Leeway

The December issue of Jazz Times has an article on the Bird remix project. There is a lot of interesting discussion about the project. Many of the criticisms voiced in this thread are addressed therein. Matthew Backer organized the project. He says:

Does anyone know what this is all about? Although the full title is not given, it appears to be the Complete Verve Studio Sessions. Does this overlap the Mosaic set? The number of media is listed as "1", obviously an error in view of the set price. My guess is this is an import of the European version of the set, which is being sold by Verve there. Is there any difference in the set itself? If not, CD Universe's price of $91.11 is a nice saving from Mosaic's price of $119... Does the European set have the same box and/or booklet? Is there a link where I can get a look at what is being offered in the Old World? I would think the packaging has to be different. If so, I'd rather pay more and get Mosaic's box and documentation (reversed image and all).

I was thinking that might be a possibility, as Blue Note/Mosaic and Verve have had a number of joint ventures lately. I asked "customer service" at CD Universe if they knew anything about it; they didn't. Amazon isn't even listing it. It would be quite something to find Mosaics selling on a site like CD Universe.

CD Universe Does anyone know what this is all about? Although the full title is not given, it appears to be the Complete Verve Studio Sessions. Does this overlap the Mosaic set? The number of media is listed as "1", obviously an error in view of the set price.

Just like Bird tried to reinvent the jazz idiom, to move from swing to BeBop, these artists (yes, most of them are, in their own way and time) are trying to use bebop to create a new type of music, a melding of hip hop and jazz. I think that's admirable, because it promotes the vitality of each genre in the process of creating something new. Well, hard to argue with that, but it would be better, wouldn't it, to give the music a fair chance? Again, hard to argue with that, but, c'mon, give it a fair listen. Once something gets tagged "sacred," it usually means it's dead. I hope that's not what jazz is all about. I think jazz has always been about change, growth, free expression, experimentation (unless you're name is Wynton Marsalis ). Parker freaked out the "mouldy figs," now here we are using Parker to put down a new generation. A new group of mouldy figs. In the end, though, the musicians will lead the way.

I don't think the quality control on the Pro-ject TT are all that terrific. A defective motor is not an encouraging sign. You can check on the AudioAsylum Vinyl board for other views. Personally, I'm a Rega fan. Go Rega 2 for budget, Rega 3 if you can go for a bit more. Good luck.

The photo seems to have captured everyone's interest, but can anyone comment on the music, sound and other aspects of this set? (for those of you lucky enough to already have it).

Nice site, added it to my bookmarks. Best wishes.

I like "Bebop" too, although the "silk brassiere" line kind of threw me But it had a very cool arrangement. Some of the other clips were pretty interesting too, although it's hard to make a judgement on a 20 second snippet. You can't dismiss this kind of album out of hand; there are interesting musical ideas here. I don't see any disrepect to Parker here. I think it's neat that CP is still generating interest and a contemporary sense of challenging the boundaries. I'd like to think he would understand what these hip-hop artists are trying to do. And I do think that this will pull in some younger fans to jazz.

I have the Proper Box Ellington "Masterpieces." The sound quality is pretty good overall. They also do a really nice job with the accompanying booklet (although I did just notice a track listing error). What I'd like to know is if Proper, or the producers of the 40 CD set, actually have any original masters to work with, or all these all made from 78 and LP dubs? What is their source material?

FWIW, the Amazon sales ranking for the new Al Green CD is #39. For Moran's "Bandwagon," it is 5,921. "Modernistic" is 18,480. My guess is that the new Green outsold the new Moran 10 to 1. Frankly, most jazz sales are miniscule. Once acceptable to Alfred Lion (and even he wanted a "Sidewinder" every so often) but not to EMI.

I'm for it. The old BNBB had its RVG thread, and why not bring that back?

Ah yes, the Golden Age of CDs! I guess the CDers have to have their own myths, just like the vinyl lovers. Human nature to believe that things were better THEN- but not now. Don't think I buy that. OTOH, the phrase "24 bit" seems to have unjustifiable talismanic power over buyers. In a blind test, I suspect most could not tell the difference between 24 bit and non-24 bit versions.

That's what I was thinking. But it is tantalizing, and frustrating, to think that some of these tracks are "far from common" but with the lack of discographical information, it's nearly impossible to determine that. So far, I haven't found any research on these. What I like about the Europa series is that there seems to be a fair amount of modern, post-bop, and free jazz performances that I'm guessing are tough to find.

