mhatta

A bit off-topic... Bud Powell recorded “That Old Black Magic” several times. The 1954 recording for Norgran/Verve was terrible, possibly he was drunk. However, the 1955 live recording from Birdland is a wonderful performance (it was issued in Francis Paudras' massive box set of Powell archive). Unfortunately, it seems to have been recorded via a TV speaker (possibly from Bob Andrews' collection?), resulting in terrible sound quality. It is basically unlistenable. However, the 1956 version recently unearthed by Lewis Porter has excellent sound quality (some mess in the middle), and the drums are played by Roy Haynes! While the performance lacks the same grandeur as the 1955 version, it's still quite good. https://lewisporter.substack.com/p/bud-powell-unissued-live-recording

I don't remember it clearly, but I think I read about it in Bill Crow's From Birdland To Broadway. I think it was Jerry Newman, who was a recording enginee on those sessions, who released it on his own label, Esoteric without permissions.

Joe Lovano's live recording at Village Vanguard (that was 30 years ago) wasn't bad. But on other recordings, I don't like his tone and phrasing, and I feel like he's sort of half-hearted. But that's probably his style, so there's no point in complaining about it. BTW I saw Julian Lage at a live performance in Tokyo recently, and it wasn't bad, either. But it wasn't quite my cup of tea.

Now available on Spotify. The sound quality was not so great (I think it was recorded on a cassette tape recorder or such), but the performance was very good.

The album was much better than I remembered.

It's interesting music. For some reason, they name their album and songs in Japanese, but I don't know why. it's one of the reason I miss the liner notes. Well, that's because I'm listening to it on Spotify...

RIP. His work with Herbie Mann is good (Live At The Whisky A Go Go is truly amazing), but I think his collaboration with Jack Wilson is always underrated. It was a very good combination.

Jack DeJohnette recently provided a tape from a live show at Slug's and it became Forces of Nature. I guess Dave Liebman has quite a few Miles band recordings from 1973/1974 too, I wonder if the relationship between CBS/Sony and Lieb is not good? I'm pretty sure the sound quality of those tapes is more than okay since he was using Nakamichi Open Reel Deck.

RIP. His "The Latin-ization of Bunky Green" became kinda cult classic in Japan (or, at least among my buddies). Music is good, and the jacket is weird and fun.

CD shops are an endangered species even in Tokyo, but Disk Union is still around. Their JazzTOKYO store in Ochanomizu specializes in jazz, but other stores also have secondhand jazz CDs in stock. If you register on their website, you can search for all of their stock online, but it may be difficult if you can't read Japanese. Do you have anything in particular that you're looking for? https://diskunion-jazztokyo.blog.jp/ If your companion isn't really into jazz, it's probably best to avoid hardcore live music venues, but places like Blue Note Place in Ebisu and Brooklyn Parlor in Shinjuku have a variety of food & drink options, and they're also run by the same company as Blue Note Tokyo, so they sometimes have live music too. https://www.bluenoteplace.jp/ https://www.brooklynparlor.co.jp/ Even at Jazz Kissa (cafes), where talking is prohibited during the day, you can talk at night. I sometimes go to Eagle in Yotsuya, which has recently seen an increase in overseas customers. They have nice cheesecakes and strong coffee, and good huge JBL audio system. http://www.jazz-eagle.com/index.html If there is a particular artist you want to see and you want to go to a small live house, you should search for this site. https://www.tokyogigguide.com/en/ Tokyo is a huge city with a huge number of live music venues scattered all over the place, so it's difficult to go from venue to venue (I miss NYC). It's better to plan in advance. I can't drink alcohol, so I don't really know about whiskey. I heard that Tokyo Whiskey LIbrary in Minami-Aoyama has over 1300 types of whisky. https://tokyo-whisky-library.com/ Transportation -- public transportation such as train/subway or buses(maybe a bit tricky for foreigners) are good, and these days sometimes you can use Uber, and there is an app called Go. https://go.goinc.jp/lp/inbound Enjoy your stay!

I think there are alternate takes of "King Korn" and "Around Again" from these sessions. Why didn't they issue it?

Jo Jones Trio with Bryant brothers, Sir Charles Thompson, Mel Powell's "Thigamagig", Braff/Larkins Duos...I love these recordings, but for me the sound quality is okay, so I'm not sure whether to buy it or not. Is there a clear improvement in sound quality?

This is not just about jazz or music, but I found this Substack I read recently interesting. https://leighstein.substack.com/p/woes-hollow?publication_id=1994560&post_id=157743804 If you don't perform where someone is actually paying attention, you won't make any money. In the past, it might have been good reviews on Downbeat or appearances on late night TV shows, but now it's probably TikTok or Substack. Publishing CDs doesn't matter much. Ted Gioia became the world's most famous (music) critic thanks to Substack.

I'm not sure what you mean "bebop piano", anyway how about this:

Not to question the judgement of Alfred Lion or Michael Cuscuna, but I honestly believe that many of the "rejected" tracks are worth listening to. Maybe a bit rough, but some of the individual solos could be great, especially now that most of the people involved have passed away. As for the rejected items from the same period, i.e. around 1960, including more Jackie McLean -- "Jackie's Bag" has two rejected items (maybe not good) and "Swing, Swang, Swingin'" has one (Tune Up). more Art Blakey -- there are some rejected items, and the originally rejected and recently released "Just Coolin'" was okay. more Horace Silver -- "Blowin' The Blues Away" has one rejected track, "Repetition". more Kenny Burrell -- A quartet recording is rejected, Kenny with Tommy Flanagan, George Duvivier and Elvin Jones! more Jimmy Smith -- "Home Cookin'" has a rejected item, may contain an unheard Percy France solo. more Sonny Red -- one rejected session contains Hank Jones on piano, something of a rarity in the BN roaster. mysterious Leon Eason -- only issued as a single 45s. and tons of Three Sounds rejects -- well, they might not be much different from the master takes... etc.