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Which would still beat two shows I saw in the 70's here in Philly. Juju (nice group that recorded for Strata-East) pulled about a dozen people at the Ethical Society (promoter, if I remember his name correctly, was Leo Gadsen. He brought some really nice shows to that venue including Jazz Messengers and Jackie McLean and Hannibal Peterson/George Adams, but likely didn't make a penny on them). And, just to show the state of things then, in 1976 or 1977, Andrew Hill played a solo concert at, I think, the Walnut Street Theatre, and 14 people came. I couldn't believe it. Empty Foxhole Cafe, with like $5 tickets back then, had trouble pulling 200 people for Archie Shepp, for Richie Cole/Eddie Jefferson, for Cecil Taylor, for the Heath Brothers, for Clifford Jordan. Things seemed a bit better at some of the shows in the 90's here (less venues for sure, which may have helped individual shows), but Billy Harper and Mingus Dynasty (Jack Walrath-led) each had trouble pulling 200-300 people to the Painted Bride Art Center, my favorite venue in the city, with $15-$20 tickets. I haven't been to the Verizon Center yet, would like to see it once, but won't be doing so at $41 a pop.

Two very compelling bits in the Tolliver Mosaic. One, in case you missed it in the Strata-East thread, was that Michael Cuscuna wrote in the liner notes "Hopefully, this is just the first in a line of co-ventures between Mosaic and Strata-East". The other, is a note on the bonus cuts, that "The previously unissued Tokyo material... was transferred from the audio portion of a video tape...". Anyone know anything about that tape? Obviously, Tolliver owns it. I'd love to see that show on DVD!

Promising news - in the liner notes to the Tolliver Mosaic Select set (which is superb bu the way - great remastering by Malcom Addey. This music has never had nearly this good of sound quality in its previous LP and CD releases. And of course, the music itself is sublime.), Michael Cuscuna ends his essay with the sentence "Hopefully this is just the first in a line of co-ventures between Mosaic and Strata-East". Now there's something to make the imagination run wild!

I received the Tolliver from Mosaic on Friday.

I sure wish I could be there for that one... I've been diggin' Charles Tolliver since the mid 70's when he did all those cookin' Music Inc sides for Strata East records.. Jimmy Hopps was the drummer back then and man did he swing hard! The piano player was Stanley Cowell, and the bass player was Cecil McBee... ← Soon to be re-released in a Mosaic Select set! ← My Tolliver Mosaic arrived in the mail today. Contains the cuts from the original Live at Slugs albums, the original Live in Tokyo set, and three extra cuts from each. The Slugs bonus cuts are On the Nile (13:33), Ruthie's Heart (18:46), and Repitition (8:51). The Tokyo bonus cuts are Impact (7:28), Our Second Father (20:15), and Earl's World (6:24).

Alan, thx for the info. I didn't know about the Kimmel center gig by Jamal. I'm way out of circulation at the moment, due to family needs. If you think of it, drop me an email if you see Jamal will be playing live again in the area. ← Your wish is my command. Announced today: Friday, October 21 | 8pm SUNNY MURRAY FACTOR with Khan Jamal, vibraphone Sabir Mateen, saxophone Odean Pope, saxophone Ed Crockett, bass Sunny Murray, drums Community Education Center (CEC) Theater, 3500 Lancaster Avenue | Philadelphia $12 General Admission | All ages ← Is there anyone who got to this concert and can report on it? We had family needs tonight, so I really couldn't go out.

In 1971., Mal Waldron recorded an album with Gary Peacock and a Japanese drummer. The name of the album was 'First Encounter', and it was issued on Catalyst Records in the 70's. This is my favorite Waldron recording Does anyone know if this has been on CD, and who would own the master tapes? I know some of the Catalyst Records stuff (the Gary Bartz is the one I remember) has ended up on Japanese CD, and this recording (to my ears, anyways) was the crown of their catalog. Thanks for your help.

Those have been listed as "coming soon" on that site for years!

The McLean has 'It's Time','Action','Consequence','Right Now','Jacknife', and 'High Frequency', which is a '66 quartet date.

Sure, in a state of confusion.

Alan, thx for the info. I didn't know about the Kimmel center gig by Jamal. I'm way out of circulation at the moment, due to family needs. If you think of it, drop me an email if you see Jamal will be playing live again in the area. ← Your wish is my command. Announced today: Friday, October 21 | 8pm SUNNY MURRAY FACTOR with Khan Jamal, vibraphone Sabir Mateen, saxophone Odean Pope, saxophone Ed Crockett, bass Sunny Murray, drums Community Education Center (CEC) Theater, 3500 Lancaster Avenue | Philadelphia $12 General Admission | All ages ← Thx Alan. Is that the site which was the Millcreek Jazz Center in the early 90's? would love to make it, will be tough on such short notice, but maybe. By the way, how does one become a "groove master" or "veteran groover" or "dr. funkenstein" something similar, instead of just a "member" in this community?

Dolphy's 'Magic' was a 70's twofer reissue of Eric Dolphy - 'Far Cry' and Ron Carter 'Where'. Both of those titles have been available for many years as part of the OJC reissue series on Fantasy (now owned by Concord). You shouldn't have any problem finding them.

Alan, thx for the info. I didn't know about the Kimmel center gig by Jamal. I'm way out of circulation at the moment, due to family needs. If you think of it, drop me an email if you see Jamal will be playing live again in the area.

Why would anyone possibly bother to reissue Biff Rose?

I also think he's still in Philly. This is not a good city for live jazz at this point (it was good back in the 70's, but now, don't get me started. Very few live venues here now, and none seem to have pure agenda of presenting best talent, local or otherwise), and I've managed to go 30+ years without ever seeing Dickerson or Khan Jamal live here, even though both have lived here (don't know that Jamal still does). Dickerson is like 74 years old now, I'm not sure if he's still active. I'll note it on the board if I ever see Dickerson listed for playing live.

