[icebear]

The sound of either the BBC video and the youtube vinyl playing is just horrible.
If these are any indication of the actual sound of the recording session than this is one of the worst Evans recordings I have heard.
 
I can highly recommend :
3 CD box set 20bit K2 remaster.
The recording is from '61 and with a good set up and headphones you close your eyes and you are right there in the NYC basement.
 
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Village-Vanguard-Recordings-1961/dp/B000AMJEKA

 

 

[Quinto]

  The sound of either the BBC video and the youtube vinyl playing is just horrible.
If these are any indication of the actual sound of the recording session than this is one of the worst Evans recordings I have heard.
 
I can highly recommend :
3 CD box set 20bit K2 remaster.
The recording is from '61 and with a good set up and headphones you close your eyes and you are right there in the NYC basement.
 
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Village-Vanguard-Recordings-1961/dp/B000AMJEKA

 

This recording is VERY good!! (Orrin Keepnews knew his business!)

 

[nightstand68]

Maybe some of this is too obscure for beginners but to me, "the best European jazz box set ever"

Most of these CDs have very nice bass and sound rather nice for mono.

 

[ralphp@optonline]

Maybe some of this is too obscure for beginners but to me, the best jazz box set ever.

Most of these CDs have very nice bass and sound rather nice for mono.

While I can see from the picture that this box set does indeed contain some truly great jazz you still might want to consider amending your statement from "the best jazz box set ever" to "the best European jazz box set ever". It cannot possibly be the best jazz box set ever without all of the great American jazz giants. After all the birth place of jazz is the USA.

 

[nightstand68]

 
While I can see from the picture that this box set does indeed contain some truly great jazz you still might want to consider amending your statement from "the best jazz box set ever" to "the best European jazz box set ever". It cannot possibly be the best jazz box set ever without all of the great American jazz giants. After all the birth place of jazz is the USA.

Fixed.

 

[drofeel71]

IMHO an essential album...
Along with...

But there are many many more...some of which I'm still to discover...

 

[ralphp@optonline]

 
Fixed.

Thanks.
 
I hope you weren't offended since I did not mean to offend you.
 
The relationship between American and European jazz has always been a strained, to put it mildly. For example the Ken Burns documentary on jazz was disgraceful with respect it dealt with European jazz since there was almost no mention of any European jazz musicians. And while the early days of jazz and on through about the mid 1950s are pretty much dominated by American jazz giants, since then the roles played by many, many truly great and talented European jazz musicians cannot be ignored.
 
Luckily many present day jazz musicians and listeners willingly accept any talented jazz musician regardless of their country of origin.

 

[nightstand68]

Absolutely no offense taken and I agree with you. I didn't take into consideration that the American giants were not included (aka Charlie Parker. Probably one of my favorites).

As for the box set, the sleeves, variety, sound and the charm of it all sets it apart for me. Not counting the rarity.

 

[Music Alchemist]

I don't listen to much jazz as of yet, but my favorite jazz song by far is "All Or Nothing" - composed and arranged by Naoshi Mizuta, featured on disc 3, track 11 of the Final Fantasy XIII-2 Original Soundtrack. Best saxophone I've heard, and everything else (piano, drums, bass, flute) comes together so well to create a great casino atmosphere befitting of its placement in the game.
 
http://vgmdb.net/album/29080

 

[Hijodelbrx]

Calling Ken Burns Jazz documentary 'disgraceful' because it neglected to focus on European Jazz seems harsh. From what I've read, for as long as it was, it left out quite a bit like Latin Jazz, Fusion, and just about everything that happened after the 70's! It's a great way for a novice/beginner to get a lot of exposure and info about Jazz!

 

[Buddhahacker]

Calling Ken Burns Jazz documentary 'disgraceful' because it neglected to focus on European Jazz seems harsh. From what I've read, for as long as it was, it left out quite a bit like Latin Jazz, Fusion, and just about everything that happened after the 70's! It's a great way for a novice/beginner to get a lot of exposure and info about Jazz!

Agreed.  When you take a broad subject such as jazz as the target of a documentary you need to establish the scope to conform to your available time.  Here is a quote from Wikipedia about the series, "The documentary concerned the history of jazz music in the United States . . . "   That's the scope of the documentary and what was delivered.  I don't remember any statements providing an impression that this was a definitive documentary on the topic of jazz around the world.

 

[ralphp@optonline]

Calling Ken Burns Jazz documentary 'disgraceful' because it neglected to focus on European Jazz seems harsh. From what I've read, for as long as it was, it left out quite a bit like Latin Jazz, Fusion, and just about everything that happened after the 70's! It's a great way for a novice/beginner to get a lot of exposure and info about Jazz!

 
I didn't say "because it neglected to focus on European Jazz" rather I say it was disgraceful "since there was almost no mention of any European jazz musicians". The focus of the series was clearly on American jazz.

  Agreed.  When you take a broad subject such as jazz as the target of a documentary you need to establish the scope to conform to your available time.  Here is a quote from Wikipedia about the series, "The documentary concerned the history of jazz music in the United States . . . "   That's the scope of the documentary and what was delivered.  I don't remember any statements providing an impression that this was a definitive documentary on the topic of jazz around the world.

Funny the name of the documentary was "Jazz" and not "American Jazz" or "A History of Jazz in the United States". And since the name was just "Jazz" there should have at least been a few mentions of:
 
European jazz
Avant-garde jazz
Fusion
Latin Jazz
 
But there wasn't since Ken Burns did two things when he made the series.
 
First he filtered his version of the history of jazz through the prism of racism (as he does with all his documentaries) and that prism really doesn't work for jazz since it and has always been relatively free of racism, at least from within. The racism in jazz was imposed from outside, such as the Jim Crow laws which adversely impacted the black jazz musicians.
 
Second he based almost the entire series on the gospel of the great Wynton Marsalis, who was made to appear as the grand savior of jazz, who rose like a phoenix from the ashes of fusion to save "real" jazz. Never mind all the other great jazz musicians who started their careers in the 1970s - they were not mentioned since including them would have spoiled the Wynton as savior narrative. So the 1970s loft jazz scene was ignored along with such outstanding artists as the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Muhal Richard Abrams, Sam Rivers, Anthony Braxton, David Murray and many, many others. And the 1970's fusion scene was also ignored so great players and groups were also ignored: Weather Report, The Brecker Brothers, Pat Metheny, Ornette Coleman and Prime Time and many, many others.
 
In any event this is an old fight and it has hashed and rehashed on various internet forum ever since the series first aired so I will say no more on this subject.

 

[magiccabbage]

 
Second he based almost the entire series on the gospel of the great Wynton Marsalis, who was made to appear as the grand savior of jazz, who rose like a phoenix from the ashes of fusion to save "real" jazz. Never mind all the other great jazz musicians who started their careers in the 1970s - they were not mentioned since including them would have spoiled the Wynton as savior narrative. So the 1970s loft jazz scene was ignored along with such outstanding artists as the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Muhal Richard Abrams, Sam Rivers, Anthony Braxton, David Murray and many, many others. And the 1970's fusion scene was also ignored so great players and groups were also ignored: Weather Report, The Brecker Brothers, Pat Metheny, Ornette Coleman and Prime Time and many, many others.
 
In any event this is an old fight and it has hashed and rehashed on various internet forum ever since the series first aired so I will say no more on this subject.

you should because its really interesting. I had only heard snippets of the "Wynton a savior" narrative. Wynton is a great player and i think one of the best trumpeters out there but he can come across as very arrogant at times and does hold some controversial views. 
 
I don't like what he has to say about jazz players playing on pop an funk records and how he turns his nose up at most of the fusion from 69 on-wards but when it comes down to it his playing ability cant be denied. 
 
Is there a place where I can watch this doc? 

 

[ralphp@optonline]

  you should because its really interesting. I had only heard snippets of the "Wynton a savior" narrative. Wynton is a great player and i think one of the best trumpeters out there but he can come across as very arrogant at times and does hold some controversial views. 
 
I don't like what he has to say about jazz players playing on pop an funk records and how he turns his nose up at most of the fusion from 69 on-wards but when it comes down to it his playing ability cant be denied. 
 
Is there a place where I can watch this doc? 

The funny thing about Wynton is that he actually likes quite a bit of the avant-garde. For example several years ago he did a tribute to the great Ornette Coleman with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Granted half the audience walked out halfway through the concert but at least he tried. I'm not sure whether it was Wynton or Ken Burns who chose to ignore fusion and avant-garde jazz but nonetheless the documentary barely mentions them.
 
Perhaps the biggest omission was leaving out Sun Ra, a truly unforgivable sin and just another of the many, many reasons that I feel that in spite of its many good points the whole series was rather disgraceful. Sun Ra, how on earth (or rather Saturn) could you dare to omit Sun Ra in ANY series that claims to be about jazz?

 

[Hijodelbrx]

   
I didn't say "because it neglected to focus on European Jazz" rather I say it was disgraceful "since there was almost no mention of any European jazz musicians". The focus of the series was clearly on American jazz.
 

 
Whatever.  I still think the use of the word disgraceful is an exaggeration but really, who cares?
 
Ken Burns: Jazz is available on Netflix.