Jazz Purchases

[Bogey]

the Miles ... hmmmm, somehow the band wasn't really in good shape that day - but it's nowhere near a "bad" record.

Fair comment.  Recording was problematic if I recall as well. However, there is so little of this ensemble out there that even Jazz At the Plaza is nice to have on the shelf.

[king ubu]

Fair comment.  Recording was problematic if I recall as well. However, there is so little of this ensemble out there that even Jazz At the Plaza is nice to have on the shelf.

Yes, that is true! And with Cannoball calling in a sick day, you don't get the full sextet at the Plaza either ... however, the "1958 Session" is excellent - it made up half of the "Jazz Track" LP (which on the other side presented the US release of the soundtrack to "L'Ascenseur pour l'echafaud"), but that left off the clear highlight of the session, a long, smokin' take of "Love for Sale" with a rather special Bill Evans (he sounds almost Monk-ish there, and it's great!)

[Bogey]

Yes, that is true! And with Cannoball calling in a sick day, you don't get the full sextet at the Plaza either ... however, the "1958 Session" is excellent - it made up half of the "Jazz Track" LP (which on the other side presented the US release of the soundtrack to "L'Ascenseur pour l'echafaud"), but that left off the clear highlight of the session, a long, smokin' take of "Love for Sale" with a rather special Bill Evans (he sounds almost Monk-ish there, and it's great!)

Missing that in my collection.  Suggested cd?

[king ubu]

Missing that in my collection.  Suggested cd?

I have the 6CD set of the complete Miles/Coltrane sessions, the session is in the LP-sized anniversary special edition of "Kind of Blue" as well ... the track initially was on one of those Columbia albums compiling tracks so far not released, in this case "Circle in the Round" - detailed info as usual on Peter Losin's great site:
http://www.plosin.com/milesahead/Sessions.aspx?s=580526

Not sure it's on any current CD, alas ... there was this old release, part of a series usually coming with bad sound (the KoB reissue was ridiculous, sounded like crap, had a seventies pic on the cover):

[asin]B0000027R5[/asin]
But I can't really recommend it (don't know it, but based on my general knowledge about these "Masterpieces" reissues ...)

This one here would be preferrable if there's a physical release with a corresponding tracklist ... not sure if it was in the "Miles in Mono" CD box, which I have at home, but I'm stuck in the office right now:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IRNZ62O/
But I think it's not, if the tracklist here is correct, there's "Jazz Track" (disc 4), which actually is consistent with my memory:
https://www.amazon.com/Original-Mono-Recordings-Miles-Davis/dp/B00ESEYE60/

So I really think the best option is looking for a cheap copy of the Miles/Trane six disc box ... the cheapest third edition (2011 I think, not proper long box with loose booklet but "book" edition w/booklet bound into the book) used to go for 20€ over here, but I think it's OOP by now ...

[Bogey]

Miles used to not be that problematic, but then in recent years his works were released in so many packaging options that I had to just shut it down.  As soon his material became more difficult to sort than Armstrong's and Coltrane's  I put on blinders and was satisfied with what I had as my "classical" completest psychosis was challenged to the brink both financially with re-buying stuff I had to net a few new tracks as well as just trying to sort out what is what.  Just look at all the cds of live recordings that have been released for Miles.  Man!  What makes all these releases so ironic is that they have not reissued the Complete Plugged Nickel (I'm lucky to have one) which should be in every Mile's collection, small or large.

[king ubu]

Miles used to not be that problematic, but then in recent years his works were released in so many packaging options that I had to just shut it down.  As soon his material became more difficult to sort than Armstrong's and Coltrane's  I put on blinders and was satisfied with what I had as my "classical" completest psychosis was challenged to the brink both financially with re-buying stuff I had to net a few new tracks as well as just trying to sort out what is what.  Just look at all the cds of live recordings that have been released for Miles.  Man!  What makes all these releases so ironic is that they have not reissued the Complete Plugged Nickel (I'm lucky to have one) which should be in every Mile's collection, small or large.

Well, it was quite easy for me, as I was there and wiling to enter when Sony/Legacy started the box-sets (in collaboration with Mosaic, who did the LP versions that were way too rich for me then). So I bought up all the boxes (Miles & Gil was the first to appear, in sequence they're Miles & Trane, Miles & Gil, Seven Steps, 1965-68, IaSW, BB, JJ, OTC, plus live the Plugged Nickel, Cellar Door, and then later on the Black Hawk, which I got as two double disc sets, I think they had them combined with some cardboard wrapper added).

What they left off was the - gorgeous but hardly essential - "Someday My Prince Will Come" (only the two cuts with Coltrane are at the end of the Miles & Trane box), the 1961 Carnegie Hall Concert (they should have done a 6 disc set with Mobley: Prince, Carnegie, Black Hawk - but I guess there's still enough of a bias against Mobe being a lightweight and not up to bla bla ... which is somehow understandable but still a pity).

