UPDATE 14 July, 2025 Observant LJC Readers may have noticed a few current date replies to comments. After four months in hospital and some weeks of intensive inpatient rehabilitation, I’m back – in spirit at least, discharged home. I even … Continue reading →
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UPDATE 14 July, 2025
Observant LJC Readers may have noticed a few current date replies to comments.
After four months in hospital and some weeks of intensive inpatient rehabilitation, I’m back – in spirit at least, discharged home. I even forgot how to log in to my blog, I still have a long way to go , but I will be checking the posts, if you have anything to say. Jazz has survived over fifty years. It won’t be going away anytime soon, neither will I
Andrew
LJC
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Due to unforseen circumstances, I have to step back from Social Media, for at least the next few weeks, possibly longer, hopefully not.. That’s what “unforseen“, things do, it’s a bugger!
All past content will continue to remain open and available to all.
Taking the music world by storm, the HiFi Equipment Industry today announced the release of a revolutionary new musical format – the Analog-Digital Hybrid Disc (ADHD). Ten years in development, this unique new format combines high-definition digital bit-stream information with … Continue reading →
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Taking the music world by storm, the HiFi Equipment Industry today announced the release of a revolutionary new musical format – the Analog-Digital Hybrid Disc (ADHD).
Ten years in development, this unique new format combines high-definition digital bit-stream information with traditional vinyl groove walls.
The technical challenges were quite extreme, not least because music on conventional digital disk starts at the centre and winds out to the edge, the complete opposite of its vinyl counterpart. The bottom-layer digital bitstream pits and land information is read by sonar-ping, repurposing submarine echo. An internal tonearm to read the vinyl layer is clearly impractical, but a non-contact laser can read the vinyl walls quite successfully.
A combination of sonar-ping and non-contact laser brings both formats together to provide listeners with a complete simultaneous analogue and digital sonic experience.
Thanks to the unique system of encoding, the ADHD format provides listeners with a choice between the traditional sound of 1950’s Deep Groove Mono, and what was previously called “Stereo”, in current terminology, “Bi-Polar Sound”.
Blue Note Records have been among the first to issue an ADHD Demonstration disc in the new format
Not unexpectedly for such a huge technology leap forward, the new format requires a new player able to read both analog and digital source content simultaneously. Japanese Audio-technology giants Sony-Pioneer-Panasonic pooled their most talented engineers to design a dual-format Player, resulting in this retro-styled “OCD-Player”.
A cautionary note about use of OCD Players:
OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS
Before operating an OCD player, first ensure that your hands are scrubbed and perfectly clean. If further support is required, there is a 24-hour OCD Help-line, staffed by trained professionals, who will reassure you that “everything will be alright“
INDUSTRY RECEPTION OF THE NEW ANALOG-DIGITAL HYBRID DISC
Early critical opinions are coming in from industry sources.
Having auditioned the new player, Steve Hoffman has said his Music Forum will continue to debate which is better: digital or vinyl, regardless, but with the added dimension of “or hybrid”. Already hundreds of opinions are coming in from early adopters and influencers, many totally contradictory.
The Stereophile audio-guru Michael Fremer said he is still in two minds about the new format. “Maybe it’s just my perception, but during play, I thought I could hear voices. Probably just Radio Frequency Interference”.
Engineer Kevin Grey commented he could not see what all the fuss was about. He had been using analog-digital convergent technology for years.
We want to hear your thoughts about the end of digital. Analogue format wars.
COMPETITION TIME!
LJC has obtained an advance order of one hundred of the new ADHD discs from Blue Note, among the first to become available to the public. One hundred lucky winners could include you, but you will need to be quick, as demand will certainly exceed supply. Each winner will qualify for a massive 90% discount on an OCD Player.
For your chance to win, simply click the LIKE button at the foot of this post, to be entered automatically in the competition, which closes at noon April 1st. A free disc could be heading for your home soon. Click that Like!
Selection:Play Fiddle Play (Arthur Altman / Jack Lawrence / Emery Deutsch)
. . .
This is a stretch, potentially a little cheesy with the vocalisation of the melody, but it’s a cheesy melody, a jazz standard and Isao pulls it off just fine, and that’s a compliment from someone who never listens to singing. It’s a grizzly baritone voice, lineage ” Born Under a Wanderin’ Star”. Play Fiddle Play has been also recorded by Kenny Clarke; Erroll Garner; Dizzy Gillespie; Marian McPartland; Ray Noble; Dave Pell; Slam Stewart, probably many others.
The lyrics :
Now the gypsy band rest their caravan. Where I hear concealed the song Dusky magic falls, gypsy music calls Oft to lovers one by one. A lover strums his fiddle while he hums his little song Hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm, hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm. Hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm. Play, fiddler play, play my loved one a melody Sing to my love while the stars swing above Play, fiddle play, sing my loved one a rhapsody Play on the strings of her heart etc etc etc
According to Isao: doo do do doo, dah da diii, da da didah…
Track List
A1 Body And Soul 9:24 A2 45th Street At 8th Avenue 11:08 B1 Play Fiddle Play 10:16 B2 Blue City 10:06
Artists
Isao Suzuki bass, cello; Tetsujiro Obara, drums; Kazumi Watanabe, guitar; Kunihiko Sugano, piano; recorded March 4 1974 at Aoi Studio, Tokyo, Yoshihiko Kannari, engineer; Takeshi Fujii, Producer.