The ones I'm referring to have the (predominately) white with silver covers, with lettering in red and blue. This last bunch I found at a record show, but I also see them here and there at record shops. Some of the other ones I acquired have performances by Billie Holiday, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, Mingus, Monk, and Dolphy.

I've been picking up "Europa Jazz" LPs; these are made in Italy. These are gatefold LPs, with some info on the artists, little or none on the date/place of performance. I'm thinking these are mostly bootlegs or unauthorized reissues, culled from European performances, but am not sure of that. Just recently, I picked up the following LPs for $1.00 each (figure I can't go wrong at that price): -- Chick Corea with Woody Shaw, Hubert Laws, Bennie Maupin, Dave Holland and Horacee Arnold. Songs are: "The Brain," ""Waltz for Bill Evans," "Converge," and "Vamp"). (This might be the best of the bunch). -- Gato Barbieri/Don Cherry; Albert Ayler; John Handy Quintet (3 separate live performances); -- Elek Bacsik (solo guitar performance); Stephane Grappelli with Kenny Clarke on drums, Rene Urtreger on piano, J-M Ingrand on bass; -- Bill Evans Trio (with Motian and La Faro), live performance (date/place not indicated); Charles Lloyd Quartet, with Keith Jarrett, Ron McClure, Jack DeJohnette; Dollar Brand; Michael White Quartet (with Cecil McBee on bass). Anyone else been checking these "Europa" LPs out?

WOW, we must be racking up points tonight. A crash test (so to speak) for the new "warning system" B) RED ALERT!

I picked up an LP reissue of "Hootn' 'N Tootn" (see the Vinyl Thread for more on that). Right now, I think the only CD version is a Japanese issue. Try Red Trumpet; they have had it. It's too bad VanDyke didn't make more of an effort in jazz; however, I bet the money was better in Motown B)

Lou is amazing. I was reading an old DownBeat from around 1968; there's an interview with Lou where he talks about gigs, and how he keeps getting booked because he keeps the audience happy. Still works! Peter, that's a neat trick with your avatar.

Good point. I checked 2 of these reissues, Fred Jackson's "Hootn' 'N Tootn'," originally BN 4094, and Hank Mobley's "Dippin'," originally BN 4209. Dead wax on the Jackson: "3972 - BLP 4094-1(A) S50707 De Bos" [the "DeBos is in italics, like a signature- could also be "DeBas]. Dead Wax on the Mobley: "3972 - BLP 4209 - 1(A) S-50136 DeBos" Alas, no "RVG" So, what's it all mean?

I decided to check with the good folks at Dusty Groove, who have offered a number of these reissues (Lee Morgan's "Candy" being one of them). Here is what they say: Well, that helps a little, but still leaves a mystery. I wonder why there isn't more information about them? They have to be legit since they use the original BN cover art, liner notes, etc. BN/EMI would not allow such use without their authorization. It would be quite nice to discover that these reissues are latter-day Liberty or UA-era vinyl (I wouldn't hope for better than that) reissued. More investigation is needed

Two features that would be really important to me are: 1) keeping track of vinyl LPs, as well as CDs; 2) portability; that is, being able to download the data into a PDA and take it with me when I go to a record show, CD store, etc. Which program can do this? It's time for me to get better organized

I was listening to Fred Jackson's "Hootin' 'N Tootin' " and realized I didn't have a clue about Earl Vandyke, the organist on that date. For instance, did he ever do another BN date? I checked the AMG site, which mentions Vandyke's jazz work but doesn't list any of the jazz albums. AMG describes him as highly successful musician in the soul genre, and lists many Motown dates he appears on. Well, since Organissimo has many organ aficianados counted amongst its members, I thought I'd ask if anyone has cheked out Vandyke's work?

A nice notice in the 11/23/03 Washington Post for the Mulligan CJB Mosaic: Washington Post

Lately I've been seeing a lot of BN vinyl reissues. In fact, I've picked up some myself. These are not from the Conn series, or, as far as I can determine, from the vinyl BN released back in about 1999; I think that was something like their Top 50. I've been seeing these around for about $10 an LP. They are complete facsimiles of the originals, except that on the bottom of the rear panel of the LP cover, the BN address is given as 304 Park Ave South, New York. The label on the vinyl looks like the original labels but is a distinctly paler blue. One of the ones I picked up recently is Fred Jackson's, "Hootin' 'N Tootin' " To my ears it sounds quite good. Another is Lou Donaldson's "Blues Walk." So, 1) are these issued by BN itself? 2) are they from analogue sources, or are they some sort of digitalized pressing? 3) what has led to so many titles being in circulation? Anyone else been picking these up?