king ubu

Just delivered! Thanks, that was fast! Will check out both the 45 and the CD later today!

I've got an alto MMO LP - I think it's by Konitz - got it in a long since closed vinyl store as a freebie and haven't held it in my hands for I guess 10 years... got to hunt for it! It has Konitz soloing with the rhythm section on one side and just the rhythm backings on the other. With it, there's a booklet with transcriptions of Konitz' solo, as far as I remember... no idea where it is right now.

Got the CDs today as well, John! Thanks a lot!

the new arrivals.... yesterday: The Complete Helen Merrill on Mercury today: The Pyramids - Lalibela scheduled for tomorrow The Pyramids - The Pyramids -

You weren't the only one (I'm running this at the same time on a German forum) - and to me, it happens each time that I fail to recognize something I have... and of course there's no reason to expect two cuts from the same album! Thanks Ronald! Glad you enjoyed it!

I love late Pepper, but have the "box set syndrome" concerning his Galaxy albums... can't say anything about the original albums as I got to know this all in bulk, but as has been mentioned, all highly consistent, and in my book, all very good to great!

Yes, I just got the second and third of the Brubecks to fill some gaps... got half of it on Legacy CDs, and actually got enough Brubeck anyway, so these were good value, after all. Also got the Tubby Hayes because of one Tubby album on it that I didn't have elsewhere (the rest is mostly Jazz Couriers material).

Thanks for clarifying, Chuck!

Sorry, but this is too much for me to follow, even in context of having re-read the above posts... Nat Hentoff is the guy who... (did what?) Who "he" (Hentoff, JR?) sued Schlitten? Got to think of us poor non-native speakers when making such references!

I have a 3CD compilation (Sunday Mornin' Classics) on Sony - think that will be enough... some good stuff, but even there, lots of "smart producer's ideas" and in general Aretha sounds somewhat... limited, boxed, lacking the space she'd get with Atlantic later on. But that's just my impression and it might be wrong...

Thanks again, Ronald! Very interesting! The alto... yes, would have loved to have a track of his in here - lots of strong altos! I bet you would! You might well have heard this band before, indeed... Funny that you should mention Mike Osborne... but yes, it's that kind of free-wheeling, edgy and pushing playing that always remains connected to the center of the music... to me, the guy on #7 is somewhat similar to how I hear Osborne! Well, hearing it as "fun" and being appreciative is already a lot more than many modern jazz listeners bring to this kind of music! I chose this cut because I love the rhythmic momentum Luis Russell's band generates, and I love the chances Henry "Red" Allen is taking in all of his trumpet solos! Yes, Jamal is the obvious point of comparison... maybe I should have given this some thought - seems to be the least favorite of all titles, another choice of mine might have been smarter, who knows. Too late now. This makes me chuckle in a good way! The guy here is darn good and his playing goes in all directions... Same band as on #9 - and both cuts from the album: Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath (the self-titled first album).

Can someone with the Prevue CD please comment on the sound. Does it sound like a needledrop? Is it stereo or mono? Ok, spinning it now... it sounds ok - not great (some weird sound on the cymbals, the kind of thing that was noted with a few Blue Note CD reissues as "due to deterioration of the master tapes...", I guess). Definitely stereo. I'm in no position to confirm it's not a needledrop (I can't tell from distortion or any artifacts that hence it has to be a cleaned-up needledrop), but to me it doesn't sound like one. For sure, there are none of the obvious signs during the quiet parts or before and after the music. Also, to be noted, is the mix-up of the setlist: printed on the tray & sequence of Nat Hentoff's notes: 1) Straight Ahead 2) Violets for Your Furs 3) Green Street Scene 4) Chafic 5) You Know That 6) I Remember Clifford 7) Short Bridge actual sequence on my CD: 1) Straight Ahead 2) Violets for Your Furs 3) Chafic 4) I Remember Clifford 5) Green Street Scene 6) You Know That 7) Short Bridge so, #3-6 are jumbled around... no idea why or if it's a simple mistake - but it's easy to tell as everyone knows "I Remember Clifford" and Hentoff refers to "Chafic" as a waltz (which #3 of the CD clearly is). The Prevue CD has Hentoff's original and Mark Gardner's 1975 liner notes and it states that the reissue was produced by Don Schlittenn (mastered by Krieg Wunderlich - is that a real name or a weird nom-de-plume? Anyway, great album for sure!

All the best Bill!

My latest arrival: The Complete Helen Merrill on Mercury About halfway through it now - wonderful music!

