I really started buying jazz records only at the very beginning of the CD era, when I was about 30 years old. An older friend of mine, a real "cat," was my Pygmalion. He bought many CDs for me in England or directly in the U.S. I think the first box set (if I can call it that) was the wonderful Ellington's "The Blanton-Webster Band," four discs of pure joy. In the following years, I was really an addicted: I often purchased box sets only for the beautiful package (i.e. the Billie Holyday's Verve), and in some instances i discovered music i didn't know at all and so the boxed sets expanded my horizons... I'm very grateful to them!

I clearly remember the first box set I ever bought: Rahsaan Roland Kirk's Mercury Complete Box. It was really good. The top shelf of my closet is filled with Mosaic and other LP-sized box sets, and recently I discovered a Mosaic box set of Mildred Bailey that I had completely forgotten I had bought. Thank you, past me!  Back in the day, Mosaic would send paper catalogs and pamphlets to Japan, and they were a valuable source of information on Jazz at the time. I feel like there was a stronger sense of belonging to the community than there is with social media today.   Nowadays, you can often listen to the audio from CD box sets via music streaming platforms.  You don't even need to rip it from a CD anymore.  The other day, I found Woody Harman's Mosaic Select at a used CD shop in my neighborhood and bought it in ecstasy, but it is available as The Philips Recordings on many streaming services. In the end, most of the value of box sets today lies in the liner notes, which contain information you can't find anywhere else. However, that would be meaningless unless you're a jazz researcher or enthusiast.

February 1 Sadao Watanabe - 1933 - 93 today!

I had to think a little but now remember: It was the "Blues Box 2" 4-LP set on MCA that I bought in 1977 when I was 17. As this was Vol. 2 I wondered about Vol. 1 but this was nowhere to be found in our local shops. Then a school buddy's father (a collector himself) stepped in and inquired with the right people at the local record shop where I had bought the first one (a shop that sometimes carried interesting stuff you did not see elsewhere but was kind of pricey). And soon afterwards the "Blues Box Vol. 1" was there for me to pick up. I still have both and whenever I see a secondhand copy memories of my school days come up.  https://www.discogs.com/master/955304-Various-Blues-Box-2 https://www.discogs.com/release/5371665-Various-Blues-Box-1 Re- the Count Basie Roulette box sets on Mosaic: I never had had my eyes on the studio box set as I had accumulated all the Basie LPs on Roulette over time (except 1 or 2 vocalist LPs that I wasn't too hot about anyway). But the Roulette "Live" box set I recently scored was too good an opportunity to pass up, particlarly since most of the contents really is new in any form.  So I am looking forward to explore it.

Re C. Brown at Basin Street Could you list the tracks? There is IMO more than one recording with that title. Thanks