Last night's listening session included Bennie Green's Back On The Scene Classic records LP mastered by Bernie G. Recorded in '58 with Charlie Rouse, Joe Knight, George Tucker & Louis Hayes. Very nice package from Classic on this one. The music is of course excellent. I love Green's tone and soloing and he plays very well with Rouse. Just a great album that was recorded right before that seminal year of 1959. Btw; has anyone ever sent the postcard back to Classic Records and actually gotten a test pressing? Just curious.
Also found the time for James Moody's Another Bag OG Argo LP. From '62 with Paul Serrano, John Avant, Kenny Barron, Earnest Outlaw & Marshall Thomspon. Nice set if you like flute. Some interesting arrangements too by Tom McIntosh.
Revisiting plenty of Bird this past week or so. Unheard Bird | The Unissued Takes - Charlie Parker (Mercury/Clef/Verve) 2CD A most surprising and highly enjoyable release from 2016. Like I said at the time of release, if you don't have a copy already you don't know what you are missing. An unexpected treasure - and the sound is as good as you'd expect too! This 2CD 69 track compilation includes 21 previously released master takes as well as a 32 page booklet.
(LP Dragon Records Gatefold Cover DRLP 90/91) 1985 .... recorded on March 22nd, 1960 at Konserthuset, Stockholm .... Miles Davis (tp) + John Coltrane (ts) + Wynton Kelly (p) + Paul Chambers (b) + Jimmy Cobb (dr) .... Miles Davis flying high and John Coltrane on a journey to another planet .... priceless performances indeed ....
(LP Blue Note Liberty Blue White Stereo BST-84227) 1967 .... recorded January 1966 .... Joe Henderson (ts) + Lee Morgen (tp) + Curtis Fuller (tb) + Bobby Hutcherson (vib) + Cedar Walton (p) + Ron Carter (b) + Joe Chambers (dr) .... Joe Henderson`s last leader date for Blue Note resulted in an undisputed winner ....
(LP Prestige New Jazz Victor Japan "Prestige Jazz Masterpiece Series" SMJ-6513) 1978 .... recorded November 13th, 1959 @ Van Gelder Studio Englewood Cliffs, NJ .... Kenny Dorham (tp) + Tommy Flanagan (p) + Paul Chambers (b) + Art Taylor (dr) .... sublime mastery ....
(LP Blue Note King Records Japan GXK-8139) 1979 .... recorded March 21st, 1964..... Eric Dolphy (as, b-cl, fl) + Joe Henderson (ts) + Kenny Dorham + (tp) + Andrew Hill (p) + Richard Davis (b) + Anthony Williams (dr) .... no eulogy requiered ....
I remember seeing a documentary on TV about Blue Note, which included an interview with Horace Silver. He was very proud of the fact that he was responsible for the covers to his albums. But whenever I see one, I tend to think "Don't give up the day job". I appreciate that this release is from 1968, after the golden age of Blue Note artwork, but earlier albums like The Tokyo Blues have equally poor covers.
That’s a bit harsh to Mr. Silver. While those covers differ greatly from the work of Reid Miles, Horace should be proud. The covers evoked what he was trying to portray in the music. From The Tokyo Blues to Song for My Father, to Serenade to a Soul Sister. If you’re going to call a record ‘Serenade to a Soul Sister’, what’s more fitting than putting an actual ‘soul sister’ on the cover?
