J.A.W.

The Mobley set seems to be selling well. The first batch has already sold out at Mosaic (it's on backorder) and Jazz Messengers in Barcelona, Spain, has only one copy left at the moment.

Shocked to hear this, one of my favourite tenor saxophonists. Thanks for the many great recordings, Mr Heath.

That is basically how it works. By the way, DCC ceased to exist about twenty years ago, its successor, Audio Fidelity, went the same way a couple of years ago. Mobile Fidelity or MFSL is in its second life after it went bankrupt; it was acquired by MusicDirect in 1999 and released many (in my view) outstanding discs over the years that were licensed from the majors, including a lot of Miles Davis' and Bob Dylan's Columbia albums. They're way too expensive for my taste, though.

Andorra is situated between France and Spain, but it is not part of Spain (and not a member state of the EU). Andorra

Back to the actual topic and up again for Lon's sale

Well, if Boris does indeed go for a hard Brexit on December 31, 2020 (the end of the transition period), which many EU diplomats think he will (though they'll not say it out loud, at least not now), it probably will.

I've had arguments like a queue at the Post Office, a different counter and having to fill out a customs declaration (and even the argument that someone didn't want to sell to non-Americans) thrown at me more than once when I asked why a seller wouldn't ship abroad, but the main reasons why I stopped buying stuff from overseas countries are indeed the extremely high postage rates, plus - in some cases - the hassle of having to pay customs duty/tax if the total value of an order exceeds 22 euros. I now mainly get my CDs from EU countries like Germany and France, most of the time hassle-free.

As far as I can remember Lon has never shipped outside the US.

Criss Cross' Gerry Teekens

Just before it ended? The Teddy Wilson set is still available from Mosaic and, in Europe, from JazzMessengers in Barcelona, Spain.

Sad news. He was well-liked in Amsterdam, where he was principal conductor of the Concertgebouw Orchestra between 2004 and 2015.

Same here, that would be great.

It is. Actually, we have to pay a bit more, VAT is now 21% here.

I'd certainly prefer a Wayne Shorter 1960s Mosaic to a Lee Morgan 1960s set - too much formulaic stuff on Morgan's BN albums, at least in my opinion.

I assume you are referring to eBay. As a buyer I find it very convenient to pay any tax that is due upfront, otherwise I'd have to go to the local postal agency (there are no Post Offices in my neighbourhood anymore) to collect the item and pay tax.

eBay itself is not a seller while Amazon is; for goods sold directly (i.e. not by private sellers on their sites) to EU citizens by non-EU Amazon sites tax is collected if the total value exceeds 22 euros.

Some stores and carriers collect import duty/VAT beforehand on behalf of the EU for all goods imported into the EU whose total value exceeds 22 euros. It makes things easier for EU customers, who don't have to pay at the door anymore. This is the case with all non-EU Amazon stores (except most private sellers) and some others. It has nothing to do with any US Supreme Court decision.

Of course, that's why I added a

People are not knighted anymore in the Netherlands, they stopped doing that a long time ago I knew Teekens personally, but lost contact with him in the 1970s after a disagreement. That was before he started Criss Cross, he was selling records at music fairs and shows and at Sem van Gelder's dad's pub at the time; I bought a lot of records from him. Feels like a million years ago...

I checked this with a few people in the Dutch jazz scene who know Gerry and it has not been confirmed. Can't find anything on the 'net either. [edit] My friend jazz/blues record store owner Sem van Gelder just confirmed it.

Sad news, which brings back personal memories...

Sad news. My condolences to his family.

The "concert hall realism" of the recordings seems to be deliberate. It's a choice more record labels make these days, like for instance Hyperion - many of their recordings also have that effect; the sound is a bit too spatial for my liking, but I try not to be distracted by it. By the way, haven't visited a record store in ages (apart from a jazz/blues store owned by a friend of mine) and have no intention to go to one - if there are any left... Besides, I live on the edge of town and my physical limitations prevent me from going too far from home on my own. Thanks for the tip, anyway.

Have only heard the Levit set on Spotify via my crappy PC speakers, so I can't really comment on its sound quality. However, after listening to many sonatas more than once I liked Levit's interpretations a lot better than before. The set is now on my wants list.

Same here