2007 in review. What were your favorite buys?

[mikelz777]

As we approach the end of year it's common for many to reflect upon the year that's already passed. What were your favorite jazz purchases for 2007? (It need not have been issued in 2007-two of mine weren't)

My first is Charles Kynard - The Soul Brotherhood

I loved this when I first heard it and I like it even more each time I listen to it. It features some great sidemen in Blue Mitchell, Grant Green David "Fathead" Newman, Joe Pass, etc. and being a big Crusaders fan, it didn't hurt to have Wilton Felder appear on 6 of the 11 tunes. It's probably my favorite organ CD and should be a "must have" purchase for any organ lover's collection.

My second is the Complete 1955-1957 Jackie McLean Quartet, Quintet, Sextet Sessions

This is a 6-CD collection (12 CDs worth of releases) containing Jackie's earliest sessions as a leader and a couple of shared sessions that are primarily on the Prestige label. I had no Jackie Mac leader dates in my collection so this was a great addition for me. This was all new to me and I was very impressed with each successive CD. Great playing, great sidemen, it's all good. Highly recommended.

The third purchase that made the biggest impression on me was The Complete Count Basie Verve Fifties Studio Recordings I bought this on somewhat of a whim because I enjoyed his Decca sides and it was selling for such a great bargain via Amazon.UK. (around $66.00 new and delivered) Wow!! This stuff knocked my socks off! Talk about HARD swing! Who said Benny Goodman was the king of swing? I'm not usually a fan of vocals but the stuff with Joe Williams is outstanding. Outstanding soloists, outstanding swing, this kind of music has the power to convert the most hard-hearted to big band music.

So what were your favorite purchases in 2007? (It need not have been issued in 2007-two of mine weren't)

Edited December 1, 2007 by mikelz777

[AndrewHill]

Reissues released this year:

Andrew Hill-Compulsion!!!-BN RVG

Andrew Hill-Change-BN Conn

Frank Foster-Manhatten Fever-BN Conn (this one was a pleasant surprise )

[Van Basten II]

Single contemporary CD Maria Schneider Sky Blue

Boxset although it was not released this year.

The Duke Ellington Centennial Edition of RCA VIctor recordings.

[sidewinder]

Some of my faves this year:

Oliver Nelson - 'Argo/Verve/Impulse' Set (Mosaic)

Charles Tolliver - 'With Love' (Blue Note/Mosaic)

Mike Taylor Quartet - 'Pendulum' (Sunbeam) and 'Mike Taylor Remembered' (Trunk)

Miles Davis - 'Complete On The Corner Sessions' (CBS/Sony)

'Introducing Kenny Cox and the Contemporary Jazz Quintet' (BN)

Andrew Hill - 'Change' (BN) and Piano Solo Mosaic Select set

Stanley Turrentine - 'A Bluish Bag' (BN)

Tubby Hayes - 'The Little Giant' (Proper)

[Dave Garrett]

'Introducing Kenny Cox and the Contemporary Jazz Quintet' (BN)

I ordered this, along with the other four Conns released at the same time, from BMG at the beginning of September and have yet to receive it. When I check my account, it's still showing up as backordered.

[montg]

Some newer releases I picked this year and enjoyed (most were not released in 2007, I usually lag behind)

Dave Douglas --Meaning and Mystery

Maria Schneider--Concert in the Garden

Ari Brown--Live at the Green Mill

Charles Lloyd--Hyperion with Higgins

Oliver Lake--Talkin' Stick

Ben Allison-Cowboy Justice

Reissues I picked up in 2007 that really stand out for me (I've been catching up with a lot of Conns)

Booker Ervin --Tex Book Tenor

Sam Rivers --Countours

My best purchase this year, at least reissue-wise, was the Tal Farlow Mosaic. For consistency and all-around excellence, this one is hard to top:

[ejp626]

Most of what I bought was a reissue, so I'm not sure whether to count it here or not, esp if I had it in LP format. My favorite new CD was Brecker's Pilgrimage, which I spin once a month or so (high by my standards).

[Sundog]

Some of my favorites...