Anyone know the status of master tapes for Walt Dickerson's 'Unity'? Originally on Audiofidelity. Any chance of seeing a CD issue? Would also like to see his 'Jazz Impressions of Lawrence of Arabia' on CD. Unbelievably underrated musician. I'm so glad his Prestige/New Jazz stuff came out on CD, and that the Steeplechase sets are available on CD.

I got the CD from Dusty Groove many years ago on my first time to the site (that was an expensive visit!), but see no signs of it there, on Amazon, Half, or Ebay.

Gravatt did the drumming (beautifully) on his early albums. Still my favorite Weather Report drummer, also.

Lloyd McNeill was a Washington, DC based flute player who put out three incredibile albums in the early 70's, and then three more that were nearly as incredible in the late 70's-early 80's. He was also an award-winning photographer, if I remember. He wrote beautiful pieces, and I loved his stuff. I was thrilled when a 'best-of' CD came out in the late 90's and pretty much got my favorite tracks on it (especially his first recording of 'Aisha'). Does anyone know the state of his master tapes (I suspect he owns them outright) and if there is any chance of the albums being issued on CD? He did one, 'Tanner Suite', that I've never heard (I have the others on vinyl). do any of you have that? And AMG lists a '97 release by him called 'X.TEM.POR.E' that I've never heard of. Is anyone familiar with that? thx.

That was on a RCA Novus CD c/w a John Carter/Bobby Bradford album - one of them had a track missing on that CD, however. West Coast Hot was the CD title. ← My picks on Flying Dutchman, in addition to the Leon Thomas's. Gato Barbieri's 'El Pampero','The Third World','Bolivia',and 'Under Fire' are his best albums, with 'El Pampero' belonging on my desert island list. The Horace Tapscott is pretty fabulous, Arthur Blythe's recording debut. 'The Giant is Awakened' was the name of it. If I could only own one Tapscott album or one Blythe album, that would be the one. 'Swiss Suite' by Oliver Nelson contains an amazing solo by Gato Barbieri on the 27 minute title track. I agree with the previous post about 'Barefoot Boy', maybe my favorite Coryell (I also like 'Offering' a lot). And Gil Scott-Heron's 'Pieces of a Man' is incredible, if not exactly jazz.

The Mosaic Select Tolliver will get my vote.

While Fantasy reissued just about everything I could imagine from the Prestige (except Azar Lawrence's first two albums) and Contemporary labels (granted, I'm not all that familiar with the Contemporary catalog, and they are still missing Rumasuma by Sonny Simmons), there is a fair number of decent curiosities on Riverside they never got to, and a LOT of stuff on Milestone that would seem like it should obviously be on CD but isn't (Gary Bartz - Home, McCoy Tyner - Horizon and 13th House, etc. etc.). Any ideas on why the Milestone catalog has been so underutilized? And does anyone know what Concord's plans are for the catalogs they inherited from Fantasy (bet that's already been discussed here before my time - can any just summarize for me?). thx.

I was very happy a couple of years ago when most of the Leon Thomas Flying Dutchman titles came out on CD (nice job on those reissues), especially 'Live in Berlin' with Oliver Nelson. It seemed strange to me at the time that 'The Leon Thomas Album' was not reissued then, and to my knowledge it still hasn't been. Anyone know what the problem is there? Have they lost the master tape or something? Related question(s). There is a Leon Thomas album on the Mega label, 'Gold Sunrise on Magic Mountain', which I believe was live at Montreux, 1971. I've never heard it - is it any good? Any ideas why it isn't on CD? The only other item I'm aware of on the Mega label is Larry Coryell's 'Fairyland', which I believe was also live at Montreux 1971, and which I believe also has never been out on CD. Any knowledge on it? I assume Mega was a subsidiary of Flying Dutchman? Interestingly, while the Thomas and Coryell recordings from Montreux '71 were on Mega, Gato Barbieri's 'El Pampero' (a GREAT album, to me his masterpiece), I believe from the same festival, was on Flying Dutchman proper, and has been reissued on CD (thankfully!), also a real nice job. Any thoughts on 'The Leon Thomas Album' and the Mega stuff? thx.

I can't wait for the Tolliver Mosaic Select set. I cut my teeth on the Tolliver Live at Slugs material in the early 70's, and it remains a landmark for me. Very happy that the Tollivers and a few other choice Strata-East titles (Clifford Jordan - Glass Bead Games, Billy Harper - Capra Black, Pharoah Sanders - Izipho Zam) have made it onto CD, but have a few titles that I have never seen on CD that I am pining for: Clifford Jordan - In the World, Sonny Fortune - Long Before Our Mothers Cried, Charles Sullivan - Genesis, the 2LP set by Mtume, and the Ron Burton - The Waterbearers, Jazz Contemporaries - Reasons in Tonality (advanced blowing session with C. Jordan, G.Coleman, and J.Watkins as the horns!), Shirley Scott - One For Me (best album she ever did by a mile IMO), and Harold Vick - Don't Look Back come to mind right off. I know that Strata-East was run as a collective, as designed by Tolliver and Cowell. Unclear who owns the masters on these. Does anyone know anything about the prospects of these being reissued on CD? And what about the Charles Tolliver All-Stars session with Bartz, Hancock, Ron Carter, and Joe Chambers? Surprised that one hasn't seen the light of day on CD. Also, Tolliver's website for a long time has shown a CD called 'In the Trenches' which I don't think has ever been released. Any info or thoughts appreciated.

You're right. I need to go to bed.