80s OJCs are good bangs for the buck, and the APs are worth it at $35, but I haven’t had an opportunity to compare any titles directly. Can’t really go wrong either way.
I wonder why there isn't an album of tribute acts doing Jim Hall compositions, similar to what has been done with the other great jazz composers such as Carla Bley, Duke Ellington, Gil Evans... Jim had a quite extensive and unique body of original compositions (for guitar, but not strictly so), most of which are IMO deserving of modern "standard" status: "Careful", "Down From Antigua", "All Across The City", "Big Blues", "Frisell Frazzle", etc...
Bobo Stenson - Serenity (ECM) Re:Red Garland I own a lot of his music and I can't think of one title that has disappointed me. Three titles off the top of my head are.... Groovy Red In Bluesville Rediscovered Masters The last one is a double lp that has a version of Blue Velvet on it that is worth the price of admission alone. The Moodsville titles are very ballad oriented solo or trio outings. The three above are trio recordings too fyi. It's hard to go wrong with any of his albums though imho.
All three albums by The Curtis Counce Group are worth seeking out. I really like Leroy Walks! as well. Nice score.
Besides the ones you just mentioned of Red, the only others I can think of that I have are Solar (OJC-CD, quartet album with Les Spann on guitar/flute) and John Coltrane with The Red Garland Trio (AP SACD), like @Six String I don't think you could go wrong. As far as the older OJC lps, I snatch them up any time I see them if they play cleanly. In fact, when I got the OJC of the Leroy Vinnegar I mentioned yesterday, the same shop had 3 still sealed older OJCs: Miles with Horns, Ernie Henry's Last Chorus, Art Farmer/Donald Byrd Two Trumpets... unfortunately the Miles had a serious warp on an outer edge of that prevented the the first several minutes of the first tracks on both sides from playing, a run through the record flattener that I mentioned yesterday didn't cure it completely but did help a little bit, on one side the first track will play but the needle will still jump out of place on the other side. I've never had a problem with getting warped records thus far when buying sealed records but I've gotten two in the past month or so (one was this OJC the other was Big Fun that I mentioned yesterday). After the OJC didn't flatten, the owner of the shop offered to let me trade it back for full store credit but I'd rather just keep the record and listen to the tracks that do play. Anyway, sorry for going of on a tangent, the only OJC vs. AP comparison I've ever done was on Art Pepper meets the Rhythm Section, I did like the AP better, seemed a little more present and up front; but if I were to already be the owner of the OJC then I would just stick with it, if I didn't already own the album then I would go ahead with the AP (in this case a friend owned the OJC and was considering getting the AP, he ended up getting the AP I believe).
I haven’t heard the other albums at all yet, early last year I was going through the Contemporary discography streaming albums from artists I hadn’t heard of or didn’t have any of in my collection, both the Counce and Vinnegar were among the ones that I added to the wantlist then.
After your previous post, I listened to some of the music by these British musicians and liked what I heard. However, I must say all of this is mastered way too loud for comfort, as some Amazon UK reviewers of Shabaka Hutchings' Wisdom of Elders warned: link So, no sale, I'm afraid.
And I have to say from real in my PS Audio transport and DAC experience they sound very good on my system, this one and the Wisdom of the Elders disc. A bit "loud" perhaps but I can play them quite loudly without that awful compressed feeling that some discs give, and with dynamics intact. Two of my favorite recent purchases. So in my case my own listening contradicts that. I guess it's a system dependent thing.
Nicholas Payton - Numbers, 2014 Payton plays trumpet on the first track only. They kept on jamming and grooving live in the studio for him to go back later and play on top. But the sound was so good that he decided to keep it as it was. I usually get tired of modern albums after a while, but this one just hits the spot on me. Maybe it's the Fender Rhodes sound... what can I say. No one has mentioned this one. Maybe is too simple. But I'm delighted I found it 2 years ago. I keep on coming back. If you like the rhodes sound check it online and tell me what you think...
Coltrane with trumpeter Wilbur Harden: Countdown - The Savoy Sessions. 1985 cd with alternate takes, recorded March 1958. I would say Trane in sheets of sounds mode is the main/only interest, although the tunes by Harden are pretty decent.
Earlier keeping me cool at work was The Complete Aladdin Recordings of Lester Young. Right now... not Jazz per se but with some mean sax nonetheless Verckys et l'Orchestre Veve - Congolese Funk, Afrobeat & Psychedelic Rhumba 1969-1978 (Analog Africa 2014 / LPs)
Verckys was one of the greatest Congolais musicians. He has been overlooked in the rise of interest in African music. I have all of his original 45s and LPs from Zaire. His main instrument was the saxophone, and he had a very cool sound.
Early in my jazz odyssey I listened to the 1st Miles Quintet quite often, and give that super group credit for sparking my interest. I still return to them at times. Finding Red Garland's piano playing so enjoyable (I always felt like I could hear his Texas roots in his playing), I tried to branch out and listen to some of his other work. But I never really found his other work to be at the same level as what he did with Miles...(though I really like the Art Pepper album referenced above)...maybe I just haven't heard the right stuff.
Anthony Braxton - Quartet (Santa Cruz) 1993 - First Set A new arrival. Relative to their stature, i guess i've kind of neglected Braxton's 'classic quartet'; i have one of the Leo double discs (Coventry), and i have the Black Saint discs with slightly differing personnel, but that's it. Hmmm. I like this group enough but i feel like a little goes a long way: this will take me many, many, MANY listens to digest; i don't feel a great urge to get more from this group. Still, eyeing up that new Willisau 1991 reissue... the thing for me is sometimes i need to hear more from a group/artist for the penny to drop... see a bigger picture... Fascinating stuff, technically brilliant but i'm not really feeling it if i'm honest. Weird that i'm a Braxton fan but can't fully get in to one of his most celebrated groups. I much prefer the more controversial Ghost Trance work, albums with Halvorson, Ho Bynum et al. Anyway, glad to have this in my collection to revisit... and i know that i will...
Is that band with Marilyn Crispell, Mark Dresser and Gerry Hemingway the Braxton "classic" quartet? I always think of the classic Braxton quartet as the '70s band with Barry Altschul, Dave Holland and Kenny Wheeler (and later George Lewis).
Yup. Are they not well known as the classic quartet? Seems to have entered in to my consciousness via them being referred to as such but maybe it's not, like, their common title a la the Second Great Quintet. NP - Anthony Braxton - Solo (Victoriaville) 2017 Another of todays arrivals. Really enjoying this.
I’ve really been digging on the somewhat unusual smaller group ‘69 performance (the Miles/Chick/Holland/DeJohnette quartet lineup) from Miles Davis at Newport: The Bootleg Series Vol. 4
