king ubu

Blue Note should really reissue that Mecca ten-inch album! I'd love to hear it!

Phew! glad i got Henderson/Shaw right! I bought that Swainson disc recently from Dan Gould's sale, played it two or three times so far, it's quite nice! Art Farmer I also guessed. As for Ardley... I guess I'd need to invest more time in his music, I don't really "get" it quite yet, but then I've not heard much of it. Ah, of course Ammons I recognized, but then who didn't... Thanks a lot for these two discs! Lots of music, but some of it very, very enjoyable!

#1 - Cool one! That sounds produced by the trumpet sound funny! Benny Bailey did such upwards slides, but here they go up and down again... good tenor. A little swagger, good sound, though all in all in the Getz Jazz Samba-tradition. Trumpet is nice! #2 - Sound is very much Coltrane-influenced, a bit much vibrato though... sounds great! If this isn't the original, it's a very well-done copy! Gets better and better, very intense! Great track! #3 - What's this song again? Beautiful performance! Not Johnny Smith, is it? No, too restrained. I like this lush soft sound a lot, have got no clue though... I don't listen to that much guitar jazz. #4 - A straight modern big band chart... not at all an exciting arrangement methinks. Once the alto solo comes in it gets more interesting... too bad the arrangement is so boring! The solo is nice, not too much under Bird's spell, could be some veteran? (*) The trumpet is ok, the guitar is again very much not to my liking (soundwise only, but I can't get beyond the sound of course...) #5 - Now there's a break in styles... nice solid r'n'b number from the late forties or fifties I assume? Too lazy to google, but this is a style I hardly know anything about... like it. Tenor sax is simple but good. #6 - This sounds familiar right from the piano intro... "Easy to Love" it is hm, Gene Ammons? From "Jug"? Wyands has such a nice touch, and of course Doug Watkins was among the very best... easily one of my favourite Ammons albums! #7 - What's this? After the intro it almost sounds like minimal music for a while... then it goes places... nice one, harp backing, good tenor playing - a bit too much in the end maybe, I mean too much of a mix in the whole track... #8 - Very nice alto! I'm clueless though, but it does sound familiar... or wait, is this the Frank Morgan track? No idea, really, but it's very good! #9 - Hm, sounds like I might know this, or at least like I should know the musicians... maybe something by Joe Henderson (I was about to type "Woody Henderson"... so Woody Shaw?) - not sure though... has a 70s post-bop feel, Coltrane, Tyner, the Blue Note era is all in here. Good one though somehow not an immediate favourite (I generally have a harder time getting into musicians that came onto the scene later than say 1960, roughly... don't know why, but any Lee Morgan is easier to listen to than Woody Shaw, but this also applies to McCoy Tyner and many others...) #10 - Good one! I quite like some flute now and then (and not just Dolphy and Lateef and Kirk). Good tenor solo, not sure if I should know this one... #11 - Nice groove! I like the electric bass here! The strings and everything... a bit cheesy but I like it! Art Farmer on flugelhorn? Lovely sound! #12 - Oooh, clarinet - what a great instrument, and what neglect in modern jazz! That wooden sound, I like it so much! The backings sound Ellingtonian... while the solo voice gets a bit more abstract. Lovely! No clue who this could be, maybe that clarinets band? Never heard them so far... ah, there comes the rhythm section... and the brass and everything. The electric piano is alright, then there's baritone...no idea what this could be, I like it alright, but I think the solo clarinet opening was the part I liked best! Ah, now the baritone sax comes solo - nice! Hm, all in all it doesn't really convince, too much of a good thing... #13 - The bass like is like the one from Lee Morgan's "Sidewinder"... hardbop big band jazz? Tune sounds familiar. Latin percussion is a bit too nervous but it still works alright... harsh brassy arrangements, stuff like this I mostly listen only if the soloists are of real interest, this tenor sax player here is, that's for sure! Probably one I should recognize but I don't have a spontaneous guess. Ok, but the percussionists starts getting on my nerves now... he could at least lay out in the walking parts! Sounds like an updated version of Dizzy's late 40s big band, but not like Dizzy's 1956/57 big band I think (and it's definitely not Golson on tenor, can't remember all their other tenor soloits, but Billy Mitchell was one and this doesn't sound like him either... now for that outro bit they can relax a bit at last! Gee... I think I'd like this better on other days when I'm more in the mood for a loud, driving big band! (*) Niko wrote about a Frank Morgan track in a mail... would this be it? Could well be... I've liked what little of Morgan's I've heard so far!

