British jazz reissues

[mjazzg]

It was discussed in passing on another thread somewhere, a few weeks ago.

I have it, production values high on the presentation. Sound quality is consistently good across all discs bar maybe three tracks where quality is a bit bootleggy.

All from Skidmore's personal archive

[Roger Farbey]

  On 6/10/2023 at 1:00 PM, mjazzg said:

It was discussed in passing on another thread somewhere, a few weeks ago.

I have it, production values high on the presentation. Sound quality is consistently good across all discs bar maybe three tracks where quality is a bit bootleggy.

All from Skidmore's personal archive

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Mjazzg are any of the six discs recorded in stereo?

[mjazzg]

  On 6/12/2023 at 7:58 PM, Roger Farbey said:

Mjazzg are any of the six discs recorded in stereo?

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To be honest I haven't noticed either way. Disc 6 is I'm pretty sure from listening most recently. 

I'm sure that if you contact Confront they'll help you out with the details, it's a friendly run concern in my experience. A lot quicker than waiting for me to listen through again!

Edited June 12, 2023 by mjazzg

[mjazzg]

Unsurprisingly, disc one is mono, so far

[RogerF]

  On 6/12/2023 at 8:30 PM, mjazzg said:

To be honest I haven't noticed either way. Disc 6 is I'm pretty sure from listening most recently. 

I'm sure that if you contact Confront they'll help you out with the details, it's a friendly run concern in my experience. A lot quicker than waiting for me to listen through again!

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Yes I'll contact Mark but thanks anyway. I love Skid's playing (TCB an all-time favourite) but am not keen on mono if there's more than one player.

[T.D.]

  On 6/13/2023 at 5:59 AM, RogerF said:

Yes I'll contact Mark but thanks anyway. I love Skid's playing (TCB an all-time favourite) but am not keen on mono if there's more than one player.

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Roger, please post your findings here. I'm interested in the set, by no means a stickler for stereo but it'd be good to know.

[sidewinder]

Some interesting new CD issues have appeared of late. Jazz In Britain has a very interesting Barbara Thompson release with early big band broadcasts from the early 70s and a prototype ‘Jubiaba’ from 1972 (George Chisholm alongside Ian Carr in the trumpet section !) British Progressive Jazz has a release by Kenny Wheeler Big Band which is reputedly the earliest Radio broadcast by this band. Some real finds now coming out of the woodwork !

  On 6/13/2023 at 2:37 PM, T.D. said:

Roger, please post your findings here. I'm interested in the set, by no means a stickler for stereo but it'd be good to know.

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I’m interested too !

Edited June 13, 2023 by sidewinder

[Roger Farbey]

  On 6/13/2023 at 2:37 PM, T.D. said:

Roger, please post your findings here. I'm interested in the set, by no means a stickler for stereo but it'd be good to know.

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T.D. My findings may take some time as much as I love Skid’s work I’ll only consider purchasing this box if at least 50% is in stereo. I realise many folks actually revere mono but I don’t. Have contacted Confront Recordings re: this question but have not yet had a response. 

[T.D.]

  On 6/14/2023 at 7:54 PM, Roger Farbey said:

T.D. My findings may take some time as much as I love Skid’s work I’ll only consider purchasing this box if at least 50% is in stereo. I realise many folks actually revere mono but I don’t. Have contacted Confront Recordings re: this question but have not yet had a response. 

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Thanks, no hurry, Roger.

Discogs has posted track listings with recording dates and venues for all 6 discs:

1 recorded 1961-69, don't expect much in the way of sound quality here;

2 rec 1971-77;

3 rec 1981-89;

4 rec 1980 (1 track), 1991-97;

5 rec 2000-2011;

6 rec 2019.

I'm more concerned with general sound quality (noise, risk of some instruments being off-mic) than with stereo/mono. The relatively recent recording dates of discs 3-6 give me cause for optimism. I've only been able to listen to four brief samples online. The sample from disc 1 doesn't sound great, but the other three are fine by my standards.

Edited June 14, 2023 by T.D.

[mjazzg]

  On 6/14/2023 at 8:41 PM, T.D. said:

Thanks, no hurry, Roger.

Discogs has posted track listings with recording dates and venues for all 6 discs:

1 recorded 1961-69, don't expect much in the way of sound quality here;

2 rec 1971-77;

3 rec 1981-89;

4 rec 1980 (1 track), 1991-97;

5 rec 2000-2011;

6 rec 2019.

I'm more concerned with general sound quality (noise, risk of some instruments being off-mic) than with stereo/mono. The relatively recent recording dates of discs 3-6 give me cause for optimism. I've only been able to listen to four brief samples online. The sample from disc 1 doesn't sound great, but the other three are fine by my standards.

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Sound quality is weakest on disc 1 (I'd say acceptable given the historical nature and importance). Beyond that disc I'd say it is uniformly good. There are only about three tracks on later discs where quality drops.

These are live recordings though and probably not recorded for release.  This is a treasure trove of great music across a spectrum of styles all featuring great work by Skidmore. If that interests you, I'd say buy without qualm, you'll get hours of great music with less than an hour in less than perhaps ideal sound quality.

 

[T.D.]

