david weiss

Hi Kevin, I have an extra copy of this. DM me.

I'm not saying they played the same tunes on the 2nd set just that there were probably 2 sets played and perhaps only one of them circulated (or the music was recorded on 2 reels of tape and only one circulated). I imagine when this music and the Freddie Hubbard albums are released, there will be a story in the booklet about the guy who organized these gigs and recorded the music. This is a case where we know the origins of these recordings as they have been with the guy who recorded them from day one and he has been in possession of them the whole time. These tapes were not widely circulated but I know the musicians had copies at least. I first heard the Freddie Hubbard tape at Freddie Hubbard's house years ago. I also know a few of them were shopped years ago so it's possible someone made copies. I also got a cassette of part of the Kenny Dorham gig years ago as I remember transcribing KD's solos on Blue Bossa and Bag's Groove. As for this KD recording. I can't quite figure out the original order but there seems to be two sets as there are two different announcements at the beginning of sets and another announcement bringing Joe Lee Wilson to the stage. All the instrumental tracks seem to be on this release as with the Freddie Hubbard. Perhaps the liner notes will clear some things up. I'm still curious how they decided it was Dennis Charles on drums when the announcer clearly says Huss Charles.

The Joe Lee Wilson tracks match up as well but yes, there is more music than what was originally floating around. Perhaps a 2nd set?

It's the same tape.

I think it was a case of more music and musicians than the time allotted. I believe there were a few musicians who didn't make it onto the 1st set because they ran out of time so they were featured on the 2nd set and again time ran out before everyone got on stage. Cables and McBee were both backstage waiting to go on when the clock ran out as it were.....

The date with Sonny Red is what is being released on Resonance. I find it to be excellent Kenny Dorham and revelatory Sonny Red, I'm not involved in any way with this release so I don't know where the Denis Charles credit comes from. I do have the tape and the announcer says very clearly on the recording Huss Charles on Drums.

From what I'm told, they will begin to release individual albums on vinyl starting on Record Store Day. The goal is to release the entire catalog (or whatever is still owned by Strata East) digitally at some point. I'm sure we will find out more in the coming months.

That Tolliver show was in 2007. I was on that gig! I don't remember everyone who was there but Kiane Ziwadi was probably not there and Alvin Queen definitely wasn't. I don't think Alvin ever played with this version of the big band. Gene Jackson probably played drums.

I've had a listen to the set again, my 3 CD bootleg set at least. Again, I don't know what the Resonance set sounds like or what they might have done with the sound. As far as I can hear from this set, there seems to be two radio/TV shows (one of each I think) that do have what sounds like reverb added in the studio, The Stockholm (radio show I believe) has a little reverb added but it's not so bad to me. The levels are certainly acceptable. The other Stockholm show seems to be the TV show? That one also has added reverb and while a little more prevalent, it's still within what I think are acceptable levels of reverb. This is a matter of taste certainly but to me, it's not so bad. The one concert that seems to suffer from excessive concert hall reverb is the Zurich show but this just sounds like it is all the concert hall with nothing added. All the other shows, reverb wise at least, all seem to be OK to me. I really don't hear that any of the live recordings having any post production reverb added unless it was added on this new set. The most egregious example to me is still the radio show from the Sonny Rollins in Holland set. That is really excessive to me and it was done in the studio. I've actually heard another show from that archive that we were considering for release but again, the reverb was overwhelming the music. Listening to all this again, it sounds like there is a lot to work with on some of these shows to improve the sound or make it more consistent from show to show. Some of this will depend on how much of the original source material they were able to acquire and how much they probably just transferred from the already available CDs. I wonder how much more information about the recordings is in the booklet. Still, it's great music and I'm happy it's out here in a more legitimate medium. I guess it depends what you think of Orrin Keepnews.

Yup. That would have been ideal. Of course I loved the album when I first got it but what really opened my ears to how incredible this all was was when I bought the Japanese Volume 2 and Volume 3 albums on sale at Tower Records when I was in college. The first side of Volume 3 with All the Things You Are, Woodyn' You and Four was life changing for me and put these recordings in a whole new light. The RVG in the end, now that I have absorbed everything individually for years, is more fun for me now since it is in order and has all the announcements.

