T.D.

I kinda hate to say it (as a J.R. fan) but Moe Howard also comes to mind. Incidentally (though off-topic), contemporary classical violin ace Irvine Arditti rather resembles Larry Fine.

Sal Maglie Brutus Beefcake Julio César Chávez

Excellent! Listening now. Very timely in light of the fairly recent discussion of O'Brien's book.

A lot of the super-budget-priced classical megaboxes contain CDs that push the playing time envelope.

CDs can hold more than 80 minutes, but many CD players I've owned became less reliable as playing time approaches 80 min. My current changer sometimes starts skipping near the end of really long discs. A flaky phenomenon, not strictly reproducible.

For an analytical / sceptical approach (none of which is new), see this LA Times article.

Note that upon reading the actual material (which is available on numerous links via Google or Google News), one finds things like ... Roberts is also bearish stocks saying "negative returns in 2016 are probable, though without a recession they should be manageable, think -10-20%, rather than a rout." ... While bearish, this is not much different from the outlook of many of the pundits who are calling an equity correction. If you want doomsday shit, you can always read permabears like Marc Faber et al.

GA, if you Google (or Google News) "RBS sell everything", an Aussie source broke the story 18 or 19 hours ago (from 6:14 PM EST 1/12). The tip was contained in a letter to clients received even earlier. So the message is not "new", and the market's already had time to react.

I'm not sure how "respected" RBS is. The bank exploded spectacularly in the 2008 financial crisis, and the British Government was forced to step in and take an 81% (according to Wikipedia) stake. My impression is that RBS has continued to underperform, and that the Government's sale of RBS shares (which began only quite recently) resulted in significant losses. I mistrust any predictions by Wall St. firms (those who advise you to buy often are actually sellers, and vice versa). And if RBS is so clever, why weren't they suggesting "sell" before the recent correction?

Not to be a wise guy, but as soon as I saw the thread title I knew it'd be a "biggest earners" list...

The Andrew Hill Black Saint / Soul Note box.

John, I've owned the Xanadu CDs of True Blue and California Hard for a long time. Agree with the above on True Blue, which I often play, but haven't heard Silver Blue. My vague recollection of the Coker (which I seldom listen to) is that it's less inspired than the personnel leads one to expect, and the recorded piano sound is not pleasant (as if engineered by Richard Alderson, if that makes sense ). Will give it another spin when I get home from work. [Added] I listened to California Hard again, and it's a loose hard-bop session, OK but still doesn't grab me. I'd go for the Cohn/LTD instead. BTW, I just noticed the Kenny Barron solo reissue (yeah, I should have read the above more carefully); that looks like a must-buy!

I agree that "Carter's string quartets are among the best of bunch where modern quartets are concerned", but his music is a little thorny, difficult (and similar cliches), and not always immediately pleasing to newcomers to "modern classical". I've been down that road, and would start out with the Nonesuch Retrospective set. It's more diverse, and you get good performances of 2 of the 5 SQs (I happen to like the Composers Quartet), and various other excellent pieces (Night Fantasies for piano is a personal favorite). Downsides are that the Retrospective only includes works up to 1982, and the complete SQs are available somewhat cheaper. But you can fill in gaps later on if you become an enthusiast.

I remember him well...even saw him play (baseball) live at Wrigley Field back in the day! IIRC, he played the National Anthem on trumpet at least once.

+1 on Schneiderman. I originally bought Dark Blue (Reservoir), an old-fashioned hard bop session, not knowing what to expect, and was stunned at how good it was. Now have and enjoy several more Reservoir titles. His chops and technique (in addition to arranging) have really grown on me with repeated listenings. Apparently Schneiderman went back to grad school "as a grown man", having already established himself as a musician, and got a math Ph.D. (at Berkeley, no less). That's very difficult to accomplish!

Cool! Know nothing about the CFL, usually enter late and lose absurdly. Let's try an early entry for a change...Edmonton 60.

Not sure how "symphonic" it is, but the extremely twisted 8th Symphony "Antiphonies", Op. 54, by Miloslav Kabeláč (for percussion ensemble, organ, soprano and two mixed choirs) is memorable: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-057nR_Ft7g

MIngus, #253

Thanks for letting me know about this...looks very interesting. I first heard him on the Farmer/Suleiman/Byrd Three Trumpets album. Later, when I purchased his Reservoir albums, I was surprised to find it was the same guy still playing bop after all those years!

+1 Happy birthday to (perhaps) my nearest geographical neighbor (now that Tom 1960 has moved) on this board!

Many happy returns! It would be a shame if I missed this one.

Problem fixed! On Friday, once the Condon/Freeman package I returned emerged from USPS tracking hyperspace, I e-mailed Scott to inquire about the Mingus reshipment. On Monday (yesterday), Scott realized that he had forgotten to send it, but he (voluntarily) overnighted me a set which arrived today. And my return arrived in CT yesterday, so we're all square.

I think some of the problems (e.g. my and Jim S's misdeliveries) were due to high sales volume resulting from the sale ending 10/14. I got the impression that Mosaic is a bit of a shoestring operation (e.g. I received a gift certificate which had to be physically mailed to me, no electronic delivery, and the certificate was a plastic card with the identifying # written on it with a Sharpie), and they were likely overwhelmed at sale time. Give 'em another week or so to clean up from the sale, and I'd expect an order to go smoothly. If you want to avoid USPS, Mosaic ships UPS (to USA) for only $2 more.

I'm in the Catskills, about 45 mi. west of the Hudson. The original (wrong) order took only 2 days from Stratford, CT to me. OTOH, the package I shipped back to Mosaic has been weirdly delayed - mailed 10/23, ETA 10/26, probable arrival now 11/3 or so. USPS media mail appears to be highly variable!