mjzee

Well, I bit for 2 of the Miles boxes: Seven Steps to Heaven, and the Herbie quintet.

Alert! 5 Philology titles just popped up. No Bird yet, though.

I recently got these Altec Lansing Expressionist Bass FX3022 Speakers, and have been very happy with them. Subwoofers are built into the base of each speaker (yes, a bass in the base). Very nice, clean, smooth sound, very musical. Speakers

Has anyone in America ordered from them? Does it make sense? Prices seem good.

Al Cohn & Zoot Sims - Easy As Pie (Label M)

He produced an excellent Leo Kottke album, "Greetings From Chuck Pink." Listening to it, you can really tell Buell's contribution.

I thought I'd start a corollary to the main eMusic thread, where we can list titles they should carry, given the labels they offer, but don't currently have. So this isn't a thread to state "Wouldn't it be great if they'd carry Blue Note?", but rather, "They carry Prestige, so why don't they offer X title?" Here are some titles off the top of my head: Charles Mingus - The Complete Debut Recordings (the box) Red Garland - Stepping Out (Galaxy) David Fathead Newman - Life (HighNote) Please feel free to add your own.

I just noticed this really odd little thing. Below is the cover of Planet Waves, released in Jan 1974. Cover painting by Dylan. Look at the guy he painted in the upper right corner: Now look at the picture of Bob that's on the back cover of Love And Theft, released in 2001: Eerie, huh?

A beautiful article, Mark; thanks.

Van Morrison says he never listens to his own albums after he oversees the final steps of the recording process, and when we spoke last month, Mr. Morrison told me he probably hadn't listened to the original "Astral Weeks" from beginning to end in 40 years. But last November he did revisit his acclaimed 1968 masterpiece, performing it at two sold-out concerts in Los Angeles. "Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl," the new recording made from those shows, captures a fascinating performance by an incomparable artist. During our phone conversation, Mr. Morrison, now 63 years old, was in a lively mood, seemingly energetic and enthusiastic, his biting humor muted. With a flip remark, he tried to conceal where he was calling from (Bath in southwest England, it turns out), and when I asked him why he decided to revive "Astral Weeks," he said he wanted "to get a grip on the fact that the thing was ignored the first time around." Then he added that he wanted to get his "own mileage out of it," perhaps referring to his new label, Listen to the Lion Records, which released the live recording today. (Nor has he again relegated "Astral Weeks" to his past. He and the musicians who appeared at the Hollywood Bowl will be performing the music in New York this weekend and on March 3 and 4. See www.vanmorrison.com for details.) More here: Van Morrison

When Robert Mugge's documentaries "Sonny Rollins Saxophone Colossus" (1986) and "Gospel According to Al Green" (1984) were made, they were intended as a permanent record of two seminal musicians at a very specific point in their careers. The central figures themselves had axes to grind: Sonny Rollins -- and even more so, his manager and wife, Lucille -- wanted to silence the critics and fans who insisted that his contemporary work was inferior to his classic albums of the '50s and '60s; Al Green was compelled to explain to the world why he gave up singing pop music and devoted his life to spreading God's word. Today, those particular points don't matter as much as they once did. Mr. Rollins is treated as a living legend, whose every performance, young and old, is rightfully cherished; Mr. Green himself made another career change and since the mid-1990s has been performing secular as well as sacred music, knowing full well that audiences will accept him no matter what he sings. But these two films, newly released on DVD by Acorn Media, hold up well as vital profiles of their subjects at turning points in their lives, each combining a concert film with a journalistic backstory. They also remind us how much the genre has changed in the past two decades, a period of ever-shortening attention spans. More here: Rollins and Green

Bob Brookmeyer - Get Well Soon Tommy Flanagan - Thelonica David Murray - Windward Passages Oregon - Troika Dave McKenna - Easy Street Thelonious Monk - The Classic Quartet Karrin Allyson - Ballads Donald Byrd - Parisian Thoroughfare Sun Ra - Concert For The Comet Kohoutek Bill Evans - Everybody Digs Bill Evans

I've never heard of this Harold Vick release before, but there are some interesting similarities with Grant Green's "Iron City."

I remember hearing Bang! Bang! on WMCA in New York and loving it. I'd love to find the track on a legal download.

So Geezer Butler's not the only geezer in the band!

IMHO, any album on which YO sings (as opposed to ululating, which I'll get to in a moment) should be avoided. It's a painful experience; she makes Irene Aebi sound pleasant by comparison (go ahead, flame away!). YO also does not have songwriting ability. But, I dunno: if you liked her half of Double Fantasy, then maybe you'd like AIF. Where I do think she was talented was her avant-garde side (maybe John Lennon was HER downfall in domesticating her!). My absolute favorite was the studio version of "Don't Worry Kyoko", the flip side of the 45 of Instant Karma. But side 2 of Live Peace In Toronto is also great - hear John and Eric Clapton channeling Sonic Youth! As a whole, Live Peace In Toronto is a GREAT rock and roll album.

It might have been this 1968 performance, listed in an online Ornette Coleman discography: Ornette Coleman (tp, vln) Charlie Haden, David Izenzon (b) Ed Blackwell (d) Yoko Ono (vo) "Royal Albert Hall", London, England, February 29, 1968 Emotion Modulation (A.O.S.) Apple SAPCOR 17 Sunrise unissued Forgotten Children - unissued Long Time No See - unissued Lonely Woman - unissued Hight Abhbury - unissued Buddha Blues - unissued "Aos" can be found here.

It's also available on this box:

Those posts are from 2005.

I'm mostly interested in the Ben and Sweets date, which looks tasty. Columbia hasn't remastered their single-disc version since the '80's.

If I had to guess (without having any direct knowledge), I'd say they're running out of time, so why not sell a few more before the deadline. I'd think that if one was selling out, they'd have no reason to discount.

The Onion Sorry in advance if this offends anyone, but I think we can all relate.

I'm curious about both the Columbia Small Groups and the Lee/Christy. The CSG seems to have a lot of Ruby Braff, though. Is the material varied across the box set, or does it all have kind of a Pablo-ish feel? As for the Lee/Christy, how would one compare it to, say, "Something Cool"?

Well, I downloaded both from eMusic (I downloaded the entire VV box, including all the introductions, which basically doubled the track total, but that's another story). The VV material is good, don't get me wrong. But the All-Star box is something special. Many different sessions, each with its own personality; you can hear the love going on between old friends; the sound quality is great; and the playing is just wonderful. I wish I had bought the physical box, so I could read the booklet. There may be a few tracks missing from the eMusic version; no clue why.

While slightly off-topic, try to find The Hollywood All-Star Sessions box. It's $29.99 on Amazon through Caiman. The music is unalloyed joy.