J.A.W.

There were two "Various Artists" LPs, Monday Night at Birdland (Roulette R-52015 mono/SR-52015 stereo), released in 1958, and Another Monday Night at Birdland (Roulette R-52022 mono/SR-52022 stereo), released in 1959.

These are Roulette sessions that were never released on CD by Blue Note. They were issued on CD by Fresh Sound (Spain) and have recently been reissued on CD by Toshiba/EMI Japan.

As Scott told me, they are "painfully aware of the problem".

Yep, Alan Lankin's site.

Well, harshness is certainly not an issue with my system, on the contrary. I've not heard the original 78s and if the Mosaic as you say bears close and favourable comparison, I can only say that the people responsible for the sound on this set are to be commended for not having tampered with it. Nevertheless, the first few discs sound harsh to me on various systems, but knowing now that the sound resembles the 78s, it might be easier to take Anyway, I love the set and it fills quite a few holes in my Ellington collection. Thanks for posting your review.

Great set, recommended.

Same here. Hip-O CD-sets have a standard price tag of just under $20 per disc, which is a bit steep in my opinion. They're often cheaper on Amazon.

Plus the January 23, 1954 quartet session with Jimmy Rowles, Bobby Whitlock and Max Roach!

One disc to go, and the sound on the later discs is relatively excellent. What a great set.

Details on the Hip-O site Tracklisting: Disc 1 1. Stella by Starlight 2. Time on My Hands 3. ’Tis Autumn 4. The Way You Look Tonight 5. Lover Come Back to Me 6. Body and Soul 7. Stars Fell on Alabama 8. You Turned the Tables on Me 9. Thanks for the Memory 10. Hymn of the Orient 11. These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You) 12. How Deep Is the Ocean? 13. Have You Met Miss Jones? 14. Erudition 15. Cool Mix 16. Rustic Hop 17. Love and the Weather 18. Spring Is Here 19. Crazy Rhythm Disc 2 1. Willow Weep for Me 2. The Nearness of You 3. Pot Luck 4. Minor Blues 5. Fascinatin’ Rhythm 6. I Don’t Know What Time It Was 7. Tangerine 8. Pot Luck (Single Version) 9. It Don’t Mean a Thing (Alternate Version) 10. I Hadn’t Anyone ’Til You 11. Down by the Sycamore Tree 12. With the Wind and the Rain in Your Hair 13. Nobody Else But Me 14. I Hadn’t Anyone ’Til You (Alternate Take) 15. Nobody Else But Me (Alternate Take) Disc 3 1. It Don’t Mean a Thing 2. The Varsity Drag 3. Give Me the Simple Life 4. Oh, Jane Snavely 5. I’ll Remember April 6. We’ll Be Together Again (EP Version) 7. We’ll Be Together Again (LP Version) 8. Feather Merchant 8. Feather Merchant 9. Flamingo 10. Blue Bells 11. Round Up Time As far as I can see the January 31, 1955 date is the last session on the set, which means that the West Coast Jazz sessions (the first on the East of the Sun set) are not included.

Sad news. Loved his Elmores.

I see. I'm probably too naive to get jokes like that or those jokes don't really come across on the internet, or both...

According to Michel Ruppli's Prestige discography (1980; Greenwood Press), which was compiled with assistance from Bob Porter, Shirley Scott's LP Stompin' (Prestige 7456) had no more than the five tracks you mentioned. Two other tracks from the March 24, 1961 session, "Worksong" and "Chapped Chops", were issued on the Shirley Scott LP Workin' (Prestige 7424), which also had two tracks recorded on May 27, 1958 with George Duvivier (bass) and Arthur Edgehill (drums), "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" and "Miles Theme", and two tracks recorded on April 8, 1960 with George Tucker (bass) and Arthur Edgehill (drums), "Autumn Leaves" and "Bridge Blue". According to the Ruppli discography all eleven tracks (the five you mentioned and the six above) were only released on the two LPs mentioned (Stompin' and Workin'), not anywhere else. Other tracks from the May 27, 1958 session can be found on the LPs Great Scott! (Prestige 7143), Shirley's Sounds (Prestige 7195) and Now's the Time (Prestige 7440). Other tracks from the April 8, 1960 session can be found on the LP Shirley Scott Trio (Moodsville 5). Most Shirley Scott Prestige recordings are scattered over a variety of LPs. In short, the Prestige discography is a mess I have no idea which tracks are on which CDs.

I found the sound got better (less harsh) around disk 5. Hope you will find the same thing. I just played disc 5 and the harshness was still there. I'm now listening to track 6 on disc 6 and so far the sound seems a bit better on this disc. [edit] The sound on disc 6 is indeed better than on the previous 5. Great music!

I found the sound got better (less harsh) around disk 5. Hope you will find the same thing. So far I've listened to first four discs. I hope you're right.

Got my Ellington set a couple of days ago. It's a wonderful set with quite a few recordings I didn't already have, but the sound is a disappointment, at least to my ears - it could have done with a lot less harshness, it's a bit of an earbleeder here and there. I have the same problem with the big RCA Ellington Centennial box. Pity.

Agreed.

That doesn't necessarily mean we can't discuss those things here.

Just to avoid any misunderstandings: the TOCJ-6xxx and later series Shaft mentioned earlier were mastered by Japanese Toshiba engineers, not by RVG.

I agree with what you said about the TOCJ-6xxx and later series; the ones I had sounded bright, loud and compressed to me too, compared with the "Blue Note Works" CDs and the older non-RVG American CDs. The Blue Note XRCDs on the other hand sound excellent to me. They were mastered by Alan Yoshida. They're way overpriced at $30 each, though.

I must be missing something here. A decade = 10 years, but January 1, 2000 - December 31, 2010 = 11 years; just count them: 1st year - 2000 2nd - 2001 3rd - 2002 4th - 2003 5th - 2004 6th - 2005 7th - 2006 8th - 2007 9th - 2008 10th - 2009 11th - 2010 I think the answer is that the 201st decade started on January 1, 2001. The year 2000 is the last year of the 200th decade, which ended on December 31, 2000. There was no year 0, the Christian era started with the year 1. So the first decade was 1-10 AD, the second 11-20 AD, the third 21-30 AD, etc.

She's Loes Hamel, a Dutch cabaret performer. I don't know if she's still alive.

Even Michel Ruppli's Clef/Verve discography doesn't give any personnel listings. The recordings were made in LA on November 13-14-15 and December 27, 1961 and April 9-10, 1962. The sessions were released on 2 LPs, Ella Swings Brightly with Nelson (Verve V-4054 mono/V6-4054 stereo) and Ella Swings Gently with Nelson (Verve V-4055 mono/V6-4055 stereo).

Are you referring to the JSP 4CD set (924) : DE, Vol. 1 1926-29 - Mrs Clinkscales To The Cotton Club (2005 release) ? - There is no mention on the box or CD's as to who was responsible for the remastering. JSP usually advertise on their merchandise especially if Davies or Kendall were involved. There is also a second 4CD set that is just a compilation of later material. If John R.T. Davies or Ted Kendall aren't explicitly mentioned on JSP boxes, they weren't involved in any way.

The Bristol Sessions (Wikipedia)