A wonderful Christmas gift! Braxton continues to slay me. I have long been familiar with these albums, having gotten most of them the first time around, but this box is definitely the way to go: the sound is superb (the Arista pressings were not always the best), and the ability to quickly absorb his entire Arista output really brings home just how far ahead (and far out!) he's always been. Beautiful, challenging, inspiring, and absolutely essential.
Playlist, Week of 2016-01-25:
*Anthony Braxton: The Complete Arista Recordings of Anthony Braxton (discs 6, 7)
*Anthony Braxton/Tomas Fujiwara/Tom Rainey: Trio (New Haven) 2013 (disc 4)
*Rodger Coleman: 2016-01-20 Portland Brew 12 South, Nashville (wav)
*Rodger Coleman & Sam Byrd: 2014-12-29 Nashville (wav) (selections)
*Rodger Coleman & Sam Byrd: 2014-12-30 Nashville (wav) (selections)
*Rodger Coleman/Sam Byrd: Perihilion
*John Coltrane: Live Trane: The European Tours (disc 3)
*Marilyn Crispell/Gary Peacock/Paul Motian: Nothing Ever Was, Anyway (disc 1)
*Decoy: Vol 2: The Deep
*Duke Ellington: The Indispensable Duke Ellington Vol. 5/6 (1940) (side 1)
*Globe Unity Orchestra: 1967-10-21 Donaueschingen, Germany (CDR)
*Alexander Hawkins Ensemble: Step Wide, Step Deep
*Ingrid Laubrock Anti-House: 2011-01-19 Bremen, Germany (CDR)
*Ingrid Laubrock: Ubatuba
*Mahavishnu Orchestra: The Inner Mounting Flame
*Secret Keeper: Emerge
*Sun Ra: Nothing Is (selections)
*Sun Ra: Calling Planet Earth (2015 ORG Music LP) (side 1)
*Cecil Taylor Unit: Cecil Taylor Unit “Holiday en Masque”
*Cecil Taylor Unit: Live in Vienna
*Cecil Taylor Unit: The Eighth
*Lester Young: The Aladdin Sessions (sides 2, 4)
*Electric Light Orchestra: Eldorado
*Fall of Troy: Doppelgänger
*Ravi Shankar: Three Ragas
*Soft Machine: Bundles
*Brian Wilson: No Pier Pressure (side 2)
What a great set this is -- and perfect for Mosaic. I got mine signed by the man himself last year! You're right about some of those Arista pressings -- not to mention the fiasco that is "For Four Orchestras." I think having that one on CD (in the correct running order) makes this set worth having all by itself. That said, the omission of Braxton's original liner notes, diagrams, etc. means you'll need to hang onto those old LPs!
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