sidewinder Posted February 14, 2012 Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 Yes, I agree re: the flawed ensemble playing on 'Slice'. It's such an inspired session that you can forgive the flaws though. A similar thing seems to have happened on Andrew Hill's 'Passing Ships'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clunky Posted February 14, 2012 Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 I paid about 5€ for a copy that looks virtually unplayed (and the cover untouched). Those Carrère-thingies, are they any goodd? Sometimes they're priced rather highly at that used-bookstore where I buy much of my LPs... I stood away mostly from them so far, because of the prices (got the BN Town Hall thingie though!). I have only a few Carrère LPs and they are fine, generally i've avoided them as I used to consider their CDs a byword for cheap and nasty. That was until I came across the Bernhard Mikulski versions which are dog awful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jostber Posted February 14, 2012 Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 (edited) Bob Brookmeyer - Through A Looking Glass (Finesse Records) Edited February 14, 2012 by jostber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted February 14, 2012 Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 (edited) Gee, just lost a post... Carrère CDs: only have (had, I think) the "Stardust Session" by Coltrane. Seemed okay to me - but I always thought anyway, that all OJCCDs, no matter who the manufacturer and distributor, used the same masterings? The exception being the 20bit digipacks from ZYX (the successor of Mikulski, I assume - or was it just a new name for the same outfit?). Anyway, this is about vinyl here... any other opinions or stories on Carrère LPs? brownie? Now playing: I've heard most of it (prob. the West Wind CD, morons there omitted "Soft and Furry"!!) on the radio years ago (might still have a minidisc of that...) and am very happy to own it now! Beautiful session w/Parlan, Art Taylor and Mads Vinding. Seems Griffin and Taylor really did fit well! And Parlan's always nice to hear. Edited February 14, 2012 by king ubu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jostber Posted February 14, 2012 Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 Art Ensemble Of Chicago - Urban Bushmen (ECM) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffcrom Posted February 15, 2012 Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 Woody Herman - Road Father (Century). A really nice-sounding direct-to-disk record of a band Woody must have been proud of. Marc Johnson is on bass, just before joining the Bill Evans trio, and the saxophone section is pretty bad-ass: Frank Tiberi, Gary Anderson, Joe Lovano, and Bruce Johnstone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder Posted February 15, 2012 Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 (edited) I paid about 5€ for a copy that looks virtually unplayed (and the cover untouched). Those Carrère-thingies, are they any goodd? Sometimes they're priced rather highly at that used-bookstore where I buy much of my LPs... I stood away mostly from them so far, because of the prices (got the BN Town Hall thingie though!). I have only a few Carrère LPs and they are fine, generally i've avoided them as I used to consider their CDs a byword for cheap and nasty. That was until I came across the Bernhard Mikulski versions which are dog awful. Not a great fan here of those Carrère pressings. I have a few of them of the Prestige 2LP twofers and compared with the UK or US pressings of the time they are inferior - surface noise in particular. Edited February 15, 2012 by sidewinder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted February 15, 2012 Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 Okay, thanks! I guess I'll rather tend to stay away then, as there's no possibility to play the records there (but hey, I must have bought 100 there and they're all fine, so....) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnS Posted February 15, 2012 Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 I've always been wary of Carrere pressings though most that I bought have not been great, but satisfactory. Somehow the pressings always looked a bit odd. The strangest one just cut off a couple of minutes into a track and then went into the run off groove. