From: wjh@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (william.j.hery)
Subject: Penguin Guide: Short Review & 5 Star Recordings
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1993 03:11:14 GMT

After perusing the Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, LP, and Cassette a bit
over the last week, I have a few thoughts.

First of all, it definitely worth getting for any jazz fan. 1200 pages of
reviews of in print recordings, organized by artist, with the recordings
for each artists reviewed as a set, rather than as independent reviews,
plus some biographical information on the artists. I think if everyone
on r.m.b had a copy, bandwidth would go down noticably because we
wouldn't be answering questions (what are the 2-3 essential Ornette
records?).

On the other hand there are enough controvertial ratings there to more
than replace the saved bandwidth with debates on what Penguin has to say.
("Do you believe what Penguin said about Ornette's NEW YORK IS NOW?
Thin and directionless? Those guys wouldn't know a great record
if they tripped over it" etc., etc.--and no, I don't want to start
that debate :-).)

The book has only two authors (Robin Cook and Brian Morton, both assocaited
with WIRE, and no other reviewers are credited in the introducion. If
these two gentlemen really did reveiw all those recordings (I would guess
about 8000 or so covering every sub-genre from early New Orleans to avant
garde and European improv!), that is pretty amazing. I suspect that they
had some help reviewing things, though, because of the volume and the
inconsitency of the ratings.

Ah, the ratings. 1 to 5 stars. Tons of 3 star records. Very
generous with 4 stars. Not many 5 stars. And I didn't pay as much attention
to the 1 and 2 star frequencies.

Now we all know that these kind of ratings are BS (which is why Cadence is
so nice--you have to read the review and do a little thinking to form a
judgement, instead of having it done for you completely). But they are
still interesting, and in some cases surprising. My biggest surprise
was that I found they were usually within 1 star of what I would have rated
recordings I felt I knew pretty well. Of course there were some glaring
errors (to me :-) ), like Bradford's COMIN ON at only 2 stars (4 in my
judgement) and John Carter's wonderful suites at only 3 stars each
(4.5 for me).

But the most interesting part of the ratings is the set of 5 star
recordings: No Diz. No Ornette. No Max. No Brownie. A few surprises
(to me, at least, because of unfamiliarity--hopefully hidden masterpieces,
because I intend to buy a few of them): Brotzmann, Schlippenbach (which
should make Bill Hsu exstatic), Edward Vasala...not complaints, just
surprises.

Here's the list of Penguin 5 Star recordings. Keep in mind that only
recordings currently in print in England are reviewed in the book.

Armstrong, Hot 5s and 7s Vol I, II, and III
Basie, Original Decca Recordings
Blakey, Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk
Peter Brotzmann, Machine Gun
Coltrane, Love Supreme
Coltrane, Major Works (Impulse 3 CD set with both Ascencions, Om,
     Selflessness, and Kulu Se Mama)
Davis, Kind of Blue
Dolphy, Out To Lunch
Ellington, Blanton-Webster Years
Ellington, Afro Eurasian Eclipse
Bill Evans, Sunday at the Village Vanguard
Bill Evans, Waltz For Debbie
Art Farmer, Blame it on My Youth
Ganelin Trio, Catalogue: Live in East Germany
Andrew Hill, Point of Departure
Bobby Hutcherson, Dialog
JJ Johnson, Eminent JJ Johnson, Vol I
Geroge Lewis, Homage to Charlie Parker
Shelly Manne, At the Blackhawk
John McLaughlin, Extrapolation (1969, with John Surman)
Mingus, The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
Monk, Genius Vol I
Monk, Complete Riverside Recordings
Jelly Roll Morton, Volume I (on JSP records)
Fats Navaro, The Fabulous Fats Navaro, Vol I
King Oliver, Volume I 1923-29
Parker, Charlie Parker Story (Savoy)
Parker, Complet on Dial Vol 1, 4, 5 (Spotlight LPs)
Parker, Legendary Dial Masters (Stash CD)
Rollins, Saxophone Colossus
Alexander von Schlippenbach, Pakistani Pomade
Sun Ra, Jazz in Silhouette
Art Tatum, Complete Pablo Solo Masterpieced
Edward Vesala, Lumi
Vienna Art Orchestra, The Minimalism of Erik Satie
Larry Young, Unity
Zorn, The Big Gundown

Bill Hery
AT&T Bell Labs
201-386-2362
hery@att.COM