 1946-49 Roost/Blue Note/Verve/Swing Masters." I think the pitch is correct on this.