king ubu

into disc 6 of the Basie now - and it's great! :tup

Same here - there's an amazing solo someplace late on that disc ... got to dig it up. Later on caught him live in a great concert by Ahmad Jamal's trio with guest George Coleman. That was heaven ... young me standing right in front of Big George, and Muhammad driving that band!

What did you get in return?

That's why I've been sticking ordering from Mosaic. Legendary customer service including replacing a defective disc in one set many years after purchase. I have no problems with buying direct from Mosaic. In fact over the years I have bought over 40 sets from them. However I do object to getting stuffed with a significent additional charge for VAT and "Collection?". In the past the collection of these charges has been a bit "hit and miss" but I find that nowadays anything I buy from outside the EEC invariably gets caught in Customs and incurs both a charge and a delay. Why not buy from within the EEC and get rid of the hassle? I agree - eight quid for the post office to collect four? It's OUTRAGEOUS!!!! mg That sounds very reasonable ... here, when it kicks in, the ratio is nearly 4:1! (18 CHF to collect 5 CHF of VAT). Alas, it's the same if I order from Spain or from the US, though I don't have to pay Spanish VAT, which does make the sets cheaper ... but still whenever I can, I do business straight with Mosaic (usually compiling a few boxes, making the ridiculous fee smaller by comparison to the taxes).

Count Basie - Roulette Studio / disc 3

Hm, not quite agree there. Still enjoy a good reading on a new (or an old) album by someone who is able to transport enthusiasm on a well-founded basis. But I guess I'm a man of the past century in that (and many other) respect(s).

Not Two ... only got one of their releases so far - very nice presentation (and great music) indeed (it's "What Country Is This" by VDMK, of whom I'm not even a remote fan really - but that's a helluva good disc). Anyway, I've heard this thing about musicians having a release on a name label but virtually paying for it themselves ... Hat Hut did (or still does, I guess) some of those as well - but to my ears in most cases still with pretty fine quality control. I confess I did remain sceptical for a while about unknown (to me) names like Michael Adkins (great disc on Hat!) or Russ Lossing (several fine discs), but their releases turned out pretty darn good, at least as far as I've heard them. Anyway, one musician with such a disc out on Hat told me about it in some detail ... I guess if the deal is clear-cut and it's something both sides agree to, I'm fine with that. Most musicians don't seem to make any (or more than very little) money selling conserves these days, it's the concerts they earn some from (and if they sell discs there, I guess usually the earnings of that go straight into their pockets, as these discs they're selling are the payment they got for recording them...)

kewl! Guess I'll want this!

Well, it's really difficult, valid arguments either way ... I guess indeed there's tons of good stuff coming out. I made use of offers by Ayler, Porter, Clean Feed, bought a bunch of No Business releases ... and this at a time when I stopped listening to jazz nearly completely ... there's not a clunker among those several dozen discs I bought (none of them is brand new, well mostly not, a few of the No Business ones are and here's a mighty big for the Kidd Jordan/Alvin Fielder - as if you need me to tell you, ha!) As for Threadgill, that guy is just genius ... one of the most important musicians of the past what, four decades? At least that's my view. I have the utmost respect for his stuff, and while not all of his music was love at first listen, I grew to at least appreciate most of it ... but some of it I love dearly and "Tomorrow Sunny / The Revelry, spp" belongs to the best new music I've discovered in the past several years. That dude is just way beyond cool, pulling this stuff that at the same time is so darn complex and multi-faceted and yet so incredibly funky and infectuous. Anyway, my point is that he's the lucky catch as far as pi goes (and I guess it really goes both ways, since they kinda seem to have re-invogarted his career as a recording artist, too). The thing is, I have this private "category" of superfluous music - I know, this is opinionated and may crack toughly on some very good stuff - and while I mainly apply this to younger mainstream/post-bop/whatever type of records, with the overflow of new releases in the further out, avantgard-ish styles of jazz, I think it goes in that same direction (not to start another shitstorm, but Eicher/ECM is another example for some rather well thought out operation - although I disagree with plenty of his choices and ways of handling the music soundwise and atmosphere-wise, he certainly does a pretty decent job all in all, there's no denying that). And I think pi somehow produces stuff that is somehow adding to what there is, not repeating - even if it's the old guys ... there's a freshness about their Roscoe Mitchell release that I love (I never quite thought the same about the band's first one on ECM, the second is still on the pile, a recent acquisition). Or who gave a sh*t about the Revolutionary Ensemble? It's not their best record, but it was certainly a good way to go. Also, there's been made mention of too many casual things getting documented and released ... I think those two duo sets by Muhal Richard Abrams do definitely not fall under that category (while maybe some of those Vision sets out on other labels occasionally do ... but then I found the one by the Stone Quartet on Ayler pretty darn good again ... guess I got to check out their first release which seems to be even better).