Artist Highlights
Pianist Kunihiko Sugano, often an invited guest on Three Bind Mice titles, his gentle and expansive piano touch is complemented by “a unique phrasing that suggests an approach to the acoustic instrument akin to an electric one. The notes unfold with a measured attack and a lingering sustain.” I hear shades of Horace Parlan in the jaunty bluesy licks.
Guitarist Kazumi Watanabe is a delight, a combination of Grant Green, Kenny Burrell, and his own supercharged fretwork, fast and inventive, both feet planted firmly in the jazz-guitar oeuvre.
Music
In the selection, Watanabe’s “hot club” strumming holds the beat perfectly for Isao’s walking bass. I guess the cello is overdubbed, but sounds natural. The whole piece stretches out over ten minutes, but never feels slow, and the engineering is incredibly clear and dynamic, typical Three Blind Mice.
Vinyl: TBM 24 – original 1974 issue, perfect EMI-Toshiba pressing.
Booklet, but no OBI. Obi one can no’ be. Should still be legible to any Kanji readers out there
Collector’s Corner
I believe this title is due for an official Sony Japan reissue end of March 2025 , remastered by Bernie Grundman.
Grundman remasters are a bit hit and miss, but I have not had the opportunity to compare this title. The original Blue City is up there with the best of TBM sonics , which I am tired of saying, are the best sound presentation of jazz on vinyl I have heard, and I have heard a lot.
A1. Black Unity (part one) 18:28 B1 Black Unity (part two) 18:58
Artists
Pharoah Sanders, soprano and tenor saxophone, balafon; Marvin “Hannibal” Peterson, trumpet; Carlos Garnett, flute, tenor saxophone, Joe Bonner, piano, Stanley Clarke, Cecil McBee, bass; Norman Connors, Billy Hart, drums; Lawrence Killian, conga, balafon, talking drum, percussion
Recorded November 24, 1971 at A&R Recording, New York City, Tony May, recording engineer, Lee Young, producer.
Artist Highlights
A brief glance at the line-up tells you what to expect – includes two bass players, and two drummers plus a percussionist. Ornette managed a double-quartet through their conversation, call and answer, here it ends up as an acoustic battlespace.
Black Unity producer is Lee Young, brother of saxophone giant Lester Young, who he survived by a half century, passing age 94. Lee is credited with discovery of Steely Dan, not a connection much in evidence here.
Music
All Music (my edits) says:
“By 1971, Pharoah Sanders had taken the free thing as far as he could. He was investigating new ways to use rhythm inside his music and more tonally strident ways of involving the front line in extrapolating tonal and harmonic diversions from the melodic framework of his music – thirty seven minutes of investigation into the black sounds of Latin music, African music, aborigine music, and Native American music, within a three-chord vamp, opening up a world of melodic and tonal possibilities“
A Pharoah enthusiast “Just Some Guy” (a truly faux-modest moniker) says of Black Unity: “Some of the best, most transcendental moments of any Pharoah Sanders record can be found here, and it’s no surprise this is often considered right up there with Karma as one of his main masterpieces. I wouldn’t exactly say that Black Unity reaches the same consistent heights as The Creator Has A Master Plan, but good god, this album truly is magnificent.”
As proud owner of all Pharoah’s Impulse titles as originals, I have to say I find Black Unity the most difficult, probably why I hadn’t posted it until now. Set to one side the political manifesto, how does it stand up as music? Melody, rhythm and harmony, not so much, it’s a dense continuous musical soup: 57 varieties vegetable soup. The reviews on Amazon are all full of praise, peppered with words like “magnificent” and “masterpiece” . Others can decide for themselves if it’s for them. Not for the first time, I feel uncomfortably on my own.
Apparently it repays repeated listening, but clearly I’m not ready for it, I’ll come back to it at a future date. Revisiting albums after a couple of years interval is sometimes a surprise. And if you now like it, it’s a bonus, because you already own it, it’s free.
Vinyl: Impulse AS 9219
For a moment there I thought – Side2, Kevin Grey mastering! – but not in 1971. Side 1 and Side 2 are both around 18 minutes long, comparative size of the runout groove indicate major difference in lathe settings on mastering. Wider groove width usually means greater latitude for bass extension: in theory the two sides should sound different.
How does it sound? Set aside the musical content, I mean the sonic presentation. Muddy, dense, congested soup. Sounds run together with no attack and decay, little instrument separation, not much in the way of a soundstage though occasionally you notice some stereo information breaking through.
I’m not sure the engineer Tony May had a microphone and mixing plan, maybe it was not an easy recording to “engineer” multiple front-line instruments, a lot of on-the-spur improvisation, the boys just did their thing, May just let the tape roll in one take for 37minutes. A transcendental experience no doubt, just not an audiophile one. It’s not a binary choice, either or, you can have both.
Gatefold:
Collector’s Corner
Housekeeping. Picture the domestic scene –
absence of domestic bliss! A backlog of LPs in growing stacks around the listening room, on the floor, on chairs; currently playing albums not returned to the shelves, new acquisitions awaiting entry to the database – which controls filing order. The unexpectedly difficult task: matching album database entries (2,500+) to their respective blog post (1,000+), many failed matches due to difference in one’s spelling, missing apostrophes, missing prepositions – “The …” and “A …” removed to preserve file-list sorting integrity; cleaning unintentional duplicate entries, as opposed to multiple entries following reissue upgrades – editions of the same title or mono and stereo of the same.
