king ubu

That looks nice! Would those be re-packings of earlier Storyville releases? And if so, can anyone point out which ones? Never saw any Strayhorn or George Lewis from them, I think!

Just in case, this here's the source of the Zurich photos: http://www.bazillusclub.ch/ Select the "looking back" button on the right and then go for "Africana", third from the bottom - some great pics in other chapters, too! The capture says they're from 1962 (and taken by the host of the place called "Africana" and decorated accordingly).

Yes indeed. I tend to prefer the few smaller and truly dedicated festivals here in Zurich ... but even there you might end up listening to some uninspired rapper backed by some local fellows who think they're doing something really inventive ... the one big festival in Zurich taking place soon has gone that in-people festival route several years back and asks crazy prices for concerts. I only go there if there's anyone playing whom I badly want to see (Dr. Lonnie Smith in 2007 was the last one ... he was - dig that! - playing a free concert, two full sets, two and a half hour of smokin' music!)

Well, in Mach 2010, when he was announced to play one, roughly hour-long set, he started taking requests after some forty minutes ... and played another forty then, doing at least six or seven requests (none of them mine, I had no really cool idea ... last night I'd have wished "Foolin' Myself" I he had asked again, but he was way too grumpy for that). Anyway, my parents joined, and they seem to have enjoyed it as well! And that trio is really, really good, even with a subbing drummer (who did a really amazing job). Not sure what Lee's issue with the piano player was, his comping was mighty inspiring, I found.

Lee Konitz is the mother. Amazing concert ... that somehow felt like a goodbye, too. The next best thing I can think of is late Pres - so darn vulnerable, so totally open ... and in the best moments: sublime. Yet at the same time he was grumpier than last time (March 2010), got on stage telling the sound guy to turn off all the mics and saying he hated that sound in here (he was unamplified, bass had some pick-up and a mic, drums and piano very few mics - it sounded nearly acoustic from where I sat, except for the double bass). Then he addressed the public, explaining that he will play some old standards like "Body and Soul" etc ... adding that some say they don't want to hear that old stuff anymore, but: "screw 'em!" - darn well we do! They played two sets, both around an hour long. In the first, he interrupted a tune (sort of, just for a second), telling the piano player (Florian Weber) "that's enough!", having him and bassist Jeff Denson stop, instead Lee went on in duet with drummer Dan Weiss (the most amazing sub for Ziv Ravitz, the trio's regular drummer). Weber was kind of put off and just comped at very low volume for the rest of set one and it took him a while to find his way into the music again in set two - not sure what Konitz' problem was, as Weber was playing beautifully for my ears. The sets consisted entirely of standards, including a most beautiful "What's New", as well as "You Don't Know What Love Is", "You Stepped Out of a Dream", "I'll Remember April" and others. They ended set two with an encore, Lee up on the gallery, playing "Cherokee". Lee seemed to be shorter of breath than last time, although he looked in better shape generally (and stood for long stretches, while last time he played seated most of the time, and just for one, ca. 80 minutes set, when only an hour had been announced). He came in and dropped out of the music often, playing a few bars, then leaving space for Denson/Weiss (and sometimes for Weber) who did a great job, keeping the music very alive and multi-directional (and Weber's comping was great, I found! in his short solo ventures in set two, he played lots of locked chords stuff and some very narrow harmonic things, keeping his hands very close most of the time - a most interesting player, in my book). Anyway, the great event was of course Lee, who went into dialogue with Weber (in the first half of the first set, he was fed with ideas and took off on most of Weber's phrases and it was a joy to hear), later on with Weiss more often - and Weiss was truly great! Last time I caught him live was with Rudresh Mahanthappa's Indo-Pak Coalition (third of that group was guitar player Rez Abbasi). Lee sounded weak and dangerously close to dropping out of tune at some moments, while at others, the old magic was there, his lines flowing in this weirdly rhythmicized manner that's all his ... and in a few tunes in set two ("What's New" being one of them), he was really singing on his horn - pure, yet fragile beauty. Anyway, after a break with no music for two hours, I need some Pres (prime Pres, 1936/37) to slowly wind down ... Lee is the true inheritor of Pres' music, the last standard bearer of a forlorn, long-forgotten world.

Wasn't there an RVG CD with the Brownie/Poppa Lou session?

Thanks a lot, brownie, sounds very good!

Now that, mister, is unforgivable! Now will you please put on one of these and stand in the corner until called back!

