crisp

There are also two Art Tatum sets in the series. They are straight ports of the original individual album releases, repackaged in a box. A good way to fill in blanks in a collection, but some of these are badly in need of remastering IMO -- the Tatums are *very* quiet.

The Two Faces of January by Patricia Highsmith. I keep meaning to read more Highsmith and this one was in the flat, so here goes. It's another "sinister gooseberry" novel, ie, about a sexually ambivalent third party who latches on to a couple in peril for obscure reasons. About a third of the way through it's starting to feel like an account of a typical Greek holiday with a low-energy murder-manhunt attached. Well written, so I'll stick with it.

Green for Danger by Christianna Brand (best known today as the originator of Nurse Matilda/Nanny McPhee). I've seen the excellent Launder and Gilliat film so I know whodunnit and how, but it's still a great read, packed with fascinating little character insights and wartime atmosphere. Plus I'm quite enjoying seeing how she reveals/conceals the killer's identity and scatters red herrings about.

This topic (sort of) occurred to me yesterday when I was playing Here 'Tis. Baby Face Willette quotes Raymond Scott's In an 18th-century Drawing Room at one point -- another odd one that comes up surprisingly often, especially among organists. I've often wondered why.

That's weird. I would have thought it would be easy for a search function to be incorporated, and very useful. Dickens for one has a habit of reintroducing on page 654 a character he's briefly mentioned on page 28. Used to drive me nuts when writing undergraduate essays.

I read about this album last week, thought it sounded interesting and looked up Kovacs on YouTube (he seems to have made no impression here in the UK). I *want* to like him, but I'm nonplussed I'm afraid. He's certainly original, and I appreciate what he's aiming for, but the laughs aren't there for me. The deteriorated picture and sound quality of the clips don't help, but it's not just that. There's one clip of him doing a drunken cookery demonstration that just bombs with the audience, and with me -- it's no Guzzlers' Gin that's for sure. If I were describing his comedy to a fellow Brit, I'd say it's like an early Vic Reeves. Perhaps I should keep working at it. BTW I'm sceptical to read on his Wiki entry that Craig Ferguson was influenced by Kovaks -- growing up in the UK when would he have seen him?

I love later Peggy Lee (so wrong but in many ways so right), but Where Did They Go? has never grabbed me apart from I Don't Know How to Love Him and Losing My Mind. I've never noticed I Was Born In Love With You, but as it's a Bergmans lyric I'll give it a closer listen. I do however have a soft spot for her previous album, Make It With You, arranged by Benny Golson. Some pleasant soft-rock songs in there and it works as a whole piece. Sebesky always strikes me as a track-by-track man rather than an album man, like Quincy Jones, but Golson knows how to put an album together. As for CTI, that label seemed even less interested in singers than Blue Note did. Lee would probably have been submerged in a sea of instruments, but it would have been a nice sound I'm sure.

Wow, I may go to that. I was in NYC for the first time last week, standing outside Smalls debating whether or not to go in as I discussed it with the doorman. Ended up going down the road to the Village Vanguard and seeing Terrell Stafford -- very good, but I wish I had spotted this thread earlier.

The Dave Brubeck Quartet Columbia Studio Albums Collection 1955-1966 is £90.25 at Amazon UK. That's only about £9 less than Popmarket, but if you're in the UK you will avoid the shipping and customs costs you'd otherwise pay. Works out as £4.75 a CD.

Got it. Thanks again. If it's all pretty much on other Mosaics I'm not bothered by this. Yup. Moreover, I'm 43, have been buying jazz records since I was 18 and since I don't care for public domain CDs and want the music mastered (mainly) from the originals and in one place I too am very excited by this set. Oh, and it's the first time I have owned a copy of Hawk's Body and Soul. Thanks for your comments on the Sinatra session too.

That's right, they won't reissue entire sets (hence the first vinyl-only Hodges set will never come out on CD, dammit), but there are duplications of individual tracks and sessions all over the place. I hope you're mistaken about there being no Henderson set, unless the bulk of it would be a repeat of the Hawkins set, in which case I really don't mind. Thanks for checking. That's the session I'm most apprehensive about. It's a stellar band (although I never thought Sinatra quite fitted in), but they only play two songs, repeatedly, which could be quite taxing. Are the solos sufficiently varied from take to take?

I was home alone last night, so I spun the first two discs. Can't explain why in technical terms, but it was sheer pleasure -- the vitality of the music just jumped out. It might be my antediluvian mindset but I can fully appreciate how exciting these sides must have been at the time. The remastering is among the best I've heard on a Mosaic set -- inevitable crackles aside it sounds as fresh as paint, very immediate and involving. The Henderson sides are especially strong; looking forward even more to the mooted Mosaic of that band. I can't remember when I have enjoyed any part of a new boxed set more, and I even warmed up by playing the last disc of the Louis Armstrong Complete Masters set, which I have just been finishing. I ended up drinking a Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Rioja we happened to have. Everyday stuff, but it worked.

It's now pre-printed at the bottom of the booklet's back cover. But your idea works too! Ah, thanks. I was looking at the inside front cover. Now I have to wait until tonight before I can check it. The suspense will probably kill me...

Mine has no number! Unless it's written somewhere other than the usual place. If not, I'll write a nice number 1 on the inside cover and head over to eBay...

Blasting out the office as we speak

Liszt: the Piano Collection (EMI): 10 discs for £10.49 at Amazon UK.

Mine arrived this morning as I was leaving for work. Caught the UPS man just in time. Surely I can't be the first to receive it?

Tut tut. It should be "grocers' apostrophes"...

Londoners might like to know that Fopp in Covent Garden has lots of OJCs at £3 each or two for £5. The promotion includes Pablos and a few Verves (probably because Universal distributes them in Europe).

Yes, but we want someone to blame...

Only sayin...

Just had an email from True Blue saying that they will be selling these and other Popmarket titles from June. They are also available from Amazon. I'm very pleased about this. Not only will it mean we might get more competitive pricing it also means I needn't face the possibility of dealing with Pop Market's customer service department again.

Three more titles coming: Moon Beams, The Bill Evans Trio The Quintet: Jazz At Massey Hall Misterioso, Thelonious Monk Quartet

Full details are now up on Mosaic's site: here.

Amazing isn't it? I certainly don't remember Eighties ITV being like this. And they weren't compromising -- it's a proper jazz performance.