One objective of this latest exercise, aside from just being able to find records on demand, is to identify records which can be identified in the correct place on the shelves but have not been posted- like Sanders’ Black Unity on Impulse.
How do these Elite collectors with up to 200,000 records manage it? I’m looking at the photo for Alphabet Separators, or maybe that’s just the room for the letter “M”.
“Honey, I’m looking for a record by the Artist called “X” – call me an Uber will you?”
How well do collectors know what they have, and why? Could this collector write a thousand words about each album in his collection? (see LJC!) More important, do they find the time to listen to their records – or maybe they don’t. I may have got this wrong. Some people who collect “cultural artefacts”, collect in order to add to their collection. The action is the purpose.
Pop-queen Elton John has a collection of 130,000 records, including multiple copies spread across his several residences. How did he acquire them? I’ve not encountered him in any record stores, crate-digging (though we once passed years back at the Animalerie Côte d’Azur, Nice, where he was puppy-shopping) If he can’t find a particular song, I guess he can always mosey on over to the piano and play the tune for himself.
BBC Radio 6 Music DJ Gilles Peterson, who I met not long back in a certain record store in Hackney, has a vinyl collection of more than 40,000, stored in three different locations. He says I can spend an entire day looking for one record. “Unlike many collectors, Gilles does not have a clever cataloguing system. He once spent $2,000 on a rare Brazilian record . He doesn’t know exactly where it is, but he knows he put it in a safe place.”
I do have a (fairly) clever cataloguing system, Excel with formulas which automatically flag duplicates, swap artist’s first and last names for sorting by surname, though it insists on turning Sun Ra into Ra, Sun – so I never find it. Another one of those “safe places“.
Woody Shaw, trumpet, maracas, yodeling, percussion; Pharoah Sanders, soprano sax, cow horn, bells, tritone whistles, cowbell, wood flute, thumb piano, percussion; Gary Bartz, alto sax, bells, cowbell, shaker, percussion; Lonnie Liston Smith, piano, cowbell, thumb piano, percussion; Cecil McBee, bass; Clifford Jarvis, drums; Anthony Wiles, conga drums, African percussion; Nathaniel Bettis, bylophone, yodeling, African percussion. recorded A&R Studios, NYC (Jack Arnold and Phil Ramone), June 30 (side 1) – July 1 (side 2), 1970
Artist Highlights
“At the time, Pharoah was emerging as one of jazz’s most exciting young players. He was playing regularly with John Coltrane, whose sound Sanders was helping to redefine on records like Ascension and Om, and with whom he’d toured Japan.”
Music
A I says: The album’s title, derived from the Quran, suggests a journey towards spiritual awakening and enlightenment. It reflects on the idea of being spiritually deaf, dumb, and blind, and the quest to overcome these limitations. The album is known for its complex polyrhythms and the use of various percussion instruments, creating a dynamic and immersive listening experience.”
“Summum Bukmun Umyun began a decade of profound exploration for Sanders, and contains some of the best ensemble performances. The title track is a rollicking, percussive groove with heavy African influence, a 21-minute jam session is so vibrant and melodic, so joyous and exciting, it’s hard to make sense of anyone being willfully blind to its power.
In contrast, “Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord” is less about movement than it is about unity. The composition is less propulsive, but it feels deeply spiritual in a way that all of Sanders’ best compositions are, evoking a wide breadth of human emotion in one deeply affecting stretch.”
Pitchfork says: “Coming off of a busy touring schedule, the players were locked in, often building songs out of loose ideas or hints of an arrangement. If the title track finds the players in a joyous, near-telepathic groove, ‘Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord’ is simply spiritual jazz of the highest order.”
LJC says: it’s not bad, though not the best of Sanders Impulse titles, strongly oriented around African percussion, which works the stereo landscape hard. I didn’t warm to Deaf Dumb Blind on first play, perhaps I didn’t find the hook, a fragment that replays and nags in memory during the days following, but I’m sure there is one. Patience is part of listening, allowing the hook to find you.
Reviewers often opine that the record they are reviewing is “probably so-and-so’s best work”. Probably is a useful safety play, as someone is bound to argue the toss. For me, Pharoah Sanders’ best albums are (probably) Thembi, Karma, Tauhid and Live At The East. All of them require attentive listening, typically, twenty continuous minutes a side, and Deaf Dumb Blind is no exception.
Impulse titles demand original Impulse pressings (in this case, black/red rim label is the original). The 2008 Hollywood backlot fire consumed most if not all Impulse original master tapes. The most recent Universal/Verve-By-Request Third Man Records Pharoah reissues show intermediate digital origins, and not high-resolution digital copies from masters. To quote the V-B-R series press announcement (2022): “Albums will be newly remastered from original analog sources, when available, and pressed on audiophile-quality, 180-gram vinyl at Third Man Pressing in Detroit.” Yeah, ” original analog sources when available“. And where not available, then what?
Vinyl: Impulse AS-9199
Odd choice of artwork – the back cover is much better than the class-photo front cover. Ed Michel in the driving seat for Impulse.
Not recorded or mastered by RVG, who departed around 1970 with an exclusive agreement with Bob Thiele . Tauhid was the only Pharoah Impulse titles recorded by Van Gelder, at Englewood Cliffs. The rest fall in the reign of Ed Michel, this title recorded at A&R Studios, NYC (founders Jack Arnold & Phil Ramone).
