Are there any box bargains currently available?

[king ubu]

Hm, still not enough to re-buy all that music ... though yes, the Mahavisnu set was indeed great, I forgot about that. And the Woody Shaw, too. The Brubeck obviously as well. But those all added new material or albums not previously on CD, so obviously they had to remaster. Would "Homecoming" be remastered in the Gordon box? Most of the others were around in recent (Legacy) remasters, I think?

[jazzbo]

Yes, I'm pretty certain that Homecoming is remastered in the Gordon box, all the material I believe is, sounds better than on the earlier discs. And there's also a bonus disc of material gathered from various lp and disc sources.

The Getz box also has newly mastered material, and sounds fantastic.

Matters not to me if you buy any of these, but they're great bargains, and consolidating all these materials with consistent mastering and additional material is a boon to my collection, and has allowed me to give away nice discs to new jazz listeners. I love the Ellington material so much that this new set was a no brainer for me to order for the above reasons..

[king ubu]

Yes, I'm pretty certain that Homecoming is remastered in the Gordon box, all the material I believe is, sounds better than on the earlier discs. And there's also a bonus disc of material gathered from various lp and disc sources.

The Getz box also has newly mastered material, and sounds fantastic.

Matters not to me if you buy any of these, but they're great bargains, and consolidating all these materials with consistent mastering and additional material is a boon to my collection, and has allowed me to give away nice discs to new jazz listeners. I love the Ellington material so much that this new set was a no brainer for me to order for the above reasons..

Well, oviously it shouldn't matter to you!

Re: Gordon - that one always cost over the top here (60-70€), so I never considered it - I think it was not even sold in Europe by Popmarket themselves (I don't understand their strange shipping regimen and pricings at all).

Re: Getz - there was a french box there (longbox/book style), and it seems to me they consciously didn't sell the albums box at the beginning - I went for the French one there. Now the US one is available cheaply as well.

The Ellington I missed as well - asking price is over 110€ for new copies, straight from amazon themselves (german site even wants 150€!). Not sure it was ever substantially cheaper, but that's not a bargain if you have most of the contents already.

Just explaining why I'm a bit ambiguous about the whole series ... if the prices were consistent over here, I might look at it differently!

 

The ones I have are: Woody Shaw, Wayne Shorter, Dave Brubeck, Mahavishnu, Nina Simone (missing those bonus tracks on one disc - lousy move there! did they ever fix this, maybe even offer replacements?)

The ones I'd be interested in: Brubeck live (hope this is still in the doings, but I'm not holding my beath), Gordon (if the price was right), Ellington 1 (if the price was right), Ellington 2, Blakey (though I have 90% of that as well, and most of it in editions that need no upgrading in my book - anyway, I'm still most ambiguous about this uprgrading business, there's so much new stuff to explore and my funds are limited, so ...).

 

Oh, I also have the Sam Cooke and Earth Wind & Fire ones - the latter at around 50€ is a true bargain indeed!

 

[jazzbo]

Yeah, for the most part I've been blessed af finding these at decent prices, and I've learned in the last decades to buy what I might be interested in early, as things disappear and or increase largely in price when you put them off for a year or two. I did pay full price for a few of these box sets as a result, but glad I got them and enjoyed them from the start. These have been my go to way of listening to the material, it's just easier to pull out the box and listen to a few discs than track down the separate discs in my shelves, and it's a space saver to have the box and give away a number of these discs.

Forgot about the Shorter box. Those were improved in sound, especially "Native Dancer," which is the one I most listen to.

I understand the "not upgrading" and wish I could follow such a policy with some firmness on my end. But... I find that I can hear significant differences in masterings, and I'm not one of those who prefer the sound of earlier masterings, I find for the most part improvements in the sound, easy to hear, that have led me to go for remasteings more often than not. Sigh. This is an expensive hobby, but it's easier on my liver than booze!

Edited September 14, 2015 by jazzbo

[king ubu]

One I'd also very much love to see: The Complete Non-Album Ellington, compiling all the Columbia recordings (starting in 1947, running to 1962) that has not been either on albums or added to expanded Legacy reissues later on - now that one I'd buy without blinking the eye, and I'd buy it full price, too!

[jazzbo]

I'd love that. Heck I'd settle (maybe even prefer) just a redoing of the French series of cds "1947 to 1952" --- that is killer stuff that needs to be in print in excellent sound and well-annotated.

Doubt we'll see either of our wishes in a Sony set though.

Edited September 14, 2015 by jazzbo

[king ubu]

Yeah, I doubt that, too. I also doubt the Brubeck live by now ... but these three upcoming ones do give some hope. And once they're through with the more obvious stuff and reckon they might make some more money doing other things, who knows, Ellington is still somewhat of a name.

[felser]

Well, it's a relief to know that Duke Ellington is still something of a name .   The Gordon box has never come down in price the way every other box in this series has.  It is the only one I would like to have that I've never bought.  I can see it is apparently currently OOP and has silly season prices attached.  That being said, I've seen other titles in this series apparently go OOP, and then apparently get reprinted, with corresponding price fluctuations.  I think especially of the Woody Shaw box, but also believe I saw it happen with the RTF box.  BTW, to me, the Woody Shaw is amazing, beats the Mosaic hands down in bonus material and (for me, anyways) sound quality, despite costing like 1/4 of the price.  I"m in on the three new ones (Duke, Blakey, Monk LIve), and am hopeful for Brubeck Live and more from this series. though I 'm not sure right off what the obvious "more" would be given the apparent parameters of these boxes.   I guess J.J. Johnson for one, combining his Columbia and RCA recordings.

[king ubu]

Well, it's a relief to know that Duke Ellington is still something of a name . 

well, blame Umrika

 

[sidewinder]

Wish they would drop the price of the Dexter !

