Chuck Nessa

So you wanna decorate your "burn"? Got the original vinyl spinning at 33 1/2 at the moment, old buddy. I have zero burns, other than copies from my collection that I make for the car. Just curious how Water's quality translates to CD. I guess THAT answered my question.

I think this is a VERY unfortunate response.

So you wanna decorate your "burn"?

What Maren said - as usual.

You are your own worst enema! B-)

Chuck, I read a rumor that this set was remastered from LPs rather than the tapes. (Of course I believe everything I read on the Internet.) Do the CDs sound OK to you? The last half of disc 4 and all of disc 5 are dubbed from lps. I think they sound fine. I had this material since the late '60s and was happy to have the material on cd at last.

You have received some great recommendations. I want to suggest a couple possible substitutions. If you can't locate the Keller Quartets, the Takacs Quartet is dandy. The Anda/Fricsay piano concertos are very fine (I've had them since the early '70s) but I think the first concerto is taken too slowly (for my taste). I suggest the Kocsis/Fischer disc on Philips. The Naxos violin concerto disc is 8.554321. The violin sonata disc mentioned has a "companion disc" of the 2 Rhapsodies for Violin and Piano along with the Piano Quintet - Naxos 8.550886. A fine budget set of the solo piano music by Gyory Sandor is available on Vox. You should be able to find this 5 disc set for less than $20. Exploring the rest of the orchestral music, you will need The Miraculous Mandarin, The Wooden Prince and Dance Suite. All of these are available in a wonderful series conducted by Ivan Fischer on Philips. If you can find it, in 1991 Columbia/Sony issued a disc of Bartok playing selections from Mikrokosmos and the premier of Contrasts with Benny Goodman and Joseph Szigeti.

'Twas the beginning of the end for Dextah in my book. In retrospect, yeah, that's indeed what it was. But who knew that at the time? Then, it seemed like a helluva good album from a giant who was finally getting the "royal treatment" from both his label and his country. Marketing, yes, but there was definitely a sense of justice about the whole thing, or so it seemed to me then. Of course, now, it might be easier for me to say that Dexter might have been better served in the long run by staying in Europe and not becoming a "star". But that's the 20/20-ness of hindsight, as well as a little better appreciation of the axiom that whom the gods would destroy, they would first make famous. Well, I was "bummed" at the time - no hindsight involved. Just some experience watching these things. Way too much "blow" in the biz at the time and too many "execs" looking the other way.

Which Columbia Armstrong transfers are you talking about. I dumped the JSP box for sound reasons. There are other transfers "out there" that beat the JSPs as well. The early Columbias sucked.

'Twas the beginning of the end for Dextah in my book. Not a happy thought. It was a marketing triumph.

Goin' to FL to tamper with voting machines?

I wish I had THAT on tape.

While this is probably the best of the Columbia Dexters, I think it pales when compared to the earlier SteepleChases and (especially) the Black Lions. The band was better in person. I think my (minor) problem with this date is - I think they had too much time in the studio and tried to be "perfect". This drags down a bunch of "major label" jazz dates.

Yes.

They have some dandy new classical titles too.

Y'all better check the new arrivals today. B-)

You can't quit after failing on your first attempt!

The JSP set omits the two 1939 sessions - 12 tracks total, counting the alternates.

Is this what you were talking about?

Fair enough. What Mr. Russell said.

Is that the "fictional" biography? I've never come across it and haven't been compelled to search it out. Is it worth tracking down, taken for what it is? It's a fascinating "case study". Trouble is I can't decide if the "case" is Marsh or the author.

That's exactly why I asked the question. AND the situation is further clouded by Out Of Nowhere.

Very fine listening ahead. Please provide feedback on the records AND the book.

Yes he played flute frequently in the '70s.