The runout is bare aside from the matrix code, catalogue number. Side 2 matrix suffix RE2 – engineering convention for third attempted remaster, if following RVG protocol.
Gatefold
ABC/Dunhill Inner Sleeve – promoting Pharoah titles Karma, and Jewels of Thought
Collector’s Corner
Pharoah Sander’s is a collector’s enigma. His most sought after and valuable records are his outings under the Sun Ra banner, most notably Black Harold, issued with a “hand-made shower curtain cover” . (Voice from nearby shower room: Hey! Anyone seen the shower curtain?”)
A close second, in the $500-$2,000 league, is the iconic India Navigation title Pharoah (Harvest Time), described by one well-known seller as “insanely rare!” , though many hundreds have come to auction. Collector’s can argue among themselves whether the blue or the brown edition is the original
After years of collecting I’ve concluded that scarcity, the collector’s Viagra, is often the result of a record being not very popular at the time, resulting in small sales. The other explanation is that it is so wildly popular that no-one wants to sell their copy. Either way, what matters is that the artefact is scarce, or even Insanely Rare!
Among Pharoah’s titles as leader, the Strata East title Izipho Zam dominates the field, commonly around the $300 mark.
Coming down to earth, in comparison, Pharoah’s Impulse titles are modestly priced, though still “slightly rare”. Along the way I acquired all Pharoah’s Impulse titles except Deaf Dumb Blind, which took a couple of years to track down. Patience is a collector’s best friend, and eventually one popped up. Here is another copy, unusually, autographed, or if you prefer, “Writing on Cover”
Speaking of “writing on Covers” (seamless link) I stumbled on this excellent coffee table art book, “Marred For Life”, creatively defaced record covers, produced by a LA designer/ collector Greg Wooten.
Some worse than others, great. I am LJC and I approve this original art form
Japanese JazzKunio OhtaMasamiki TakanoThree Blind Mice
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Selection: Free and Lovely (Warning, long! 19:10)
. . .
Track List
A1 Free And Lovely (Ohta)19:10 B1 Gotta Travel On (traditional)7:30 B2 What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life ? (Ted Koehler/Burton Lane) 4:57 B3 CMT & T (Takehiro Honda) 9:35
Artists: Kunio Ohta Quartet +1
Kunio Ohta, piano; Masamiki Takano, tenor saxophone; Katsuhiko Matsuura, trumpet; Masashi Kato, bass; Jun Natsume, drums; Recorded July 26, 1976 at Studio WING, Nagoya; Yoshihiko Kannari, recording engineer; Takeshi Fujii, producer.
Artist Highlights
Seen from this distance there are a bewildering number of jazz players in 70’s Japan, and it does little to illuminate the scene to reel off lists of names few an “insular” Western jazz fan would recognise (“insular” – that’s me, of course)
Dicing salami one slice at a time, I have so far firmed up on the drummers Takeo Moriyama and Motohiko Hino, bass player Isao Suzuki, pianist Kunihiko Sugano, trombonist Hiroshi Fukumura, and guitarist Kazumi Watanabe. The glaring gap has been the most important expressive instrument, the tenor saxophone. Is there a Japanese John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Hank Mobley? We already have them, do we need more? How would you know if you stop looking.
Jazz pianists were abundant in Japan’s 1970s scene, most leaning towards the polished styles of Oscar Peterson and Erroll Garner, an good number found their way into the Three Blind Mice catalogue in piano trios, less interesting. The search for more complex formats pointed me to this Quartet + 1, pianist/ leader Kunio Ohta, who has a more cinematic-pictorial piano style, and expands the conventional piano trio format with the interesting quintet with original contribution from a trumpet and a tenor saxophone player, Masamiki Takano.
Takano seems to be largely unknown outside of Japan, and even there, under the radar. I hear a special quality, communication of emotion, not commonly found. He recorded a second album for Three Blind Mice, My Back Pages – TBM 3002 Kunio Ohta Quartet (1977), before disappearing into decades of session work with other artists. Musicians have to eat.
Most everything in Takano’s forty or so Discogs entries are released only on compact disc, including this cleverly-named East Quest Quartet. By all accounts Masamiki still active. Here the search for this tenor virtuoso ground to a halt, stymied by the musical equivalent of Kryptonite, the Evil Silver Disc.
My latest new tenor saxophone lead points to one Toshihiko Inoue, collaborator of drummer Takeo Moriyama on East Plants and other Takeo sessions He has more material on vinyl, but it’s a steep hill to climb, Mount Fuji.
How does an album like Free and Lovely come to anyone’s attention? Simply, serendipity. This album was picked out from the Three Blind Mice catalogue, for its interesting line up. Follow up is probably a lost cause, that’s how it goes in Explorer mode, many blind alleys and dead ends, keep looking, until the next find, there will be more. To mix metaphors, jazz from Japan is a big salami.
Music
The track Free and Lovely, the whole of one side, consist of a lengthy and controlled build up of tension, culminating in a deeply emotional solo from the tenor saxophone of Masamiki Takano, who finally lets rip with searing intensity, leaving this listener emotionally drained.
