Jimmy Giuffre - Free Fall Columbia COL 480708 2 Jimmy Giuffre, clarinet Paul Bley, piano Steve Swallow, bass
Muhal Richard Abrams - Afrisong (India Navigation) black label I picked this up last week at Groove Yard still sealed from 1982. Solo piano.
Some good jazz scores at the record stores this weekend, including Radhaan Roland Kirk's 3-Sided Dream and Inflated Tear (both of which I listened to last night) and the Coltrane quartet Plays Chim Chim Cheree, etc. already had the Coltrane and Inflated Tear on CD but could not pass up good vinyl copies. Also got the Corea Complete "Is" Sessions mentioned I think upthread but definitely somewhere on this forum used at a great price.
NP Herbie Hancock - Sextant (Columbia) Red on Gold Quad label. While listening to this I kept hearing my tea kettle whistling like mad but I had my cup of tea in my hands. Lot of bleeps and boops going on. It's not my favorite period of Herbie's although I do like the live recordings I've heard from the band from the European tour around this time (mid-70s).
Winchester Special (Prestige) - Lem Winchester - Vibes/ Benny Golson - Tenor Sax/ Tommy Flanagan - Piano/ Wendell Marshal - Bass/ Arthur Taylor - Drums. I had never heard this record until one day at work in the late 80's I was listening to Jazz station and they played the lead track 'Down Fuzz' which knocked me out. On my way home I stopped off at the long defunct and short lived Jazz Offerings in East Oakland and bought this copy that always sounds wonderful to me.
Original '64 Blue Note BST 84156 (NY, Plastylite, VAN GELDER) Recorded February & May, '61 at Rudy's This is one that I have enjoyed immensely on CD (Connoisseur Series), so it finally made it to the top of my LP wish list, and fortuitously a clean, affordable copy came along. The CD also sounds very good and features 3 excellent bonus tracks not on the original album. The Wayne Shorter number, "El Toro" is such a blast!
Can anyone recommend where to start with Charlie Parker on LP? I'd be interested in affordable titles (original pressings) if such a thing exists, or AAA reissues.
This one has gotten really good reviews here on the board: The Complete Savoy Dial Recordings » The music is fantastic. I have this music in several different CD versions (including the same set on CD issued years earlier), part of this material also on 'seventies reissue vinyl.
Pete La Roca: Turkish Women at the Bath Douglas SD782 (1967) There's more to Pete La Roca than just Basra. Here you get John Gilmore and Chick Corea replacing Joe Henderson and Steve Kuhn respectively. Unjustly overlooked I think, possibly because it snuck out on a low profile label (Douglas), rather than our beloved Blue Note. Then it got pushed as a Corea album later on, prompting La Roca to seek legal redress and become a lawyer! The compositions are all La Roca's and they are top class, the playing is as you'd expect from talent like this. The only downer is the SQ, there's absolutely no depth or dynamic range here at all. It's close to being the worst-sounding vinyl I have. The 1997 CD release on 32Jazz is a big improvement. Art history note: The cover painting is by Ingres who was given a lot of work putting a classical spin on Napoleon's post-revolutionary regime. Something of a cold technician, though a supremely gifted one. A million miles away from 'Electric Ladyland' and proving there's nothing new under the sun.
Been meaning to pick this one up for some time. Just ordered a copy online thanks to you - and thanks for the recommendation of the '97 CD over the LP in terms of sound quality!
Re:Bird I am not an expert by any stretch so big caveat but his Verve sides should be good choices sonically as well as content. As far as which titles to get, again, I'm not your guy. There are some box sets from Mosaic and others I think but I can't name specifics at the moment. They are OOP but that doesn't mean they aren't (a) available amd (b) affordable.
Well, remember, the best and most important music Bird made was the Dial and Savoy material, especially with his early working quintet with Miles Davis an Max Roach, in the 1940s. The original pressings on that are all 78s. There are no "original" 33.3 LPs of that material. All of them are reissues made from 78 transfers. If you want original pressings you need to go find the 78s. That 10 LP box that @Lonson cites -- the complete Savoy and Dial sides -- is probably from a digital master, if that matters to you, came out at around the same time as a new CD issue of that material (though I think there may have been speed problems with some of those transfers in an original issue of that at least on CD, IIRC). It's also been issued in a lot of other formats over the years. In the '70s the British Spotlite label had the material out on a series of LPs, both separates and in a collection I think where the Spotlite transfers were used ans licensed (also those transfers were released on CD on Stash), that were well received in the era of all analog transfers (or you can try to hunt back farther to the '50s LP issues), but honestly I don't know if you can find that material or if it's better than contemporary digital transfers. My advice would be to dip your toes in with most recent CD issue of the Savoy and Dial master takes (not the complete material with all the alternates), as a first step, chances are it won't be your last.
The album also suffers from a grossly out of tune piano which is a shame as the material and performance are very good. NP Charlie Haden - Nocturne (Verve) I got to see the Nocturne band play this material at Yoshi's in 2001. It was the night I met Orrin Keepnews as well so it was a very memorable night. I was appalled when people booed at the end, I suppose because they played a short set, about 75 minutes. Charlie had to play behind a lucite baffle so I'm wondering if it was Charlie's health that prevented a longer set. Not that they would have had time to play a lot longer since there was a second set to follow with paying customers. I still thought it was incredibly rude and thoughtless of some of the audience members.
I might be wrong but I think the cd set was not followed with a vinyl set til last year. Good advice imo.
Finally, ten days after a box that was shipped at the same time from the same vendor (cdjapan) arrived I got a third box with CTI Supreme Blu-Spec CD discs in it hit my mailbox. I have never heard any of this batch in any form before so looking forward to hearing them. Decided to start with Bags. That man could PLAY.
Thought about Jack DeJohnette and decided to pull this one from the shelf. He's kicking it on this one, hard.
Theo Jorgensmann & Oleś Brothers – Alchemia (Hatology) — With Theo Jörgensmann (basset clarinet), Marcin Oleś (bass), Bartłomiej Brat Oleś (drums); recorded live a Klub Alchemia, Cracow, Poland in 2006 Excellent.
Tribute to Jack Johnson last night. One of my (10 or 15 or so) favorite Miles albums. Nice original vinyl copy I found at a pop up sidewalk record store on 40th Street in Oakland a couple years ago. I went to get coffee and came back with a stack of records.
This one is a smoker. I've always loved Idris' drumming. Eric Gale is on board here and this has elements that later would color the world of Stuff. Idris is really showing his chops and groove-making skills and the horns are nicely arranged. One arrangement by Tom Harrell, has to be an early appearance.
Vincenzo Mazzone – Ping Pong (Leo Lab) — Genesi 2[/]: composition for 9 percussionists with the Sud Percussion Group — Ping Pong: two-part suite with Pino Minafra's "Sud Ensemble" – Trumpet – Pino Minafra; Trombone – Lauro Rossi; Alto Saxophone – Sandro Satta; Bass Clarinet, saxes – Carlo Actis Dato; Piano – Giorgio Occhipinti; Bass – Daniele Patumi; Drums – Vincenzo Mazzono — plus several short solo percussion pieces
Carlo De Rosa's Cross Fade – Brain Dance (Cuneiform Records) — With Mark Shim (tenor sax), Vijay Iyer (piano, Fender Rhodes), Carlo de Rosa (acoustic & electric bass), Justin Brown (drums)
