David Ayers

Just played the one Ella solo and three duets with Joe Williams on the Basie Clef/Verve Mosaic disk 8. Gems (as the True Blue catalogue would no doubt call them).

That's right, keep at it.

Yeah go ahead - make the procrastinators suffer...

Only if you've written your own individual number inside the booklet. ← Don't give me ideas.

In fact if I were you I'd sell it, buy the TOCJ CD as a stand in, and go on holiday!

Nice find. This can go on ebay for a very tidy sum.

Not at HMV London though, where I observed today that the Eldridge Mosaic was £99.99 and the Carmell Jones Select £59.99.. The Teutonic deals brokered by Alfred are better.. ← I got mine from amazon.de, but when I checked jpc I noticed the Selects were more than the full euro-mosaic sets. The Selects are evidently on a different deal altogether than the full sets. The three I ordered worked out a shade under £40 each. But I have to live with the non-mosaic serial number on the spine and NO individual numbering inside the booklet... I feel like I've cheated but I know I haven't. Have I?

I picked up a copy of ConSequences a while back from Ecstatic Yod. Looks like it's still available from Yod for $16, in case anyone's interested. HERE ← Funny, ConSequences was gathering dust on my sales list before it finally sold. No one here seemed to be interested, even though it wasn't very expensive... ← Sorry Hans - I didn't notice it - I'd have bought it I swear!

Just keep in mind that with box sets, what's important is not how they sound when they're played, but how they look when they're sitting on the shelf! ← Not to mention the part where I sit and stroke them every night as the evening light melts into darkness. Do you think the head print which results from putting them under my pillow reduce their eventual ebay value?

I ordered the Basie, Jazztet and Eldridge from amazon.de. Total cost including shipping and tax, EUR 175. As shopping experiences go, this is one I have so far managed to enjoy. My only problem is I am up to my eyes in box sets and I am far too busy to listen to them! It makes me regret passing on the Ory, which I did because it wasn't near enough the top of my wants list. But I just took a big chunk out the wants list and I'm already planning how I should have spent the money I 'saved'... I'm wondering what price the Herman set will eventually appear at (if there is a deal with Sony, as seems possible, though I know these others are Universal), and the Rich seems likely to come through at a tempting price eventually. These and all the classical box set deals which are going - it's box set El Dorado around these parts.

Buddy and Sweets (in print) Buddy Rich in Miami (Japanese import) Playtime (until recently available from Le Jazz) Blues Caravan (in print) This One's for Basie (until recently in print) OK so two have slid out of print but they are still around.

Let's wait for another bargain from amazon.de or jpc.de in 2006! -_- ← Whoaahh. I just saw what you were talking about. JPC have Basie, Jazztet and Eldridge for about 60 EUR. Any other Mosaic bargains I should know about? Are these the best prices for euro-mosaics?

4 or 5 of the titles on this set are currently in print and quite cheaply available. That level of overlap surprises me a bit, I must say.

Why does it only dawn on these people too late that consumer confidence is their biggest asset? The whole advantage of buying a CD for many people is that they have a safe, hard copy, and can make burns or mp3s if they want them for personal use. Or maybe they just want to listen to the CD on their PC (you know, you're sitting at your PC, you put in a CD and listen to it - it can happen, believe it or not). If the CD is going to mess with your computer the manufacturers become no better than the virus spreaders, who are hated by everyone. After Sony hit people like this, some people will look to hit Sony back, and the way these things work they may have lost a lifetime of trust among some consumers. Just stupid.

Copy protection on CDs from Sony? For me it's easily resolved - I just won't buy any more. I can take a hint.

I dislike and got rid of 3 x 4 Eye and Sound & Space Ensembles. A couple of OK Roscoe solos but the band doesn't shine and the focus is not clear. This Dance is for Steve McCall is OK - more music and more variety. The others I don't know.

Just want to put in another recommendation for Soundin' Off. My favorite Dizzy Reece album, and a damn solid album, period. ← Agreed. I've got the slightly problematic JRVG of that. I don't know whether the Select sounds any better.

Bagged me one. Do I like it as much as 21st Century Texts and The Short Form? Don't yet know... In case you can't see its ConSequences, Raphe Malik, on eremite.

← Thanks! I'm up to speed!!

You guys are getting too cryptic.

I find the poem quite droll. Maybe it will grow on you? I think that people put off by poetry in jazz shouldn't skip this album on that account (so a big for taking the risk). OK it isn't a slice-of-avant-garde-history poem, like Malcolm, Malcolm, Semper Malcolm or Black Dada Nihilismus, but it has a little something. I'm unimpressed that Mosaic reissued this album incomplete on the Moncur Select, but they did at least include Soul.

I believe it is more a case that this gives a false sense of security for music execs. Just like the public wants the illusion of security, even if the practical impact is zilch. How can CC increase profits when the CC on these particular Blue Notes can be broken in under 15 seconds? Anyone can beat it, and in fact I just ripped 6 of these CDs last night. Believe me I hate CC, since it mucks up CDs but this is so weak and anemic that I don't let it stop me from buying the music out of principle. ← I hear you! If it damages profits of course we may see it be withdrawn...

I wonder if copy control increases profits? That would be the only reason to do it. Notably in the UK the introduction of CC on Blue Note titles was accompanied by a price cut on RVG titles (Conns are still extortionate though). If the introduction of CC actually increases profits it will never go away.

I suppose that's why they'll never put me on a SWAT team...