Hm, just finally laid hands on the Nocturne 3CD set, have only received it this week though and not popped in one of the discs so far... This one I recently bought, didn't fully warm to it, only played it once or twice... Got this as well... I think Chuck commented rather harshly about it, most likely somewhere in the "funny rat" thread... haven't played it often. I remember liking it (and finding Chuck's comments too harsh), but it's one I should play again soon! I only know his collaborations with Harriott, and frankly I dig those for the horns mostly (Kenny Wheeler is on there somewhere, too). Not really a well-working fusion, in opinion, at least not in this case - John Handy/Ali Akbar Khan's "Karuna Supreme" (MPS) is gorgeous! Another one I have, ouch! Not played in a long time, but this is a nice track! Never liked her - no real organ sound there, all too clean (and I don't dig her electronic extensions of the organ) - sorry. Ok, now on to disc 2... and hopefully soon on to BFT #61 as well!

I'm late I know... played once while at work, no googling, no access to CDs, just some first-time impressions: #1 - Nice opening, crime-jazzy, but then it turns into a straight yet still very moody big band chart. Sparse orchestration, like this one! No clue who/what it could be, but I'd guess anywhere from the late 50s to the late 60s, hard to tell. Quite some dissonances in those crying high brass intermezzi, but the main focus is on the deep instruments, bass very prominent (no piano)... hm, could this be a Gil Evans track? The mood and the dynamics and all would fit, also the woodwinds in there... lovely! #2 - More similar stuff, latin beat, snaky soprano, fat trombones... and then a lyrical trumpet solo, very nice! The soprano has a soft sound a bit weak and insecure it seems, some small glitches at the end of lines, but I like that sound! Ah, oguns, too! Gets pretty dis-organized but I like it... ah yes, and only now during the quiet flute part I notice it's a waltz. #3 - One of Pres' boys, I guess... Quinichette? Doesn't sound much like one of the "brothers". That moment where he goes down to the lower end of the sax is nice, also bits of honking - those elements were important in Pres' style but with Sims, Cohn etc they sort of got smoothed out a bit (maybe transformed into a more forward-leaning style?) #4 - What's this bass lick? Cream? Sunshine of Your Love or what? This was over before I really started listening, but I think it's not one of my favourite cuts so no repeat for the moment... #5 - More moody stuff, vibes, sounds a bit like late 60s Herbie Hancock. I don't think it's him though. #6 - Move sixties stuff... interesting alto solo, touched by the new wave, not Spaulding? Good one, tenor is nice as well, piano goes into some Cecil Taylor touches below for a moment... what I don't quite get is the electric bass, mostly just running straight through, rather boring. #7 - Is soft guitars kind of a theme here? Lovely opening! Nice bass trombone! This sounds familiar, on the verge of kitsch, again from the mid/late 60s I'd guess. #8 - Again a less restrained cut... more good alto here! Nice sound, ripe yet not too, pushing a bit, yet not really going out. Good piano, Tyner-esque. Interesting, this one and #6! #9 - Obviously "Ill Wind"... sounds good! Lovely beat! Good voice, sounds familiar but I can't pin her down. #10 - Oh, sitar and tabla... and piano - a misfit somehow, but as it goes on I kind of start to like it. Ah well, that's what I was afraid of... violin, electric bass, drab fusion beat... then the tabla player speaks along as he plays... I've never seen an Indian do that in a classical setting, but what do I know (*). It's all too easy for my tastes, a kind of jazz-rock I don't get much from, and the inclusion of some Indian touches don't change much about that, I'm afraid. Trumpet solo is pretty boring, but then how could you get inspired in this setting? Sorry, not quite my cup of tea... #11 - This one starts out nice, with that twangy singing guitar and the woodwinds and then the strings... I seem to hear a lot of Gil Evans influence on this disc by now. Though when the strings come in bigtime, this is far removed from Gil's sound paintings. Not a favourite track #12 - The riff is from Coltrane's version of "Body and Soul" (on that great Atlantic album, one of his finest, not well-known enough it seems...), Trane also spells his shadow on the tenor sax here, but his sound on "Body and Soul" was much harsher and the general mood much less warm than here (Dexter used that going down and up again chord-riff as well, for instance I think on "Homecoming"). I don't think this performance lines in with the great tenor versions of this song (Hawk, Chu Berry...), but it's not at all bad! Tyner casts his shadow on the pianist, but again it's a pretty nice solo. #13 - More guitar, oh, and synth... yucky stuff again, I'm afraid. This isn't a real organ, is it? It's in five, but still it's all too smooth for my taste. The drummer sounds quite good though (thinking of it, there seem to be some nice drummers at work on this disc!). Hm, as the solo gets going, it starts sounding like a real organ, still very light and little volume (no low-range). Ok, I kind of like the organ, but not the guitar, not at all, sorry. #14 - Good groove here, nice piano opening! Kind of fits my "stoopid music" bag! Good tenor solo - at one spot it sounds like he's soloing on top of a samba band or something, very nice! Ah here comes the trumpet, very nice and soft sound! Great closing track! All in all, a nice listen (*) the weirdest example of this can be found on the strange Blue Note Dolphy compilation "Other Aspects", the Indian track there sounds so very amateurish, and the tabla playing is just ridiculous as I remember it!

