Dmitry

Indeed, it's a fine machine, and merits a professional rebuild. Drop me a note, I'll let you know who is highly regarded in this aspect of hifi restorations. It's been years since we spoke, I hope you are doing asweome, man!

Looking at eBay, there are two copies of the NKC set on CD with respective BINs of $899 and $999 and a sealed LP set with an opening bid of $750 and a $1500 BIN. But if you look at the completed listings, all of the recently sold copies of the CD set (at least the ones with visible prices - there are a couple of "best offer accepted" ones) are between $300-400. That would seem to indicate that the real market value is a lot closer to $300-400 than $600-700, significantly less than it was just a couple of years ago. The eBay price for this set 10-12 years ago was about $1,000, perhaps more. So yes, the cream of the then Mosaic oop crop has devalued over time.

Cassettes are bought by today's youths, students and such, who are driving 20-25 year old cars with tape radios. This was related to me the other week by a record store owner, who says he sells at least one pre-recorded tape a day.

Truth. People who bought Mosaics with an eye toward making a profit are getting what they deserve. And people who bought them for the music are getting what they deserve. I honestly don't think anyone here bought them as an investment. I just think the OP was looking to start a conversation to see what ofhers thought about the downward pricing trend. Back when I was buying Mosaics, 15 years ago, I would succumb to the LAST CHANCE Mosaic alerts on the sadly-defunct Blue Note board, and would buy music I wasn't really interested in all that much, just because it was going oop. I'm sure I wasn't the only one. So now I've got a few things that I wouldn't mind letting go, like the aforementioned Venuti/Lang set, the H.R.S. set and a couple of others.. Re:Jazz as a niche market. Most of the Mosaics number in 3,000-5,000 sets made, and some have stayed available for decades. Vintage pop-music or old rock boxed sets would sell that many in a matter of days, if not hours. My bet is that if and when the jazz craze hits China, these oop Mosaic will gain traction again.

Amazon is asking $189 to $262 new and $112 to $189 used - still valuable in my book. The average eBay selling price for the Sam Rivers Mosaic BN 3-cd set is around $75 these days. It used to be about $100 ten years ago, if my memory serves me right.

Hello gang, Last Mosaics I sold on eBay were about 9 years ago. Since then I haven't bought or sold much in a way of music. Was gearing up to sell a few other Mosaic sets, and I am surprised to see that the prices have not only stayed the same as a decade ago for some then oop sets [for example Byrd/Adams, Ellington Capitol, Giuffre, Tristano CD sets, Jacquet LP set], but have actually dropped in a significant way, like 1/2 to 2/3 of what they went for 10 years back [Quebec/Hardee LPs, Blue Mitchell, H.R.S., Classic Capitol, Mulligan Concert Band, O'Day, J.J. Johnson CDs]. These are just some examples of the sets that I bought or sold in the past. I haven't done an in-depth search on the Mosaics in general, but it seems that its the LP sets that are holding their own, while many if not most cd sets have either stagnated, or outright went down since I was in the trading mode a decade ago. Correct me, if I'm wrong...

Hey, Cary, Chuck and Paul [nice name for a Folk Trio! ] Hope all is well!!! Sorry for not posting much. I kinda lost interest, to be honest.

I've been listening to John Dennis's Debut Rarities cd for the past 2 days. It's not up to me to call anyone a genius, the only thing I'll say is that had he lived and recorded, he would have been one of the greatest pianists in Jazz. I can hear so many unexpected passages and stylistic elements in this 1955 recording, things that we'd expect of the music recorded in the late 1960s onward...Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett must have known who he was and listened to his record.

Apprently this JAZZ THE BEST series was also released on 180 gm. vinyl in Japan. I'm still confused over the remasters. NC had about a dozen cds from this series which I didn't pick up. http://www.universal-music.co.jp/jazz/best200/ http://www.discogs.com/lists/Jazz-The-Best-UCJU-xxxx-Japanese-remastered-series/20608

Picked up a couple of these Universal Japan cds at the local Newbury Comics, competitively priced at $11. Just opened the Nat Adderley disc, the booklet looks just like the OJCs, and lists Phil De Lancie as a remastering engineer, 1993. So, are these just the old OJCs in new clothing?

I must say I've never heard of this guy..

That's the one I was looking for - cheesy cheese, like my 8 y.o. says. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iikY_nJrmNo

BTW, what's the worst, most pretentious hard rock band of all time? My vote goes to Uriah Heep, by a significant margin. It doesn't get cheesier than that. Were they the prototype for the Spinal Tap?

Yep. Queen also.

Wetton was already contaminated by the Uriah Heep then. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w5F7gecQt4&feature=fvsr

Was this originally just a money-making enterprise? These guys were and are significant musicians in their prog bands, but ASIA music just plain sucks. I don't get it.

I saw him w/McHenry at the same venue some years ago, and don't remember anything about the music. In other words, it just slipped by. Saw him w/Lovano & Frisell there as well. Good gig. Motian's tribute to Bill Evans is beautiful, and I recommend it. Also, the Gordon Grdina-Gary Peacock-Paul Motian album 'Think like the Waves' has become one of my recent minor favorites.

Once again I must comment on the resilience of the Japanese. The closest I can compare it to domestically is Katrina. We all remember the footage of crowds breaking into stores and residences, stealing things they really didn't need to survive - tv's, microwave ovens, alcohol, etc., the lawlessness. So far I have seen none of that in the Japan footage. If there is such a thing as a national character, the Japanese people are really showing it to us. I wouldn't call it meekness, but I'm sure there's an explanation of it. I don't know whether it's their religion, upbringing, or something else, but it is remarkable!

What a terrible disaster! I have never seen, nor imagined anything like this. The footage I've seen on TV shows remarkable resilience and restraint of the Japanese people. No looting, no pillaging, like in Katrina. The Japanese will rebuild their country much quicker than one might think.

Perhaps this will explain - http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-taco-shop-transvestites-fight,0,197135.story

I don't know anything about him, and was never touched by his music, but I know that he's very respected for some reason. In fact, someone I know, a woman in her late 40s, travels all over the North East to attend his shows, and has been for years.

Is there some kind of a hidden meaning to this cover? Looks like each figure, or a couple, represent the songs. The dude with books is 'James', the glitterati couple is either the 'All You Wanna Do Is Dance', or 'I've Loved These Days', etc. I think I've spend way too much time on this...

It's a known fact that Hilter's favorite film was Glenn Miller's 'Sun Valley Serenade'.

Looks like I have to keep an eye out for the Songs in the Attic in the dollar bins. One thing for sure, this guy must have been THE top selling artist of the 1970s. Any Salvation Army store vinyl stacks will have at least one BJ album.

Not unexpected responses. I, myself, was not exposed to Joel's music until the mid-1980s, being that I had no access to the Nylon Curtain, living behind the iron one. The first record of his that I heard was The Bridge, which was head and shoulders above the 1980s euro-trash that was ubiquitous then. It's quite easy. The factual considerations of the lyrics were unknown to me, but the song does not excite from the purely musical stand-point.