J.A.W.

A few years ago I had promised myself never to post here again (hm, never say never...), but this is too important in my opinion: earlier today I've been in contact with Mosaic's Scott Wenzel and he told me that they're in very bad shape. Their customer base is dying and, of course, downloading isn't helping - for those wondering why downloads aren't offered by Mosaic: no record company, big or small, is allowing them to offer downloads, the licensing agreements are for CD only. And as for vinyl releases, it seems some (most?) of the record labels they're dealing with are hesitant to license stuff for release on LP. Jazz is a niche market and apparently younger people are not that interested, even less so because of that download situation. Let's hope this is not going to be end of Mosaic after 34 years... By the way, before anyone starts wondering if posting this is a good idea, Scott explicitly asked me to tell everyone I know about their situation.

He said you're "being an ass", which means you're acting like one (ie, stubborn and obstinate) not that you actually are one. I really don't think this is worthy of filing a report and frankly I found your response to Lon far more rude than Stefan's response to you, especially considering all Lon did was offer his opinion (the entire point of a message board) in an attempt to help you. Well, thank you for making your point so clear. Needless to say I see things quite differently, but I think I'd better stop here before I post something I might regret later. [edited] Sent you a PM.

Call it what you want, but I don't like being told what I would like and what not. Anyway, I'll not respond to your "sonic posts" anymore. I can only hope you'll do the same with mine. That is just being an ass. There was nothing patronizing about his post. This discussion has been all along about the character of sound for these reissues, which have been enlightening, to say the least. Don't want to be told? Then go back to the Hoffmann board. If being called an ass is not a personal attack, I don't know what is. If you don't agree with my perception of Lon's post, fine, but there's no need for insults.

Call it what you want, but I don't like being told what I would like and what not. Anyway, I'll not respond to your "sonic posts" anymore. I can only hope you'll do the same with mine.

Please don't tell me what I probably would or would not like; you know nothing about that. To me it comes across as patronising. As I've noted before, we have extremely opposing views and preferences when it comes to sound and its reproduction and I'd suggest that we do not comment on each other's posts on that subject anymore. Thank you.

Wayne Shorter's Speak No Evil arrived this afternoon and I just did a quick comparison of the first 2 tracks on my BN Works version and the TYCJ. The BN Works sounds a bit "flatter", with less depth than the TYCJ; however, the latter sounds more aggressive, more "in your face" to me, especially the horns. Overall, I found the TYCJ less easy on the ears, more fatiguing.

Hiroshi's service was the best I've ever encountered, on par with or maybe even better than Mosaic's. Great memories. By the way, he's still active on Facebook.

I sold my individual Ornette Atlantic CDs when I got the Beauty Is a Rare Thing box; the sound on that box is good enough for me and, as I said elsewhere, I like to hear the tracks in recorded order. As for the Billy Taylor One for Fun remaster that I played earlier today, I just found out that I have the Japanese remaster from 2006, WPCR-25140. Judging by Late's assessment I wouldn't be surprised if they used the same remaster for his version, it might just be a reissue of the earlier one. Anyway, mine really did sound bad.

No pictures here either. [edit] The quote function does work for me.

Also played Charles Lloyd's Dream Weaver in this series. I never really liked this album but thought I'd give it another try; after a few minutes it became clear that it's not for me. I didn't like the sound on this reissue very much either, but it's not as bad as the Billy Taylor I listened to earlier today.

I got a few of these WPCR CDs and listened to them only once many months ago. I found most of them a tad too loud, as I posted earlier. After reading Late's post above I just listened to Billy Taylor's One for Fun again and I totally agree, it's way too loud; very unpleasant and fatiguing.

Nope, it was Philips that released those Richter solo recordings, but since the demise of Philips their recordings are reissued on Decca by Universal. Here's one of the Philips Richter sets, released in 1995:

All the solo piano pieces on the DG set are also included in the Decca 33CD-set. The remaining pieces on the DG set are piano concertos: • Mozart Concerto No.20 with Stanisław Wislocki/Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra • Prokofiev Concerto No.5 with Witold Rowicki/Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra • Rachmaninov Concerto No.2 with Stanisław Wislocki/Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra • Schumann Concerto with Witold Rowicki/Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra • Tchaikovsky Concerto No.1 with Herbert von Karajan/Vienna Symphonic Orchestra (no, not the Vienna Philharmonic) • Beethoven Concerto No.3 with Kurt Sanderling/Vienna Symphonic Orchestra • Beethoven Rondo for Piano and Orchestra with Kurt Sanderling/Vienna Symphonic Orchestra Thanks! I wasn't aware the solo material was duplicated between the DG and the Decca box ... so the Decca box is actually a Universal box ... All Decca boxes are Universal boxes nowadays. But yes, it's a collection of Richter's solo recordings that were previously issued on DG and Philips, if that is what you meant.

