finally got "Stepping Stones"

[CJ Shearn]

got it as a freebie (well, for $3 b/c of shipping) from BMG, and man...... this may be the best Woody Shaw I've yet heard. Mind you I have the One Night With Blue Note DVD, the four Highnote discs, Unity and a few boots as far as Woody goes but wow. I thought maybe with the hype surrounding this reissue that I'd be underwhelmed but no. Gotta give it a close listen, but even the landlord who is a jazz fan, who was doing some work in the house, stopped what he was doing and called it "magnificent" now hes been around the block, but hes never heard Woody Shaw, so maybe I made a new convert.

Edited November 26, 2005 by CJ Shearn

[Ron S]

Glad to hear that, since I also just got it from BMG (well, yourmusic.com), and it's currently sitting in my to-be-played stack.

[Rooster_Ties]

I've got well more than half of Woody's recorded output (probably closer to 75%), and I picked up Stepping Stones myself for the very first time a couple weeks ago -- and was also blown away.

Probably one of his best 10 outings on record (leader or sideman dates included) -- even, some might say, top-5!!

Edited November 26, 2005 by Rooster_Ties

[CJ Shearn]

wow, that is saying a lot. And the band well, is great....... as great as the bands with Larry Willis, Steve Turre, Mulgrew Miller and Stafford James are, the Quintet on Stepping Stones just flat out grooves. I don't feel so bad about "It All Comes Back To You" being omitted from the playlist, because the liners say, it was chosen for more radio friendly reasons.

[John Tapscott]

Less than 2 hours ago, before seeing this post, I ordered "Stepping Stones." Now I'm really looking forward to it.

[felser]

Check out some of the earlier sets that originally came out on Muse and were reissued on 32jazz, especially 'Live at the Berliner Jazztage' (available on the 32jazz reissue 'Two More Pieces of the Puzzle') and 'Swiss Radio Days'. These are the highlights of his association with Louis Hayes, my favorite period of his. The same group is heard to good advantage on Hayes's 'The Real Thing', also on Muse/32jazz. and traditional wisdom has always named 'The Moontrane' and 'Rosewood'. His first as a leader, 'Blackstone Legacy', is pretty great in what the bastards at DustyGroove would call a 'soulful, spiritual, modal groove', with nearly sidelong extended cuts, period electric piano by George Cables etc. 'Little Red-s Fantasy' on Muse/32jazz, with Frank Strozier, is really nice. I also really liked his work with Blakey on 'Anthenagin', earlier with Cedar Walton on electric piano (he was one of the few who, to me, had a personal touch on that instrument), Carter Jefferson (I think), etc. But every Shaw album has it's merits. You won't go wrong with him.

[CJ Shearn]

thanks Felser. The Muse sides originally issued on 32 Jazz, are OOP, so I use Amazon Marketplace sometimes to get harder to find items used, would I kill myself pricewise trying to find them? I am interested in finding a reasonable copy of The Freddie Hubbard/Woody Shaw Sessions but some yahoo has it on sale for $149.99! sorry, at that price I can do more important things in life :-p

[jazzbo]

This is hardly my favorite Shaw, but it's a great reissue. . . I had the lp before this and I THINK the expanded version is great. . . MY COPY from yourmusic.com is defective though. . . the final two tracks don't cue up and play properly, it's going to have to go back.

Problems also with the Brookmeyer, which I had never heard before and wish I didn't have to send it back, really am enjoying it.

[JSngry]

Funny thing is, Stepping Stones got kinda lukewarm reviews on initial release. I can see why, there is a certain "hyper" quality to it, but I never concurred that that was a flaw per se.

Also, don't let the "excuse" fool you - "It All Comes Back To You" is a fine piece, and its exclusion is inexcuasable.

My favorite Shaw albums are still Woody III & Live at the Berliner Jazztage, but there's not a dud in the bunch, really. At least not on this list: http://www16.brinkster.com/fitzgera/woody/...#discog_release

The cat was tuff!

[Rooster_Ties]

Funny you mention that, Sangry. I think "Live at the Berliner Jazztage" is also my all-time favorite of Woody's leader dates.

