mjzee

As a listener, I'm in agreement that alternate takes are usually unnecessary, often distracting and disappointing. Bird excluded, of course. The one broad exception I'd make is for artists who don't have a large recorded legacy. In those cases, it can be surprising and pleasurable to hear their voice again. But only if it shows them vibrant, not sick and ragged.

I'm listening now to Sapporo, November 18, 1976, Part 1. Simply beautiful, stunning improvised music.

Air - Live Air Trio Hurricane - Suite of Winds George Lewis - Shadowgraph Julius Hemphill - Flat-Out Jump Suite Greg Osby - 9 Levels Miles From India The Fireman - Electric Arguments Ingrid Michaelson - Be OK Jimmy Bruno - Solo Art Pepper - Arthur's Blues Kenny Burrell - Collaboration (w/Lamont Johnson)

Some of my favorites are on this list: Hank Mobley - Dippin' (RVG Edition) Lee Morgan - Tom Cat (RVG Edition) Lou Blackburn - Complete Imperial Sessions (Connoisseur Series) Elmo Hope - Trio And Quintet (Connoisseur Series) Jackie McLean - Vertigo (Connoisseur Series) (especially the Kenny Dorham date) Chet Baker & Art Pepper - Picture Of Heath (aka Playboys) Lee Morgan - Charisma Lee Morgan - Standards Charlie Parker - The Washington Concerts John Patton - Let 'Em Roll Get 'em while you can. Though I suspect they will all be available as downloads. Perhaps Blue Note America will adopt the Blue Note Japan business model: small batches of titles, available as limited editions.

I remember the Suzanne McCorkle being nice. Are these Sun Ra's really not available on any other label? I hope they rerelease the Pony Poindexter, hopefully in better sound.

Here are the first few pages from one of his booklets:

I wonder when that distribution agreement ends.

Talk about jealous... ECMs available at eMusic Europe

I still have the "folios" - 2 handbound books of poems - inside my LP of "Moondog 2" (Columbia). He used to sell them on 6th Ave & 54th St, in front of the old ABC building (sometimes 55th St - the MGM building - and sometimes 52nd St - the CBS building - these places had ledges in front where he could sit. Strangely, he never sat on the west side of 6th Ave - the Burlington building, etc.). He sold them out of a big leather sack he kept by his feet. It wasn't like he aggressively hawked them; he just sat there and would chat with anyone. I was a teenaged kid who worked as a messenger a few blocks away during summers, so was able to get out of the office a lot. He was a really nice guy; certainly had a lot of patience with me! And he looked and dressed exactly like the cover of Moondog 2 - the leather cape, the spear - but I don't think he wore the leather cap (the one with the horns) often in the hot summer. What else do I remember? He always had a cigar butt clamped between his teeth, and would periodically discharge his spit into one of those metal tubes cigars used to come in. As you know, he was blind, so this was an easy way to be neat; he'd lift the tube to his lips. We used to talk philosophy. I remember once he said to me, "the more laws men pass, the more criminals there are."

These are amazing.

He let me reprint some of his poetry in my high-school literary magazine!

Yeah, yeah, Bev, rub it in.

It looks like my original copy. It's possible that Blue Note had extra packaging (booklet, tray cards), and that's why they chose this title to issue. I found it significant that Amazon listed the label as Blue Note. That says to me that they're standing behind the quality of the product.

He really made the mood of "Hejira." I think he was a real innovator on bass, and had a very personal sound. Ellington would have hired him in a different day.

On the back wall is the artwork that became the cover of Alice Cooper's "Pretties For You."

There was some discussion about this on the old BNBB. Someone from "The Rudy Van Gelder Project" posted that Fantasy, on many CD reissues, simply listed RVG as the engineer and studio without checking; he got them to see the error of their ways, and they afterwards ceased doing so. The postings then went on to mention the sad piano used on many Alderson recordings. I wonder what happened to "The RVG Project," meant to list every recording done by RVG.

With eMusic, the problem is with the documentation: cover, personnel, liner notes. I think this should be included as one pdf file. Then the listener has the option of printing it out or viewing on the screen.

Wow!

Looks Photoshopped to me.

For Tim Buckley fans, Starsailor is available for download on Amazon today only (Sunday 11/23) for $1.99:

Two interesting additions: George Braith and Friends Greg Osby

Is there an easy way to search for the Mosaics?

It's available on eMusic: Our Delight

Billy Harper - Black Saint Jimmy Lyons - Wee Sneezawee Max Roach featuring Anthony Braxton - Birth and Rebirth Muhal Richard Abrams - Sightsong Wildflowers: The NY Loft Jazz Sessions George Lewis - Homage to Charles Parker Old And New Dreams Yusef Lateef - Other Sounds Duke Ellington on Pablo - Harlem Stan Getz - Soul Eyes Tal Farlow - Chromatic Palette Bill Evans - Interplay

There are limits to the size of an image you can post here; it's pretty small.