So Rovi via the Naim app mainly means it appears in the booklet? And/or the pop-up album description?
Yes, I think that’s the case. Whilst the Naim app accesses some of the features, the AMG app provides further details such as track picks, user reviews etc. It may just be my lousy broadband, but I find that the Rovi search in the Naim app often times out.
I have used Roon at my local Naim / Linn retailer when I was trying to compare the Linn KDS Organik with the ND555. In the way it was being used there, I found it (Roon) to be a bit cumbersome.
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Following that exchange with @JimDog, I’m going to have to start the day with the original. One can only imagine the excitement this must have generated on its release in 1970.
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Does one just download the AMG app from the App store for free?
I’ve just had a look in the Apple App Store and can’t find it. However, it seems it’s just a web application and I’ve saved the bookmark as an icon on my phone and iPad. You can find the website at allmusicdotcom (replacing ‘dot’ with a full stop). This is what it looks like:
You can create your own account (free) and add your own album reviews too, if you wish.
Ah, yes: AMG = All Music Group.
I have their website bookmarked too.
They have pretty intrusive cookies/tracking policies unless you sign up for an account.
Did you see the documentary [1959 the year that jazz changed.](YouTube link; 1959, the Year that Changed Jazz ?)
That album is especially featured. A must see.
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Thanks for sharing. I look forward to watching it tonight.
I know a lot of you have been enjoying the Tone Poet reissues, so I thought I’d share this with you. I have all but one title and I spent the last couple months going through them all, making notes and assessing how I think they stand relative to each other. Joe Harley said he really liked the work I put into my notes, and agrees with so many of them. So here it is…
Tone Poet Notes
The Gems (7)
- ST-70 (Pacific Jazz): Curtis Amy/Dupree Bolton, Katanga - this album smokes!!! A gem of the Tone Poet series. Thanks to Joe…I had no idea about this album. Now it’s a favorite of my collection. “Native Land” is amazing, in the same way Lee Morgan’s title track is on Search For The New Land.
- SS18039: Chick Corea, Now He Sings, Now He Sobs - perhaps the #1 Tone Poet title.
- BST-84126: Herbie Hancock, My Point of View - this album is great, with a stellar cast of sideman. One of Herbie’s best BN releases, IMO
- B003313501: Charles Lloyd, Tone Poem - this is great, and with Bill Frisell to boot. The Steel guitar is a nice touch too, delicious actually. Charles Lloyd and Bill Frisell are both gems, needless to say.
- ST-84206: Sam Rivers, Contours - a gem of the BN catalog. I begged RR @ MMJ for this, but Joe delivered. This is great from beginning to end. Hubbard, Hancock, Carter, Chambers!
- B0031476-01: Dr. Lonnie Smith: All In My Mind - Smith, plus guitar and drums. This is really great. One of his best. I’m a bit biased since I saw him in concert, and he was so friendly, welcoming and kind to my wife and I when we met him afterwards. He loved the photo of my record collection.
- BST-84219: Wayne Shorter, The All Seeing Eye - one of Shorter’s best albums. This might be the peak of Wayne’s compositional and improvisational maturity for Blue Note. He did great stuff before and after, but this is exceptional. He’s deep into the 2nd Great Quartet at this time, and it shows. “Chaos” is mind-blowing!
Essential (14)
- BN-1523: Kenny Burrell, Introducing… - great early mono session with Flanagan, Chambers, Clarke, & Candido adds a special touch
- LT-991: Donald Byrd, Chant - with Pepper Adams and Herbie Hancock, and it starts off with a smoking version of “I’m An Old Cowhand”! It’s a shame Pepper Adams never did a leader session on BN. This is up there with Cat Walk on MMJ.
- BST-81569: Paul Chambers, Bass On Top: with Kenny Burrell, Hank Jones, Art Taylor - what a great album. This was unexpected and maybe worthy as a gem. Really well mastered too.
- BST-84271: Lou Donaldson, Mr. Shing-a-Ling. Followup album to Alligator Boogaloo (also great). This is great with Lonnie Smith, Blue Mitchell. “The Kid” is the highlight of the album.