Then, the two-disc "Round About Midnight" added some attractive live material as a bonus (but didn't include all that was on the Miles & Trane box in terms of alternates), and obviously the great series of live double albums beginning with "Miles at Fillmore" and ending with the two doubles from Japan, which actually weren't treated in the US the way they deserve to be ... I actually bought Japanese SHM-CD reissues of those two, eventually). They also threw out the final gig with Shorter in Winter/Spring 1970, another most welcome set.

And then there was the Bootleg Series ... I hope it continues with the 1971, 1973 and 1975 concerts/tours, but am not quite sure what we'll see next. So far, the series has been great, but I was a bit disappointed by the Lost Quintet volume - I'd love to see a second, but with another concert (DVD only) having been released as part of the lp-sized (gorgeously made!) anniversary edition of BB, I doub't there'll be more.

[Bogey]

Well, the shop I haunted had this.  Smith absolutely is cooking on the first track.  If you do not care for the Hammond, BEWARE!

Snagged this as well:

[king ubu]

That's one Smith I don't yet have ... guess I'll have to get it, too!

The other Trema/Laserlight set of his is interesting, too: "Pleyel, Nov. 20th, 1968 / Pleyel, Dec. 1st, 1969" - the first set has Nathen Page on guitar and stalwart Donald Bailey on drums, the second has Eddie McFadden on guitar, who started with JOS in 1957 (Bailey was there from album #2 on, in 1956), and Arthur Crosby on drums (don't know him).

Of JATP I have the wonderful 10 CD box with the complete 1944-49 sessions (including plenty of previously unissued tracks), there was a cheap repackaging a few years ago that has itself become impossible to find quite a while ago ... good stuff, though generally not music I'd just put on independently of my mood.

[Bogey]

That's one Smith I don't yet have ... guess I'll have to get it, too!

The other Trema/Laserlight set of his is interesting, too: "Pleyel, Nov. 20th, 1968 / Pleyel, Dec. 1st, 1969" - the first set has Nathen Page on guitar and stalwart Donald Bailey on drums, the second has Eddie McFadden on guitar, who started with JOS in 1957 (Bailey was there from album #2 on, in 1956), and Arthur Crosby on drums (don't know him).

Of JATP I have the wonderful 10 CD box with the complete 1944-49 sessions (including plenty of previously unissued tracks), there was a cheap repackaging a few years ago that has itself become impossible to find quite a while ago ... good stuff, though generally not music I'd just put on independently of my mood.

Just a heads up.  The packaging for the Smith is thin and the cds are a bit "sketchy looking".  Almost cdr like with hardly any printing on them.  However, the shop let the two cd set go to me for $10, so I thought fair enough.  The same concert can also be found on these two disca:

 

[king ubu]

Yep, Europe 1 is the first generation, the digipacks (all split into single discs if they were initially multi-disc-sets) were the third, in between for most of these, there was the second generation on LaserLight - often split as singles but usually/originally two jewel cases with a cardboard box around it:



I have a bunch of these ... the most important one is the Miles one from March 1960 with Coltrane, who gets booed heavily. The first edition (four disc set combining the March and October 1960 sets, the later with Sonny Stitt, and it's wonderful, as the much less interesting Stitt has Miles challenged to play a lot more and meaningful himself, while with Coltrane he usually presents the theme, takes a few bars and then leaves the floor to Trane who is playing some hot sh*t) has a booklet with photos and several pages of remembrances by musicians that were there (and split into the "pro" and "con" camps). Very interesting!

Then there are sets by Thelonious Monk (several, but I don't have the overview there, some may overlap with later Monk in Paris editions done in collaboration with the Monk family), Art Blakey (two very nice doubles from the same night in 1961), Gerry Mulligan's Concert Jazz Band (pretty much essential), Miles in 1973 (pretty cool if you enjoy electric Miles!), Oscar Peterson (three of them, but I guess none really essential), Jimmy Giuffre (an amazing single disc - he got booed as well, the Paris audiences were rowdy back then!), the Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band (essential!), Count Basie (nice, but not essential for sure, a double from 1959/62 and more from 1972, of which I have but Part 1 in the third incarnation), Ellington in 1965 (I love it, but I guess it's hardly essential), Dizzy (I have singles from 1960 and from 1965,) ... that's what I have, in addition to the Smith I mentioned.

There's a website about all of this that is again messy and mixes some of the above with the recent Fremeaux "Live in Paris" series that again offers the Miles (with basic booklet I heard), as well as the Count Basie (1959/62 in extended form - if you want that, go for the Fremaux), Monk (duplicating the "Live in France" from Riverside set but expanding it - it's not essential at all though), Sinatra, Ella, , Ray Charles (yeah!), Nat Cole/Quincy Jones (nice! there's another one by that pairing on the great "Swiss Radio Days Jazz Series" on TCB Records, that series is fully endorsed and highly recommended!), Les McCann (might cool!), MJQ, JATP (don't have these yet) and probably a few I forget.

