vibes

This was the first Evans album I ever bought and have always loved it. After that, I went for "Conversations with Myself" and "Live at Montreux." Since then, I've bought or been given the Riverside, Verve, Fantasy and Turn Out the Stars boxes.

Very nice, Jim! Great version of a great song. Any more Christmas tunes coming, by any chance?

This session is in the Ellington Reprise Mosaic, so I imagine a lot of people here have it. I have the set, but purchased it just a few weeks before it went OOP and haven't gotten around to listening to this session yet. Would love to hear other comments, however.

I tried putting a couple of the items I ordered yesterday in my cart, and the value package pricing is no longer working as well. I've emailed customer service about this issue and hopefully it will be corrected in the next 24 hours.

Re: the Woody Shaw set, that one's probably in my bottom five. I've always had trouble getting into this one. I don't know if it's the production or when it was recorded or what, but I just can't connect with the music. I bought the Jacquet right before it went OOP, and have only listened to a couple of discs so far. I don't see myself coming back to it that often, but it's actually better than I thought it would be.

I totally agree with this, and it would give me a great excuse to go to the festival and take my wife to Chicago - she's been begging to go there ever since we moved to the Midwest.

Listening to a few live albums this morning: Bill Evans - Live in Tokyo Lee Morgan - Live at the Lighthouse John Coltrane - Live at the Village Vanguard

I picked up the Kenton, Basie, Powell and Ellington/Armstrong CD's. I wish there was something I could do to get greater variety, but I don't work in music.

Inspired by undergroundagent's "Favorite Mosaic" thread, here's the "Least Favorite Mosaic" thread. I think many of us buy Mosaic sets that contain music we've never heard before, and since the Mosaic site often doesn't have sound clips for you to listen to, sometimes buying a Mosaic can be a gamble. So, which sets have disappointed you or do you dislike, and why? For me, two sets immediately come to mind: The Bud Shank and the Peggy Lee/June Christy sets. The Shank set just hasn't captured my interest that much. I should probably spend more time with it, but what I've heard so far hasn't really done that much for me. The Lee/Christy set was a definite gamble. I'm not big on vocals and had never heard either Lee or Christy before buying the set, but since it was only $50, I figured it was worth a try. I've only listened to the first couple of discs, but again, what I've heard hasn't done much for me. I've never sold a Mosaic before (unless it was a duplicate), but this one would be at the top of the list of box sets to get rid of.

The Andrew Hill set is definitely my favorite. The Jackie McLean, Grachan Moncur and Byrd/Adams sets are also honorable mentions.

Here's the picture Mrs. vibes and I used for our wedding invitation, two years ago:

Rooster, you've got the right idea. The idea is that we'll make money off of other purchases that people make on the site. The free shipping aspect of the website is simply in keeping with what other large online retailers are doing. I wouldn't expect it to last forever. Personally, I feel like we're throwing away a lot of money on free shipping, but then, it's not my call.

We always went around the room, with each person opening one gift, showing everyone, and then moving on to the next person. I've always hated this, and unfortunately, my wife prefers to do things this way as well. I'd much prefer to have everyone tear into everything at once. I mean, really, why should I give a rat's ass about what everyone else is getting?

Here's me as a Mormon missionary - Hong Kong, 1999.

Here's me in a choir show, my senior year of high school (1994).

That's correct. Hope you enjoy it.

I downloaded this one awhile back over at eMusic.....nice music but several tracks sound slightly warbled and distorted as though someone had recorded the stuff straight off the old tv soundtrack. Does the actual cd sound like that? Maybe the Mp3 files were just crummy? I think the files were probably crummy. If you like the music, I recommend picking up the recently released hybrid SACD. It's pretty easy to find and isn't too expensive.

Amazing album. I've listened to it at least 15 times in the last couple of weeks. Highly recommended.

Tod, how do you like the set? Any first impressions you'd like to give?

Lots of different music today, especially Verve Elites: Listen to Art Farmer and the Orchestra Sonny Stitt - Only the Blues Verve Elite Collectors' Disc Roy Eldridge - Swingin' on the Town Clark Terry w/Thelonious Monk Duke Ellington & John Coltrane John Coltrane - Live at the Village Vanguard, disc 2 Bud Powell - The Scene Changes I just got "Swingin' on the Town" and it's got me pretty excited about picking up the Mosaic.

While I think the blindfold concept is interesting, I don't feel that I would have anything to contribute to the discussion (other than whether or not I like the music, and that's not much of a contribution). Like Lon, I also don't like games. While the idea of hearing new music sounds appealing, I don't want someone else to go to the trouble of burning and mailing CD's to me if I'm not going to participate in the discussion as it was intended. I already have too much music that I need to listen to anyway.

The site that Jim's graphic came from is absolutely hilarious. Go check it out if you never have before.

I think my problem is addiction to being connected. I'm so obsessed with getting the most up-to-date information, whether it's on a computer or my cellphone or someplace else, that I can't put electronic devices down long enough to finish a book or even get very much into one. In fact, in the last year or two, the vast majority of books that I've been able to finish have been in electronic format. Anyway, I read a ton online - various news websites, a few bulletin boards, etc., but can rarely break myself away from the computer long enough to read a real book. It saddens me sometimes, because reading is pretty much all I did in my free time until I went to college. Between work and online time at home, I think I'm in front of a computer 16-18 hours a day now.

Knowing that my wife wouldn't do it, I just ordered myself the Duke Pearson and Curtis Amy Selects, and the Gerry Mulligan set.

Up - any help would be appreciated!