DrJ

I've been on a big Evans kick, since picking up the Complete Verve Recordings box used at a great price. What a fantastic collection. I also just picked up the Analogue Productions hybrid SACD of SUNDAY AT THE VILLAGE VANGUARD. I wasn't disappointed - like all the other classic Riverside SACDs I've grabbed that this fine outfit has produced, this one sounds absolutely superb. It's frankly amazing how much better the sound quality is compared with even the regular CD layer on the hybrid, and certainly compared to the old OJC issue. This is the type of music that demands the ability to hear every nuance and detail, and Doug Sax has brought it all out of the shadows. A bit steeply priced, but worth it - I'll be picking up the WALTZ FOR DEBBY and PORTRAIT IN JAZZ SACDs very soon.

Is Hamilton the drummer in the Diana Krall DVD, the live one from Paris that has some small group only stuff and some with the orchestral arrangements? Memory seems to say that this is so, and if it is, he's pretty damn talented.

Dan, I am happy to attribute this purchase to your BF disk...got mine last Saturday, and it's a winner from start to finish.

Ooops, what was I thinking about that Oliver tune! There is a Thad Jones piece on the same CD but obviously not that one! Thanks for the tip Free for All, I am particularly interested in the Rosnes big band recording, being a fan of her small group work.

I've been on a big band kick lately, big time. Was just turned on to trombonist Fedchock and his band by a jazz loving friend, who knew I'd enjoy their stuff. And I did! ON THE EDGE is a fantastic album, full of interesting originals, great arrangements, and a real connoisseur's choice of covers ("Isfahan," Lee Morgan's "Ceora," Shorter's "Virgo," Jaco's "Teen Town," and Thad Jones "111-44" to name a few). Rick Margitza is one of the best soloists, along with Fedchock himself and pianist Allen Farnham, who is absolutely on fire throughout this album. Wonderfully recorded date, too. If you dig modern big bands, get it, get it, get it.

And I been snoozin', apparently, since I've never even heard of 'em until now. Although I am quite familiar with many of the members (Rickey Woodard I've always felt was an underrated tenor player, so glad to see him there, and of course there's Snooky Young). So what's the verdict? Very favorable reviews of their recordings in All Music Guide. Are they worth it? Where to start if so?

You gotta get all the Dizzy you can find from that era...great stuff. I am still partial to BLUES IN TRINITY (the opening cut alone is worth it) and COMIN' ON, which is one of the more remarkable pieces of vault mining in recent years. As much as I like SOUNDIN' OFF and STAR BRITE, which is a lot, they pale in comparision to those two dates in my view because they are more of the mainstream mold of the era, less quirky and adventurous. You get Dizzy's full compositional genius on the first two.

Still need to check out the McFarland, as well as about 95% of the rest of the box! I'm gonna be immersed for weeks. Will post impressions...

I'll definitely be spending some yuletide cash on Mosaics. In my crosshairs are: For "regular" Mosaics: The Stuff Smith and Anita O'Day boxes (I'm going roughly chronologically from oldest to newest releases, and those are up next, plus I've been on a major O'Day jag ever since seeing her amazing performance of "Sweet Georgia Brown" in the JAZZ ON A SUMMER'S DAY Newport documentary). For Selects: Chambers, Patton, Amy, and Pearson are all fair game - probably will boil down to one or two and again probably will go with the "oldest" (Chambers and Patton)

I had really good luck this weekend, picking up used copies of: THE COMPLETE BILL EVANS ON VERVE box - $129, in excellent condition! Richard Williams - NEW HORN IN TOWN (Candid) - this on LP, a 1977 Barnaby reissue that's in pretty darn good sound, for $6 Re: the Williams, I have seen a CD version listed of this in the past but just did quick searches of Ebay, Half.com, Dusty Groove, and some other sites and didn't see any CD copies available. Has it ever been relatively widely available? Seems like some of those Candid reissues of 60's sessions have been as rare as hen's teeth.

I made what I think is an EXCELLENT find this weekend - the COMPLETE BILL EVANS ON VERVE box for $129, used but in perfect condition! I can't wait to tuck into listening to this one in detail, so far have just sampled Disc 12 (some of the Vanguard material with Gomez and Philly Joe - outstanding!). The notes to this box are truly wonderful, you get way more for your money's worth than in many boxed sets and the quality of writing and analysis is strong. I love the interviews with the musicians, many of them (e.g. Marc Johnson) played with Evans for years, really knew the music and the man inside out. Some touching stuff. Now to the original subject of the thread: my box is pretty rusty all over, and I think it looks kind of cool (although it's too big to fit on my storage shelves, so into the closet it goes). I've seen some much more artistic rust/age patterns on other copies of the box, but as they all were selling for $250-300, given the price I got, I can live with a generic looking rust pattern!

