Ron S

A few facts (which you'd never get from perusing AMG): FINGERPICKIN' and FAR WES were not PJ albums. Those are the titles (taken from song titles) of two 1990's CD's which reissued World Pacific material by The Montgomery Brothers. KISMET was a Mastersounds LP on World Pacific, on which Wes appeared. "THE MONTGOMERY BROTHERS" was never a title used on WP or PJ (it was used as a title for a Fantasy LP). The original albums by the MB's were: THE MONTGOMERY BROTHERS AND FIVE OTHERS (World Pacific 1240) MONTGOMERYLAND (Pacific Jazz 5) WES, BUDDY AND MONK MONTGOMERY (Pacific Jazz 17)- a reissue of WP 1240. ← But, just to confuse this even more, the CD's "Fingerpickin" and "Far Wes" are issued under the Pacific Jazz label (at least the ones I have right in front of me are ). And isn't almost all of the Montgomery Brothers material now available on those 2 CD's and "Groove Yard" (OJC/Riverside) and "Groove Brothers" (Milestone)? If there is a significant amount of OOP or unissued Montgomery Brothers material, I'd love to see it as a Select. Wes' recordings with his brothers are among my favorites.

You beat me to it. By the way, the LP version of "The Al Cohn Quintet" has a glowing AMG review here.

Actually, "Fingerpickin'" and "Far Wes" are both currently in print, and between them, they contain all the tracks from "Montgomery Brothers" and the tracks from "Kismet" on which Wes had a solo (on the other "Kismet" tracks he just played rhythm). So, while I'd love to see a Select with OOP or unreleased Montgomery, these 4 PJ albums are pretty much covered (except for the rhythm-only tracks on "Kismet") by the 2 CD's still in print. By the way, TM, if you're digging the Half Note date, you should really check out the 2-CD Definitive set "Complete Live in Paris 1965." From the same period as "Half Note," it has great music (including a guest appearance by Johnny Griffin) and sound. You can read a fairly in-depth AMG review and hear samples here.

So THAT'S why the Liberty Bell is cracked.

That's the Liberty Bell! He ain't in Philly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . yet.

And don't forget the box and the booklet.

Next up for me:

Chris, just sent you a PM.

I do, for someone who's into jazz guitar. I've had it for a few months, and have only listened to it once or twice. Charlie's not on all the tracks and, as I recall, the tracks I liked the best were not necessarily the ones he was on (e.g., the boogie woogie piece played by Kessel and Ellis). You can read the AMG review and listen to track samples here.

. . . and he (and you) certainly picked the right team.

It is determined by the number of posts you've made. Not quality posts, just posts. The more you have, the more days you get. I think it's one week for every 1200 posts. It's on page 32 of the personnel handbook. ← You're just trying to get me to take a week off.

How many weeks of vacation do we get on this board, anyway? I haven't had time to read the personnel manual.

Chris, any chance of you hitting Philly again on this trip? Rumor has it that somewhere in town there's a cheesesteak with your name on it:

This is the first--and most famous--of those albums (that's Joe Byrd on electric bass): It and the subsequent ones are still available on CD.

Happy Birthday, Randy. You are the "different drummer" to whose beat we march.

. . . which apparently is contagious. Thanks to your recent raves, I picked up "Sarah--Dedicated to You" and "The Great American Songbook" from yourmusic.com (I know--different thread).

Which statement is that?

Yeah--3 "very's" would have been better, and 4 even better yet.

That's only 5 "very's." Is that enough?

Lonnie, you said a mouthful!

And then there's that Johnson set.

I second the motion (or third, or fourth, or whatever . . . .).

Great examples of this are many of the OJC/Contemporary CD issues of the late '80's and early '90's, such as the Shelly Manne Blackhawk discs, Barney Kessel titles (such as "Some Like It Hot" mentioned earlier), Hampton Hawes titles, etc. To my ears, these original transfers/masterings sound as good as--if not better than--any 20-bit K2's I have. I suspect that Fantasy hasn't given some of these very popular titles--like the Manne Blackhawk discs--the 20-bit K2 treatment (for US release, at least) because it would be hard to improve on the orginal digital transfers and mastering. In fact, I was once told by someone at Fantasy that the reason they keep the older remasterings in their catalog (at least up until the Concord era) alongside any 20-bit K2 versions is that many people actually prefer the older remasterings. Can you imagine Blue Note doing the same with older versions of RVG issues, or Verve with older versions of VME issues?

They're an internet seller that sells primarily through Amazon Marketplace and Ebay. I've ordered many CD's from them (including the Universal edition of the Tal Farlow Mosaic), and generally have had good luck with them. The only problem I've had is that occasionally they or their supplier won't have in stock something they've listed, in which case they'll immediately process a refund if you cancel the order. The Basie box they have is most certainly the Universal edition, which will be identical to the one you'd get directly from Mosaic except that it will have a different number on the spine and the booklet will not be individually numbered (but will still indicate that the set is one of a limited edition of 10,000). Universal is retaining the right to distribute some of the Verve sets for which they've licensed material to Mosaic.

If you don't know, then who does??? (Other than perhaps Norman Lear)