I went to Cafe Oto last night and saw the Konstrukt with an enhanced lineup which added Alexander Hawkins, Alan Wilkinson, and Daniel Spencer. Two long sets and some great Turkish-inspired free jazz from all concerned. Alex had his new album on Intakt which he made with vocalist Elaine Mitchener, bassist Neil Charles, and drummer Stephen Davis on sale too. As well as songs from the band it includes ones by Patty Waters, Jeanne Lee, and Archie Shepp. Two plays so far today - thoroughly recommended. I've seen this relatively new band play twice before and they're really very impressive. Tonight sees me at the Vortex - Evan Parker, Alex Hawkins, John Edwards, and Neil Metcalfe - 4 solos and a quartet.
Yeah. . . I had discovered Pee Wee Russell before this LP release came into my collection . . . what a musical mind. . . I confess that he's a favorite and I love his writing as well as playing.
A bright sunny day with Mt Fuji on the horizon, so some bright sunny music to start off with. Hank Mobley- Soul Station Toshiba Japan 24bit by RVG mini lp.
I had become big on Barney Bigard when I was young, especially in his small group stuff that he recorded with Duke.
The late George Avakian, producer of that record, with Satch and W.C.. They were teasing Louis for being a long-hair.
From the fascinating George Avakian obit "In 2014, Mr. Avakian and Ms. Ajemian donated their archives, including unreleased recordings by Armstrong and Ellington, to the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center." George Avakian, Record Producer and Talent Scout, Dies at 98
I like Barney Bigard as well. . . but Pee Wee was something else. Louis Prima once said of him something to the extent that he was the most brilliant musical mind he had encountered
After 15 years The Poll Winners return to Contemporary's back room. Recorded in L.A. on 7/12/75 by Roy DuNann. Producer: Lester Koenig. 1989 remaster by Phil De Lancie. Got this for $3.95 yesterday.
Something endearing about Shearing. With Neal Swainson (b) & Louis Stewart (g). Recorded 3/1-3/95 at Sony Music Studios B, NYC by Jack Renner. Producer: John Snyder. $2.95 for this one.
I'm slowly working my way through this set, and reading "Trouble in Mind." I've listened to the first four discs several times each and am on my second time through the Toronto set. And I've listened to San Diego once so far. An excellent set. I'm still not the hugest fan of this period, in fact I'd say everything from Before the Flood through Shot of Love gets probably the least rotation in my Dylan listing, but I have a growing fascination with the evangelical Dylan and how it transformed his performances and this set really delivers on that front. Great job from Sony/Columbia and the Dylan camp.
It did produce "Every Grain of Sand", a career masterpiece. For variations, try Barb Jungr's interpretation of that song,
I second these recommendations. That last selection is the second Russell set I ever got (part of an old Impulse LP twofer called Salute to Newport). That version of Pee Wee's Blues" remains my single favorite recording of his! L.
This was one of the least tempting sets from the bootleg series for me. I have two of the albums, Slow Train and Infidels which I like well enough but I didn't buy them until a few years ago. As usual it looks like a great package but in the end it saved me some money which I gladly spent today on a few RSD titles.
In case it makes a difference, Infidels is outside the scope of the box, which covers the years that saw the Slow Train, Saved, and Shot of Love in the studio. The real attraction of the set, however, is not the two disks of studio outtakes from those albums (although there are some good things in there), it's the live material from the tours of those years. It's ear-opening in the important sense that it was on stage that the songs of this period really came to life. If the deluxe box is too much, the 2 disk version of the set, which is the same as the first two disks of the big box, is all live material, selected from the soundboards and multi-track recordings made of all of the '79-'81 tours. The big box also presents a superb two disk selection from a stand of shows in Toronto in 1980 and a full show from London in 1981 (and if you buy from Bobdylan.com you also get a full '79 show as a bonus), but those first two disks make the case for the power and interest of the live music from '79-'81 pretty forcefully on their own. And the 2-disk version is cheap. L.
Picked this up this morning along with Sonny Clark -The 1960 Time Sessions and Sonny Rollins On Impulse. Can't wait to have a listen to Wes.
I missed out on the Seattle set they released last time so glad I was able to get this one. For those who didn't get one, the cd version should sound good. I missed the last Bill Evans live set last RSD and the cds sounded excellent so no reason to think this won't be any different.
You know they also had a Sun Ra - Exotica (though I haven't experienced any Sun Ra yet) for which I'm almost kicking myself for not picking it up.
Just got home with this one in my RSD bag: Lee Morgan - The Sixth Sense (Original press?) I’ve been searching the bins for this one for many months now and I almost missed it today; I had looked through the rack that it was in and skipped past it. Later I was chatting with the Hifi shop owner when I happened to catch a glimpse of it out of the corner of my eye as another customer was flipping through the rack. Seems to be in great condition so far, and was only $10; still looking forward to getting the SHM-CD, though, that I had pre-ordered on CDJapan.