I guess I agree with that point ... which is a main reason I stopped closely following much of this activity - I just don't have the time/energy/interest to keep up with all of it. Even this thread, which works a kind of a filter, is pure overkill to me! To add one to the label list that I respect very much - and that does proceed with caution and with more care than many others, it seesm: Pi Recordings. Not that I'm interested in their entire catalogue, not that I think all the albums I've heard are masterpieces ... and I'm not even too much of a fan of their covers/designs ... but they do some great work, in my humble opinion (and the latest by Threadgill was an effin' masterpiece, just in case).

(prestoclassical currently has a Helios sale, just in case)

Thanks! Got to dig out my four Vivaldi discs by Il Giardino Armonico again, too - no mandolin concertos on those, but still ...

from a small sheet included in the package

I'm sure Allen can do it without having to type it all, so ...

Just finished my first complete spin of this set - and it's very, very good! Guitarist Ray Suhy often is truly amazing, and the tuba of Christopher Meeder adds plenty of spice. Matthew Shipp, Ursula Oppens and Dean Bowman each have their two-part contribution (sequenced apart of each other in all cases), Kalaparusha and JD Allen are each on about half a dozen tracks and both contribute stellar playing. So do Ken Peplowski (one trio with bass and the piano of Lewis Porter) and Randy Sandke (half a dozen or so ensemble cuts with Peplowski). Lewis Porter does a series of piano solos that are very fine ... and then there's Allen's sax playing of course - not really sure how to describe it, the tone (alto mostly) is big and old-school, more like a tenor out of the Hawkins/Webster line often ... and thick and heavy too (like Jackie but with different - some would say: better - intonation) ... the lines though often reminded me of some of those great classic Oliver Nelson solos, they sound spontaneous yet very well-conceived. (Do feel free to blush for a second, Allen, it's really good what you do on these discs!) Obviously there's lots of interesting, on-the-mark and tongue-in-cheek comments in the accompanying booklet .. Allen is kind of weaving a web that entangles ragtime, Harlem Renaissance, minstrelsy, Whiteman, James Reese Europe, Zora Neale Hurston, Bud Powell, Monk, Bird, Bunk Johnson, Lennie Tristano and so much more ... truly a fascinating and deeply personal (yet in my understanding most valid) look at the history of our beloved music. The best part of it though is: you don't need all the learned talk and intelligent insight provided in the comments - the music speaks for itself, loud and clear.

from Allen's The (one) Percy France cut, "Ornithology" (c. 1980 with Jeff Fuller on bass) - is terrific! There's also one by Albany with a sax player I've never heard of (Dickey Myers, tune is "What Is This Thing Called Love", ca. 1979). Then there's a great cut with Hemphill from the album "New Tango" (rec. 1992) as well as two from the (upcoming, I sure hope!) project "Man with the Guitar: The White Machine" (rec. 2013, one with Gary Bartz, the other with DJ Logic). Very enjoyable!

Nice to see the rather neglected yet pretty wonderful Verve album getting some high-end exposure ... but these vinyl boxes really aren't for me. I'm still somewhat tempted by the Brown/Roach just because this stuff is so wonderful, but there's so much other stuff around to buy that I don't yet have, so it just makes no sense.

Sure, I found that one in a second, since it's their only Vivaldi disc around ... but couldn't find the othe on any of the discs by Biondi - any idea where it could be bought? Or is there a mistake with the RV number that's given on youtube? I know folks are asking for specific pieces and recordings here ... but I got me this Telemann box and enjoyed all I've heard from it (which is roughly two thirds so far): I don't think the Ricercar Consort is as revered here as is Café Zimmermann ... but they've got some excellent stuff out - all their Bach cantatas discs are exquisite and so is the "Magnificat" disc (Bach as well). I've yet to check out more of their instrumental music, but I don't think I ever enjoyed Telemann as much as in this box set!

just in case, the Boehm Ring is also in this box: 50 € at amazon.it: http://www.amazon.it/Wagner-Great-Operas-Bayreuth-Festival/dp/B00159679S 64 $ at amazo.com: http://www.amazon.com/Wagner-Great-Operas-Bayreuth-Festival/dp/B00159679S some details:

Well, I got the Lowe Prime treatment, not sure how I deserved it, but it got shipped a day early, it seems About to pop in the first disc right now ...

Sure does - just got mine out of the mail-box - many thanks!

Wow, those two are gorgeous! Can't seem find the mandolin concerto on a disc right now ... but I see there's both a Virgin and a naïve set by Biondi - are they recommended? There's so much Vivaldi around, it's really hard to make a choice!

(latest packaging looks a bit different)

Don't know much (and am not at all tempted by this box), but thought this was excellent:

Do you mean you "got" a physical copy, or you got in on the pre-order price? I almost pre-ordered a copy and am kicking myself a bit. On the other hand, sometimes Amazon just cancels pre-orders in these cases where the price and availability change radically. But not always... I bought one from amazon.it when the price dropped in mid December (paid € 48.43 on Dec. 17 and had it delivered a few days after x-mas). amazon.it says it will ship in between 10 and 13 days from now ... not sure what that means, but it used to say "not available" unti recently, so I assume it will be back: http://www.amazon.it/French-Music-Ansermet/dp/B00DT2322E/ prestoclassical has a highter price but has it in stock right now: http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Decca/4807898