Mark13

John Abercrombie. And there's a couple of Chris Potter-albums I like. But some of the early records are spectacular. The ECM-sound seemed much more diverse, let's say, up to the mid-nineties. There were occasional albums too that didn't fit the aesthetic. I'm not aware of any such titles post-2000. Tasteful additions to their catalogue of introspective autumn-jazz - yes, but not much more.

A Dutch webshop carried this for €60 and I decided to go for it. I 've noticed that that some of the oop sets in the Bootleg-series fetch ridiculous prices, and I didn't want to take any risk. Not with this music. The promise to deliver it within 24 hours to my doorstep helped too. As a set it's a nice enough, although the packaging is only so-so. The case is less than sturdy and removing the cds is a challenge - at least if you don't want to tear up the gatefolds. Best to hold them up slightly and let gravity do part of the job, I guess. The booklet contains some nice black-and-white photos and two brief interviews with Ron Carter and George Coleman, but I found the main essay by Marcus J. Moore disappointing. No new insights there. But I'm three cds in and the music is fantastic- of course. Audio too leaves nothing to be desired. If you buy a set this fall, make it this one.

The only cool record in my dad's collection was Smackwater Jack, which he loved for the Ironside-theme. and the version of Cast Your Fate...' It's probably the first jazzrecord that I ever heard. Over the past 50 years I've picked up most of his stuff and I like it all - regardless genre. The man was a giant. RIP

Saw one of their Decca's in an Amsterdam recordshop not too long ago and decided against it. I have a polystyrene Jubilee which sounds horrific and this one looked and felt alarmingly like that one. There were other records that were tempting so I didn't even bother to listen. Maybe I should have. I think the Atlantic is their only title on CD and this is where I learned about the group. It's an enjoyable souljazz album, but nothing spectacular.

The artist who brought us 'The Most Complex Pop Song of All Time', according to Rick Beato I don't have the technical knowledge to second that. I just enjoy his records. Especially the early ones. RIP

Bought this when it came out and was a bit suprised that it didn't cause the buzz that the 'Hank Mobley in Holland' did a couple of years ago. It's indispensable Clifford Jordan. Not too sure about the version of 'Ipanema' though. Nothing wrong with Jordan's playing but I'm not too impressed by Martin van Duynhoven's drumming on that one.

I saw 'Don't Look Now' when I was too young. Maybe 10 or so. It scared me sh*tless. The DVD has been in my collection for well over a decade, but whenever I seek out a film to watch, I skip it. Go figure. I have enjoyed other Sutherland-pictures though - 'Klute' by Alan Pakula especially is a favourite that I go back to. He was a fantastic actor. RIP

Gildo Mahones - The Great Gildo/Soulful Piano On somewhat hissy Prestige-vinyl unfortunately. I will probably never be convinced of the heavenly merits of vinyl. But this is otherwise unavailable. And it's Gildo Mahones.

They have released big format sets where original liner notes were added to a new introductory essay. I've gone through a few in my collection and the booklets in the Sam Rivers, Curtis Fuller and Don Cherry sets all have the liner notes to the original albums included in the sets. Those are pre-Mosaic Select and have only up to three CDs. But the booklet to the Larry Young has the original liner notes as well. And that is a 6-CD-set.

It arrived today. Nice to finally have this hard-to-find record in its original artwork. And the sound-quality of this remastered edition is simply amazing. One of the reissues of the year imo. Hopefully the good people at MPS will consider making 'Happy Girl' available too.

That's correct. The original release was the 'Triple Play: Pop + Swing = Jazz'-album in 1962 with the pop-orchestra and the jazzband on seperate channels. A fun experiment, but it didn't sell and it was quickly dropped. A couple of years later the music by the jazz-group was released as 'Just Jazz!'. Both albums are on an unofficial Jazz Beat-cd which has a playing-time of about 75 minutes.

Still on the fence for this one, although I probably will be picking it up once it starts running low. I bought the Mobley, Henderson and Hubbard but I start having second thoughts about these recent Blue Note collections on Mosaic - they render so many of the individual cd's that I have collected and cherished over the years 'redundant'. And once again, there's nothing here that isn't already in my collection. The guys at Mosaic know what they are doing and these releases probably make good business sense, although I expected the Henderson and Hubbard to sell out quicker at 5.000 copies, big name sets that they are.

I found a first stereo-pressing of Red Garland's 'Solar' on Jazzland in a €5-bin in a store in Amsterdam today. Not Garland's best album to be sure but I'm not complaining. The cover most definitely shows its age, but the record actually plays fine.

I've started buying lp's only last year to fill 'gaps' in my (CD-) collection and I have had no problems finding affordable copies of Les McCann on Pacific and Limelight. Early pressings (those lavish Limelight Gatefolds!) too. I was somewhat surprised by that. In my vinyl-collection of about hundred records there are seven titles by McCann. There is a market gone absolutely bonkers out there, but not (so much) for early soul-jazz: Ramsey Lewis, Ray Bryant and McCann. Classic West Coast Jazz appears to be not that collectible either: Mulligans aplenty indeed, Bud Shank and Bob Cooper too. Which suits me just fine. West Coast hardbop, now that's a whole different story. It would be nice to find affordable Pacifics by Teddy Edwards or Carmell Jones but it's not going to happen. Thus far I've managed to pick-up two: Curtis Amy 'Blues Message' and Harold Land's 'Jazz Impressions of Folk Music'. Spent a little more on those too.