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I think you can still get the Mingus Brass Band record (the reissued LP) from the Jazz Record Center in New York.

"We put out four albums, and I leased three of them to Fantasy, which I now have back, and this fourth has never been out on CD. So that might be the next CD I would put out. I also have the others, and I have unissued Mingus material that has never seen the light of day: [additional material from] the other albums that he put out, like My Favorite Quintet, that was recorded at the Tyrone Guthrie Theater, and Mingus at Town Hall—not the famous Town Hall where he tried to perform “Epitaph.” Same title, but a different concert. We have part two of the Tyrone Guthrie and part two of the Town Hall, which have never been out. And an extraordinary concert that was done at Cornell University before the famous 1964 tour in Europe, with the same personnel, with Eric Dolphy and Johnny Coles. Johnny Coles only lasted, I think, for one of the concerts on the tour, because he took ill and was hospitalized. So this was one of the great concerts; everyone was happy, the music was just outstanding. And that’s in the can, that’s something that eventually I would put out. Also, Charles Live at Ronnie Scott’s. We had the Mingus Big Band at Ronnie Scott’s from last year that I may put out … but in 1972, Mingus was recorded by Columbia Records with their mobile trucks at Ronnie Scott’s. It was the year—from the point of view of many of us, a scandalous year—that Columbia dropped all their jazz musicians except Miles Davis. And Charles was one that they dropped, and I think they felt so bad about it that they gave us the tapes that they had just recorded live at Ronnie Scott’s. So these are some of the ideas of material that we will be issuing. In other words, both Mingus performances and repertory carrying on, like the Orchestra—Nat Hentoff said he’d like to hear a whole album of just the Orchestra."

Thanks, you are a Duke among men.

The Lester Young Story LP has four versions of Dickie's Dream, all great. I've only found one version on CD. Is there any issue with all four versions?

Of course, the first disc also has four outstanding tracks that were not on the original album-Sweet Sue, Just You, Budo and Little Melonae being favorites of mine, but I thought they were on the last single disc reissue of this material also. The concert on the second disc, by the way, is about 30 minutes long, a pretty significant discovery in my view. What was the most recent version you had before picking this up? I have the 2001 Columbia/Legacy 24-bit version (and the Miles/Trane Columbia box set), and I'm finding it hard to believe that this version could sound any better. As I said, I generally don't buy things for sonic upgrades... I'm just surprised/curious because nobody else mentioned your point (unless I overlooked it). To me, the main appeal is getting the "new" material... ←

There is no discographical information on the CD, except that the spine of the CD has the dates 1953-54. Paul Ellington is, I believe, Duke Ellington's grandson and leads the "Duke Ellington Orchestra" which plays one night a week at Birdland.

I picked up a used Ellington CD today I'd never seen before on the J Bird label, Private Collection vol. 2, which has little information other than song titles, a date of 1953-54, and the statement that Paul Ellington picked the recordings out from the unissued Ellington "stockpile." The final two tracks are simply called Unknown Recording with Blues Guitarist. These two brief tracks are of a guitar jamming over the rhythm section for most of the track, with the band joining in towards the end. The tracks are live. The guitarist is not a blues guitarist and in fact sounds like Django to me, on electric guitar. Has anyone else heard this CD? Is this reallly something newly issued? I know I've read Ellington did one tour with Django. Am I mistaken in my identification? Are there other recordings with Django that I've missed?

The set was released three weeks or so ago. I do recall reading about it here at least a little while in advance.

The set is definitely worth the money, regardless of how many times one has purchased the original album. The second disc, principally the newly discovered concert from 1956 with the great group of Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe, is well recorded and it is a thrill to hear a concert performance by this group.

I've seen him twice, and didn't particularly care for him either time. I enjoyed seeing Harold Mabern, but I found Eric Alexander's performance quite dull and left after one set (and considering I might have the chance to be at the Village Vanguard once or twice a year, you would normally have to drag me out of there). He seemed like he had listened to and copied every hard bop saxophonist of the '50s and '60s (all of whom I would rather listen to). I heard no personality or originality. The other time I saw him, he was on the stage with with Dewey Redman, Joe Lovano, and Lew Tabackin, and was definitely out of his league. Of course, this is just my opinion. Maybe both times were off nights (for him or for me). Kind of a big "if" on a jazz board, Dan. Is it possible for a jazz fan not to "dig him"? Hard to fathom as he seems to be "it" these days. The man has everthing, chops, soul, technique beyond belief, super fat tone, timing, and a really likable style. ← Ask Jsngry - I think its fair to say that he admires the man's technical skill but hears nothing that he hasn't heard before, and done better, by EA's influences. And I'd dare say there are others here who have not leaped on the Eric Alexander bandwagon. Thus, the conditional clause in my post. ←

Thanks, I'll be buying this one. I just purchased a Little Walter and a Howling Wolf in this series, both of which are great. Classics 5139 includes 6 tracks for Specialty from 10/27/53, 3 from 4/16/54 and 6 from 9/28/54 - but it opens with 4 tracks from May 51 (Imperial) and 2 from 1952 (J-B) that are NOT on the CD you mention. Don't ask me about the transfer quality as I only know the Classics-issue which is as it is given the extreme rarity of some of the material... ←

I saw that there was an impending Rhythm and Blues Chronological Classics issue for Guitar Slim. I was wondering--is this the same material that's on Sufferin' Mind? Or are the transfers superior? (Looking for a reason to buy this one.) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=samples#disc_1

That is one incredible, beautiful recording.

