vibes

I picked up the Japanese release earlier this year, and I highly recommend it, both for the sound and the music.

Dizzy Reece - Star Bright I bought the "Comin' On" Conn and really liked it, so I searched around for and bought the "Star Bright" JRVG. This album is a major snooze, and the sound on the JRVG didn't help things, either.

I noticed this too. I don't like it.

Right now: Chick Corea/Gary Burton - Crystal Silence Also this week: Hank Mobley - Thinking of Home (just got this, and haven't been so pleasantly surprised by a CD in a long time!) Hank Mobley - The Flip Lee Morgan - Sonic Boom Charlie Rouse - Bossa Nova Bacchanal Andrew Hill - Passing Ships Jack Teagarden - Mis'ry and the Blues Hugh Masakela - Grrr John Klemmer - Involvement (another pleasant surprise) Phil Woods and his European Rhythm Machine - Live at Montreux Al Grey - Snap Your Fingers These past couple of months have really been hurting my wallet. There's way too much good music being released.

Hey, good letter, Rooster_Ties...and you didn't even mention Andrew Hill once.

Listened to this one a couple times today. "Third World" and "Fenix" are my favorite Barbieri albums, and if you like those, you'll like this new reissue as well. I think Lonnie Liston Smith and Gato Barbieri make a great team. Now, if they'd only release "El Gato"...

Another vote for "Black Monday" here. "Siete Ocho" and "Flea Flop" (Judgment) would also be on my list. I've really been enjoying the title track from "Passing Ships," so add that too. Add the title track from "Lift Every Voice." "Wailing Wall," "Refuge," and "Dedication" would also be on my list. There's a lot of great material to choose from, to be sure...and I haven't even listed anything from "Black Fire," "Cosmos," "Compulsion" or "Involution."

I'm really enjoying this one too. I've only listened to the first three tracks so far, but I'm impressed. It makes me wonder what Andrew would have done with a group this size around the time "Black Fire" and "Judgment" were recorded. This is a great release! I can't remember being this excited about a new release in a very long time. I made up an excuse about having an errand to run and then left work early so I could listen to this and some of the other new music I picked up today.

Went back to the store, and after opening up a couple more boxes, finally found one where the CD's didn't have that sticky film on them. I am definitely going to put these in jewel cases the second I get home. Put the first CD on in the car and loved it! I'm very excited to hear the rest of the box.

After hearing a few song samples from this set, I went and bought it today. My excitement quickly went away upon finding that all four CD's in the set were ruined. For those of you who haven't seen the packaging, the CD's are inserted into four slots in a foam block, which is some of the worst CD packaging I've ever seen. Apparently some liquid in the foam seeped out and stuck to the CD's. Has this happened to anyone else?

Where does cduniverse ship from? I'm waiting for a package from them.

Grant Green - Idle Moments. Didn't know who Grant Green or any of the sidemen were, had never heard of Rudy Van Gelder or anything. I just thought the vibes/guitar combo might sound interesting. It was also my first Blue Note CD. I had no idea what I was getting myself into...

I've been listening to this set quite a bit lately, particularly the POLY-CURRENTS and THE ULTIMATE ELVIN JONES sessions. This is probably the most "out" set currently available from Mosaic, so if that's your thing, go for it! Since you're enjoying Donald Byrd's in the Chambers' set, I also highly recommend the Donald Byrd/Pepper Adams set. This is one of the sets I play the most. I was mostly unfamiliar with Byrd before buying the set and just wanted to get some more Blue Note in my collection, but it's turned out to be a favorite. If you've heard BIRD IN FLIGHT and enjoyed it, then you'll enjoy this box. Also, since it's only 4 discs, the cost won't be as prohibitive as the other sets you might be considering.

Oh, good - someone else noticed...I thought I might have been imagining that.

