Dolphy: Iron Man and Conversations

[AndrewHill]

Iron Man is incredible. Have the Fresh Sound and it sounds really good. Need to get Conversations next.

[Hot Ptah]

I have a 2 LP set, on Douglas Records, dated 1976 on the cover, entitled "Jitterbug Waltz". It has the nine cuts listed by robviti above.

On the record label, the fine print reads "Mfg. and Distr. by Casablanca Records". The inner sleeve of each album features a Casablanca advertisement for its

soundtrack album for the film, "The Deep".

Is this the Casablanca 2 LP release you are referring to, Jim Sangrey, in your Post 21, which I now notice was written in 2004? Or is there a better one?

Edited April 24, 2009 by Hot Ptah

[felser]

The "new" Fresh Sound editions at least have the decency to steal/license the original artwork, which was pretty catchy. Anybody know any sordid details regarding the chain of custody of the original tapes? These are great records, got me going on a nice Sonny Simmons jag for a stretch too.

I've also gone on Sonny Simmons jags for a stretch in the past, but I must be missing something for these sessions to do that. I know Simmons is in there, but he's pretty much invisible to me (as are Jordan and Shaw).

[B. Clugston]

I'm sure the cover art on the various reissues over the years has scared off many of the curious. Too bad, because they are great albums.

[Rooster_Ties]

So, why in the hell are there so many different covers for these dates??

(And, dare I ask, what really are THE "original" covers for both of these dates??)

My copy of Iron Man looks like this...

I've meant to pick up Conversations for ages, but just never have gotten around to it.

[Chuck Nessa]

So, why in the hell are there so many different covers for these dates??

(And, dare I ask, what really are THE "original" covers for both of these dates??)

My copy of Iron Man looks like this...

I've meant to pick up Conversations for ages, but just never have gotten around to it.

Bought Conversations, Black Fire and Exultation the same day. They were in the new release bin and looked interesting. I bought a copy of Down Beat at the same time, went home and read of Dolphy's death.

Edited April 24, 2009 by Chuck Nessa

[AndrewHill]

Right. The Fresh Sounds reproduced the original cover art.

[mjzee]

This would be a good Mosaic single, if they could find the original master tapes.

[paul secor]

This music has already been reissued so many times, I wonder how many copies Mosaic could sell.

[clifford_thornton]

I appreciate all this input ... regarding which versions to get, does anyone have an opinion on the Restless discs? Those happen to be the ones on sale at the JRM. How big of a difference is there between the Fuel discs and these? Or is Restless one of those "bad" labels?

Restless licensed the material from Douglas, I assume.

They were a legit label that originally issued the Flaming Lips' catalog back in the day, along with other punk/indie acts. I don't know how they chose to reissue Dolphy, but someone there must've been a fan. IIRC, there was some crossover with Celluloid, which had the rights to Conversations at the time (late 80s).

Edited July 11, 2009 by clifford_thornton

[JSngry]

I have a 2 LP set, on Douglas Records, dated 1976 on the cover, entitled "Jitterbug Waltz". It has the nine cuts listed by robviti above.

On the record label, the fine print reads "Mfg. and Distr. by Casablanca Records". The inner sleeve of each album features a Casablanca advertisement for its

soundtrack album for the film, "The Deep".

Is this the Casablanca 2 LP release you are referring to, Jim Sangrey, in your Post 21, which I now notice was written in 2004? Or is there a better one?

Yeah, that's the one. Still the best overall package, imo. all the material, good sound & pressings, hey, what else could anybody want?

Too bad it's, like, 33 years old.

[Rosco]

This music has already been reissued so many times, I wonder how many copies Mosaic could sell.

Now, if they could find the much-rumoured extra material....

Or even if they could just clean the sound up a little, I'd be in.

[Chuck Nessa]

Now, if they could find the much-rumoured extra material....

Years ago I spoke to someone "in the know" and he said it isn't surprising there isn't more material the way Alan Douglas ran his sessions.

[mjzee]

Now, if they could find the much-rumoured extra material....

Years ago I spoke to someone "in the know" and he said it isn't surprising there isn't more material the way Alan Douglas ran his sessions.

Interesting. John McLaughlin's "Devotion" is only about 30 minutes long.

[clifford_thornton]

Now, if they could find the much-rumoured extra material....

Years ago I spoke to someone "in the know" and he said it isn't surprising there isn't more material the way Alan Douglas ran his sessions.

Prince Lasha wasn't particularly a fan of Alan Douglas. Money and publishing were among the concerns.

[Rooster_Ties]

I've had a copy of Iron Man on CD since probably 1991 (one of the first 30 jazz albums I ever owned, iirc).

But I've never gotten around to picking up Conversations.  It always seemed like Iron Man's tamer cousin, though - at least from my on-line sampling over the years.

*Or* - what am I forgetting from Conversations? - that I've probably needed all these years (but just didn't know it).

 

FWIW, I think Iron Man is my #1 favorite Dolphy record -- even over Out To Lunch.  Woody Shaw just rips it up, and that's the few grains of sand more on the scale, on the side of Iron Man.

[Scott Dolan]

IMO, there is nothing on Iron Man that rises to the level of Music Matador from Conversations. 

[JSngry]

For all you kids out there who dig ALL the variations...

Neverthe nonethe less, that's one helluva record, and one REAL helluvan A-Side!

[Scott Dolan]

Can’t imagine why with that band of scrubs he used.

[7/4]

I've always thought of them as a set. 

[felser]

2 hours ago, 7/4 said:

I've always thought of them as a set. 

Me too.  Same sessions, and available together.  I have always greatly preferred the "Iron Man" selections to the selections on the other album (which has been reissued under many many names on many many shaky labels).

 

Edited September 15, 2018 by felser

[bertrand]

All of this material plus the extra tracks is going to be issued on Resonance soon.

 

Bertrand.

[Rooster_Ties]

32 minutes ago, bertrand said:

All of this material plus the extra tracks is going to be issued on Resonance soon.

Good to know!!  I've been fine with my ancient CD copy of Iron Man, which appears to be the very first 1986 CD issue on Celluloid -- and have wanted to pick up the rest of the material for quite some time (but I've just never made it a priory).

But if Resonance is going to release a more comprehensive version of this material -- including what I seem to remember being an alternate of the tune "Iron Man" itself (which I think came out only on this grey-market release out of Japan, called Muses) -- then I'd be all for an upgrade finally!!

[ghost of miles]

19 hours ago, bertrand said:

All of this material plus the extra tracks is going to be issued on Resonance soon.

 

Bertrand.

Yep, Zev has now gone public with this: Resonance Celebrates 10th Anniversary With Strategic Play And New Eric Dolphy Release

[mjazzg]

That's my Xmas present sorted