felser

I'll take a shot at it, hopefully no Kenny G! Download is fine for me.

I know what you mean, but some of the live shows are just mind boggling. You do need at least 5 of the best of them. But remember, mind-boggling and Worthwhile (of the Cutonian Worthwhile's) but NOT unbelievable!

But I've heard pretty much everything else already released, and that alone is impressive. Have you forgotten how many worthwhile albums many jazz musicians recorded YEARLY back in the late 50's/early 60's? Apples and oranges, unless you are coming from the "jazz is ALWAYS superior to rock" camp. I am coming from no such camp. Just the camp that the amount of "worthwhile" music being made in such a short period of time is in no way unprecedented, and therefore not unbelievable. Guess I'd better parse my adjectives more carefully around here in the future and yes, it is apples and oranges in some regards.

Looks good to me. I liked his next band, New Directions, even better.

Unbelievable how much worthwhile music he recorded in less than four years.

Had an interesting experience last Friday. Our township sponsored a jazz concert. Primary participants will remain nameless because I felt that for the most part they were playing down to what they perceived the audience to be, but the bass and drums were outstanding the entire night, playing beautifully off of each other, lifting the music. Both were local Philly guys, neither of whom I had ever heard or heard of before, but I hope to again, and I would recommend them to anyone who comes to Philly and needs a rhythm section. The bass player's name is Nimrod Speaks, and the drummer, who I had a nice conversation with between sets, is named Khary Shaheed.

Remember there are two Monterey sets in the box. Totally agree with you about the 1964 Monterey performance, the "Meditations on Integration" from that is epic. OTOH, the 1965 Monterey performance is a mess, and Mingus himself seems to have known that, cutting it off short. If you read the liners, Mingus' set was cut short because John Handy's famous (and documented) one went overtime. When someone yelled that Mingus should end his portion of the concert, he directed his band to walk off playing "When the Saints Come Marching In". Mingus had high hopes for the show, and was pissed that he had to cut it short. Thx for the insight. No, have not had opportunity to read the liner notes, which is the case for most of my collection. That Handy set was/is spectacular. I did an AOTW of it here a few years ago, and was shocked at how little love it got.

Me too, found him to be one of the most compelling artists of the last 30 years.

Remember there are two Monterey sets in the box. Totally agree with you about the 1964 Monterey performance, the "Meditations on Integration" from that is epic. OTOH, the 1965 Monterey performance is a mess, and Mingus himself seems to have known that, cutting it off short.

Yes it's from an early enough vintage (70's) that Jordan, Cherry, and Blackwell were still on top of their games. Jordan's work in the 50's and the 80's didn't do that much for me, but from his Mingus association through to the group with Cedar Walton, love it. Just hope there was sufficient rehearsal/organization time for this session, and that Ware was still in good form. Look forward to hearing a report on it.

The Town Hall material (and the Minneapolis material) sounds GREAT and the majority of the music is top-notch (the 1965 Monterey stuff is not up to standard, but is interesting nonetheless) . And you get a lot of Charles McPherson that you do not already own. Is this consistently at the level of the Town Hall Concert original release, and of the "Great Concert"? No,not really. What is? Is it plenty close enough to justify the purchase if you like those? Absolutely.

Well, the Monterey 1965 stuff certainly is a mess (and the sound isn't great either, though it's OK). Not a Town Hall 1962 mess, but not a success either. It's more convincing in its UCLA incarnation. I went through and sampled the sound on the other sessions. The sound on the 1964 Monterey material seems greatly improved over the vinyl and the original CD issue, though there are still issues with the source recording. But this is essential for the version of "Meditations on Integration". The Concertgebouw material is from a good mono source, Jaki Byard sounds great. Danny Richmond's drums are somewhat muffled, the only real problem with the sound. The horns sound good. The 1964 Town Hall Concert and the 1965 'My Favorite Quintet' Minneapolis recordings sound spectacular, and they form the bulk of the set. Overall, I'm well-pleased.

Only issue on the Tapscott is that it was already out once on CD , though I, for one, would likely rebuy it. http://www.allmusic.com/album/west-coast-hot-mw0000320415

Jonathan, If you have rights into the FD vaults, how about Leon Thomas stuff? 'The Leon Thomas Album' has never made it onto CD (nor has the lesser 'Gold Sunrise on Magic Mountain'). Also, I don't believe Larry Coryell's 'Fairyland' has ever been on CD. The FD years were, to me, the ones that mattered for Thomas and Coryell.

PM sent on Kenny Garrett - Seeds from the Underground (Mack Avenue) $4

Having just acquired the Carter-Bradford Select and fallen in love with the first two discs on it, I can't wait for your reissues of their Flying Dutchman's!

Mine arrived today, looks great! Can't wait to listen to it.

I messed up once because I preordered using paypal and somehow I wasn't returned back to Mosaic and the transaction didn't go through, though I thought it had. Remember that the set was originally supposed to be 6 CD's and then they upped it to 7 CD's. If you pre-ordered when it was 6 (I did), they sent an email out that you had to respond to authorizing the extra charge for the 7th CD. If you missed doing that, you probably had your pre-order cancelled.

Got my notice yesterday, so they're coming.

I've had very good experiences with swapacd.com , and their trades are only 49 cents.

Absolutely. It's they only way they'll survive/prosper. And surely putting the music of Max and Clifford in more hands is a great thing. True that. gregmo And let us once again express our thanks and appreciation to Norah Jones.

PM sent on James Newton Romance and Revolution / Blue Note - $8

That's a really good idea there.

Free Form is the Byrd I play the most, because of the title track. Billy Higgins is a wonder on that track. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFrBXvG4q8k

This was a thread that was started about new Universal twofers, and what I slid it away from was the demise of smaller Mosaic sets, so I don't feel guilty of introducing the threadslide!