take5

Grant Green had over a decade of nothing but the most enjoyable music, with a nice variation of supporting groups.

Funny that I just came upon this thread. I just started listening to the Dead. I picked up the Golden Road box set and am pouring through all this music, all of which is new to me, except the radio hits. Listening to Skullfuck right now. Am definitely loving the live stuff much more- early studio stuff has moments of greatness but often too trippy for me. Live/Dead, Workingman, American Beauty, and Skullfuck are great, and I'm sure Europe '72 won't let me down.

What I love about Mobley is the way he does rhythm. It's always "in the pocket" (even if that's an expression reserved for drummers). Sometimes it's nice to dig a musician with whom you always know what you get- consistently groovin', funky, soulful hard bop. The fact that all his Blue Note sessions feature awesome bands doesn't hurt. Roll Call and Soul Station are two of my favorite jazz albums.

Ok, now that these are out of prints, and I just discovered them, is it hopeless for me to ask how to go about getting copies of them for myself?

Oh, for some reason I assumed the Monk set was the same mastering as the RVGs. Well, Ok then. Is there any material on that box that's not on the two individual discs?

Yes, that's right folks, I'm currently experiencing box set mania! It's partly due to the way I've completely restructured the way I organize and store my CDs, tossing the jewel cases, putting all the liners in a big box (need to come up with a better way of organising this), and using binders for all the CDs. Now my shelves and racks are free, and I love the why the box sets look and feel- so majestic and glorious. I love all the liner notes that are sometimes like novels, exhaustive recording info and the like. And I love all the crazy music in them. What, 12 takes of Charlie Parker playing Now's the Time? Awesome! With the discover of amazon.com marketplace, where you can always find cheaper, used sets in great shape, all my music money is going into my box set collection. Most significantly is the acquisition of the Miles Davis Columbia series. I avoided them at first because some of them don't follow album sequence order and I used to not care about alternate tracks. I've done a complete 180 on that- I can organise tracks and MP3 files on my computer or program trakcs on the CD player, so I don't care about that. And with the SACDs, I still will have the albums in some form for some of the most important albums (Miles Smiles, Kind of Blue). With the Miles stuff, I currently have the Coltrane, Jack Johnson, and Gil Evans sets, with the 2nd Quintet coming in the mail. This just leaves In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew, which are smaller and therefore cheaper. And the upcoming Seven Steps to Heaven set will complete almost everything Miles recorded for Columbia up until 1970 (barring a couple tracks off of Someday My Prince Will Come), provided one has the complete Plugged Nickel and Blackhawk sets (which I do). I also have the 80s Montreaux set. This means that after acquiring Seven Steps eventually, I'll have 10 Miles box sets! Then they totally need to do an On the Corner related set (which includes that album, and the live album made at that time), and a set that covers the final 70s band (Agharta, Pangea). That band was awesome. Other sets I have (number of CDs in parentheses): New Orleans Jazz (Mosaic) (4) John Coltrane: Village Vanguard (4), European concerts (7) Heavyweight Champion (complete Atlantic)(7) coming in the mail Chick Corea Origin at Blue Note (6) Charlie Parker- complete Savoy & Dial sessions (8) Ella Fitzgerald- complete songbooks (16!) Black Crowes (5) Led Zeppelin- complete studio recordings (10) King Crimson- Epitaph (4), ProjecKts (4), Great Deceiver (4) The Band- The Last Waltz (4) Chess Blues (4) (I'm sure I'm missing a couple) Sets I really want to get now: Coltrane- complete Impulse! quartet studio recordings (though it'll mean I'll have 3 version of A Love Supreme) The Grateful Dead- Golden Road (I think I may want to be a deadhead) Charles Mingus- complete Atlantic, complete Debut Ornette Coleman- complete Atlantic all the Mosaics! (this, of course, is impossible) Sets I'm looking at, probably want: Herbie Hancock- complete Blue Note Monk- complete Blue Note Art Tatume- complete solo, complete with band sets I probably won't get: any of the complete Prestige sets, because a lot of that material is on SACD and so the hunts continue...

Haven't read the thread. Some observations while listening. 1. Corny singing about a bunny? Skatting- a bit frantic, but fun. Not loving the voice, but appreciate the energy and the call and the back-and-forth with the sax. 2. Cool bass line and lots o' horns. Nice ensemble playing. Sax solo starts with familiar quote- pretty standard post-bop solo, but fits nicely after that big opening. Ah jazz- the only genre of music in which a bass solo isn't annoying... I like this. 3. Ok, something old. Smooth sax stylings (Lester Young?) and Charlie Christian style guitar. Familiar and warm, the kind of stuff one goes "back" to. Pretty. 4. Love the duo sax/horn playing in the opening. This track reminds of Art Farmer and Benny Golson (this is based on the one Art Farmer album I have, though). I like this. 5. Big dramatic opening! Bass and trumpet duet part is cool. Lots of accents and dynamics on this one- a fun listen. I would put this on at a party. 6. Solo piano, nice, but don't listen to enough solo jazz piano to even hazard a guess on who this is. Caught a quote of a familiar tune... 7. Ah, the ballad in the middle of the disc- just like a real jazz album. Pretty, broken-toned trumpet playing, so one may think of Miles, but it's not him. The recording sounds modern. This music is nice at a club when you're with a lady. Where is the ending? 8. Groovy organ (I don't listen to organ enough, sadly). Another duo horn thing here (the disc compiler seems to favor this). A spirited, groovy tune. 9. Ah, the blues. Soulful lady- I am a total sucker for this stuff. Lovin' it from the first note. 10. Lovely and adventurous piano playing- reminds me of Keith Jarret. 11. Fascinating Rhythm? Beginning of them kinda sounds like it. Another big band type sound, similar to track #2. 12. A cool tune. Don't like the sax tones, though. It's a funky melody. Much head bopping going on here. Dig the crazy, clanging piano. 13. Dinah Washington? 14. A nice, ellegant old swing number. Ok, cool, so I really liked the whole disc (except maybe the first track). Thanks much! Now to read the whole thread while listening to and jotting down notes about the bonus disc, then finally to look at the answers...

