JETman

They are cool sets. Just wish they had thought of doing them years before I had bought some of these discs 3 or 4 times! Did you get a "shipped from UK" message when you ordered the Weather Report box?

I called Scott, and he told me there's some sort of glitch in the ordering system which he needs to fix manually. This glitch did NOT happen for the small group of customers who have already received notices. When I called, he was waiting on Fred to guide him through the process.

Is it just the new sets that are available at a reasonable price through Amazon? I see that the Woody Shaw set is available for just under £30 from Pop Market and over £57 from Amazon...what's all that about? It seems that the Pop Market sets are being sold exclusively through Pop Market for a time after they are released. Then they are being sold through other outlets. These other outlets sometimes price them cheaper, sometimes not. It's difficult to tell. The Woody Shaw came out in September of last year. That's a full 9 months before it is being sold elsewhere. I guess Sony realized that they were shooting themselves in the foot by NOT selling these to other retailers. After all, Mosaic eventually figured this out, so why not Sony? Yes, Pop Market's customer service and rules are ridiculous, but I have had no trouble with them in the past. Sony is usually solid when it comes to dealing with customer complaints. When I ordered the Miles Davis Complete Albums Collection from Amazon UK, and the discs were all gummed up, I got no resolution from them. Sony in the US sent me a remanufactured box FOR FREE and told me to keep the first one. First class all the way. If you want a company to complain about, there's always Universal. They didn't properly resolve the Stan Getz Hip-o-Select issue, and still haven't issued a replacement disc on the Trane Impulse Albums, Vol. 5 set.

I agree with your point, but record companies seem to be hung up on putting out theme-based boxes. They could've also put out a Complete Weather Report with all 16 of their albums. They've now left the last 4 just hanging out there all alone. Oh well. I wonder how many discs will be included in the Dave Brubeck Quartet Live box supposedly coming at the end of the year.

My guess is that, for Mingus, there will be new remasterings on "Let My Children Hear Music" and "Epitaph". Might even get a remastering on "Charles Mingus & Friends in Concert" since that was only issued domestically in 1996 or 1997. I can't see them remastering the other 5 discs though. For the Monk, it's difficult to say. These albums were all mastered or remastered, with bonus tracks, starting in the late 90s and going into the early 00s. The low price/disc of this set makes me suspect that, as Lon already said, they are just repackaging those editions in paper sleeves. For the Weather Report, I'd guess that the first two ("Weather Report" and "I Sing the Body Electric") will get remasterings since they were only previously issued in the Columbia Jazz Masterpieces Series in the early 90s. Of course "Live in Tokyo" was never previously issued in the US, so that should get a new mastering as well. "Sweetnighter" was issued for the first time on cd in the US in 1996, so it may be remastered. "Mysterious Traveller" and "Tale Spinnin'" were remastered in the early 00s, so they may not be remastered. Did anyone else who ordered any of these notice that they are shipping from the UK? As far as I know, this is new.

If they send mine out today, I'll have it by tomorrow.

Thanks. It sounds like I'll have to check these out. I've slept on McPhee's stuff for the most part.

I've been revisiting some of the Paul Bley Steeplechase recordings lately - Questions, Paul Plays Carla, Reality Check, Notes on Ornette. These are all wonderful trio albums. However, since I hadn't listened to them for a long time, I was surprised at how closely they resemble ECM recordings in terms of where their sound lives. Maybe Nils Winther is in on the conspiracy?

At the risk of sounding "bitchy", I was simply asking to you tell us why the recordings are worth seeking out. I have not heard them, so I am genuinely interested.

Why?

