Black Saint/Soul Note Box Sets

[Clunky]

Billy Bang holds a very special place in my heart. He was the first modern jazz musician I heard live. Frank Lowe, Sirone and Dennis Charles completed the band. 

I was totally captivated by the whole thing Bang , Lowe , I can still recall the sense of excitement at hearing something really new that I immediately connected with. 

Live at Carlos 1 was the current release. Although totally different from the band I'd heard the disc played on repeat for months. 

Rainbow Gladiator and Valve No 10 are also highly recommended. The later release is a reasonable representation of the band I'd heard live . A live Bang release would be greatly welcomed.

[JSngry]

10 hours ago, alankin said:

Me too.

same

[Face of the Bass]

A Billy Bang set would be awesome. I haven't kept up with this series in recent years. For those who have, which of these sets stand out as particularly good? 

[felser]

4 hours ago, Face of the Bass said:

A Billy Bang set would be awesome. I haven't kept up with this series in recent years. For those who have, which of these sets stand out as particularly good? 

The Andrew Cyrille is awesome, and I really like the second Max Roach (with the quartets).

[mikeweil]

FWIW, here's what's available at the moment (AFAIK). Listing from JPC, which says the Sun Ra is on backorder.

Steve Lacy

1. Trickles 2. Revenue 3. Troubgles 4. Regeneration 5. Change Of Season 6. Dutch Masters 7. The Condor 8. The Cry (2 CDs) 9. Vespers

10 CDs

Enrico Pieranunzi

Albumtitel: Isis No Man's Land Flux And Change Seaward Ma L'Amore Mio

6 CDs

Roscoe Mitchell

3x4 Eye Roscoe Mitchell And The Sound And Space Ensembles The Flow Of Things Live At The Knitting Factory Duets And Solos This Dance Is For Steve McCall The Italian Concert Shadowgraph, 5 (Sextet) Spihumonesty

9 CDs

Gianluigi Trovesi

From G. to G. Les Hommes Armes The Village Fair Around Small Fairy Tales Electric Five Missa Bathet Cinque Piccole Storie Nvola

9 CDs

Ed Blackwell (1929-1992)

8 CDs

Max Roach (1924-2007)

1:Birth And Rebirth CD 2:Collage CD 3:Survivors CD 4:Historic Concerts Set I CD 5:Historic Concerts Set II CD 6:Bright Moments

6 CDs

Max Roach Vol.2    

Pictures In A Frame In The Light Live At Vielharmonie Munich Scott Free Easy Winners It's Christmas Again

6 CDs

Ran Blake

Improvisations Duke Dreams Suffield Gothic Short Life Of Barbara Monk Epistrophy Unmarked Van Indian Winter

7 CDs

Chico Hamilton

5 CDs

Andrew Hill

4 CDs

Jimmy Lyons

5 CDs

Mingus Big Band

Reincarnation Mingus' Sounds Of Love Live At The Theatre Boulogne-Billancourt/Paris Vol.1 Live At The Theatre Boulogne-Billancourt/Paris Vol.2

4 CDs

Archie Shepp  

4 CDs

Sun Ra

1. Reflections In Blue 2. Hours After 3. Mayan Temples 4. A Tribute To Stuff Smith

4 CDs

Kenny Wheeler

5 CDs

Andrew Cyrille

Metamusicians' stomp Nuba Something in return Special people The navigator X Man Good To Go, With A Tribute

7 CDs

Giorgio Gaslini

Murales New Orleans Suite Free Actions Graffiti Sharing Live At The Public Theater In New York Ecstasy Four Pieces Indian Suite Monodrama Skies Of China

11 CDs

Don Pullen

Capricorn Rising Healing Force Warriors Milano Strut The Magic Triangle Evidence Of Things Unseen The Sixth Sense

7 CDs

George Adams (1940-1992

5 CDs

Lester Bowie

3 CDs

Dave Douglas

6 CDs

Art Farmer (1928-1999)

6 CDs

World Saxophone Quartet

Steppin' With The World Saxophone Quartet, W.S.Q., Revue, Live In Zurich, Live At Brooklyn Academy Of Music, Moving Right Along

6 CDs

Julius Hemphill

5 CDs

Oliver Lake (geb. 1942)

7 CDs

George Lewis

1. Shadowgraph, 5 (Sextet) 2. Jila-Save! Mon. - The Imaginary Suite 3. Homage To Charles Parker 4. Change Of Season 5. Dutch Masters

5 CDs

Cecil Taylor

5 CDs

Mal Waldron

4 CDs

David Murray Octets

5 CDs

David Murray Volume 2

7 CDs

David Murray Volume 3

Interboogieology Live At Sweet Basil Vol.1 Children Live At Sweet Basil Vol.2 Southern Bells The Healers

6 CDs

 

Edited February 2, 2018 by mikeweil

[Misterioso]

I think all box sets are still available from their own website: http://www.camjazz.com/boxsets.html/.

[T.D.]

Any opinions on the Mal Waldron Volume 2 (11 CD) box?

I loved Volume 1, am considering Vol. 2 but am always wary of such large boxes. Four of the discs are essential (6 Monk's Compositions, the solo album and the 2 Lacy duets), and I'm sure I'd enjoy the trio album ("Colline"). The 2 discs with Chico Freeman and Enrico Rava respectively seem at least interesting, but I'd probably never listen to the 2 vocal albums (Kim Parker, Judi Silvano), and the 2 discs with David Friesen are complete question marks.

