Savoy Jazz CDs made in Japan

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Dan Steele, Jul 11, 2018.

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  1. Lonson

    Lonson I'm in the kitchen with the Tombstone Blues

    S, Savoy Denon did release the Pepper Adams on cd. . . with only the original four tracks. (That was their modus operandi). Cool sound indeed.

    [​IMG]
     
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  2. Lonson

    Lonson I'm in the kitchen with the Tombstone Blues

    Hey, I mentioned the Parker discs! ;) In the 20th post. They're all excellent. My favorite way to hear these sides, and in wonderful sound (possibly the best digital versions).
     
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  3. Archtop

    Archtop Soft Dead Crimson Cow

    Location:
    Greater Boston, MA
    Those sub-35 minute CDs are a bit of a bummer, but that looks like an interesting lineup (and a Duvivier/Jones rhythm section!!!). Speaking of short CDs, I have a Mingus/Miles session from '55 that's all of 27 minutes.
     
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  4. fatwad666

    fatwad666 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Fat City, USA
    I don't have Charlie Parker's releases from this series, but rather a two-disc set of master takes released prior. (Anyone else have this? — Charlie Parker - The Complete Original Master Takes, ZDS-8801, released in 1988) Based on @Lonson's recommendation, it looks like these may be an interesting and sonically-sound way to collect the alternate takes.
     
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  5. J.A.W.

    J.A.W. Music Addict

    I have the ZDS-8801 set. Sounds good.
     
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  6. fatwad666

    fatwad666 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Fat City, USA
    I initially sought this one out based on a post of yours somewhere on this forum. As well as a Spotlite 2CD set of the Dial Masters. In retrospect: thank you!
     
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  7. Dan Steele

    Dan Steele Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Chicago suburbs
    Sorry Lonson you did!
     
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  8. Dan Steele

    Dan Steele Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Chicago suburbs
    This beauty arrived in the mail today. Thanks @zen archer
    Yusef Lateef Jazz Mood or Jazz Moods SV-0237 from the 1993 series. Marketing quality control not so good at Savoy in the early 90s, liner notes say Jazz Mood, spine, disc and tray card say Jazz Moods?? Listening now but so far love it! A quintet with Yusef (ts, f, argol, scraper!) and Curtis Fuller in front line, Hugh Lawson piano (unknown to me), Ernie Farrow bass, and Louis Hayes drums. On Live at Pep’s Yusef plays the shenai and argol, but I think it was the shenai on the song Sister Mamie, maybe I’ll figure out what an argol sounds like, and what is a scraper?!

    [​IMG]
     
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  9. Dan Steele

    Dan Steele Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Chicago suburbs
    Yusef Lateef Jazz Mood (I’m going with that title - see above)
    1. Metaphor - an ambling tune that would fit nicely on Blues-ette, which is my reference for any of these Savoys. Bass intro and then I assume Yusef starts with the argol, creating that trance like sound, then switches to flute and then some great lines by Fuller in the middle.
    2. Yusef’s Mood - fast tempo from the start with Yusef on tenor and the whole group playing the theme. A song that would fit on a Mingus album, lots of stray background notes and not dissimilar to Wednesday Night Prayer meeting. Fuller does a short solo and then Yusef jumps back in for a much longer and exuberant solo with a lot of up and down runs, with Fuller playing on top of him first, then with the piano taking over for Fuller. For some reason the Kareem quote from the Blue Note story movie comes to mind (paraphrasing, “ah the quintet, like passing the ball down the court, everyone takes a turn.” They really move the ball here, and it goes for 8 1/2 min. My favorite song on the album.
    3. The Beginning - obviously Yusef did a lot of experimentation with middle eastern sounds and this is that song on Jazz Mood. I am guessing this is one of the places Doug Watkins, the bassist, who is credited as an extra percussionist in the album makes an appearance. With that and the piano creates almost a native American beat, then Yusef plays a slow tenor solo follwed by Fuller’s bone. Only complaint is it is only 4 min long, really had a chance to stretch this one out imo.
    4. Morning - the slowest tune on the album, but not a ballad, has a shuffling beat and great lines by Hugh Lawson and I assume Watkins on the bongos, which maybe goes on a little too long.
    5. Blues in Space - album ends with a very upbeat number that has a little Sun Ra flavor to it. Yusef plays the first solo on tenor more conventionally than any other song followed by piano then Fuller.

