[Cecil Taylor "2 Ts..." box at a great price on UK Amazon]

I've had this set for a while, and one very strange thing I noticed about it is that it's in mono. The whole thing. I actually think that's OK (aside from a bit of heavy-handed compression, the sound is fine) but it struck me as really odd.

[Ellington 1930s big-band Mosaic]

Does anyone happen to know how much overlap there is between this set and the corresponding years on the 40CD box that came out a few years ago (I think it was just called "The Duke: Complete Recordings, 1924-1947) ?

[Black Saint/Soul Note Box Sets]

Has anyone had a chance to compare the Dixon In Italy discs with the original CD issues? It sounded to me like (and this may have been an issue with the recording rather than the mastering) there was far too much noise reduction used on the original CDs. Cymbal attacks are muted, decays are too quick, and some of the quieter piano passages sound like they're being played under a blanket.

Don't have the original LPs or CDs to compare with, but the latest release sounds muffled. The rest of the CDs in the box do sound great.

Thanks for that info...guess it was something done during the recording/mixing rather than the mastering. Andrew Hill's Strange Serenade also suffers from this overuse of noise reduction.

[Black Saint/Soul Note Box Sets]

Has anyone had a chance to compare the Dixon In Italy discs with the original CD issues? It sounded to me like (and this may have been an issue with the recording rather than the mastering) there was far too much noise reduction used on the original CDs. Cymbal attacks are muted, decays are too quick, and some of the quieter piano passages sound like they're being played under a blanket.