CJ Shearn

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!"