Music, setting aside lyrics (story-telling), consists of three objective elements – Melody, Rhythm and Harmony. Get those three right and you have great music. A fourth element, more difficult to categorise because of its subjective nature, is Emotion. Not simply “mood” – happy/ sad/ getup-and-dance – but emotional outpouring experienced by the artist and communicated through performance to the listener, often elicited by a combination of pitch, timbre, loudness, perhaps involuntary dissonance, and disconnected harmony, demanding resolution.
There is something uniquely human about the emotional depth that some musicians bring to performance, and it is a nugget of pure gold when captured on record, which is rare. If you can think of exceptional examples, I’m happy for you to share suggestions.
Vinyl: Three Blind Mice TBM-72 (1976)
Toshiba EMI pressing: flat, clean, near-silent, faithfully reproduces the engineer’s art: maximum dynamic and tonal range,, musicians climbing from out the speakers. physical presence in the room. The more I hear recordings of this quality, the more dissatisfied I become with feeble engineering of some recordings.
Booklet (Kanji)
Collector’s Corner
Record Store Day 2025 is coming up on April 12th. The queue’s will start forming at dawn to grab the latest Taylor Swift, Sam Felder, Oasis, Rolling Stones whoever. In the list however is one promising reissue from the new collaboration between licensing company of Strata East and Mack Avenue: Pharoah Sanders unpronounceable but eminently collectible Izipho Zam (My Gifts)
A “must-have for jazz enthusiasts and collectors alike” – after a while you get to recognise the voice, pure A I -generated hyperbole. By all accounts Kevin Grey has stirred the pot and cooked up an AAA edition, sounds promising – though hard on the heels of our Norma, be wary of too much unique Leon Thomas ♫yodelleity wwoooo♫ .
I figure a lot of the Strata East Catalogue is now only legacy digital, but if there are still some original tapes knocking around, the Mack Avenue joint venture could breathe new life into the iconic label (written without A I, but reads like it).
Part I – Opening 2:19
Part II – For H.
Part III – For Jan 10:09
Part IV – For P. A. 9:26
Part V – Know Where You Are 5:36
Part VI – Consolation 9:19
Part VII – Freddy C
Part VIII – Closing 12:53
Disc 3/4
Sophie 8:50
Sea Lady 8:33
Gentle Piece 8:50
Trio 4:00
Duet I 2:40
Duet II 2:23
Duet III 3:04
Trio 5:44
By Myself 10:32
Artists
Large Ensemble
Kenny Wheeler, trumpet, flugelhorn; Norma Winstone, vocals; Evan Parker, soprano & tenor saxophone; Ray Warleigh, alto saxophone; Stan Sulzmann, tenor saxophone, flute; Duncan Lamont, tenor saxophone; Julian Argüelles, baritone saxophone; Derek Watkins, Henry Lowther, Alan Downey, Ian Hamer, trumpets; David Horler, Chris Pyne, Paul Rutherford, Hugh Fraser, trombones; John Taylor, piano; John Abercrombie, guitar; Dave Holland, double bass; Peter Erskine, drums.
Small Ensemble
Peter Erskine, drums; John Taylor, piano (Duets); Kenny Wheeler, flugelhorn (Trios, By Myself); John Abercrombie, guitar (By Myself); ; Dave Holland, double bass (Trios, By Myself).
Recorded January – February 1990, CTS Studio, London, England and Rainbow Studio, Oslo, Norway.
Artist Highlights
Two decades after Windmill Tilter (1969), Kenny Wheeler returned to composition for big band. Elephant in the room: Norma. Those of us not a fan of Norma Winstone’s wordless vocalese ♫woo oo wooeroo♫ will find her presence on many of the big-band tracks off-putting. Difficult to ignore, it certainly put me off.
Norma was a regular feature of the British jazz scene of the late 60s and 70s, who joined Kenny Wheeler and pianist John Taylor in the ECM chamber jazz group group Azimuth. Her appearance here at Wheeler’s direction is not entirely unexpected.
Norma is still with us and revered as a jazz icon, nothing personal, just not for me.
Music
All Music say: “Wheeler’s breadth is stunning, from moody Oliver Nelson and Gil Evans-like expansiveness to compactly propulsive post-bop excursions. His scoring is bracing and emotive. Singer Norma Winstone is on hand for portions of it, offering a gloriously soaring counterpoint to the massed horn section. Wheeler’s diverse background serves him well, comfortable with both the traditional and the avant-garde.”
As a result of Norma’s prominence in the large ensemble, I focussed more on the album’s small ensemble pieces, which I found – to my surprise – a delight, and 100% Norma-free.
Canadian trumpeter Kenny Wheeler was careful in his selection of players for the small ensemble pieces. John Taylor is a fine British jazz pianist, an individual stylist with melodic European-romantic leanings. Drummer Peter Erskine contributes a sensitive but groove-anchored conversation to the sparse duet pieces. Dave Holland ensures the essential lower register presence in Trio/By Myself. John Abercrombie was another a surprise to me: not being a fan of the rock jazz guitar histrionics I associate with Abercrombie, here he adds orchestral pastel-shade colouring that illuminates the small ensemble. This is not what I was expecting, great stuff!
Vinyl: ECM 1415/16
In the interest of saving energy, label-shots poached from the Discogs entry, nothing much to be gained from scrutinising vinyl runout detail.