GEORGE RUSSELL / THE STRATUS SEEKERS / RIVERSIDE / 1962 / US FIRST STEREO PRESSING WITH BLACK AND SILVER DEEP GROOVE LABELS FULL SIZE PICTURES https://s1.shotroom.com/img/181209/FMmBu_o.jpg https://s1.shotroom.com/img/181209/aMMfk_o.jpg https://s1.shotroom.com/img/181209/iHI0R_o.jpg
DENNIS ZEITLIN / CATHEXIS / COLUMBIA / 1964 / US FIRST MONO 2EYE PRESSING CL 2182 FULL SIZE PICTURES https://s1.shotroom.com/img/181210/IjyOw_o.jpg https://s1.shotroom.com/img/181210/GRZuq_o.jpg https://s1.shotroom.com/img/181210/4ojXm_o.jpg
thereof (CD Mercury Nippon Phonogram PHCE-4001-10) 1990 .... recorded Aug. 16th + 17th, 1961 @ Nola Recording Studios, New York City .... Roland Kirk (ts, manz, str, fl) + Richard Wyands or Hank Jones (p) + Art Davis or Wendell Marshall (b) + Charles Persip (dr) .... not a fan of box sets, but this one is a "must have" ....
I'd love to get hold of that Roland Kirk box, but as far as I can tell it is now out of print. Nowadays I have found box sets (especially issued at a budget price) to be a great way to get hold of a lot of hard to find titles. The Complete Lester Young Studio Sessions On Verve (Verve) 8CD Box This is the current budget box set edition of this title. It is packaged in a sturdy cardboard box with a hinged lid. The 8 CDs are all housed in separate numbered cardboard sleeves. They all have the same front image as that on the front of the box with basic track listing on the back sleeve. Half of the 28 page booklet has sleeve notes by Dave Gelly, the other half covers all the recording session details. All discs were mastered by Kevin Reeves. I was glad to find this was not one of those unattractive and very clunky budget box sets. I decided to listen to the discs in reverse sequence due to so many negative comments by Dave Gelly about the later day recordings. So far I have heard discs 6, 7 & 8. There is no doubt the fall in standard is noticeable but considering this as a "complete" set rather than a "best of" I think it is good these sessions are available, especially in budget format. I am looking forward to checking out the discs 1-5 soon, even though I already have some of the Oscar Peterson tracks on a stand alone Verve Master Edition CD, and a couple of other titles on cloned Lester discs issued by Lonehilljazz (which with hindsight I would I should never have bought).
DEXTER GORDON / GENERATION / PRESTIGE / 1973 / US FIRST STEREO PROMO PRESSING P-10069 LP FULL SIZE PICTURES https://s1.shotroom.com/img/181211/83rsa_o.jpg https://s1.shotroom.com/img/181211/Vqn77_o.jpg https://s1.shotroom.com/img/181211/bV6BG_o.jpg
Thanks for posting. Was listening to it this morning and it was excellent. Modern drumming may throw some off but the groove & spirit is there. Lovely record.
...possibly my favorite Monk/Columbia album. ...definitely my most played. Thelonious Monk – Monk. Label: Columbia – CK 86564, Legacy – CK 86564 Format: CD, Album, Reissue, Remastered Country: US Released: 03 Sep 2002 Genre: Jazz Bass – Larry Gales Drums – Ben Riley Piano – Thelonious Monk Tenor Saxophone – Charlie Rouse
RAY CHARLES / THE GREAT RAY CHARLES / ATLANTIC / 1956 / US 1960 SECOND STEREO PRESSING WITH BLUE AND GREEN WHITE FAN DEEP GROOVE LABELS SD 1259 LP FULL SIZE PICTURES https://s1.shotroom.com/img/181212/wT5kA_o.jpg https://s1.shotroom.com/img/181212/OHlFO_o.jpg https://s1.shotroom.com/img/181212/fSgLG_o.jpg
Back to the Lester box! The Complete Lester Young Studio Sessions On Verve (Verve) This box has been dominating my listening time this week and overall I am extremely pleased with everything about it - including the current Amazon UK price which is now down to £25.42 (that's fractionally under £3.18 per disc). https://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Studio-Sessions-Verve-Lester/dp/B000PMFUSU?ref=pf_ov_at_pdctrvw_dp The early discs are all excellent. Even though I already had just under half the music on this already this for me is easily the best value Jazz budget box bargain of the month/year!