My CD edition (bought in the US 20 years ago) has an an essay by Hiraku Aoki in English, with no Japanese notes at all. Send me a PM with your email address, and I'll see if I can scan it and send you a copy. Done - thanks a lot!

Ah, crap - that one I have of course! Not Xanadu but Prevue! I keep mixing up all these labels, sorry.

Only just took out the booket (CD-sized, or rather to be exact: jewel-case-sized, meaning it was outside cardboard box, next to the jewel case, in the CD edition - at least I assume so). There's a short essay in there - but Japanese only... was this ever published in in English anywhere? Spinning the first side of the first LP now

That's the same cover used on my Xanadu disc - was this the JARO cover? Wasn't avare of this single disc release.

The Gambit 2CD set? Or was there a single Fresh Sound disc of this one?

I have the Xanadu CD... and frankly didn't even notice it to be a needledrop... so much about me and audiophile sensitivities...

The Helen Merrill Mercury box - 4LPs in what seems to be great condition (I've not started playing it, the postman only just rang the bell) - for 40€ (plus 15€ shipping from France to here). Ain't life grand?

Yale University... don't know where exactly though. Ellington it is - and several others were able to identify the alto player as the late, great Marion Brown.

Bev, I do trust your judgment on the improved quality of commercially sold MP3s - but still... I have an ipod, I do my own MP3 (@ 320) and nowadays M4A (at even higher bitrate), but I still find the notion of paying for bits and bytes a bit weird... after all there's also the question of how long these files will be around and be readable and usable (not to speak of computer crashes). In short: if I buy something, I prefer to get a physical product of some kind, not just a file on my computer. Anyway, as I said, I might be in the market for real high quality downloads.

No, not Bill de Arango either. These are all guys that are (somewhat) well-known. Not the one heard here. I'm sorry, but I don't think I can give any hints without giving it all away... and after all, it's only February 6th and I don't have another BFT to fill up the second half of the month, alas