I have an LP on Verve called JATP in Europe, which has Hawkins, Byas, Benny Carter, Roy Eldridge, Lalo Schifrin, Art Davis and Jo Jones, which is a great record. Then a 2LP set, JATP in Europe, which on one side (All the Things You Are), has the same band as above, substituting Getz for Benny Carter. Is that the one you are referring to?

See Chapter 17 of Straight Life--The Check Protector, 1964-1965 for the gory details (music, sex, drugs, thievery, violence) of this brief sojourn outside of San Quentin.

It appears to be a U.K. reissue, on Mainstream Records, dated 1991. I have the Mainstream Roy Haynes LP Senyah; however, this CD contains none of the songs from that LP. The cover photo on Equipoise is exactly the same as the photo of the LP Hip Ensemble contained in my Senyah LP. Hence, I surmise that this is a reissue of Hip Ensemble. The tracks are Equipoise, I'm So High, Tangiers, Nothing Ever Changes My Love for You, Satan's Mysterious Feelings, Medley: You Name It/Lift Every Voice and Sing (all copyright 1971) and Roy's Tune (copyright 1974). The CD cover lists 20 reissues in the Mainstream series, including two Blue Mitchells, a Harold Land, an Art Farmer, a Charles McPherson, and a Frank Foster. ← Details, please! Is it complete? Roy did two albums for the label - Hip Ensemble & Senyah, both w/Adams & Hannibal. 11 tunes combined. Rough, but frequently stirring. I've only heard LP versions of each, so if there's a CD version to be had... ←

I have a CD collecting the Mainstream Roy Haynes with George Adams recordings--it's called Equipoise.

A warehouse LP liquidation sale years ago (somewhere in Dallas, and this was an actual warehouse) where, I must confess, I purchased several Nessa LPs, among quite a few others, for $1 apiece-- the Roscoe Mitchell Art Ensemble, Congliptious N-2, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Les Stances A Sophie N-4, Roscoe Mitchell, Old Quartet N-5, Roscoe Mitchell, Noonaah N-9/10, and Roscoe Mitchell, L-R-G, the Maze, S II Examples, N-14/15. That's $5. Sorry about that, Mr. Nessa.

You took the words from my keyboard.

I stopped listening to that station because the student DJs were generally so bad, not being able to pronounce the names of the artists and obviously not knowing much about the music. The signal is not very strong in Dallas either. What with a car CD player and an ipod, I don't care that much, as I rarely listen to music on the radio any more. It would be great, of course, to have an intelligent programer who helped me discover new music, but I haven't heard anything like that since Dennis Gonzalez had a show on KERA where he could play what he wanted (this was quite awhile ago), so I've pretty much given up on that accord. I'll try to remember to check out Roger Boykin, though, as I used to listen to him and had lost touch.

For James Carter, I would say that these four are the best I've heard: Layin' in the Cut Chasing' the Gypsy Live at Baker's Lounge What Spirit Say (sideman with Ronald Shannon Jackson). I haven't heard the one you mention.

The Caravan happened because one of the billionaire Bass brothers financed it, the same fellow who financed the Biosphere "experiment." The group of people who ran it initially (as I recall, the "leader" went under the name of Johnny Dolphin) did not appear to have a sincere passion for jazz, as I rarely observed any of them listening to the music. I think they just thought it was rebellious or daring to open a jazz and arts center in Fort Worth. And the Caravan was in fact a jazz and blues club from its opening in 1983 until about 1989 or so, booking top jazz and blues acts for three or four night runs almost every week during its first several years. (I should know, they almost wore me out driving from Dallas to Fort Worth and back, especially during the first several years.) In the late 1980s, jazz bookings became less frequent (until almost nonexistent in the 1990s until it closed). In its first few years, with a dazzling array of talent booked, great sound, a comfortable setting, usually easily obtained great seats (I usually just walked in and sat in the front row), and even pretty inexpensive, it was the finest jazz club I've ever been to, next to the Village Vanguard.

I don't disagree, but Fort Worth is where I've seen the most live jazz--mostly thanks to the Caravan of Dreams--Ornette Coleman, Stan Getz, Art Blakey, Max Roach, Sun Ra, Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw, Dewey Redman, Charles Moffett, Ronald Shannon Jackson. James Blood Ulmer, David Newman, McCoy Tyner, Ahmad Jamal, Pharoah Sanders, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Mingus Dynasty, Horace Silver, Jack DeJohnette, David Murray, Bobby Hutcherson, Tony Williams, Joe Henderson, Benny Carter, etc. Only partially true, my man! Granted, Fort Worth is redneck central, but that ain't all it's known for. Fort Worth has quite an arts district, one that Dallas only dreams of having. The Kimball Art Museum is there, and that's one of the most prestigious art museums in the country. There is a lovely botanical gardens which not only contains a wonderful Japanese garden, but also hosts outdoor summer concerts every year, with fireworks displays that are almost literally out of this world. The Fort Worth Zoo puts the Dallas Zoo to shame in terms of cleanliness and attractiveness. And that whole neighborhood is jammed with antique houses. Then you have Sundance Square, which is fine, but when you consider no one down there thought much of the passing of Caravan of Dreams (and put up a snooty two-star-masquerading-as-four-star restaurant in its place), that knocks it down quite a few notches. However, the atmosphere in that area is infinitely more inviting on a weekend evening than Dallas ever was. West End doesn't even come close. Having said that, though, it's not for nothing that George Strait wrote "Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind?" ←

I have Perdido Street Blues and Too Tight Blues on my ipod, taken from an anthology. Are the rest of these sides available on any CD issue?

Out of your list, I prefer Charles Earland, including Black Talk and Slammin' and Jammin'.