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Lark Ascending Posted February 15, 2012 Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 (edited) I have some of these from the early 80s. They were the only way to hear this music at the time. Remember picking up a fair few at Eric Rose's 'Music Inn' in Nottingham, the only specialist jazz shop in Nottingham. It was big band-o-centric (and Kenton-o-centric in particular) but you could stumble across interesting things from the Bebop/Hard Bop era there as well. Never could work out the logic in their stocking policy (though they seemed to bring in batches of things like the Carrere every few months). As for pressing quality, well I just remember most LPs as being a bit of a gamble then. I welcomed CD with open arms. Edited February 15, 2012 by A Lark Ascending Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clunky Posted February 15, 2012 Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 I've always been wary of Carrere pressings though most that I bought have not been great, but satisfactory. Somehow the pressings always looked a bit odd. The strangest one just cut off a couple of minutes into a track and then went into the run off groove. French pressings of the 70/80s are a mixed bag in my experience. These Carrere pressings are better than French Polydor Verve pressings but not as good as French Muse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clunky Posted February 15, 2012 Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 (edited) received this yesterday Stanko/Vesala Live at Remont Helicon , LP appears unplayed, can't think why given the excellence of the music. I wish Stanko would record something this muscular. Not that I don't like his current output but this is quite different. Great cover art !!! Edited February 15, 2012 by Clunky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted February 15, 2012 Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 Thanks for you insight, guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clunky Posted February 15, 2012 Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 Michael J. Smith - Geomusic (Muza) Is this quite obscure, and how is it? It's from 1976, on a Polish label, and it does seem to be pretty obscure. I found it in a little record store in Malmo, Sweden a couple of years ago - a nicer copy than the one pictured here. Musically, it's excellent - one of my favorite of Michael's recordings. Michael's frequent partner in those days, Laurence Cook, is on drums; there are two bassists, Kent Carter (doubling on cello) and Jacek Bednarek, and two alto saxists, Claude Bernard and the outstanding Zbigniew Namyslowski. The cover reverses the instrument credits for Bernard and Cook. I'd describe it as pretty intense free jazz with some nice passages of lyricism. Geomusic 111 -PL _Pronit, no leader named Confusingly titled this is a different recording to the above, Zbigniew Namyslowski on alto/ flute. , Michael J Smith piano and Jacek Bednarek (bass), pretty intense free jazz with melodic passages. My copy has this cover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted February 15, 2012 Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 you've got some nice stuff. That Stanko/Vesala looks killer (I only know Twet). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffcrom Posted February 15, 2012 Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 Michael J. Smith - Geomusic (Muza) Is this quite obscure, and how is it? It's from 1976, on a Polish label, and it does seem to be pretty obscure. I found it in a little record store in Malmo, Sweden a couple of years ago - a nicer copy than the one pictured here. Musically, it's excellent - one of my favorite of Michael's recordings. Michael's frequent partner in those days, Laurence Cook, is on drums; there are two bassists, Kent Carter (doubling on cello) and Jacek Bednarek, and two alto saxists, Claude Bernard and the outstanding Zbigniew Namyslowski. The cover reverses the instrument credits for Bernard and Cook. I'd describe it as pretty intense free jazz with some nice passages of lyricism. Geomusic 111 -PL _Pronit, no leader named Confusingly titled this is a different recording to the above, Zbigniew Namyslowski on alto/ flute. , Michael J Smith piano and Jacek Bednarek (bass), pretty intense free jazz with melodic passages. My copy has this cover. I've got that one, too. It's definitely Michael's record - he has a whole series of compositions in the "Geomusic" series. My copy has the same cover, but has the title ("Geomusic" 111-PL) written in blue ink in the upper left hand corner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clunky Posted February 15, 2012 Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 (edited) Michael J. Smith - Geomusic (Muza) Is this quite obscure, and how is it? It's from 1976, on a Polish label, and it does seem to be pretty obscure. I found it in a little record store in Malmo, Sweden a couple of years ago - a nicer copy than the one pictured here. Musically, it's excellent - one of my favorite of Michael's recordings. Michael's frequent partner in those days, Laurence Cook, is on drums; there are two bassists, Kent Carter (doubling on cello) and Jacek Bednarek, and two alto saxists, Claude Bernard and the outstanding Zbigniew Namyslowski. The cover reverses the instrument credits for Bernard and Cook. I'd describe it as pretty intense free jazz with some nice passages of lyricism. Geomusic 111 -PL _Pronit, no leader named Confusingly titled this is a different recording to the above, Zbigniew Namyslowski on alto/ flute. , Michael J Smith piano and Jacek Bednarek (bass), pretty intense free jazz with melodic passages. My copy has this cover. I've got that one, too. It's definitely Michael's record - he has a whole series of compositions in the "Geomusic" series. My copy has the same cover, but has the title ("Geomusic" 111-PL) written in blue ink in the upper left hand corner. I've not come across Michael Smith before this. I bought this on the strength of Zbigniew Namyslowsk's appearance on Astigmatic. This music is of course nothing like that album but interesting none the less. Edited February 15, 2012 by Clunky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffcrom Posted February 15, 2012 Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 I've not come across Michael Smith before this. I bought this on the strength of Zbigniew Namyslowsk's appearance on Astigmatic. This music is of course nothing like that album but interesting none the less. Michael has recorded with Braxton and Noah Howard, among others, and was Steve Lacy's pianist for a couple of years in the mid-70's. Check out the Lacy/Smith duo album Sidelines on Improvising Artists for one of the best Lacy-plus-piano recitals on record. I know Michael's music pretty well because he spent a year in Atlanta in an odd artist-in-residence gig back in the 1990's. We played together a fair amount, and I issued two tunes from a recording session we did back then on an otherwise fairly mediocre CD I put out 20 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul secor Posted February 15, 2012 Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 I've not come across Michael Smith before this. I bought this on the strength of Zbigniew Namyslowsk's appearance on Astigmatic. This music is of course nothing like that album but interesting none the less. Michael has recorded with Braxton and Noah Howard, among others, and was Steve Lacy's pianist for a couple of years in the mid-70's. Check out the Lacy/Smith duo album Sidelines on Improvising Artists for one of the best Lacy-plus-piano recitals on record. I know Michael's music pretty well because he spent a year in Atlanta in an odd artist-in-residence gig back in the 1990's. We played together a fair amount, and I issued two tunes from a recording session we did back then on an otherwise fairly mediocre CD I put out 20 years ago. Haven't played Sidelines in a while, but I remember it as a very good one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Bresnahan Posted February 15, 2012 Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 Hank Mobley - A Slice of the Top (BN Classic "Rainbow"). A beautiful thing. Whenever I listen to one of the Blue Note sessions which was not released at the time, I always wonder why it was held back. I can hear why this one was withheld - there are a few musical flaws - when Howard Johnson is really blowing, he goes sharp, and there is some really sloppy playing behind the trumpet solo on the title tune. And there's something weird going on technically - the recording level goes up and down during Lee Morgan's solos. But so what - this album is a beautiful thing. I noticed the sound variations of this pressing too so I found a Connoisseur LP and it's better. Playing right now: Willis Jackson "Shuckin'" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clunky Posted February 15, 2012 Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 Nice line up for Willis on that session. What I've heard by him has been pretty good quality soul jazz but with few banal tracks. Mainly pretty hard swinging.probably need some more Willis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clunky Posted February 16, 2012 Report Share Posted February 16, 2012 Thad Jones conducts the Swedish Radio Jazz Orchestra feat. Mel Lewis - Thad and Aura- Thad swings and Aura sings. Nice enough voice but really too sweet for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted February 16, 2012 Report Share Posted February 16, 2012 Passed this one over for literally decades, because of Frankie Laine...just didn't seem like it would be anything more than token. Then yesterday, I finally touch it, decide to glance at the liner notes, and...WHOA - Budd Johnson & Big Nick Nicholas, so,,,YEAH! Turns out, it's essentially a Buck clayton "little big band" date w/Frankie Laine serving as band vocalist, not center attraction. Frankie Laine is still a little "funny", but it's really no problem, since generally puts in his one chorus and out, the rest of it being a Buck Clayton jam session w/charts. And Budd Johnson & Big Nick. HELL yeah! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul secor Posted February 16, 2012 Report Share Posted February 16, 2012 (edited) Cedar Walton: Piano Solos (Clean Cuts) Edited February 16, 2012 by paul secor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted February 16, 2012 Report Share Posted February 16, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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