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cacnaa I applaud Ear of the Behearer for this initiative -- there was indeed a LOT of great music in the '70s, and it has gone under-recognized for a breadth of (bad) reasons.

I'd like to humbly suggest that my book Future Jazz (Oxford University Press, 1999) addresses jazz in many forms from roughly 1975 to the mid '90s -- including chapters with interviews on the Art Ensemble, Henry Threadgill, David Murray and World Saxophone Quartet,, Don Pullen, Butch Morris, George Benson, John McLaughin, John Scofield, Blood Ulmer, Cassandra Wilson, John Zorn, Eilliot Sharp, Joshua Redman, and oh yes Wynton Marsalis (in his first Down Beat face-to-face, 1984) among many others. Future Jazz was well-reviewed when it was published in 1999, but is currently out-of-print. New hardbound and paperback editions are available from me directly and maybe from Amazon, used.

Of other books dealing with the music of the period: John Litweiler's The Freedom Principle. Bill Miilkowski's Jaco biography, in the expanded new edition last year. Alyn Shipton's New History of Jazz, with a second expanded edition being released next month. Collections of articles by Gary Giddins, Gene Santoro, Francis Davis, Greg Tate, Stanley Crouch, Doug Ramsey and W.Royal Stokes are all valuable for reports on the scene (from diverse perspectives) at the time it was happening. Most of these writers are still doing it, writing on jazz *now.*

These books and others available at the Bookstore of www.Jazzhouse.org, website of the Jazz Journalists Assocation. May I also promote the next issue of Signal2Noise, featuring my article on Dewey Redman, with particular comment on Ear of the Behearer and Coincide.

thanks for reading --

Howard Mandel

Within Howard's great list, I wish to emphasize Gary Giddins' work in Visions of Jazz and Rhythm-A-Ning. The latter is an especially good reflection of various scenes from 1980-84, from Frank Sinatra to the AACM. Howard's own book is a great one too. Graham Lock's Forces of Motion is a great bio of the 1980s Anthony Braxton quartet and a fascinating look into Braxton's universe as it stood, more generally. --Drysh 10:50, 6 December 2006 (EST)

It's really a pleasure to find this community. I have a question about consistency in posting: Should the date listed for a recording be the release date or the date of the recording session? (I personally think that date of session is more revealing from a historical standpoint, but there are obviously problems when albums are compiled from sessions that span years.) --WestonCiv 01:16, 7 December 2006 (EST)

   No reason you can't list both --Ndorward 11:41, 9 December 2006 (EST) 

   Just to clarify: the basic date (for chronological lists) should be of recording; but on the album entry page both dates are worth listing, if known. --Ndorward 23:17, 10 December 2006 (EST) 

We talked about this in the setup phase- we are going primarily by recording date. Also, if there are multiple record companies due to reissues, please list the one that is most likely to be in print. Primary concert in ease of use, not consistency. Like everyone else, I'm thrilled so far with how it's going. --Pdonaher 11:09, 12 December 2006 (EST)

I'd like to take a moment to suggest something regarding consistency. If we're going to be laboring to hand code and manually update this site to be accurate for dates and discographical information, wouldn't it make more sense to paint a historically accurate picture with the record labels, personnel and dates? If albums are always listed by most recent reissuing company, then everything will not only have to be updated every time an album goes out of print and is reissued, but also lends an air of historical revisionism to this period.

If Columbia, Atlantic and RCA, for example, were brave enough to sign some of these artists in the 1970s, then why not give credit, where credit is due? If anything, it helps streamline the site and paints a more accurate picture of the decades in question. Who really wants to change all the current Rahsaan Roland Kirk albums from Atlantic to Collectibles, just because they currently own the rights to the reissues?

I'd rather see albums listed on the labels they were initially released on and a mention made in the text about who currently has the particular platter available for reissue and when that occurred. Just a thought. --TCollins 17:49, 13 December 2006 (EST)

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