connoisseur series500

Traded with Matt, not bought. I already had my own copy, so I had an extra. I ended up selling it to a friend here in Toledo for $8 or $9.

I'll be there!

Hey Al, Didn't I offer you "Back to the Tracks" a while ago for cheap? Man, you must have been in that soul-jazz kick of yours back then when I made the offer.

I don't see any connection with mathematics at all. I suck at math! What they talk about is calculation: "if I move here, then my opponent is likely to move there; then I will respond with this; and he will have to do this; then I will do that; and he..." and so on. In clearcut positions, I've been able to calculate ten moves deep. It takes a lot of concentration and is hard work. In more complicated positions, it is highly likely that you will "miss" moves in your calculations. This is the big edge brute computers have over humans in chess. They can calculate with a much higher degree of accuracy than humans can. Calculating positions involve memory and problem solving skills more than anything else. I don't see any connection with math at all. Memory and concentration are important. "If I move here, and he there; then I there, and he there...etc" involves memory. You have to visualize and remember where the pieces will be in your "fantasy." All grandmasters can play a chess game in their head. It's called "blindfold chess." Some grandmasters can even play 30 blindfold games at the same time! They hold exhibitions against amateurs doing that. Personally, I know that I can play blindfold chess, because I have done so several times. In fact, I'm unbeaten in blindfold. As a gag at work, I gave a chessboard to a colleague and told him to call out his moves to me in another cubicle while I visualized the board. I would then call out my moves and I eventually won the game. I did that a few times a couple of years ago. I can only think a couple moves ahead in blindfold chess, but my opponents weren't very good. One grandmaster, David Bronstein once played a beautiful game in his sleep. He woke up and wrote it down. During a tournament game, I will often carry the position in my head when I go off to the bathroom and I continue to ponder it while I'm going about my business! For a few weeks afterward, I can often replay my tournament games by memory. This is all small potatoes for grandmasters. They remember games played years ago. Bobby Fischer was famous for that. Fortunately, chess is too complex to be mastered through calculating abilities alone. Tactics can be calculated. Strategy, on the other hand, is longterm (often "positional") thinking. Kasparov was able to defeat the computer in one game of his last match because the computer had no strategical concept as to how to counter Kasparov's longterm plan. Of course, chess computer programmers are not stupid, and they have made their machines understand strategical concepts as well. Right now, it is my opinion that the best human players are still superior to the best computers. This is not borne out in actual match play, because humans feel pressure and they get tired while computers do not. In pure chess understanding, the best humans are still better. If they were to play, one or two games then the best humans could win the match. The computers have the advantage in longer matches owing to human weaknesses and vagarfies. I believe that chess computers have made chess popular again with the masses. Everyone's got a chess program, and they've been introduced to the game once again. I am sure that one day, computers will always be able to defeat the best humans. It's got to happen. Right now, they just can't calculate far enough; even with all these massive brute force computers which have been developed for that purpose. Chess is still too complex and hasn't yet been conquered by the machines. It could still happen though.

How do Mosaic remasterings compare to TOJCs or JRVGs? My guess is that the Japanese stuff would sound better. Right or wrong?

I have noticed the same thing. The problem is, however, that I might already own several TOJCs before the Mosaic comes out. A good illustration of this point would be the Duke Pearson Select. I've got "I Don't Care Who Knows It" and "Big Band" which costed closed to $15 each. Then I have the JRVG of "Merry Ole Soul" which costed around $26 from Dusty's (The Bastards!) and now "How Insensitive" is available for $27 from Dusty's (The bastards!). It all adds up to a lot more than the cost of the Mosaic. Plus the Mosaic includes "The Phantom." But again, I already owned the individual cds before the Mosaic came out. It would be cheaper for me to spend the $27 on "How Insensitive" since that's the only one I'm missing (besides the impossible to find, "Phantom.") I just became aware of Mosaics too late in my collecting habits.

This is a very interesting phenomenon which affects me as well. I own a few box sets and I never listen to them. There's something psychologically strange about that, but I just don't naturally reach for a box set when I put a disc on to play. Any others feel that way?

Why don't you own any?

Beautiful tune, but it's hard to listen to anyone play it after Clifford Brown's version.

Call around the local banks. They might be able to get you some Japanese yen if given a few days.

Me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, , me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, , me, me, me, me, me!

When I'm dead, I definitely want to make sure my family is fine. But that's what life insurance is for! (I've got close to a million dollars of insurance on this worthless hide.) She can now sell my collections for peanuts. Who cares?

I don't own any Mosaic sets and I wonder why others seem so crazy about them, while I've ignored them. When I started buying jazz around 5-6 years ago, I was fortunate to be within driving distance of good cd shops in Ann Arbor. I was pretty much able to pick up a lot of oop stuff. There was always so much to buy locally and I wasn't hooked up to the internet back then. When I became aware of Mosaic sets, I realilzed that I aleady owned many of the individually marketed cds. It didn't seem to make sense to put down big coin for a few unreleased songs or sessions. Now I've read so much about the dubious remastering on these sets. The latest example would be the bad tape on the recent Patton select. I would only consider buying a Mosaic set if at least half of the music was unavailable elsewhere. The closest I've come to buying one would be the Duke Pearson Select. Now "How Insensitive" has been reissued on JRVG, and I might not buy the Mosaic. The only impossible one to find there would be "The Phantom." The Patton select has "That Certain Feeling," which I've got a cd-rom from an LP. Great session too! Everyone talks about Mosaics like their religious icons or something. I am amazed at how quickly people buy them and so early in their collecting habit too. Can you all tell us what motivations went into your Mosaic purchases and also whether you started buying them early in your collecting careers? I'm genuinely curious and want to know what i'm missing out on.

"I Can't get Started." Actually, while on this subject, I like Burt Bacharac standards on jazz.

Organissimo does a nice interpretation of "Tenderly."

Check out Bobby's webpage for more proof of his madness. I posted the link on one of the earlier pages of this thread. He likes to post copies of emails he gets from people (with their names expunged.) Anyone who studied chess for 14 hours a day, as he reputedly did in the 60s and 70s is a certified wacko.

Count me as one of those brought into chess as a result of the match and its hoopla. I was 12 years old at the time; knew how to move the pieces and was just getting to the stage where I could beat my father (who is still a pretty decent player today) when the Fischer-Spassky match began. I discovered for the first time that chess games were recorded and you could actually play over a game by the best players. That was a huge revelation and I went to the public library to get game scores from the old masters. The addiction began and though the flame has flickered and even burned out for periods of my life, I find myself going back to it. Thank you Bobby Fischer!

Wow! I'd say that art accomplishes the same purpose for many as well. Thanks for the excert, Chrome. Really enjoyed reading this. I never tire of the story of Fischer and Spassky. From the point of view of the chessworld, Fischer is a has-been; but he's still a legend. (Hmm, that was contradictory.)

I don't know PD, though I've seen some of his posts. I hope he does return too. No need to leave because people exist who are incompatible with you.

Rant is right. I don't understand how people get so worked up about the presence of others on bulletin boards. DEEP was confined to a single fucking thread; yet you've got people who wish to leave just because he is on that thread. How do these people handle living in the world? Lots of assholes in it. Do you just LEAVE???

Damn, It's probably worth buying the import from Dusty's (the bastards!) just for that cool cover alone.

I love this session.

I'm no fan of movies in general, nor of Mel Gibson. I use TV time to read books and listen to jazz. No time for these films. No interest at all. I blame Clinton! (Thought I would squeeze than one in.)

My check arrived in today's mail. $13.86. Did not submit my wife's name. She does not buy cds.