DrJ

Along somewhat similar lines - humorist David Sedaris has a pretty hilarious bit involving singing like Billie Holiday. Truly worth a listen. This aired on the public radio program "This American Life." Go to: http://www.thislife.org/ and then enter "David Sedaris, Music Lessons" in the Search box and click on the link that comes up. The whole show is really funny, but you want to listen to Act One for Sedaris.

Thanks Jim, will definitely check it out. (and good to see hanging 'round these parts!)

Late in the game here, so let me just be another to compliment Jim on his choice - wonderful album, and if it isn't the pioneering Louis of the early days it's certainly an eloquent statement by a master. His trumpet cuts like a knife while serenading, with nary a useless note. Big, luxurious Columbia 50's era studio sound. Put me down as a Velma Middleton fan, too. I know many dislike her presence in this music, but I think it is not only enjoyable, it's crucial in creating a partner for Louis (he seemed to thrive off kinetic partnerships, from Lil to Hines to Teagarden etc).

A nomination: I have been savoring what I have come to feel is a very under-appreciated but pivotal album in the "inside/out" jazz of the late 60's: Max Roach, MEMBERS, DON'T GET WEARY (Atlantic, 1968). Roach, Bartz, Tolliver, Jymie Merritt, Cowell, and an Andy Bey vocal on the title track only. This one deserves close attention and discussion. In a similar ilk, I like Templejazz's nomination of Lee Morgan's LAST SESSION a WHOLE lot. For somewhat more "modern" recordings, a few that come quickly to mind as candidates: Jon Jang - TWO FLOWERS ON A STEM (Soul Note) George Cables - NIGHT AND DAY (DIW) Stephen Scott - RENAISSANCE (Verve) - not nearly enough discussion of this young master Harvey Wainapel - THE HANG (Spirit Nectar) - this one's obscure to many but trust me it is one KILLER album Henry Threadgill - CARRY THE DAY (Columbia)

Mine was smiling at me from the front porch at home as I drove up yesterday evening! Listened in the car this AM, as I didn't have a chance last night. "Oleo" is nice, blazing stuff, never heard Miles in better form on such boppish material. "No Blues," though, sounds like home - wow, this group was LOCKED IN. I cannot wait to savor this one over the weekend on the home system. I like Eddie Henderson's stream of consciousness notes, the personal flair is great and that "Bye Bye Blackbird" story is indeed a funny one. PS - Off topic but Blumenthal's liners are generally excellent IMHO - Mosaics especially - it's just in the RVG series that his comments seem pointless, for some reason.

Wow, I have completely missed out on Fruscella so far. Will have to remedy that soon based on the accolades here.

Have to check the RCA stuff out, sounds promising! How's her Bethelehem albums?

Joe G - yeah, Metheny is a real monster with making potentially awkward time signatures sound as easy as falling off a log. LFH has a few oddballs - "5/5/7" is the one I can't quite get together in terms of counting it out, especially the intro. I wonder if he uses the odd meters (probably not consciously, but unconsciously, given his comments to you about thinking "Have You Heard" was straight 4/4!) as a way of balancing his compositions (which are gorgeous but sometimes perilously close to OVERLY sweet and pretty), to give them a sound that is a bit more angular and edgy. Conscious or not, it works.

I would heartily agree with Lon. D'Arby has raw talent that I feel has somehow not been quite delivered upon. If you ever get a chance, check out his 2nd album, NEITHER FISH NOR FLESH, which is quite superior to the first album in my opinion. "Wishing Well" was catchy and all, but the 2nd one is much more inventive as a whole, with a whole slew of influences and a much harder edged feeling. It also certainly has some more very funky, catchy, fun-spirited music, like the classic Atlantic soul-era influenced "I'll Be Alright," the Prince-ish "This Side of Love," and the wickedly-funky "Attracted To You." Not everything quite works out, but it's a good spin. Too bad after that he seems to have kind of petered out.

