king ubu

I have been perusing the annual spring sales for several years and have also started following their new releases to some extent, and occasionally stocking up on stuff that didn't yet make the sales (older items still get cheaper after a while). There's tons of fine stuff there, but I would say hardly a true masterpiece. Off the top of the mind, going by artist (and not looking up all the album titles, no time for that right now): Eve Risser, young French pianist whom I like a lot ... she has a solo album that is minimalist and beautiful, a large group that is prob. composed for large parts, includin some solos I'd assume ... or they're "set"), and then there's a piano duo with Kaja Draksler, too Kaja Draksler, another young pianist, from Slovenia ... her solo album is marvelous, her duo with Portuguese trumpet player Susana Santos Silva is beautiful, her octet with two singers is weird but pretty good (saw the group live as well - Ada Rave and Ab Baars on saxes - not too shabby!) Susana Santos Silva, trumpet player from Portugal, she has a recent (early 2018) solo album out that is quite stunning, the duo with Kaja Draksler is wonderful, there are several albums by the group LAMA, two with guest Joachim Badenhorst and one with guest Chris Speed ... she is also on several collaborative albums (one "Life and Other Transient Storms", I also heard live and found it quite amazing), and she guests on the stunning fourth Volume of the "Basement Sessions" Joachim Badenhorst does his stuff himself usually, but his large group, the Carate Urio Orchestra, is wonderful indeed (with Pascal Niggenkemper and Frantz Loriot, some other Clean Feed labelmates are part of the group, which again I heard live in an almost life-chaning concert). Speaking of pianists, there is plenty of Kris Davis on Clean Feed, including a solo album, collaborations with various other musicians, and a pair of mighty good trio albums led by bassist Eric Revis, who again has more on the label. There is also some fine stuff by pianist Angelica Sanchez (actually, having heard the Davis/Sanchez duo at Willisau last summer, there'd be another piano duo album in the making there, but so far we only got some bits on Davis' mighty good "Duopoly", not on Clean Feed). Then, there is Tony Malaby, w/Sanchez, with his band Tamarindo, including a live set w/Wadada Leo Smith, there is also a pretty wonderful duo album by Wadada/Angelica Sanchez ... and there is so much more ... Joe McPhee ("Ticonderoga" by Jamie Saft with McPhee, Morris, Downs may be one of the masterpieces), there's some Brötzmann, some Evan Parker (including a duo with Alexander Hawkins of course, who provided liner notes to the Risser/Draksler duo album, btw), there's a Steve Lacy disc, there's Dennis Gonzalez, there's Gerry Hemingway, there's some BassDrumBone, Ralph Alessi, Nate Wooley, Harris Eisenstad ("Guewel" is big fun) ... and I'm sure once I'll be checking at home, I'll find I forgot plenty of fine ones

Great news for sure ... and my threshold will be pretty low for this as well. In addition to the releases mentioned, there are: - two by Sonny Stitt/Gene Ammons (Fantasy) - Stan Getz ("My Foolish Heart", Label M or whatever Dorn's outlet was at that very moment) - Sonny Stitt - Just the Way It Was (Label M as well, mean stuff! )

Vol. 1 is amazing ... gotta order Vol. 2 asap!

Add Bud Powell to the list ... and Glenn Gould if classically inclined. Also what about JMac's "whines" when he ends a phrase of his solo? A.T.'s squealing drum chair? Oh, and all those 'bone players humming while playing?

The AAJ review by @RogerF is out now (when I last looked, google found it but it wasn't yet published, I think?) Dave Gelly has done a short one for the Guardian, too: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/jun/03/mike-westbrook-concert-band-review-last-night-old-place-ronnie-scott

Outstanding recording!

Thanks @Dan Gould - so a Bob Belden thing, it seems. Probably no compilation then.

What's that "Shades of Blue" one? http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/UCCQ-9373 From those in this batch I really like the McLean/Onishi ... and a few months ago got Ralph Peterson's "Triangular" (also Japanese and SHM CD, I think), and it's indeed very good! And the Eliases are very nice if you dig her. Interested myself, I think, in the DeJohnette (M-Base Special Edition?), the Onishi, the two Adams, the Peterson and the Super Blue, maybe the Jimmy Smith and the Rosnes snd some Rubalcaba ... and hoping for more to follow! Saw Carrott the one time I managed to catch Muhal ... excellent!

Reading the name of Frank Haynes ... this one (missing in his Wiki entry) should not be forgotten (for CD folks such as myself, Freshsound has reissued) it: https://www.discogs.com/Randy-Weston-Blues/release/3304377 Mighty good!

