BeBop Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 (edited) This link is to MusicDirect, though I'm sure these are available elsewhere. Black Lion had some really nice stuff that isn't in this batch (Wardell Gray, Frank Lowe, "Kenny Dorham" 52nd Street, Ben Webster other than the one listed here...some, I guess with suspicious provenance.) We can hope. And we can hope for down-to-Earth prices, maybe (?) $50? Ouch. Edited April 19, 2012 by BeBop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 I think I got a lot of those in their original form for a total of less than $50. Probably still could. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 my god, what are they doing? Is that Alan Bates guy still involved? Of course a lot of their original pressings were not too good; maybe he feels that in order to get it the way you should have gotten it in the first place, you gotta have lots of cash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colinmce Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 Aside from the Monk and a couple other things the label strikes me as one that holds a lot of good music but little great music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 The Earl Hines, Dexter Gordon, Don Byas, Johnny Griffin, Ben Webster and many others are terrific. The Bill Coleman with Guy Lafitte is wonderful. Big fan of the label. Bates no longer owns it - Euro pressings were fine; mostly pressed by Polydor. The US licensee (Audio Fidelity) made crappy pressings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 those must be the ones I own, mostly. I also like the Philly Joe Jones in England release. Also, good Jimmy Witherspoon, Wardell, great Nat Cole/Charlie Shavers, some great California stuff from the '40s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Beat Steve Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 Euro pressings were fine; mostly pressed by Polydor. The US licensee (Audio Fidelity) made crappy pressings. Bought a lot of these back in the day (introduced me to Eddie Laguna's label, Jay McShann as well as affordable (!) reissues of the 50s modern jazz recordings on Storyville, among others). And the German pressings I came across (both those by Intercord in the 70s and those by Deutsche Austrophon in the 80s) always sounded quite decent to me (and still do). So no need to shell out like that. BTW, what' that strange format of combining 33 and 45 rpm records in one pack? Who needs that kind of duplicate packagings - just a gimmick, or did I miss a point there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 The Earl Hines, Dexter Gordon, Don Byas, Johnny Griffin, Ben Webster and many others are terrific. The Bill Coleman with Guy Lafitte is wonderful. Big fan of the label. Agreed on the Coleman/Lafitte! Got that one and the wonderful Websters on CD... Webster's LP "Midnight at the Montmartre" I also have... wonderful wonderful music! "Stormy Weather" - whoah! That's some deep shit! I got that LP for free (!) while I was still in high school, at a great little record store in Zurich, where I bought some stuff and then they let me have that one with it... still love them for it, though the store moved out of town and the original owner ain't there no more. Don^t know the Hines and Byas material yet, the Griffins ("Live at the Jazzhus Montmartre", two vols.) I've got on Jazz Colours cheapo discs - fantastic music indeed! And the German pressings I came across (both those by Intercord in the 70s and those by Deutsche Austrophon in the 80s) always sounded quite decent to me (and still do). So no need to shell out like that. Same here, judging from what little I know about vinyl... bought the Stitt w/McGhee (okay session, but not that good, really) and Helen Humes' "On the Sunny Side of the Street" last year somewhere in Germany (darn, was it in Essen or in Bochum? I can't remember!). The other LP I've got is Pettiford's "Vienna Blues". Another fine one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 Yeah, mine are all Polydor or Euro Black Lion and sound fine. The Griffin rules - just picked it up recently. those must be the ones I own, mostly. I also like the Philly Joe Jones in England release. Yeah, that's a killer. Prince Lasha told me he was at the recording session and that they rehearsed it at the place he was staying in the UK. Sounded like a good time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeBop Posted April 19, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 This link is to MusicDirect, though I'm sure these are available elsewhere. Black Lion had some really nice stuff that isn't in this batch (Wardell Gray, Frank Lowe, "Kenny Dorham" 52nd Street, Ben Webster other than the one listed here... The Earl Hines, Dexter Gordon, Don Byas, Johnny Griffin, Ben Webster and many others are terrific. The Bill Coleman with Guy Lafitte is wonderful. Big fan of the label. Bates no longer owns it - Euro pressings were fine; mostly pressed by Polydor. The US licensee (Audio Fidelity) made crappy pressings. Thank you Chuck and others. I'm away from my collection and posted a few favorites, but there are many good ones I didn't think of. Some of the Monk, the Hampton Hawes (!), Charles Tolliver, Stanley Cowell's Brilliant Circles, Dollar Brand, Mal Waldron, Teddy Wilson, Oscar Pettiford, Art Ensemble, Bud Powell (obviously I'm reading off my MP3 player now) and good Brew Moore, a Cliff Jackson that I love, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 Yeah, the Freedom/Black Lion catalog is also pretty incredible. Noah Howard's The Black Ark, the AECs, and the Cecils (ex-Debut) being particular favorites. In addition to the Monks' Black Time, International Polydor also issued/reissued some gems: Steve Lacy's Sortie, Sahib Shihab's Conversations (Sahib's Jazz Party), the Sonet recordings of the NY Contemporary 5, and put out Paul Bley in Haarlem and Jym Young's Puzzle Box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christiern Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 The four master I sold Bates (regrettably) first came out on Fontana, which had better pressings than BL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 Yeah, I have a Dutch Fontana of The Sharp Edge and it sounds great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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