H.W. Fowler's "A Dictionary of Modern English Usage" demolishes what he describes as the "cherished superstition that prepositions must be placed before the word they govern.... The fact is that the remarkable freedom enjoyed by English in putting its prepositions late is an important element in the flexibility of language. The power of saying ... 'People worth talking to' instead of 'People with whom it is worthwhile to talk' is not one to be lightly surrendered.... 'That depends on what they are cut with' is not improved by conversion into 'That depends on with what they are cut.'... Those who lay down the universal principle that final prepositions are 'inelegant' are unconsciously trying to deprive the English language of a valuable idiomatic resource, which has been used freely by all our greatest writers except those whose instinct for English idiom has been overpowered by notions of correctness derived from Latin standards." Not to beat a dead horse, but "People worth talking to" is nowhere near as awkward sounding as what Cliff wrote (or should I say that which Cliff wrote --- anyway, you know where I'm at). Language may be flexible, but it still needs to flow. PERIOD. QED. ETC. There is more flexibility allowed in poetry writing, btw, (ask Sylvia Plath or Allen Ginsburg) than in "everyday" practical language. God, you guys just don't let anything die around here. It's a case of gang mentality. However, I think that most of you are flexing beer muscles. I went to a Jesuit high school, and what I was taught there led me to give up Catholicism!! My condolences. I went to the best public high school in New York. That's part of why I be where I be where language is concerned.

As a writer and proofreader, I have no problem with the original. Clearly you're a prescriptive grammarian. Grammar is a guideline, and usage evolves. "Rules" like particples should not be placed at the end of sentences are pretty much anal retentive clinging to useless prescriptions that go against common usage and understanding. The original sentence is perfectly "proper English." Generation gap maybe? I DO have a problem with the original, and since my opinion matters more to me than yours, I will disagree. Grammar is NOT just a guideline. If I'm correctly interpreting what you are saying, ebonics and other types of slang (like texting language, perhaps) are perfectly acceptable because they happen to in vogue in our society. Therein lies the problem. If you cannot communicate properly through the use of any language of your choosing, you're lost. You will not be heard. I have the right to point out the shortcomings of those who get paid for said shortcomings despite, well,....falling short. It's all part of a general hypocrisy which leads, in the bigger picture, to all that is wrong with our "civilized" society. I call it the "settling for less" syndrome. I may be anal retentive when it comes to grammar, but I was taught well. I DO hope that you've noticed my anal retentive attention to placement of punctuation, by the way. I'm not changing at this stage of the game. If you bother to attend school, you might as well take something away from the experience I say. As a matter of fact, I teach my children that the most important things they'll learn in school are the ability to communicate and the ability to master simple mathematics. You'd be surprised at how many master neither. Your ability to write poetry does not make you more of an expert at grammar than anyone else. The original sentence is so awkward that it could not be conceived as proper English in any sense. I cringed when I read it aloud.

watch out. your participles are dangling! Please explain. Not to further derail the thread, but..... ........shouldn't he have said dangling prepositions (of, for, with) instead of participles? Aren't participles words that end with "-ing"? It's been a long time since English class, but I thought those were two different things. You are right, but my point still stands. Are you hypoglycemic?

watch out. your participles are dangling! Please explain. Not proper English: whom I'd really like to read a good bio of. Proper English: someone about whom I'd like to read a good bio Participles (in this case: "of") should not be placed at the end of sentences. Having been married to a writer myself, I know that being a good one does not equate to someone who can necessarily handle grammar and syntax well. Very surprising --- these functions must be handled in different parts of the brain.

watch out. your participles are dangling!

Someone should suggest it to Scott, then!

Never been to NYC? The studio where Ornette recorded for Atlantic Records was somewhere in Midtown Manhattan. RVG's Englewood Cliffs shrine is in Northern NJ. One would get from one place to the other by taking the George Washington Bridge, traveling directly west from upper Manhattan (Washington Heights, to be exact) to Fort Lee, NJ, which is just south of Englewood Cliffs, parts of which are quite ritzy!

I believe he trucked on "over", not "down"!

First of all, there are only 4 Deccas (New York, New York; At the Five Spot; In Kansas City; Jazz in the Space Age)-- not enough for a Select. Secondly, all with the exception of In KC have been released domestically.

Well yeah, but have you ever heard a cooler band name?

Thanks guys. Sounds like I can skip it. I love Ornette, and I'm still holding my breath for those elusive Impulses. Will listen to "Chappaqua Suite" and "Who's Crazy?" soon.

These suckers were all over my hut in Bora Bora!

Both have been on cd before. I don't have Forms and Sounds. Is it worth buying this for?

Again, not young or new.

All of the ones you name, except for Dayna Stephens and Walter Smith, are not new or young. Goines and Turner, in particular, have been around for at least 20 years. Shim, Cheek and Blake are not far behind.