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Harris Eisenstadt Canada Day (Clean Feed) Bohuslan Big Band Plays Zappa (Imogena / Artspages) Refuge (Winter & Winter Dave Douglas A Single Sky (KOCH Records) Uri Caine Ensemble The Othello Syndrome & Plays Mozart (Winter & Winter) Marty Ehrlich Rites Quartet Things Have Got to Change (Clean Feed) Ernst Reijseger Janna (Winter & Winter) Steve Beresford, David Toop, John Zorn, Tonie Marshall Deadly Weapons (Nato / Zebralution0

Have you had a chance to listen to the Douglas titles? If you only had enough credits to DL one of the Dave Douglas titles, which would it be? Haven't had time to listen to The Tiny Bells Trio yet, but I really enjoyed Songs for Wandering Souls. Its the same line up on both and both were well reviewed, so I don't think you'd go wrong with either. Update: I'd give The Tiny Bells Trio a slight edge just because they'd been playing together longer and they take more chances.

Dave Douglas - Songs for Wandering Souls & The Tiny Bells Trio Paul Motian & the E.B.B. - Holiday for Strings & The Flight of the Blue Jay Uri Caine - Bedrock

Uri Caine Ensemble Mahler: Urlicht - Primal Light, Gustav Mahler in Toblach & Wagner e Venezia Uri Caine (solo piano) Solitaire John Beasley Positootly! Sun Ra Other Side of the Sun The Paul Motian Trio Sound of Love

Sonny Clark Memorial Quartet Voodoo featuring John Zorn. John Hollenbeck Eternal Interlude Paul Motian 2000+1 featuring Chris Potter and Steve Swallow on Winter & Winter.

Recently we stopped at a Cracker Barrel on the way back from Asheville, North Carolina. In the dining room, there were dozens of framed antique photographs of rural white families on the walls and only one such photograph of an African-American family. It was prominently displayed over the door to the rest rooms. The display struck me as being a little too prominent, like an overly obvious token gesture of inclusiveness. Then in the gift shop my wife spotted a "witch on a motorcycle" toy that she had to have. When she told the clerk she collects witches, he reacted with a look of horror and revulsion as if she was the devil herself. If it wasn't so cold up there, we'd seriously consider moving to Canada.

Earlier this week, I sent an email to Winter & Winter Records asking when / if more of their catalog was going to be dropped on eMusic. I got this reply a couple of days ago: Dear John, Thank you for your message. Yes, we will be releasing majority of our catalogue online in the near future. Please keep your eyes on them! Kind Regards, Mariko Takahashi -- Winter & Winter GmbH Viktoriastrasse 28 D-80803 Muenchen Germany Tel: 0049/(0)89/38 66 50-0 Fax: 0049/(0)89/38 66 50-22 info@winterandwinter.com http://www.winterandwinter.com

The Monterey Quartet Live at the 2007 Monterey Jazz Festival -- Only got to listen through once while driving around doing errands this afternoon. Very good first impression. "Minitaur" is the initial standout, but it all sounds good. Duke Ellington's Piano in the Foreground has been on my want list for a while. Glad I finally got it. The samples for Andy Sheppard's Nocturnal Tourist are very interesting. I think his latest, Movements in Colour is fantastic; so I'm looking forward to digging into this one later this evening. Ravi Coltrane's Mad 6 is another one that's been on the list for a while, I may explore it after Andy Sheppard.

Winter and Winter is starting to show up (at least in the U.S.). So far, I've only downloaded one, Charms of the Night Sky by Dave Douglas. Looking forward to listening to this later this evening. I really like La Línea del Sur , the new release from master bassist Renaud Garcia-Fons. The featured soloists are accordionist David Venitucci and flamenco guitarist Kiko Ruiz. Esperanza Fernandez, a vocalist in the flamenco style, is featured on three selections. It took me a while to warm to her voice, but now am quite impressed. Very mysterious "world jazz" that spans several continents and eras. I haven't had time to listen to Donny McCaslin's Declaration, but the samples are quite impressive as are the early reviews. I've followed his career for a while, but wasn't a big fan of his trio album, Recommended Tools that came out last year. Jacques Loussier Plays Bach: The 50th Anniversary Recording was my "music to sleep by" selection last night. Quite lovely. Lousser's arrangement of "Sleepers Awake" stands out, but its all really good.

