J.A.W.

That one's already been mentioned. The Green Mosaic has dates with Ike Quebec that aren't on the Blue Note double; that set only has the sessions with Sonny Clark. The Quebec dates are (were?) available elsewhere.

Same here... But fortunately I managed to get them back later.

Ah yes, the Herbie Nichols is another Mosaic I prefer to the later Blue Note package.

Many Mosaics, like some of the ones mentioned (Paul Desmond, Grant Green, Andrew Hill and Jackie McLean), sound better to me than the various remasters.

I can! (the cut off corresponds to ~0dB, the RED zone we were taught the tape deck meter should not linger) Thanks John, it perfectly illustrates what I mean.

Remember that in the 1980s it was customary just to transfer recordings to digital. As far as I know hardly anyone, including mr McMaster, did any remastering. To my ears McMaster's mastering ranges from OK to sometimes very bad. Just listen to his Lou Donaldson Mosaic set; "Caravan" on that set is a case in point, it's been compressed/maximized like hell and sounds absolutely awful, bright, LOUD and no dynamics. You should see the sound wave... (Unfortunately, I can't reproduce that here).

As far as their big boxes go, I am sure you are correct. However I notice that the 'Blowing a Fuse' series finishes in 1955. Suspicious or what? I suspect that with this series they are just as 'guilty' as Proper, JSP etc ... Bear Family would be the LAST label I would group with Proper, JSP, Definitive! You can complain about their pricing, some of their mastering decisions, but NOT their licensing, or lack thereof! Considering their ability to issue compilations from multiple labels from actual licensed source materials I think they should be commended as a model in this regard. I fully agree. I think it's outrageous to suggest otherwise as was done earlier in this thread, the facts don't lie. The Blowing the Fuse series has just been extended to 1960: Bear Family site ("XX R&B Classics That Rocked the Jukebox"). The best way to refute Steve Gray's remark!

The set is on hold.

Happy birthday!

I hate it when they do that, and it's one of the reasons I'm not "upgrading" anymore.

Sounds like it... Dont worry, I wasn't interested anyway I'm not "upgrading" anymore.

(I realize that this is probably not interesting to anyone outside Europe ) I'm selling this set from my own collection for $34 plus shipping: ON HOLD Art Pepper - 3CD-set, Mosaic Select Shipping: priority mail (at buyer's risk) $6.50 in the EU (except Italy, Greece and Slovakia) and to Norway and Switzerland, $13.50 to the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia registered priority mail: $9.50 in Europe, $16 outside Europe Payment: no cash, checks or money orders; PayPal accepted; in the euro zone: BIC/IBAN electronic bank transfer No trades Please PM me if interested.

All the best to your wife, Lon.

I've been getting these e-mails for weeks now. They're going straight to my wastebasket.

Happy birthday!

Most of it is free.

Looks like they don't have to play anymore, it's all been decided already

I second that, no more CAPS please.

Don't you like this one, Gökhan? To my ears Lupu's one of the better "modern" Schubert interpreters. I do Hans, and agree about Lupu more generally. I just got the 4 disc set of his Schubert recordings, that's why. He'll be performing Mozart's 20th Piano Concerto in Paris late May and we'll get our tickets soon (though I would've preferred a recital or a Romantic era concerto, but we'll see, I never heard him play Mozart). Ah, I see. I didn't buy that 4CD-set; I've heard parts of it, though, and I prefer the older separate discs, they have better sound to my ears. I've never heard Lupu in Mozart either. I love most of Perahia's performances of the concertos, and Lupu might be similarly minded. Which orchestra is it and who's conducting? Note to prospective buyers: get the Lupu, it's great.

So do I!

Don't you like this one, Gökhan? To my ears Lupu's one of the better "modern" Schubert interpreters.

Re: Hoffman -- I've been quite pleased with the sound of the Miles XRCDs and hadn't thought about investing in the DCC versions -- until, that is, a few days ago when I heard his Evans 'Interplay' re-mastering. Woah!! I might need to saddle up and start tracking down some of those Miles (and Evans) ones. You won't be disappointed, the Hoffman remasters smoke all other versions I've heard (OJC, K2, XRCD, etc.). They're pretty expensive, though - if you can find them, that is; they've been OOP since the demise of DCC and are getting scarcer by the day.

Can't say anything about the current political climate in Paris, I'll leave that up to Brownie. As for the "real" climate, in my experience spring is an excellent time to visit Paris, though early April might still be a little too early. Temperatures average about 10-15C/50-60F, though we (in NW Europe) have had a long winter this year, which only ended last week. Anyway, have fun!