The ECM album is proudly declared to be a “Digital Recording”. I guess that is how the future of music looked in 1990. The vinyl edition is therefore a digital-to-vinyl transfer: sampled information transferred to an infinitely continuous information storage medium. It sounds a little lacking in acoustic “life” and the large ensemble sounds more spatially compressed than I think it should, but that may be to do with the recording studio set up and mixing rather than the media format.
I have not read any sound quality comment elsewhere – I guess most commenters listen to the CD, so for them the issue does not exist. Out here in vinyl-lala-land, it does exist, and it’s an important part of the listening experience often ignored by music reviewers.
The stereo mixing of the small ensemble pieces is glorious, especially the spread of Erskine’s drum kit across the sound stage: bass drum, tom-toms and snare come at you from different angles, Erskine’s underlying rhythmic pulse jousting with Taylor’s sinuous piano. This is when the precise pinpoint symmetry of a top cartridge pays off, and makes up for any digital artefacts. The duets, trios and bigger small ensemble are larger than life, and for me, the unexpected highlight of the album.
Gatefold:
As a picture, it’s a car-crash: most of the picture is irrelevant architectural and road-traffic information. Standing in the road to take the photo, the photographer had to be quick to dodge traffic and passing pedestrians. For comparison, think of Blue Note1956-66, Francis Wolff prowling Englewood Cliffs with his Rolleiflex, capturing musicians during performance, musicians working.
Instead, it’s like ECM employed a wedding photographer – can we have the bride and groom’s party in a line please? – posed in jeans and trainers, some arms folded, hands in their pockets or clasped in front of their zipper. Seconds later, I imagine the shriek of brakes, and the large ensemble shouting in perfectly arranged harmony: “Look Out! (ssssscreeeech!) Oh!”
Harry’s Place
Our peripatetic jazz photographer Harry M – who could also shoot Weddings and School Yearbook Groups – picked off members of the Kenny Wheeler Ensemble on various dates between 1968 and 1975.
An expensive and hard to find vinyl, I took an interest in this album on the strength of LJC reader recommendations, and I found it something of a mixed bag. I have only a few ECM albums. Their typical sparse sonic soundscapes probably lend themselves more to the digital/compact disc format, with its silent noise-floor, than sonically more lively vinyl. Perhaps some ECM fans have a different take, chip in, please.
Meanwhile, in other news … the latest tranche of Blue Note 85 reissues and Tone Poet/Vinyl Classics are all titles I already have originals and am very happy with. The new arrivals rack in my favourite stores have been thin on interest.
Selection: Assunta (Cal Massey) . . . Track List A1 Philly Mignon – 5:30A2 Father and Son (Cal Massey) – 6:37A3 Body and Soul (F Eyton, J Green, E Heyman, R Sour) – 6:29B1 Nostrand and Fulton- 7:09B2 Full Moon and Empty Arms … Continue reading →
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Selection: Assunta (Cal Massey)
. . .
Track List
A1 Philly Mignon – 5:30 A2 Father and Son (Cal Massey) – 6:37 A3 Body and Soul (F Eyton, J Green, E Heyman, R Sour) – 6:29 B1 Nostrand and Fulton- 7:09 B2 Full Moon and Empty Arms (Buddy Kaye,Ted Mossman) – 5:28 B3 Assunta (Cal Massey) – 7:07
Artists
Freddie Hubbard, trumpet; Wayne Shorter, tenor sax; Cedar Walton, piano; Reggie Workman, bass; Philly Joe Jones, drums, recorded Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, December 27, 1962
Music
Combination of Freddie Hubbard and Wayne Shorter here is outstanding: poignant harmonies, Freddie’s brilliant piercing and lustrous tone, Shorter is sour, dark, bitter, with a cry in the upper register, the combination aided and abetted by Van Gelder’s masterful stereo separation, reconstructed by Kevin Gray – has me pinned to the sofa in a180 degree panoramic attack.
Vinyl:
Reissue of Blue Note BN-LA 496-2 (1976) Freddie Hubbard (Two-fer), Blue Note UMG Classic Vinyl Series remasterd from original tapes by Kevin Gray pressed by Optimal Media GmbH AB61753. Among Van Gelders’s finest original recording presented with clarion-clear articulate precision. One of the best sounding albums in the Classic Vinyl Series, possibly the best.
Kevin Gray signature, requiring macro lens to capture but it is there!
Hype-sticker on shrink-wrap, no gatefold.
Collector’s Corner
The Blue Note Re-issue Series BN-LA496-H2 (twofers – United Artists 1976) of the not previously issued Here To Stay paired with Freddie’s Hub Cap. If you cast an eye over the track list A1 to B3, they are all the tracks of “Here To Stay”, in the same order.
French Pathe Marconi Direct Metal Mastered edition, mid ’80s, one of the only previous offers of this recording to date, apart from the United Artists “Freddie Hubbard” Twofer. The DMM short-cut manufacturing process produced inferior results in order to cut cost, and ends up pleasing no-one., but check it out for yourself
Selection: Assunta – Pathe Marconi France (DMM) 1986
. . .
1985 EMI-Toshiba parallel reissue in Japan
For the retro collector, a premium quality cassette to pop in the dash-board player of your Ford Edsel
In the Classic Vinyl Series, Kevin Gray has produced the definitive issue of Here To Stay, and of course there is no “original” Van Gelder master for comparison, though I recall seeing a unique Test Pressing somewhere, suggesting Van Gelder had prepared the recording for release, but Blue Note pulled it at at the last minute.
