CJ Shearn

thanks Ed for the long and informative post. violet/black? April fools, right? if so, good one.

since I'm a non muscian. are you talking about his frequent use of fourths? (the kind of floaty chords McCoy Tyner uses) those I can recognize..... Some musicians I know say he comes up with some pretty twisted shit harmonically.

well, my Lighthouse is straight from CD Universe. Generally that's true the post '91 discs mark better sound. wonder why they chose the silver/black for some discs. must be for artistic reasons.

what could possibly be wrong with the other unreleased tunes? sonic defects which were inherent in some of the takes included or just bad performances?

I wonder that too...... maybe Mosaic will release the extra Lighthouse material. Tom said BN boxes aren't that profitable, but I was thinking if the existing Lighthouse set was released now it'd prolly be a Mosaic Select. I haven't heard the Plugged Nickel set (on my want to buy list tho, has been for a very long time) but I think it was an old RMB post where someone considered the Lighthouse recordings as being Lee's equivalent to Miles' Plugged Nickel dates. I mean, from the liners it seems like Lee had a chops problem, and was working himself back up while having an great foil like Bennie Maupin. This set features amazing Maupin, I really like his compositions too, like the ascending harmonic movement of "Something Like This", "Peyote" and "Neophilia". Jack DeJohnette on "Speedball" whoo........ love his broken way of swinging, pushing everyone to a higher level. I would LOVE to hear the other tracks that he sat in on, I'm sure they have a more "out" edge compared to the versions which Roker plays on(some great playing from him also) Silly ? but does anyone else's copy (see my other thread on BN CD labels) have a silver/black label side, and were the discs originally packaged playing side up? (I flipped mine so that their the normal label side up) Maybe this should be the album of the week next week.

kazak, your copy of "Ready" has a black/silver label? interesting. Mine is the regular, blue/white label. The Lighthouse set isn't an elecxtric release per se so it's unique it has the different labeling. almost reminds me of how some) 70's BN LP's had the black label w/ blue slice or (my personal favorite) deep blue label with black or white "b".

how many BN discs have silver/black labels instead of silver/blue or white/blue? I received the Morgan Lighthouse set today and noticed the discs being silver/black instead of the more familiar above color schemes, think it's kinda cool. The discs were also playing side up in the case but I fixed that

this is a great, underrated gem. I remember when I was little my dad had a tape with this backed w/ "She Was To Good to Me" by Chet Baker and I wanted the tape cuz of the Miles' portion. The way Jimmy Cobb switches from brushes to sticks is one of the most hard swinging transitions I've ever heard, and his drumming throughout, tasteful, adding accents perfectly where they need to be and never overplaying is one of the things that makes this record. Mobley is great on "No Blues", as is the guest spot by Philly Joe. Damn do Kelly-Chambers-Jones take it into a new zone behind Hank on "Blues No. 2" the whole groove changes and clamps down tighter when Hank is cookin. Love "I Thought About You" also. I think that much of the criticism of this edition of Miles' group is unwarranted. It may be so that Hank wasn't as trailblazing as Trane or Wayne, but this band, transitional between the additions of Coleman, Hancock, Tony, and a short time later the second Quintet, hit an in the pocket groove IMO like no other in Davis' acoustic years. The other great thing about SDMPWC is Kevin's favorite: the chair squeek on "Old Folks"

got it today, "Absolutions" is on now...... this is great, Bennie just returned from going outside. Never heard Lee push himself like this, amazing stuff so far. Love the Coltrane-ish groove of this.

BFrank, thanks........ yeah, hearing Lee in an adventurous setting taking into account Miles' innovations, fusion and free playing is what intrigues me. Most of my Morgan is w/ Blakey, so it'll be a definite change, but no matter the setting, Lee is always himself. It saddens me that the only discussion we've had in my class is of him being the trumpet player on "Moanin", he's much more than that.... the people who don't really care are gonna come off as thinking he only played one style, and if there is anyone in the class who heard that solo and thought "wow", they may not know where to begin. We were just talking about hard bop in the most basic sense (focusing mostly on Horace Silver and Miles' "Two Bass Hit"- I volunteered and brought the remastered Milestones since the version on the disc that comes from our textbook is that awful mid 80's mastering.) and I think a crucial point about Lee is that he made his first record at 18, that may not be saying much as we have Wynton. but Lee had the chops, and soul. My professor is knowledgeable and has written about music.. (his name is David Brackett) Not sure if he's aware of those pre-Sidewinder dates, I'm surprised he's unfamiliar with some dates I brought up. But, the Lighthouse set should be here tuesday at the campus post office so something to look forward to

with the talk we did earlier on in my jazz in American music class this semester about rhythm changes (not the chords themselves just recognizing the sound of the progression) is this tune based on it? I've been able to spot rhythm changes a lot more often now. wow, I haven't listened to this for a long time, Louis Smith is a killer.

