Aftab Posted March 29, 2006 Report Posted March 29, 2006 I called Michael Cuscuna to ask if he was working on the next batch of Connoisseurs and he surprised me... apparently, the June batch is already decided and well on their way to release. Drum roll please\./.\./.\./.\./.\./.\./.\./.\./.\./.\./.\./.\./.\./.\./.\./.\./.\./ Jackie McLean – It’s Time (6 tunes) Art Blakey – Holiday For Skins (8 tunes) both albums on one CD Lou Blackburn – The Complete Imperial Sessions (19 tunes) Andrew Hill – Pax (7 tunes) the session with Joe Henderson and Freddie Hubbard - "One for One"? Gil Evans – The Complete Pacific Jazz Sessions (15 tunes) Solomon Ilori – African High Life (9 tracks) - includes three usable tracks from unissued session Wow - I'm all about these releases - June is bustin out all over. What can you tell me about the Ilori? More Mclean and Hill is always good for me, and I'm intrigued by the Blackburn set. Quote
BruceH Posted March 29, 2006 Report Posted March 29, 2006 Forgive me people, but why have I never heard of Lou Blackburn? Because he's not that famous? Just guessing here. Quote
Aftab Posted March 29, 2006 Report Posted March 29, 2006 There's sound clips of this release (which I think covers some of the Conn) on HMV and the Toshiba Emi website, though I couldn't get the HMV ones to play. All the Toshiba site has is Stella By Starlight, which is the tune I was least interested in hearing. Still, good stuff. Quote
sidewinder Posted March 29, 2006 Report Posted March 29, 2006 I think the 'Pax' material will turn a few heads. I have the rest (mainly on vinyl) apart from the Solomon Ilori and the Lou Blackburn so may sample those. Quote
BruceH Posted March 29, 2006 Report Posted March 29, 2006 I agree, nice batch. I'll definitely be buying the Hill and Evans. Those are the ones I'm going for. Quote
BeBop Posted March 29, 2006 Report Posted March 29, 2006 I've got enough Hill, Blakey, Evans and McLean to last a lifetime But something new...! Quote
Quincy Posted March 29, 2006 Report Posted March 29, 2006 Having missed out on the McLean Mosaic and seeing as I'm too cheap to bid on eBay for OOP sets, all I can say is: It's Time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A nice looking bunch. And that they're in June rather than Octoberish is a nice switch too. Quote
Fer Urbina Posted March 29, 2006 Report Posted March 29, 2006 Very, very, very happy to see those Gil Evans recordings back in circulation. I wonder if we can expect any significant sonic upgrade? I'm skeptical, given the general state of Dick Bock-produced masters, but one can hope. Ditto here for the Evans reissue (about time). I am listening to "Lester Leaps In" from New Bottle Old Wine and either it's my computer speakers or when the band is blasting it sounds like an old LP, so let's hope for that sonic upgrade. F Quote
mikeweil Posted March 29, 2006 Report Posted March 29, 2006 (edited) Same here with the Gil Evans: I wondered about the condition of the tapes when I heard the sound of the first US CD reissues - a Japanese of one of the two sounded the same. If they coulkd do something about the sound, I'd go for this, especially as it will be both one one CD. That Hill is great - and with Hubbard and Henderson on board the sales potential is there. Yes it was in the Mosaic box. I have TOCJs of the Blakeys and Ilori, and they sound fine to me - no need to upgrade. The Blackburn should be nice - I saw him with Mombasa (not Mombassa !!!) several times. The AMG on this group is not correct - they probably never heard the band nor their records, which were disappointing, bad sound, not as inspired as their performances, which were always fine. The music had African overtones, but was jazz at the core, some African rhythms and themes inspired by African impressions, but little authentic African material. And I never saw a player who was born in Africa in the several editions of that band! Not even the percussionists! My first conga teacher Tom Nicholas (who was from Philadelphia) played in that band. Edited March 29, 2006 by mikeweil Quote