Looking at the West Coast Pacific Jazz and other labels "mix" box they have upcoming with Cooper/Shank/Brookmeyer, how about a box of miscellaneous Imperial recordings, to include things like Charlie Mariano's release w/Jaki Byard on piano (which is quite excellent), Wingy stuff, and others? I know this bunch would probably be very disparate in approach, so if there's enough maybe do 2 sets, dividing them into "traditional" jazz and "modern" jazz Imperial sessions? A Harry Edison box, pulling together his stuff from Pacific Jazz and Roulette, maybe even a Liberty date that is listed on All Music Guide from 1965 I will definitely second the Pullen/Adams BN sessions as a Select And in fact, an 80's BN/other label miscellaneous box or boxes would be nice - might be a way to get out some of the best/most obscure stuff, like James Newton's 2, Jack Walrath's 2, Bobby Watson's Roulettes or BNs A Hutcherson/Land Select with at least some stuff that hasn't been issued on CD yet would be good, assuming they are not going to eventually do a "full" Mosaic. Great if there was any vault material. Lon et al have me intrigued about the Tyree Glenn Roulettes A miscellaneous late 60's BN box would also be interesting (can't quite get my head around exactly how to name it). This might include a smattering of dates that have long been obscure and sought by diehards and collectors. Represented would be Kenny Cox's (INTRODUCING and MULTIDIRECTION) , Eddie Gale (GHETTO MUSIC and BLACK RHYTHM HAPPENING), and Tyrone Washington (NATURAL ESSENCE and hey, maybe even throw in the TRAIN WRECK SESSION!).

I'm glad to see a Metheny discussion, he doesn't get much on the more die-hard jazz boards. I enjoy pretty much all of his predominant "personalities" for what they are. The early Metheny Group stuff with all the rock influence, the later highly layered, Latin-influenced PMG sound (which I personally feel peaked with STILL LIFE and especially LETTER FROM HOME, the vinyl copy of which I wore down to flat), his more experimental solo excursions (both stripped down, straight ahread, and mega-produced like SECRET STORY), and his "jazz" records - SONG X, QUESTION AND ANSWER and the TRIOS w/Stewart and Johnson. The Penguin Guide guys just shred stuff like SECRET STORY for being so produced, but that's the whole point - he's not setting out to make a blowing record, dudes, catch a clue! I don't think everything works on that album, but it's got some moments of stunning beauty, starting with the opener "Above the Treetops" (it's interesting, I have a Cambodian world music CD issued on Peter Gabriel's realworld label that actually has the chant he utilizes there; Pat slowed it down a bit, making it all the more eerie) as someone justly singled out above. Not the kind of thing I listen to a lot these days, but worth returning to over time. My personal favorite Metheny Group outing is LETTER FROM HOME, which I feel is kind of overlooked. I think STILL LIFE was so great and had such standout key tracks that people view LFH as kind of a "rerun." But Side 1 especially is a seamless masterpiece, one song flowing into the next, the whole thing building to a subtle boil with the stunning "5/5/7." Pet PMG moment: the several bar lead in to ("duh duh duh, duh-duh, duh duh, duh duh, duh-duh...") Pat's solo, and then the actual beginning of Pat's solo, on "Have You Heard." That part where he plays that little boppish phrase and then leaves a brief pause where you can enjoy the tightness of the band and especially Paul Wertico's amazing ride cymbal work before tearing in again...sublime. Maybe not fully sustained on Side 2, but just that first side alone, along with the gorgeous title track, makes LFH a classic in my view. The pop-influenced stuff, like "Beat 70," is no slouch either.

Great news, seeing all that obscure Brookmeyer on the way. Toshiba just reissued IVORY HUNTERS. Maybe we'll see U.S. BN following suit soon.

Yeah, I posted about this in another forum a few days ago (in the Dolphy thread I started in the Artists section), and was then told by another board member apparently we were ALL scooped by Aric Effron, who had posted about it before under some other name! It was certainly a total surprise to me to hear this, but kind of cool because it actually fits the commercial pretty well.

True, although to clarify I was thinking only of the studio sessions, not the large number of live recordings - including those WOULD make it pretty prohibitively big. I haven't done the math for the studio dates, but I can't imagine it would be any bigger than 10-12 CDs which they just did for Billie Holiday. Ah well, probably a pipe dream at any rate, and I won't be holding my breath (or my wallet!) for it, nor passing on these single CD reissues, I can tell you!

