J.A.W.

not from own experience but from reading all the raving on various boards, I'd say the Koch disks get SMOKED beyond recognition... Well, it's not THAT bad, but the Mosaics are WAAAAAYYYYY ahead! B)

You're absolutely right, it's impossible to draw the line, but buying Definitive, Proper, post-John R.T. Davies JSP (I have some JRTD-remastered JSP sets, and they're great), etc. just doesn't feel good, so I don't. Oh, and I never denied being inconsistent

but does Proper borrow? I think that is the question here. The answer is surely yes in some, but certainly not in all cases. A set like the "Swing Tanzen Verboten!" one, is highly unlikely to be a rip off of other sources, I should think, and a good buy if you want some obscure European music from Nazi times, with an interesting booklet to go with that. Other sets plainly reek of dark business, stealing masters elsewhere, going through the trouble of "touching them up" to make them sound like original, own mastering jobs. Then again I have read (here? elsewhere?) that although a Mosaic rip-off on the surface, judging merely by track title, a certain Proper set turned out to be an original remaster after all; maybe I misread though. Well, even if they've only "borrowed" once, they're out as far as I'm concerned. Same goes for JSP, Definitive, etc.

There's been some discussion on cheap labels like Proper, JSP, etc. in other threads. I choose not to buy from labels that seem to "borrow" their remasterings.

CD Connection is not always cheaper than CD Universe; for instance, the hybrid SACD version of Thelonious Monk's Brilliant Corners is $19.98 from CD Connection and currently $17.09 from CD Universe (though that's the pre-order sale price; it'll be higher soon), while Paul Bley's Nothing to Declare is $15.02 from CD Connection and $11.89 from CD Universe. It's worth checking out though, since it's the other way around with other CDs and, like Д.Д. said, CD Connection's shipping rates to Europe are generally lower than CD Universe's rates.

Hiroshi told me Toshiba hadn't announced (yet) who remastered this TOCJ series.

As far as I know the Japanese 2CD-set is no longer available. It's pretty hard to find at a reasonable price.

I don't think so. The "Blue Note Works" TOCJs were never 24-bit remastered, just 16-bit and 20-bit.

Now don't you know couw like's Mosaics about as much as he likes Miles? ubu You'd be surprised!

You're taking away the pressure for me to feel I need to buy this set now. This is no fun. If you want some real good music, you need to buy this set now!

Mosaic's Scott just told me there are now 172 J.J. Johnson sets left; they will probably order another batch after that number dwindles down. It will last well into 2005.

Just get the Mosaic set before it's too late...

I never found the Beatles very infectious or inspiring. I like BFS just for the song selection, which, like I said, is a nice acknowledgement of their influences. Actually, I've never really been a B fan...

Beatles for Sale is one of my favorite B albums; it's a nice acknowledgement of their influences.

Yes it will! The booklet couldn't be changed (for contractual reasons), but the new boxes will include this special foldable reading device

There are lots of Beatles songs I don't like or that leave me cold, but I really hate "Yesterday", "Michelle", "Yellow Submarine", "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" (talking about stupid lyrics), and "Lady Madonna". Just my $0.02...

Yep, I know. I just posted this separately to point out the "running very low status" of the set to those who still didn't pick it up... Man, I figured as much. I don't recall seeing a recent stand-alone thread for the T/K/M box. I thought, if anybody is looking for information about the T/K/M box, whether to buy it or not... they can check THIS thread and THE OTHER thread. I've enjoyed my Tristano/Konitz box very much. Get it while you can. Excellent advice! The T/K/M and the J.J. Johnson sets are two of my favorite Mosaics.

Yep, I know. I just posted this separately to point out the "running very low status" of the set to those who still didn't pick it up...

I just heard from Mosaic's Scott that they have about 50 sets left.

I just posted this in the "Running low..." thread.

I asked Mosaic's Scott a few minutes ago how many Wynton Kelly / Paul Chambers Vee Jay, Lee Morgan / Wayne Shorter Vee Jay, Tristano / Konitz / Marsh Atlantic, and Teddy Wilson Verve sets are left. He told me they still have plenty of the Vee Jay sets; he confirmed that they were not able to reprint them after the New Year. They also have plenty of the Teddy Wilson till the end of the year when it will also go OOP. As for the Tristano they have about 50 copies left.

The Bix and Tram remastering seems to have been "borrowed" from Mosaic and the Louis Jordan remastering from Bear Family. Here's a quote from a post by "Montgomery Cleft" on a blues board (I posted the link above) regarding JSP: JSP is a strange label. They used to do original transfers of prewar blues and jazz (with a focus on the latter), and the remastering was done by the great John RT Davies. Their Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Django Reinhardt sets sound excellent and are extremely cheap. They dabbled in blues, and their Sleepy John Estes and Cannon Jug Stompers stuff is also great. But then they became more or a less a bootleg company. They steal other people's transfers (some lawsuits ensued) and release them in ugly boxes for great prices. Since the lawsuits, they generally do some EQ work on other people's transfers in order to make them somewhat different. Despite the legal issues, it's hard to pass up the Carter Family sets that can be bought for a fraction of the price of the Bear Family, or the Charley Patton set which is about a 125 dollars cheaper than the Revenant (but every Charley Patton fanatic must buy the Revenant--the sound is better without JSP's EQing, and the liner notes, lyrics, etc. are essential. The Revenant set is a dream come true for Patton fanatics). But their more recent box sets, of Lemon, McTell, etc. seem to come from various sources, basically from whatever they can get their hands on. The sound quality, then, differs from track to track, and the EQing they do often makes things worse. I've found their very recent reissues to sound muddy and extremely inconsistent. On the other hand, the price is right, and they almost always do complete works (though some of their "complete" sets have several notable omissions).

Sure, no doubt about it.

...and many happy returns!

This is one of the best sets Mosaic ever put out, with excellent sound. Highly recommended!