Ron S

Really stupid question: what's this "Tokuma" on what appear to be Venus releases ? Does it have something to do with the "TK" in the numbering?

Second night--you must be looking at the wrong year.

Especially since you've endorsed it.

Correct. And just to verify, I checked on Amazon, which indicates the presence of copy protection in brackets after the title of each CD that has it. There is no such indication for Stepping Stones (and no one-star ratings/warnings among the reviews).

OK, I'll look for that. And I'll be the guy running UP the steps in the grey Rocky sweats and headband.

Art Blakey -- Drum Suite Damn! That didn't show up under "New Arrivals"! Thanks! I wonder how many other new ones slip in under the radar?

Very carefully . . . . and discreetly.

Only because of all the controversy and potential legal issues with the software (for some reason the words "class action" come to mind ) and, after all, yourmusic is part of the "family" that brought us this mess. Didn't Sony/BMG announce that they were ceasing production of CP discs? Of course, they could use the BMG-direct sellers as a dumping ground for the CP discs already produced, but from the perspective of bad PR and portential legal liability, they may decide that that would be more trouble than it's worth. Also, Microsoft's recent classification of the Sony CP software as "malicious" might encourage Sony/BMG not to sell the discs.

This morning's USA Today had a big article on the Sony BMG problem, and said that the Mulligan, Silver and Gordon are copy protected with the spyware. The Brookmeyer apparently is, also. The Jamal is too full (80 minutes) to be copy-protected, and I don't believe the Shaw is, either. There appears to be a posse of Copy-Protection Avengers dropping one-star ratings and warnings on every copy-protected CD on Amazon, and they've hit the Brookmeyer (and the others), but left the Shaw alone. I wonder if Sony/BMG will let yourmusic sell the CP discs given what's happened, or whether they'll sell new pressings without the CP?

Anyone ever say you have too much money? ← Well...........it was my girlfriend's idea. Anyway, that was last night. I would say that they were 1/2 good. They definitely are bumping up against John Tesh territory on some of their songs. Some of the early tunes from their classic period (60s/70s) still hold up, though. Mercifully, they only played a couple "new" tunes which were not very good. I was amazed at the enthusiasm of the crown, though. They definitely have a STRONG following and got 'standing Os' after almost every song. They must have played some songs from their new "Moody Blues at Red Rocks" CD.

The yourmusic.com site seems to be down right now. Apparently, their server's been infected with the copy-protection software/virus on the new Sony discs they added today.

That sounds like a great idea--and certainly cheaper than my idea. The only problem is that you'll have just 30 minutes between shows to eat. But that's definitely something to consider, and maybe we can get Alan and Chalupa--and anyone else who's interested--to join us for the whole thing.

Or if you see something you know you really want, just buy it immediately--you know you'll never find it cheaper.

Incidentally, that Jazz Factory disc has been selling extremely well on Amazon, far outpacing the Fantasy OJC and 20-bit K2 issues. Those are sales that Fantasy--now Concord--probably would have had if they had issued their own "complete" disc including the trio tracks and without the Mingus overdubs. And I think they've really missed an opportunity by not having that out around the same time that the Uptown Town Hall disc was released. My impression is that, on Amazon at least, sales of the Jazz Factory disc have been boosted significantly by the buzz over the Town Hall disc (people buying Town Hall picking up a Massey Hall disc at the same time). I noticed that the Jazz Factory disc climbed to and has remained at number 2 or 3 on the Parker bestseller list on Amazon almost simultaneously with the release of Town Hall and its immediate ascendancy to number 1 on that list.

Several new items today: Gerry Mulligan--Jeru Ahmad Jamal--The Legendary Okeh and Epic Recordings Woody Shaw--Stepping Stones: Live At The Village Vanguard Bob Brookmeyer--Bob Brookmeyer & Friends Horace Silver--Silver's Blue Dexter Gordon--Manhattan Symphonie

I am, although not sure yet which of the 2 shows. I was actually thinking about trying to hit the earlier show, and then making the Christian McBride/Odean Pope/Ravi Coltrane concert at the Kimmel Center later that evening. Pretty full night of jazz, huh? McBride's group includes Ron Blake of Organissimo's "Waiting for the Boogaloo Sisters" fame. But either way, I'll definitely be at one of the Alexander shows. More details to come. Do you know which one you're attending?

