T.D.

38, injured all the time, and a toxic clubhouse presence. I hope his professed good relationship with Leyland holds up...To Sheffield's credit (I'm not a big fan, to put it mildly), he does hustle and play hurt. I think the Yankees were so happy not to have to pay any of Sheff's 2007 salary (didn't the Tigers spring for a new 3-year deal?) that they were willing to go for quantity over quality, arms-wise. Not too bad a deal for the NYY IMO. Yanks would have released him if they didn't fear the Bosox stepping up (the one-year $13MM sign-and-trade ruse was crafted solely to avoid Boston). Even if Sheffield has a good year in 2007, the prospect of him fuming on the Tiger bench in 2009, at 40, isn't pretty!

Disc received, many thanks.

One thing about Caiman on Amazon, they've established a useful positive feedback benchmark. I've had one rocky experience, and Caiman is the subject of numerous complaints and rants on Internet forums, yet they consistently have 90% positive feedback. Based on this, I only consider buying from sellers with over (preferably well over) 95%. There are a number of large CD sellers on Amazon with feedback ratings, and presumably business practices, similar to Caiman.

I ordered a few items from Caiman via Amazon Marketplace, with no particular problems. Then I bought an item from Caiman's eBay store, via "Buy it Now". They charged my credit card, didn't have the item, and it took over a month, and a lot of hassles, to get a refund. I stopped buying from them after that. I might use them again (Amazon, not eBay) if they had an outstanding price on a non-exotic item, but the situation hasn't yet arisen.

PM sent on Cowell.

Bill Evans Conversations With Myself. Not sure how I'll react to the overdubbed material, but as a Sonny Clark fan I want to hear NYC's No Lark.

just a guess: what about live at the tender trap from that discography No, it's a Storyville release, listed in the discography as "Date: July 2, 1988 Location: Jazzhus Slukefter, Copenhagen, Denmark Label: Storyville J. R. Monterose (ldr), J. R. Monterose (ts), Hod O'Brien (p), Guffy Pallesen (b), Jesper Elen (d)" The album misspells J.R.'s surname as "Montrose", which may have caused problems with databases. Amazon.com also has a page: "Montrose" T.T.T.

I saw a used "Silver and ..." (forget which one) LP at a record store a while back. I'll check back over the weekend. If they still have it, and it's "...Brass", I'll send you some info.

Went with the "no single place" category. But almost all (probably over 90%) online, with eBay, Amazon Marketplace and yourmusic the leaders. Concord really skewed things this year! J&R has occasional sales (OJCs $6.99, Blue Notes $7.99) which get sporadic moderate orders. I'm in a rural area, but try to support the one semi-local (independent) shop worth visiting.

Can Britney even make her own crap sell 1 million any more? Maybe worldwide, but not domestic US. I'm not really up on such things, but got the impression she jumped the shark a few years ago.

Thanks for the Lateef info. I already own the OJC, and didn't intend to "upgrade". Now I won't kick myself for the decision.

Nothing for sale on the site. If you go to the sales section it refers you to Amazon while they move their warehouse. Guess everything is going to LA. I have to wonder, will the estimable Action Jackson also be moving to LA? Seems questionable, but let's hope so...

Yeah, I've read just about all of GVH's novels, plus the baseball book (The Passing of the Seasons? OK but nothing special). I strongly prefer the relatively early underworld/Southie oriented novels. Never thought Coyle was as good as its movie-inspired reputation, but dug The Digger's Game, The Patriot Game, Cogan's Trade, the Jerry Kennedy novels (Penance for Jerry Kennedy, Kennedy for the Defense), The Rat on Fire, maybe a couple others I can't recall right now. He did write some clinkers, though. In later novels, he cultivated an extremely polished style, albeit mixed in with his trademark dialogue, but the results tend to be extremely boring (The Mandeville Talent was stupefying). Only intermittent winners, to my taste, from this period, eg Trust. There was a very late novel about a sports agent (I forget the title), that was interesting but very sloppy compared to previous work. Perhaps GVH was having health or personal problems at that stage. Funny thing, I once had to review a number of courtroom transcripts (surprisingly interesting reading), and it hit me (duh) that Higgins, a former lawyer, likely developed his dialogue writing through courtroom experience. If you wanna go the British route, I recommend Bill James's "Harpur and Iles" novels. Great mixture of police procedural/comedy of manners. The earlier ones are better, but they're all decent. Later ones easier to find, of course... I've read them all, loaned most out.