I remember this as well. I don't remember which one and while there was a time when the 3 CDs were on repeat for quite some time, it's been a while..... As much as I'd like to pile on, I'm not sure I can agree with this. If the Dragon release was legitimate, then he shouldn't be able to do this. It also could be someone at the label trying to do this. Part of the problem with trying to take credit for everything is you get credit for everything, the good with the bad. And has alienated everyone who has nipped the mistakes in the bud previously..... I doubt I'll ever hear the Resonance version of this, I'm happy with the bootleg 3 CD I've had for a while, so I guess I'll never know if you are right or not. Again, I have a lot of faith in Bernie Grundman and doubt has would do this or do it poorly. Sometimes, he does have to follow the orders of the "producer" but I still think he would voice objections and it wouldn't happen in the end. Sometimes Resonance does things in house (the digital mixing and mastering at least) and they have been known to take a liberty or two....

There were definitely shots during the rehearsals but I think the bulk of them were taken at the recording studio. There is plenty of time when the musicians are warming up and noodling between takes to get plenty of shots. I'm sure they were not taking pictures during takes. The shutter would make too much noise and Rudy would have thrown you out on your ass. A few years ago, after Ruth Lion passed, apparently a dumpster diver (or perhaps it was an Estate sale though I think we ruled this out for some reason) came across some of her possessions. Blue Note was still sending her product so it was recent CDs and things like that but also some contact sheets (and maybe the negatives as well) of some Francis Wolff photos. I remember for sure that there were photos from the aborted Horace Silver Tentet session among a few other things. I alerted Cuscuna and was on the phone with him while he tried to bid on the stuff in the closing minutes but the bids were climbing at a pace he couldn't believe and he was outbid in the end. He contacted the seller to see if he could get the contact info of the winner or at least pass on a note asking to get in touch with him but nothing came out it.

The Dragon LP is part of the 3 CD bootleg set I have and I assume it's on this new boxed set as well. Thanks for this info. I imagine they have made improvements and I have not put it to the test yet. We'll see I guess.... Well, no matter how good a program might be, it won't be effective in the hands of a dumbshit engineer or producer for that matter. You also have to consider that a lot of these new programs were not designed to address acoustic Jazz. If they have made improvements to the reverb removal programs, I would imagine the results would vary depending on the type of reverb (natural or manufactured) and the nature of the recording. I imagine if it is a studio recording (where reverb is added and printed) and multi track, one could go to individual tracks and remove or lessen the offending reverb. I imagine it would be harder if it is a live recording in a hall with a lot of natural reverb and just a direct mono or stereo recording. I would have to try it and see what the results are before I could make any judgements but it would be a good tool if it can be used effectively. I definitely would have given it a shot on that Sonny Rollins in Holland radio broadcast. That said, there are some producers who probably would like the reverb or would not think it was enough of an issue to address it. The Jazz industry is usually very slow to embrace change or new technology, always waiting for someone else to try it first. They were very slow to dip their toe back in at the start of this vinyl resurgence and there was a lot of you first attitude until it was crystal clear this was a thing again. It took a few years though.....

This is a favorite of mine and always has been. I've had all the previous single releases of this material and have the 3 CD complete set bootleg of this material now. In fact, I ordered the 3 CD set off Amazon and sent it to Zev when he was looking for more Rollins to release that Sonny might approve of and I suggested this stuff so Sonny could, at the very least, be properly compensated for the release of this material. In the end, I was not involved in this release at all but early on, I was told that they found a few of the original sources of some of the recordings in various radio archives but not all of them. If Bernie Grundman was involved in the mastering, I have no doubt this material is now sounding about as good as it can possibly sound. I've done a few projects with Bernie and enjoyed working with him immensely and thought his work to be pretty impeccable.

Sounds like you are listening to the Sonny Rollins in Holland release. The live in studio radio broadcast from that set does suffer from heavy reverb that to me, make it very hard to listen to. with all the advances in recording technology, the one thing that still has not been invented yet (as far as I know), is the ability to remove reverb, real or manufactured, from a recording. I've had heard all these recordings that are on this new release before and none of the struck me as having too much reverb but I have not heard the Resonance release.