Brad Shepik Trio- Places You Go

Exploding Star Orchestra- We Are All From Somewhere Else

Stefano Bollani- Piano Solo

Chris Potter Underground- Follow The Red Line

Mingus- Cornell 1964

Mingus- In Paris, Complete America Sessions

Miles- Live At Monterey 1963

Miles- Complete On The Corner Sessions

Bill Evans- Complete Live At The VV Recordings, 1961

Henry Grimes Trio- Live At The Kerava Jazz Festival

Kenny Wheeler- Gnu High

Sly & The Family Stone- The Collection

Joe Zawinul- Brown Street

Edited to include Brown Street.

Edited December 2, 2007 by Sundog

[paul secor]

Some newly released music:

Roscoe Mitchell Trio: No Side Effects

Miles: Monterey 1963

Older issues that I finally caught up with:

Roscoe Mitchell & the Note Factory: Song for My Sister

The Art of Ivry Gitlis

Ted Brown Trio with Hod Obrien and Jacques Schols: Free Spirit

Listen to Barry Harris ... Solo Piano

Down Home Blues Classics - California & the West Coast 1948-1954

edit: one I forgot - Phil Woods/Red Garland: Sugan

And a couple of boxes where I had much of the material, but enjoyed hearing it in this format:

Complete Bud Powell on Verve

Ellington - Small Group Sessions - Mosaic

Edited December 2, 2007 by paul secor

[Uncle Skid]

Roscoe Mitchell & the Note Factory: Song for My Sister

I have "Song for My Sister", but haven't played it much yet...

(relatively) new releases:

Fred Anderson & Hamid Drake - From the River to the Ocean

Steve Lacy - Roswell Rudd Quartet - Early and Late

Rudresh Mahanthappa - Codebook

Vijay Iyer - Blood Sutra

New to me this year:

Roswell Rudd - Regeneration

Dave Holland Quartet - Conference of the Birds

Paul Desmond - Gerry Mulligan: Two of a Mind

Mal Waldon & Steve Lacy - Live at Dreher Paris 1981

Dexter Gordon - Both Sides of Midnight

Anthony Braxton Quartet - Conventry 1985

Edited December 2, 2007 by Uncle Skid

[7/4]

My best purchase this year, at least reissue-wise, was the Tal Farlow Mosaic. For consistency and all-around excellence, this one is hard to top:

Yes! I got this back in June.

[AndrewHill]

Although none of these recordings were from this year, this was a great year of discovery of Cooper-Moore for me. Found two of his Hopscotch recordings (Tells Untold and Solo) this year and my appreciation for his playing is way up for me. My first exposure to Cooper-Moore was William Parker's Peach Orchard and that was amazing!

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Not very many new releases or reissues among my favourite purchases (that I didn't have before in another format).

This year's releases of new material:

Reuben Wilson, Grant Green Jr & Bernard Purdie - Godfathers of groove - 18th & Vine

Sekouba Bambino - CAN history - Super Selection, issued in France on Syllart

Houston Person & Etta Jones - Don't misunderstand - HighNote

Harlem Art Ensemble - Live in New York - Explore

Of those, only the first two were recent recordings - the others were previously unissued vault items.

This year's releases of reissues

Onzy Matthews select - Mosaic

I'm fully expecting the Lionel Hampton Mosaic box to qualify in this section, but it's only been shipped in the last day or so, and I haven't received it yet

Stuff that came out before that I just caught up on:

Anna King - Back to soul - Smash reissued on Shout (UK)

Magic System - Cessa kie la verite - Showbiz issued in France by Virgin

Rhoda Scott with Ricky Ford & Houston Person - Very saxy - Ahead

Ablaye Mbaye - Maag na - Timco

Lionel Hampton - Paris all stars - Vogue reissued by BMG (many thanks to Brownie once more)

Rev J M Gates - Complete recorded works vol 9 1934-1941 - Document (this one is spell-binding!)

Nat Adderley, with Gene Harris & Johnny Griffin - Branchin' out - Jazzland reissued by OJC

Linda Kekana - I am an African - Gallo Jazz

and

Concha Buika - Buika - DRO Atlantic

Concha Buika - Mi Nina Lola - DRO Atlantic

MG

Edited December 2, 2007 by The Magnificent Goldberg

[brownie]

Plenty of discs but the most welcome ones were:

the Mosaic Duke Ellington Mosaic box

L'Intégrale Louis Armstrong volumes from Frémeaux

the four Fats Waller sets from JSP

[Dan Gould]

Right now, the music that has knocked me out the most from the past year is Junior Parker and Jimmy McCracklin (the Chess - Imperial era). There wasn't much jazz purchasing going on and I can't think of a single thing that was especially memorable.