I had been holding out for the past few years for a boxed set of Nina Simone's Philips recordings, so was of course happy to see the recent FOUR WOMEN box finally hit the streets. I have not delved into her music previously, was waiting for the type of perspective collections like this can sometimes give an artist whose influence and place in history is somewhat hard to "place." I have only listened so far to the first disc, which contains IN CONCERT, but have listened real carefully. I'm struck by her individuality - instantly identifiable vocal style, probably closest to someone like Betty Carter if you need a comparison but really that's not satisfactory. Simone is much "simpler" in her approach, less tendency for showing off (I love Carter, but she did go that way sometimes), more direct tapping into the at once more direct and yet also in many ways more avant garde country blues approach. The liners also talk of a link with Billie Holiday, which is there in the emotional vulnerability and directness although the sound of these vocalists is ultimately quite different. In short, it sounds like Simone was basically willing and ready to do whatever worked in service of getting across the emotional content of a song. Whether or not it's "jazz" or not, a long debate apparently about her work, is irrelevant. It represents to me, a kind of culmination and coalescence of decades of the African-American musical tradition at that time. Musically, this is first rate stuff, with a talented band that plays in service of a group sound and getting the song across, not a wasted note anywhere. Coupled with her vocal style, this sparing, reigned in approach really builds an amazing tension in the music. It's ready to explode, but never quite does, except for some really brief sections where Simone and crew let off just enough steam to keep the explosion from happening. Those who are not into jazz with political overtones could possibly be put off by some of the music, but I find Simone walked that tightrope really successfully most of the time. There is clearly a political viewpoint but it's brought across through telling personal, detailed, and vivid stories about people - in other words, it's not the type of sloganeering in the abstract that I absolutely hate as "political statement music." Remastering is good, although the original live recording was certainly not the best that could have been achieved at that time (it's more than adequate, though, intimate and honest, so don't hesitate on that account). In short, I dig it already, but I suspect with time this material will grow on me even more. Can't wait to explore the rest of the box. Anyone else want to comment on Ms. Simone, from this period or others?

This is good news, I had wondered if their plan was still in place for this box. I suspect PD is right, we'll get all the master takes, some salient alternates (although I'm sure there will be quibbles about what is left out) and probably nothing truly "new" (just unissued on CD in the U.S. more likely). Sounds GOOD to me.

Particularly glad to see IT'S MONK'S TIME finally getting US reissue, and with BONUS TRACKS! Superb album, with some unjustly neglected compositions. Hopefully I can soon trade in my old French CD edition, which is showing its age sonically. Speaking of all this - I kind of am amazed that Sony seems to have decided not to do a COMPLETE MONK ON COLUMBIA boxed set...or maybe they will eventually. That is my only reservation about picking some of these individual releases up. They did the sampler box recently, but Monk seems to sell well and I just wonder about whether we'll see a complete Columbia box some day.

What Claude said - totally agree, and will emphasize so people don't think we're focusing too much on the wrong issue: DO NOT PASS ON IT for sound quality considerations alone. It's just good to be an educated consumer, and calling the sound "excellent" would be really misleading. It's not one of Mosaic's best jobs, nor one of McMaster's.

Totally agreed, terrible news. I will be spinning JIMMY KNEPPER IN LA this afternoon in tribute, a blistering example of his art, along with some Mingus dates.

I think this box is not only a wonderful job in terms of remastering (I had much of it in Hep label CD remasterings, which were quite good for the time, and this is a huge step forward), but the music is truly of desert island quality. Billie, Teddy Wilson, Lester, Hodges, Goodman, Jones, and a host of less celebrated but wonderful musicians in their absolute prime, playing definitive jazz for the era. What's not to like? Great buy you got there, too, $80 is way more than reasonable.

I think the future dominant media format is...no dominant format. Vinyl continues a resurgence among the faithful...CDs are going strong...SACD and DVD-A are making inroads but still mostly with the audiophiles...some out there like MP3...and there will most certainly be new things coming down the pipe, but the thing is that the sonic improvements will be less and less readily apparent to someone listening through car stereos and boom boxes and low-end home stereo setups. So all formats will continue to thrive for a while. While the market shares may change over the next few decades, I honestly don't think we'll see a wholesale format changeover a la the switch to CDs for some time, maybe another 50 years or more, because while standard CD sound (and MP3 sound definitely) may have some limitations, they are undeniably convenient and the average person really doesn't care that much about great sound quality, they want something easy to store, durable, and relatively inexpensive.