I haven't heard all the discs mentioned in this thread (yet). But thanks to tips I've picked up here (and in other threads), I've revised my "best of list" quite a bit. In alphabetical order: Darcy James Argue's Secret Society - Infernal Machines (New Amsterdam Records) Diego Barber - Calima Bobby Broom - Plays for Monk (Origin) Fly - Sky and Country (ECM) George Gazone - Among Friends (Stunt) Tom Harrell - Prana Dance (High Hat) Steve Kuhn Quartet with Joe Lovano - Mostly Coltrane (ECM) Masada - Stolas: The Book of Angels, Vol. 12 (Tzadik) Andy Sheppard - Movements in Colour (ECM) John Surman - Brewster's Rooster (ECM) Alan Tousaint - Bright Mississippi (Nonesuch) John Zorn - Alhambra Love Songs (Tzadik) John Zorn - O'o (Tzadik)

A couple of downloads from Amazon.dot.swamp. John Zorn - Alahambra Love Songs SF Jazz Collective - 2 - haven't heard yet.

Just got my first shipment from Yourmusic.com. The Joe Lovano / Hank Jones CD, "Joyous Encounter" lives up to its name and from what I've heard, the Steve Kuhn Trio "Live at Birdland" is going to be a good listen. Afraid I can't recommend the third disk in the shipment, "Its Me" by Abbey Lincoln. The opening track, "Skylark" is magnificent, but the rest of the set disappoints. At age 73, I'm sorry to say that Ms. Lincoln's voice just wasn't up to the task. A lot of this has to do with the song selection and the arrangements, which don't do her any favors. If you download, get "Skylark" from Amazon.com or iTunes, but skip the rest. Instead, I would suggest exploring Ms. Lincoln's most recent album, "Abbey Sings Abbey." The arrangements are better suited to her voice at this stage and the song selection is first rate.

I got it last night, too. I'm very impressed. Wouldn't have know about this one if it wasn't for you guys. Thanks! If you haven't seen this ECM promo video, its worth watching.

Pretty good haul: Baptiste Trotignon - "Share" Bud Powell - "A Portrait of Theolonious" Andy Sheppard - "Dancing Man & Woman" Bobby Broom - "Plays Monk" Louis Armstrong - "Plays W.C. Handy" Nina Simone - "Essential" (Volumes 1 & 2) Barb Jungr - "Every Grain of Sand" & "Just Like a Woman (Hymn to Nina)" Shakti with John McLaughlin - "Handful of Beauty" & "Natural Elements"

Yeah, I'd rather just hit download too. And I'm not defending the boneheaded way eMusic handled all this. I don't use that site because of the people there (all though I'm sure they're perfectly decent folks), but because I get to sample a lot of interesting music at what's still a "fairly" reasonable price. I spent more than 20 years as a professional journalist before changing careers. Facts are important to me. The only reason I jumped into this discussion was to try to clarify some points based on what I'd read in the business press. If eMusic has offended you to the point that you don't want to shop there anymore, that's your choice. Go in peace. If you're planning on staying, then use them wisely. I originally dropped into this forum to see what musical gems other jazz fans were digging up on eMusic. There are still plenty there to be uncovered. I wish we could get back to that. Have y'all heard this????? Misfiled under "Rew Gress," but a fine session never the less.

Thanks for the clarification, mizee. My point was that after paying its vendors (IODA and other distributors/record companies), eMusic was losing money or just breaking even. That's what the former president (CEO?) who left last year said in several interviews. And you're right, five years of loses is not unusual for any start up business. But, I believe eMusic has been around for about ten years (in one form or another). At some point you have to go into the black or the investors back out. (I've experienced this first hand, its not fun when the banks pull the plug.) I agree, the royalties should add up faster when buying is done at volume. But that has to be balanced out with the retailer's need to make a profit. Maybe having Sony (and, I'm sure, the other "Big Three" in the future) on board will give them the bottom line boost they need through "bulk" sales of mass market music. Hopefully, that will negate the need for more price hikes in the near future. And, if they're making a profit, maybe they can afford to do some serious market research before making "big" changes. Wow! That would really be something! Right now, they're still a bargain - especially if you comparison shop and buy those "album only" cuts from Amazon or LaLa (when the math works in your favor). And, personally, I think eMusic needs to give us "Yanks" a crack at ECM and those other labels now available on the other side of the pond. That new Steve Kuhn Trio with Joe Lovano is a dandy!