I'd be interested in hearing what you think. Of course, they may sound identitcal.

I have that Jazz Factory disc also, and have wondered whether their "source" was in fact the Mingus Debut box. I've also wondered why Fantasy never released its own "complete" Massey Hall disc, including the trio tracks and without the Mingus overdub, since it included that material in the Debut box. So Erik, what do you think of the sound on the Jazz Factory disc compared to the Fantasy SACD?

I now have almost all of Kessel's Contemporary CDs, including all the Poll Winners, but haven't played any of them in several months. I need to work some into the rotation--always enjoyable listening.

Well, I stand partially corrected. It seems that if you search for an artist in the search box at the top of each page, you get a complete (at least at first glance) listing of the titles that had appeared on the old Fantasy site. In fact, in the case of Barney Kessel, I found 2 titles that had been OOP and had not been appearing recently on the Fantasy site ("Feeling Free" and "Red Hot and Blues"). So could it be that Concord is actually bringing some OOP titles back? Or perhaps they're just clearing out some stock that Fantasy had in storage? I guess we'll find out soon enough. But still no K2's on the site--at least that I could find.

You're right! Well it was OOP. And I see when you go to the page for "Feelin' Free", they have "Red Hot and Blues"--also previously OOP--listed for sale! Could Concord actually be bringing some of these titles back? Or maybe they're just clearing out some old stock that Fantasy had in storage. Needless to say, time will tell.

Or at least no more offering both the K2 and the OJC releases of the same title. I'm just speculating--don't know that's going to happen for a fact. Right now, the site's so screwed up it's hard to tell exactly what they're going to keep in the catalog (e.g., under Wes Montgomery in the "Shop" section, there are no K2's, but they're also completely missing titles like "Boss Guitar" and "Full House" that I can't imagine them deleting from the catalog ).

Now when you type www.fantasyjazz.com into your browser, it takes you directly to the new Concord site--no first stop in Fantasyland. Of course Concord, being headquartered in Beverly Hills, has to have a web site that is totally Hollywood with all the bells and whistles and fancy web effects. I know they're still working on it, but this site seems much slower and more awkard to negotiate. While the old Fantasy site was somewhat behind the times from a web-design technology perspective (no fancy Macromedia Flash effects, etc.), it had an elegant simplicity that made it easy to negotiate to get to the information you were seeking very quickly. Incidentally, on the Concord home page, a search under "W" in the artitsts drop-down (alphabetized by FIRST name now ) reveals a list that is missing Wes Montgomery. I know that's only temporary--you can still get to him through the convoluted "shop" pathway--but still, . . . . Also, something tells me that we're no longer going to see both the original and the 20-bit K2 masterings of titles maintained in the catalog. Of course, we'll be lucky if any mastering of a lot of these titles is kept in the catalog.

Thanks, guys. I've already received or ordered several of those recommended here--as well as some others--but I'm sure I'll be picking up a lot more Venuses in the near future. Although the best prices are definitely at Cadence--especially with the $1 subscriber's discount--it looks like ejazzlines.com has the most comprehensive information on Venuses, including complete track listings for all they stock and sound samples for a lot of them. Of course, there's always the Venus site itself, but it isn't very complete and isn't the easiest to navigate if you don't read Japanese. If anyone else feels like listing your favorite Venuses here, please do. My search before starting this thread turned up Venus recommendations spread throughout several threads and forums and, since there appear to be several members who are big fans of this label, I thought it made sense to have a thread devoted to discussion of Venus releases.

And that's with a free shipping option, unlike Caiman's price. Also, if you happen to get one of the sets with the slightly defective disc (see above), Amazon has a great return policy--they'll send you a new set immediately (without waiting for the defective set to be returned), and you print out a prepaid return label online for the defective set.