Claude - We may disagree on this a bit, B) or perhaps system differences are at play as well. For the record: when I'm speaking of comparisons with regular CD, mostly they are good remasterings (or the ones included on the other layer of hybrid discs) and I'm using the Pioneer universal player. For example, I compared the regular CD layer of the Analogue Productions SAXOPHONE COLOSSUS and MEETS THE RHYTHM SECTION discs with the SACD layer, using the Pioneer DV54A to play both layers. For those, although the CD remastering is certainly quite good, the amount of detail, the dynamic range, and the warmth are so much greater on the SACD layer. You hear it in the things like the rattle of snare head, the resonance in Max Roach's toms on COLOSSUS, the sound of air in the horns, the complexity of the cymbal decay. These sound like picayune things, but its actually the overtones and detail that make music music (e.g. that make a sax sound like a sax and not a cheap synthesizer imitation). For MILES SMILES, we definitely disagree. While I do agree that the Columbia boxed set version (which is what I have) sounds very good overall, all of the Legacy Miles reissues, in my view, have a harshness at the high-end that is just not a problem on the SACD. So perhaps a more subtle difference, but it's still there. For the Sonny Clark disc, the old CD version was atrocious. But even compared with the standard CD layer on the new disc (which I had previously raved about on the old BN boards, picking up the hybrid disc before I had the Pioneer player), the SACD is a vast improvement. Again, though, I would never presume to say SACD/DVD-A are "better" or "vital" or "necessary." Heck, I still buy regular CDs over these formats 3 or 4 to 1, because if for no other reason I can listen to a lot more music for the same bucks and I'm mostly into the music, not audio for audio's sake. But I do think, with the cost of universal players coming down and the quality being generally quite good, and the same also occuring for the discs themselves, these expanded resolution formats are just more options to sit alongside your multi-CD changer and turntable (or 2 if you're into 78s!) and add to the fun!

