John L

My wife invested in great expresso and grinding machines. But lately I prefer a simple French Press with a good light roasted Ethiopian coffee. As far as I am concerned, iIt doesn't get any better.

Testament Records Folkways Records Sonet Records Biograph Records Vanguard Records to name a few

I also have a general preference for Dunlop over Riley for Monk. But Monk could be relatively inspired or relatively uninspired playing with either one of them. They both did their job as a good foil for Monk, i.e. someone who didn't get in Monk's way and encouraged him on when needed.

So you are saying that it doesn't sound credible? Actually, I just looked at the database of my own collection that has entries mostly by recording session or concert with no duplications. I count 511. That is already more than 3000 performances. And there are a lot of concert performances, in particular, that I don't have.

If you include all the live recordings in the Lord Discography and more, you might get close to 833. So much was recorded for so many years. The discography is huge. Maybe only the Grateful Dead have more recordings.

Rhizome

I was excited to see him here in DC a few months ago. I went online to reserve tickets the day before and was surprised to see that they were all sold out. I regretted missing him this time but felt happy for his success.

I second this recommendation. There is some fabulous Pres here with Basie from 1944 that somehow did not make it to other releases that I know of, including the Prez's Hat series that focuses mostly on the 1944 broadcasts.

Another candidate -

Very sad

I have always assumed that it is because Bill Evans is a co-leader on Know What I Mean. If the box would have included all of Bill Evans recordings made for Riverside also as a sideman, then they would have had to include the Chet Baker albums as well.

I'm intrigued!

Well, they were saying the exact same thing in the 60s - that rock music was less complex and a watering down of Tin Pan Alley-based pop. I think that a basic important point here is that complexity in music is hard to measure. It depends on the measuring rod that is being used. If we are looking only at harmonic complexity, for example, then it looks like popular music has become increasingly less complex since the mid-20th century. If we measure by rhythmic complexity, we will get a different result. And, or course, we could also argue about the relationship between complexity and quality in music.

I will be interested to hear reviews on the sound. This is one group of recordings where the sound quality on previously releases has never been what might be hoped for.

Even if you accept that notion that culture today is stagnating relative to the second half of the 20th century, it is still a question as to what is the "normal" pace, ie. the 20th century could have been above normal and now we are back to normal. I find it interesting that the "wrestling guitars of I Saw Her Standing There" is put up as the standard of cultural advancement. I recall in the 1960s how the musical establishment would give you a similar lecture on how the Beatles represented cultural decay in popular music relative to the supreme sophistication of Tin Pan Alley.

I think that I might go with Art Farmer - Something Tasty.

RIP Bill

The notifications that you received about a change in password and email should have had a click option of something like "that wasn't me." If you click on that, you will be given an option to restore your account.

Count Basie, Freddie Green, Walter Page, Jo Jones

Sounds very interesting indeed!

Some interesting comments here. Yes, it is very hard to absorb new music the same way as back then. But I attribute that mostly to age. It is just like with spoken languages. When you are young, they sink in completely and become a part of you. But that gets more and more difficult as you get older.

I recall that when I first got really interested in Bird in the mid-1970s, there was almost nothing available on Verve. Then they issued most (but not all) of the music on three successive 2-LP sets. I remember waiting impatiently for the next one to come out. It was the same way for The Lester Young Story on Columbia. It took them 4 years to release all of those volumes. I kept reading about all these extraordinary performances that I had no access to. No, I don't long for "the good old days.:

That's too much sugar for a dime.

I wish you the very best with all your struggles, Larry.