A Van Gelder mastered Test Pressing of the unreleased album BNLP 4135, created six months after the recording session, not unusual in Van Gelder/ Blue Note workflow. Crikey, this is a find! It is unique – the only Van Gelder mastered edition and mono, while all the subsequent reissues look to have been stereo.
It has been said Alfred Lion was wary of saturating the market with too many titles from the same artist, and limited each artist to just one or two titles a year (apart from Jimmy Smith). In 1963 Blue Note released just the one Hubbard title, 4115 – Hub-tones (Herbie Hancock/James Spaulding), in my view a lesser session compared with Here To Stay. Perhaps there were other considerations, possibly related to a Wayne Shorter/Miles Davis connection? Who knows, boss’s decision is final, he alone has skin in the game.
The Classic Vinyl edition of Here To Stay is a treat for your ears, highly recommended, even if you already have one of the above earlier issues.
A1 I’ll Close My Eyes (Buddy Kaye, Billy Reid) – 5:56 A2 Avars (Rocky Boyd) – 4:07 A3 Scrapple from the Apple (Charlie Parker) – 4:00 A4 Kinda Vague (Wynton Kelly, Blue Mitchell) – 6:28 B1 Sir John – 6:06 B2 When I Fall in Love (E. Heyman, V. Young) – 5:42 B3 Sweet Pumpkin (Ronnell Bright) – 4:19 B4 I Wish I Knew (Mack Gordon, Harry Warren) – 4:26
Artists
Blue Mitchell, trumpet, cornet; Wynton Kelly, piano; Sam Jones, bass; Roy Brooks, drums; Ray Fowler, recording engineer, Plaza Sound Studios, NYC, August 24-25, 1960; mastered by Jack Mathews, issued as Riverside RLP336/ 9336
Artist Highlights
Blue’s Moods is the third of six seven albums Mitchell led for Riverside between 1958 and 1962, before jumping ship to Blue Note, where he produced nine increasingly more soul-oriented titles through up to 1971 under the aegis of Liberty.
His Riverside albums are more tightly jazz-focussed, his tone gaining confidence and maturity. Also typical of the cusp of the 50’s decade, the songbook is primarily standards, one or two original compositions.
It’s difficult to pick one winner among this diverse collection of ballads and boppers, a discipline I force on myself. According to the liner notes, my selection Kinda Vague deploys a vintage cornet, an instrument whose more lyrical expressive tone contrasts with Mitchell’s usual bright forward trumpet, which is probably what attracted me to the track.
Music
3rd Street Jazz (excellent jazz review site most recently housed on Facebook) says:
“Blue Mitchell’s trumpet rings clear and true through this 1960 quartet recording. His melodic ideas flow with natural grace, never forced or overwrought. The rhythm section swings with understated elegance, creating space for Mitchell’s voice to soar.
Mitchell’s previous recordings hinted at his potential. “Blue’s Moods” fulfils that promise completely. His trumpet tone has matured into liquid gold. Each note carries emotional weight without ever feeling heavy. The quartet format allows his musical personality to shine through every phrase.”
Wynton Kelly should not go unmentioned, he is in sparkling form – in my book it’s Wynton’s album, whose infectiously rhythmic keyboard is a stand out feature. There are no passengers, up and coming young drummer Roy Brooks, and sheer professionalism of Sam Jones bass complete Mitchell’s dynamic quartet outing.
Vinyl: CR00726 Craft 2024 reissue of Riverside 9336
Mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearant Audio – confirmed signature in runout.
Surprisingly, Gray has cut the grooves making full use of the vinyl surface, almost right up to the centre label edge instead of cutting a narrower groove width stacked towards the vinyl outer edge. Perhaps that accounts for the very strong presentation, full and fruity, closer to how I expect a vintage original edition to sound.
What Kevin was not able to change is the rather eccentric stereo mix by Jack Mathews. All instruments are mixed centre-to-left except Sam Jones’s bass, marooned out in the right speaker (apparently some other editions differ in presentation). Recorded in Summer 1960, stereo was still a novelty for some engineers, challenges which didn’t arise in mono, which is probably where this recording naturally belongs.
However this doesn’t overall diminish the quality of this fine quartet performance and the strong presentation mastered by Kevin Gray – KPG@CA.
Harry’s Place:
Harry snapped Blue in Sydney Australia in 1973. Seems a long way to go for a snap, but our jazz paparazzi Harry M always goes the extra mile. Harry demonstrates superb use of diagonals composing within a rectangular frame – a technique to remember! Nice one, cobber.
Original mono RLP336 label below, deep groove 100mm large label, looks from the Side 2 centre die impression to be an Abbey Mfg. pressing.
Original 1960 stereo RLP 9336 below – a particular rarity because in 1960 only a few homes had made the leap to stereo, with mono accounting for probably three quarters of sales.
An original copy proved difficult to find, and expensive, so the Craft reissue was hard to resist.
London Jazz Collector Out and About
The conveyor-belt of quality jazz reissues continues apace, but Blue’s Moods should not be overlooked, and sounds better than many.
The current crop of reissues includes another fine trumpet player, Dizzy Reece’s Blues In Trinity, one of the few non-Van Gelder Blue Notes, and featuring our own Tubby Hayes, the highlight – a powerful rendition of ‘Round About Midnight.
