ArtSalt

That's anecdotal evidence, has he made it his position in print or in recorded interviews?

I don't think he worked hard on his image, but he did look like a member of The Travelling Wiliburys, specifically Jeff Lynne. I'm with Deepak, Don Was came off pretty decent in the interview and the concept of the reissues seems to be pretty sound: the world will never tire of Blue Note or Miles Davis reissues, as each new generation discovers the excellence in this music and then go on and dig more jazz from this. It is good thing is it not?

Compilations are great port of entries and have been instrumental for turning me onto a lot of good music over the years, these particularly resonate with me: The West Coast Jazz Box: An Anthology of California Jazz, the 4 CD set from Fantasy. A good overview and introduction to west coast cool jazz from 1950 - 1960. More Than Mambo: The Introduction to Afro Cuban Jazz, the Verve compilation from 1995, still available. California Cool, presenting the hip jazz sounds of the West Coast on Blue Note. Jazz Juice Vol. 1, 2, 3 on Street Sounds, a jazz DJ's delight.

Did I mention The Dulouz Legend? In any case, it's commonly regarded as semi-autobiographical. No, it was me who mentioned it, but I think this is important as Kerouac himself perceived his works as all comprising one mythic autobiography. Jazz is of course essential throughout, but as the quintessential beat-jazz-poet, even though he was the grandaddy of them all, I am always left with the thought of what could have been if Kerouac had stayed sober. I think Kerouac tells us more about the literature of alcoholism, repressed sexuality and a chronic and sad (rapid) descent from genius to mediocrity than it does about jazz poetics. I have mixed feelings about Kerouac's poetry and some of the extra tracks on the Rhino box-set of his poetry, reveal his goofy drunkeness in full flow, sad and pitiful. Thanks to AllenLowe for the correction in spelling..... Emphasis on the "mythic." Don't think you can take any Kerouac text as being that much closer to the autobiographical truth than any other. Can't imagine what a Kerouac who stayed sober might have been like or even that that would have been possible. Of all the people who need to be taken all of a piece, he would seem to be it. Agree totally, with Kerouac its very much the whole oeuvre, which is exactly the way he created it to be.

I actually enjoyed Teachout's biography of Louis Armstrong, so I was looking forward to this, but like the other posters, I am somewhat dismayed at the negative tone and the position that Ellington was no classical composer and that is what what we are to judge him by. I am quarter of the way into the book since December and so far I am left more disappointed in Teachout rather than the Duke. I am reading it so slow, as I find Teachout's negative vibe off putting and distracting to the genius of Ellington. After reading some of the recent biographies: Duke Ellington's America by Harvey Cohen and Stuart Nicholson's Reminiscing in Tempo, I am inclined to agree that this is a hatchet job, or was written in a state of melancholic depression where even the music of Ellington was coloured bad. I seem to remember Teachout was a guest speaker at the Amsterdam Ellington conference this May, but he isn't on the webpage anymore(?). Perhaps I was wrong, in any event, Cohen is, and he will likely prove a much more interesting and reliable speaker me thinks. Indeed, Mr Teachout might find himself getting a right bloody nose from someone!

They are what he says they are: a B&W "negative & print of album cover". He doesn't actually give any further provenance on these negatives and likely rightly so. The mention of Alfred Lion in the same breathe is a hook, possibly for the gullible to inflate the price of the negatives, but if he has personal items from Alfred Lion with proven provenance then it could be interesting.

The Blu-Spec2 carries the info that it is from the DSD remaster from 2005, it sounds favourable to the Columbia edition from 2009. So depends when the latest remaster from Legacy was done(?). There is an improvement to my ears. Sorry, I haven't listened to the SACD version - I was revved-up to purchase as SACD player back in the mid-2000s, but then it never seemed to gather pace with reissues and my interest in the format waned.

Alexandros: I don't own any other versions of Ella and Louis so I can't compare, but the sound is magnificent. Also of interest is the Blu Spec2 of Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Hardy this particularly is much better than previous CD versions I've owned. Same impressive sound stage as the Ella and Louis.

Did I mention The Dulouz Legend? In any case, it's commonly regarded as semi-autobiographical. No, it was me who mentioned it, but I think this is important as Kerouac himself perceived his works as all comprising one mythic autobiography. Jazz is of course essential throughout, but as the quintessential beat-jazz-poet, even though he was the grandaddy of them all, I am always left with the thought of what could have been if Kerouac had stayed sober. I think Kerouac tells us more about the literature of alcoholism, repressed sexuality and a chronic and sad (rapid) descent from genius to mediocrity than it does about jazz poetics. I have mixed feelings about Kerouac's poetry and some of the extra tracks on the Rhino box-set of his poetry, reveal his goofy drunkeness in full flow, sad and pitiful. Thanks to AllenLowe for the correction in spelling.....

