Ernie Watts and Chick Corea - 4tune (WestWind) Recorded live in the studio. Everything is first or second take according to Ernie inthe liner notes. Andy Simpkins zand John Dentz on bass and drums respectively.
CD 1 - Warne Marsh & Lee Konitz - Two Not One Great version of You Don't Know What Love Is and Back Home.
Roy Hargrove Quintet - With the Tenors of Our Time... Cyrus Chestnut (p) Ron Blake (as, ts) Rodney Whitaker (b) Gregory Hutchinson (d). The tenors: Joe Henderson, Johnny Griffin, Branford Marsalis, Stanley Turrentine and Joshua Redman.
John Coltrane & Don Cherry "The Avant-Garde" (Atlantic Records R2 79892) This great album is the result of two recording sessions of June and July 1960. Apart from Cherry playing the trumpet, there's a real Ornette Coleman's feel to this album. Three tracks are Coleman's originals (including Focus on Sanity) and the rythm section of Charlie Haden and Ed Blackwell plays on the two tracks released from the June session. The album also marks the first recording of Coltrane on soprano sax on "The Blessing". Atlantic waited six years before finally releasing the album in April 1966. The superb combination of Coltrane/Cherry makes this album a personnal favorite of mine. Trane - Tenor and soprano sax Don Cherry - Trumpet Ed Blackwell - Drums Charlie Haden & Percy Heath - Bass
Clark Terry Quintet - Serenade To A Bus Seat (Riverside) Keepnews Collection reissue Clark is supported by Mohnny Griffin, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones.
Kenny Dorham "Trompeta Toccata" Japanese Toshiba LP from 1985 Kenny Dorham - Trumpet Joe Henderson - Saxophone Richard Davis - Bass Albert Heath - Drums Tommy Flanagan - Piano
Analogue Productions 45 R.P.M. stereo reissue (Incidentally the APO SACD has double the tracks - 14, instead of the 7 that make up the original album and that are on the 45 R.P.M. reissue) Recorded February 5, 1962 at Rudy's Some heavy soul-jazz Fred Jackson - tenor sax Earl Van Dyke - organ Willie Jones - guitar Wilbert Hogan - drums Ain't no jazz sweater but I love that funky shirt!
Two live recordings. In Europe was recorded in Norway 10/29/66 but not released until 3/68. Journey Within was recorded by Wally Heider 1/27/67 at the Fillmore Auditorium, S.F. & released 12/67. The group for In Europe is Lloyd (ts, fl, perc), Keith Jarrett (p, perc), Cecil McBee (b) & Jack DeJohnette (d). On Journey Within Ron McClure (b) replaces McBee. Both were produced by George Avakian. I had a copy of Journey Within when I was in high school c. 1969. In that period the Charles Lloyd Quartet was heavily promoted as a hip young jazz group for the "love crowd", often booked by Bill Graham. To my ears the music holds up pretty well.
Bill Evans Trio - Empathy (Verve) I thought I had traded this disc in but I ran across it when moving some music. This one never did anything for me really but I decided to give it a listen since it's probably been ten years since I last played it, maybe longer.
WP: NP: MM 45s. I can't help but feel that most, if not all, other audiophile vinyl reissue series would have overlooked these stunning titles. It's a testament to Ron Rambach and Joe Harley that they would rescue these from semi-obscurity. Both are relatively new to me, but I just keep spinning them. Both bands are on fire, especially the woodwinds. Basra might feature my favorite Henderson performances. Dave Liebman and Joe Farrell are killin' it on Genesis. If you're into the whole Music Matters thing, and you've been on the fence on these titles, I recommend them highly. I've read that Ron Rambach considers these some of the label's best, both for the music and the sonics.
Two more from the Charles Lloyd Quartet. Dream Weaver was their first for Atlantic, a studio recording from 3/20/66 with McBee on bass. It was produced by Avakian & Arif Mardin & engineered by Phil Iehle at Atlantic's NYC studio. Love-In was recorded by Heider at the same 1/27/67 Fillmore concert as Journey Within & issued in 7/67. Ron McClure is on bass. This 2-CD reissue is from 1999 & was remastered by Gene Paul (son of Les) at DB Plus Digital Services, NYC.
Agree on all points. Basra was one I really wanted to see released and when it popped up on the list I was excited. Talk about a long wait from announcement to release! I know that MoFi has this beat but it was almost two years or might have been more. It seemed like forever. I heard an original lp on a megabuck system and ever since I wanted one but without the $300 price tag of a clean original. I bought a Japanese cd and ot sounds really good but I really wanted it on vinyl so I'm so glad Music Matters reissued it. The Elvin Jones album is superb as well but Basra is the cat's meow in my book. Joe Henderson owns that album and I'm a big fan of Joe. I'll always be grateful to Ron and Joe for Basra.
NP Randy Weston - Niles Little Big (Polydor) Japanese SHMCD Having listened to this a few times I have adjusted my expectations on the sound and I'm enjoying it more. I wish it had a tad more bass for my taste but the detail is amazing so I'm enjoying that aspect. I like the energy of the album too, lots of spirit.
(LP Polydor German Press 623 275) .... recorded December 1967 .... Nathan Davis (ts,ss) + Hampton Hawes (p) + Jimmy Garrison (b) + Art Taylor (dr) ... as good as it gets ....
(LP SABA Germany 1st Press Foldout Cover SB 15025 ST) .... recorded January 1965 .... Nathan Davis (ts,ss) + Woody Shaw (tp) + Larry Young (p) + Jimmy Woode (b) + Billy Brooks (dr) .... as welcome as the recent "Larry Young In Paris" Resonance release comes it is this recording which captures the musicians involved in a most conclusive effort ....
Charlie Parker - Complete Verve Masters with Strings... I'll be honest, I resisted Bird's orchestral offerings at first, and for a long time. It just seemed too weird a juxtaposition after hearing him with Diz all those years. Call it the callowness of youth. Now I can't get enough of this stuff and wish he'd lived to do more of it. But what's here is excellent.
Thanks for the nice review, including comments on sonics. I'd been wondering about these Xanadu reissues - what was SQ like- as I understand the original masters have gone missing for some (most?) of them. But it sounds like they did a nice job with at least this one, will have to pick it up - one of several I don't already have in some other release.
Interesting thought experiment! But myself, I can't see how that would have worked out well - don't think Miles or Trane would have been nearly as "right" for these particular recordings, despite their obvious super-greatness in general. This is one of my favorite Blue Notes of all time - wouldn't change a thing!