    I’m throwing it out there, on first take this is as good overall as Blues-ette, not a bad song on the album and the variety of reed playing by Yusef is outstanding.
     
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  10. Bobby Buckshot

    Bobby Buckshot Heavy on the grease please

    Location:
    Southeastern US
    I didn't recognize it by the title when it was mentioned earlier but this is one of my, if not thee, favorite Lateef albums. I regularly stream it, especially in the mornings before going to work. A true classic in my opinion. Nice find!
     
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  11. Shrdlu

    Shrdlu Forum Resident

    Location:
    Earth
    Dan, Hugh Lawson is a superb pianist. Check out Yusef's "A Flat, G Flat and C", and "The Golden Flute", both from 1966, with Rudy's sound again.

    The Blue Note series with the new tracks are in the TYCJ 80000 series, 2013. I had absolutely no way of knowing about them until a few months ago. An announcement that some more Blue Note reissues are coming out isn't likely to get much attention, because, for years, no new tracks popped up. Michael Cuscuna told me that he had had his arm twisted to add more tracks. If only we had been informed in time. It is now obvious that there are even more tracks that we've never heard.

    "Mode For Joe" is one of the finest albums ever. The instrumentation is a little unusual. There is a very nice blend and atmosphere. In the album notes, Joe says that the title track was the first take; it certainly comes off well, and even includes a rare Ron Carter solo, with an atmospheric background. I would love to hear the later take, though. But not at $500, or whatever.

    Very often, when I hear out-takes, I wonder why another take was recorded. If it was live, there would only be one version. As a musician, I would refuse to record another take just because the producer requested it, if the first take was good, with no fluffs. That's what the Duke told Bob Thiele at the session with Trane. Prior to that, at the 12/21/61 session, you have Trane doing at least 13 takes of "Easy To Remember"! Absolutely ridiculous.

    Lon, it was pig-headed of whoever, to issue that Pepper Adams CD without the extra track. Very tasty album, though.
     
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  12. Shrdlu

    Shrdlu Forum Resident

    Location:
    Earth
    Here's another non-Japanese, non-Savoy oddball series of releases for you and the dog, Dan.

    Some bright spark decided to issue some Blue Note on Blue Ray. I have the "Blue Train" session, with an extra take that isn't available elsewhere. Even more interestingly, they issued Herbie Hancock's "Empyrean Isles" date with several previously unissued takes - you almost get the whole session reel!

    I bought these, expecting them to play on my computer, but no such luck. I had to wait for a friend to visit, with his PS4, in order to unlock this music. These sessions could easily have been issued as 2 CD sets.

    There is a Miles Davis Blue Ray (early Blue Note) but it only has one extra take, so I didn't bother with that one.
     
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  13. fatwad666

    fatwad666 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Fat City, USA
    Hello @Shrdlu, I was wondering if you could list some of these standalone Bill Evans releases (with unissued material not in the box) from those trios. That’s my favorite Bill Evans era and always looking to hear more from it. (Sorry to be off-topic!)
     
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  14. Shrdlu

    Shrdlu Forum Resident

    Location:
    Earth
    My pleasure. In my messy piles, I found, in chronological order:

    From the "Portrait In Jazz" session: Come Rain Or Come Shine, take 4, and Blue In Green, take 1.
    From the "Explorations" session: How Deep Is The Ocean, take 2, and I Wish I Knew, take 2.
    From the "Moonbeams" sessions: Polka Dots And Moonbeams, take 3, I Fall In Love Too Easily, take 3, and Very Early, take 10.
    There may be more (perhaps from the quartet session with Cannonball), but that's all I can come up with now.