- BST-84176: Dexter Gordon, One Flight Up - NHOP! And RvG never did a bass that well, IIRC. This is a great Dexter album. One of his best. With Donald Byrd, Kenny Drew. This has a bit more air (treble extension) than the Cisco version. NHOP’s bass is a bit more refined, Dexter’s tenor has a bit more of a lush/warm tone and the snare has more bite. But the two are very close.
- BST-84321: Herbie Hancock, The Prisoner - 11-piece band. Great album, and more outside than other BN Herbie albums. All seven Herbie Hancock BNs are essential or gems. I place this somewhere in the middle of them.
- BT-85123: Joe Henderson, Art of the Tenor, Volume One - this is great. I like it better than Vol.2. These are almost, but not quite gems. Close though.
- BT-85126: Joe Henderson, Art of the Tenor, Volume Two - “Boo Boo’s Birthday”…What a birthday it must have been!
- BST-90417: Andrew Hill, Passing Ships - great nonet charts, great musicians. Love Johnson’s tuba.
- BST-81578: Lee Morgan, The Cooker - and a cooker it is. Love Pepper Adams and Bobby Timmons. I’m a sucker for Adam’s (and others) baritone anyway. “Just One of Those Things” elevates the stature of this album - the solos really smoke. Actually, all of side two is insane. “A Night In Tunisia” is really good too.
- B0030597-01: Hank Mobley, Poppin’ - a surprisingly great blowing/jam session from 1957. This might be one of Mobley’s best as a leader. Pepper Adams ever a bonus and a blessing.
- LT-1056: Wayne Shorter, Etcetera - more great Shorter from mid-60s. Compositionally mature, great lineup with Hancock, McBee, Chambers
- ST-84162: Stanley Turrentine, Huslin’ - with Shirley Scott and Kenny Burrell. Great example of 60s B3/Tenor/Guitar combo jazz, with great gospel/soul/funk underpinnings
- BST-84338: McCoy Tyner, Expansions - one of the great Tyner BNs, although Extensions (the followup, with Alice Coltrane) is much better, IMO (I dream of a TP reissue).
Recommended (22)
- PJ-1222: Chet Baker, Sings - really quite good, although I’m not big on jazz vocals for the most part.
- BST-84258: Art Blakey, The Witch Doctor - another great Jazz Messengers. Could be an essential Tone Poet.
- BST-84347: Art Blakey, Roots & Herbs - Ping Pong is great! And it keeps going good. Could be essential Jazz Messengers.
- B0030487-01: Tina Brooks, Minor Move - Nutville is great. Doug Watkins bass sounds fantastic on it.
- BST-84048: Donald Byrd, Byrd In Flight - “Ghana” starts the album off great. Really good, memorable tune.
- BST-22674: Sonny Clark, My Conception - smokin’ good session with Byrd and Mobley (Chambers/Blakey round out rhythm section). This might be my favorite Sonny Clark now, and maybe belongs in essentials.
- WP-1246: Gil Evans, New Bottle Old Wine - good big band album, as is all G.E. I have heard
- LT-989 (74228): Dexter Gordon, Clubhouse - this is a nice album, with Freddie Hubbard. Good tunes. Not essential, but nice to play now and then. Dexter plays really well on this.
- BST-84432: Grant Green, Born To Be Blue - nice bluesy session
- ST-84151: Andrew Hill, Black Fire - subject of warble-gate. I’ve never been bothered. I love the music. There are live jazz recordings with pianos badly out of tune that sound really pretty horrid. Joe Henderson, Richard Davis, Roy Haynes…what’s not to like?
- ST-21437: Bobby Hutcherson, The Kicker - very good, with Joe Henderson, Green on 3/5 tracks. I like the second side much better. “Step Lightly” is great: almost has a Search For The New Land (title track) vibe to it.
- ST-31963: Bobby Hutcherson, Oblique - excellent quartet session with Hancock. Actually, second side is more adventurous. Listen again and see if it belongs in essential.
- PJM-406: Lee Konitz, Plays with the Gerry Mulligan Quartet - some really good early 50s bebop…Konitz, Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan. Great stuff. Sounds great too.
- BST-84179: Jackie McLean, It’s Time - great session with Tolliver, Hancock, McBee, Haynes. Almost an essential. Might promote it with more plays.
