John L

Well, I guess that I should have been a bit more precise in my comments. While some of this information may have been lost at Blue Note, it wouldn't seem to be a major issue. We have exact recording dates for almost all the classic Blue Note sessions, even if a lot of this information wasn't included on the back cover of original EP and LP releases. From about the 1970s until the end of the century, we not only had precise discographical information included on reissues of classic earlier records but established jazz labels would generally include all of this information on new releases as well. Now, the situation has significantly changed in that regard and, as I wrote above, I worry that a lot of discographical information is not being saved for posterity at all.

For new jazz, the labels that I buy from tend to be Blue Note, Smoke, ECM, and a lot of small often artist-controlled labels. In every case, I would say the precise recording dates are the exception rather than the rule. What you say about Columbia and Concord is spot on, but it would seem that most reissues of the music include this information. So the information was documented but maybe not included on original LP covers. Today I wonder if a lot of this information is not being documented for posterity at all.

OK, this is a pet peeve of mine. There is a strong trend toward providing minimal or no information about recording dates on new jazz recordings. That stands in sharp contrast with past practices of the 20th century when exact recording dates were commonly documented. I understand that there may be good reasons for this. Some have to do with modern technology that now longer necessarily requires having an entire band in a recording studio at the same time to make a record, and also makes professional-quality recording cheap enough so that released music can be cherry picked from a huge number of recordings from multiple dates. It likely also has to do with the fact that artists are now often able to control their own releases and labels, and may not feel as anal as record executives about documenting precise recording dates. But even the large labels like Blue Note now seem to be following suit in not showing concern about providing precise discographical information for new recordings. What do people here think about this? Personally, it bothers me quite a bit. When I engage in assessing or understanding the career work of a jazz artist, I like very much to be able to understand the chronological order of recordings. For example, it can be insightful to know if a particular concert performance occurred before or after a certain studio recording.

This is all very interesting if it is indeed true. Thanks. I think that the direction to orient improvisations to the melody as opposed to just playing on the chords is not inconsistent with an accepted harmonic progression. Monk's approach in that regard was quite different than that of Ornette.

Can that really be true? None of the accepted harmonizations of Monk's composed melodies come from his own notated music? Monk himself seemed to play similar harmonizations for each given piece.

RIP to one of the greats

Very interesting quote indeed. I seem to recall that some of the Hurricane Restaurant broadcasts might have gotten their first release on V-Disc. In any case, with the Treasury Shows and the World Transcriptions, there is no shortage of Duke Ellington recordings from this period.

I was referring to Hutchfan's list, which includes many of Bud's musical children but not Bud Powell himself.

That is a nice list but I would have expected to see some Bud Powell.

Thanks, Paul. Sounds good.

I wonder if it is a different concert than this one from May 12, 1966:

Von Freeman with Misha Mengelberg and Han Bennink? Nice.

There is some fantastic music on the box but I still prefer it in very small doses. What gets to me is not the fact that it is jams but somewhat the contrary: some of the box is largely the same musicians playing the same blues and standards night after night, not always with enthusiasm and with strong encouragement to bring their solos to crescendos with lots of tooting and honking to get the crowd excited. That can get a bit tiring after a while. But small doses can be quite rewarding as at least one or two of the masters will usually play something special.

The JATP format did encourage grandstanding that could get excessive. But the quality and individuality of many of the musicians on this box saves it all. For me, just the prospect of more Lester Young made buying this set a no brainer.

RIP

Very sad indeed. I loved having Brownie here. RIP in jazz heaven.

Yes! To go along with the current Decca Armstrong big band Mosaic, we also need a newly remastered and complete Okeh, Columbia, and Victor Mosaic big band box.

This one really hurts. Jack Dejohnette was not only one of the greatest and most original drummers. He was a titan of jazz music in every aspect. Irreplaceable! We posted at exactly the same time with exactly the same thought!

What about this one? It is certainly one of my favorites.

I believe that the original release of this music was not on Argo but on Winley records, which otherwise focused almost entirely on doo-wop. Note that Paul Winley also took composer credit for House Warmin'!

About time!

I always loved dancing to this one:

This thread is a good study in how people here can end up arguing and insulting each other over nothing. I don't see any fundamental disagreement here over anything: Everyone agrees that the playing on the Plugged Nickel recordings could sound like "noodling" to someone not very familiar with jazz. Every also agrees (I believe) that this impression would be incorrect. It doesn't mean that the person is stupid, just ignorant about modern jazz. Of course, someone might also have in mind by "noodling" any improvisation that abstracts too far from the melody of the song. OK, fine. So what is there to argue about? Similarly, we can all have different memories about whether or not there was a discussion here or on the Blue Note Board about a defective disc in the Plugged Nickel box. What is the point of getting upset about it? Let's try to chill a bit.

I bought all of the historical masters CDs too, but they were superseded by the great Japanese box set:

Thanks, Marcel. As suspected, nothing new here.