Despite still being quite skeptical about SACD (or DVD-A for that matter) "replacing" CD as the "standard" medium of the music industry, I did recently kind of back into both formats. Here's the deal, because I think it's important if anyone is curious about these new media to hear about someone who enjoys them for what they are without being a zealot (Mnytime and the others here definitely also fit this bill - funny how we all seem to have the same hesitations about posting on this topic lest we be lumped in with Greg and his fervor!): Our DVD player was one of the first to hit the market and quite primitive (I won't bore you with the limitations). Suffice to say, we were ready to upgrade a little this year, although we're not into having the very best video, just upper middle. We shopped around and found Pioneer makes a couple of players now that play pretty much everything - standard DVD, but also DVD-A, and SACD. Of their models, the Pioneer DV45-A is VERY reasonably priced given that it is a universal player, around $400 or less if you shop around. Throw in all the high quality connectors you will need and you're talking no more than $600. Sure, it's not the very best at doing any of these things, most likely, but I figured if DVD-A and SACD are so great, then with a decent player and good connectors (plus a good amp/speaker combo and the pre-requisite surround speaker set up you need to really enjoy either DVD movies or multichannel SACD/DVD-A) I should be able to hear a big difference compared to my standard CDs. In other words, we spent a couple hundred extra bucks beyond what we would have payed for a mid-range DVD video-only player to give the new formats a whirl. After several months of trying out various formats - DVD-A in stereo, surround; SACD in stereo and multichannel - I have to say that with a good stereo system I am totally confident you will have NO problem noticing an improvement in sound quality compared with most of your standard CDs, even those remastered fairly recently. It is not hype, it's definitely worthwhile if you have the opportunity. I can't imagine even someone with "tin" ears wouldn't notice the difference right away. Some examples from my small, slowly growing collection: ART PEPPER MEETS THE RHYTHM SECTION - no contest, the SACD (stereo only) is amazingly more rich, present, and detailed. Sonny Rollins - SAXOPHONE COLOSSUS - ditto, although perhaps a slightly less huge difference MILES SMILES - also SACD, stereo. Wonderful! All the harshness of Columbia's recent remastering (which was no doubt better than the old CD) is gone. It's like you're right there. Incredible. But the best: SONNY CLARK TRIO (the TIME recording, not the BN one) on SACD stereo. Wow...this one always sounded like crap on the old CD, and now it is up there with Rudy Van G's best work. The face lift here is almost unbelievable. For rock, Pink Floyd's DARK SIDE OF THE MOON reissue with SACD surround is breathtaking. Bjork's VERSPERTINE DVD-A surround mix is equally so - the music just surrounds you and given the layered, detailed approach she takes you literally hear things you never heard before. Neil Young's HARVEST DVD-A surround mix is a bit more eccentric, mixed so the musicians seem to be in a circle - honestly I prefer the DVD-A stereo layer here, but it's fun for a change. And the Stones' London records reissues are all amazing - BEGGARS BANQUET was a revelation, sounds like Keef (or who knows, might have been Dave Mason) is sitting playing acoustic slide right in your living room on "No Expectations." In all - you get much more natural sound with both these formats, with great separation and presence and detail even it very low, comfortable listening volumes. NO ear fatigue. Incredible warmth (far closer to good vinyl than regular CD can approach). Personally, I think SACD sounds a bit warmer and more like high end vinyl, ideal for jazz, but DVD-A sounds much more "ultra-detailed" and "tighter" in bass response to me, and thus seems particularly well-suited to more modern rock/pop sounds like Bjork. So with all that, how do I assess the situation and what would I suggest? 1. Unless you are a super-audiophile snob, I would not even THINK about approaching these new formats as a "replacement" for CD. If you're like me, you have 100s or 1000s of CDs you still love and enjoy and it's improbable to me that you could ever hope to replace most/all of them. Instead, consider them as yet another option and go for a universal player. I now can enjoy stuff on vinyl, CD, SACD, DVD-A, and they all have their benefits. By the way, the CD player in the DV45A is subtly but definitely better than my 6 disc Onkyo multidisc changer...so again, when I feel like really listening and savoring a favorite standard CD, I often use the DV45A instead of the multichanger. 2. Think about approaching the new formats when you're ready to add or update a DVD player to your rig. I can see no reason NOT to buy a universal player in that circumstance, except for those who are looking for ultra high quality video (the DVD movie audio on the Pioneer DV45A is really great, while the video is I'm sure not any better than an upper-mid range quality). 3. Where possible I try to find hybrid discs that play as both regular CDs and SACDs (DVD-A doesn't seem to do this, unfortunately, but the trade off is many of those discs have extras like lyrics, photos, etc that can be viewed on your TV screen). Its a good buy and great for the car. However, I'm not above going with single layer SACD or DVD-A for those sessions I really enjoy and already also have on CD (for car). My approach is to take it slow with acquring these discs, and really savor them...I continue to build my regular CD collection, but will slip in one of these every once in a while, and again I've devoted most of my buying in this realm to favorite artists/desert island stuff. I think it's highly worth it for music you love, I've found myself rediscovering some truly great works that I tend to ignore sometimes in the interest of trying to hear all the great and more obscure music that's out there. 4. You can definitely enjoy SACD and DVD-A with just conventional stereo speaker set-up, but if you can afford it, it's really fun to have the 6-speaker option. Even if you end up preferring the stereo on some discs, its great to have flexibility and options. 5. Make sure to do a lot of research before buying, as it all gets a bit confusing unless you're quite a gear-head. For example, to really enjoy the higher resolution of SACD, you'll need to make sure you have a receiver that is even capable of accepting the SACD player's 6 high quality analog inputs (most newer ones are, but not always, particularly if your rig is even just a few years old and not too high end) AND that doesn't reprocess the high quality analog signal into lower resolution digital (the intricacies of all this are beyond me, but suffice to say there are some receivers that don't take the 6 analog inputs, and apparently still others that do but then reprocess the signal so you in effect lose all the benefit - so you want to make sure your receiver has an output or bypass setting option that avoids this glitch). We've had great performance with a Denon AVR line receiver, which is a little on the old side but fortunately Denon had the forsight to include multiple analog inputs and a direct output option for them.

Scooped by Aric!

The Fuller Mosaic (meaning any of his own BN dates) is desert island material for me - all the sessions are great, though THE OPENER (w/Mobley) and VOLUME 3 (w/Art Farmer, and probably my favorite Fuller overall) are the best. Like Hank Mobley and Sonny Clark, Fuller at his best just exuded a sort of cool, unfussy, and earnest hipness in his music around this time. All the Savoys are worth having - I'm a big fan of Yusef Lateef, so the one with him on it (I always get the names of these sessions mixed up) is my favorite there. Don't overlook some of his more obscure (in the U.S.) dates as a leader for Epic and Impulse!, they have all lately been reissued on either CD or vinyl and show up in hipper used/new stores. SOUL TROMBONE (Impulse!) is particularly strong if you want to sample just one. Finally, as far as "sideman" appearances, there are no greater ones than his dates with Blakey's Messengers, particularly FREE FOR ALL and INDESTRUCTIBLE! (BN). People who haven't heard the latter date yet because of its unjustly obscure reissue status are going to be blown away when the upcoming RVG hits the streets. Not only is Fuller a monster as a soloist, but his compositions (as on his own BNs) will stick in your head for days.