    Obviously, there are more unissued takes from those sessions, and lots of other sessions, but there is only a limited amount of space on CDs, or in box sets. Anyway, in the case of a musician of this caliber, anything new is very welcome. All of the above takes are great, and there are no fluffs.

    It would be nice if the record companies were to issue some CDs containing just unissued takes, but, of course, they want to make more money by issuing them in dribs and drabs.

    In the case of the Blue Notes, another of those "lost tracks" CDs would have gone down well.
     
  15. Bobby Buckshot

    Bobby Buckshot Heavy on the grease please

    Location:
    Southeastern US
    Yusef revisited Morning on his album The Blue Yusef Lateef from '68. This time it's titled Like It Is. No Fuller on this one and strings were added. While I prefer the original on Savoy, this is a great composition and Yusef really brings out the blues on it.

     
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  16. Dan Steele

    Dan Steele Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Chicago suburbs
    Missed this over the weekend, Shrdlu. I hate to demonstrate my ignorance but I dont even know what Blue Ray is. Are you referring to blu-ray audio discs? Or something else
     
  17. Dan Steele

    Dan Steele Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Chicago suburbs
    On the song Yusef’s Mood, i think Hugh Lawson really shines, he creates a great base for the horn solos. I do think this recording (Jazz Mood) was a little spottier, all the instruments are not recorded equally from what I hear.
     
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  18. Shrdlu

    Shrdlu Forum Resident

    Location:
    Earth
    Dan, Blue Ray is some kind of video format, on a disk the same size as a CD or DVD. It is annoyingly hard to access. You have to buy a special console or (as I found out) a special computer burner to play these disks. A PS4 will access the things. Fortunately, a friend of mine has one. For some reason, the sound came out in mono, but that didn't bother me much.

    They could have used 2 CD sets. No good reason not to do so.
     
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  19. Bobby Buckshot

    Bobby Buckshot Heavy on the grease please

    Location:
    Southeastern US
    Some recent acquisitions from the forum classifieds:

    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]

    Shelly Manne & Bill Russo Orchestra Deep People
    Milt Jackson The Jazz Skyline
    Lester Young Blue Lester
    Joe Wilder Wilder N' Wilder

    All of these have the foldout poster of the LP back cover in the insert. Just getting started listening as well. First up, Milt's Skyline.
     
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  20. Dan Steele

    Dan Steele Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Chicago suburbs
    Nice! Report back, curious what the Joe Wilder is like. Cant find any info on it
     
    Last edited: Aug 9, 2018
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  21. J.A.W.

    J.A.W. Music Addict

    Wilder 'n' Wilder is a typical 1950s swing-based session, recorded in 1956. Good and solid, but nothing special in my opinion. The Milt Jackson dates on Savoy are something else, though, especially the ones with Lucky Thompson. Great music. Blue Lester contains the 1944 and 1949 recordings Lester Young participated in for Savoy; all worthwhile, even though he was past his prime.
     
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  22. Archtop

    Archtop Soft Dead Crimson Cow

    Location:
    Greater Boston, MA
    If you wouldn't mind, what's the name of that track?
     
  23. Dan Steele

    Dan Steele Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Chicago suburbs
    East Bound perhaps?
     
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  24. Archtop

    Archtop Soft Dead Crimson Cow

    Location:
    Greater Boston, MA
    Well, I don't know, as the John Coltrane Discography doesn't list that track and on the Blue Train sessions (9/15/57), no other tracks other than alternate takes of Lazy Bird and Blue Train are listed. That site is usually fairly reliable (I think).
     
  25. Dan Steele

    Dan Steele Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Chicago suburbs
    Well I know Soundstage Direct is kaput but their site lists an LP of Blue Train with an extra track called East Bound. And it is on youtube also.
     
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