We do in Zurich (where, so he says currently) he will stay put as musical director of the opera. Haven't heard him do any concert/symphonic repertoire, but his tenure here (together with director Andreas Homoki) has brought plenty of freshness into a house that was relying too heavily on stars and (Italian) core repertoire and not nearly adventurous enough during the long tenure of Alexander Perreira (who whent to Salzburg, breached his contract, went on to La Scala in Milan, where at least so far he didn't stop the tradition of ending their season with a contemporary/20c opera ... going to catch the upcoming Kurtág opera based on Beckett, "Fin the partie", in November!) But back to Zurich, the Homoki/Luisi team has indeed opened up in many directions and made the place a very interesting one for sure. We got some fine premieres, plenty of great baroque opera (with the likes of Christie, Dantone and Antonini conducting the period instrument ensemble that is also part of the house) and much more. Either way, based on this I'd just be curious and in a generally positive mood about this.

Started listening to the Basie material over the past weekend ... but somehow wasn't in the mood for swing (mood swings?) ... but yeah, looking forward a lot! Regarding if the Waller material is good or not, I'm curious ... I've got the JSP sets around but haven't dug into them too deeply yet, and when playing the Waller from the previously available DLs, I found it just right, though certainly not among the highlights (how about Hawkins's "Body and Soul"!?!)

Maybe.... but I've had parcels routed via Prague ... and jazzmessengers uses Dutch post (but the parcels are delivered by Swiss post). I've stopped trying to understand all that.

Did they send you my tracking number? The only friend I know from Switzerland who also ordered it got his set today, again no fees and taxes. So as so often in life, what works for some people doesn't work for others. I'd also wish DHL would get outta here, btw. Lousiest service ever as far as postal service goes ...

Ha ... and my parcel with Wilson and Savory just slipped through customs thanks to the fake sticker outside the box - which contains a full declaration ("music item") but a less than full value (30$). But I had all kinds of experiences: getting letters asking me to provide a real bill (which is a pain as it delays delivery by two or three weeks), paying the regular tax (including the applicable, ridiculously high fee) because someone was smart enough to check the website for value, and estimation of value by customs and tax/fee based on that.

Good set, though I'm not too big on Woods in general.

Okay, cool. Will be picking mine (and the Teddy W.!) up at the post office first thing tomorrow morning!

Mine has just been announced by the post ... planned delivery tomorrow - so (not being home during the day) I should be able to pick it up on Friday morning! I did ask Scott about the liners during the pre-order process/waiting time and he was - I guess - diplomatic in not getting specific but mentioning that the set's booklet will be "much more in depth" than the PDFs we got along with the downloads ... eitherway, that discussion about airchecks vs. studio productions (and transcription sessions are another case in point were often longer takes were recorded, it seems) is interesting and I guess this set would indeed have been the ideal place to summarize it.

Sheesh, and without even knowing I added 15$ ... glad to be in!

Not sure what a tumblr link has to do with it ... need to be signed up to tumblr to be on Mosaic (Universal?) mailing list? Frankly I'd totally not miss the jazz courier (though I'd welcome a Jazz Couriers set).

Legit in Europe but not in the US is my assumption (which actually is true for the flood of PD releases that we saw in the past dozen or so years).

There's a new film on the label as well ... my parents asked me to join them for the Sunday matinee next weekend - not expecting all that much but am curious. https://bluenoterecords-film.com/en/film/ blurb from there: The film explores the vision behind the iconic American jazz record label. Since 1939, Blue Note artists have been encouraged to push creative boundaries in search of uncompromising expressions. Through current recording sessions, rare archive and conversations with iconic Blue Note artists, the film reveals an intimate perspective of a legacy that continues to be vital in today’s political climate. Legendary artists Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter come together with today’s generation of groundbreaking Blue Note artists such as Robert Glasper and Ambrose Akinmusire to record an All-Stars album. These reflections lead us back to the highly influential figures of the past on which the legacy of Blue Note is built: Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, John Coltrane, Art Blakey, Horace Silver and Miles Davis. The Film strives to transmit the values that jazz embodies and that Blue Note has been promoting since its inception: freedom of expression, equality, dialogue - values we can learn from and that are as relevant today as they were when the label was founded.

No idea @Big Beat Steve, and frankly not sure there's any such thing as "Erfahrungswerte" with the current state of affairs anyway. On the positive side, they arrived towards the end of the alphabet and have just sent me a shipping notification

Last night heard Pierre Favre (celebrating his 81st birthday today!) with a quintet and an all Monk programme ... gee, that was fun! Line-up: Nils Wogram (tb), Samuel Blaser (tb), Philipp Schaufelberger (g), Bänz Oester (b), and Pierre Favre (d). They were crazy enough to do "Brilliant Corners"!

No shipping notice yet ... ordered months ago, to be shipped together with the Teddy Wilson. Hope it works out ... maybe dropping them a not tomorrow.