T.D.

Been on the want list a while, listened on bandcamp and pulled the trigger. I've posted before that I find Barry Guy's large ensemble material much more compelling than what I hear from the "contemporary classical" sector.

I have three of the four (all except Takayanagi) and they're excellent. Non-speakers of Japanese don't get the full "box set experience" because the booklets are in Japanese sans translation. 😉

[Italics added] This is true. So many good box sets in free/improv sector that I'm not even qualified to rank them. This is older material but I like it a lot: There's a boatload of Barry Guy box sets, many of which could qualify. I've only scratched the surface of these. No Business has released many good box sets. Won't claim any of these are "best", but I enjoy Jemeel Moondoc Muntu Recordings (although it's a 2009 release and 1 year too old), William Parker Centering, Howard Riley Complete Short Stories and Constant Change, ...

+1 on both the Tubby Hayes and Hemphill. I also like this:

The second (2004) recording

Wow! Great news and congratulations! I'm a chess enthusiast, and McFarland Books has an absolutely sterling reputation for publishing chess books of biographical/historical nature.

No interest. But funny thing about the pricing: Amazon link said $260 when I looked. I googled "bruce springsteen ticket prices" and got a reply AI Overview Bruce Springsteen concert ticket prices vary widely, but average around $276, according to Marketplace. Which suggests that $260 won't deter the fan base.

Thanks, I was curious about #9. That link didn't work for me, but this bandcamp link did: ▶︎ Unseen Advance of the Aquifarian | Harriet Tubman

His first recording for this label (which is associated with Bang on a Can) The Cosmic Piano | Cantaloupe Music AVAILABLE NOW on CD and all streaming platforms Matthew Shipp presents The Cosmic Piano His first solo recording for Cantaloupe Music! Shipp celebrates the summer solstice today with two concerts at the Rothko Chapel in Houston, TX Avant-jazz pianist and composer Matthew Shipp has been referred to as the "elder statesman" of the art form by DownBeat magazine, but the reach and scope of his music extends much further than mere genre. The Cosmic Piano delivers on that promise — a solo recording that taps into the deeper exploratory potential of the instrument, with Shipp channeling a lifetime of knowledge and a daunting array of influences into nearly an hour of spontaneous, enlightened and joyfully rendered music. "The preparation is your life," Shipp explains. "If you're a real improviser — and I mean real by acknowledging that it's a praxis and an art form and a discipline — it's like being a boxer. You do your road work, speed bag, heavy bag and then you spar, and it's an all-day process for you. It's a lifestyle." As with all of Shipp's music, this recording goes beyond any simple categorization, and in part informs why he wanted to release the album through Cantaloupe. As Bang on a Can co-founder David Lang writes in the liner notes, "Matthew had the idea that if his music could be heard in the context of Cantaloupe's catalog, it could encourage people to hear a different aspect of what he does. It isn't that he made a different kind of music than he usually makes — this music is clearly his! What has changed is the context in which we are listening to it."

"The Bastards" show the album with #2 back in stock, though perhaps just a single copy.

Looks like all of the old BYG titles are being reissued on CD by Japanese labels. There are some related threads on the "Re-issues" subforum. It's more or less carpe diem because they sell out relatively fast.

Weird things I've been meaning to pick up sometime:

That's a really funny cover in the context of the foregoing "!" discussion. Apologies if belabo(u)ring the obvious (not sure how well-known this is), but in chess notation "!" indicates "Good Move".

Wow, thanks for the link. I didn't know you could even search Google Groups any more! Indeed a strange story. Withdrawn seems most likely, but I can't say for sure. If anyone ever wrote a "bio"/history of the Juilliard SQ that'd be a good place to look, but I never heard of such a book.

According to discogs it was recorded in 1957, scheduled for release in 1959, but withdrawn. Discogs now lists release date (I assume; both 2019) as that of the box set. Juilliard String Quartet – The Complete RCA Recordings 1957-60 – Box Set (Compilation): 11 x CD, 2019 [r13368663] | Discogs CD 3: Note: LP LM/LSC-2192, scheduled for release on April 24, 1959, got withdrawn. Recording: New York City, Webster Hall, December 9 [1], December 11/13 [2], December 11 [3/4], November 25 [5], November 25/29 [6], November 29 [7] & December 4 [8], 1957 Producers: John Pfeiffer & Richard Mohr Matrix Nos.: H2RB-8096 [1]; H2RB-8097 [2]; H2RB-8098 [3]; H2RB-8099 [4]; H2RB-8082 [5]; H2RB-8083 [6]; H2RB-8084 [7]; H2RB-8085 [8] LP Matrix Nos.: J2RP-8498 [1–4], J2RP-8499 [5–8] (mono); J2RY-8500 [1–4], J2RY-8501 [5–8] ℗ 2019 Sony Music Entertainment

+1 Well done. And I won't waste any more time looking for covers with higher exclam counts. 😁

That's the very album that came to mind when exclams were mentioned. 🤣 This one goes 2 better on exclams, but it's Contemporary rather than BN:

This arrived today and I'm happy with the acquisition. Sound quality is excellent. I'm fine with mono for chamber music (or solo piano) if well-recorded. Performance outstanding. I think Sándor Végh's playing here is better than in the 1970s Beethoven cycle I have, where his intonation occasionally sounds a little off.

One of those (probably pirate) box sets on B.Free. I bought it before learning about the label, but I doubt there's an alternative source for their festival boxes. Perhaps a mixed bag, but plenty of excellent music on this one.

This is a good record. This one came up in another forum thread and I like it a lot.

BTW, I seem to have acquired DG's last copy (for now?) of the album with #2. Happy I got it, plenty of other enjoyable tracks.

Really interesting on #11. I once heard Jack play a live recital on piano, but would never have guessed him here. Didn't recognize the guitarist: briefly considered sleuthing under Abercrombie, he being the most likely suspect, but his ECM discography is too big so I didn't follow up.

Next Monday I'm going to see the Bill Evans documentary Time Remembered in a (newfangled with hi-tech sound system) cinema.