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Best Live Boxed Set?


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I was playing Keith Jarrett the other day and realized how much more I enjoy his live performances (grunting included) than his studio sessions. I wanted to get the input from y'all about something. I think there can be something very different about hearing multiple nights of an artist performing live, but there don't seem to be many boxed sets like this. What's the best live boxed set you have? (And when I say boxed set I mean more than 2 discs).

Off the top of my head, I think the one I enjoy the most is Jarrett's Live at the Blue Note set. I'm looking forward to Zev's Sonny Rollins set. On the other hand, I recently listened to Miles Live at the Blackhawk and was rather disappointed. I can't explain why - it just didn't do much for me.

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Oh, gosh, there are so many.  Off the top of my head: Lee Morgan - Live At The Lighthouse, Art Pepper at the Village Vanguard, Sonny Rollins and Don Cherry at the Village Gate (unofficial), and Stan Getz & Kenny Barron - People Time.

I'm in agreement with you about the Miles Blackhawk set.  Hard to put the finger on the reason it doesn't click; probably some combination of a mismatch between Mobley and the rest of the band (who are following Miles), Mobley just not being that exciting, and Miles sounding rushed and bored.

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Miles @ Plugged Nickel and Bill Evans & Coltrane at the Vanguard '61 seem a little too on the nose, so excepting those:

Anthony Braxton - Quartet (Willisau) 1991
John Coltrane - Live In Japan
Chick Corea & Origin - A Week At The Blue Note
Miles Davis - In Stockholm 1960 Complete
DKV Trio & Joe McPhee - The Fire Each Time
The Ella Fitzgerald And Duke Ellington Côte D'Azur Concerts On Verve

Warne Marsh & Lee Konitz – Two Not One
Pendulum - Mosaic Select 32: Live At The Village Vanguard
Cecil Taylor - In Berlin '88

The Braxton and Marsh/Konitz each have some studio sessions, but I think they meet the spirit. One that doesn't quite, but comes close, would be the Mingus 64/65 Workshop Mosaic, which would certainly rate as my favorite live box set of all.

Per the Jarrett Blue Note box, another one that I find equally interesting and equally exhausting is Bill Evans' Turn Out The Stars

 

 

 

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Miles at the Plugged Nickel and the Art Pepper and Coltrane at the Village Vanguard sets immediately came to mind, plus the Mosaic Select of Dexter Gordon at the Keystone. Wildcard offering: Dave Douglas Live at Jazz Standard.   

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50 minutes ago, Stonewall15 said:

The Complete Crazy Sunday at the Lighthouse. 6-CD set of Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars in 1953 released by the Los Angeles Jazz Institute in 2023.

Ha ha ha... I'd love to hear it but they made it pretty much impossible to buy. I tried joining the LA Jazz Institute to get it but their website was so screwed up, I couldn't get any links to allow me to buy the box set. I eventually gave up. As a membership drive offer, it was terribly executed.

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I like Miles at the Blackhawk, and also the large Plugged Nickel set. I would also add Lee Morgan's Complete Lighthouse box.

This isn't jazz (exactly), but Jimi's "Songs For Groovy Children" (The Fillmore East Concerts) is an exceptional set that far exceeds all the other versions that have been released to date.

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Japanese free saxophonist Kaoru Abe may not be well known here, but a 3-CDs compilation of his 1971 shows at several universities and a jazz cafe in the Tohoku region in Japan came out a few years ago and was very moving. It is well comparable to Eric Dolphy, in my opinion.

image.jpeg.ac85cb6364a9f2aff1b78d504da5bc79.jpeg

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14 hours ago, Stonewall15 said:

The Complete Crazy Sunday at the Lighthouse. 6-CD set of Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars in 1953 released by the Los Angeles Jazz Institute in 2023.

I second that as this would have to be in my top 5 from this category

https://www.discogs.com/release/29224915-Various-LA-Jazz-Institute-Presents-The-Complete-Crazy-Sunday-At-The-Lighthouse-September-13-1953

R-29224915-1703365089-7265 Large.jpeg

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3 minutes ago, romualdo said:

I have a signed photo on my wall by Cecil Spiller sans Howard that must have been taken at the same time - Shelly and Max are wearing the same shirts.

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31 minutes ago, sidewinder said:

I have a signed photo on my wall by Cecil Spiller sans Howard that must have been taken at the same time - Shelly and Max are wearing the same shirts.

and aren't those shirts so timeless & groovy

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Coltrane's Village Vanguard Box set is my favorite probably. There's not a single bad note at that set. It's one of the few sets where I really don't mind the fact that there are four takes of the same track on it.

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