Thanks a lot for your replies, Jeff! 1. Well, this one confused me a little bit. I instantly thought of Marion Brown and his solo version of “Black and Tan Fantasy” from the Recollections album on Creative Works, from 1985. But this is not that version. But it’s so similar that I think this has to be Marion. I love his tortured lyricism. This is affecting music. It's him indeed, not an officially available version. Will have to look for that album you mention (a Swiss label, nevertheless - didn't no they had a Marion Brown release in their catalogue!) 2. This track drove me crazy, because it’s something I think I’ve heard, but I can’t come up with where I’ve heard it. Anyway, it’s a pretty interesting track – around 1945 or so, I’d say. It’s very much of its time – pushing toward the modern thing that was in the air at the time. I like it, even though it’s maybe a little self-consciously “weird.” Could be Dodo Marmarosa on piano and Remo Palmieri on guitar, but I don’t really know. You're pretty close with the date. The guitar player is an unknown one (the name I known, but besides, I have no idea who he was). Marmarosa is an interesting guess... but it's not him. 3. Well, you’ve puzzled me again. It’s Tony Fruscella, playing “Blue Lester,” but I don’t know this version. I love Frescella’s playing – he hardly ever ventured out of the low and middle registers, but his improvising was supremely melodic. Beautiful! I thought I had all of Fruscella’s recordings, but obviously not. Yes indeed it's Fruscella! You'll see above where this is from - it's a great disc and a most welcome addition to the small Fruscella discography. And at the same time it's my way of paying tribute to Pres, who's missing from this BFT... 4. Lee Wiley, singing “Street of Dreams” from the Night in Manhattan album, with Bobby Hackett on trumpet. Very nice, although I think I prefer Miss Wiley’s earlier recordings, from the late 30’s and early 40’s. This is excellent, though, and you can’t have too much Bobby Hackett. I even like his mood music/bachelor pad albums from the 60’s. Correct, of course! So with this additional endorsement, I seem to definitely have to add the Mosaic to my wantlist! 5. Big T – Jack Teagarden. I recognized his horn even before he started singing. I wish he had played more trombone here. I like his singing, but I think his voice and style are more suited to bluesier tunes. I usually don’t like his ballads as much. Although, hmmm – he sure does a great job with “Stars Fell on Alabama.” Maybe I don’t know what I think. Anyway, this is very nice, and I don’t know what album it’s from. I also don’t know who the trumpeter is, unless it’s Hackett again. Sure Bit T! It's from his last album... very touching to me, and I do love the songs of Willard Robison! The trumpet player isn't Hackett, but once you'll check the details above, it shall be easy to find out it's Don Goldie. 6. I don’t know who is playing this version of “I Cover the Waterfront.” I liked the saxophone playing more the more times I heard this track. A few things annoyed me at first – the somewhat raw sound, a few rhythmic mannerisms, a few odd note choices – but after a couple of hearings, those minor flaws seemed pretty unimportant. The extremely out-of-tune high notes still grate on me, though. But overall, nice playing from a very individualistic tenorist. The drumming annoys me no end – it’s stiff and insensitive. I love it... the drummer is struggling here, yes. Not the usual fare... 7. Excellent, creative freebop. I like the alto player’s odd, slightly strangled tone. His phrases flow out each other in a really nice way. I also like the bassist’s use of space in his solo, and the way the trio listens to each other. No idea who anyone is, but I’m looking forward to finding out. Yes, that flow - and the glow in his tone and the urgency! 8. More excellent music that I don’t have a clue about. Even though this piece is “inside” and lyrical, I would guess that these musicians have at least one foot in freer music – there are hints of that here and there. I could be wrong about that, and I really don’t have any idea who it is. I like it, though. Yes on the inside/outside part! 9. Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood of Breath from 1971 (their first album), playing “Davashe’s Dream,” featuring the great Dudu Pukwana. Dudu’s playing has really grown on me for the past couple of years – I love his inside/outside approach. I also like the somewhat raw sound of the band, particularly the sax section. Mongezi Feza is the excellent trumpet soloist, although I would not have known that without the liner notes. One of my favorite big bands, and wonderful Dudu. Thanks for including this. Yes, wonderful Dudu! Great band! And correct of course! Funny enough, none of those who recognized #15 were yet able to pin down this one! (Or did I over-read something?) 10. Not for the faint of heart. This sounds like an ESP-Disk session from the 1960’s. Everyone is good for this style, but I particularly like the bassist and the tortured alto playing. I suppose this sounds like chaos to some folks, but this kind of music has its own logic, its own conventions, and ultimately, its own limitations. Don’t know the artists. ESP and 60s is as close as anyone got so far! It's dark and brooding... the darkest of all the melancholy stuff on this disc (I only realized how much restrained and slow and moody stuff I had picked once it was all set). 11. Same instrumentation as #7, and somewhat similar in style. I don’t know the recording, but is it Byard Lancaster? In any case, the alto player’s phrasing is more regular and predictable than the altoist’s in #7. But there’s a lot of passion here, and a good command of the saxophone. Yes, this and #7 are indeed somewhat similar, but some time had elapsed in between. It's not Byard Lancaster. 12. Recognized this one right away – “Doctor Blues” by Luis Russell and His Orchestra, from 1929. The Russell band was incredible during this period, with its New Orleans rhythm team of Pops Foster and Paul Barbarin, its simple, swinging charts, and some of the best soloists in jazz, like Red Allen and Social Circle, Georgia’s own J. C. Higginbotham. Allen in particular was brilliant – he could match Louis Armstrong’s technique, and although his playing couldn’t match Armstrong’s in the brilliance and construction of his solos, he had a wild, avant-garde edge that Louis didn’t have. The alto solo by Charlie Holmes is good, too. Wonderful music. Yowzah! This is fantastic, isn't it?! Where's the second "mistake" in Red's solo? You might be able to tell... the notes make allusion to two notes that are outside of what's usually considered correct. Don't have the cut spinning right now, but the first one is easy to tell, it's early on in the solo - but I'm clueless where the second one might happen! (Not that it would matter much - that's the great thing about Allen's exuberance and brilliance - he even made mistakes sound good or interesting!) 13. This was maybe my least favorite track from the BFT, although I certainly don’t hate it. This “Poinciana” is a little “precious,” if that makes any sense. And the double-time comping the guitarist goes into at times drives me crazy – I do hate that part. No idea who it is. I wanted to have the guitar player on my BFT... but it seems it's the most disliked cut in general. 14. This one also didn’t knock me out. “Tennessee Waltz” is a nice enough melody, but his pianist doesn’t do enough with it to really interest me. It sounds like a New Orleans guy, so it’ll probably turn out to be someone I like, but I’m just not crazy about this version. Not New Orleans, but it all boils down to... well, you'll see... 15. The perfect ending to a perfect album – “Union Special” from the same album as #9 above. And a fun ending to a fun Blindfold Test. Thanks again for a good one.