B. Clugston

I got this the first time around. Some nice moments, particularly "The Looking Glass," but overall I have never been overally excited about this one. Always nice to hear Clifford Thornton. If you are a fan of this period, go for it, but those new to McPhee should start elsewhere. Sound isn't great, but it's acceptable.

The rehearsal extract is of "Miles Mode."

Pass. Sounds like the Abraxas, which ain't legit. From what I understand, it's just four CDs crammed into a box, nothing special and nothing extra. There were rumours of a real ESP box set at some point. ESP has been slowly reissuing its catalogue in better sound, some with extras (though Spiritual Unity is without the bonus track).

Edward Vesala's Ode to the Death of Jazz. Heck, all of Vesala's ECM discs are worth a listen. The Giuffre reissue and Holland's Conference of the Birds are also big favourites.

Big thumbs up to Ned Rothenberg’s Solo Works-The Lumina Recordings, which was recently released on Tzadik. Other than Braxton’s Creative Orchestra tour of ’78 and a stray track from a Robert Dick album, I hadn’t heard Rothenberg before. This is great stuff. As far as solo works go, Rothenberg is closer to the Evan Parker side of the spectrum. He uses overdubbing to create long, fascinating pieces that recall electronics as much as the saxophone. My favourites so far are the two tracks from his first LP, “Trials of the Argo” and “Continuo after the Inuit.” There’s also duets with Gerry Hemingway and John Zorn, plus workouts on ocarina and bass clarinet. Great booklet with notes by Rothenberg himself.

Lee's solo on the first version on Not Live at the Lighthouse (the one that doesn't have the drunks hollerin') is one of my favourites. How's the sound on Cornbread? Good or wait for the RVG that is undoubtedly coming at some point?

The Sidewinder is my favourite, but The Gigolo joins Search for the New Land in my top 3. Runners up would be The Procrastinator and the Live at the Lighthouse that wasn't recorded at the Lighthouse. (Never heard Cornbread, though.) "Yes I Can, No You Can't" is quickly becoming my favourite of "The Sidewinder" descendants. Btw... The back cover of the RVG credits "The Gigolo" to Jules Styne and Sammy Cahn! Handcock, "The Groits," "retouched cover on the way" and now this. Where's the quality control?

Considering my previous experiences (and mail) with Mr. Fine, I find this really funny. He savaged a couple of my lps in Cadence for "formalism" and then sent me audition tapes asking me to forget about the "rips" 'cause he really respected me and wanted to be on the label. NOW he's recording with Braxton! You should ask him for a review copy.

I have a pre-Legacy Japanese version. It sounds terrible (Gaumont wanders between channels) and there is no extra music. Disc 2 of Dark Magus has a missing chunk. I haven't heard of any edition that has restored the missing section.

I met Armstrong some 15 years ago when he used to busk playing bamboo flute at the public market. He also gave lessons. Somewhere I have a short video clip of him that I filmed. He was quite active in the Pacific Northwest for some time. I believe he died in 1998 in Bellingham. He did a nice recording with Steve Lacy called Alter Egos that came out on CD. He released several recordings on his own label, but I haven't heard those. Milo Fine recently did a duet recording with Anthony Braxton on Emanem. Haven't heard it.

Lonehill is pretty dishonest at times, too. Albert Ayler's Complete Live at Slug's Saloon is a good 16+ minutes from being "complete," while the bootleg of a bootleg Eric Dolphy Quartet Featuring Lalo Schifrin is remarkable for the fact that Schifrin isn't on it.

Didn't he play french horn on Birth of the Cool? Zwerin played trombone on the nonet's live dates. My favourite date of his is an album of Kurt Weill songs he did in the 1960s. Eric Dolphy appeared on one side. He's always a good read.

McDonalds will be to the 00s what smoking was to the 90s.

I have the Japanese Pangaea. Like the Japanese Aghatha the sound is much better than on the Columbia-versions. That said, I can't compare them to the original LP's. Any extra music on the Japanese edition? According to the Miles Ahead site, there are just over two extra minutes of Mtume and Cosey at the end of Godwana ("For Dave") on the last Japanese issue. http://www.plosin.com/milesAhead/Sessions.aspx?s=750201

Sad news. He was an incredible player who was outstanding in a variety of settings, whether it be rock, jazz or improv. I'm sure you all know Reginald Dwight took his first name from Elton Dean and his last from Long John Baldry, who also sadly died last summer.

Thanks for pointing this out - this is extremely rare stuff and indispensable for an Ellis nut like me. Dave MacKay is a pianist, BTW. Er... make that Dave Wells. Should also mention that Don brings out the echoplex for one track and there are neat covers of "Milestones" and Arif Mardin's "Turk's Works."

Sort of a reissue, but Wounded Bird has just released the Don Ellis Octet’s Pieces of Eight. It’s a one-shot date by an octet from a 1967 concert at UCLA. Parts of this date were sold by Ellis as tapes and 8-tracks (as Don Ellis LIVE!) at concerts. The octet is pretty rhythm section heavy--Ellis, Tom Scott and Dave Mackay are the only horns. The sound isn’t great. Interesting gig, but I much prefer the big band music from this period. http://www.woundedbird.com/ellis/6000.htm

Depends who you ask. A lot of the song titles from this period didn't have names. On Disc 2, Track 1 is "Theme from Jack Johnson" or "Right Off" if you prefer. Towards the end, it becomes "Ife," which continues onto Track 2 until "'For Dave" comes along. On Disc 1, the track timings for the Preludes aren't correct. The first prelude is often called "Funk" while the second tends to go by "Agharta Prelude." For Pangaea, Disc 1 is "Turnaroundphrase/Tune in 5/Turnaroundphrase", followed by "Zimbabwe," which is Track 2. Disc 2 is "Ife" and "For Dave." Some discographers name some of the songs after the titles on Dark Magus, which are Swahili for 1-4, but to me that's like calling a song "Side One." I don't have the original albums, or the Japanese issues, which apparently have more music (about 10 minutes so in the case of Agharta), so I can't comment on the sound of the Legacies, other than to say it's time these were remastered.

Actually, the sound is not bad at all for this sort of music. Leo even boasts about the quality. As for the music, I like it, but not a priority purchase, unless you are a fanatic. It's a big band, about 25 pieces, with trombones, which you don't always get.

Speaking of "What Planet is This?", a CD of that name of a 1973 Sun Ra concert in New York is now out on Leo.

Only for the first two minutes or so. The wild stuff comes courtesy of Gaumont.

A question about one of my favourite bands is a good place for my first post... Lucas solos once per concert on the Agharta and Pangaea discs. On Agharta, he solos on the second track of disc 2 around the start of the tune most people call “For Dave.” He also solos on disc 1 of Pangaea around the 30:29 mark following Fortune’s solo. On Dark Magus, that’s Lucas playing initially on “Tatu“, with Gaumont taking over afterwards around the 2:30 mark. Cosey is likely playing percussion throughout.