J.A.W. Posted March 29, 2006 Report Posted March 29, 2006 Very, very, very happy to see those Gil Evans recordings back in circulation. I wonder if we can expect any significant sonic upgrade? I'm skeptical, given the general state of Dick Bock-produced masters, but one can hope. Ditto here for the Evans reissue (about time). I am listening to "Lester Leaps In" from New Bottle Old Wine and either it's my computer speakers or when the band is blasting it sounds like an old LP, so let's hope for that sonic upgrade. F I've read somewhere (forgot where) that the tapes were in a pretty poor condition, so I don't think a sonic upgrade will be possible. Let's hope it'll not turn out to be a sonic downgrade, with lots of compression, loudness and high-end boost... Quote
Indestructible! Posted March 29, 2006 Report Posted March 29, 2006 What can you tell me about the Ilori? Hi Aftab, The Ilori album is pretty damned good! However, I should state that it is very heavy on African rhythms and a little light on the jazz (improvisation). Hosea Taylor plays a little bit on it, and I like the bass work of Ahmed Abdul-Malik... although as I say, they don't improvise very much. I also dig Ilori's vocals. To me, it represents an odd addition that Alfred Lion made to his catalogue... I'd love to hear the story as to how this album came to be recorded by Blue Note. What I'm really looking forward to are the "additional tracks" from the unissued Ilori session that was recorded a year and a half after African High Life! That session had Donald Byrd, Hubert Laws, Bob Cranshaw, and Elvin Jones on it! Here's what the Blue Note Discography says about it: ------------------------------------------------------ Solomon Ilori - Unissued Solomon Ilori (vo) with Donald Byrd (tp), Hubert Laws (fl-1, ts-2), Bob Cranshaw (b), Elvin Jones (dm), Chief Bey, Roger Sanders, Ladji Camara, Sunny Morgan (perc, vo), Coleridge Perkinson (musical director). October 30, 1964 - Englewood Cliffs, NJ 1458 tk.4 Bama bamu l'ayo (I have the strength to sing) -1,3 1459 tk.11 Toni omo re (Loving your child) -1,4 1460 tk.17 Agbamurero (Rhino) -1,3 1461 tk.25 Gbogbo omo ibile (Going home) -2 1462 tk.33 Igbesi aiye (Song of praise to God)(instr.) -2 -3: lead vocal with group vocal on these titles -4: lead vocal only on this title ------------------------------------------------------ I'm hoping this unissued session is similar to Donald Byrd's I'm Tryin' To Get Home session, which was recorded about 6 weeks after (December 17 & 18, 1964) Ilori's unissued session. Given the personnel (Byrd and Coleridge Perkinson especially), I'm guessing the sound would be similar. A nice batch of Connoisseur's for sure! Thanks for the info Kevin! Cheers, Shane Quote
Kevin Bresnahan Posted March 29, 2006 Author Report Posted March 29, 2006 (edited) Very, very, very happy to see those Gil Evans recordings back in circulation. I wonder if we can expect any significant sonic upgrade? I'm skeptical, given the general state of Dick Bock-produced masters, but one can hope. Ditto here for the Evans reissue (about time). I am listening to "Lester Leaps In" from New Bottle Old Wine and either it's my computer speakers or when the band is blasting it sounds like an old LP, so let's hope for that sonic upgrade. F I've read somewhere (forgot where) that the tapes were in a pretty poor condition, so I don't think a sonic upgrade will be possible. Let's hope it'll not turn out to be a sonic downgrade, with lots of compression, loudness and high-end boost... I just heard back from Michael Cuscuna about the sound on the Evans CD. He replied: "The old CDs were from stereo tapes. There were a lot of drop-outs in Great Jazz Standards, but I found the three-tracks and that eliminated that problem. The sound is improved, but both of those sessions were strange recordings. Some unusual balance choices and sudden peak distortions. A real drag because the music is so unbelievably great. We did the best we could." So I would think at least "Great Jazz Standards" ought to be improved since they used the original 3 track masters? Kevin Edited March 29, 2006 by Kevin Bresnahan Quote
