Royal Oak

Thanks. Indeed- about the same duration and not dissimilar pricing. Correct - quite a turn up. I think everyone expected India and Pakistan to go through.

How does the price and length of game compare with Major League Baseball? Curious

Yes, the club grounds are so much better - closer to the action, smaller and with real character. One thing I will say about OT is that it has impressive toilet facilities. Talking of the World T20, it seems that England are in real danger of exiting the tournament at the first stage. If Scotland's game against Australia gets rained off, then England are out. Even if Scotland lose to Australia, England are going to have to absolutely whup Namibia and Oman to progress. For the non-Brits here, Scotland knocking England out of a major cricket tournament would be beyond the pale. It would be bad enough in football......

Big fan here. I go to one or two County matches a year; the trouble with following Lancashire is that games are played at Old Trafford, possibly the ugliest and most corporate plastic place imaginable. I did however go to my first ever outground game a few weeks ago, and it was probably the nicest day I've ever had watching cricket. It didn't hurt that the weather was glorious. Watching cricket in cold / damp weather is utterly demoralising. I went to a couple of The Hundred games in 2021, which I enjoyed because nobody had been out for 18 months due to COVID, and I went with my son and his friends. It's difficult to genuinely root for a brand new team, whose personnel changes radically every year. The overexcitedness of it all is cringeworthy and false - "you will enjoy this, it's the future" kind of thing.

https://www.hifisound.co.uk/analogue-c49/cartridges-styli-c5/stylus-cleaning-c32/at607a-eu-stylus-cleaning-fluid-p4677/s12631?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=audio-technica-at607a-eu-stylus-cleaning-fluid-at607aeu&utm_campaign=product%2Blisting%2Bads&cid=GBP&glCurrency=GBP&glCountry=GB&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6OnO2LGshgMV65VQBh3oDA3UEAQYBSABEgIQyvD_BwE I've had my bottle for years, and use it most days. At the rate I'm going I will die of old age before the fluid runs out.

Today I bought a copy of Mark Murphy's "Rah" from a charity shop. This an album I bought on CD in around 1995, which I'd never heard on vinyl until today. I could probably sing every note of that CD, so often did I listen to it all those years ago. As such, I was most surprised to hear that "My Favourite Things" on vinyl contains several choruses not present on the CD - new choruses referencing Miles, Coltrane, Anita O'Day, Basie, Cannonball etc. I wonder why these were cut from the OJC CD? What the heck? There is another track on the LP which didn't make it to CD EDIT to add - all explained by Wikipedia - lyrics considered "inappropriate" by Richard Rodgers...

I bought this book when I started listening to jazz in 1993, it was very helpful in the pre-internet era.

These LPs are to be found in about 50% of English charity shops

Yes, good idea.

That's very sad to hear. I met Bill a few times between 2016 and 2018 - he dropped some CDs at my house once, and I visited his house two or three times when I bought a lot of his vinyl and CDs. He was certainly a very spry fellow in those days, and seemed to be enjoying his retirement, making full use of his free OAP travel pass as I recall. Though I hadn't spoken to him in a while, I did think about him, reminded by the fact that many of my LPs and CDs contain Bill's elegant signature hidden unobtrusively about the covers. Ghost - please pass on my condolences, if you are in touch with his wife again.

When I saw the thread title, I was sceptical such album covers existed. This is an impressive array thus far, well done

Haha - no Ahmad Jamal in this one, though like you say, I have seen them in other collections I've bought in the past. They tend to be 70s / 80s Ahmad Jamal however. Thinking back, there were many Ella albums, and a lot of Paul Desmond and Gerry Mulligan. These artists (Stan Getz is another) are also typical of what I find in such collections. Swinging, quiet, polite, cultured, pretty-sounding.

Yes, fair point. They were all from his late 60s / early 70s output. 👍

I happened upon OP's autobiography in a charity shop this week. I picked it up and skimmed a few pages, and it didn't really grab me - inoffensive, slightly banal. I left it on the shelf. It's interesting what Big Beat Steve says upthread about the jazz tastes of classical music fans. I recently bought quite a big record collection, 60% classical and 40% jazz. The jazz portion was entirely typical of these collections (I've bought dozens over the years). There were over 20 OP albums, about 16 George Shearings, about 12 Dave Brubecks, about 10 Andre Previns, 15 Nat King Coles, 15 Frank Sinatras, 10 each of Duke Ellington, Basie and MJQ. You almost always find a token Bird or Miles album in these collections. This one was slightly unusual in that it had 2 Monk albums (a solo bootleg-looking thing and the Tokyo concerts) a single Bill Evans, and the real kicker - four Groove Holmes LPs.

👍

Haha good one, not seen that one before 👍

Deutsche Grammophon's 1980s output seems to have "admiration" as a theme...

I've never been good at cryptic crosswords, so I don't expect I'll get many right. So the titles are based on other song titles specifically, or historic events, or both? Between 1901 and 1971? Tiger Rag In The Mood Black and Tan Fantasy On the Sunny Side of the Street Louie Louie Harlem Shuffle Dance of the Infidels Sgt Pepper Well You Needn't Lester Leaps In Tea for Two

I did love that LP

Not totally clear, but I'd say Les is kneeling Woman to the right is kind of kneeling

Two for the price of one