T.D.

!!! I have the (relatively) recent 3-cd "Complete Varese" cond. by Chailly (plus a few recordings of scattered individual pieces).

I only have about 3 of the individual CDs, but that's because I listen to the earlier work more often. Still likely to preorder - I just have to consider how often I'll listen to albums like A Caddy for Daddy, and also do an "arbitrage calculation" of how much it'd cost to amass the constituent CDs I lack. The "remastering" hype doesn't grab me.

Seeing these posts compelled me to spin discs 4-6 (the later quartets).

Tape loop / electroacoustic / sampling. Don't know what to call it, but it all works well.

I received the e-mail "Mosaic Jazz Gazette" today for the first time in some weeks, and the upcoming Mobley wasn't mentioned. Strange. Looks like Mosaic's confident enough to press 2,500, no preorder survey required. I'll most likely go for this although, objectively, a lot should depend on the (as yet unknown) quality of remastering.

Oddly, this disc concludes with Monk's Ruby My Dear.

Ingrid Haebler was one of the pianists whose recordings were fraudulently issued as the work of Joyce Hatto. A highly bizarre story about which much can be found on the Internet.

On a Different Level was the first Brignola recording I bought, only a few years ago. Fantastic, completely blew me away and I've since bought most of the Reservoirs. OaDL remains my favorite. The lineup is stellar as noted above. I seriously considered the Beehive Mosaic mainly because it had two Brignola sessions, but wound up having too many reservations to go for that mega-set. I was in school in the Albany area in the late '70s-early '80s, had many opportunities to see Brignola (and separately JR Monterose, iirc) live. I knew next to nothing about jazz at that time and regrettably never went.

The Complete 10-Inch Series from Cold Blue Not sure this fairly obscure box is "Classical" (late '70s-early '80s California "New Music"), but will call it that.

I discovered and was fascinated by "Alice in Wonderland" as a child, so have known that odd word almost my entire life. Even remember the line: O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

I think it's fascinating. Only covers up to about 1959, lots of attention devoted to Ra's very early music/influences/experiments including doo-wop, R&B, relatively little material from well-known albums. Narrative and production by Michael Anderson quite good. Not so much of an Arkestra chronicle but a major documentation of where Ra (musically) came from. Hard to say if it's worth the money, depends on one's fanaticism. I got it through this forum (when Stefan W. was selling off his collection) at a reasonable price. The "Singles" collection (which I haven't heard) might give a bit of the box's flavor for a lot less $...I see that the Singles set includes some Jochanan material alluded to but pointedly not included in the Transparency box, so it may be of independent interest.

Possibly a sign of my insanity... ...discs 12-14 now, maybe more later.

Excellent recordings, agreed. Wow - I bought these at super-budget price, but the box seems to have gone OOP and is now offered at extortionary levels.

Wow, thanks for the warning. I think I've bought a couple of single CDs from momox with no problems, but I've been considering a used box set. Will shelve the plan. I doubt overgrading is rare among Euro Amazon sellers - I avoid used items from Zoverstocks due to unfortunate experience in that regard.

Bump

Not wholly off-topic: An interesting story came out about a week ago. Because of a dispute concerning the KC Chiefs' income tax, reporters were able to examine tax returns from 2008 through 2010. Some not-so-surprising conclusions re. revenue sharing, lack of incentives to win. The article also says that MLB has much less broadcast revenue sharing than the NFL.

! Interesting observation.

Yes, I was thinking of promoting the best AAA clubs and demoting the worst of MLB. But it'll never happen, so just talk. And there are 2 AAA leagues (plus multiple AA and A), more complicated than the English football hierarchy.

My brother strongly recommended Herron to me. I read and enjoyed Slow Horses, mean to continue with the series, but keep forgetting. Once read a Herron non-Slough House novel (Down Cemetery Road), which was OK but less good than S. H. I liked Joseph Heywood's Woods Cop series, set in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Series ended in 2011, don't know if Heywood is still writing. Bill James's (Welshman, not the sabermetric guy) lengthy Harpur and Iles series is excellent, but it's best to start at the beginning and I fear those books are hard to find. Two other long-running series I've always enjoyed are Lawrence Block's Matt Scudder books (NYC) and Loren D. Estleman's Amos Walker series (Detroit).

I still get 7.74 euro price (I frequently clear my browser history - hint), but several items have apparently sold out. Not enough of interest to get me over the free shipping hurdle.

I know it'll never happen, but a relegation system a la English football, in which the worst teams get demoted to a lower league, would make the crappy teams try harder to win.

The Marlins a story line? In irrelevance, maybe.