Jazz Purchases

[Mirror Image]

Bumping this because king ubu said in Classical Purchases that he bought "20,000" jazz CDs and we need to see some of them!

What...20,000 jazz CDs? Whoah...I've got to see this.

[king ubu]

What...20,000 jazz CDs? Whoah...I've got to see this.

well, that was an exaggeration of course ... but the list is loooooooong, for starters:

[asin]B0000665C2[/asin]
[asin]B000027UDL[/asin]
[asin]B000H6SUQI[/asin]
[asin]B000XUP0PW[/asin]
[asin]B000W9ELSQ[/asin]
[asin]B0039I1NYC[/asin]
[asin]B000004BF9[/asin]
[asin]B0000030F1[/asin]
[asin]B000216W0E[/asin]
[asin]B0006A6260[/asin]
[asin]B00004RIH8[/asin]
[asin]B00000208T[/asin]
[asin]B00B2KDCFM[/asin]
[asin]B0000CG8FR[/asin]
[asin]B001QUA2VA[/asin]
[asin]B000BBOFQ8[/asin]
[asin]B000027UCI[/asin]
[asin]B00004SV1R[/asin]
[asin]B001HSJ9FQ[/asin]
[asin]B00002DG9Q[/asin]

these are the first two of over a dozen orders ... from 3.99 to 6.99 per disc (minus VAT, plus free shipping  ) - the above cost me less than 90€

and many of these have been on my wishlist (which is just in my head - things tend to be forgotten, postponed ... and if I see a good offer by chance I snatch it up, of course ... i.e. the Gullin series I've been collecting for a while, got about two thirds so far ...)

[king ubu]

This made me awfully happy. Glad he is working for you so well. There's a wealth of riches to be explored with OP, including his trio's great collaborations with celebrated "guest" musicians.

My list of indebtednesses to you grows steadily, Brian.

One offshoot from all this is that when I've become more familiar with him through this box, it will be fascinating to go back to the Anita O'Day album she made with him. I suspect I shall be able to listen with different ears.

Just so you're aware: the sessions on December 6 & 7, 1953, are still with Barney Kessel on guitar. He hated traveling on the road, so he agreed to join the trio for a year, and then quit. Herb Ellis' first date with the group is the December 10 one.

This is the set I'm talking of, assuming it's the very red one you mean:

[asin]B005HPQ7OG[/asin]

It's of course a crappy public domain release, but nice enough really ... I've got the Mosaic box with the complete Peterson/Kessel/Brown recordings on seven discs, lots of overlap, but this box still fills some gaps I was too lazy to try and fill with official reissues.

Anyway, Peterson did another round of song books later on, with the Brown/Thigpen group. These have been collected by Universal Canada into a very, very nice box:

[asin]B00284G370[/asin]
Again, budget presentation, simple paper sleeves (nicely designed and with tracklists) and a small booklet (with a short introductory note and full details) ... the playing is usually rather restrained, not much improvising going on - which is nice, as it gives more room to the actual songs, which are of course glorious, most of the time (I'm particularly fond of Cole Porter, myself ... but Irving Berlin, the Gershwins, Harold Arlen ... these guys were giants).

Some more details here (price is a bit steep there, but I think that's where I bought mine, back in 2009 when it came out):
https://grigorian.com/webstore/view.php?iid=353291

[king ubu]

okay, the next bunch o' orders - they are starting to be shipped now, so ...

[asin]B005JSTOHS[/asin]
[asin]B0000280A3[/asin]
[asin]B000002GR7[/asin]
[asin]B004QVMTIK[/asin]
[asin]B00DSKQGG6[/asin]
[asin]B005CB2S6Q[/asin]
[asin]B0002ITB14[/asin]
[asin]B00000371M[/asin]
[asin]B00K9NB4HG[/asin]
[asin]B000UTOH4G[/asin]
[asin]B000003D3I[/asin]
[asin]B008A6Q69A[/asin]
[asin]B000N69OSU[/asin]
[asin]B007SBHJL2[/asin]
[asin]B0000639AG[/asin]
[asin]B00E6G248U[/asin]
[asin]B001H7F5CI[/asin]
[asin]B00BAB6EK8[/asin]
[asin]B000HEWFVQ[/asin]
[asin]B000254MLG[/asin]
[asin]B00002818A[/asin]

again, all from 3-6€, minus VAT and with free shipping 

and a non-sale item I missed buying when it came out last year - love this band, it's only their second:

[asin]B0113KSRE6[/asin]

[Elgarian]

Just so you're aware: the sessions on December 6 & 7, 1953, are still with Barney Kessel on guitar. He hated traveling on the road, so he agreed to join the trio for a year, and then quit. Herb Ellis' first date with the group is the December 10 one.