[BillF]

Of the fifty or so items I bought this year, the following are the most memorable or treasured:

Mel Lewis, Definitive Thad Jones, Vol 1 (deleted CD, quite costly)

Lanny Morgan, Suite for Yardbird (after seeing him blow brilliantly here in Manchester with a local band)

Harry Edison/Buddy Rich, Complete Studio Recordings (What a swinging record!)

Jackie McLean (with Lee Morgan), Consequence (As Larry Kart remarks in his liner note: "with performances that rank with anything McLean or Morgan produced on Blue Note. There is nothing here that is less than very good")

Art Farmer Quartet Featuring Jim Hall, Live at the Half Note (another pricey CD, worth it for the sensational groove which the group attains on "Stompin' at the Savoy")

[BruceH]

Never Hear the End Of It - Sloan (For amount of pleasure per dollar spent had to be the best buy of the year.)

[sidewinder]

Lanny Morgan, Suite for Yardbird

Sounds like that one might be named after the long-lived 'Yardbird Suite' club in Edmonton, Alberta !

Second the comments about Lanny. An excellent guy to catch in live performance.

[B. Clugston]

Big John Patton Mosaic Select and Got a Good Thing Going

Kenny Dorham's Matador/Inta Somethin

Carpathian Forest Fuck You All

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Not very many new releases or reissues among my favourite purchases (that I didn't have before in another format).

This year's releases of new material:

Reuben Wilson, Grant Green Jr & Bernard Purdie - Godfathers of groove - 18th & Vine

Sekouba Bambino - CAN history - Super Selection, issued in France on Syllart

Houston Person & Etta Jones - Don't misunderstand - HighNote

Harlem Art Ensemble - Live in New York - Explore

Of those, only the first two were recent recordings - the others were previously unissued vault items.

This year's releases of reissues

Onzy Matthews select - Mosaic

I'm fully expecting the Lionel Hampton Mosaic box to qualify in this section, but it's only been shipped in the last day or so, and I haven't received it yet

Stuff that came out before that I just caught up on:

Anna King - Back to soul - Smash reissued on Shout (UK)

Magic System - Cessa kie la verite - Showbiz issued in France by Virgin

Rhoda Scott with Ricky Ford & Houston Person - Very saxy - Ahead

Ablaye Mbaye - Maag na - Timco

Lionel Hampton - Paris all stars - Vogue reissued by BMG (many thanks to Brownie once more)

Rev J M Gates - Complete recorded works vol 9 1934-1941 - Document (this one is spell-binding!)

Nat Adderley, with Gene Harris & Johnny Griffin - Branchin' out - Jazzland reissued by OJC

Linda Kekana - I am an African - Gallo Jazz

and

Concha Buika - Buika - DRO Atlantic

Concha Buika - Mi Nina Lola - DRO Atlantic

MG

Yes, well the Hampton box definitely lived up to expectations.

MG

[rockefeller center]

[Matthew]

My two are:

Steve Lacy / Roswell Rudd Quartet: Early and Late

Perry Robinson: The Soul in the Mist.

[sal]

Miles Davis - The Complete On the Corner sesisons, without a doubt, was my best purchase. I can't get enough of it.

The Mingus Sextet at Cornell was another memorable one.

My favorite new release was Roscoe Mitchell - Composition/Improvisation Nos. 1, 2, & 3

As for straight reissues, the two new ones on ECM (Dewey Redman & Bennie Maupin) have made a strong impression, as did Andrew Hill's "Compulsion" and "Change".

[B. Clugston]

Compulsion and The Jewel and The Lotus were big faves, too.

[John Tapscott]

Some favs:

Oliver Nelson Mosaic

Gary Smulyan - More Treasures ( Reservoir)

Maria Schneider - Sky Blue (artistshare)

Bud Shank/Bill Mays (Jazzed Media)

Stan Kenton Plays the Compostions of Dee Barton (Capitol)

Roberta Gambarini - Easy to Love (Groovin' High)

Frank Tiberi - 4 Brothers 7 (Jazzed Media)