I guess my Coltrane collection is nearly complete, including unreleased/bootlegged live material. But I wouldn't ever vouch for it. Similar with Miles, though I certainly miss some sixties and seventies unreleased shows and never bothered to get all the eighties shows around (I've got the Montreux and grab some FM and SBD shows if they turn up but from that period, I definitely don't need any AUDs around). Then, I guess I've got most of what Lester Young recorded ... thanks to the big generosity of some kind forum member But there, too, I don't think I've got it all - and honestly I don't feel like going places just to get one more alternate take. Mingus, Monk, Dolphy, Ayler are others where I have a lot, most or all officially released material that came out in its time (i.e. I miss lots of live Monk from the sixties, stuff that came out later on) ... I never bothered to get all the live boots by Dolphy, or to get them in their entirety - I just casually pick up what I find along the way. Ellington is another case - far from complete, but still collecting - never-ending story, I guess With others such as Hank Mobley, Sonny Clark, Tina Brooks - I'm nearly complete, I guess, but then I don't care about having a gap here or there, or I'm in no hurry to fill the gaps, at least. With others, I'm virtually complete on some periods, like early Shepp (up to the late sixties), early Cecil Taylor (though with him, the later music is much more relevant to me than later Shepp, which is spotty and often rather dull and uninspired, judging from what I've heard, but also has some hidden jewels and some very worthwhile stuff). I guess what clifford said above rings true here ... I might get into Woody Shaw again, fill some gaps ... but I move on long before I'd have been able to fill them all.

Anyone listened to this box yet? I recently remembered its existance and just found this thread again ... any impressions on the music?

"Straight Ahead" is fantastic - maybe the best of the three (the Lock don't count, but it's a fine album in its own right, which probably I wouldn't have heard if not for the great Dolphy Prestige box). I never quite understood why most people seem to hold "The Blues and the Abstract Truth" in such high regard, while hardly anyone mentions "Straight Ahead". Both are classics. True, there's Bill Evans and Freddie Hubbard on the Impulse ... and there's Oliver Nelson's (pre-conceived?) avantgarde solos, too (I love them!) - but the more spontaneous feel of "Straight Ahead" ultimately grabs me just as much. The first of the bunch has Richard Williams (one of Mingus' favourite trumpet players - good enough for me!), but it's not as dense and not as successful as the later two, I think. Still a wonderful album.

yadda yadda yadda

disc one of the 3CD edition @brownie: 1954 material, what's that? "Afro"?

The Jacquet was EMI (Aladdin/Philo), RCA, Savoy (who was the owner then?), Apollo (Delmark?) and there's an ARA session there, too, not sure where that belongs. But that was the exception to the rule ... and from what I've heard, while such negotiations were sometimes possible back then (1996), it got harder and harder to acquire licenses and reach agreements in general, for any label. Too many lawyers around, I guess ...

Wow, great news!

Well, I've got tickets for Lateef, so I will be there - just hope he'll be there, too Next up, tomorrow night: Lee Konitz Another youngster ... seen him twice (once in 1996 with Swallow/Motian) and then in 2010 (I think) with the same Trio Minsarah that's announced for tomorrow night. Love Lee!

So my assumption that they got the inherent message from all those labels taking advantage of the public domain thing was right ... they really should figure out some way to give the collectors access to the rarities, but as long as they have to think in sales/production figures, I doubt this will happen. They got the message like what, ten years too late? And yes, like Jim, I really enjoyed the Selects - too bad they didn't work out to be successful, for me personally, they were. I'm aware* that seven discs seems to be the format working best for Mosaic, but after all the smaller sets disappeared (there were plenty of them around, three or four disc boxes, when I started buying Mosaic product), I found it most welcome. They contain chunks of music that is often manageable more easily than large sets, and often they put out stuff that was pretty hard to find elsewhere (at least if, like me, you've been buying discs for around eighteen or so years out of continental yurp and without internext access or credit card for about the first five or so of these years). *) and yes, I'm aware now, shoot me next time I forget

The former is part of the sale (and looks interesting - I missed last year's sale, btw), the later is OOP, I think.

Not sure they actually outright steal (copy from the Denons). I think they rather revert to vinyl or some other sources (those mysterious reels Pujol has amassed over the years, he mentioned them in some interview also discussed here) - or else his CDs would sound better. It is my understanding that remasterings are protected independently of when the music was recorded and of the music being in public domain already or not. And as it is my understanding that Pujol is kind of shady but likely just about on the legal side of the divide, I'm not expecting him to just copy the Denon (and Atlantic) CDs.

Hey, I was in no way suggesting anyone lying here I am aware of the end of the Singles, but wasn't aware that the Selects were definitely ended, too.

bingo (alas, in bad sound quality )

fair 'nuff

Even if the label wasn't legit this does not make the recordings "unissued". Instances abound where the (legit or relatively legit) reissuers gleefully state "First official release ever" or "Released in authorized form for the first time" (or whatever) so why play hide and seek here? I know, but it seems common practice of majors to ignore such releases and label their first official releases as ... first ever releases. Not that I'd agree with that practice, was just asking ...

Is (was) VGM a legitimate label? Never thought it was - that may explain why they refer too it as unissued.

I've got that one ... actually I bought it for rather few tracks - but it's a nice package, and great to have it all in one place! Savoy failed to bring out the "Early" recordings pendant to their very good "Late Savoy" 2CD set, so I figured indeed I'd rather not wait for the Fresh Sound to go OOP, too! It also holds the fine lone Verve album (that was part of the Verve Elite Edition before). No more Selects ... is that definitive? I've heard about it, but never saw (or forgot if I did) any final statement or announcement, I think.