crisp

This is my first Jacobson novel, having long enjoyed his TV documentaries and general demeanour in the media. I think I made an attempt at Coming From Behind but gave up. I strongly recommend The Finkler Question, however. I'll try Kalooki Nights next I think.

The song titles are enough to put me off.

I read and "enjoyed" the Idiot as a young adult, also Karamazof and Crime and Punishment (twice). I wonder now if I was making allowances to bolster how clever I thought I was being. I'm currently reading The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson. Laugh-out-loud funny and very educational.

Didn't the Oliver Nelson box include a lot of his Impulse! material? Yes. I don't get the impression there's a problem licensing Impulse material, but rather that very few artists recorded enough on the label to make a box. Coltrane and Hamilton were among the few. Plus there are a lot of populist elements (harpsichords, varitones and Sixties hit tunes), which it's obvious Cuscuna hates. Shirley Scott did enough for a box and that's one I would love to see, but Mosaic seems to avoid organists for some reason.

Yup, got it now. I thought it was odd. "What, you keep trying to sell me Francis Wolff photographs and Phil Schaap's knick-knacks and you don't tell me about this?"

Thanks. Didn't get an email for some reason. Although I've got a lot of CDs to catch up on (hundreds unfortunately), I ordered the Ellington Orchestra and the Jamal as (a) I want them anyway and (b) it's been a long time since I supported Mosaic and it's been bothering me slightly.

Thanks. Fingers crossed.

Thanks for that list. How definite is this live box? I can't remember where I first heard of it.

How about: Roland Kirk on Atlantic Lee Konitz on Verve

Nepotism. The whole sorry tale is here if you read between the lines. Fortunately Granz seems to have spotted his lack of musical ability eventually.

Of course Cole Porter is one of history's greatest songwriters and Ella one of the greatest singers, but Bregman simply didn't have the experience or the talent to do justice to the project. It's a good example of how a poor arranger can spoil an otherwise perfect set-up. Much better examples of Porter songbooks from that era are those by Jeri Southern and Anita O'Day, both arranged by Billy May.

Hmm. I've always been a bit lukewarm on Mingus (I sense too much control-freakery in his music) and I find I'm going off Monk somewhat (although I don't know why). Still love Duke and Miles though.

Both agree and disagree with some of the comments here. Porter and Rodgers & Hart TTK is right: the Bregman arrangements suck. Ellington The Duke himself sabotaged the big band sides but the small group sides are among Ella's best work. Gershwin Sheer perfection. Berlin An acquired taste. I tend to like Paul Weston's work but I'm not sure if he's right for this project. Arlen Unlike Granz who sent back the arrangements, I feel that Billy May can do no wrong. This might be my favourite. Mercer and Kern The only fault is that they are too short! So I would say I could do without either of the Bregmans. Probably the Porter as it's slightly worse.

UK bargains: Looney Tunes - The Complete Golden Collection: £7(!) for 24 discs at Amazon UK Morecambe & Wise - Complete BBC Collection: £24.50 for 20 discs at Amazon UK

I highly recommend this boxed set.

"Digitally remastered and enhanced for superior quality" Superior to the old CDs and vinyl records they used as masters?

I was idly wondering who designed the logo for The Godfather just now, so I googled it and came up with S. Neil Fujita, courtesy of this blog post. Then I wondered what else he designed and found this. A brilliant designer and I had never heard of him until now. Edit: Of course he also did Mingus Ah-Um, but in a different style Miles's Round About Midnight. Link.

Forget it. There have been considerations many years ago and inquiries, but Universal said they weren't interested. Hip-O-Select? I dunno ... That's strange. Mosaic is interested but Universal is not? I thought Universal would license Mosaic anything. A Hip-O would be nice.

How are you doing this? Is expensive equipment involved? I have a few tapes I would like to digitise myself.

I wonder how much non-Billie Teddy Wilson material there is. Enough for a set of its own? Perhaps padded out with Wison's later material for Columbia?

I used to buy cassettes with my pocket/holiday money when I was in junior school in the Seventies. My parents had a turntable but I liked to listen to music on my own, single-speaker portable player. I would guess that the tape snapped in roughly half of them. I have been collecting CDs since the late Eighties -- have more than 7,000 I suppose. None of them is scratched.

Highly unlikely given Michael Cuscuna's tastes, but I would also like to see: Cal Tjader on Verve Jonah Jones on Capitol Andre Previn on Columbia Actually, Columbia ought to do a Popmaster-style original jacket box of Previn's jazz albums. He's a big name and it would sell to classical listeners wanting to add a little jazz to their collections.

Of course cassettes sound better than mp3s. Everything sounds better than mp3s. The wider public really needs to know about lossless music files.

Another evening of jazz this Friday. Only the first programme is new, but it looks interesting 9pm Trad Jazz Britannia 10pm Jazz 625: George Lewis with Acker Bilk's Paramount Jazz Band and Beryl Bryden 10.40pm Smoky Dives 11.40pm Arena: Sonny Rollins

The Stitt is samey, but if you like what he does in the first place you don't mind if it doesn't change. Would those who have the Tyner recommend it? Normally I love his playing but I'm a bit put off by the cello, string quartets and wordless vocals. Plus late Seventies jazz can throw up some nasty surprises.