All That Jazz ...

Finally!
It’s taken ages but I’ve finally managed to get my hands on some long OOP Blue Notes on CD. BN Japan is celebrating the label’s 85th anniversary with a slew of releases throughout this year. Pricing is also very reasonable; these are 1500 yen each.

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Special shoutout to the best photograph ever taken by Francis Wolff:

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I love the slew of Bud Powell albums between 59-65 and you're right about this album cover - pure art! So many albums here on my want list too...
 
Finally!
It’s taken ages but I’ve finally managed to get my hands on some long OOP Blue Notes on CD. BN Japan is celebrating the label’s 85th anniversary with a slew of releases throughout this year. Pricing is also very reasonable; these are 1500 yen each.

Some stellar vinyl you've got there!
Listening to the Thad Jones right now ... nice! :cool::cool:

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No black discs, Nikhil, only shiny silver ones.
A mint LP of the Thad Jones album is going for $300 on Discogs!
That’s 300 reasons why I’m not getting a turntable :)

Oh! I thought you were into vinyl. :D
Good to see that all these albums are available on CD.


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Some Egyptian big band jazz on this Sunday afternoon.

The year is 1968. Salah Ragab, a drummer and major in the Egyptian army heads the Military Department of Music in Heliopolis. There he forms the first jazz big band in Egypt, The Cairo Jazz Band. Handpicked by Ragab out of thousands, the 25 or so who made the band include some of the best musicians in the country such as Zaki Osman (trumpet), Saied Salama (tenor sax), Khamis El-Kholy (piano) and Ala Mostafa (piano).

While Ragab held crash courses in jazz for these musicians, their classically trained background in military marches and national anthems is still present in the music. Apart from big band influences like Ellington and Basie, there's a distinct Afro-Cuban flavour to it too while at other times sounding like Egyptian library music. There's a Sun Ra connection as well, Ragab having met Ra on his first visit to Egypt in 1971 and then recording his compositions Egypt Strut and Dawn with the Arkestra in 1983.

Recorded in Heliopolis between 1968 and 1973, Egypt Strut is a historically significant album that captures the very beginnings of jazz in Egypt and shines a light on Salah Ragab, one of the most interesting figures in music history.

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For Ornette Coleman fans, this is one beautiful box set:

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Wow!
Just yesterday, I was immersed in 'Peace'. I think it's brilliant


"Coleman's early sound was due in part to his use of a plastic saxophone. He bought a plastic horn in Los Angeles in 1954 because he was unable to afford a metal saxophone"
 
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