I committed a jazz sin

[CJ Shearn]

Well, alright, it's not really a sin, but Wynton is coming here in August, and I thought I'd buy the Village Vanguard box, to drop some of my (unfair) biases against his playing, theres a lot of good stuff on the set, especially "Black Codes", "Knozz moe King" and "Harriet Tubman". Anyway, I'll probably get "Black Codes" and "Live at Blues Alley". Aside from Crouch's horrible liners in the Vanguard package, the set was surprisingly good I think.

Edited July 1, 2004 by CJ Shearn

[jlhoots]

I agree. It actually is good.

[CJ Shearn]

The two "extended" works, "Citi Movement" doesn't work as well as "In the Sweet Embrace of Life", which I prefer because of the blowing room. Great value for the money, though.

[brownie]

The Village Vanguard box is indeed a good one. It's the only Marsalis recording I have kept. The man can play. Too bad he is wasting his talent.

[bertrand]

That's an expensive set of coasters you bought yourself!

Bertrand.

[CJ Shearn]

haha. Well, if it was something like "Big Train" oh yeah, it'd be a coaster . To be fair, even though Wynton in his arranging, especially for the reeds, shows a lot of Ellington, he is a good writer. Tunes like "Uptown Ruler" and "Black Codes" are good examples. I do hope he can put out something better than "The Magic Hour", which I heard on the Blue Note site when they had some cuts up, and also on the radio, the stuff there sounded quite stiff. I do think on the Vanguard stuff his blowing is a bit looser, what did get me to buy it was his blowing on Jeff Watts' "The Impaler", that was a great solo, Branford too, going as out as possible afterwards was fun.

[bertrand]

Don't get me started on 'Big Train'. I was talking to a well-known saxophonist once (who will rename nameless) about Wynton and we were agreeing on how lame this piece was. This person said something like: 'It's like he's never taken the train in his life'!

Bertrand.

[take5]

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.

[relyles]

I am a proud owner of this box set also. Although I purchased it around the time that it was first released, I still have not gotten through all seven discs. In any event, what I did hear I enjoyed.

[RDK]

I agree - hardly a sin. I don't spin this often, but it's perhaps the finest Wynton M. out there and a lot of bang for the buck.

[Alexander]

Not a sin as far as I'm concerned. I have it. I like it.

[jazzbo]

If that's a sin. . . well. . . it's a good thing I don't believe in the conventional afterlife options. . . .

[chris olivarez]

No worries. It was available at a nice price and arguably I admit features some of Wyntons best playing. It's one of the few from Wynton that I haven't sold off.

[CJ Shearn]

would the next step to be to get "Black Codes" and "Live at Blues Alley"? I used to have BC on vinyl a long time ago

[chris olivarez]

I'm not personally familiar with those two but usually when someone does have something nice to say about Wynton work it's usually "Black Codes" followed by "Blues Alley".

[Rooster_Ties]

For my money, the only two Wynton discs worth owning are Black Codes and J-Mood.

(Hey, it's my money, I can do with it what I like.)

[bebopbob]

While I prefer Tom Harrell over Wynton, I think the Wynton box isn't bad especially for the price. It's one of three Wynton sets I have, the other two being Live at Blues Alley and Standards.

As for Tom Harrell, I think he's the best trumpet player out there today. He also does stuff Wynton doesn't...plays the flugel, composes beautiful music and arranges like no one since Gerald Wilson IMHO.

Tom Harrell is one of the most original, innovative musicians and composers in jazz, much more so than Wynton.

Yes I'm biased, but I've been a huge Harrell fan since I first saw him at a small club/restaurant in Schenectady, New York back in June 1990. What a night, I'll never forget.

[chris olivarez]

I also prefer Harrell over Wynton. Harrell plays beautifully and every time he's on the stage or recording it's an act of courage because of his schizophrenia. Harrell seems to have kept it at bay and hopefully it will always be that way for him.

[brownie]

Wait till Christiern catches this

Will we be sentenced to a week-long listening session to the Complete Bessie Smith boxes?

[EKE BBB]

Wait till Christiern catches this

Will we be sentenced to a week-long listening session to the Complete Bessie Smith boxes?

(where can we sign up?)

[David Ayers]

I find this set genuinely boring. The musicians descende on the music from a great height - i.e. they are playing well within their technical and expressive limits most of the time. This is much more about reconstruction and conforming to some idea of jazz than about actually expressing or doing anything. This isn't anti-marsalis-ism - it really does bore me.

[CJ Shearn]

I haven't heard a lot of Harrell, what I have heard, I remember him having a huge warm tone, kind of like Freddie Hubbard, and that he has a lot available on OJC.

[kulu se mama]

i probably get skewered for this, but i like a couple of wynton's longer works: "in this house, on this morning" and "citi movement.".

wynton can be stiff and cold and his arrangements can be way to indebted to ellington, but some his sidemen are excellent such as wycliffe gordon, wessel anderson, and marcus roberts.

[marcoliv]

i have this boxset too and it´s not that good, not that bad

Marcus

[jazzbo]

I'm with you Kulu. I actually find that I like Blood on the Fields. . . I never did at first but over theyears it has grown on me quite a bit.