Well I've been really enjoying this one for the past couple of weeks. The remastering is quite good - in fact I'm not sure that the more recent "audiophile" versions of some of the albums (e.g. WITH JOHN COLTRANE, BRILLIANT CORNERS) are really any better sounding. They do sound different - a bit more full on the low end, but to my ears somewhat artificially so, like they've been boosted with some studio gimcrackery. The boxed set remastering sounds less colored, more honest in regard to some of the limitations of the original recordings, but well-transferred within those limitations. Notes are fun, and I LOVE having this stuff in recording order. The albums really often made little sense as albums, they were certainly one man's attempt to make coherent discs but no better or worse than anyone else's. I like being able to see things develop chronologically. Really glad I took the plunge!

I think it's about as good a movie centering on jazz and the "jazz life" as we're ever going to get, largely because of Dex's incredible turn (but also the heavy involvement of people like Herbie Hancock). Hey, you can tell from my avatar (one of the people pictured is Dex...I'll let you guess which!) I dig it.

Yes but isn't the difference here that they're only charging the price of one CD? So it doesn't matter much to me. If they had listed it at the price of a double, I'd be PISSED.

Will definitely post my impressions!

Nope, that's Long Tall Dex (captured in the film ROUND MIDNIGHT). BTW the little bald cat in the front row asking for another scotch (OK, breast milk) is not a movie or music critic, just our little 4.5 month old...although he does appear to have discerning taste.

Vibes - not even close to $700! Including shipping, mine were $400 almost to the dollar, ordered from Etronics yesterday and they've already been shipped. http://etronics.resultspage.com/display.ph...=dynamic&Store= I note they are now listed as "not available" at this link but you might check back sometime soon, probably they only carry a couple pairs at any one time but I'm sure they'll restock. Do a search on My Simon or C-Net and you will find other places selling them for almost as low a price. Not to be a wiseacre or overly critical, but $700 seems like WAY too much. I did a lot of comparison between Grado RS-1's (which I initially really had the hots for) and the Sonys. From a comfort standpoint the Sonys win, sound is not necessarily better but just different, and most importantly I felt that there was just no way I could justify spending $600-$700 on a pair of headphones (I never could find the Grados for anything less than about $600)...hell, I feel guilty enough about $400, but it's my Christmas present and as I mention above, while fatherhood is the best it has put a serious crimp into my ability to listen to music. Cheap headphones give me a headache in about 15 minutes, so I splurged.

I agree with what Chuck says, to a point...for over 15 years I had a couple hundred dollar cheapie Kenwood "all-in-one" stereo and never felt I was missing anything. Still, having gradually accumulated a system that brings out the subtleties in the music without going all ridiculous sure is nice. Problem is "ridiculous" is in the eye of the beholder. Seeing what some folks will spend on a turntable ($10,000!!!) blows my mind, particularly when my Technics sounds just fine to me (just call me 'ol tin ears!). But hey, I don't doubt for those people, it's worth it. Denon AVR-3300 receiver Technics MK-2 turntable Esoteric Sound RA-6 turntable (for 78's) Infinity Crescendo front L/R speakers (2 mid cones, biwired) and center speaker Cambridge Soundworks Newton S300 rear L/R speakers Energy XL-S8 subwoofer Onkyo DXC380 6 CD changer Pioneer DV45A SACD/DVD/CD universal player Sony RCD-W1 component CD burner Monster Cable/Connectors throughout About the only remotely over-the-top items in terms of price could have been the Cambridge Newton rear surround speakers, but I got refurbished ones from half.com for a great price. These are truly cool if you have to make due with a "does it all" system...the only place for a setup in our house is our living room and it's small so I don't get to have a dedicated audio-only setup, mine doubles for home theater, PLUS the only place I could unobtrusively mount the surrounds was less than ideal. The Newtons have a switch to go between dipole, bipole, and monopole. Each setting disperses the sound differently and so is good for different things (monopole for example gives more accurate representation with surround mix SACDs, dipole is great for Dolby Surround or non-Dolby Digital stuff, etc). So I'm a big fan of reasonably priced stuff that sounds good...and this setup sounds real nice to me...WHEN I'm actually home AND the baby's not sleeping (READ: 5 or 10 minutes between 7:00 and 7:30 nightly!). SOOO with that in mind...I also just ordered some Sony MDRCD3000 headphones this week, can't wait for them to arrive so I'll be able to listen to more than one song at a time, after 7:30 in the evening!

This would make a really nice Connoisseur entry some day...

I've been eyeing the new Atavistic Dodds...so now I got TWO of his CDs to pick up instead of one!

Check this recent thread out for more on Braxton: 3 Compositions of New Jazz

I found a used copy a couple years back for well under half the original list price...and that was on half.com, out in plain view! If you're interested, and can get a deal, I'd highly recommend it. While I'm sure there are some sonic upgrades with the newer Master Editions of some sessions, the remastering in the box is superb, holds up well, and the mini-book and LP facsimile sleeves are great. A killer set, and the more I listen the more I'm convinced this type of thing was Ella's best setting.

You beat me to it - I e-mailed them a few days ago and got the same basic message, but have been swamped and didn't get time to post here. Anyway - GREAT NEWS, eh?

Again, though, in California they are all over the place - Borders, Tower, etc. Weird.

WHAAAT? What a bummer! Man...I will drop them an e-mail (they sent me one when I ordered) to confirm this is true...sure hope not!