- BST-84222: Lee Morgan, Cornbread - has McLean, Mobley, Hancock - this is pretty good,
- BST-84426: Lee Morgan, The Rajah - Mobley and Walton - this is also a good one
- BST-84293: Duke Pearson, The Phantom - featuring Bobby Hutcherson
- BST-84164: Jimmy Smith, Prayer Meetin’ - very good organ/sax/guitar combo session. Stanley Turrentine on tenor.
- ST-84065: Stanley Turrentine, Comin’ Your Way - another great session with Tommy, and the Horace Parlan Trio as rhythm section
- BST-84096: Stanley Turrentine, That’s Where It’s At - Les McCann is great on piano. Starts strong with “Smile, Stacey.” This is maybe an essential. Reevaluate another time.
- BST-84275: McCoy Tyner, Tender Moments - nonet with a great line up and great performances. Not essential, but strong keeper.
- ST-84068: Baby Face Willette, Face to Face - good organ/tenor/guitar session, with Grant Green. Pretty good example of the genre, but not one of BN’s great albums. Everyone has good solo moments here and there.
Non-essential (5)
- BST-40536: Tina Brooks, The Waiting Game - Good hard bop blowing session…OK, but not great. None of the tunes are all that memorable. I probably wouldn’t miss this one
- 15017: Duke Ellington: Money Jungle - IDK whether to put this in recommended or not. I need to listen to it more. Great musicians.
- LT-1032: Grant Green, Nigeria - with Sonny Clark, Sam Jones, Art Blakey…this album is OK, but not one of my favorite Green albums. I could probably not really miss it.
- B0032260-01: John Scofield & Pat Metheny, I Can See Your House From here - I run hot and cold with this. The style isn’t always my thing. Love “Message To My Friend” on side two. Steve Swallow on bass is a nice bonus.
- BN-81589: Horace Silver, Further Explorations - I can’t get into this. I hate to say, it kinda bores me, …but give it another chance
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Currently enjoying one of my all-time favorite Herbie Hancock albums, Empyrean Isles. I’m playing the Music Matters Jazz 45 RPM version. I also have the MMJ 33, but I think the 45 betters it. “Cantaloupe Island” is a classic and one of my favorite jazz tunes.
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I like the wallpaper. May I ask what/where etc.?
Have you tried to play it?
Good start to Saturday ! - Always enjoy Bob Brookmeyer on valve trombone.
Zoot Sims (s)
Jon Eardley (t)
Bob Brookmeyer (p) (tr)
Russ Freman (p)
Jim Hall, Billy Bean (g)
Monte Budwig, Red Mitchell (b)
Mel Lewis, Larry Bunker (d)
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And Volumes 2 and 3.
Lovely expansive and open sound on Qobuz.
Mrs Turrentine was a fine organist and pianist but never having hit the Blue note,roster in her own rite, we don’t need to know much about her.
In the Qobuz queue after Lockjaw has told me all he knows about cooking.
Another Zoot I was not aware of.
Ta.
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This is a brilliant outdoor concert rendition of Cataloupe Island, with great solos by each of these 4 masterful players.
Wayne looks a bit tired, but they are having a lot of fun and playing their socks off!
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The last 4 tracks on this Chick Corea solo album in effect form a mini concept album, telling a story about Preparations, An Escape from Planet Earth, and arrival and rebirth….
Quite beautiful solo piano storytelling (with ECM crystalline recording quality):
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@JosquinDesPrez Thank you for posting your list and the notes, very useful for those of us still expanding our jazz collections, though my case the editions will be on CD!
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I fear sometimes jazz history is being re written by those who have found a commercial interest in producing vinyl reissues.
There are 2or 3 decades of wonderful music being gently eased away because it is not available to those who have invested heavily in a turntable or the funds to purchase new records.
Two thoughts… if the only Duke Ellington recording worth a mention is that dreadful Money Jungle the story of jazz is becoming fragmented for those seeking enlightenment.
…my 82 year old ears would probably be unable to tell brain central if I was listening to a cd,lp or Spotify. Only the music and it’s history are important to me.
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You’re welcome, although to be clear the Tone Poet series is released as AAA vinyl. When Kevin Gray mastered these UMG asked him to create digital versions as well. Some have shown up on Qobuz, but they won’t be on CD.
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