Here's the link:
http://live-in-paris.fr

The make things messy and messier, they offer DLs of many of the items mentioned above, PLUS DLs of some exclusive stuff (the Lou Benett Trio w/Barney Wilen is one of the very few DLs I ever spent money on) ... and they mix in other "live in Paris" sets (I guess the Cannonball was previously out on Riverside but is public domain now ...)

[Bogey]

Yep, Europe 1 is the first generation, the digipacks (all split into single discs if they were initially multi-disc-sets) were the third, in between for most of these, there was the second generation on LaserLight - often split as singles but usually/originally two jewel cases with a cardboard box around it:



I have a bunch of these ... the most important one is the Miles one from March 1960 with Coltrane, who gets booed heavily. The first edition (four disc set combining the March and October 1960 sets, the later with Sonny Stitt, and it's wonderful, as the much less interesting Stitt has Miles challenged to play a lot more and meaningful himself, while with Coltrane he usually presents the theme, takes a few bars and then leaves the floor to Trane who is playing some hot sh*t) has a booklet with photos and several pages of remembrances by musicians that were there (and split into the "pro" and "con" camps). Very interesting!

Then there are sets by Thelonious Monk (several, but I don't have the overview there, some may overlap with later Monk in Paris editions done in collaboration with the Monk family), Art Blakey (two very nice doubles from the same night in 1961), Gerry Mulligan's Concert Jazz Band (pretty much essential), Miles in 1973 (pretty cool if you enjoy electric Miles!), Oscar Peterson (three of them, but I guess none really essential), Jimmy Giuffre (an amazing single disc - he got booed as well, the Paris audiences were rowdy back then!), the Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band (essential!), Count Basie (nice, but not essential for sure, a double from 1959/62 and more from 1972, of which I have but Part 1 in the third incarnation), Ellington in 1965 (I love it, but I guess it's hardly essential), Dizzy (I have singles from 1960 and from 1965,) ... that's what I have, in addition to the Smith I mentioned.

There's a website about all of this that is again messy and mixes some of the above with the recent Fremeaux "Live in Paris" series that again offers the Miles (with basic booklet I heard), as well as the Count Basie (1959/62 in extended form - if you want that, go for the Fremaux), Monk (duplicating the "Live in France" from Riverside set but expanding it - it's not essential at all though), Sinatra, Ella, , Ray Charles (yeah!), Nat Cole/Quincy Jones (nice! there's another one by that pairing on the great "Swiss Radio Days Jazz Series" on TCB Records, that series is fully endorsed and highly recommended!), Les McCann (might cool!), MJQ, JATP (don't have these yet) and probably a few I forget.

Here's the link:
http://live-in-paris.fr

The make things messy and messier, they offer DLs of many of the items mentioned above, PLUS DLs of some exclusive stuff (the Lou Benett Trio w/Barney Wilen is one of the very few DLs I ever spent money on) ... and they mix in other "live in Paris" sets (I guess the Cannonball was previously out on Riverside but is public domain now ...)

Those Shelly Manne ones look nice.

[Brian]

Three hopefully essential live albums:

Miles Davis Sextet Live at Newport 1958 (the Coltrane-Cannonball-Evans group)
Dizzy Gillespie at Newport 1957 (with Lee Morgan, Al Grey, Pee Wee Moore's Doodlin', Benny Golson, Wynton Kelly, Mary Lou Williams, etc.)
Grand Reunion: Earl Hines Trio with Coleman Hawkins and Roy Eldridge

Amazon seller canceled "Grand Reunion" because they didn't have it in stock 

[Bogey]

Amazon seller canceled "Grand Reunion" because they didn't have it in stock 

I would be like....well, ....just send them a pic of your avatar.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

I would be like....well, ....just send them a pic of your avatar.

[kishnevi]

From the used CD store
Miles Davis Aura
Horace Silver A Prescription for the Blues
Sonny Rollins Tenor Madness

From the liner notes, Aura might qualify for the Classical thread: music based on Miles's material but composed in a formal manner by Palle Mikkelborg, recorded in Copenhagen with Danish musicians. The only non Danes seem to Miles himself, abd John McLaughlin.

In the Rollins, Red Garland, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones provide the backing, and John Coltrane appears in the title track.

Amusingly, the Silver CD has a sticker announcing it is a promotional CD and that resale is unlawful and may be punishable by state and local law.

[king ubu]

Jimmy Smith @ Salle Pleyel 1965 on the way to me now 

[Bogey]

Jimmy Smith @ Salle Pleyel 1965 on the way to me now 

I hope this was partially my fault.

[Bogey]

Amusingly, the Silver CD has a sticker announcing it is a promotional CD and that resale is unlawful and may be punishable by state and local law.

Outlaw jazz!

[king ubu]

I hope this was partially my fault.

Yup, you reminded me I had so far missed out on it ... so yeah! And thanks!

[Bogey]

Was missing this '57 recording and the casting is perfect for what I enjoy: