J.A.W.

These sets were released by Sony/BMG Europe.

Sorry, I don't agree at all about the sound, to my ears it's abominable, extremely LOUD with no dynamics left and the highs are boosted very much. Real earbleeders so to speak. I got rid of the complete series, which, by the way, covers the years 1945-1960. As a big 1940s-1950s R&B fan I like the music on these discs very much, but the horrible sound was too much for me, I got headaches when I tried to listen to them and that's not what music is for.

Any opinions yet on the Zeitlin set?

CDUniverse

Good news for Chicago Blues fans: Universal imprint Hip-O will release a Little Walter 5CD-set, The Complete Chess Masters (1950-1967). I couldn't find anything on Hip-O's website yet.

I'm sorry I didn't make it up...

I don't know whether you're joking or not. Upcoming Kahn book on Blue Note

I've only read The House That Trane Built: The Story of Impulse! Records and found it so-so. It strolls along and lacks depth. I hope his upcoming book Somethin' Else: The Story of Blue Note Records and the Birth of Modern Jazz will be better

I've never heard the French RCA LPs, but I'm told by someone who's also a vinyl nut that they're OK.

No idea, I'm not an expert, but he uses CEDAR for noise reduction. The 5 JSP Fats Waller sets I have sound rather "dead" to my ears, though not as bad as the RCA sets that were issued in the 1990s. Cedar is a suite of tools and each can be used to different degrees. Much too broad a stroke to complain about the system. He might deaden the sound before using Cedar. You never know unless you know what he's using and how. It is like blaming Studer for a lousy recording. Since you edited to talk about the RCA sets, they were done over an 8 year span with different tranfer and mastering engineers. Some of the later sets sound wonderful. Once again, too broad a stroke. I didn't edit to add the RCA sets, I edited a minor error; and I don't agree - though the later sets did indeed sound better than the earlier ones, to my ears they certainly did not sound wonderful. To each their own, I guess

No idea, I'm not an expert, but he uses CEDAR for noise reduction. The 5 JSP Fats Waller sets I have sound rather "dead" to my ears, though not as bad as the RCA sets that were issued in the 1990s. Cedar is a suite of tools and each can be used to different degrees. Much too broad a stroke to complain about the system. He might deaden the sound before using Cedar. You never know unless you know what he's using and how. It is like blaming Studer for a lousy recording. I know CEDAR is a toolbox, but I get the point; I shouldn't have mentioned CEDAR specifically. The Studer reference is funny - I used one for the botched Lee Konitz recording back in the 1970s...

No idea, I'm not an expert, but he uses CEDAR for noise reduction; the 5 JSP Fats Waller sets I have sound rather "dead" to my ears, though not as bad as the RCA sets that were issued in the 1990s.

Correct, they were mastered from 78s. To my ears Ted Kendall was a bit too generous with CEDAR noise reduction.

Carter Family... JSP did steal that one; Bear Family sued them and won.

Yves Leterme's father was from Wallonia, the francophone part of Belgium, and his mother was from Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. He is indeed Flemish, but fluent in both Dutch and French.

French. (Born in Liege.) wondered the same thing about jacques pelzer this morning - "pelzer" doesn't sound french at all (?) Doesn't it? What about Claude Luter (say it "lut-air"), celebrated French trad band leader of my youth? i really don't know... ending stuff with "er" is of course very french but "lz" doesn't feel french too me (in german - so maybe also in dutch - "pelz" is fur, so a "pelzer" could be someone who makes coats (but it is not a common word though)) Almost Fur = "pels" in Dutch.

There are a few recommendations on my Blues/R&B list.

Not this one. The MFSL version has a wide stereo image. Bold thing to say that "no doubt the TOCJ is the best CD version" if the RVG CD is the only version you've ever heard ... I've heard the RVG, "Blue Note Works" TOCJ and MFSL and the MFSL won on all counts.

No problem here with the samples on my Windows Media Player.

I'm not sure about that one. I'm not a June Christy fan, but I do like Peggy Lee's recordings with small groups. They're great, especially the Farlow - it's a must in my opinion

The Farlow set was released in 2004.

The Peggy Lee/June Christy, Tal Farlow, Columbia Small-Group Swing sets are running low. They're discounted until the end of February 2009.

It's all about football - or soccer, as it's known on your shores. Scolari was manager of one of England's top teams, Chelsea, and was dismissed for lack of results and good football - eh, soccer. He won the World Cup with Brazil in 2002. Football/soccer is the national pastime of many European and Latin American countries

Some people at Mosaic are reading this forum, so they know by now...

Same fellow. Louis, his brother Dave and the great Freddy Below were the Aces. They were the backbone of a ton of Chicago blues sessions. Little Walter is the tip of the iceberg. In the late '60s Freddie was always after me to record his "jazz band", an organ trio. No money was the story then, regret now. Saw the Aces here many years ago. Great band.