[medjuck]

One I'd also very much love to see: The Complete Non-Album Ellington, compiling all the Columbia recordings (starting in 1947, running to 1962) that has not been either on albums or added to expanded Legacy reissues later on - now that one I'd buy without blinking the eye, and I'd buy it full price, too!

One I'd also very much love to see: The Complete Non-Album Ellington, compiling all the Columbia recordings (starting in 1947, running to 1962) that has not been either on albums or added to expanded Legacy reissues later on - now that one I'd buy without blinking the eye, and I'd buy it full price, too!

That's the one I've been waiting for.  How else am I going to get The Asphalt Jungle Twist. 

[crisp]

Amazon UK has the second "Complete Columbia Albums" set of Duke Ellington releases '59 to '61 for about 52 bucks shipped, ten discs. No other information on this other than it is released in six days.

Lon, thanks so much for the heads-up. I've been looking forward to this for some time. Great to know I could have it in a matter of days.

I think I have all that's in the Monk set, but the Blakey I'm unsure about. I'll have to see what's in it first.

[bluesoul]

Maybe Sony would sell more of these sets if they would, you know, promote it a little. 

[jazzbo]

Agreed. These seem to be handled by the European Sony folk, and they seem to have no promotional department.

Crisp, you're welcome. Hope they are released on the 18th as listed; some places say October 30.

[bluesoul]

October 30th makes more sense, I mean there is not a word about any of these sets on the Sony Legacy site, no press releases, not even a picture of the covers on Amazon and they are supposed to be released in 4 days. 

[jazzbo]

I don't remember seeing any of these sets ever on Legacy's site. . . .

[bluesoul]

I don't remember seeing any of these sets ever on Legacy's site. . . .

You're right, I meant Popmarket. 

[GA Russell]

Herbie Mann - OAS - 8.43 GBP
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Original-Album-Series-Herbie-Mann/dp/B0050I2OHO

[crisp]

Blakey seems to have done the two albums on Columbia that I own plus two albums on Vik, an RCA subsidiary. No idea what could make up the rest of the set, except I probably don't have it.

[king ubu]

Blakey seems to have done the two albums on Columbia that I own plus two albums on Vik, an RCA subsidiary. No idea what could make up the rest of the set, except I probably don't have it.

- Jazz Messengers (Columbia) [plenty of bonus tracks, mostly or all also on "Originally"]
- Hard Bop (Columbia) [bonus tracks, mostly or all also on "Originally"]
- Drum Suite (Columbia) [bonus tracks, mostly or all also on "Originally" - including that short session w/Ira Sullivan & Wilbur Ware]
- Plays Lerner and Loewe (Vik)
- A Night in Tunisa (Vik) [plenty of bonus tracks on the "Bluebird First Editions" reissue]
- Au Club St. Germain, Vols. 1-3 (RCA)
- Au Théâtre des Champs-Elysées (RCA) [3 vols / 2 CD set]
- Art Blakey And The All Star Jazz Messengers (RCA)

plus some more tracks/sessions on "Theory of Art" and "Second Edition" (both RCA, with complete or considerable overlap), compiling various tracks including some of those "Night, and then the non-album session from 1957-04-02 with a larger group

the last one listed is from 1982 and I guess might thus fall outside ot the scope of this box

(disclaimer: this is not what's in the box, I don't know that as the box is not out yet, it's just what can be found perusing online sources and my own CD collection )

[romualdo]

All of them (Tokyo, Big Band and Quartet, Newport, It Club, Jazz Workshop - each two discs - the three disc set contained some more stray cuts, so did the "Monk Alone" two disc set) ... and sound probably like in their respective latest editions.

Is there a source for your info?  I cannot find any listing of the contents of this box?

No. But partly yes: the box's title ... content should thus be pretty clear. With the only question being if those stray cuts released on other albums/compilations ("Misterioso" was yet another, and that two LP set from the seventies, "Always Know") will be added or not.

Regarding remasterings I don't know, but with such cheap-ish reissues I'd not expect them to remaster anything they previously reissued. I would like to know specifics about that, too (Lon, if you have some to offer, please step up! I'm not doubting your insight at all, I just wonder if for instance "Let My Children Hear Music" was remastered; to my best knowledge, the Bessie Smith box was not when it should have; and I wonder if "Big Band and Quartet in Concert" might be ...)

I'd like to see the unreleased Brandeis University (65) & Mexico (67) material - some of this has had Columbia releases

[crisp]

Thanks, Fleurin.

I've just noticed that the Ellington cuts off at 1961. That will exclude two 1962 albums, All American and Midnight in Paris.

[king ubu]

(minus one "e" in the name - and sorry for my crappy proof-reading, I must have deleted half a sentence while hastily typing at the office - "Theory of Art"/"Second Edition" contained some of those alternate takes that were part of the "Bluebird First Editions" reissue of "A Night in Tunisia")

I'm quite suprised to see that Blakey box, btw - other than the first Messengers album, none of the albums are die-hard classics I think (mabye "Drum Suite"? maybe "A Night in Tunisia"?) but they're one fine bunch for sure, and it's good to see them being paid some attention!

Wish the Argo one would be properly reissued, too - best on 100" vinyl, if only for the size of the cover:

 

[crisp]

Sorry about the misspelling. I hastily typed it, then as I left the office realised my mistake.

[king ubu]

ha, blame the office!

thanks for the alert about the two missing 1962 albums, didn't thin of checking - too bad, as I don't have either of them.

btw, found a good source (I hope) for the first Ellington box, grooves-inc (around 40€, free shipping, not for trans-atlantic orders I assume but at least in western Europe as far as I know - hope it works out, though not holding my breath ... and not planning on giving away my Legacy reissues with their nice booklets either, but some Spanish boots and a Collectables disc)