David Ayers

I am trying to find the right device which I can just plug in to the amp. They do exist but I am not very good at finding them apparently....

I think maybe I just need to change my set up so that I can get d/ls and streaming from my hi-fi. I certainly don't need all these discs sitting around but the way I am set up they sound better.

I guess... But classical dealers who don't hold much stock but get supplies quickly from distributors seem to be able to keep prices down.... I guess I'm wondering if even online CD buying is being squeezed and if this will happen more widely.

By coincidence I was listening to his contributions to Braxton's Composition 98 on the Hat Now series CD. A very moderately paced and spacious AB piece which seems to have been well-prepared by all. The original LP version contained a concert performance of the same piece which I'm guessing will never see the light of day again, though I guess a needle drop could be sourced by the ingenious.

Agreed and I get your point. Any edition good for a relative beginner and very comprehensive.

I do know Jazz House but that depends on what is in stock. Example from amazon uk today - a Leo disc priced at over £19. Of course a Leo I could order direct - it's in print.- but I just don't like that everything is a detective hunt, and the underlying story is that the only major online retailer of CDs is sending prices up and up. A Leo from Leo would cost maybe £10, in store maybe £13, but I wonder if what uk amazon shows is that CD prices are now set to rise as the distribution and retail structures shrink.

Re. downloads - sure - but in cases where I *want* the CD, it is becoming harder...

I'm an impulse purchaser, that's my thing, and if I have to wait two weeks I've usually moved on.... Also I no longer order the volume I once did, so my desires are for THIS item NOW.

The shop price of the CD in the UK can often be about £15 inclusive of tax. That is already expensive compared to the United States. Amazon, which in the past offered most CDs at a much lower price than this now frequently offers back catalogue CDs for almost this price or sometimes much more. Of course, there are many Amazon sellers, especially those based in North America, who offer the same CDs at a much lower price. However, for me personally, I would like to be able to order a CD within the UK and have it arrive very promptly within two or three days, say. I find now that often, compared to the past, I am not able to source a CD from a UK vendor, at a price which I am prepared to pay. I am prepared to pay the full shop price for a CD, but only if I buy a CD in store. Also, although for any individual CD, it might be possible to source it at a reasonable price in the UK, this involves a lot of opportunism and shopping around. Classical CDs in the UK can be sourced from various specialist online sellers, who always offer discounted prices, and are very consistent in that respect. I am now struggling to source jazz CDs in the same way. I don't quite know what to do. Does anyone in the UK have any answers on how to do this? It seems to me that Amazon has now become so dominant in the UK and pushed out other sellers, so that they can set much higher prices than in the past. I am not even sure that they really want to sell the past back catalogue of CDs that exists any more. What do you think?

Oops. I hope whoever bought my copy from the thrift store didn't pay so much. Actually silly amazon seller prices are unlikely to be realised.

David G Such Avant-Garde Jazz Musicians: Performing 'Out There', offers a more recent take, but only worth coming to after the above recommended books. Ronald Radano's book on Braxton is very worth coming to after Lock. I don't know anything more recent than these and we are yet to have works of the depth offered by Gunther Schuller, Richard Sudhalter, Scott DeVeaux. At least that I know - I don't keep up.

Good, though not good for me. I'm done on transatlantic ordering, high shipping, waiting and waiting, tax and duty.... Thankfully the warts can be assessed on Spotify...as can the desirability of hearing the material more than once....

As for Tippin' the Scales, always found that a weak date.

Happy birthday!

Musicians I know who have major label deals seem to be at the level that they can make a living from music. I know many people who have issued or who feature on CDs but that is not in itself a measure. Just because you have recorded some music does not mean you are entitled to make a living from it, any more than if you publish a book of poetry. As far as opportunities to play in the US goes, I've a feeling it depends where you are. These things find their own level. If people don't want it they don't. The impression I have from Downbeat is that jazz is mainly of interest only to practitioners. I think that's the limiting factor, not really anything else.

In fact I didn't say it was easy, just common. There are over 100 university or college jazz programs in the US. If each of those had yielded ten graduates each year for ten years that would give you 10,000 jazz musicians. The numbers are certainly much larger, there are many other routes to playing jazz, and that is only one country.

I really don't get the idea that just because someone plays jazz they are entitled to earn a living from it It's a common music and tens of thousands of people can play it. Same for singer/songwriters. There are probably millions who play sing and write but - here's the thing - it isn't streaming (or Andorrans) who are preventing them from making a living. Of course millions of people would love to make a living from their art, poetry, novels, music, etc. It's a market, and - dare I add - not everyone offers a superlative product.

Good choices.

I see that a stack of irrelevant reviews have been attached by the amazon robot.

I know. Almost as if people who are interested in Les McCann are supposed to access his music in some other way. They charge an outrageous 60 pence per album and that's how they treat the people who wouldn't buy it anyway, even if it DID contain Les McCann. Still, I guess its just another Porsche in the garage to these euro-crooks (or another villa in Spain - while dead musicians starve!). Les lives! (Well, I think so.) Actually, I'd buy it if there were some McCann in it. I bought the execrable and pretentious (in my view) Joe Pass Mosaic, just for the two Les McCann albums included. MG I'm only having fun. And - I hear you...

I know. Almost as if people who are interested in Les McCann are supposed to access his music in some other way. They charge an outrageous 60 pence per album and that's how they treat the people who wouldn't buy it anyway, even if it DID contain Les McCann. Still, I guess its just another Porsche in the garage to these euro-crooks (or another villa in Spain - while dead musicians starve!).

No, these sets are not aimed at 'young cats' or even at newbies. Young people don't buy CDs period. These budget sets are aimed at oldies. Or just at no-one. What, after all, is the demographic of this admittedly tasteful lifestyle music of sixty-odd years ago?

You forgot to mention the motivation of getting extra tracks on an album that one never really liked much in the first place...

Oh....

Didn't order that one, but still waiting for the rowing boat which is bringing mine to arrive