T.D.

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.]

+1

Charles Tolliver (20), Denny Zeitlin, Andrew Hill (16), Randy Weston, Carmell Jones all get a lot of plays. I loved the series and was sorry to see it go.

Apparently it's included on a European CD. According to discogs site, Mingus, Art Blakey, Hank Mobley, Art Farmer (!)

No, "illustrations, graphics" credited to Karin Weinhandl.

Have been exploring Sun Ra's music, and this is the first '80s live material I tried. Was somewhat apprehensive, but it turned out to be terrific, very enjoyable.

Haven't shopped at Berkshire for a while, but I noticed that Daedalus Books & Music (remainder outlet; www.salebooks.com / salemusic.com ; site currently down) has been carrying lots of MDG titles for quite a while (at least a couple of years). I never pulled the trigger on any, though many discs seemed interesting.

This is the first book by Szwed I've read (yeah, I know he's written a few), and I'm impressed by his work.

I just saw this and enjoyed it. +1 on "The King's Speech". Have some misgivings about the Underground scene, but it did work dramatically (if rather manipulatively). But now I have to read up on Churchill's early career (early on in the film the King made negative comments about his many debacles including Gallipoli) and on the Dunkirk situation/evacuation (of which I have only rudimentary knowledge) in order to make a full appraisal. Out of curiosity, I also need to research why the Tories lost in 1945, ousting WC in favor of Attlee.

Just finished. Knew little about the author (though I vividly recall his 1982 hit single/video), but thought the book looked interesting. Definitely an enjoyable read.

It also didn't help to misspell "Jarret" in the second word of the article!

A Pegasus Airlines Boeing 737 passenger plane is seen stuck in mud on an embankment, a day after skidding off the airstrip at Trabzon's [Turkey] airport on the Black Sea coast on Jan. 14. Photographer: AFP via Getty Images http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42680238

I've been on a Sun Ra kick and decided to embark on this "research project" box...

I also thought it would sell slowly. I held off purchase for a long time for that reason, and because the discography didn't overly impress. Finally bought it last October when Mosaic had a free shipping offer (iirc). The first couple of hearings, I wasn't knocked out, but I did some intensive listening recently and have come to really enjoy the set. Brackeen and Sanders sessions were the most pleasant surprises. Recorded sound of the piano on discs 1-2 is bad, but I got over it.

Two Sun Ra solo piano discs; Pharoah Sanders, Izipho Zam (from the Clifford Jordan Strata-East Mosaic)