king ubu

If you are at all interested in Crosby, this is the perfect introduction. The repertoire is stellar, the accompaniment tasteful and he's in fine voice. Great sound too. A fantastic set. Yeah, I was afraid to hear something like that Don't know him really, but I will find out, sooner or later.

Yes, a mighty fine run of "leftovers"! I have all of them as well, I think ... and a few of their own productions on top of that.

Did you ever try Jimmie Lunceford, btw? And Basie's OT band in full flight, with Pres cutting through the entire band and floating on top of it? Might not be in-yo-face aggressive, but powerful it is - and often mind-boggling in many ways! btw, of course I don't scratch my mind ... merely my head - still some hair left, and a skull, too, luckily

political? I guess money laundering and bribery has long become an integral part of sports, so not political all on the way home from work, passed by the hordes of journalists standing outside the expensive hotel where the arrests took place ... weird scenery (and no clue what exactly they were still waiting for)

Scott, I know what you mean, of course ... but I just don't like the cliché "aggressive" applied to music in general, when usually words like "high energy", "powerful" or even "joyous" would do just as well. There's stuff mentioned here where I might consider applying "aggressive" (the terrific James Brown/Louis Bellson/Oliver Nelson album, or some of Buddy Rich's late 60s/early 70s band) ... but when even the Brotherhood of Breath turns up when "aggressive" music is the topic (no offense, Joe!), I really scratch my mind in disbelief. Hardly will you ever hear such life-affirming music, so full of beauty and yeah, truth (and neither of those is just about the positive side of things, of course, or else it's just shallow) ... calling that "aggressive" just seems wrong to me. Anyway, don't let me disturb, now please continue

Hadn't noticed yet, but the Ellington Small Group is now running low ... and so is the Quincy Jones. The former essential, the later almost, as well. They also have some copies of some Mighty Quinn discs available in their last chance list ... those are some very nice reissues in my opinoin (but don't ask me any audiophile crap, I got them for the music that was not available elsewhere - Pepper Adams, Don Ellis, Paul Quinichette, Harold Land etc.).

oh, wow - interesting development, to say the least ... but yeah, I described my impression of the label as well, and "professional" is not what they seem like ...

on the other hand, "Diminuendo And Crescendo In Blue" isn't, to me ... I guess this thread will end a list of each and any good big band as everyone has his own definition of "aggressive" (though I'd be astonished to find Thornhill and Gil Evans on the list ... but then later Gil, with synths, electric guitars and hard-hitting tenors and trumpets would again fit the bill rather well). pretty good one! as fo CBBB, not sure if they have any album that's "aggressive", I'd not rate them as an "aggressive" big band (though powerful they were, no doubt ... we might end up debating semantics ...) as a whole ... and what about Thad Jones/Mel Lewis?

Jazz Icon, first series boxed for 41€ at jazzmessengers.com - offer has been up for a while, but is still around: http://www.jazzmessengers.com/en/66152/various-artists/jazz-icons-series-1

that is, if you go beyond "classic" big band ... you might then try this one, too:

Well, I joined the game around the time sets like TKM, Giuffre, Hamilton were new, was still able to buy many of the 150 and 160 numbers (and a few earlier ones) -- and while I have many of them suckers, I'll never have all of them anyways (but the free jazz ones I do have ... though I'd not count the Jordan among them, I'd rather book that as some sort of of post-Coltrane/post-bop/open-minded-stream of things). The Lunceford was comparatively low on my list as I have the entire run of Masters of Jazz discs (thanks to dear brownie!), the Columbia LP box and two Chronos on top of that ... but still, it's a no-brainer! Two I'm not sure about are the Ella/Webb and the Bing Crosby ... but I might in the end go for both of them, too. (At least that's what some inner voice tells me ... ) As for the Condon/Freeman, I have the full run of Condon Chronos, so I am familiar with the music (which is glorious), but I guess I want the Mosaic sound ... and the booklet, too (guess Dan Morgenstern was the right pick for the notes!)

Walter Sobchak: Shut the fuck up, Donny. ^ what he said

Lately the entire Kenton 1943-47 as well as parts of the Shank (love that one dearly!), the Hamilton, the Kenton presents, the great Giuffre set ...

