Jazz for aficionados

Rok, as good as your reviews have been, this is the best yet. Although it's almost impossible to know who's playing what, it's all good. Ray has not played jazz this good before, nor since; he had so much soul, and he was young then.

The blues, jazz comment is right on. This music mixes them so well, that bluesjazz is the only appropriate word for it. In regard to who's playing what, I just found out that Skeeter Best is the guitar soloist on "Blue Funk".

Enjoy the music.

Assorted Swedes -- Jazz at the Pawnshop 2CD set SACD

After listening to both CDs, I have two questions.
1. what was all the brouhaha about?
2. WTF was I thinking when I bought it?

I have owned this forever. Listened once and put it back on the rack. I Fell for all the 'audiophile' hype.

I never even stopped to see who was playing and where.
For years I just assumed that the Pawnshop was a club in NYC. Well it turns out its in Stockholm Sweden. And the players are locals (I assume).

This is much ado about not much. Even the vaunted sound quality is not that special given the current state of the art. This is an example of Sound over Substance

I thought the sound was great. As I listened it occurred to me that seldom does great performance and great sound come together at the same time. That seems to be true across all genres.

I thought that this recording expertise could have been put to better use on other performers and performances.

I checked the reaction on Amazon, and one reviewer said the same thing. I guess we both wished we could get Charlie Parker recordings of this quality. It feels great to have similar thoughts with other Jazzers.

And not content to inflict this one outrage on the Jazz public, there are vols two and three!!! Due no doubt to the 'audiophile' element amongst us. They even assaulted Brubeck's 'Take Five'!!! Where there no Jazz police there???

I am sure the players are nice guys, and they play well. They are just missing that certain Something. Hard to define, but I know when it's not there.

Ain't got it? You don't need it, BUT, if you absoultely, positively have to have it, 'these sellers' will have it in your hands next week for a measley $90. $122 for the HD version! Good Luck!

Cheers

For a number of years I've felt that "Jazz at the Pawn Shop" was representative of the quintessential audiophile Creed, the sound means more than the music being performed.

.
Dexter Gordon's 'One Flight Up' album is a must-have in your jazz collection. The cut 'Tanya' is a monster jam.
.

****If nothing can be perfect, then it's just FLAWLESS!**** - Rok2id re "Blues And The Abstract Truth".

Well, I suppose that the fact that it was in the No.1 slot in my first response to this thread says all that I need to say about how I feel about this record. I have long felt that this record, not Kind Of Blue (in spite of all it's excellence), should be the audiophile-go-to jazz recording. Before I get skewered, let me say that KOB is clearly the "more important" recording with the presence of Coltrane and all that he precursed, as well as the "Modal Jazz, here I am" vibe that the record is so rightly admired for. BATAT features some incredible playing and arranging. I can't imagine a more perfect hard-bop solo than Freddie's solo on the title cut. For comments re Oliver Nelson's improvising style see my comments a few posts back (if anyone cares :-). Dolphy's presence on the record is like a splash of cold water on the face after a great workout; talk about unique. Evans? What can possibly be said that hasn't already be said about his beautiful lyricism. A great record; and, oh yeah, great sound too.

****Why isn't Freddie Hubbard mentioned more often, when people talk of the Jazz Trumpet ****

Well, we tried; didn't we? Trumpet players talk about Freddie all the time. Jazz fans? Well, I suppose his stint with CTI records caused him to lose some credibility among the elite at a time when jazz, clearly waning (in a way) was starting to move in a direction that punished (intellectually) anyone who sought commercial success. Success; can't have that! Also, a serious lip injury caused his playing to be sub-par during his last active years.