crisp

Autumn leaves sale

Sad. Almost all the struck-through titles are the ones I don't have.

Both noted (of course) in Fer's excellent first post.

Price has shot up so I hope someone here got it.

The two-discer Full Circle/Lifeline by John Dankworth is £5.88 at Amazon UK.

This is being reissued by Real Gone (the legit label, not the EU PD one) in November: Amazon link Blurb: Real Gone Music is proud to present what is probably the rarest album in the voluminous Duke Ellington discography, his 1963 date with Swedish singer Alice Babs, Serenade to Sweden. That year, Ellington was hired by the Reprise label as an A&R man, free to sign any artist he wanted and to record them. His first choice was Babs, who, in Ellington's words, was "the most unique artist I know…She sings opera, she sings lieder, she sings what we call jazz and blues, she sings like an instrument, she even yodels, and she can read any and all of it!" For her part, Babs (born Hildur Alice Nilson) had a hit in Sweden when was only 15 ("Swing It Teacher"), and was an iconic figure in her homeland, appearing in 14 Swedish films from 1938 to 1959. The result of this meeting of legendary musical minds was a sublime cool jazz masterpiece that, sadly, never received a proper release in the U.S. and appears to be the only Ellington album never to be reissued on CD or even digitally, having eluded even the most comprehensive compilers. Needless to say, original copies go for big Swedish krona online, and not just because it's rare; Babs' wordless vocals and scat singing on "The Boy in My Dreams," "Strange Visitor," and "Babsie" are positively Ella-worthy, and Ellington's masterful arrangements—at times filigreed with a French horn section—provide the perfect accompaniment. We've added liner notes by Scott Yanow, while the album boasts remastering by Aaron Kannowski. Fascinating for any jazz fan—essential for Ellington enthusiasts!

Sad. A very distinctive and subtle comic. I saw him on stage in London in Laughter on the 23rd floor. The play was more interesting than good but I'm glad I saw Wilder.

I've no idea. Hi-fi is just a means to an end for me and I taught myself just enough to get a system together. It's probably safe to assume they were crap.

I like the idea of sets that "fill the gaps". I'd like a Louis Armstrong set covering the period at Columbia between the Hot 5s and 7s and the start of the Decca era. I'd also like a set that gathers Columbia-owned material that isn't on other boxes, such as Teddy Wilson's recordings without Billie and Basie's early discs without Prez. I'd be pleased for others to make suggestions. Blue Note has been pretty much covered, but there are sessions by BN artists on other labels that have been neglected. Such as the Universal-owned Lou Donaldson albums. There are eight on Cadet and Argo between 1963 and 1966. Also, Shirley Scott and Stanley Turrentine's Impulse sessions would make a nice set. I could go on...

Bev, your speaker wires story reminds me of when I bought my first separates system three years ago. My wife went along with it all but queried the wisdom of spending so much on expensive cables when you already had some included. Anyway, we together assembled the system at home and got it playing. Sounded great. Then we started clearing away the packaging and found -- the expensive cables! We'd used the ones that came with the system by mistake. We agreed we might as well fit them and did so. The difference was immediately noticeable: my wife was suddenly convinced of the wisdom of buying them (and actually so was I).

Those Berwick Street shops were always like jumble sales. Since the old LPs they now sell will be even older the shops are probably even more grotty. I never liked vinyl and never liked shopping for it or paying the inflated prices for scratched oop LPs just to hear the music. Streaming and internet shopping for CDs has freed more time for activities other than slogging around the shops and the Tube network and it costs less. I don't feel nostalgic for West End record shops with their high prices, rude staff and piped music and I'm delighted that I never need to visit that area of London again. For me these are the good old days. I can nevertheless imagine that Cold Feet scene is fun to see, a bit like a British version of that scene in Hannah and her Sister where Woody Allen bumps into Diane Wiest in Tower Records. Doesn't mean I would want those days to return, however.

