advertisement


Ornette Coleman - Genesis of Genius Boxset

Just got round to ordering this set after hearing OC’s stuff on my phone recently. Really looking forward to it, better to get it now than when it’s sold-out and overpriced.
 
I have no experience of Craft. While I am happy that these records are being properly reissued, I am dismayed that Concord too is getting into the game of reissuing old records in supposedly 'boutique, artisanal' packages at higher and higher prices. But I suppose this is late stage capitalism...lets milk it for what it's worth...

The Contemporary Ornettes are good but there are more interesting and important Ornette albums around.
 
hockman said:
The Contemporary Ornettes are good but there are more interesting and important Ornette albums around.
Click to expand...

Thomas Conrad interviewing legendary engineer Roy DuNann in 2001 (for the April 2002 edition of Stereophile) about Ornette recording his first LP Something Else!!! for Contemporary:

Conrad - “What was it like to come in and set up for a session with a new musician you didn’t know, and hear Ornette Coleman play like that? Jazz was changed forever from that moment. It must have been incredible. You were there, Roy, what did you think?”

DuNann - “I would have sent him home.”

(Taken from Conrad’s essay in Round Trip. Anyhow - it amused me......)
 
hockman said:
…The Contemporary Ornettes are good but there are more interesting and important Ornette albums around.
Click to expand...

These two albums sound really fun though - and besides, I don’t own either of them on any format so I’m delighted to get them.
 
hockman said:
The Contemporary Ornettes are good but there are more interesting and important Ornette albums around.
Click to expand...

I guess. I do love them though. To me it's astonishing how Ornette arrived seemingly fully formed. I should read the recent bio.

P.S. Which 1958 LP came first? Something Else!!! or Somethin' Else?
 
paulfromcamden said:
P.S. Which 1958 LP came first? Something Else!!! or Somethin' Else?
Click to expand...

Cannonball Adderley recorded at Van Gelder’s Hackensack home studio, New Jersey. 9th March 1958. Release date ?? But probably before Coleman in 1958.

Ornette Coleman recorded Contemporary’s Los Angeles studio. February 10th and 22nd. March 24th 1958. Released towards end 1958.

So based on start of recording dates - Coleman wins first place by a ‘short length’ of analogue tape. ;)
 
DuNann recorded some of the best jazz sounds! He is so overshadowed by RvG; whilst I do like RvG's recordings, I think DuNann's output had a more natural sound.

Given his comment on Ornette, I wonder how he felt recording Sonny Simmons's Burning Spirits. I love Simmons' playing especially on Firebirds, The Cry and the magnificent Rumasuma but I cannot take the dissonant Burning Spirits. :eek: I desperately wanted to like it because I had found a mint original record at a very reasonable price...
 
So I could blow south of £300 if I go for this and the Blue Note box??

I love Ornette and would really like to have these in the collection but if I'm honest I don't play his records as much as some other artists.

Buying jazz is becoming a rich(er) man's game......

Do you guys smuggle them into the house under cover of darkness? My other half is very happy with my record buying but it tends to be in bite sized chunks. £300 might trigger a concern that I need some therapy o_O
 
hockman said:
DuNann recorded some of the best jazz sounds! He is so overshadowed by RvG; whilst I do like RvG's recordings, I think DuNann's output had a more natural sound.
Click to expand...

I agree, love his work. I don't think DuNann's response to the Ornette question was quite what Conrad was expecting. I'd like to hear the Simmons LPs you mention, I only have the ESP title.

kjb said:
So I could blow south of £300 if I go for this and the Blue Note box??
Click to expand...

I personally think the Round Trip box is a thing of beauty. A slice of jazz history produced to a very high standard - simply a bargain. Doubt it will happen again in my lifetime. For perspective you could buy a shabby first press of Golden Circle Vol 1 on eBay for over £600.

kjb said:
Do you guys smuggle them into the house under cover of darkness? My other half is very happy with my record buying but it tends to be in bite sized chunks. £300 might trigger a concern that I need some therapy o_O
Click to expand...

I'm lucky - I married a musician who loves LPs. It's me who thinks I need therapy......
 
Graham H said:
I personally think the Round Trip box is a thing of beauty. A slice of jazz history produced to a very high standard - simply a bargain. Doubt it will happen again in my lifetime. For perspective you could buy a shabby first press of Golden Circle Vol 1 on eBay for over £600.
Click to expand...

That's not at all helpful Graham :p
 
It may seem expensive, but I can’t think there will ever be better versions than these. I can’t really think they will keep it ‘in print’ so I don’t think anyone wanting it will lose money on this if they want to sell it on later. The recent Complete Lighthouse Vinyl Box Set, that I just missed out on, is already escalating in price and there is a much cheaper excellent CD version of that.
 
Damn you Graham!;) My dealer friend had asked me whether if I wanted to reserve a copy of the Ornette box but I didn't reply because mentally I had already decided not.

I think the Simmons ESP title is probably more 'free', the other Contemporary ones (except for Burning Spirits, damn I probably should have picked it up anyway) are less dissonant although still firmly in the avant garde camp. I highly recommend them but it is unlikely any of them will see a good reissue any time.

As I often repeat myself, I am dismayed that with the 'vinyl revival' many of these albums have become sought after and pricey. Often it is driven by new collectors who buy this stuff up to boast about it on social media. They are usually working off some 'must have' list posted by self-acclaimed taste-makers which provoke FOMO acquisition behavior. An established record dealer tells me that many of these new vinyl collectors only want the rare and most sought after albums while totally ignoring the many great recordings that are more common and cheaper.

Graham H said:
I agree, love his work. I don't think DuNann's response to the Ornette question was quite what Conrad was expecting. I'd like to hear the Simmons LPs you mention, I only have the ESP title.



I personally think the Round Trip box is a thing of beauty. A slice of jazz history produced to a very high standard - simply a bargain. Doubt it will happen again in my lifetime. For perspective you could buy a shabby first press of Golden Circle Vol 1 on eBay for over £600.



I'm lucky - I married a musician who loves LPs. It's me who thinks I need therapy......
Click to expand...
 
Graham H said:
Thank me later!
Click to expand...

I spent last night playing through some of the records in the set via Qobuz. It's quite a while since I've listened to this period Ornette - I tend to jump from the Atlantic period straight to Prime Time.

It does sound very good indeed.......
 
hockman said:
An established record dealer tells me that many of these new vinyl collectors only want the rare and most sought after albums while totally ignoring the many great recordings that are more common and cheaper.
Click to expand...

Ha! Their loss. It must be nice to spend your time chasing expensive rare pressings but I'm afraid I'm always drawn to the dealers's £2 box. Partly through necessity but largely because for me that's where the fun lies - I just like picking up records I've never seen/heard and seeing what they're like. Sometimes they stink. Sometimes you discover something great. Harder to do when they're £££s.
 
Have to say, despite the wild expense I feel no buyer's remorse whatsoever about the Tone Poet set. Wonderful music sounding it's very best, presented in the form of a beautiful object. Sometimes with this kind of thing the difference between the radicalism of the music and the luxuriousness of the object can be jarring but in this case it just feels like a fitting tribute to the man and the music. Bit sentimental I know.
 
Seanm said:
Sometimes with this kind of thing the difference between the radicalism of the music and the luxuriousness of the object can be jarring
Click to expand...

Less so than Triple Point charging $110 for a Cecil Taylor double LP.

I'm sure 'ailanthus/altissima' looks and sounds gorgeous. But seems a shame that only folk who can afford to blow a day's wages on a record will ever be able to hear it.

edit: apologies - this sounds like me constantly moaning about expensive records! I'll be quiet :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top