Unfortunately, eMusic wasn't making money at the old rates, which were "loss leaders" designed to attract and build a subscriber base. From what I understand, eMusic has actually been "broke" or operating at a loss for about five years. From articles in the legitimate press (Billboard, Wall Street Journal, etc.) and a couple of postings from musicians who get royalties from eMusic sales, I understand eMusic pays the record companies something like $0.32** per download. Since I was paying $0.25 per download, eMusic lost $0.07 every time I downloaded a cut. Since I was on a 200 for $50.00 a month plan, I cost the company $14.00 a month! (200 x $0.32 = $64.00) Multiple that by several thousand "grandfathers" and it adds up to a sizable chuck of change. (With my "demotion" to 100 for $40.00, I actually "make" the company a $6.00 monthly net profit. That's not unreasonable.) From what I understand, eMusic was counting on the loses from "heavy users" being off-set by subscribers who didn't use all their downloads each month. Its called the "health club membership" model where the clubs make their money from people who sign up and pay their monthly dues, but never (or rarely) come in to work out. I suspect that, for eMusic, that model hasn't worked out very well. I have also read that eMusic decided to raise prices for the "grandfathers" last year, long before the Sony deal came up. They really bungled the roll-out, especially since they misrepresented it as being tied to the Sony deal. I think this would be a great case study in "how not to do it" for someone working on their MBA or an advanced marketing degree. ** That's about half what Amazon and iTunes pay.

I'm gonna stick around just because I can still get a lot of stuff there cheaper than elsewhere. But, I agree, they've killed the magic. Its like going to your favorite CD store and finding that the friendly clerk (and walking jazz encyclopedia) has left and "the new guy" is some pompous jerk who follows you around to make sure you aren't shoplifting or something. I already have most (but not all) of the Sony stuff I want on CD, I've pretty much mined out e-Music's back catalog, and I cleaned out the 50+ albums from my saved for later file when the "change" was announced in June; so my "demotion" from 200 to 100 credits a month will be just fine for snagging new releases, etc. (I still have a stash of those 100 for $30.00 "crack cards" that will help ease the pain in case they drop ECM, SteepleChase, HatHut, Blue Note/Verve, Savoy, etc. in the U.S.) Also, I've started to check Amazon to see if I can get the eMusic "album only" tracks there for $0.99, then get the remaining tracks from eMusic (for $0.40 each in my case) and save a few bucks/credits. Some "album only" tracks are "album only" everywhere, but not as often as you might think. And the math doesn't work every time, but comparing prices between vendors is definitely in order. Otherwise, I'm paying more attention to Amazon, LaLa, and the used jazz bins at the few remaining independent CD stores here.... snagged a couple of nice Blue Note CDs (Kurt Elling and Patricia Barber) for $16.00 plus tax yesterday as a matter of fact.

Finally had time today to download and (more importantly) actually listen to Mostly Coltrane, the new one from the Steve Kuhn Trio with Joe Lovano. It is a lovely album. The trio is in perfect sync and Lovano sounding more like a full member than a special guest. I recall reading recently that Kuhn played with 'Trane before McCoy Tyner came on board, so its interesting to imagine this as an "alternative history" or vision of what might have been.

This one from Tom Harrell sounds fine - And I really like these too: Christian McBride - Kind of Brown Diego Barber - Calima Darcy James Argue's Secret Society - Infernal Machines Gary Burton / Pat Metheny - Quartet Live George Garzone - Among Friends Guillaume de Chassy - Songs from the Last Century Still haven't made my mind up about the new releases by Dave Douglas and Joe Lovano, but I haven't given up on them. Will probably download Steve Kuhn's new one (with Lovano) soon. Samples sound fine.