Since I generally have very little to do on Sundays, it's my favorite day for pulling out things I've recently purchased and listening to them. I also will make mp3's of new purchases so I can take them with me wherever I go. I've been sitting on decent-sized backlog, so today I'm planning on listening to a lot of new stuff: Jack Teagarden - Mis'ry and the Blues (my first experience with Jack Teagarden, have it on right now) Duke Ellington Reprise Mosaic (never heard any of Duke's big band work before, so I'm pretty excited to hear this) Illinois Jacquet Mosaic (also never heard any of this before, other than the sound samples at the Mosaic website) Johnny Hodges Mosaic (my wife got this for me for my birthday, and it needs a lot more attention than it's gotten) I think I might go buy the recently-released Charlie Christian box today. I didn't realize until last night that there's a lot of Hamp in this box, and after listening to some samples, I decided I MUST have this box.

The Jimmy Cleveland is still available at towerrecords.com (at least, it was when I ordered it a few days ago - just got it in the mail today ). It's now listed as "special order," but if you can't order it, at least you can hear a few song samples and decide if you want to track it down.

LOVE this album! The Rare Groove is the first time I've heard this album, and I've loved it since the first listen. This is one of the few albums I've heard that truly lived up to the high rating it received in the AMG. First and last tracks are my favorite. The last track is one of those tunes that takes me to "another place." The whole album strikes me as one where everyone sounds like they're having a great time, and that's one of the qualities that brought me to jazz in the first place. Highly recommended!

Damn you! I had no idea that one went for so much. When I first started posting on the BNBB, I wanted this one for my collection. Someone offered to sell me theirs for $75, and after looking around on eBay, half.com and a few other places, I decided I didn't need it that bad - $75 was the low end for this CD. Someone was nice enough to burn me a copy, and while it's good, it ain't $75-good.

Nope.

I saw one of these things at my office one morning. Have to say I was pretty impressed with it. This whole problem does seem pretty funny though, considering the price tag.

Some new stuff I picked up last night: John Klemmer - Involvement Al Grey - Snap Your Fingers Phil Woods and his European Rhythm Machine - Live at Montreux Buddy Rich and Sweets Edison - Buddy and Sweets Love the Verve LPR series! Great sound and a good way to learn about different musicians. All of the above CD's are the first I've heard of any of these musicians.

Tony, I got your PM and replied to it. Let me know if you don't get it - I got that weird error message too.

I have a sealed one, if you're interested...at least, I think it's sealed.

I have an MP3-CD player in the car, so I do lots of different mixes, or entire CD's of just one artist. Here are some of my current mixes (all on one CD) Complete Herbie Hancock BN sessions/Complete Miles Davis Live at the Plugged Nickel Sessions Stanley Turrentine - All of the Mosaic sessions, a few of his CTI sessions, the Blue Hour sessions, a few later BN sessions Bobby Hutcherson - All of his 60's BN albums that I have, plus several of the sessions where he's a sideman, from "One Step Beyond" to "Firebirds." Heavier rock - an assortment of Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots and 311 albums Bill Evans - Complete Riverside sessions Verve LPR - all of the CD's I've purchased from the last few waves of LPR releases. Lots of variety! I can't recommend the in-dash MP3-CD player enough, especially if you spend a lot of time in the car. I love having that much variety available with me.

I've got 24 of these, and in general have loved what I've heard. Like Tony, I've found these to have excellent sound and interesting notes. It's a very good way to discover new music. I started off with "Orgasm" (not a bad way to start ), and went from there. I had never heard of the series when I bought the CD, but really liked what I saw and heard and wanted to have more. Some of my favorites from the series: Ed Thigpen - Out of the Storm (buy it if you can find it! Great cover art, too) Yusef Lateef - Before Dawn (a few very interesting compositions on this one, and I really like the use of the celeste in some places) Johnny Smith - (amazing guitarist, always a pleasure to listen to. Unfortunately, this is one of the more expensive ones to purchase these days, as it's hard to come by. I think I paid $40 for mine) Walt Dickerson - Impressions of a Patch of Blue (Sun Ra helps to make this date something really special) If anyone is looking to buy more of these or finish off their collection, I have a beat up copy (CD is perfect, packaging is beat up) of the Stitt and sealed copies of the Getz and Gillespie that I'd be willing to part with for the right price.