[felser]

10 hours ago, T.D. said:

Any opinions on the Mal Waldron Volume 2 (11 CD) box?

I loved Volume 1, am considering Vol. 2 but am always wary of such large boxes. Four of the discs are essential (6 Monk's Compositions, the solo album and the 2 Lacy duets), and I'm sure I'd enjoy the trio album ("Colline"). The 2 discs with Chico Freeman and Enrico Rava respectively seem at least interesting, but I'd probably never listen to the 2 vocal albums (Kim Parker, Judi Silvano), and the 2 discs with David Friesen are complete question marks.

I own it and am glad for it, though I will never re-listen to some of the discs.  The discs with Friesen are really good, prime Waldron.

[T.D.]

Thanks, John. BTW, I (only recently) picked up the Andrew Cyrille box which you recommended above, and it's fantastic.

[Pim]

On 2-3-2019 at 3:36 AM, T.D. said:

Any opinions on the Mal Waldron Volume 2 (11 CD) box?

I loved Volume 1, am considering Vol. 2 but am always wary of such large boxes. Four of the discs are essential (6 Monk's Compositions, the solo album and the 2 Lacy duets), and I'm sure I'd enjoy the trio album ("Colline"). The 2 discs with Chico Freeman and Enrico Rava respectively seem at least interesting, but I'd probably never listen to the 2 vocal albums (Kim Parker, Judi Silvano), and the 2 discs with David Friesen are complete question marks.

Well as a Waldron completist I want this of course. The Lacy duets, Update and Our Collines a Treasure are essential Waldron. The duets with Friesen are very nice. The work with Freeman and Rava is not so good as you might expect and the works with the singers are truly not my taste. Still: enough interesting stuff especially for that price!

[felser]

2 hours ago, Pim said:

The work with Freeman and Rava is not so good as you might expect and the works with the singers are truly not my taste. 

I definitely  agree with that.   

[T.D.]

Thanks. I'm going to order. I've heard the 6 Monk's Compositions disc with Braxton et al.; maybe not essential Waldron per se but an outstanding recording. If 7 out of 11 CDs are good to excellent (assuming the worst of the Freeman and Rava albums; can't imagine I'll dig the 2 with vocals), the box offers value for money.

[T.D.]

Waldron 2 just arrived.

Want to put in a word for the Lester Bowie box. Just 3 discs, only one (5th Power) of which was released under Lester's name (other two by "The Leaders"), seems almost like an afterthought in the series, but damn, the music's excellent.

[T.D.]

Any thoughts on the George Lewis box? I've been on the fence, but may take advantage of the current (see recent thread) sale.

[JSngry]

Come down off that fence!

Personally, I think it was some of the more..."outside the box" music being made at the time in that part of the music world. And it's held up for me very well.

[T.D.]

Thanks, highly relevant comment...I'm more than fine with "outside the box" but often feel that electronic material doesn't age so well (hence the fence ).

[JSngry]

Well, there will be that, (tape more than electronic, per se) but I don't find it to be really "aged" not as in "dated". It all seems natural enough to the music at hand, it's just one more thing going on, not the thing itself.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I finally started cracking open my Black Saint/Soul Note boxes today and the first one I got open was Gianluigi Trovesi's box. I got to "Baghet" and discovered that it won't play the last track. Is anyone else finding this to be true?

[Jason Bivins]

I haven't noticed any tracks not playing, Kevin, but some of these discs are way more skippy/glitchy than typical commercial product.

[Kyo]

On 18.1.2018 at 2:02 AM, Patrick said:

Any speculation about what might appear next as a box set?

It looks like this series has sadly been discontinued (many old titles are still available, but no new releases for years now). But if they ever add more sets to it, I would like to see a Hamiet Bluiett set - he recorded seven albums for BS and SN as a leader.

[Dub Modal]

On 4/5/2020 at 9:37 PM, bresna said:

I finally started cracking open my Black Saint/Soul Note boxes today and the first one I got open was Gianluigi Trovesi's box. I got to "Baghet" and discovered that it won't play the last track. Is anyone else finding this to be true?

 

On 4/6/2020 at 4:37 PM, Jason Bivins said:

I haven't noticed any tracks not playing, Kevin, but some of these discs are way more skippy/glitchy than typical commercial product.

I've had some issues with tracks on my Jimmy Lyons and Lester Bowie sets too. 

2 hours ago, Kyo said:

It looks like this series has sadly been discontinued (many old titles are still available, but no new releases for years now). But if they ever add more sets to it, I would like to see a Hamiet Bluiett set - he recorded seven albums for BS and SN as a leader.

Kind of unbelievable that this wasn't one of the first sets produced. Great artist and albums for this label. 

[felser]

4 hours ago, Kyo said:

It looks like this series has sadly been discontinued (many old titles are still available, but no new releases for years now). But if they ever add more sets to it, I would like to see a Hamiet Bluiett set - he recorded seven albums for BS and SN as a leader.

Billy Bang is the one I always hoped for.

[greggery peccary]

1 hour ago, felser said:

Billy Bang is the one I always hoped for.

Agreed.

[Guy Berger]

As an only-partly-recovered CD addict, worth mentioning most of the BS/SN stuff is on Spotify.