I am not convinced the Platinum SHM-CDs are noticeably improved - I purchased the Art Pepper, Bill Evans and the Coltrane ballads - also ran the gauntlet of the Dutch Customs and was not wowed in a superlative way. But I also purchased Ella and Louis and was greatly impressed with the dynamic sound stage.

Very Interesting, but I challenge The Dulouz Legend as fiction, it is autobiographical, the interior world of Kerouac; bebop prosody, Old Grandad laced with benzedrine.

She also choreographed David Byrne in the Once In A Lifetime video.

I don't see at such, perhaps because I love chinese food so much. Kerouac wrote some terrible stuff at times, particularly his poetry and not to mention his often mistake of confusing jazz musicians instruments and also time periods. He certainly wouldn't have shot himself over that paragraph and he wouldn't have seen the alleged bathos in it, not from his catholic-zen-bebop-spontaneous-prosody perspective. He would get it!

It's a riff all right - Hughes, Kerouac and McCarthy like. A grandiose train of thought, I like it.

The problem with the Hoffman forum is that it moves too fast - you see something amongst the dross you fancy posting on and later when you have the time to contribute, it's 12-15 pages back!

I actually like Crouch's forthright and opinionated positions, which on a television talking head level are engaging and certainly in the Burns documentary his was one of the best contributions in the series. From my perspective, here in Europe, he is not such a controversial figure as he seems to be presented in this topic. My intention is to get the Parker biography, but I hate poetic novels pretending to be history, the last one I tried to read was You Call It Madness: The Sensuous Song of The Croon by Lenny Kaye which was totally unreadable. I'm not ordering it especially, I am waiting for it to turn up in the local bookshop, where I can flick through the pages and get a sense of Crouch's approach to Bird and then make a decision to purchase or not.

Drugs are certainly going to influence the music, how could it not? The evidence is overwhelming from booze to cocaine and particularly in modern jazz, heroin as we all know. The canon of LSD inspired music, is less than satisfying, particularly in jazz and also rock IMCO. The case for some other drugs is stronger, but even here, when those of less technical and creative ability have attempted to follow the same path and use drugs as the means to be possessed by the muse of genius - they've inevitably hit dead-ends. If we are going to say that there is a clear "pattern" and style to LSD inspired music, then I suppose we could do the same with other drugs, say divide Bill Evans music into periods of heroin use, clean and then that of his final booze and cocaine period. Acid Jazz is of course, the record label and very good it was too, for a time in the 80s and early 90s. I think they've earned the title of Acid Jazz, we don't need to transfer it to the LSD heads.

A shame they haven't targetted Don Pullen's African-Brazilian Connection for re-release, Ode To Life was one of my favourites of the early 90s. One of the few albums from that period of Blue Note that stll gets a play in my household.

Thanks for that release discography erwbol, a very handy aide memoire when ordering and will assist in my mission to eventuall get the whole of the 7000 series.

There's moments on Rivers A New Conception that start to get adventurous, but the title promises too much for an audience looking for that. I listened to it yesterday and was impressed,in fact it's one of my favourites in these reissues. The biggest dissapointment for me so far, other than the post '68 albums, is Maiden Voyage.

The Teddy Charles Collaboration: West with Shorty Rogers, Curtis Counce and Jimmy Giuffre is worth a listen as early third stream from '53. I've also ordered the Moondog titles, as I can't see these being reissued again in a hurry.

Tina Weymouth looks like a grandmother, that's the real reason The Talking Heads won't tour again! They missed out Clare Grogan of Altered Images and she still looks very good. So too do the Bananarama girls. I was a big fan of Sheffied's finest The Human League and Heaven 17 back in the day. If you're ever bored, listen to Heaven 17's Luxury Gap and imagine Frank Sinatra taking on these songs in bar setting!

I must say, I am enjoying these Prestige, Blue Note and even the David Stone Martin SHM's immensely. We have entered another golden age of re-issues!

Funny you should say that, I have similar experience of the Lighthouse gig and after the positive comments here I am gearing up to listen to it again.....

I'm actually a big fan of the Ellington small group sessions 1936 - 40 set, it's significantly more cost effective that the current big band set, is still available and has a better sound IMCO. That's my recommendation of where to start.