Blue Mitchell's LAST DANCE...

[Jim R]

I don't know if this may have already been mentioned, but I just stumbled on a CD release of this oop 1977 session (originally on the Jazz America Marketing (?)) label. The CD is out on Candid, produced by Alan Bates in London. The new title is STABLEMATES.

This is one of my favorite Blue Mitchell sessions, despite the date of the recording.

[Soulstation1]

http://www.emusic.com/album/10915/10915727.html

i've DL it from e-music

[BruceH]

Does it have that accoustically dead "70's sound"?

[Dan Gould]

I was going to post about this back when I first spotted it on Alan's site. It was originally titled Last Dance and my copy of the vinyl sounds pretty good to me, though I can't comment on the CD transfer, obviously. I second Jim's recommendation, aside from his final Concord recording, this is one of the few straightahead dates he did at this stage of his career.

Jim, JAM put out a number of recordings, including several by Gene Harris, in the late 70s - early 80s.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

despite the date of the recording?!?!? DESPTE THE DATE OF THE RECORDING!?> what, would yuou of liked it better if every jazz musican killed himself as soon as the clock hit 1970?? what is wrong w/ u?

[Jim R]

Jim, JAM put out a number of recordings, including several by Gene Harris, in the late 70s - early 80s.

Right- somebody listed a bunch of them either here or at AAJ some months back.

The "Stablemates" CD sounds fine to my ears, but I'm not as much of an audiophile as a lot of people, so I wouldn't try to guarantee anything to anybody re the sound. I can recognize serious sound problems when I hear them, but for me that's pretty rare. This is a really good straight ahead session (no trace of any fusion influences at all), and unless you want to search for the vinyl (I wouldn't recommend it ), this is the only CD that's going to bring the music into our living room, so...

[Jim R]

despite the date of the recording?!?!? DESPTE THE DATE OF THE RECORDING!?> what, would yuou of liked it better if every jazz musican killed himself as soon as the clock hit 1970?? what is wrong w/ u?

[Brad]

I was going to post about this back when I first spotted it on Alan's site.

What's the site address?

[Soulstation1]

E-music Link Music Clips

[Brad]

Thanks.

[Eric]

I do like the fact they were able to use a F. Wolff photo for the cover

[Eric]

Up - this really is a nice session for Mitchell fans!!

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Thanks for the bump Eric. A really nice session, this. The US JAM issue was on their cheapo ($5:9) 5000 series. The ones that started at 1 weer, I think, better pressings. This one was apparently originally recorded for the Japanese label Discomate. I would guess an original Discomate pressing would be wonderful.

MG

PS I think the original title on Discomate was "Stablemates".

Edited May 27, 2007 by The Magnificent Goldberg

[shaft]

Yeah, I ordered it from Amazon!

Sounded very good on the clips from e-music.

/Shaft

For you guys who does not have the greta (Blue Note) "Boss Horn", Please get it ;-)

[Tom 1960]

More Blue Mitchell is never a bad thing. Thanks for the headsup on this release. I've added it to my Amazon "Wish List".

[Jim R]

Thanks for the bump Eric. A really nice session, this. The US JAM issue was on their cheapo ($5:9) 5000 series. The ones that started at 1 weer, I think, better pressings. This one was apparently originally recorded for the Japanese label Discomate. I would guess an original Discomate pressing would be wonderful.

MG

PS I think the original title on Discomate was "Stablemates".

The JAM LP issue is indeed kind of cheesy looking... but I never had any complaints re the pressing/sound quality.

The Discomate issue I had only a vague recollection of hearing about years ago, so I Googled.

Found it here: http://homepage3.nifty.com/mrmanri/Etc/analogto.html

Pretty interesting page to peruse. Has Curtis Fuller's "Fire And Filligree" (Beehive) ever seen daylight again?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Thanks for the bump Eric. A really nice session, this. The US JAM issue was on their cheapo ($5:9) 5000 series. The ones that started at 1 weer, I think, better pressings. This one was apparently originally recorded for the Japanese label Discomate. I would guess an original Discomate pressing would be wonderful.

MG

PS I think the original title on Discomate was "Stablemates".

The JAM LP issue is indeed kind of cheesy looking... but I never had any complaints re the pressing/sound quality.

The Discomate issue I had only a vague recollection of hearing about years ago, so I Googled.

Found it here: http://homepage3.nifty.com/mrmanri/Etc/analogto.html

Pretty interesting page to peruse. Has Curtis Fuller's "Fire And Filligree" (Beehive) ever seen daylight again?

I agree, there's nothing wrong with the cheapo JAM pressing. But for their main series, they used what they cracked on to be much better ones. They were called "Ultradisk" and (it sez on my McGriff) "manufactured on specially formulated vinyl under rigorous quality control conditions. manually pressed by (sig) Elaine Hart, at DISKMAKERS USA". I guess if you charge more, you have to have a bit of hype, doncha?

MG