StarThrower

Got this Nielsen set for 8 dollars.

Who knows if they even "bought" them. They may have paid nothing for them? I'm assumming they got this stuff for a song, along with a bunch of other leftover stock after Fantasy was bought out.

I used to do business with Dusty Groove until they started peddling punch hole/promo copies.

Jon Hendricks

I'm a big fan! I find his playing irresistible whether it's alto sax, flute, or bass clarinet. Favorite alto solos are probably on Round Midnight from George Russell's Ezz-thetics, Three Seconds from Oliver Nelson's Screamin' The Blues, and Feathers from Out There. And the way he comes charging out of the gate on the opener to Mal Waldron's The Quest. I dig Outward Bound and Last Date albums too! And the Last Date documentary film.

My local record store is stocking several titles. I picked up The Skipper by Henry Franklin, and Infant Eyes by Doug Carn. Both great records that I am enjoying very much.

I'm taking it all in, and considering others as well. Thanks for everyone's input. I've been doing quite a bit of listening on YouTube, and from a performance aspect I could live with any of a number of great pianists from Serkin, Kempff, Claude Frank, Yves Nat, or Schabel. Whether I'm going to enjoy the sound of the CDs on my stereo is another matter. But I'm willing to take the plunge as the only Beethoven recordings I have are by John O'Conor which are fine, but not exactly full of fire and personality.

How about Rudolf Serkin? He recorded quite a bit of Beethoven. There's a bargain 11 CD box on Sony I'm thinking of buying. http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=798192

Tongue in cheek remark. Zappa listened to and played a lot of jazz, and he hired quite a few jazz musicians for his bands.

I just received the Lettberg set last week. It's going to take quite a bit of listening for these pieces to sink in. Since Szymanowski was mentioned, I heard his piano concerto like symphony no. 4 performed by Marc Hamelin on the radio the other night. I loved it right off, and ordered an EMI 2 disc set which includes symphonies 2-4, two other orchestral works, and some solo piano music. Should be a good introduction to his music. There are also two versions of his symphonies available on Naxos.

Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions about the sound from hearing on YouTube only? Piano might be a bit bright and compressed? But the Laredo is a complete set of sonatas which makes it attractive. Well, I'm not going to drive myself nuts reading all of the conflicting opinions. I'll just get the CDs and listen. And the huge Lettberg set for 25 dollars is worth it just to hear all these pieces in one set.

Deep Discount has the Sofronitsky 9 CD set for only 25 dollars.

Many great pianists have recorded Scriabin piano works, so it's a matter of taste. Plus, living in the age of declining CD sales makes it very affordable to own a few different recordings.

My library has a couple of different sets by Marc Hamelin, and Ruth Laredo. I will compare them in time. Sofronitsky is obviously the closest link to the composer, but I'm not sure I would play those old murky recordings very much? I listened to several different versions of sonata no. 9 on YouTube. I like Ruth Laredo. The piano is recorded very well, and she doesn't overdo it with the sustain pedal. I just reserved her set from the library.

You're about the only one who thinks so.

Everbody's got a box set finally coming out. I've already got a ton of Impulse CDs, so I won't need this.

I ordered this Scriabin set for under 25 dollars. Reviews have been unanimously positive. http://www.amazon.com/Scriabin-Solo-Klavierwerk-Solo-Piano-Works/dp/B000W4E3OS

Listening to Prokofiev's Love For Three Oranges. Good fun!

Sorry to hear about his passing. Thanks for the E/O photo! I have a wonderful CD Mr. Tchicai recorded with Charlie Kohlhase.

Hmmm, had this one, but let it go because it just didn't grab me at all. IMO, of course. This is my pick for Stanko.

The last Scofield album I bought is This Meets That. I like it a lot. The latest one is a bit too laid back. Time On My Hands is his masterpiece, imo. That album made me a huge fan back in 1990. As far as the fusion stuff goes, I like Still Warm. The Bass Desires albums on ECM are excellent too! Scofield and Frisell sound great together. And yes, I love Grace Under Pressure too. A also like Peter Erskine's Sweet Soul, w/ Sco, Lovano, Kenny Werner, Marc Johnson Randy Brecker, Bob Mintzer. I don't believe What We Do is a step down, as someone mentioned. All three albums he did with Lovano in the early 90s are classics, imo.

No Muir here, which is part of the point of the LTiA deluxe set. Personally, this album's so important to me that buying the box is a no-brainer. I don't quite understand the complaints of having to buy stuff over again. This is a jazz board, after all, filled with obsessives who are willing to buy multiple copies of KoB, or whatever other bones the industry is willing to throw at us! All the while completely ignoring more obscure (yet worthy) recordings that many of us have REALLY expressed a desire to hear. Hey, go for it! It's just that I'd like to save some money for my own retirement. I don't need to finance Fripp's portfolio. Besides, there's not enough time to listen to all of this stuff.

The Great Deceiver is good enough for me. I don't need expensive, padded box sets.

I've picked up a bunch of stuff over the past few years. Diary Open Letter Solstice Batik Oregon: Winter Light; Music Of Another Present Era; s/t on ECM; Ecotopia Winter Light is great! The instrumental version of Jim Pepper's Witchi Tai-To is sublime! Kenny Wheeler-Deer Wan, terrific album! Would love to purchase a CD of Old Friends New Friends if it gets reissued. Oregon fans might be interested in Nguyen Le's Walking On The Tiger's Tail. A great record featuring Paul McCandless, Art Lande, and Jamie Haddad.

I hear you. Thanks to Spotify I can take a careful approach. It seems that all the titles are already on Spotify, whether or not the CDs have yet been released. Whether I can get past the things I don't warm to - the 'humor' I don't share and the jazz rockery which I find a little mechanical - remains to be seen. Give the music more time. There's so much depth and brilliance to be found. Don't let the lyrics distract you. Hardly anybody mentions the all of the beautiful melodies FZ wrote. And the rhythm sections are top shelf. Never mechanical.