I once owned a copy of the Penguin Guide, but became disillusioned (too many rosetted recordings that I didn't like, and puzzling preferences for certain British ensembles, eg "Lindsays") and gave it away. I preferred the Gramophone, but it doesn't cover as many recordings as the Penguin (also gave a copy away). I listen to a lot of "modern" or "contemporary" classical, and didn't find either book to have good coverage (granted, one couldn't really expect such). I used to consult Gramophone's online reviews. Nowadays use Classics Today or Usenet (like above poster). There are some classical bulletin boards around ("Good Music Guide"?), but I haven't visited any recently. Some people rave about Jim Svejda's Insider's Guide, but I've never seen it, and am not sure it's in print.

Excellent, 'cause that's next on my queue!

McPherson's Con Alma was recorded Aug. 1965, so I'm not sure it qualifies as "late '60s." I recently got his From This Moment On!, rec. Jan. 1968, which is more hard bop with slight soul overtones. Barry Harris's Bull's Eye is bebop/hard bop, recorded June 1968 (nice album, but CD has horrible sound, which I blame on original engineer Richard Alderson). For bop, definitely this, rec. Nov. 1969:

I bought a remaindered copy of Balliett's Collected Works: A Journal of Jazz and read almost all of it (skimmed in places). The guy hates hard bop, and constantly throws in such digs at the genre. I don't feel confident enough to say "fallible," but his tastes are sufficiently different from mine (I listen to lots of hard bop, for instance) that I wouldn't go by his recommendations. I wonder if he still feels the same lo these many years later. Digging up my copy of the book, Balliett wrote a 1995 column on the "Young Lions", entitled The Young Guns, in which he absolutely lambasted the hard bop genre. He certainly wrote many columns praising Sonny Rollins, though. Mobley is barely mentioned (3 times in passing, no comments on his playing) in the 800+ pages, and Monterose not at all.

I bought a remaindered copy of Balliett's Collected Works: A Journal of Jazz and read almost all of it (skimmed in places). The guy hates hard bop, and constantly throws in such digs at the genre. I don't feel confident enough to say "fallible," but his tastes are sufficiently different from mine (I listen to lots of hard bop, for instance) that I wouldn't go by his recommendations.

Yup, I dig this album a lot, though I too have some qualms about the way Haden's recorded. I'd also like to get a hold of the Hampton Hawes duet recording with Haden, but haven't yet bid high enough on eBay .

PM sent on two titles.

Buy 1 full price, get unlimited @ $1.99, code SE06BG4 until 9/17. This isn't a great deal, since you've got to buy about 12 CDs to get close to yourmusic.com prices. Posting just in case anyone (with big money left after the Concord sale?) cares.

I got a CP'd Basra really cheaply through eBay, cheap enough (even including postage from the UK) that I was willing to put up with the CP.

New Piano Expressions also includes some solo tracks, which the tray card says aren't included in the Debut box. The solo stuff is excellent, particularly if you like "classically-influenced" playing.

I've been enjoying the heck out of the two Don Ewell releases (Free and Easy and Music to Listen to Don Ewell By).

I live in the Catskills, and never even try such chain stores. But Rhino Records in New Paltz (maybe there's a branch in Poughkeepsie, but I've never been), seems to be run by somewhat of a jazz fan, and occasionally stocks newish RVGs. Once in a while, interesting used discs show up, though their pricing can be off (eg, they tend to charge the "full used price" for old OJCs, even if newer K2s and/or RVGs have been released). But the flip side is the occasional OOP find (eg I got Ike Quebec's "Easy Living" there). They also have a lot of good titles on vinyl, but I can't speak for the prices, not being an LP collector. Not sure if it'd be worth the drive for you, but worth a stop if you happen to be in NP.