Mark13

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.

Thanks Steve. Any tip that helps me avoid beginner-mistakes is much appreciated. I will be careful with Sonets. Or Crown-pressings for that matter. With regard to vinyl-checking, I don't know. I've come across pretty scratched-up records that sound surprisingly good, and some clean-looking ones that turn out to have major issues. This Jubilee reveals no serious defects, looks unplayed even, but it is just awful. There are no clicks or pops, just a loud hiss that pushes the music to the background. I was not aware that this level of deterioration with an otherwise 'clean' record was possible. That said, i was warned, so really no complaints there.

Thanks Bill, I Although there are no surface blisters I guess my copy falls in the 'shit-grade recycled vinyl' category. 😀 I have no great experience collecting jazz-vinyl and only buy titles that have never had a proper CD-release, or that have eluded me. At a couple of Euros, I 've also been tempted to buy vinyl copies of albums I already have, as was the case here. Dutch Fontana-pressings from the early 1960s (with alternative covers) especially, are easy to find over here, and most are affordable and pretty decent. This US-pressing of 'Jazzlab' is bloody awful. So if Jubilee are notorious for their shitty (styrene-) pressings, are there other independent jazzlabels/outfits that better be avoided? Or where buying European or Japanese pressings is the safer way to go?

Yesterday I bought this album in a store in Amsterdam. it set me back only a couple of Euros but it was also labelled as being in a poor condition. The seller honestly warned me, claiming it was a styrene pressing. I have given it a spin and its 'problem' is consistent with worn-out polystyrene. The record plays with a loud hiss throughout. But as I understand it, almost all styrene-records are 45s, and this is a late fifties-lp. And on the independent Jubilee-label as well. I have checked the Discogs-site, and my copy is a 1959 'Superlaphonic' repressing. I have tried several of the styrene-indication tips found on YouTube and elsewhere and find the results inconclusive. The label doesn't look glued on, and tapping produces the same dull thudding sound as a vinyl-record. For this record, it's of no importance whether it's vinyl or styrene - sonically it is what it is. But the whole thing has me wonder about styrene-pressings and how common they were back in the day. I believe DECCA released some styrene jazz-lps in the second half of the 1950s, but did the process extent to smaller independent (jazz)labels as well? To be honest, as a collector of (mainly) 50's and 60's hardbop, I never expected to see one.

The Complete Billy Mitchell and Al Grey Smash/Argo Sessions.

I'm not much into vinyl, but there is are so many classic records that still await a proper CD-release that I've been tempted to go through record bins here and there. This one I found in a record store in Amsterdam yesterday. What a nice find. Hypnotic, open-ended stuff, with great playing by all. Comparisons to Blakey's percussion-albums are obvious but this presents a more integrated vision. Spontaneous as it is, it has the feel of a genuine suite (orgy - not so much). A criminally neglected record. But then, so is the leader. After giving it its first spin I went on a brief internet-search and came up with almost nothing. There is no mention of his passing (if he's still among us, he celebrated his 100th birthday last year), and no mention of any artistic activity after 1964. What happened?

Initially, this seemed a definite pass. I felt there is/was more than enough 80s Miles in my collection. But then I came across a shiny copy with a gleaming hype-sticker in my local record-store and gave in to the temptation, telling myself (all the way to the counter) that I needed this anyway. This has happened before, and more often than not I have regretted purchases of this nature, but this is not so awful (actually). If 'Star People', 'Decoy' and 'You're Under Arrest' are not your cup of tea, you can safely avoid this on basis of the studio-material, but it's not that these outtakes are inferior to what's on those albums. @jlhoots has already mentioned the J.J. Johnson-Miles-duet as an unexpected impressionistic surprise, but the 'new' lengthy 'Santana' holds up pretty well too, as do the reworkings of 'Hopscotch', a track that had been performed live for some time. Also I prefer the full-versions of 'Time After Time' and 'Katia' presented here to the ones on 'You're Under Arrest'. I was not too sure about the live set since I have the fairly extensive Complete Miles Davis at Montreux, but the earliest 80s-material on that set is from the summer of 1984 and this features the group in a different (and slightly less keyboard-heavy) incarnation. It's an energetic performance anyway.

My set was delivered yesterday. I've been giving cds 1 to 4 their first spin and although I'm familiar with the music, in this presentation with its gorgeous audio it's almost like a new experience.

I have a slightly older Japanese edtion of this (MVCR-20043) and it's solid.

You mention Metheny''s experience as a player in organ trios and that info was new to me as well when I heard him elaborate on it in some fairly recent interview (with Rick Beato maybe?). Wasn't Charles Kynard the name he mentioned? Anyways, great review. I saw them in Utrecht last May and they blew me away too.. Metheny provokes controversy in all he does and I often wonder why that is. Certainly, his chops as a player are beyond dispute. The guy can play ANYTHING. But maybe that's part of the problem. You can reach a point where effortlessness becomes suspect. Also I, think his eclecticism doesn't help.Or hasn't over the past forty-or-so years. To me, he is a fascinating musician.

One of the first 'serious' jazzbands I got into was the John Abercrombie Trio with Marc Johnson and Peter Erskince. 'Current Events', 'Getting There' and the 'Abercrombie/Johnson/Erskine' live-album on ECM were some of my favorite records way back in the early nineties. Those are well-known albums. 'Hymn', which Bob Mintzer recorded with this trio for Owl Records in 1991 is somewhat more obscure (it's been long out of print), but may be worth checking out. I've always had a slight preference for this record over the Hudson-Project-album.

Nothing wrong with the music obviously, but I'm not sure about this release either... A year or so ago I ordered Pete LaRoca's 'Turkish Women at the Bath' from CDJapan. The fact it was listed as a Japanese release, with a unique catalogue number (YZMS-1055), and that 'Tokuma Japan Communications' was referred to as 'label/distributor' had me assume that this was a brand new official release of this ultra-rare title. When it reached my doorstep it turned out it was the Fresh Sound (FSR-1631) of which I had been aware, albeit it with an OBI-strip for pseudo-exclusive effect. Needless to say, I was not too happy with that purchase.