Ken Dryden

Gordon MacRae Carmen McRae Carmen Miranda

El Cid Sid Caesar Cesar Romero

That's one reason I resisted buying a second home for weekend getaways. I don't want the hassle of the upkeep and added expenses, which would be better invested in new music vs. having to digitize stuff for travel (there would never be enough) to the other house.

Too many celebrities think that money is in endless supply and buy plenty of things they don't really need. Nicolas Cage, anyone? Or any number of pro athletes who have had the same issue?

I like the Gazette as well, though that top ten list that was linked in a recent issue had a few ridiculous choices. Mosaic will have to continue to focus on what they can do well while also selling a decent amount of copies. It always seemed to me that whenever they did a Capitol box, it inevitably went on sale at a lower price at some point, though I think the Nat King Cole was an exception. I wish someone could get into the Monterey Jazz Festival collection at Stanford University and do a decent job finding releasable music which could sell. It seemed like Concord's effort was half-hearted and the titles quickly ended up deleted.

In transcribing my interview, I also learned that Ponty appeared by himself with the Modern Jazz Quartet at that same festival.

Chocolate Williams Vanilla Ice Daryl Strawberry

I'm transcribing an hour long phone interview I did earlier this week with Jean-Luc Ponty, though I have to condense it to around 1800 words. Yeah, I know, I should have posted a CD...this is was I was spinning just prior to getting back to work.

Jazz Messengers has always been great. Well packaged and the last few have been sent to me from Spain via FedEx so I received them quickly. I have never had to return anything. I

Not everyone gets a thrill out of listening to stand alone solos without the entire song. I finally ordered the Parker set today.

I've seen it, but never picked it up. Trombonist Bob Havens, who was a regular at the Atlanta Jazz Party for most of its existence, was a member of Welk's orchestra.

I waited awhile and missed some early sets, but I have 126 regular Mosaics (including the large boxed sets and three individual LPs released early on), all of the Mosaic Selects, all of the Mosaic Singles (except the contemporary series) and the Jazz Icons DVD boxed set. I've tried to do my part to keep them going. I think that I'm finally going to buy the Charlie Parker set soon. Edited: I forgot there at least three single LPs: the Earl Hines/Pete Johnson/Teddy Bunn, the Port of Harlem Jazz Men, and the Benny Morton/Jimmy Hamilton.

I was told by Anthony Barnett of the AB Fable label that these performances were issued on a DVD, but possibly mislabeled as being from 1968. I'm certain of the year because of Jean-Luc Ponty's comments.

After talking with Jean-Luc Ponty for an upcoming interview in the June issue of The New York City Jazz Record, I learned that part of his U.S. debut, which took place at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1967, was on video. I found the link to an old NET broadcast which had been uploaded. Here's the link if you care to view any of it. https://archive.org/details/calauem_000153 For those of you wanting song listings and musicians, here you go: Flying Home - Illinois Jacquet, John Lewis, Ray Brown, Louis Bellson Some of These Days - Ray Nance, John Lewis, Ray Brown, Louis Bellson C Jam Blues - Ray Nance, Svend Asmussen, Jean-Luc Ponty, John Lewis, Ray Brown Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Louis Bellson Gentle Rain - Dizzy Gillespie Quintet (Mike Longo, James Moody, Russell George, Candy Finch) Something in Your Smile - Dizzy Gillespie Quintet ‘Round Midnight - Dizzy Gillespie & the Modern Jazz Quartet New Horizons - Don Ellis Orchestra There are some issues with the video in the Gillespie/MJQ number, though the audio doesn't seem to be affected.

I'm not going to insult anyone who waits for a Mosaic sale, but there have been some nasty surprises like the Stuff Smith set being yanked from sale suddenly because of legal difficulties and the sets that were deleted when the pressing plant disposed of their masters without warning. So late buyer, beware... I waited too long was for the Grant Green set. They were out of booklets, but provided me with a slightly creased booklet with an X over the designated set number that had been used for reference. Of course, I missed a few early sets that lapsed from print that are still on my wish list. A good friend died in December 2012 and I imagine that his widow is still holding his collection, though she doesn't listen to them. If I can ever get her to sell any of them, I'll have her share the list on this board in place of having her getting gouged by eBay.

I enjoy Mosaic's drive to get detailed liner notes, music from the best possible sources (even when it means finding collectors with rare 78s or LPs), striving to include every releasable take and including lots of photos. They aren't perfect, Michael Cuscuna told me he was frustrated they overlooked one of the issued takes in the Paul Desmond set, but they have done an amazing job. Remember that they were the first to issue the early Nat King Cole music at the correct speed, all previous issues were wrong.

Neal Weiss is big about promoting local jazz artists whenever possible. Thanks for your kind words.

I recently talked to Neal Weiss of Whaling City Sounds, who is in negotiations to issue previously unavailable recordings by an NEA Jazz Master. He is also talking to the former owner of a jazz club who recorded many artists who appeared there. Since nothing is in writing yet, it is not appropriate for me to divulge further information. The full article can be found on pages 11 and 46 here, I was unable to upload the attachment of just those two pages due to file size restrictions. http://nycjazzrecord.com/issues/tnycjr201705.pdf

Doesn't Uptown acquire the source material outright for vintage recordings? I'm not sure about Resonance, which is set up as a non-profit, though there LP sets are limited editions, I don't think they have restrictions on how many CDs they can sell. As far as I know, the only Mosaic set where they acquired the music outright was the Dean Bennedetti recordings of Charlie Parker. The rest have all been licensed and I imagine that most of the labels owning the music they seek are unlikely to want to sell it outright. The other issue is that Mosaic has to compete with all of the European labels who don't have to honor American copyright laws and can reissue stuff cheaply, though they don't always have quality source material to use and often skimp on discographical information.

I have no problem with Mosaic's prices, considering what they do to create their boxed sets. It costs more, but that's the difference their boxed sets and others' sets, much like the difference between a filet mignon at Ruth's Chris vs. a sirloin steak at Western Sizzler.

I can't speak for Michael Cuscuna, but adding color reproductions of the original albums covers to the booklets that accompany their boxed sets probably adds a significant cost. I don't think Mosaic would have lasted so long without some expertise in the reissue business, but not every project is destined to sell out within the time frame that the music can be licensed from the company owning the recordings. A limited edition download will not have much appeal to either Mosaic or their customers, as people wanting them will have no urgency and will either buy them when the owner later puts the music out or listen on Spotify. I hope this post stayed on topic enough for everyone...

Someone wasn't paying attention when it was remastered, or they used a different tape as the source.

I recently acquired a copy of the Collectables CD reissue of McCoy Tyner's Elektra-Musician LP Dimensions and noticed the last two tracks sounded like there were problems with tape speed in the last two tracks. Has anyone else noticed this problem? The tracks are also longer than the original record. I'm going to time them out, playing the CD at the same time as the LP and see what's up.

I'll have to admit the Fender Rhodes can work in some situations, but most of the time I end up thinking "Why didn't they use a REAL PIANO?" I especially despised hearing Bob James' gimpy accompaniment behind Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker at their Carnegie Hall reunion.

When Hal Galper was a guest on Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz, he described how he made a clean break with the Fender Rhodes, claiming that he took it to a dock on the Hudson River late one night and dumped it, cover and all.