Jazz Beat (Part 40)

Thelonious Monk - Genious of modern music Vol.1
TYCJ-81025

I have no idea about how well these japanese Blue Note 75th Anniversary Editions sound compared to other versions. I bought all the Blue Notes and Prestiges to get me started with Thelonious Monk. I got started alright. I've now gotten most of his catalogue, not being a completist by nature. Anyway, the Blue Notes and Prestiges sound excellent to me, and the music is absolutely stunning. The introductory words by Michael Cuscuna gets my imagination going. After hearing Monk the first time, Alfred Lion asks Monk to record everything he's ever written, and this is one of the three albums that came out of those 6 sessions. Volume 1 comes from 4 of those sessions in 1947 and 1948.

Moving through Monks catalogue I realise how important the Blue Note sessions are. It's all in there. It reminds me of when I listened through Beethovens complete catalogue in chronological order (madness I know) a few years ago. Listening to Beethovens first 5 piano sonata gives him away totally. So young, and already pure Beethoven. Sure, he kept changing the rules throughout his lifetime, but going back to the early sonatas you can hear the "waterstamp" and the unique musical ideas is already there.

To me, these sessions (Vol1 & 2 + the Milt Jackson album) have changed everything for me!

@Sorcerer Thank you for pointing me to these albums! Kudos to the whole Jazz Beat thread of course!

 

Charles Tolliver - Mosiac Select
disc 3.
Charles Tolliver, trumpet; Stanley Cowell, piano; Cecil McBee/ Clint Houston, bass;
Jimmy Hopps/ Clifford Barbaro, drums.

 

The the third & fourth discs from the Eric Dolphy Budget box.

Both recorded, like the first two titles, in 1960.

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Caribe - The Latin Jazz Quintet + Eric Dolphy




Far Cry - Eric Dolphy with Booker Little

 

Charlie Rouse - "Two Is One" on Strata-East.

 

Wow, I envy you being able to experience all this music new for the first times! I agree with your assessment of how these recordings show "all." I have loved them since I first encountered them in the 'seventies, and they've grown with my awareness over the years so that now they are material I couldn't live without.

These new 75th anniversary editions sound great. I confess I still enjoy the meatiness of the RVG editions' sound, but wow, these are the digital ones.

 

Thelonious Monk - Quintets, SHM-CD UCCO-5253
Just brilliant.

 

I actually have less of a problem (in general) with RVG's than I read about here. I enjoy a lot of them, and they can be found really cheap in Europe.

The last weeks with a lot of Monk has really elevated my experience of jazz. I pick out other albums from my collection and they sound different. It's really interesting!

 

Joe Henderson – The State of the Tenor – Live at the Village Vanguard, Vol. 1 (Blue Note / Universal Music Japan SHM-CD)
— With Ron Carter, Al Foster

 

Sonny Rollins - Moving Out, SHM-CD, UCCO-5258

What a way to end todays office session.

 

The CD versions? I haven't had any luck with the vinyl format 75th's. They had a lot of background noise and my Blue Train LP had a bad scratch & skipped on one tune. Maybe I should try one of the cd's?

 

Yes, the CD versions, I haven't tried any of the vinyl versions. They don't share the same mastering . . . Just got in ten of the CD batch that came out the 25th. Interestingly none of these have a center photo, they all have black center trays, a first for this (last batch?) series.

 

The new SHM-CD. Wow. From the first few seconds and the sound of the bass drum I knew this was going to be a great sounding disc!

 

Another accolade for Monk's (Blue Note) period. I do like the recordings that followed but I have to agree that the essence of Monk is found on those Blue Note sessions.

WP Miles - Round About Midnight (Columbia) Mono RSD reissue

NP Paul Desmond - With Strings (RCA) orig. black label mono w/Nipper.

Waking up slow and easy.

 

Do you get them from CD Japan? Any tips on ordering and such that you can pass along? Thanks

 

Yes, I order from cdjapan. If possible, order four or more, then the postage gets to be a better deal. I always use either Air Mail or FedEx International . . . . Air Mail can take ten days or so and sometimes it's hard to wait! But for smaller packages it makes sense. I just don't have the patience to wait for SAL. And I wonder what the "never arrived" ratio is with SAL. But I really like cdjapan. Their packaging is topnotch. And their points system means that every three or four batches the postage can be free, which is definietly nice.

 

Cool, I'll place an order . . . in the soon, thanks!

 

Keith Tippett - Blueprint

 

Next up from the budget box, a triple treat with three remarkable albums recorded (in one evening) at the Five Spot.


Eric Dolphy At The Five Spot



Eric Dolphy At The Five Spot (Volume 2)



Memorial Album - Eric Dolphy & Booker Little

 

Miles Davis - The Cellar Door Sessions 1970



Now playing Disc #3

 

Bobby Hutcherson – Knucklebean [(E) in Mosaic Select] (Blue Note Records – Mosaic)
— With Freddie Hubbard, Manny Boyd, Hadley Caliman, George Cables, James Leary III, Eddie Marshall

 

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[VIDEO]

 

Dave Douglas Quintet – Time Travel (Greenleaf Music)
— With Jon Irabagon, Matt Mitchell, Linda Oh, Rudy Royston

 

Now: The Complete Solid State Recordings of the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra - 5 CDs, Mosaic; disc 1