Head Man

Good Spot!!!!! Put my order in with Amazon this morning!

Does that mean I spent a fortune, learnt Japanese and ruined my eyesight trying to read the mini-LP covers....... all for nothing? Oh no, the set doesn't include the live albums ... wheww, that's all right then! This is magnificent big band music and will be great to have it available again, albeit restricted to those who want to buy a complete boxset.

This is/was a terrific label which released some of my favourite 1970's music. I have 15 albums including all the ones previously mentioned and my favourites are the two by Chico Freeman playing ballads - 'Spirit Sensitive' & 'Still Sensitive'. They are both wonderful.

It woke me up & that takes some doing. My bed hasn't moved that much for 20 years......oh, those were the days!

It sounds OK on my CD. I guess there must be a problem with your copy.

Looks like the nearest they get to the UK is Amsterdam! What a bummer!

It's been a long time since anyone won at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea's defence is very good this season!

I have "Blue Notes for Mongezi" on vinyl and the rest in "the other format". I can't wait to hear them in better sound. Now if Polydor would just release "Very Urgent" and "Up To Earth" ..... Chis McGregor's 'Very Urgent' is available, albeit as a CD-R, from Downtown Music Gallery. And very nice it is too! DMG also has quite a few other recordings available by him. Downtown Music Gallery

Good news that the Dizzy Reece is expected out later this year. Let's just hope that it happens this time! I only have the one recording on Futura and that's the Ted Curson 'Pop Wine' already mentioned. Excellent music! However I do have a few CDs on Marge but only the ones that I used to have on vinyl. All three are good but probably not essential. They document a time when I was listening almost exclusively to jazz and in particular this type of jazz. The three recordings are: Frank Lowe - Tricks of the Trade Probably my favourite recording by him. David Murray - Let The Music Take You One of many good recordings by him from the 70's. Ted Curson - Cattin' Curson A 'not bad' live recording from 1973 BTW I always seem to have difficulty in sourcing Futura & Marge CDs. Does anyone know an on-line retailer that keeps a good stock?

I wonder where the picture of the LP comes from since the box is supposed to be in its original shrink-wrap!

Yes, it's a geat shame that neither of these two recordings has ever had a CD release. I have both on vinyl and they are amongst my favourite Woody Shaw albums. Does anyone know who has the rights to release 'Elektra Musician'?

Whatever 'it' is!

256k bitrates for Amazon, vs 128k for iTunes (tho iTunes plus are 256k). Also, Amazon can be a lot cheaper - check out the prices for ECM downloads. Thanks for the info. I've just noticed that the downloads are only available to US customers so that pretty much fixes that, I guess!

What quality are the Amazon downloads?

The 4-CD 'Mel Torme Collection' on Rhino is an excellent starting point. It's OOP but copies turn up regularly on eBay etc. In fact there's one on there now for $34 plus shipping. Mel Torme Collection on eBay

Downtown Music Gallery is advertising both volumes for sale at $20 each Charles Tyler at Sweet Basil Has anyone heard either of them yet?

This was a wonderful series and I support everything that Sidewinder has said. Get any that you can and you won't be disappointed! In addition to the ones already mentioned there was a second recording from Howard Riley issued, called 'The Day Will Come' which again is first class; and a second from Ray Russell called 'Rites and Rituals'.The two Howard Rileys' are my own personal favourites. Like Sidewinder, I would also recommend the recent Ray Russell on Vocalion. I believe it was his first recording and it is much more of a 'straight-ahead' jazz session than any of his subsequent releases.

I emailed AMG about this yesterday, and to their credit I received a response from them in less than 24 hours.... I've used the site a few times today with no problems. Looks like your e-mail has fixed it, at least for the time being. Well done!

I'm still more than a little confused - so what's new! Does this mean that the only answer to the problem is to replace IE by Firefox? If that's the case then the majority of people accessing the AMG site must be having the same problem as me. Surely there must be some way of tinkering with IE to overcome the problem.

Has anyone else been having problems with the AMG site recently? A couple of days ago I started having problems with it freezing almost every time I use it. Sometimes this happens on the initial page, other times it happens later. I've tried allowing pop-ups but it's still happening. I'm using the latest version of IE and Windows XP. Any suggestions as to what the problem might be?

Yes, but neither of the two are generally available and none of the others are available at all as far as I know. I suppose the point I'm making is that if you want to hear this marvellous music then getting it from DMG seems to be the only realistic option at the moment.

What reissues on the Whynot label?

According to the latest e-mail circular from Downtown Music Gallery, Henry Threadgill is making a number of his recordings available as 'self-released CD-Rs' and selling them through their store. According to DMG the CD-Rs have been professionally made using pristine vinyl - obviously there must have been a problem with him getting hold of the original masters. I know that some people feel that $16 is a bit steep for CD-Rs but, hey, this music is so good that it would be foolish not to bite. Since it is very unlikely that this music will ever see the light of day through any other route, this is probably the only way that you will ever get to hear it. Further details here: DMG

They're all shown as available on Amazon from resellers for silly prices! Perhaps now's the time to sell mine before the rush starts!

80 euros = approx £56 or $116. If you add shipping that comes out to more than I'd ever pay for it!