What's on that one as filler?

some recent acquisitions/arrivals (used or after x-mas sales): Mat Mathews - The Modern Art of Jazz (Dawn) Stan Getz/Gerry Mulligan/Harry Edison/Oscar Peterson Trio with Buddy Rich - Jazz Giants '58 (Verve) Gene Ammons/Sonny Stitt - Boss Tenors In Orbit (Verve) Vienna Art Orchestra - the 3CD anniversary box the Complete Nocturne Recordings, Vol. 1 3CD set (Fresh Sound - lovely done, for a change!) a Pieranunzi/Johnson/Baron w/Kenny Wheeler disc (CAMjazz) Ulrich Gumpert Quintette (Intakt) and some Blue Note soon-to-be-OOP-titles: Jazz Crusaders - the 90s release of one of the Lighthouse albums Cannonball Adderley - Domination Frank Foster - Manhattan Fever

Ok, will keep my eyes open - let me know (by PM or email, I might miss it here) if you find it yourself, please!

I'm in for a download, though I've not found time to post anything on #60 and #61 (apologies, sidewinder & durium!) - but a download costs nothing, so...

... was discussed in another thread as well, but don't ask me to find it, please! I think it's a compilation of most early live recordings by Miles, as you can see from the listing there, the first few discs are actually by Charlie Parker (looks like the Savoy material, which is available on legit releses), the Paris set on disc 3 should be the Columbia Dameron/Davis album (with James Moody, Barney Spieler, Kenny Clarke, I think), then the Birdland stuff (some of it on a Blue Note CD, much of it earlier on Charly boots and various other shady releases I assume), and finally you get the Newport 1955 set (one track only on the Deluxe edition of "Round About Midnight", the rest again of boots), as well as two stray 1955 tracks by the quintet (I think those two are now on the Concord 4CD set of Miles' Quintet's Prestige recordings). I'm not sure of any of this, but go double-check yourself here: www.plosin.com/milesahead

I'm watching my computer screen

The Vogue Masters digipack? I think I've seen it recently in sales bins, but not in current sales - the shops usually go by labels and BMG is sort of in between... part of Sony sales nowadays, but right now they have EMI in the stores here. I can keep my eyes open though, if you're not in a hurry.

the swiss online shop displus has another sale going on this month - not sure it's atractive for US customers currently, but it may be worth a look at least for us yurpeens: http://www.discplus.ch/search.asp?requery=...type=monthlabel

oh, and where's that Marilyn photo, I can't see it any longer! never took a closer look, now I ready Larry's comment and gone it is...