Having two copies of this record already – mono (King) and stereo (Connoisseur 1995, stereo) – posted on December 22, 2011 – an original eluded me many times to the point I gave up. Sadly not priority, unless someone can persuade me otherwise.
Anyone excited about Sam Record’s “Artisan Series” early Sun Ra special Limited Editions? Bad news: they’ve all gone, almost instantly.
It must be difficult to accurately anticipate the degree of interest in the vinyl jazz community. My advice: just press more.
Somewhere it looks to me, if I’m not mistaken, an Impulse completist has joined the celestial choir. Whilst I file my albums by lead artist last-name, this make a persuasive case for filing by catalogue number within record label. Looks beautiful, even if I wouldn’t want every title.
If you are piling in on the reissues trail, and running short of shelf-space, spare a thought for this serious collector in Singapore, whose solution to storing 8,000 records is – up.
I’m not there by any stretch, at 2,500 records. My better half tells me I have too many records, and that’s a fact, apparently. I am just permitted an extra couple of IKEA units stationed in a corridor. That’s just about enough for my latest additions of Jazz from Japan, be warned.
♪Ding Dong♪ Oh oh! Postie! More records arriving. Quick, hide!
All compositions Toshihiko Inoue, except B2 Moriyama
Artists
Takeo Moriyama, drums; Toshihiko Inoue (co-arranger), Shuichi Enomoto, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone; Hideaki Mochizuki, bass; Yoji Sadanari, percussion; recorded at CBS/Sony Roppongi Studio A, Tokyo Japan, September 8-9, 1983, Kohichi Inaba, recording engineer; Mr Kasai, mastering engineer; Genji Sawai, producer.
BBE JJazz Masterclass Series reissue curated by Tony Higgins and Mike Peden; mastered by Shawn Joseph at Optimum Mastering, Bristol UK; pressed by Schallplattenfabrik Pallas GmbH.
Artist Highlights
Takeo Moriyama is probably Japan’s most renowned jazz drummer – on the scene for many decades, a flair for arranging with a large scale vision. He is still performing and teaching; recently partnered with Japan’s leading avant-jazz pianist Matahiko Satoh at London’s Cafe Oto with a live performance of East Plants. (below, bottom right)
Toshihiko Inoue – tenor and soprano saxophone, composer/ arranger. Toured Europe with the Takeo Moriyama Quartet in the 80s, to rave reviews, including a “scorching live performance” at the East West Jazz Festival, Meistersinger Hall, Nuremberg, Germany, released on Takeo Moriyama album Green River – Enja 4080 (1984). (bottom left above). Toshihiko Inoue’s discography includes over 40 albums, not widely known outside of Japan. Inoue passed away in 2015, age 63.
Music
BBE say: “East Plants features just percussion, acoustic bass and reeds. From the luxurious raga-like build of the album’s hypnotic title track and the fierce post-bop workout of Fields, to the stately modal track Kaze, until now, a rarely acknowledged masterpiece “
LJC says: Cinematic in conception, opening with primitive conga beating, a slow processional dance gives way to anthemic modal drama, ecstatic saxophone crescendo at the high point, burnished with Takeo’s sizzling cymbal washes, descending to earth with return to the calming main theme.
Music this good, it could even be British, Don Rendell in flight, with hat tip to Pharoah Sanders managed chaos. Whatever the inspiration, East Plants is a majestic, iconic album that stands proud of the commercial flotsam and jetsam surrounding it, standing the test of time over forty years later.
Vinyl: BBE473ALP – 2xLP 331/3rpm, 2018 reissue of Japan VAP 30132-25
Unusual decision to spread a regular length 33 1/3 LP reissue across two discs – tough on shoe leather, and I’m not hearing any sonic advantage, but I have not heard the original. Maybe it gave the cutting engineer more wiggle-latitude to the bass? The studio recording is not as dynamic and articulate as the Three Blind Mice Studio Aoi recordings I have been listening to lately, but those are truly exceptional. Bloody audiophiles.
Mastered for BBE (Barely Breaking Even) Records by Shawn Joseph, Optimum Mastering, whose studios claim a restored/ modified Neumann VMS 70 lathe. The vinyl label says “Made in Germany”- Pallas is BBE’s usual choice, no complaints as to pressing quality: clean, flat, and quiet.
The actual music source for vinyl mastering is not mentioned. Given the production logistics (Japan, UK, and Germany), most likely from a digital copy of the original tapes or second generation tape. We are left in the dark, sources matter.
Gatefold
Nice added value with artists in performance stills filling out the gatefold, complete with Tony Higgins’ insightful back-story.
Insert:
Collector’s Corner
Original vap issue (1983) labels:
Our old friend Bob Djukic knows a thing or two about Japanese jazz. The vap original, shown mounted in Bob’s familiar blue-tint posing jig, is “insanely rare!”
Actually, a pretty fair auction result for an “insanely rare” title, near mint, in its original form including obi and insert.
A pity few people know about jazz from Japan; it’s not especially “Japanese” (stereotypical traditional bamboo flute, gongs and wind-chimes) It exhibits a taste for anthemic themes and emotional resonance, stronger influence of free-jazz, experimental avant-garde, a bit less toe-tapping dance rhythms – though there is some of that around too. A fantastic genre to explore.
, though many hundreds have come to auction. Collector’s can argue among themselves whether the blue or the brown edition is the original 