thanks. I love Jack's approach to just about anything he's on. I seem to remember at the BN board many had high opinion of this set, even Lon saying he thought Lee was headed in a completely new direction from the fusion of the time and what Miles was doing.

the 3 disc set is on it's way to me. I only have the Morgan Mosaic and the Procrastinor Connoiseur (gotta get the Sidwinder sometime too, and a RVG of Leeway to replace a CDR) as far as leader stuff goes. ordered it b/c I'm very interested in hearing Morgan at that late stage in his career and also for Bennie Maupin, so I'll hopefully enjoy it. Question is: I looked at the Japanese Mogie discography site, and it says that Jack DeJohnette sat in for some tunes on all three nights of the engagement. How many tunes does he sit in on the set, just "Speedball"?

wow, what an excellent show, the band was cookin'. There were some excellent tributes to Duke last night like a hip arrangement of "In a Mellotone" provided by Dennis Mackerel, featuring some dialogue between plunger muted trombone and trumpet, I forgot the names of the women who were playing them, but the trombonist was very impressive. A name you all should look for is Schiela Gonzalez, a tenor player, she's very Brecker-ish at times, but IMO her solos stole the show on quite a few songs, even engaging in a tenor battle with Anat Cohen, who I believe is Avishai Cohen's sister, on the first tune of the night. Anat is a name to look for as well. The show closed with "Caravan", with an explosive lengthy solo from the drummer/leader Sherri Maricle, her solo went from Blakey-ish tom work to some slightly out playing, even playing using her hands. It was a great show, definitely worth seeing if they come through your town. Shoulda bought their livce album last night though.

I think the innovations of Jimmy Smith would be lost on a lot of my classmates honestly. There are a lot of people in the class to just fill requirements and pass, and who cannot tell the difference between swing or New Orleans jazz for example. My professor has said this as well that people have real difficulty understanding about jazz, we've learned about how to hear form, blues changes, rhythm changes etc. which has helped me tremendously. Even though pretty much I've breezed through everything without a sweat, I think a lot of people wouldn't understand why Jimmy is so great. I might bring in "The Champ" when we get to hard bop, and I think people might not be so sure what to make sure of that stop setting he uses on it, that last drawbar pulled out would probably remind them of carnival music. I think it also takes an appreciation of the sound of the organ and realizing that pre Jimmy the sounds were pretty much full of vibrato, and churchy, I dunno if people would hear that sound of his and most everyone after him as modern. And also, my professor said that when he teaches about hard bop a lot of people cannot distinguish it from bebop, and a lot of what Jimmy played on those early dates mixes the phrasing of Parker, pianists like Silver, Powell, with a whole lotta other hip things, they prolly wouldn't be able to grasp it. but w/o that negativity aside, if I get the chance I wanna talk about him when appropriate, or even write a paper on him for extra credit. It would be very interesting for me to learn about the social implications of his music, as we also talk about the social implications of jazz. Was Jimmy the first organist (probably also b/c of his association w/ BN that also afforded him the chance to play w/ the absolute best players on the NY scene) to get attention from the mainstream jazz public in addition to the Chitlin circuit? That is opposed to say a guy like Brother Jack, or Jimmy McGriff who in their heyday played and had popularity to a much more urban audience. In my view, it seems to me, later in their careers due to the organ revival, these guys were able to play large halls and venues outside of just the organ rooms and such that were huge back in the 60's. Even if I dun write a paper, that would be real cool to know

this is very sad news..... Jimmy Smith has been a staple of my listening since literally 2 years old, I've grown up intently listening to his style and playing, and even though guys like Joey D are the best at emulating his thing, no one will ever be able to duplicate the ferocity he brought to the big B. His innovation is one of the greatest gifts IMO, in jazz and in music. Hell, in my jazz in American music class we won't really discuss Jimmy at all, though my professor has told me if I bring in recordings he could try to fit something into the lecture. Our textbook "The concise guide to Jazz" by Mark Gridley doesn't even really talk about Jimmy , just a brief mention in the hard bop chapter that his music went mainstream b/c it was "less sophisticated", I suppose if yer talking the Verve period, but on BN, he played some mindblowing shit. Gridley minimizes the importance of many musicians, including narrowing Tony Williams' innovations to fusion

do these Verve LPR releases come with plastic inner sleeves like Japanese mini LP releases? that is smart so discs don't get all scuffed. The only mini-LP release I have is the Japanese CTI Summer Jazz At the Hollywood Bowl, I keep the discs in jewel cases and store the package in a plastic case.

I haven't heard it, sorta wanna pick it up, but maybe I should pick up "Pursuance" first, since I don't have any Garrett. Anyway, anybody know anything about this cat Chris Dave on drums? the AMG review mentions that he's been compared to Tony. That's a very lofty comparison indeed to compare him to someone of Williams' stature.