mikeweil Posted March 30, 2006 Report Posted March 30, 2006 ------------------------------------------------------ Solomon Ilori - Unissued Solomon Ilori (vo) with Donald Byrd (tp), Hubert Laws (fl-1, ts-2), Bob Cranshaw (b), Elvin Jones (dm), Chief Bey, Roger Sanders, Ladji Camara, Sunny Morgan (perc, vo), Coleridge Perkinson (musical director). October 30, 1964 - Englewood Cliffs, NJ 1458 tk.4 Bama bamu l'ayo (I have the strength to sing) -1,3 1459 tk.11 Toni omo re (Loving your child) -1,4 1460 tk.17 Agbamurero (Rhino) -1,3 1461 tk.25 Gbogbo omo ibile (Going home) -2 1462 tk.33 Igbesi aiye (Song of praise to God)(instr.) -2 -3: lead vocal with group vocal on these titles -4: lead vocal only on this title ------------------------------------------------------ I'm hoping this unissued session is similar to Donald Byrd's I'm Tryin' To Get Home session, which was recorded about 6 weeks after (December 17 & 18, 1964) Ilori's unissued session. Given the personnel (Byrd and Coleridge Perkinson especially), I'm guessing the sound would be similar. Judging from the personnel - four hand drummers - this sounds like another highlife session, not anything similar to the Byrd album, which had a vocal chorus. This is highlife music, not jazz, which shares some traits with jazz, and is certainly inspired by it, but is a style of African popular music from the 1950's and 1960's (same applies to the Olatunji sessions on Columbia, BTW, which also had solos by jazz musicians). Quote
sjarrell Posted March 30, 2006 Report Posted March 30, 2006 Does this mean two batches of Conns this year, or is June the new October? Quote
Adam Posted March 30, 2006 Report Posted March 30, 2006 Which might lead one to extrapolate that Lion was trying to find a BN equal to Olatunji, since Drums of Passion was so popular. But Drums of Passion was 1959, five years before the Ilori sessions, a rather long gap that works against that theory. Quote
Chuck Nessa Posted March 30, 2006 Report Posted March 30, 2006 Note to Kevin: If you'd paid attention, Blackburn is on the Carmell Jones "Select". He's also on the Gerald Wilson set (as is Freddie Hill). Quote
J.A.W. Posted March 30, 2006 Report Posted March 30, 2006 Very, very, very happy to see those Gil Evans recordings back in circulation. I wonder if we can expect any significant sonic upgrade? I'm skeptical, given the general state of Dick Bock-produced masters, but one can hope. Ditto here for the Evans reissue (about time). I am listening to "Lester Leaps In" from New Bottle Old Wine and either it's my computer speakers or when the band is blasting it sounds like an old LP, so let's hope for that sonic upgrade. F I've read somewhere (forgot where) that the tapes were in a pretty poor condition, so I don't think a sonic upgrade will be possible. Let's hope it'll not turn out to be a sonic downgrade, with lots of compression, loudness and high-end boost... I just heard back from Michael Cuscuna about the sound on the Evans CD. He replied: "The old CDs were from stereo tapes. There were a lot of drop-outs in Great Jazz Standards, but I found the three-tracks and that eliminated that problem. The sound is improved, but both of those sessions were strange recordings. Some unusual balance choices and sudden peak distortions. A real drag because the music is so unbelievably great. We did the best we could." So I would think at least "Great Jazz Standards" ought to be improved since they used the original 3 track masters? Kevin Kevin, Thanks for the info. Could you please ask Michael who mastered this batch of Connoisseurs? Quote
Indestructible! Posted March 30, 2006 Report Posted March 30, 2006 ------------------------------------------------------ Solomon Ilori - Unissued Solomon Ilori (vo) with Donald Byrd (tp), Hubert Laws (fl-1, ts-2), Bob Cranshaw (b), Elvin Jones (dm), Chief Bey, Roger Sanders, Ladji Camara, Sunny Morgan (perc, vo), Coleridge Perkinson (musical director). October 30, 1964 - Englewood Cliffs, NJ 1458 tk.4 Bama bamu l'ayo (I have the strength to sing) -1,3 1459 tk.11 Toni omo re (Loving your child) -1,4 1460 tk.17 Agbamurero (Rhino) -1,3 1461 tk.25 Gbogbo omo ibile (Going home) -2 1462 tk.33 Igbesi aiye (Song of praise to God)(instr.) -2 -3: lead vocal with group vocal on these titles -4: lead vocal only on this title ------------------------------------------------------ I'm hoping this unissued session is similar to Donald Byrd's I'm Tryin' To Get Home session, which was recorded about 6 weeks after (December 17 & 18, 1964) Ilori's unissued session. Given the personnel (Byrd and Coleridge Perkinson especially), I'm guessing the sound would be similar. Judging from the personnel - four hand