Leeway

@MJAZZG: That looks mighty interesting! Joel Futterman - INNERACTION- JDF Music LP. With Jimmy Lyons, Richard Davis, Robert Adkins. Very much in the spirt of Cecil Taylor.

Here's a description of the box: http://www.freshsoundrecords.com/complete_1955-1957_quartet,_quintet_&_sextet_sessions_6_cds_box_set-cd-4686.html Even more expensive on US Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Complete-1955-1957-Quartet-Quintet-Sextet/dp/B000O59YU8 Has Prestige ever done a McLean box?

Catherine Robbe-Grillet Venus in Furs Betty Page

Eddie Rickenbacker Rick of Rick's Place Sam

Yes definitely! That's the kind of the distinction I'm trying to draw, although I shouldn't overstate the case as regards CF.

*Leeway, did you know you can get the CDs for $14.90 shipped from the label? Yes, thanks, I knew there was a "9" in there but quoted a dollar over! A lot of times I can pick them up at concerts, typically for $10, from the artist, or wait for CF to have a sale. The number of times this is happening though (for me) is declining). I get the (mild) criticisms put forth here, but I would still posit Clean Feed as the best jazz label operating today, really the descendant of 60s Blue Note, 70s-80s Black Saint/Soul Note, 80s-90s Hat Hut, etc. Very well packaged, affordable*, very high-quality music (esp. of late). I'm glad they're able to crank it out like they do. I have to disagree about CF being the best jazz label operating today. One reason is that it is more of an aggregator than a label. The other reason is that the better releases have been coming out on Not Two, No Business, Relative Pitch, Rune Grammofon, Intakt, etc. For a while, CF was filling a gap left by the demise of the big labels. They had a terrific rise. Now, quite a few other labels have come to fill that gap, and put out really superior recordings. CF is no longer pre-eminent in that regard.

Me too.

I'm not sure that Clean Feed records that many of the sessions they release. Quite often (don't know what percentage) the artist(s) bring the tape to Clean Feed (or CF solicits artists they have an interest in), who packages and distributes it. I think this is the reason for the wide variances. To be fair, CF does not issue too many stinkers. If I had to give them an overall grade, it would be "B". But a lot of Bs can get discouraging at $15.95 a pop. @CraigP: Funny, I had the opposite thought but maybe the better albums come from those who have been playing together for a while, whatever the idiom they are in.

BLUES FOR A REASON - Chet Baker Quintet featuring Warne Marsh (ts), with Cecil McBee (b), Hod O'Brien (p), and Eddie Gladden (d). Criss Cross LP.

A friend of mine calls the Clean Feed label: " The best work of second-best groups." Unfair, yes, but funny. And some particles of truth there too. Early on the ratio of hits to misses was pretty high (Malaby/Tamarindo, Evan Parker, John Butcher, Golia, Gayle, et al), but that ratio may have dropped of late.

PM sent

Bauder's "Day in Pictures" group is very different from Memorize the Sky, a cooperative trio exploring lower case improv. Dessen is on the recent Mark Dresser disc on Clean Feed. I have both Bauder CDs. I recall now the differences between the discs. "Day in Pictures" has a nice line-up. Just don't recall it having much of an impact on me on first hearing, but 2nd time around might be the charm.

Steve Potts Jim Black Steve McCall

Thanks for the link. Looking forward to the Kris Davis. I picked up some Bauder discs during the last Clean Feed clearance sale; good, but they didn't really grab me. I'll need to listen to them again. Hebert should be good too. Kullhammer and Dessen I'm unfamiliar with; will need to catch up.

Barbarella Babs Streisand

ooooohh! Nice FMP vinyl! Golia is perennially under-recognized but he is still a great player. The recorded start of that wonderful Lacy-Waldron connection: New Jazz/OJC LP.

Alan Shepard Shepard Smith Tenzing Norgay

Brushing up on my Prog. YES - RELAYER- Atlantic LP. OK, this is a stretch, but what Patrick Moraz is doing on his elp and synths is not all that dissimilar to what Sun Ra is doing in ATLANTIS on his solar sound organ (Hohner clavinet).

I suppose the cover appearance of the RRK set, as well as the other sets in this series, is supposed to mimic an archival or documentary appearance, but I don't find them attractive at all, at least as they appear on the web. Anyone like the appearance?

Savoy Jazz LP reissue of the original Savoy issue (as "The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra"). Besides some excellent music by Sun Ra and the Arkestra, this is a really good sounding LP (produced by Tom Wilson). Surprisingly ( to me anyway), the reissue carries liner notes by Milo Fine.

Relative Pitch Records has go t some cool stuff coming this month: http://www.relativepitchrecords.com/ I can't see a damn thing but Roscoe is blowing up a storm.

SUN RA AND HIS ASTRO INFINITY ARKESTRA. ATLANTIS. IMPULSE! LP. Sun Ra on the Solar Sound Organ aka Hohner Clavinet.

Mrs. Field Sarah Lee Annie Sprinkle

It's not strange if it works to its intended purpose, i.e., results not means. Anyway, a lot of instruments we take for granted look strange to people in other cultures who have not used them. And vice versa.