That's a great set! The only Wynton I have is his 1st Standard Time which I'm probably gonna get rid of (I don't feel he's really adding much to these tunes). A friend of mine got this a while back and I borrowed it and really liked the band. This was a while ago so my tastes may have changed, but I've been meaning to get this one myself.

Cunning Stunts- Caravan

The few that I have sound very nice, but IMO, it's usually not worth the money. $30/disc is just too much to pay for a non-OOP CD, except for a few hybrid SACDs out there I've made exceptions for.

The few that I have sound very nice, but IMO, it's usually not worth the money. $30/disc is just too much to pay for a non-OOP CD, except for a few hybrid SACDs out there I've made exceptions for.

I'm currently collecting them all, but intend on keeping the CDs of the "important" albums. For example, I just got the Miles w/ Coltrane set, but am keeping Milestones and the SACDs of Round About Midnight and Kind of Blue, while selling (or giving away) the Newport, Plaza, and '58 Sessions CDs. Of all the sets, the one I'm least concerned with getting is the second quintet. More than any of his other work, except the Gil Evans stuff, the track order is important to the musical presentation, so I'll probably keep all the albums. Getting this will be more a matter of completion, as it will result in a lot of replicated music.

Damn, they are expensive (just checked). He is indeed playing with his quartet. I didn't even know about his left hand. Damn. If I go, it will be the early show and maybe we'll have to skimp on dinner.

Oscar Peterson is playing Birdland in NY this weekend, and he appears to be solo. I'll probably be going. Has anyone heard him perform solo? What's it like? He's never had a problem filling up the room with sound and seems to have a knack for arrangements and such.

No matter how much you love a woman, you need space and time apart. The most successful relationships involve a lot of alone time. Distance makes the heart grow fonder. Same with music for me.

Well, the show was pretty cool. Hank Jones is just so the man. I was wondering if he still has "it," and he brought it in spades! (if that makes any sense) His first solo started a bit uncertainly, and then instantly it gelled and he was on the rest of the night. Man, can that dude swing it! I love how logical and lyrical his solos are, and how naturally they flow with his comping. He got the best reactions from the audience, but one of my favorite moments that the crowd missed was a bit of Monk-style chording during his brief solo on Monk's Mood. Lovano was alright- started off with crappy tone that he later corrected. His first couple of solos were a little too spastic for my tastes (and his jerky physical movements are disingenuous), but he got better and better as the set went on and left on an upswing, which is the way to do it. His playing on the last few tunes was pretty cool. George Mranz is an exemplary soloist and a remarkably clean sounding player. Paul Motian was, well, Paul Motian- making his own unique space around the beat, doing some interesting brush work, and had a couple of breaks with no solos. Still, it was Hank that stole the show. Fortunately, my lady friend enjoyed the set as well.

Thanks for the link. Interesting to hear what they do with Monk's Mood and Countdown.

Dig this auction: Complete Candide Recordings I'm a huge Mingus fan and I know I have much, if not all of this music (ie, the Original Fables of Faubus described in the add is on Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus). Does anyone know how the sound compares, and if there is any material here not otherwise available?

I don't know why this should be the last box set. There is plenty of post-Bitches Brew material that would make three more box sets.

Billboard Looks like another winner.

The Joe Lovano Qt is performing the Iridium (New York) this weekend. The band is Hank Jones, Paul Motian, and George Mraz I've actually never heard Joe Lovano, but read about him a bit and he seems interesting. I'm mostly going because I love Hank Jones, am a bit familiar with the other two (Mraz from his participation in a couple of recent Hank Jones records). I'll also be accompanied by a charming young lady Saturday evening, with whom this will be our first evening alone together. I hope the music isn't too "out there" or boring for her. Also is anyone wants to recommend a great restaurant there so I that I can make reservations for two tomorrow... I can't wait to see Hank Jones... err, I mean, the Joe Lovano Qt.

I got my first Mosaic in the mail yesterday- The Atlantic New Orleans Jazz Sessions. Listening to the first disc.

Crossroads was a tune the band played a lot when they started out, doing the Cream-like extended jam workout thing. The covers album is a little tribute to the music that got them interested in playing music when they were starting out. It's a nice way to bring their career full circle (especially if this is their last tour). They're also playing a couple of the tunes live on their current tour, which should make for a fun set list. Obviously only of interest to Rush fans.

Wow, no wonder I know like nothing about this music compared to you people (though I'm the "expert" amongst people in real life). I "discovered" it in college (late 90s), but have only been seriously digging it for a few years.

The Round About Midnight cover is really cool! I total deconstruction, kind of like what Jarret does sometimes. Fascinating. Love the other Monk quotes, too. Solal seems to be one of those guys who really takes from everybody- the lyricism of a Hank Jones at times with the purposefully awkward phrasing of Monk or Tyner. A great listen.