Belated best wishes, Jim! :party:

Here's the mail (May 2015 Newsletter, sent out May 12): Spring New Releases Live at Okuden by The Uppercut: Matthew Shipp Mat Walerian Duo (ESP5007) ESP-Disk' is thrilled to share with you all a new recording that extends the label's already considerable free-jazz legacy: Live at Okuden by The Uppercut: Matthew Shipp Mat Walerian Duo. Mr. Shipp is the most exciting pianist of his generation. Mr. Walerian is a Polish saxophonist/clarinetist flutist of extraordinary talent who deserves a world-wide audience. Live at Okuden documents their profoundly beautiful and imaginative performance on May 15, 2012. Shipp hardly needs an introduction at this point thanks to a career of over a quarter century, including not only many acclaimed albums under his own name but also a long and prominent tenure in the David S. Ware Quartet and a vast array of collaborations with the likes of Spring Heel Jack, Ivo Perelman, Sabir Mateen, Darius Jones, Joe Morris, Jemeel Moondoc, and more. Walerian is the younger of the two, so many jazz fans are not as familiar with his work as they are with Shipp's, but one listen to this album should convince everyone of the imaginative depth of his musical vision and the likelihood that he will soon be counted among the avant-jazz scene's international stars. Largely self-taught and deeply immersed in Eastern philosophy, his approach to improvisation is unique and compelling. Press Quotes: "[Walerian] is one of the most talented young jazz musicians on the Polish scene, if not THE most talented." – Maciej Lewenstein, Polish Jazz Recordings and Beyond "Matthew Shipp has become an elder statesman in the jazz world. How that happened can be boiled down to two simple elements. One: he has created a unique sound and language for improvised music and two: Shipp has become a doyen of cutting edge music making and opinion." – Mark Corroto, All About Jazz http://espdisk.com/official/catalog/5007.html Repressed and Limited Edition of The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra (ESP1014) (ESP1017) It was 50 years ago, on April 20, 1965, that Sun Ra and His Solar Arkestra squeezed into Richard Alderson's little studio to record their first ESP-Disk' album, The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra. Later that year they returned to record a second volume. To honor this anniversary, ESP has re-pressed both LPs in 1000-copy limited editions on Esperanto-green, 180-gram vinyl. These astonishing sessions went light years beyond "free jazz" improvisation to create music of deeply-felt, explosive and gentle gestures made from sound itself without reference to previous notions of melody or harmony. This set of tracks found Sun Ra breaking ground by using synthesizers and having the Arkestra musicians double on percussion. Volume 1, with an 11-member band, consists of seven relatively short tracks (none over eight minutes); recorded with an octet, Volume 2, in contrast, is much freer and features the side-long "The Sun Myth" and the 15-minute "Cosmic Chaos." In tandem they rank at #9 on Spin's "The Top 100 Alternative Albums of the 1960s" list. http://espdisk.com/official/catalog/1014.html http://espdisk.com/official/catalog/1017.html Two John D. Thomas Albums Released (ESP5005) (ESP5006) At age 19, guitarist John D. Thomas was enlisted as a sideman by both Jimmy McGriff and Joe Henderson for recordings and concerts. Later he worked with more jazz greats, including the AACM Big Band, Stanton Davis, Carter Jefferson, Andrew Cyrille, Kenny Drew, John Lewis, and Chet Baker. ESP-Disk' recently issued two albums led by Mr. Thomas. ESP5006 issues for the first time on CD and download his 1985 fusion album Serious Business, while ESP5005 is the first issue in any format of Headwall by his more straight-ahead jazz group Extremely Serious Business. "[Thomas has] a unique solo style. John's latest offering gives a superb example of why, in my opinion, he is one of the all-time great jazz guitarists." – saxophonist Charles Tolliver http://espdisk.com/official/catalog/5005.html http://espdisk.com/official/catalog/5006.html

Oh well, I'm considering throwing in the Lunceford on top of that, wanted it for a long time, it was on backorder, now it's around again, so ... shipping wise, it won't matter, and having to pay those annoying fees only once helps as well (the VAT doesn't matter of course, have to pay it anyway, as those fees apply on orders of more than c. 65 US$ value, and rarely does a parcel slip by these days). After that, my Mosaic collection will be more or less up to date - for the first time since I started collecting them. Still want the Goodman, eventually, but other than that and the upcoming Bee Hive, I think I'll have all I want (which is: nearly all of 'em )

great cover indeed!

anyone? takes ten minutes - and I'd really appreciate opinions!

Will order mine later this week ... and the Dial set as well (crazy, as I have most of its contents via the Spotlite discs, but I'm an official Mosaic nut).

Just how many Armstrong All Star dates do you guys have/need? Having both Mosaic sets, some glorious studio albums (Plays W.C. Handy, the Ellington encounter), the Storyville sets (the "In Scandinavia", too, hence the plural) ... with Ellington, I'm willing to go on and on and on, to name one example with an even larger amount of stuff available, but with the Armstrong All Stars, I really don't quite know (and frankly, the Storyville set, the large one, does contain a few less-than-great moments - Ricky is fee enough to tell so in his notes).

Don't think so, there was a newsletter announcing some upcoming releases just a few days ago.

r.i.p.

IMHO, the extra material on discs 3 & 4 are significantly less interesting than the original Bitches Brew release. So, If you're not a Miles completeist and you already own the 2-disc version of Bitches Brew, I'd say that you're fine. As ever, YMMV. I guess other than a few dozen albums, pretty much anything in jazz (or in music) is significantly less interesting than "Bitches Brew"

Great news indeed

Very sad news.