Chalupa Posted January 18, 2008 Report Posted January 18, 2008 I just read about the forthcoming box set in the BFT forum and thought it deserved a thread of its own..... http://www.cadillacjazz.co.uk/code/news.html OGUN RECORDS Are busy preparing the next Ogun issue, and are very pleased and excited to announce the awaited release of all the music recorded on Ogun by the legendary BLUE NOTES LOUIS MOHOLO-MOHOLO ~DUDU PUKWANA ~ JOHNNY DYANI AND CHRIS McGREGOR. A box set with Blue Notes for Mongezi, 2 full length CDs with extra material from the double LP previous release OG001/002 Blue Notes in Concert ( OG220 ) with extra material from the live concert Blue Notes For Johnny ( OG532 ) extra material from the studio recording All of which have never been on CD before, plus the re-issue of Blue Notes Legacy formerly released as a CD OGCD007 which has been out of print for over a year. 5 CD BOX SET OGCD 024 - 028 A booklet with contributions from an international collection of writers, and musicians with photos collected from various archives, hopefully available by late March early April. Definitely something to look forward to ~ watch the web for up-dates on the progress. All the best for 2008. Hazel Miller Wahoo!! :party: Quote
clifford_thornton Posted January 18, 2008 Report Posted January 18, 2008 I have a lot of this stuff in "the other format" but look forward to the release of this set. About damn time. Quote
Chalupa Posted January 18, 2008 Author Report Posted January 18, 2008 I have a lot of this stuff in "the other format" but look forward to the release of this set. About damn time. I have "Blue Notes for Mongezi" on vinyl and the rest in "the other format". I can't wait to hear them in better sound. Now if Polydor would just release "Very Urgent" and "Up To Earth" ..... Quote
Head Man Posted January 18, 2008 Report Posted January 18, 2008 I have a lot of this stuff in "the other format" but look forward to the release of this set. About damn time. I have "Blue Notes for Mongezi" on vinyl and the rest in "the other format". I can't wait to hear them in better sound. Now if Polydor would just release "Very Urgent" and "Up To Earth" ..... Chis McGregor's 'Very Urgent' is available, albeit as a CD-R, from Downtown Music Gallery. And very nice it is too! DMG also has quite a few other recordings available by him. Downtown Music Gallery Quote
sidewinder Posted January 18, 2008 Report Posted January 18, 2008 (edited) Hmm, interesting. Do these guys know something that we don't. Joe Harriott 'Hum Dono' on Universal 'Impressed Repressed' for pre-order. Not April 1 today is it? Harriott Edited January 18, 2008 by sidewinder Quote
king ubu Posted January 18, 2008 Report Posted January 18, 2008 Wow, great news! So I finally get to hear a big chunck of the Blue Notes then! Thanks for sharing the news! Quote
Chalupa Posted January 18, 2008 Author Report Posted January 18, 2008 After hearing the news about the reissues last night I checked our library catalog and found that we have Maxine McGregor's book and "Mbizo - A Book about Johnny Dyanni". Anyone read these?? The Dyani book looks really good. It's an oral history w/ lot's of pictures and illustrations Quote
Chalupa Posted January 21, 2008 Author Report Posted January 21, 2008 Hey does any know what's up w/ ep1str0phy??? He hasn't logged in since December 14. I thought he would be all over this box set. Quote
ep1str0phy Posted January 22, 2008 Report Posted January 22, 2008 Hi, folks... I've been in contact with the Cadillac people, but, strangely enough, this is the first place I've seen mention of the box. That's gonna be a helluva lot of cash, but I may be in England at that time and I'll chalk it up as a research expense... I'm working on Blue Notes research right now, as a matter of fact. I received a mini-grant for UK travel later in the year, so that work should yield some fruit in the next couple of months. If everything--interviews, musicology stuff, etc.--pans out like it should, y'all will be the first to know... Just a note that I'm extremely glad that the Ogun people have found a way to offer up this material to the CD audience. It's a shame but sort of a truth that this music is (presently) most regarded by a niche audience, and the later quartet (-) Blue Notes sides require a lot of emotional and time investment. I recall something Clifford said about Blue Notes of Mongezi being intense but difficult to return to (?), and I completely agree in that it's probably the most difficult to digest, if still among the most energetic and powerful, of Blue Notes albums. That's 2CD's worth of hurt. I will assert, and I don't think the most impassioned of fans would disagree, that the Blue Notes lost something major when Feza made an exit. That's both an emotional thing, relating to Feza as a personality/brother/person (and the dimensions of which none of us could comprehend as much as those closest he had to leave behind), and a musical thing. The Blue Notes could have operated in a two-horn format without sacrificing too much in terms of harmony and coloration--so co-ordinated and larger-than-life were Pukwana and Feza--but without the trumpet's added energetic foil you can detect a dimension or two missing from the music. It's weird, but with Pukwana shouldering the front-line burden on the quartet sides, the alto never really sounds like a soloist--it plays more like Jimmy Lyons in the Cecil Taylor Units--positing melodic shadings, contradictions, and punctuations, but not really arching over the music. I go back and forth on this, because the Blue Notes recordings have a very specific identity post-Feza, but the latter-day Blue Notes come across