DMP

The Bobby Hutcherson "Mosaic Select." (Which I'm also listening to right now. One post, covering two bases.)

Well, he was better than the current team from his hometown, maybe at any position. (Althought the Pirates were pretty good in the '60's and '70's, so he might have been used as a pinch hitter back then.)

Maybe we'll see an RVG of "Come Away With Me."

I'll second "Swinging Swede"'s above two lists, although I'm maybe a little lukewarm on the Wilson, a real period piece (and I don't mean that as a compliment). But the rest - we need them!

I'd go with the Rhino (should be easy to find) only because I'm not familiar with the Shout Factory. Collectables also recently released an 18 track "best of" - they had previously put out many of the individual Vee Jay albums, but those seem to have disappeared. Can't imagine you'd go wrong with any of the CD's mentioned.

Right, the Oxley is a UK Columbia (1999) - found it in the used bin at my local store, $8. It's all new to me, but looked interesting.

You're right, they're both really good. And better than buying a third copy of some Blue Note reissue.

Tony Oxley, "4 Compositions For Sextet" and Melvin Jackson's "Funky Skull." Not exactly sure what I was thinking...

From the Ashley Kahn "Impulse" book, Alice and john Coltrane are trying to decide what to listen to one afternoon, after a few suggestions John says "Something greater, something vast, something with multiple, higher dimensions." Alice replies "OK, what would that be?" John says "Stravinsky."

My problem with "Jazz Waltz" - which I like and probably bought the day it came out - is that it doesn't really live up to what could have been a dynamite combination - short tracks, everything in 3/4, one of the pianists sticks exclusively to electric piano... Does anyone remember Miles' put-down of "All Blues" in a "blindfold test?" Sometimes the sum isn't equal to the parts.

I heard Charlie Parker at my last visit to the dentist's. (Unfortunatley it was from the album with voices, but what the hell.) And a local Thai restaurant used to regularly play Clifford Brown..

Faddis sounded good - technique to burn, of course, great command in the upper registers, he has his bag of tricks - but he's a lot more than that, and standing next to Brecker (and Claus Reichstaller) brought out his best. (And, as I said, I thought Brecker was really strong last night.)

Brecker was here last night at our annual concert at the University of Pittsburgh (with, among others, John Faddis, Benny Golson, Peter King, Monty Alexander) and I thought he sounded better than ever.

Right, it was his current group, a little larger than the "original" "Headhunters." (Was Wah Wah Watson in there somewhere?) Sorry (now that you bring it up) to say, didn't see Tony Williams come out, I'll have to start working on that time machine... (I do remember Tony Williams saying his right hand was tired from the opening group performance, he wasn't used to playing in that style, it had been awhile!)

I was also in the audience, but left half-way through that final group, it was going on to long. (The next year just the"VSOP" group appeared at Lincoln Center, but the opening act - John Klemmer - played way too long, put a damper on it.) (And I like John Klemmer.)

"The Price..." and "Black Messiah" would have made good single albums. As for Shaw, don't think you can go wrong with any of his albums, beginning with the Contemporary titles. I have always been a little underwhelmed by his Columbia period - not an issue of being "dated," but they didn't seem to have the fire of the Muse albums. Think "Woody lll" is my favorite Columbia, there's no accounting for taste.

So our dreams of the "On the Corner" box for $35 have been dashed?

I caught the "Sahara" band at a small club a couple of months before that album's release - one of the most powerful musical experiences I've had in my 40 years of so of listening to jazz. No one moved for an hour! Don't think anyone was prepared for how powerful that band was - it was pretty much under the radar screen at the point, just a little before what would be a "comeback" for Tyner. Alphonse Mouzon told me to look for an the album soon, and I got it as soon as it came out. Unfortunately a little disappointing - much of the same material, but poorly recorded, and not quite as strong as what I'd heard. Anyway, I like all the "milestone" stuff, some of which is essential.

Just saw it at my local shop - a nice looking (and heavy) package, $107.

"Sunflower," right. I like it, but it's pretty slick. The original "Very Tall" with Oscar Peterson (on Verve, reissued a couple of times on CD) is excellent. I also recently picked up the OJC of "Invitation" (Riverside), one that I'd somehow missed over the years, and it's also excellent.

At one point Les McCann & the Jazz Crusaders ("Jazz Waltz") was also listed to appear sometime this year, that seems to have disappeared, too. (Not that it's any great shakes - doesn't really deliver on it's promise, for a variety of reasons. But it's still fun.)

With the "Jazzmattazz" site no longer in the new release business, I'm always happy when someone goes to the trouble of posting what's coming up. The fact that record companies keep releasing the same stuff over and over isn't news, so I find it hard to get too worked up about that anymore, I'm pretty much given up on ever seeing Gene Shaw again...

He's referring to a discography by Tom Lord.

Ooops, the Johnson album is a Mosaic "Single," not a "Select." (At least I didn't type "Contemporary...")

I very much like "Summertime," maybe his first big "production," some excellent Herbie Hancock in there, too. (Can't think of anything by him that I DON'T like...)