This is the set I'm talking of, assuming it's the very red one you mean:

[asin]B005HPQ7OG[/asin]

It's of course a crappy public domain release, but nice enough really ... I've got the Mosaic box with the complete Peterson/Kessel/Brown recordings on seven discs, lots of overlap, but this box still fills some gaps I was too lazy to try and fill with official reissues.

Anyway, Peterson did another round of song books later on, with the Brown/Thigpen group. These have been collected by Universal Canada into a very, very nice box:

[asin]B00284G370[/asin]
Again, budget presentation, simple paper sleeves (nicely designed and with tracklists) and a small booklet (with a short introductory note and full details) ... the playing is usually rather restrained, not much improvising going on - which is nice, as it gives more room to the actual songs, which are of course glorious, most of the time (I'm particularly fond of Cole Porter, myself ... but Irving Berlin, the Gershwins, Harold Arlen ... these guys were giants).

This is very helpful - thanks very much. Yes that's the red set I have. I'll certainly invest in the later set at some point.

[Green Destiny]

Still mulling over some future Jazz purchases but bought these ones in the meantime:



I went a bit crazy for Jazz/Bossa-Nova this week and I only have a few albums like this at the moment so I decided to pull the trigger on the Getz set.
I still might get the other Getz box or some individual Getz albums.
Had my eye on the Desmond one for a little while now - looking forward to both these recordings
Edit: Forgot to add the Brubeck album

[king ubu]

Surely not a bad move on the Getz!

As for the Desmond, there's a box as well, just in case:

[asin]B005QOT6T6[/asin]

I've got the older box here (missing the album with Mulligan, of which I have the reissue in the "Bluebird First Editions" series, which is generally one I recommend, if there are various options):

[Green Destiny]

Surely not a bad move on the Getz!

As for the Desmond, there's a box as well, just in case:

[asin]B005QOT6T6[/asin]

I've got the older box here (missing the album with Mulligan, of which I have the reissue in the "Bluebird First Editions" series, which is generally one I recommend, if there are various options):

Thanks KU these both look very nice - I have half the albums in the RCA set already but I am still very tempted

[Green Destiny]

Latest purchases:



Note: I got the RVG remastered edition of Saxophone Colossus not the one pictured (just too lazy to find it)

[king ubu]

Note: I got the RVG remastered edition of Saxophone Colossus not the one pictured (just too lazy to find it)

Yeah, I strongly advise to stay away from such crap reissues as the one pictured ... that is, if there are indeed alternatives!

[Green Destiny]

Yeah, I strongly advise to stay away from such crap reissues as the one pictured ... that is, if there are indeed alternatives!

I bought a few of the cheap re-issues early on in my Jazz collecting but I have found that often the sound is a bit inferior to the official releases so im just trying to get them were possible now.
I recently tried listening to some albums from a couple of those "8 Classic Album" (Real Gone Jazz?) boxes I bought of Charles Mingus and Chet Baker - they are just awful and some of the tracks have glitches in them too .
I rebought the Miles Davis Workin', Cookin, Steamin' Etc. series in a cheap issue and later in the RVG re-issue series. There was a big difference I think in the sound (the RVG is miles better to me)

[king ubu]

I bought a few of the cheap re-issues early on in my Jazz collecting but I have found that often the sound is a bit inferior to the official releases so im just trying to get them were possible now.
I recently tried listening to some albums from a couple of those "8 Classic Album" (Real Gone Jazz?) boxes I bought of Charles Mingus and Chet Baker - they are just awful and some of the tracks have glitches in them too .
I rebought the Miles Davis Workin', Cookin, Steamin' Etc. series in a cheap issue and later in the RVG re-issue series. There was a big difference I think in the sound (the RVG is miles better to me)

Yeah, I heard about these glitches (and also cases where discs wouldn't be copying properly when people tried to create MP3 files from them).

I guess they basically steal earlier CD reissues and then run some filters, changing sound. The copying of other CD releases isn't legal, they ought to go back to 50+ years releases actually (and including bonus tracks that only appeared in the 80s or 90s isn't legal either as the copyright period starts upon release date IF something is released before the copyright period is over). To my best knowledge, UK outfit Avid actually does that: rip vinyl, in so-so quality, but at least they're straight up. They occasionally add some rare live/radio tracks, another grey area, but not stolen from a label ...

Anyway, Real Gone Jazz is really the lowest of the low, but of course for newbie's that don't do streaming (I don't, but I've been collecting jazz for 20 years now, so I've been around for the last few years of the great jazz reissue period, with many series available that is long OOP by now), I see the point ... however, as soon as you get serious, you might indeed feel like replacing these crapola reissues with better ones.

(And just in case, Real Gone Music is not related, they have done a few nice reissues of rather off-kilter stuff: Ahmad Abdul-Malik, George Braith ...)

