A VERY busy first part of the year, so haven't been able to post much, but we're back at it now here at Down Memory Lane Records and ready for some posting.
So, what have I been listening to?
A lot of jazz reissues, many coming from Dusty Groove, though some from Amazon and Import Cds as well.
These 50 Japanese Blue Note SHM-CD reissues released last December as part of the Blue Note Masterworks Series are highly recommended.
I've especially enjoyed the Lee Morgan reissues:
Lee Morgan: Charisma
Lee Morgan: The Gigolo
Lee Morgan: Delightful
Lee Morgan: Sixth Sense
There are other great reissues from Donald Byrd, Hank Mobley, Grant Green, Tina Brooks and other Blue Note artists from the 60's, some playing hard bop, some playing some soul jazz, and some playing a little more experimental.
The sound is excellent, the booklets are well done, with Japanese and English notes (the latter by Michael Cuscuna) along with original liner notes.
As always, the Japanese imports are more expensive than U.S. or U.K. CDS, but these are put together with care and a lot of them are long out of print anyway here in the U.S.
More later this week about the Blue Note Masterworks series - but I want to end on this: Get them before they're out of print