Young Buck (lol) my friend burned me a copy of "Shut Up And Play Yer Guitar" the second disc I believe. It is a fascinating, weird, amazing display of chops, but it's not really something I'd listen to on a regular basis. No denying Zappa was an incredible musician. The recordings you mention were they done in Frank's Synclavier days?

ahh. A track where Jack is left in, like on "Cherry", when he starts hitting the ride cymbal, you can tell he might have required too high a level on stage thus drowning or near drowning other things out. Your explanation definitely makes the reason clearer for why the overdubs may have been needed. Thanks. Also, when you recorded Carnegie Hall Salutes the Jazz Masters, on "The Eternal Triangle", how did you record Pat Metheny?, it's a different sound than is achieved by Rob Eaton and David Oakes on his own stuff, but it still maintains that airy character. Did you have microphones going to both of his amps on stage, also serving to catch the 14ms/26ms delay settings that he uses? What other occasions have you had working with Pa?, and have you engineered his famous Roland GR300 guitar synth sound before? that's one of the strangest, hippest sounds I've ever heard, absolutely ear piercing live

the CTI All Stars disc really sounds nice, very close to the original LP sound. Like I posted in another thread, there *are* overdubs, but there truly is some great stuff like George Benson taking a cheesy tune like "California Dreaming" and turning it into a vehicle for burning, some of his best CTI playing is on that album, IMO. Johnny Hammond, Grover and George make "Rocksteady" a wild, greasy romp. If you liked the bonus "It's Too Late" on Johnny's "Breakout", you'll enjoy this. Esther Phillips does some great vocals at the end of the album, the last three tunes have a church service kinda feel. the Hubbard/Turrentine In Concert I used to have on the old Sony crap sounding disc but I'll look forward to getting the Japanese copies next month. I seem to remember Freddie taking a really out unaccompanied solo on "Gibraltar", sometimes being joined by Jack DeJohnette's sprawling, free playing. Am I remembering right?

sounds like Creed to get into debt and leave someone hanging for payment. CTI Summer Jazz At the Hollywood Bowl is a great album regardless of the overdubs, but it was really a bizarre move IMO to overdub such great and capable players as DeJohnette and Carter. I read on Doug Payne's site that Creed wasn't happy with the quality of the masters, thus a reason for overdubs, there are quite a few things that get masked in the mix when the horn/reed section (made up of Hubbard, Turrentine, Washington, Hank Crawford, Hubert Laws, and Joe Farrell) are playing, but wouldn't ya think they'd do something before the tapes were rolling at the Hollywood Bowl to check the levels? the CTI All Star dates, which include the 1971 "California Concert", and previously unreleased bonus tracks on recent CD reissues, generally were rawer recordings (and w/o overdubs), perhaps to capture the energy that would crackle at those concerts, canned live albums or live albums w/ studio overdubs seem a very odd species to me.

Jim, what's your opinion of studio overdubs inserted into live recordings? I recently got the Japanese reissue of "CTI Summer Jazz At the Hollywood Bowl" on CD, something I've been looking for on disc for years, had the 3 LP set as a kid. For whatever reason, Creed Taylor, in 1977 when the album was released brought in Gary King, Steve Gadd and (I dunno where these were used) Terry Silverlight to overdub parts (engineered by David Palmer) originally played by Jack DeJohnette, Ron Carter (the electric parts only)and Airto. Particularly in the drum parts, there are times during the applause after a tune where you can hear a faint drum roll or cymbal crash from DeJohnette, when you listen in headphones. Steve is masterfully mixed in to the live sound of the recording, there are also points where the drum sound doesn't seem "live" in other words that beefed up, 70's sound. As for Jack, they left him in on some of the swinging tunes like "Cherry" and "Grits Bowl" and for the funk tunes it sounds like they maybe potted him down in the live mix to be inaudible and inserted Gadd's drumming. Are you familiar with this recording? and in general how is the process of inserting studio overdubs into a live recording achieved? Taylor did this for a number of live recordings on his label, including George Benson at Carnegie Hall and Hubert Laws at Carnegie Hall.

I'll try to order yer disc soon, I heard some clips up at school on my comp in my dorm, "Jimmy Smith Goes To Washington" sounded real hip, and very cool for getting Ron Blake to play on a few tracks. Mebbe you guys can hit Binghamton University sometime and play Late Nite Binghamton. An organ combo out of NY played last semester that was really hip, and also some of the local musicians that play gigs everyweek at a popular spot The Lost Dog have played Late Nite. you can even sell yer discs after a gig.

haha, puking from the speakers reminds me of a comment a local cat I know who's friend responded to Jaco's bass by saying "he puked all over the fretboard!"