more like a chamber ensemble--and not even a piano quartet--than the soloistic post-bop group you can hear on Very Urgent. This box comprises a large proportion of the Blue Notes material that I have not yet been exposed to, which makes it a boon for study--at least, I'm looking forward to getting even more in-over-my-head than before... I think the phrase "hard core" was invented for stuff like this (in more ways than one)... Also, I just heard Hum Dono all the way through recently and, sparing for the moment my general disappointment with the post-Abstract Harriott music, it's a nice groove-oriented session that only sometimes lapses into ennui-inducing cheese. It's strange, but I think the impressionistic impulses that produced Harriott's most innovative work are very present in the rest of his discography--only in less in prescient iterations. Quote
ep1str0phy Posted January 22, 2008 Report Posted January 22, 2008 Also--J.H., you're a lucky bastard for having a copy of the Mbizo book in your library. It's impossible to track down and the order page online refuses to get back to me. I've read excerpts from the Dyani book online and it seems like a fun read at the least. There's so little on the Blue Notes that pretty much everything you can catch qualifies as informative. The McGregor book is very valuable, but it reads more like a family biography than music history. There's a hell of a lot of insight into Chris McGregor's personal life there, but you'll have to look elsewhere to find extensive detail squared specifically on the Blue Notes or Brotherhood as ensembles. Quote
sidewinder Posted January 22, 2008 Report Posted January 22, 2008 it's a nice groove-oriented session that only sometimes lapses into ennui-inducing cheese. More, really, of an Amancio d'Silva session than a Harriott session in terms of style and laid-back vibe. Any fans of d'Silva in particular should like it. Echoes too of 'Cosmic Eye - Dream Sequence' that was to follow in a few years time. Quote
blake Posted January 22, 2008 Report Posted January 22, 2008 Finally. There's been rumor of a Blue Notes box for several years now. Thanks very much for posting this news. Quote
Nate Dorward Posted January 22, 2008 Report Posted January 22, 2008 In related news, there's a new (prev. unreleased) Brotherhood of Breath CD due out from Cuneiform shortly, Eclipse at Dawn. It's a live 1971 performance. Quote
B. Clugston Posted January 22, 2008 Report Posted January 22, 2008 In related news, there's a new (prev. unreleased) Brotherhood of Breath CD due out from Cuneiform shortly, Eclipse at Dawn. It's a live 1971 performance. That's the 1971 date from Berlin that has circulated a lot on the web. It's a good one and should be in good sound. Quote
ep1str0phy Posted January 22, 2008 Report Posted January 22, 2008 Great set--deserves to be up and out there like the other Cuneiform releases. I think this is the one that has some confusion on the trumpet personnel--I'd like to see that cleared up. Quote
B. Clugston Posted January 24, 2008 Report Posted January 24, 2008 Great set--deserves to be up and out there like the other Cuneiform releases. I think this is the one that has some confusion on the trumpet personnel--I'd like to see that cleared up. According to person introducing the band, it's Harry Beckett and Marc Charig on trumpets. Quote
king ubu Posted January 25, 2008 Report Posted January 25, 2008 I don't have a setlist, but here's the rest of the info: Chris McGreger & Brotherhood of Breath JazzFest Berlin Philharmonie, Berlin, Germany November 4, 1971 Harry Beckett - trumpet Marc Charig - trumpet Nick Evans - trombone Malcolm Griffiths - trombone Dudu Pukwana - alto sax Mike Osborne - alto sax Alan Skidmore - tenor sax Gary Windo - tenor sax Chris McGregor - piano Harry Miller - bass Louis Moholo - drums Quote
clifford_thornton Posted January 25, 2008 Report Posted January 25, 2008 Great set--deserves to be up and out there like the other Cuneiform releases. I think this is the one that has some confusion on the trumpet personnel--I'd like to see that cleared up. According to person introducing the band, it's Harry Beckett and Marc Charig on trumpets. Ah, so "Chuck Mangione" must've been a misprint... Quote
ep1str0phy Posted January 25, 2008 Report Posted January 25, 2008 (edited) Thanks, B--I'll have another listen at the talking on my copy. And thanks, CT--Chuck Mangione almost made it into my thesis... (where was Mongezi on that date?) Edited January 25, 2008 by ep1str0phy Quote
clifford_thornton Posted January 25, 2008 Report Posted January 25, 2008 I have a copy of this somewhere ...will have to listen. Maybe all three are there but Mongs isn't announced? Quote
ep1str0phy Posted January 25, 2008 Report Posted January 25, 2008 I do recall that the info that ubu supplies is what has been circulating with the tape; it just seems strange that Mongezi would be missing from the lineup at that time. Cuneiform has a way of clearing up discographical confusion, so I'm sure this matter will be sorted out when the album streets (the Cuneiform website does not list release-specific personnel, it seems). The allmusic guide entry for Eclipse at Dawn does not list Mongezi, but it also doesn't list Harry Miller, so... Quote
king ubu Posted January 25, 2008 Report Posted January 25, 2008 Yes, that's correct - I can't vouch for the info, I merely posted it for the less-initiated ones... no idea about Feza, and in fact it's been a while since I played it at all. Not sure I could tell the three trumpet players apart anyway... It's great that there will be an official release of this one! Quote
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