T.D.

If I were to watch sports on TV (I gave up TV at home years ago), it would be big-time int'l soccer. No commercial interruptions, the entire game is generally over in 2 hours. Only problem I have with the sport is that the importance of penalties leads to excessive embellishment/diving in the penalty area, especially at the highest levels (e.g. World Cup). After some time away from TV, I find it impossible to watch football/baseball due to game length and commercials. Still consider NHL and NBA watchable to a degree. Hoops borders on unwatchability due to the absurd amount of elapsed time required to play the last 2 minutes of a game.

Always looking for good Irish detective stories. Previously read Kerrigan's Midnight Choir; interesting plot but oddly flat writing style. He keeps getting good reviews, so trying this one.

Oh, BTW, price of a first-class stamp just went up 10%, from 50 cents to 55. But... "Each additional ounce for a First Class Mail letter will cost an extra $0.15 (a decrease from $0.21 in 2018)." So you can "make it up on volume" by sending fatter envelopes.

Fairly recent acquisition, one I slept on and purchased late. Have been listening a lot.

Hank Mobley, discs 4-6

At least 15 below zero (Fahrenheit) Wed. night, close to that cold last night. (Upstate NY, not as bad as the recent Upper Midwest freeze.)

Thanks, nice video. Will have to buy this release (has been on the wish list)...

Back in the early '90s, I occasionally listened to a NYC smooth jazz radio station "CD 101.9". (At that time I didn't know much about jazz, only had a few Miles recordings and a few by his ex-sidemen, e.g. Jarrett, Corea.) Bob James got a lot of play there, seemed to be one of the most talented performers in that genre.

Yeah, I was amazed. Going to have to start thinking of Bob James the same way I do of Chick Corea: extremely talented guy, but the way he applies that talent is not always to my taste... [Disclosure: I own a number of Corea recordings, but none by James.]

I'd rather not quote any more of the All Music Guide bio, but the Mercury (rel. 1963, apparently while James was still in college?) does predate the ESP (rel. 1965). Quincy Jones signed James to Mercury after his band won a collegiate competition.

I read Bob James's bio on All Music Guide with great interest (quoted below), and I think he was pretty avant-garde going back to his college days: During the first semester of his sophomore year [at U of Michigan], he transferred to Berklee College of Music, in Boston, Massachusetts. James dug deep into free jazz with area musicians and formed his own trio... After graduating from Berklee, James moved to New York, where he met Bernard Stollman from ESP-Disk. He brought the impresario a tape he'd produced with his own trio and some classmates from his days in Ann Arbor, namely composers/sound artists Robert Ashley and Gordon Mumma from the Once Group. Ashley and Mumma definitely qualify as avant-garde. Ashley is a personal favorite, composer of the epic (IMO) Perfect Lives.

Discs 4, 1 and 2 so far.

This is an interesting but terribly depressing recording. Sort of a final statement by a composer who committed suicide. The "young poet" is an allusion to Mayakovsky (another suicide).

Sure, I'd go for that (PM sent). Thanks! If you decide on a price, let me know. OTOH, I have to opine that if it's for Organissimo's benefit, some kind of auction might well be better for them.

No thanks on Benedetti. I pondered long and hard when it went on "Last Chance", but decided against it. I'd like the Andrew Hill Complete Blue Note box (some of the constituent discs are pricey/rare), narrowly missed some months ago, but the price has gone too high.

Yeah, that's the kind of Lulu I'd go for...Have the Boulez DG recording but no video. Once saw it live at the Met, NYC. The number "Du hast eine halbe Million geheiratet" often goes through my head for whatever strange reason.