trane123

Mosaic doesn't seem to be as diligent about sending tracking numbers as they used to be. It seems for my last three or four orders I only received a shipping notification. A couple of times I sent a follow up email asking for the tracking number, which they did then included in a reply email.

About ten years ago, as I was ordering my 100th big box from Mosaic, I just happened to note on the order form that this was indeed my 100th set. The day after the set arrived I received a card from Mosaic that included a nice note from Michael C. thanking me for being such a loyal customer along with a $100 Mosaic gift card. I mean, how cool is that?

The Radio Gnome Trilogy was a high point (no pun intended). R.I.P.

RIP, but he was the keyboard player. The singers were Danny Hutton, Chuck Negron and Cory Wells.

And in a couple of months he's playing here in Santa Barbara as "Charles Lloyd & Friends featuring Bill Frisell, Greg Leisz, Reuben Rogers and Eric Harland". It's going to interesting to hear him with Frisell. Looking forward to it.

Mad Dogs and Englishmen is still great. Interestingly, I recently saw an interview with Derek Trucks who said a major inspiration for the Tedeschi-Trucks band was that tour and album. RIP

Well, I have the original Japanese boxed set so I'm trying to decide if I should get the Mosaic version. Decisions, decisions...

Some of the best "jam band" playing I've heard was from the 2006 Phil Lesh and Friends tour (all dates were released on CD). The band had Scofield and Larry Campbell on guitars (along with Joan Osborne on vocals). I was a Scofield fan before, but I was surprised how well he fit into the jam band format, playing mostly Grateful Dead stuff. The interaction between Scofield and Campbell was pretty amazing given they had only been playing together for a matter of weeks. The way that they would solo together without stepping on each other made it sound like they had been together for years.

It seems the CDs that work once always work and the ones that have the problem always have the eject problem. I haven't had this problem until the last year or so. Weird...especially on two different makes and models of cars.

J The number of CDs that I can't play on my cars CD player seems to be growing. It's not that they won't play -- they do -- it's just that I can't get them out of the damn player. I started noticing this with the new "SHM" (Super High Material, I think) CDs started coming out of Japan. Then some of the European made CDs started exhibiting the same behavior. Now, the last couple of Mosaic sets I've bought have the same problem (including the new Ahmad Jamal set. Strangely enough, I had no problem with CD number 6, but CD number 7 was so difficult to get out I had to resort to tweezers -- ouch). I don't think its just the player in my particular car. I recently went from a 2006 Ford to a 2010 Mazda with similar results. Was just wondering if anyone else out there has encountered this situation.

My last couple of Mosaic deliveries have had part of the outer box ripped. Fortunately no damage to the contents. These days it seems to be taking around ten days to get an order to California. Back when DHL was doing the deliveries the max time was three days -- put the order in on Monday it would be here by Thursday (sometimes Wednesday). I guess those days are gone. Expecting my Jamal set on Friday. Got my fingers crossed...

Well said, Kevin. At the risk of being called a "moldy fig" I'm with you...

You know, one of the things I like best about seeing jazz live is watching the reactions of the other players during a solo. I've seen many horn players do a double take -- or even laugh out loud -- at something the piansist or bass player did during their solo. It may be a reference to something that got played last week or a conversation on the way to the gig. It just demonstrates the added level of communication that goes on between master musicians. And, if the audience connects with that little piece of unspoken musical commnuication at the same time, it's very cool...

Just finished a book that looked at music in L.A. from the 40s through the 90s (sorry, the title escapes me right now). The author's take on the Raiders was that they were really one of the first 60s garage/punk bands (along with the Seeds and the Standells) until they signed on to be the house band for Dick Clark's "Where The Action Is" TV show. Then he put them in those outfits... And, yes, I remember watching that show when I got out of school -- about the fourth or fifth grade. I also remember the song "Kicks" getting banned on the local radio station. Even though it was really an anti-drug song ("You better find out before it's too late, girl, you better get straight").

Bought the CD version ($69 the week of release). Pretty disappointed in it. It includes 2 live CDs that have already been released over the last couple of years (Crazy Horse at the Filmore and a live at Massey Hall solo). If I hadn't already bought those, I guess I would have liked the set more. Also, there's virtually no booklet info (just who played on what, and when). I've heard Neil didn't even want to put out a CD version -- and this certainly looks like a record company required after thought. P.S. I've had to scrape glue off the surface of about half of the CDs. Looks like the CDs were put into the cardboard cases before the glue was dry. Pretty lame.