Ken Dryden

With your VAT in the UK, I imagine that they are. Anything under $20 in the U.S. is about the best I see here.

I asked Hara about them (through Todd Barkan, who acted as a translator) and he considers them to be part of his "artistic concept." Though some artists, especially Charles McPherson, are not very pleased with his choices.

Tetsuo Hara is the owner of the label. I wrote a label feature some time ago which was posted at Allaboutjazz.com, though I am unsure if it is still accessible. He frequently likes to choose the songs for artists, while artists aren't always heard with their working bands. Bill Charles records under New York Trio for them.

I'm not about to cheat a company because they made a mistake and shipped me two boxed sets retailing for a total of $285 instead of two individual CDs. It sounds like their shipping partner has some "'splainin'" to do... That is a potentially disasterous series of shipping errors, just from this thread.

No shipping notice, though Scott Wendell answered my email and told me when he thought my order was shipping. It arrived in 6 days (today), though the fulfillment house substituted an Armstrong and a Condon boxed set in place of the single CDs I ordered to go with the Dean Benedetti collection of Charlie Parker. I guess the shippers really were "in the weeds." Speaking of bad translations, etc., I once contacted a Japanese label which booted some Capitol recordings of Nat King Cole, even using some that had overdubs added at a later date. The label owner really took offense, but it was clear from Nat King Cole's discography what this incompetent fool had done. To top it off, the music was dubbed off some worn reissue LPs, not the masters.

Very detailed liner notes and lots of photos. Great work!

I just received my copy. They did a nice job with this release and Barney Wilen plays well with Monk.

Evidently the artist drinks too much.

Doyle Alexander Alexander Dumas Monty Alexander

I don't think most customers bought them with resale value in mind, I think they bought them because they treasured the music and printed content. I thought about selling my Lightnin' Hopkins/Otis Spann once after it became OOP but thought better of it. The only Mosaic I've ever sold was the single disc sampler, a gift from my mom. I already had all of the music on it.

My beef with the USPS is that they seem to lose important checks: two consecutive payments to the same doctor's office, a mortgage payment and a car note payoff check. It gets expensive having to pay for stop payment fees. I do think that a lot of their workers are trying hard and those I have had personal encounters with have been very upbeat.

Phil Woods told me during an interview that the tapes to the CD Dizzy Gillespie Meets the Phil Woods Quintet were recorded for another label, stolen and then issued by Timeless. At the time he said he was suing them, though I don't know how the case was resolved.

Major Dundee Major Holley Lee Majors

I'm pretty sure that I interviewed Keith Emerson in 1993, though I'm not sure when I gave Marian his phone number. I still have all of her letters and postcards, though I'm not sure that she mentioned it in the letter. I doubt that it was more than a few months after the interview. I have the Emerson/Peterson duet of "Honk Tonk Train Blues" on audio and video, though I don't recall if a recording date was given. That was Carl Palmer in the glasses accompanying Emerson.

I received the 2 CD version today. It is officially released on June 16.

I recorded hundreds of her Piano Jazz broadcasts and still haven't gotten around to listening to many of them. I remember how terrible Paul Schaefer was, who came unprepared though claiming to be familiar with the show, as she told me. McPartland wanted to get Keith Emerson (I shared his phone number, as I had recently interviewed him), but he felt like his jazz chops weren't sufficient and he declined her invitation. She introduced me to a number of musicians I might have otherwise overlooked.

Even Buck Hammer overdubbed some of that boogie woogie piano...

Harry Sweets Edison Thomas Edison Charles Thomas

Marian McPartland was one of the more versatile pianists during the last few decades of her long career and she was always interested in learning new songs and digging up forgotten chestnuts. That helped make her Piano Jazz radio series interesting, dueting with a wide range of musicians, from Art Hodes to Cecil Taylor.

Please set aside these titles for me when you return: Louis Smith & Jodie Smith, The Very Thought of You $7 Claude Williamson Trio, Song for My Father w. OBI (Venus) $10 (slightly damaged jewel box) Claude Williamson, Blue MInor (Interplay Records) w. OBI $10 Rickie Kamuca & Buddy Tate Live at Donte's 1970 (SS Jazz) w. OBI $10

Larry, were you there for her trio set at the first Toronto IAJE? She kicked ass and ran over, there were no complaints. While I have never lived close to NYC, I managed to see Marian in concert 15-20 times between 1988 and around 2008. She was also a fun interview.

I've yet to see a SteepleChase CDR, though that's not the case with some labels, like Document, which make the switch and sellers don't bother sharing that detail. I've enjoyed all of the Clifford Jordan CDs I've acquired from SteepleChase: On Stage Vols. 1-3 Half Note Magic In Munich

You'd think that a business owner would appreciate an outside opinion from a group of customers. I bought some things from the Jazz Record Mart catalog, but always found that their website wasn't conducive to browsing. Since I've yet to visit Chicago, I had no opportunity to explore their inventory in person. His loss.

PM sent on the Kenton set.