  On 6/15/2023 at 12:27 PM, mjazzg said:

Sound quality is weakest on disc 1 (I'd say acceptable given the historical nature and importance). Beyond that disc I'd say it is uniformly good. There are only about three tracks on later discs where quality drops.

These are live recordings though and probably not recorded for release.  This is a treasure trove of great music across a spectrum of styles all featuring great work by Skidmore. If that interests you, I'd say buy without qualm, you'll get hours of great music with less than an hour in less than perhaps ideal sound quality.

 

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Thanks, I went for it. Fortunately a US dealer (Squidco) had the set in stock, so I could order w. reasonable shipping cost.

 

[mjazzg]

  On 6/15/2023 at 2:59 PM, T.D. said:

Thanks, I went for it. Fortunately a US dealer (Squidco) had the set in stock, so I could order w. reasonable shipping cost.

 

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I hope you enjoy it

[T.D.]

  On 6/15/2023 at 3:00 PM, mjazzg said:

I hope you enjoy it

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Confident that I will, based on the samples I heard and the (almost shockingly, when I reviewed last night) many recordings I own and enjoy on which Skidmore plays!

[adh1907]

Trunk records are advertising a vinyl reissue of Hum Dono. No info on source. Hmmm (Dono). 
 

Anthony

[sidewinder]

  On 6/16/2023 at 7:51 PM, adh1907 said:

Trunk records are advertising a vinyl reissue of Hum Dono. No info on source. Hmmm (Dono). 
 

Anthony

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Beats me what it offers over and above the good Dutton Vocalion CD and LP reissue of some years back. Better sleeve, perhaps.

[adh1907]

Yes, I should have said, Why? Am guessing Amancio’s son has licensed the reissue. 
 

Anthony

[romualdo]

  On 6/16/2023 at 9:20 PM, sidewinder said:

Beats me what it offers over and above the good Dutton Vocalion CD and LP reissue of some years back. Better sleeve, perhaps.

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both the LP & CD are OOP on the Dutton/Vocalion site (second hand prices have increased significantly on Discogs since) -  BTW, there's virtually no (cept for 1 CD) remaining Harriot & related material remaining on their site

[T.D.]

  On 6/10/2023 at 1:00 PM, mjazzg said:

It was discussed in passing on another thread somewhere, a few weeks ago.

I have it, production values high on the presentation. Sound quality is consistently good across all discs bar maybe three tracks where quality is a bit bootleggy.

All from Skidmore's personal archive

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I received it today, just cued up disc 4, enjoying it so far. Can't attest to stereo vs. mono, defer to the label.

One peculiarity: the non-playing sides of the CDs are solid black, no printing whatsoever, thus no indication of the disc number (1-6). I use a CD changer, and this means I have to be particularly mindful of the order in which I insert and remove discs. 🧐

Edited June 17, 2023 by T.D.

[mjazzg]

  On 6/17/2023 at 8:52 PM, T.D. said:

I received it today, just cued up disc 4, enjoying it so far. Can't attest to stereo vs. mono, defer to the label.

One peculiarity: the non-playing sides of the CDs are solid black, no printing whatsoever, thus no indication of the disc number (1-6). I use a CD changer, and this means I have to be particularly mindful of the order in which I insert and remove discs. 🧐

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Yes, Confront CDs are all like that

[romualdo]

anyone listened to the recent JIB release Trevor Watts' Original Drum Orchestra "The Art Is In The Rhythm", Vol. 2

Two concerts (Cardiff & Southampton) from 1989 - almost 3 hours

Looking to be one of my favourite JIB releases - has echoes of McGregor & The Blue Notes (sans piano), Brotherhood of Breath etc the violin & Watts soprano blend beautifully with the traditional African instruments

As usual I've downloaded & created two CDrs for better SQ listening - unfortunately on the first Southampton track (Disc 2, track #2) there are 5 dropouts, each of 4 seconds between 30:25 & 31:34 - I've excised these using Audacity & created a modified file. Anyone else heard these dropouts on their downloads or CDs.

[JohnT]

My digital copy has the same dropouts between 30:25 and 31:34 on the first Southhampton track.

[T.D.]

  On 6/17/2023 at 8:55 PM, mjazzg said:

Yes, Confront CDs are all like that

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I decided to take a (black) Sharpie* and write the disc number on the clear plastic ring in the center of each CD.

*don't have any green Magic Markers...🤣

[romualdo]

  On 6/19/2023 at 5:55 PM, JohnT said:

My digital copy has the same dropouts between 30:25 and 31:34 on the first Southhampton track.

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Emailed John from JIB & just received a reply - download has now been corrected

Hi Stephen,

Those glitches in Southampton 1 must have occurred during the upload to Bandcamp... someone else spotted them yesterday... so we have replaced that track and it's fine now for new downloads.

Thanks for alerting us.

Best

John

Jazz In Britain

[Roger Farbey]

Just received this email from Mark at Confront…

Yes, all the CDs are mastered in stereo. Some of the earlier tracks were in mono or almost mono, in which case that integrity has been maintained in our stereo master file.
 

(So I’m ordering it forthwith!)

[JohnT]

Thanks romualdo for checking with Jazz In Britain and for helping to get it corrected!