[SimonNZ]

I've had nothing but joy from the many Real Gone Jazz sets I've had. Particularly as so many of those albums are long-deleted.

I certainly wouldn't call them crapola, and I've seen them taken seriously and even praised on jazz forums.

[king ubu]

I've had nothing but joy from the many Real Gone Jazz sets I've had. Particularly as so many of those albums are long-deleted.

I certainly wouldn't call them crapola, and I've seen them taken seriously and even praised on jazz forums.

They are what they are: cheap. Either way, I'm sure if this type of reissue has been around when I started exploring jazz, I'd have been all over them, and certainly don't want to be the kill joy there ... some folks prefer having liner notes and stuff, others can't be bothered much, different strokes.

Myself, I do try and get official reissues whenever I can - but as you say, many of them have been OOP for a long time by now, so the odds aren't that great that you can still find them without spending a fortune.

As this is a classical forum, you have to be aware that jazz sales are only a small percentage of classical sales. The majors have mostly stopped releasing any jazz (reissues and new recordings) around a decade ago - that sucks of course, but it does seem that doing proper reissues isn't profitable any more, unless you go for the high-price segment (and even then it's more a labour of love than anything else), or if you (steal others work - I know not all these labels do, but I'm weary - and) put (it) out on PD reissues. Columbia even stopped their Ellington reissue series ... these recent boxes are a nice touch, but then again many collector's have all or much of what's in there and don't feel like re-buying. And obviously with these boxes, lots of stuff falls between the cracks.

[Green Destiny]

Latest purchases:



I have these albums already as part of a cheap boxset but Im a bit unhappy with the SQ (I think they are probably mastered poorly).
I really love these albums - I hope the sound in the new purchases is an improvement

[king ubu]

Needless to say, these are all mighty fine!

Just in case, the best (CD) edition of the 1961 Village Vanguard recordings is this three disc set, which is still around:

[asin]B000AMJEKA[/asin]
it blows things up to three discs (as opposed to the usual two), but you get the music in running order, while the old Original Jazz Classics CDs had silly programming (alternate takes following masters straight ahead, made for rather weird listening) .... bu the price is very much okay no matter if you count it as a double or triple set.

[Green Destiny]

Needless to say, these are all mighty fine!

Just in case, the best (CD) edition of the 1961 Village Vanguard recordings is this three disc set, which is still around:

[asin]B000AMJEKA[/asin]
it blows things up to three discs (as opposed to the usual two), but you get the music in running order, while the old Original Jazz Classics CDs had silly programming (alternate takes following masters straight ahead, made for rather weird listening) .... bu the price is very much okay no matter if you count it as a double or triple set.

Thanks KU - yes this is a very nice set!
I bought it not long ago - Was just listening to it this morning

[Brian]

This seems like a nice little order:

[asin]B0012S5A0E[/asin]
[asin]B00000I8UJ[/asin]
[asin]B0000A0DS4[/asin]

[king ubu]

Nice order indeed! (Not sure about that edition of the Massey Hall concert, it's one of the PD ones and Definitive has a history of muffled sound, MP3-sourced sets etc) .... either way, Massey Hall 1953 is kind of the last big event of bop history, the final gathering of the giants ... and then there's this one (there's PD releases of it as well, but do yourself a favour and get the proper one, released by a helluva great label):

[asin]B0009Q0EQ0[/asin]
This has all the raw excitement of early bebop, pioneers still in discovery modes, exploring new territory as it goes ... Al Haig in on piano, Curly Russell on drums, you get a guest spot by Don Byas, and there's that most interesting thing regarding the drums: Max Roach is there, doing his usual, exciting job ... and then Sid Catlett takes over the drum chair for a short moment, the giant of swing and swing-to-bop drums and a true master - and listen how the beat settles when he's playing! Not saying either is better, but the recording allows us a rare glimpse on what could happen when one band member changes ... and in real time, too.

There's more live Bird and Diz on Uptown ... these two are highly recommended as well:

[asin]B00177YVNM[/asin]
[asin]B00000AFBX[/asin]

[Brian]

Nice order indeed! (Not sure about that edition of the Massey Hall concert, it's one of the PD ones and Definitive has a history of muffled sound, MP3-sourced sets etc) .... either way, Massey Hall 1953 is kind of the last big event of bop history, the final gathering of the giants ... and then there's this one (there's PD releases of it as well, but do yourself a favour and get the proper one, released by a helluva great label):

Thank you very much for those recs! I'm sure I will collect them all.

BTW an Amazon reviewer guided me to that Massey Hall edition - apparently it presents the full concert in track order without Mingus's dubbed-in bass from later. Who knows...probably eventually I will get one with the Mingus overdubbing, to compare