CTI Remasters

[Aggie87]

Zweitausendeins has the following CTI remasters available, for €6.99 apiece. I'm not familiar with any of them, so I'd appreciate any recommendations.

Patti Austin - Havana Candy

Ray Barretto - La Cuna

Ron Carter - Blues Farm

Paul Desmond - Pure Desmond

Paul Desmond - Skylark

Astrud Gilberto/Stanley Turrentine - Astrud & Gilberto: with Stanley Turrentine

Freddie Hubbard - First Light

Milt Jackson - Sunflower

Hubert Laws - In the Beginning

Esther Phillips - Black-Eyed Blues

Nina Simone - Baltimore

Jeremy Steig - Firefly

Gabor Szabo - Macho

Stanley Turrentine - Don't Mess with Mister T

Stanley Turrentine - Salt Song

Do the Hubbard & Turrentine discs hold up to Red Clay, Straight Life & Sugar?

I also noticed the Steig disc, from 1977, includes John Scofield. Is this worth picking up from a Sco-fan's perspecitive?

Thanks,

Erik

Edited October 31, 2003 by Aggie87

[undergroundagent]

It all depends where your tastes lie. If you're strictly into hardbop then you probably won't appreciate what CTI was doing. If, however, you like soul-jazz and jazz funk then these albums are for you. I'd probably recommend your start with the Hubbard and Turrentine discs and stay away from the Patti Austin disc. The Milt Jackson is a classic for this label, and the Desmond discs are also very good.

Also, I wouldn't really recommend the Ron Carter disc. If I recall there were strings on this session (it may be another one...). Either way, it's not up too par! Too bad it wasn't "All Blues"!

Edited October 31, 2003 by undergroundagent

[Claude]

I bought the Freddie Hubbard at Zweiausendeins in Munich this week (and 20 other CDs, those 5-7 Euro prices are so dangerous ) "First light" is softer and less funky than "Red Clay" and "Straight life" and has strings arrangements. Good tunes and not cheesy at all. I knew the album before and would not have bought it if it was just OK. I definitely recommend it. There is a long live version of the title track as a bonus. The sound is very good, although the new CTI CDs are not as spectacularly improved as other Sony jazz remasters.

I've also checked Milt Jackson "Sunflower" and found it enjoyable but not memorable. The same for Stanley Turrentine "Salt song", which is lacking the funky drive of "Sugar". If you are a big fan of the CTI style you will want them, but if you only need the best albums you can pass on those.

The Desmond albums look interesting, but I haven't heard them.

Edited October 31, 2003 by Claude

[Aggie87]

I have a few CTI's already - the previously mentioned Red Clay, Straight Life, Sugar, as well as Jim Hall's Concierto and KB's God Bless the Child. I like all of these titles. I can get into soul/jazz/funk, but not too much of the syrupy string stuff that some of the CTIs seem to be known for. That's about my only criteria...