John Tapscott

Yes, you will. It's a great set.

Well, here's a good news story. Ordered the last chance Paul Chambers Select last Sunday afternoon (the 14th). Mailed on Monday the 15th. Here in my hands in Southern Ontario on Friday the 19th. Fastest in a long, long time. Congrats to USPS and Canada Post. Excellent service, I would say. This one was mailed from a different postal outlet in Stamford, it appears, and was also in a typical long padded mailer rather than the regular Mosaic mailing box.

Friday, at least it was the 14th , not the 13th.

I once bought a CD (so I thought) in a shrink-wrapped jewel case, but when I opened it at home there was no CD inside. The clerk was skeptical but finally refunded my money because they didn't have another copy.

I grew up on a farm surrounded by farm equipment of this vintage and later. Both my grandfathers were farmers, my father was a farmer, as were his two brothers. Why I didn't become a farmer is a long story. But this could well be useful knowledge. Lots of people these days are into restoring vintage stuff.

Yes, Don, I've noticed the same thing, but I could the problem be on the Canadian side? Now that doesn't explain why the shipments are still on time from other nations, but I wonder if the sheer volume of packages coming into Canada from the U.S. causes backlogs within Canada Post? BTW I've noticed that the U.S. postal rates have increased astronomically. I received a single CD in a small package from the U.S. the other day with a postage stamp of $7.35 on it. Used to be just over $2.

Very interesting reading. I have 6 or 8 fine recordings by the Blue Wisp Big Band. It's a very good band, and I take it from the article that it's still playing regularly. Von Ohlen is a great drummer.

I have the above CD, and it's a good one. Del was a fine baritone player. Caught him once in concert in Halifax, N.S. when he was doing a cross-Canada tour with his quartet. R.I.P.

Pretty sure I have Tanuki's Night Out as well but not sure I ever transferred it (my turntable is dismantled at the moment ). Anyone have any insights into or a review of Farewell to Mingus? Did it ever make it to CD*? This is something that I might try to track down (even if I can't listen to it for a while in its LP format). * Looks like it is available as a fairly pricey import. Might still want to stick to the LP which costs about half as much. Farewell to Mingus is a terrific album, one of the very best in their whole discography IMHO (and I have every TALT album in one form or another, with the exception of two, I think.). It's a little better than "Tanuki's Time Out." Actually F to M is in the same class as anything you hear on the Mosaic Select. The period from about 1974-1981 was Toshiko's most productive, I think. I have never found the albums the band made after T & L relocated to NYC in the early 80's to be quite as good. There was something really special about that L.A. Band and that period in her career.

Well, the only one I have is the TALT "Tanuki's Night Out" LP. TALT's "Farewell" may have been on JAM later, but I have it on Ascent which appears to be an American label (probably the first issue). Surprised to see that it came from Victor,Japan. Anyway on the "Tanuki's Night Out" LP cover the details about the recording are sketchy, but inside along with the album there are a couple of typed and photocopied sleeves. One sheet is basically liner notes with soloists listed; the other describes the JAM concept. Seems the pressings were done in Philadelphia and the sales office was in Washington D.C. The basic concept was to issue pressings of higher quality than the usual North American pressings available around that time (pretty crappy as I recall), but not quite as up scale or expensive as the very top end Japanese vinyl pressings. The pressing I have is good and quiet.

Looks interesting, John. Must look into that one. Yes, Bill it's a nice one. Gerry's Big Band from the early 80's. Perhaps not quite as gripping as the original Concert Jazz Band, but some really nice writing from Gerry. Saw this band in concert in either '80 or '81. It was a wonderful evening.