drummers - this sounds like another highlife session, not anything similar to the Byrd album, which had a vocal chorus. This is highlife music, not jazz, which shares some traits with jazz, and is certainly inspired by it, but is a style of African popular music from the 1950's and 1960's (same applies to the Olatunji sessions on Columbia, BTW, which also had solos by jazz musicians). Hi Mike, You are most likely quite right about that. I didn't pay much attention to the number of percussionists on this date, but they likely give away the notion that this session would be much more similar to African High Life than ITTGH. Still, I'm a big fan of ITTGH, so I guess I'm indulging in a bit of wishful thinking here! Either way, I'll be picking this up the day it hits the stores! Thanks for your insights Mike! Cheers, Shane Quote
Kevin Bresnahan Posted March 30, 2006 Author Report Posted March 30, 2006 Note to Kevin: If you'd paid attention, Blackburn is on the Carmell Jones "Select". He's also on the Gerald Wilson set (as is Freddie Hill). Chuck, quite honestly, I rarely listen to all of the Carmell Jones Select and when I do, it's almost always the small group dates with Harold Land. Yeah, I missed him there. I don't follow guys who stick to large bands too much and my CD collection reflects this so there are probably a lot of these great session players that are totally unknown to me. This Connoisseur CD may rectify this for good ol' Blackburn. Kevin Quote
mikeweil Posted March 30, 2006 Report Posted March 30, 2006 (edited) Which might lead one to extrapolate that Lion was trying to find a BN equal to Olatunji, since Drums of Passion was so popular. But Drums of Passion was 1959, five years before the Ilori sessions, a rather long gap that works against that theory. Well, yes, Drums of Passion was recorded August and October, 1959, but released in 1960, and without horns. Just percussion and vocals. The next Olatunji LP - with horns and in the highlife style - was recorded January and February, 1961, and probably hit the shops by the end of that year or even later. The album called Highlife talking about the "new dance sensation" was recorded in December, 1962. That reduces the time gap considerably. Maybe Lateef played a part: he was on Blakey's The African Beat (recorded January, 1962, with Ilori participating) as well as on the first Olatunji highlife sessions. But, well, Hosea Taylor also played on dates of both leaders .... when Olatunji switched to Roulette he had Marshall Allen and Pat Patrick - all of these players had experience in jazz as well as African and/or Afro-Carribean music. Clark Terry plays nice solos on the Olattunji highlife albums, BTW. Edited March 30, 2006 by mikeweil Quote
jazzbo Posted March 30, 2006 Report Posted March 30, 2006 (edited) Just my two cents while I have a quick chance at a computer here at M. D. Anderson: GREAT titles! Wish they weren't Connoisseurs (as I really don't prefer the sound). Edited March 30, 2006 by jazzbo Quote
J.A.W. Posted March 30, 2006 Report Posted March 30, 2006 Just my two cents while I have a quick chance at a computer here at M. D. Anderson: GREAT titles! Wish they weren't Connoisseurs (as I really don't prefer the sound). In my experience that depends on who remastered them. If it's Ron McMaster, well... Quote
skeith Posted March 30, 2006 Report Posted March 30, 2006 It's Time is just a great Jackie McLean release. and the Hill date is just superb, much better than many of the Hill reissue dates that have been released over the past years. I was despairing it would never come out. Like Lon, perhaps I would have preferred these to be RVGs. Quote
J.A.W. Posted March 30, 2006 Report Posted March 30, 2006 It's Time is just a great Jackie McLean release. and the Hill date is just superb, much better than many of the Hill reissue dates that have been released over the past years. I was despairing it would never come out. Like Lon, perhaps I would have preferred these to be RVGs. I'm glad these won't be RVGs, I just hope the remasterings will be OK Quote
Guy Berger Posted March 30, 2006 Report Posted March 30, 2006 In my experience that depends on who remastered them. If it's Ron McMaster, well... Is Ron McMaster his real name? Guy Quote
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