CJ Shearn

Ali in his prime, technically was something to behold. I have a friend who is not a boxing fan who wants to see his final fight against Trevor Berbick, which kinda serves no point if you never saw Ali at his best, he'll do what he wants but he'll be missing out seeing an old Ali,.......... the Holmes fight is painful to watch, like the Mancini-Kim fight is, it's one of the few fights I can't watch. I'm sure tonight on ESPN and HBO boxing, even the UFC they'll be a lot of Ali tributes.

Very true, unfortunately for many of my generation Mayweather is the only frame of reference. Back when Ali fought everyone was a contender, so many tough fighters: Frazier, Foreman, Lyle, Shavers, Holmes, Spinks, the best fought the best, unlike now, though there are some very good fights, everyone wants to be protected in this era.

The reason why there would not be a set of Ali's fights would be the same reason why there is not any DVD officially released of any boxing broadcast: promoter rights. Ali's big fights were promoted by Bob Arum (Top Rank) and Don King. The irony is today Don King has little leverage in today's boxing scene, thats because Arum, Oscar DeLa Hoya and Al Haymon are the big movers and shakers. Premier Boxing Champions spearheaded by Haymon, the first boxing on network TV in 30+ years has largely been an enterprise that hasn't met expectations.Though a huge card will be presented in primetime on CBS on June 25th. Sorry for the tangent!

The reason why there would not be a set of Ali's fights would be the same reason why there is not any DVD officially released of any boxing broadcast: promoter rights. Ali's big fights were promoted by Bob Arum (Top Rank) and Don King. The irony is today Don King has little leverage in today's boxing scene, thats because Arum, Oscar DeLa Hoya and Al Haymon are the big movers and shakers. Premier Boxing Champions spearheaded by Haymon, the first boxing on network TV in 30+ years has largely been an enterprise that hasn't met expectations.Though a huge card will be presented in primetime on CBS on June 25th. Sorry for the tangent!

Really hard to believe. I've been a boxing fan almost as long as I've loved this music, and no boxer in the past 50 years comes even remotely close to having the level of social or cultural significance as Muhammad Ali, in my opinion. Certainly not any boxer of my era, not Floyd, not Pacquiao, anyone. RIP Champ!

I agree........... beautiful photo. It is strange that he's gone.

Thanks HutchFan! Enjoy. I am still working on my interview style, I try to draw on things in past things I've done, that when appropriate make for good questions. I'm getting some great stuff about jazz ed, which you will really hear in my forthcoming conversation with Brent Wallarab about the music of David Baker.

http://bit.ly/1XNURZW Enjoy!

How's his ECM stuff? Count me in as someone who digs the general ECM thing.

Here you go!!!

The '95 Etcetera is the one included in the set.

Not at Amazon, Etcetera, the LT 999 series reissue is now $21 and change, Odyssey is $21 something and Moto Grosso is $17 and change

That would be interesting if there was a Concord series of reissues, I like the idea. I have my fill of the original Concord with the, "Arrival" Herb Ellis/Joe Pass 2 fer, Blakey "Keystone 3" and "Live at Kimball's" Concord Fujitsu double sets and the Tribute to Carl Jefferson box, all great ways to get an overview of the label live. Though, everyone must own "Gene Harris Trio+ 1" I know I do . Concord and Pablo did an admirable thing keeping the flame alive for straight ahead jazz lovers who weren't interested in jazz-rock, jazz-funk, and free, as you said duaneiac. Though I think Carl Jefferson did a better job at catching certain artists at their peak than Norman Granz did at Pablo, though there are gems to be found with both labels to be sure. My view on Pablo changed drastically from when I grew up on the Count Basie records, though I still love those and the various Montreux things from '75 and '77, Milt Jackson did some of his finest work on Pablo, IMO.

GA, I got it from Amazon US, seller was Fulfillment Express US but filled by Amazon. it was $51 and change, free shipping. Came in a day and a half and this is without Prime. Gonna get the Petrucciani and Fresu sets next as I don't have any of that material. No need for the Hancock on my end whatsoever, but I inexplicably did not own "Soothsayer", "Etcetera", "Adam's Apple", "Schizophrenia" "Super Nova", "Moto Grosso Feio" or "Odyssey of Iska" in any form, so I bought the Shorter set for that reason. IMO the RVG of "Soothsayer" in the set is fine except for the mastering defect, why Blue Note didn't get the corrected version into this set is beyond me, but the hi res version sounds great. No tape squeal there. Sonically it's pretty similar to the RVG except the soundstage is a bit deeper.

I gotta agree with you Lon there. What we have with Wayne's entire BN output and I include "Without a Net" is uniformly excellent, for curiosity sake the unissued session would be interesting but wouldn't add much. I received the "Blue Note albums" set yesterday and its a combination of RVG's Conns and McMasters, without the corrected "Soothsayer" for some odd reason, so I bought the hi res version which sounds terrific. Still, the Universal Italy set is a great way to fill gaps.

Interestingly enough aren't most BN masters actually Dolby B dubs? I thought many of the masters no longer exist? Anyway anyone who has this set, what are the mastering sources? I will find out later on today I guess.

Right. He was involved with the 75th Anniversary Japanese reissues, but other than that I don't think he's contributed much at all during the Don Was era BN thus far? Wasn't he let go after Capitol-EMI sold the label?

Similar to how there's tapes of the Blakey/JM's 1959 studio session with M&M that have floated around, right? Anyway back to the Shorter Universal Italy set, it is legit, but anyone who has it, are they using the 24/192 masterings as sources or cobbled together pre existing ones? It was released last year, so that's after the SHM's and hi res versions had been out.

Aren't they still honoring Wayne's wish for it to be unreleased? The session with "A", "Bee" "Cee", etc, right?

I said in a previous post that I ordered this to cheaply fill some major holes in my Shorter BN collection. The 11 albums have been available (sans bonus tracks) in hi res for quite sometime. Anyone who has this set, are the masterings a combination of 80's McMaster, Conns and RVG's or are these transfers from the 24/192 ones used to make the hi res and SHM editions? As I said I'm not concerned about the mastering that much but the track listing on the Universal Italy site looks like a cut and paste job from previous versions. Does this set have the corrected "Soothsayer"?

I bought the Shorter to inexpensively fill some holes, to get the rest of the BN's. I just ordered it. I'm not too worried about the mastering, I have the SHM of "Speak No Evil", which is incredible of course.

Fantastic album, really beautiful stuff. http://bit.ly/1YnKB9e

Thanks! I really think of these interviews as just conversations between a knowlegeable fan and the musicians. Later this month I have interviews with David Krakauer, Brent Wallarab and Dave Liebman ahead of his workshop at New York Jazz Workshop. What surprised me was Zev was totally geeking out talking to someone as passionate as he, usually I'm so passionate that it surprises the musicians (in a good way of course). When he asked me questions, I was taken aback. I used "unbelievable" one too many times, I'm still growing in my interview style.

http://bit.ly/23F6mTr Still working on learning to match levels in Audacity folks, the intro/outro is a bit lower than the phone interview portion.

I couldn't agree more! They are like these unbelievable essays where you learn so so much I know I do.