J.A.W.

Oops, you posted this while I was typing. But yes, I agree 100%. What bugs me is that many older persons (I'm 66 by the way) don't - or don't want to - see the convenience of a more modern way of living than they were used to. Just an example - I live in an apartment building with quite a few people who are older than I am and they refuse to use a computer for even the simplest things, making life harder for themselves. Their excuse: I'm too old for that kind of thing; they don't even try...

Same here, though hardly anyone pays cash anymore. Cheques are no longer accepted.

Seems to me you haven't had much luck with your purchases lately...

Not to my ears, but note that the Select has more material than just those 2 albums. It also includes Whims of Chambers, Chambers' Music and tracks from Jazz in Transition and Blakey's Drums Around the Corner: http://www.mosaicrecords.com/discography.asp?number=MS-005&price=$44.00&copies=3 CDs

Mosaic's "Running Low/Last Chance" page has been updated: http://www.mosaicrecords.com/lastchance.asp Last Chance The Complete Roost Sonny Stitt Studio Sessions (#208) J.J. Johnson & Kai Winding - Trombone For Two (MCD-1015) Lee Wiley - West of the Moon (MCD-1008) Mosaic Select: Paul Chambers (MS-005) Woody Herman - Woody's Winners (MCD-1013) Mosaic Select: Sidney Bechet (MS-022) Mosaic Select: Cohn, Newman & Green (MS-027) Running Low Mosaic Select: Andrew Hill (MS-016) Mosaic Select: Gerry Mulligan (MS-021) Mosaic Select: McCoy Tyner (MS-025) Art Blakey - Hard Bop (MCD-1005) Charles Lloyd - Of Course, Of Course (MCD-1006)

Yes, a reissue of all the 1960's Fontana releases with the Marte Roling covers. Now, THAT would be something! That's just what I had in mind! But there must be a multitude of reasons why that stuff is so rare (rights back at the musicians' being one? which would make this much more nightmarish than the Bley trio box, I guess ...) Yep, I understand that the rights (and tapes) reverted to the artists.

First impression is that these are all worthwhile purchases. Changes One seemed an improvement over the 1993 disc. More detailed highs. A nice heavy detailed bass sound, not overpowering. Better than the piece of shit Atlantic Masters (2005) release. This series is not only a tad loud, but it also has boosted highs - not annoyingly so, but still... I'm not a fan of this kind of "modern mastering" - and that's putting it mildly - but, as I said before, the series is listenable as far as I'm concerned. I may change my mind on second listening, though. Which CDs do you prefer for the Coleman and Mingus Atlantics? The Beauty is a Rare Thing and Passion of a Man box sets? The early CDs that were mastered by Steve Innocenzi (not all albums were released in that early CD batch) and indeed those two boxes. With limited reissues of favorite albums I'm generally afraid of missing out on something good. Perhaps I should concentrate exclusively on albums that are not yet part of my collection, like the Lloyds. That's exactly what I've been doing with this series - and the recent Japanese Blue Note series.

First impression is that these are all worthwhile purchases. Changes One seemed an improvement over the 1993 disc. More detailed highs. A nice heavy detailed bass sound, not overpowering. Better than the piece of shit Atlantic Masters (2005) release. This series is not only a tad loud, but it also has boosted highs - not annoyingly so, but still... I'm not a fan of this kind of "modern mastering" - and that's putting it mildly - but, as I said before, the series is listenable as far as I'm concerned. I may change my mind on second listening, though. Which CDs do you prefer for the Coleman and Mingus Atlantics? The Beauty is a Rare Thing and Passion of a Man box sets? The early CDs that were mastered by Steve Innocenzi (not all albums were released in that early CD batch) and indeed those two boxes.

First impression is that these are all worthwhile purchases. Changes One seemed an improvement over the 1993 disc. More detailed highs. A nice heavy detailed bass sound, not overpowering. Better than the piece of shit Atlantic Masters (2005) release. This series is not only a tad loud, but it also has boosted highs - not annoyingly so, but still... I'm not a fan of this kind of "modern mastering" - and that's putting it mildly - but, as I said before, the series is listenable as far as I'm concerned. I may change my mind on second listening, though.

I still have a soft spot for the early Steve Miller Band albums, the ones with Boz Scaggs: Children of the Future and Sailor. Got them when they were first released back in the 1960s and now have them on CD. (Bruce Hornsby's album with the Range, The Way It Is, isn't bad either, but that's a different topic )

Late, Does it say on the CD inserts where it was manufactured?

That set is insanely expensive, especially for a public-domain release.

No, and no Testament either.

The problem I have with those EMI releases is that damned noise reduction they often used during mastering! It spoils the fun for me.

On which label? There are various releases, official (EMI) and public domain.

Stumbled upon this post and also read your personal introduction on Mike's Prospero site and was wondering what you like about Francescatti's interpretation. I often find his tone uneven (Menuhin has the same problem as far as I'm concerned), and he throws in a lot of vibrato now and then. On the other hand Casadesus is wonderful, a great pianist. The Grumiaux/Haskil set is a golden standard for me, despite the not very good, hard sound. A great "older-style" interpretation of Beethoven's cello sonatas is the Fournier/Kempff set - in my opinion, of course

Me too, but in Django's Peche a la Mouche. But I still don't get the meaning. "Pêche à la mouche" means "fly fishing".

Krystian Zimerman's DG set with Brahms' piano sonatas and a few other works was withdrawn very soon after its release. Does anyone know why?

No, the Verve sides are also owned by Universal; so "everything from Universal" would be all Commodore, Decca and Verve recordings.

The Complete Billie Holiday on Verve 10CD-set is sonically one of the worst I've heard. It was mastered by Suha Gur, whose mastering work is not my cup of tea, and produced by Phil Schaap. I sold it and got the far better sounding 6CD-set The Complete Verve Master Takes instead; that one was mastered by Bob Irwin and Jayme Pieruzzi, Schaap had nothing to do with it.

Yep, and PolyGram is now part of Universal: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PolyGram.

That's been a "who sold what to whom and when"-tale through the decades I once posted the story somewhere, but I can't seem to find it now. The Early Ellington booklet has a few lines about it. [edit] Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunswick_Records

The title of the Mosaic is The Complete 1932-1940 Brunswick, Columbia and Master Recordings of Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra, so there's your answer. The 1926-1931 Brunswick recordings are now owned by Universal, while the 1932-1940 Brunswick - and all RCA - recordings are now owned by Sony; none of the Sony-owned material is included on the European Verve (= Universal) set. I think you can safely assume that the material on the U.S. Decca (= Universal) 3CD-set Early Ellington is indeed included on that European set.

Yep. Who knows what's really inside those boxes... The name Pandora comes to mind

Scott just told me there's no news.