T.D.

8/10, but with several guesses.

R.I.P. I'll say no more because many eloquent eulogies will appear in scientific and popular media.

I had to look it up upon reading this thread...

I always use the term "not to my taste." A bit reluctantly, since the phrase sounds prissy and pretentious. However, I'm not a trained musician and can't make accurate technical criticisms, so all my opinions ultimately wind up equivalent to "well, I like/dislike it".

I've gone both ways on the comfort zone issue. In classical music, I was for a long time a "new music enthusiast" and constantly listened to highly avant-garde/exploratory works. But I listen to much less of that now (for instance, I more or less concluded that orthodox Darmstadt-style serialism is not to my taste). I still look for new (to me) areas, though: Renaissance polyphony is a big recent interest. Relative newcomer to jazz (only in the past 15 years did I listen to much outside of Miles). Started out very much straight-ahead bop/hard-bop, but branched out quite a bit over time (Sun Ra is a recent interest) and have begun to find some hard-bop a little stale. I enjoy stuff that stretches boundaries with awareness of bop/hard-bop roots (e.g. the new Braxton Parker box is interesting, but too pricey so I will stick with the old 2 disc set). I'm still a little leery about far-"out" jazz, because some of the sound worlds explored (Bill Dixon for instance; no disrespect intended, just a matter of taste) remind me of the modern classical that I tired of. The way I became a jazz enthusiast early this millennium was funny...Bought my father a Proper box ("Bebop Spoken Here" iirc), listened and was intrigued by the Tadd Dameron tunes. Bought the Coltrane/Dameron "Mating Call" and kept going. I found almost infinite amounts of jazz that was new to me (didn't even know of Horace Silver or what "hard bop" meant at the time), and I overall enjoyed it much more than the avant classical I'd been listening to. I still explore enough so that current tastes are not carved in stone.

Damn. I enjoyed spending lots of time and money in the 2 big NYC Towers (Village and Lincoln Center). The Village location had an annex that sold books and cutout CDs, as I remember; Lincoln Center had incredible classical/opera inventory, and also a bookstore. (My memories of the bookstores are foggy because there were many preferable booksellers in Manhattan). I even blew a lot of money at the (Yonkers? southern part of NYS 100 shopping strip) Westchester branch. It was clear that the chain overexpanded, and the sea changes in music preferences/distribution ensured there'd be no recovery.

It's glib and negative to be a doomsayer, but everything I've heard of / from Mosaic over the past few months clearly spells "liquidation" (I worked in the financial business and have been perusing financial news for decades). Would love to be proven wrong...

Damn...I'm out of touch with popular culture and didn't recognize the name (Google says ex-Howard Stern jokester). Item I purchased was mailed from PA, so I doubt it's the real guy (who seems to be a Long Islander), just an eBay handle.

I bought a Mosaic (Tristano, Konitz, Marsh) from jackie_martling last week. Will receive soon. Advanced search on eBay can find members or sellers. Ebay says (to search for a buyer, follow instructions below but click "Find a member" or "Find contact information" instead of "By seller"): To search for items by seller: Click the Advanced link at the top of the eBay home page. Under the Items heading on the left side of the page, click By seller. Enter the seller's user ID. If you're not sure of the seller's user ID, select the Show close and exact user ID matches option. Click the Search button.

Do you think they own the building? I expect they rent space; buying a building would require serious capital. Stanford office space has boomed over the past 25 years, so if Mosaic does own the Stamford building (which I seriously doubt), they probably have a sizable mark-to-market real estate profit. [Added] No possible way they own the building. 425 Fairfield Ave. in Stamford is 80,000 square feet on 5 acres, zoned industrial. There are a whole bunch of tenants beside Mosaic (which is in Suite 421).

Depends on how broad your interests are (e.g. "rareties and collectibles".) I expect the recordings would be seriously picked through by then. It's conceivable that Mosaic might stagger the offerings and put new inventory out on the weekend, but I seriously doubt it given the FCFS language.

Looks to me like Mosaic are setting up to close the Stamford office. I would guess (pure speculation) that if Mosaic stays in business to some degree, they'll maintain a smaller office.

Another sign of liquidation in today's "Sunday Jazz Gazette" e-mail: For the first time in our 35-year history, we are having an open house on March 22 to 25 at our Stamford, Connecticut headquarters. We are in the process of sorting out and assembling a number of Mosaic collectibles (no lists are yet compiled or available). Items will include. OUT OF PRINT CD SETS PARTIAL SETS TEST PRESSINGS OUT OF PRINT MOSAIC BOOKLETS MOSAIC SLICKS SUITABLE FOR FRAMING FRAMED PHOTOS & JAZZ ART AND OTHER RARETIES & COLLECTIBLES ALL AT SPECIAL PRICES. FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE. CASH, CHECKS, CREDIT CARDS AND PAYPAL ARE ACCEPTABLE. DATES & HOURS: Thursday March 22 & Friday March 23 from 11 am to 6 pm Saturday March 24 & Sunday March 25 from 11 am to 5 pm LOCATION: Mosaic Records 425 Fairfield Avenue Stamford CT 06902 (off I-95 exit 6) Directions available upon request

And an excellent one it is! Did the same not long ago.

Yes, the new set looks very interesting, but I will almost certainly stick with the old 2-disc set.

Sun Ra, Live in Rome (Transparency)

Not conclusive, but Krin Gabbard's biography Better Git It In Your Soul says (p.64) "Mingus's tenure with Columbia ended shortly after [Mingus Dynasty] possibly because of conflicts with Teo Macero. Others suspect that John Hammond, Columbia's legendary producer...decided it was time for Mingus to go. Charles would later refer to Hammond as 'John Ham-Head' and accuse him of lying about the sales of Mingus's records." In the same source, I could not find any theories about the two later Columbia albums.

I once bought a CD (from an obscure label) that was blank! The back of the disc had artwork, but the playing side was clearly empty; a weird misfire. I got a free replacement.

Surprising but pleasant experience today. Last night I was looking at Lennie Tristano CDs (thanks to a video posted on the pianist left hand thread), and noticed a "NM" Tristano/Konitz/Marsh Mosaic on eBay with a seemingly low current bid. I lobbed in a lowish (IMO) bid expecting to get soundly topped, but won it for $118.50 shipped. Looking forward to listening. [Added: This was the first time in years that I made a non-"Buy it Now" bid on eBay. Can't even recall the last time I did so.]