[chris olivarez]

Mines on backorder.

[Chuck Nessa]

At time of issue, I thought Stepping Stones was Woody's best record to date and was pissed they stole a great tune for another record. I felt the Columbia studio dates were too "studied" and the Muse dates were too "unprepared". Guess I can't be pleased, but think he never made a "great record". Maybe he didn't have it in him. Some guys are just "first rate" players without a vision to make a major impression.

[JSngry]

For me, Woody III had that vision.

[Chuck Nessa]

For me, Woody III had that vision.

I was seriously bummed - and I'd been prepped by Woody in person. He enthusiastically showed me the cover proofs and played his reference tapes. I was disappointed then and am stuck in that groove.

Don't want to temper anyone's enthusiasm, it's just my taste.

[JSngry]

Fair enough.

Just curious, how would you have produced him, if that's not a parlor-game type question?

[Chuck Nessa]

Never spent enough time with Woody to produce him. I (pretentiously) feel I need to be inside the artist's head to produce a record. I (foolishly, maybe) think I need to know them better than they do to do the job well. Maybe that's why I have done so few dates.

[JSngry]

The methadology might produce scant results, but it's a damn first-rate scantness!

[Chuck Nessa]

The methadology might produce scant results, but it's a damn first-rate scantness!

Nah! It just keeps me poor.

Back to Woody - I thought the charts for W III were a snore and "comforted" the soloist instead of "challenging" him.

[felser]

Back to Woody - I thought the charts for W III were a snore and "comforted" the soloist instead of "challenging" him.

I felt that way too about the Columbia stuff, even 'Rosewood', which won Down Beat album of the year if I remember. Muse in general used to put out a whole lot of underrehearsed stuff (Carlos Garnett comes immediately to mind - as good as some of his albums on Muse were, they should have been even better), but I quite like most of the Shaw sides on that label. And a lot of stuff came out on Muse by a lot of artists that likely would never seen the light of day if Muse didn't exist.

Edited November 27, 2005 by felser

[Ron S]

Problems also with the Brookmeyer, which I had never heard before and wish I didn't have to send it back, really am enjoying it.

Lon, whatever you do, don't send the Brookmeyer back to yourmusic.com--they're not currently stocking it because of the CP issue, and you'll only get a refund. Instead, send it to Sony's CP exchange program at Sony's expense here, and get a brand-new one without CP.

[connoisseur series500]

My favorite Woody is the Last of the line two-fer issued on 32 Jazz. It's a masterpiece.

[jazzbo]

Good advice I guess on the Shaw and Brookmeyer defective discs. . .but. . . these are both labeled that they were produced under license to BMG. . . .May not be the best way to exchange these.

[Ron S]

Good advice I guess on the Shaw and Brookmeyer defective discs. . .but. . . these are both labeled that they were produced under license to BMG. . . .May not be the best way to exchange these.

Doesn't matter. First off, it's now the same entity (SonyBMG). But even if it weren't, Sony will exhcange any defective disc on its labels (even those without CP) regardless of whether it was marketed through a BMG Direct club. The link I gave in my post above is only for the CP exchange program and so would only cover the Brookmeyer disc. But if you'll look in the upper right corner of page 14 of the Shaw booklet, you'll find an 800 number for Sony's Quality Management Department, and if you call them they'll exchange the Shaw disc for you (and pay for return postage). That number is printed inside every Sony release, and it works (I've done it). Just be prepared when you call them to tell them where on the disc (track # and time) the defect appears.

Of course, you could also just exchange the Shaw disc through yourmusic.com, but you can't exchange the Brookmeyer there--at least for now--since they've deleted all the Sony CP titles.

[jazzbo]

Okay. I'll go via the 800 number I guess as I don't have a UPS store near me, pickup is a hassle I don't want to go through, and in general I think Brown sucks.

Thanks. I'm just waiting to play through the Mulligan and Blakey yet to be sure they're okay.

[CJ Shearn]

I haven't gotten the Dex, Blakey and Silver titles in this batch with the copy protection, so in the future when I buy them, how will I know they are not CP vs. the XCP thing?