Following the expanded Concert by the Sea Sony is releasing a CD of 14 previously unreleased Erroll Garner tracks in September. Details below taken from the Second Disc website. Following the success of last year’s Complete Concert by the Sea, Legacy Recordings has another special release planned for fans of late jazz legend Erroll Garner. On September 30, the label will release Garner’s Ready Take One, presenting fourteen previously unreleased selections by Garner released between 1967 and 1971. This is the first album of all-new Garner material to be released in almost 25 years. The performances on Ready Take One have been culled from seven sessions held in 1967, 1969 and 1971 in locales including New York City and Chicago. The pianist was joined by musicians as follows: drums (Jimmie Smith, Joe Cocuzzo), bass (Earnest McCarty, Jr., Ike Isaacs, George Duvivier, Larry Gales) and percussion (Jose Mangual). Among the tracks are six previously unreleased Garner compositions (“High Wire,” “Wild Music,” “Back to You,” “Chase Me,” “Latin Digs” and “Down Wylie Avenue”) and a host of standards ranging from Duke Ellington’s “Caravan” and “Satin Doll” to Cole Porter’s “Night and Day” and Garner’s own immortal “Misty.” Garner also tackles Bobby Hebb’s pop hit “Sunny,” “Stella by Starlight” and more. The release also includes snippets of conversation between Garner and producer-manager Martha Glaser. Album producer Geri Allen notes in the press release that Glaser was “a kind of fifth member of the band” and “would support Erroll Garner in the moment of the creative act.” On June 15, 2015, Glaser’s estate announced the formation of the Erroll Garner Jazz Project, an archival celebration of Garner’s remarkable legacy. The Erroll Garner Archive was donated to the University of Pittsburgh. All tracks on Ready Take One have been newly restored after nearly 50 years on acetate. You can hear one of those cuts for yourself, as “Wild Music” is streaming now at The New York Times. Ready Take One will initially be available on CD and DD, with a vinyl pressing to follow. You can pre-order this exciting new collection, due on September 30 from Legacy in conjunction with Octave Music Licensing, at the links below! Erroll Garner, Ready Take One (Legacy/Octave, 2016) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) High Wire I Want To Be Happy I’m Confessin’ (That I Love You) Sunny Wild Music Caravan Back To You Night And Day Chase Me Satin Doll Latin Digs Stella By Starlight Down Wylie Avenue Misty

Now £49.99.

Up to £8.99 now.

Amazon UK has reduced all these to £7.99 each.

Normally when I order I get a confirmation email then the package duly arrives. They don't email to say they are "getting in touch". Perhaps give them a call.

From the cover of that one I was expecting wigged-out versions of Sunny, Green Tambourine, etc, but no: it's all jazz standards, very Mosaic-friendly.

Decca Sound: The Mono Years 1944-1956 (53 discs) £53.99 at Amazon UK.

I'm gradually buying most of them. Coincidentally I received the Newman Vol 2 the other day and played it this morning. I agree it is a bit weaker than Vol 1 but the Duffy Power track should have been a hit.

Quite a few jazz bargains in the summer sale.

It's remarkable to me how pricing of CDs and LPs has reversed. I recall buying the Pet Shop Boys album Actually in 1987 when it was new: as a chart album it cost me £4.99 at HMV. The CD would have been preferable but that would have been £10.99, beyond my budget. Today the same band's latest album, Super, costs £8 on CD at Amazon UK, while the LP costs £19.99! It doesn't seem to be an uncommon case.

In the late 1980s I sensed that sound rather than status was why classical listeners were moving to CD. They moved first probably because (as you say) the genre was particularly transformed by CD plus that they were middle-aged and could afford them. Any status-symbol cachet was probably accidental, in the mind of the outside observer. At that time I was in my teens and could only afford LPs, which were £5-£6 each. CDs were £11-£12. When the price of the latter came down I also switched. Even then there were people who bought LPs and didn't play them, it's nothing new. There are always crackpot collectors. But I think most people, even fanatics like us, just want the music.

Ironic. I recall that when CDs were a new thing classical consumers couldn't wait to ditch LPs for the new technology. Second-hand record shops were glutted with vinyl classical albums at the time and stores like HMV stopped selling them way before they ditched pop LPs.