neveronfriday

If you know that they have a trillion new agreements with labels and are trying to cover their financed asses, it is no surprise at all. Once the labels have a solid grip on youtube, it'll be down the tubes (pardon the pun) faster than you can say "Told you so." And because I'm venomous today, it serves Arrington right. I DO NOT like that guy. A-list blooger or not. I'll get back to my Rum now ...

Anita O'Day is one of the most intelligent and interesting singers I have in my collection of several thousand recordings. A true legend. I hope she'll get well soon.

Haven't heard the Stanko, but I know that the sound on every ECM jazz recording is heavily doctored i.e. equalized - e.g. there is no cymbal sounding like on those CDs. ??? The Tord Gustavsen CDs I have from ECM are about the best CDs in my collection ... in regard to those two CDs, I can't follow your argument at all.

I feel your pain, but you gotta give them some love and understanding. These are elderly gentlemen doing this as a labor of love. It wouldn't be at all surprising if they've never surfed the web in their lives. It's the label that publishes their compilations, Le Chant du Monde, that needs to get a functioning website up and running. They have one now (http://www.chantdumonde.com/) that just says it's "under construction." You're absolutely right. I'm extremely (!) happy we have these true fans catering to our needs, with a passion. And yes, I've surfed the Net thin for some sites to really give us the info we need, but to no avail. Still, I think if I could find an address to contact them (without my mail getting lost in the white noise that is the Internet), I think we might be able to let them know how appreciative we are of their efforts ... and maybe get them to apply some pressure to go online ... somewhere.

Apparently "The Story of Vocal Jazz" (10 discs each) is also shaping up to be a series. So far, two boxes have been released: "L'histoire du jazz vocal - 1911 - 1940" "L'histoire du jazz vocal - 1941 - 1953" I saw both for 20 Euro each on ebay but missed them, otherwise I would have jumped on them. Close to Euro 50 is too much for me, especially if there is lots of stuff on there I already have on other boxes. It's a pain in the neck that there isn't a website dedicated to Francis' and Schwartz' remastering efforts and multiplying boxed sets. It's getting a bit confusing. Someone should tell them to get off their rear ends and put a concise list of what's on where online. I wish I knew how to contact them.

Same here. The few that were never delivered were always refunded soon after I complained and a couple of meters worth of CDs arrived here in good shape (sometimes they are a bit slow though). For me Caiman is a good way of getting around European protectionism. Single delivery also means that I don't have any hassle with customs Nazis and other idiots (which we have plenty of). I gladly pay the few bucks extra to avoid having any of those monkeys in my life. Just don't order stuff that's obviously out of print ... you'll be waiting forever.

That page also lists this one: "JAZZ IN PARIS : THE 100'S MOST BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL MELODIES" Interesting title. Would that be the 19-100's? P.S.: It really does say that on the cover as well.

Hm. I pre-ordered mine at Amazon.fr for 34,68 Euro. I'll stick with my Amazon order, but I wonder why the hell they aren't stocking it if it's available? Grrrr Got mine delivered for 34, 68 (who the hell comes up with 68 cents?) as well. It's green. Dark green. Lots of good stuff on there. I'm enjoying it as I write this (presently playing: "Cross Walk" by Lennie Niehaus, recorded 30th of March 1955 in LA). Just a note for those who maybe want to order from Amazon.fr in the future: I've ordered tons of multi-CD boxes from them over the years and I've never ever gotten one with so much as a dent. Maybe I'm just lucky, but compared to Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.de, the French division rocks in the shipping department. Everything I got so far was mint (but also often a bit more pricey than elsewhere). Now, one looooong year to wait for the 1956 one. I wonder if there's anyone there to take over when these guys are pushing the daisies. I'm afraid there won't be. Besides, I wonder how well these boxed sets are actually doing, meaning if they are profitable enough for someone else to continue the legacy. Presently, the next 15 years would be enough for me, until 1970 ... but who knows if I might not be interested in the 70s stuff once those years roll around for the "Trésors du Jazz".

Same here. Christmas time! I'm glad I preordered. One should always do that ... or pay 10 -15 Euro more when the darn things finally come out.