You probably mean Stephen Calt: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Id-Rather-Be-Devil-James/dp/1556527462/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1392401240&sr=1-1&keywords=stephen+calt+I%27d+Rather+Be+the+Devil Yes. I read Calt's Skip James biography and learned some things about Mr. James. Unfortunately, I learned a lot more about Stephen Calt, who has a poor writing style and an obnoxious personality (at least as it comes through on the pages of this book). Anyone who's read Calt's liner notes for Yazoo LPs will know that the man can't write worth a lick and that he's obsessed with guitar playing in the blues at the expense of all else, including vocals and lyrics. My advice would be to listen to Skip James' recordings and "skip" Calt's book. Couldn't agree more. Calt's liner notes for Yazoo albums are among the worst I've read. By the way, he died in 2010.

You are probably referring to the 5CD JSP set Legends of Country Blues. John R.T. Davies had nothing to do with it. Thanks. Do you have any other information of the sources used for this set? No, I don't. When this set came out in 2003 John R.T. Davies hadn't been involved with JSP for years. He died in 2004.

You probably mean Stephen Calt: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Id-Rather-Be-Devil-James/dp/1556527462/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1392401240&sr=1-1&keywords=stephen+calt+I%27d+Rather+Be+the+Devil

You are probably referring to the 5CD JSP set Legends of Country Blues. John R.T. Davies had nothing to do with it.

Here's a link for Skip's Piano Blues: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Skips-Piano-Blues-Skip-James/dp/B000024M94/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1392257827&sr=1-1&keywords=skip's+piano+blues Another important post-war Skip James CD is She Lyin', also on Genes: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000003TL0/ref=dm_ws_ps_cdp?ie=UTF8&qid=1392257676&s=music&sr=1-1-catcorr

The best Skip James disc with pre-war material is the Yazoo CD Hard Time Killin' Floor; with the complete 1930 sessions. The CD has 22 tracks, including 4 by Son House. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hard-Time-Killin-Floor-James/dp/B0009F2EGE/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1392248327&sr=1-1&keywords=skip+james+hard+time

If they don't refund your unfilled orders, you can file claims with PayPal within 45 days of the payment dates.

The Bobby Hutcherson, Johnny Mercer, Denny Zeitlin and John Handy Selects are running low: http://www.mosaicrecords.com/lastchance.asp

My KEFs will be delivered tomorrow. I'm told they have a break-in period of 100 hours, which means I'll have to play a lot of music before I can say anything about the sound. The price for a pair here is €990 or about $1,345.

All the solo piano pieces on the DG set are also included in the Decca 33CD-set. The remaining pieces on the DG set are piano concertos: • Mozart Concerto No.20 with Stanisław Wislocki/Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra • Prokofiev Concerto No.5 with Witold Rowicki/Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra • Rachmaninov Concerto No.2 with Stanisław Wislocki/Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra • Schumann Concerto with Witold Rowicki/Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra • Tchaikovsky Concerto No.1 with Herbert von Karajan/Vienna Symphonic Orchestra (no, not the Vienna Philharmonic) • Beethoven Concerto No.3 with Kurt Sanderling/Vienna Symphonic Orchestra • Beethoven Rondo for Piano and Orchestra with Kurt Sanderling/Vienna Symphonic Orchestra

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-26135627#" http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/shirley-temple-iconic-child-star-and-depression-era-box-office-draw-dies-in-california-at-85/2014/02/11/6a81a74e-930a-11e3-b3f7-f5107432ca45_story.html?wpisrc=al_national

When my Quad 988 electrostatic speakers exploded (wasn't even listening to anything) I sold them and ordered a pair of bookshelf KEF LS50 monitors. The limited-edition LS50 Jubilee Edition sold out last year, but KEF recently decided to make some more, a non-Jubilee series this time. They're ugly, but they got rave reviews and seem to be as good as high-end speakers. http://www.kefdirect.com/ls50.html