jazzbo

If you ever see it anywhere, grab "How High the Moon" on Moon Records cd; this is Basie Octet live (Soundies?) and excellent.

PD, in all due respect, I don't think that these are targeted to you, I don't think that Cuscuna would have considered these (and they haven't hit the street yet, I don't trust Alan's list to be GOSPEL) unless he did have a target audience in mind. I view this thread as "Mosaics that PD Disapproves Of." Okay. But there may be a fan base asking for these that will respond with acclaim and sales. The Slack may or may not sell better than the Hackett; unless you have actual numbers from Mosaic, I wonder how you can even begin to know how well that is selling or compare it to others. The Woody Shaw and Mobley sets weren't/aren't exactly leaping off the shelves, were they mistakes to produce? The Goodman Capitol set seems to have sold well, so wouldn't that seem to make a producer think a Columbia set could as well? Anyway, not sets that I am pretty interested in either; I have the Ella Mae Morse Bear Family set and some other Slack sides here and there, and I have a lot of Columbia Goodman in various media. But I'm not going to criticize Mosaic for thinking of producing these sets; Mosaic is not a slave to my idea of what they should direct their attention to. Just my two cents.

The cd is quite good; if the same band is involved this would be a good show.

Cuscuna should put all the Roulettes out, one by one. That would be a great jazz service. I grabbed the lp with strings last year and was glad to! Oh I'm a Basie nut.

YAWN.

Berkeley Daily Planet Edition Date: Tuesday, March 2, 2004 Article Back to Mainpage Index of Sections Fantasy Records Up For Sale By Matthew Artz (03-02-04) Berkeley-based Fantasy Records, which owns many of the greatest recordings from the Golden Age of jazz, is for sale, according to a report in Billboard magazine. Fantasy executives refused to comment on the story published Friday, but one source confirmed the label was on the market. Billboard quoted an anonymous source that said the label, which generated sales of about $30 million in 2002, is being offered at $100 million, though a sale price will likely range from $64 million to $85 million, depending on yet unreleased 2003 earnings data. Fantasy?the largest record label in Northern California, with about 80 employees?owns legendary recordings by Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk. It is also home to Creedence Clearwater Revival, a famous rock group. The company is the product of decades of record label acquisitions that allowed it to amass one of the largest troves of jazz and rhythm and blues music in world. Much of the company?s profits come from the repackaging of its catalog and selling songs for commercials or compilation albums, though the label does maintain an active roster of performers, including Sonny Rollins, Jimmy Scott and Berkeley High graduate Dave Ellis. Typically when a record label is sold, the buyer keeps the operation in place to preserve relations with its musicians, said David Card, media analyst for Jupiter Research. But Fantasy?s emphasis on its catalog business has some wondering if a sale would mean the label would leave Berkeley. Fantasy spokesperson Terri Hinte said, ?It was way too premature? to talk about what would happen to employees if a sale went through. Possible suitors include the label?s distributor, Beverly, Mass.-based Rykodisc, Beverly Hills-based Concord Records and New York-based Redux Records, Billboard reported. None of those companies returned phone calls Monday. Fantasy is a private company, and sorting through its financial data could be messy. Billboard speculated that this could result in a long due diligence period and a soft sales price. Fantasy also owns music studios located at its Berkeley headquarters. The company is headed by Saul Zaentz who has produced several movies, including The English Patient. A few years ago Fantasy backed out of a deal to sell its record business, said former Oakland Tribune Music Critic and Down Home Music Store employee Larry Kelp. He guessed that declining CD sales and the rapidly changing music business was driving their renewed interest in a sale. ?Their money is in CDs and CDs might not even exist soon. They might not want to figure out the next step,? said Kelp, adding that Zaentz was no longer actively involved in the record business. Despite declining revenues in the record industry, Dave Zaworski, associated editor of Down Beat Magazine said Fantasy would attract heavy interest. ?Their stuff will always sell,? he said. ?It would be enticing for a lot of labels.? Though the record industry has been racing towards consolidation, Zaworski said jazz has experienced an opposite trend. Major labels, including Atlantic and Columbia have dumped their jazz divisions, he said, offering more opportunities for smaller record companies. Fantasy was started in 1949 by Max and Sol Weiss. Zaentz bought the company in 1967. After the success of Creedence, he went on a buying spree and purchased top jazz labels, including Milestone, Riverside and Prestige. Kelp said that Fantasy maintains a family atmosphere, which makes the prospect of a sale even more unsettling. ?There?s probably almost 100 people who have been there most of their lives,? he said. ?It?s not a cutthroat company where the management is separate from the people.? ? http://www.berkeleydaily.org/text/article....4&storyID=18377

Thanks Claude.

Thought I remember that Spain did not sign off on the international agreements? Maybe it's just oldtimer's disease at work, but that would explain some of what goes on. . . .

Conn, unless one has one's head in the sand one should be able to see Imperialism at work today.

I agree with you D. It's quite an impressive book in many ways. It is NOT aimed at this audience as its target. And "opinion" is heavy everywhere in jazz writing. It's a plague! Many pointing fingers I find simply have a differing baggage of opinion behind them. Anyway, I bought one copy with a gift certificate to Tower from my dad, for the pictures and the facts within. Then the next year, Xmas 2002, he gave me a copy that he found remaindered! I gave that away to a friend.

If Alice is leasing the Half Note material to Impulse (and maybe they're having RVG do the remastering hope hope; he did such great stuff with the live material for the Monk family) then. . . I'm very happy!

Many more happy ones and down with Imperialism!

Well, this is news to me! What is the title of the Alice Coltrane? Good news, I'm really eager for these! Thanks for the heads up.

Yes, Nitty+Gritty is a good one indeed! Took me a little while to warm up to it, but then it erupted into good listening flames. Moshi is an odd duck. Sort of a bluesrock pseudoAfricanesque fusion. NOT a Wilen I grab all the time. Needs revisiting, interesting, not an essential part of his catalog, in my opinion.

This book has been remaindered for over a year.

I think there will be more "educated guessing" in a week!

Many more happy ones!

Thanks for the information Mr. Wright!

Get a cheap vcr, or a dvd/vcr combo; I don't think you need worry too much about them failing independently, something in the combined output section is likely to fail! I have a combo player and really enjoy it.

Definitely a quality vendor. Great customer service. Excellent products, fast and very careful shipping.

No Jo(ke)!

Ten cds in this set. I'll say one thing: the sound on the set is superb. It's better than the individual cds that have come out from the set in the last few years. Just some of the best sounding Mosaics ever. (The original recordings were very well produced by Teddy Reig!)

1200 dollars! Wow. . . I didn't know my set was potentially so valuable! I should listen to it more often!

Clint, I didn't follow this too closely. But I think you'll find details in this thread, and a companion called "Can't take the HEAT" http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...0&hl=christiern DEEP's now more active at the Blue Note Board, Euro edition.

How's Tales of Topographic Oceans in new remastering? That's probably the one Yes album I'd most like to hear again. . . .