I stood away of these happy birthday threads for several months now - new year resolution to be a bit more polite again... Happy Birthday, Nate, and all the best! And thanks particularly for continuing to post your impressions about films and cinema more generally, always interesting to read!

Similar to Prevert turning "Pervert", in the liners of I think the Mildred Bailey Mosaic, Hanighen (some may know his name from the credits to "'Round Midnight") gets "Hangmen" several times.

Played some O'Day last night (the live album with Masters/Young/Poole and the following big band album, Plays the Winners)

Lee Morgan's "Standards" is great! Some terrific Herbie Hancock there! Seems Hancock could do no wrong in those years (I'd say roughly 63-67 the purely acoustic period - wherever he pops up, he adds greatly and turns in at least one or two gems of solos!)

The big box' (I got it in less than stellar condition but it was almost as cheap as the cheapo version around now) booklet has a lot of interesting information about JATP and a great interview with Norman Granz, but it does not have any session-by-session notes, which I would have enjoyed very much in this case. I found that a bit weird, as the booklet has what, 100 pages or so... even if it were just some short notes like in the Verve Evans box, some info on the sessions would have been nice.

Mingus - Complete Debut Recordings (discs 9-11 yesterday, the great live session with Bert/Barrow/Waldron/Jones and Roach, now discs 11/12, the Knepper/Maini date and the Shaw/Hadi/Adams one)

I have old editions of all of these (except for Blue Spirits and Here to Stay). Not going to replace them, too much new stuff around, and too little money, and enough general insecurity with all the stoopid greedy people buying and selling crap instead of just living in a sensible and responsable way... well, enough of my sermon, happy new year, nevertheless!

hm, hasn't everything been out? Open Sesame (RVG) Goin' Up (Conn - OOP soon!) Here to Stay (RVG) Hub Cap (RVG) Ready for Freddie (Conn, now RVG) Hub Tones (RVG) Breaking Point (RVG) Blue Spirits (RVG) Night of the Cookers (RVG) So I don't really see what would remain... except for a reissue of "Goin' Up", which is not likely going to happen, as the Conn has been in print for what, ten years or even more! By the way, my RVG of Blue Spirits is really weird - it has a US-made traycard (including FBI warning logo), the booklet is made in Europe, so is the disc, which is a copycrap disc, even though obviously on the US-tray it doesn't say so. I bought it assuming it was a non-CC edition (it came out originally while Euro-EMI releases were CC-discs) and was quite pissed to find out it wasn't... the only indication is that circle/eye-symbol printed on the CD itself. I only realized that quite a while after buying it so I figured bringing it back was useless, alas. It's been around as an actual CD by now. But the weirdest is the US-made traycard (it was that which disguised the copy-protection, as the euro-tray-cards of CC-discs had a CC-logo/info thing on the spine next to the RVG-logo... the non-CC new prints just leave a blank spot there, while my Blue Spirits has the RVG-text on the whole spine.

Ah, ok, I see - I never cared to figure that out as none of the three were common here in the past years!

Hm, my old McLean had indeed a white tray!

That was only an issue with the Collector's Choice version, the Mosaic is fine. Also with the old US ("domestic") disc - or would a CD ordered from Trueblue in the mid/late 90s be a Collector's Choice edition? I've never seen "Collector's Choice" discs over here until I bought one recently (the Hackett/Teagarden Capitol twofer), and I noticed some Nat Cole pop-twofers (South of the border and stuff like that) are turning up now, but I've never seen a "Collector's Choice" Blue Note CD, would they be labelled someway? Of course I couldn't tell if there was a sticker on the shrinkwrap, 10 years ago...