It depends on how you rip them obviously. You can get terabyte RAID arrays for under $400 nowadays. That would hold plenty of losless stereo music. That would have been 200 cheap OJCs etc. from "Zweitausendeins" not so long ago, which also have that haptic quality digital files don't have.

Which is why Francis and Schwarz don't have time to take care of a dedicated website. Could not find any site on this Trésors séries, not even at Le Chant du Monde which distributes them! Yep, I've found the "sites" and they suck. That was a while ago ... don't know if they still exist. Chant du Monde has a pretty good site, just under a different umbrella (too lazy to look now) and none of the jazz that they distribute is on there, only classical. Shame, actually. This series should be presented prominently on the web, along with all the other work they do with those other boxes.

Are you sure that's not a rug?

The other 10CD box is Big Bands Story. This one. Hm. I've got lots of big band jazz. Don't know about that one. Are the others that Tom mentions above also by Francis and Schwarz? I guess so? I'm not going to run next door now, but the Piano one is (that fluorescent green one). I think I have to sit down one weekend comparing track listings between all of these (if I can find track listings). I do think there must be quite a bit of overlap ... otherwise these guys would have to be remastering 26 hours per day. Thanks for the heads up, guys!

What do you call a pi**ed off guy from Germany? A sour Kraut. Har. Har. Har.

Yeah, I'll be patient. Not my most prominent quality though. If you find out if there's another box by these two guys (and it's not the piano one, I have that), post about it here, will you? I'm sure I'd jump on it.

Hm. I pre-ordered mine at Amazon.fr for 34,68 Euro. I'll stick with my Amazon order, but I wonder why the hell they aren't stocking it if it's available? Grrrr

As if most recent remastering jobs had better sound in mind.

I see one downside to this kind of setup. If you have thousands of CDs (and in this case streaming the music would be advantageous), you need to rip thousands of CDs and you need to have a secure backup of your files. One or two external hard disks won't cut it, especially because you need to have at least a double backup. So, you're going to have to stack external hard drives somewhere. I wonder how long my CD drive would last if I started ripping 5000 CDs. If you add it all up, it gets to be expensive quite fast for larger collections.

The newest box is delayed. I've had it on order with Amazon.fr for quite some time. There is also another thread on this series on this board. I'm just too lazy to search.

indeed! for off the rack recordings, those are s u p e r b. any listener reading this who doesn't own that set, do yourself a favor and seek them out. there has never been any west coast quintet club jazz to surpass this playing (although the hawes sessions come close). immaculate stuff, -e- Agreed. Some of my favorites. Just wondering. Have they ever been given the maximized remastering treatment? I just had a look on Amazon.de and besides that only three are available (Vol. 3 is missing and Vol. 1 is an LP), it is impossible for an average user to see which issue/reissue we're talking about here. I would assume it's the originals I have?

Thanks! Is that StormP as in THE Danish StormP?. If it is, great online name!

There was a time when I was totally into sound, stereo components, cables, HiFi mumbo jumbo etc. and I still have the resulting (adequate) rig in my living room. Today I just enjoy the music if the labels let me. I do have something against (re)masters that make your brain explode by maxing out everything that could possible be maxed out, but aside from that I find myself caring less and less about sound quality. I guess that comes with age? Or is that dementia setting in?

Agreed on all counts. Currently I'm enjoying the hell out of disc 3 of the Cicero set. "Memories of Clausenburg" might not be everyone's favorite title, but that one swings like mad. "Dort in der Ferne", a decidedly Brubeckian piece, "Der Schlitten Eilt" that one wouldn't expect to have such a South-American rhythm foundation when looking at the title, "Und Bach? (After Prélude In C Minor)" with its pearly runs (that one actually has quite a bit of OP in it), etc. Just great stuff. Maybe it's also because there are some very fond memories attached to this set; memories of a more carefree time way back when (I was a much younger me in the early 70s).

Nicely put, especially since the only way I could think of describing it is that Cicero isn't anal about it as Loussier often was. I also have the Loussier run (which is not bad at all) and I like the Cicero much better.