mikelz777

Note that in your orinal post, you said "both" Candid sessions. I replied that there are more than 2 sessions, not albums. So are we talking about: Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus Mysterious Blues Reincarnation of a Lovebird ?

I'm kind of in the same boat. They have a handful of songs that I still dig but I find them to be largely a novelty act and it's sort of embarrassing to see these old guys still singing these songs that were "fun, fun, fun" when they were in their teens and twenties.

I just purchased Charles Mingus's "Ah Um 50th Anniversary Legacy Edition" to replace the copy of "Ah Um" I regret having sold years ago. This particular CD is actually a two-fer containing "Ah Um" and "Mingus Dynasty". I don't ever see myself going real deep into Mingus but I think I'd like more than the current zero Mingus titles in my collection before this re-buy. What would you recommend as the top 5 Mingus titles that no one should miss? (I'm already kind of eyeballing "Mingus At Antibes" and "A Night At Cafe Bohemia".)

I like later in the clip when they show the goalie reaction. He's just standing there like, "What the....?!?".

Check out this awesome stick work: Fancy stick work.

Amazon came through today! UPS just delivered: I thought this would be one of those smaller cube sets but this was a 12x12, album-size box set with the big booklet and 3, 3-CD jewel cases. One of the best bargains of the year!

Check out this awesome goal: Some pretty nice stick work.

Thanks for straightening me out. I'm currently reading one of Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch novels (The Black Echo) and there was a reference to the Bosch character listening to a jazz station on the radio and hearing John Coltrane playing "Soul Eyes". I must have misremembered "Infant Eyes" by mistake because it is a favorite of mine but I re-checked the book and it was "Soul Eyes".

Did John Coltrane ever record "Infant Eyes" and if so, what album(s) was it on?

We must have ordered at the same time because it said "5 available" minutes before I ordered and "3 available" after I ordered. I jumped on the Fantasy box while I had the opportunity because I missed out on a great deal for something else I was interested in on Ebay due to procrastination. This seller had 90+ of the item for sale and I had been eye-balling it for a week and then suddenly, the whole deal disappeared. Lesson learned, I didn't want to miss out on this one. Now we just have to wait and see if it pans out.

Thanks for the heads up! I had to grab that Fantasy set as well. What a bargain!

I just listened to the sound samples and I would have to say that without exception, it's pretty horrible. I couldn't even remotely enjoy this from a novelty point of view. I can't put it much better than my daughter who was listening in the background, "What are you listening to?!? He sounds icky."

Art Pepper - The Hollywood All-Star Sessions (5-CD) Newbury Comics is currently selling this on Amazon Marketplace for $29.99 brand new. (I don't know if it is just one or if there are multiple copies available.) It's not exactly a "can't pass it up deal" but this is the best price I've seen for a brand new/sealed set. There are a lot of great artists and performances here which are definitely worth checking out. I recommend it.

The Complete Piano Music of Scott Joplin (4-CD) I've been listening to the sound samples for this set steadily over the last week and have really come to enjoy John Arpin's solo performances of these numbers. I finally ended up ordering the box set today figuring I can't lose when the 4-disc set (Ebay "buy it now") can be had brand new and delivered for less than $12.00.

For me, the exact same thing could be said of Tom Cruise though I did enjoy him in "Collateral".

John Coltrane - The Prestige Recordings With all the talk about the cheap sets of his Prestige material I thought I'd re-visit my old set.

In todays mail: The Uptown Quintet - Live In New York

I dig the concept but I guess I'm a cold-hearted bastard as I didn't even smile during the video let alone beyond it. I guess it doesn't help that I never liked the song.

In today's mail: Ted Curson - Tears For Dolphy

From my experience, I found that I've warmed up to or even very much enjoyed shows that I initially disliked based on the first shows of their first season. It often takes a while for an actor to work out the kinks and get more comfortable in the character's skin. When it's an ensemble piece like "The Office" where there are many characters interacting on a regular basis, it often takes a while to get a rhythm going, "finding" your character and working out how they would interact with others . Two examples come to mind. When "Friends" first came on, I HATED it but my wife insisted on watching it each week. I especially hated the Chandler character and found the whole show's attempt at humor to be forced and weak. Once things got worked out and settled down, the show became pretty funny and enjoyable for me. Another one was "Seinfeld". I'm a fan of the show but recently saw some reruns from the first season and realy didn't like them that much. I only knew "The Office" from the British version so during the first season of the American version, I almost felt resentful that someone else would try and pull off these characters which, at best, would be weak and pale imitations. Even worse, the first several shows used the same scripts and stories as the British version if I'm not mistaken. I felt the same way you now do, I was wincing and squirming watching those episodes. I stuck with it and now it's a show that I don't want to miss. Check out some shows from the latter half of the first season or try something out from the second season. It had a rough start like many shows do but it's become a very funny show.

I'd have to disagree with your assessment of Membran. I have the 10-CD sets of Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole, Artie Shaw and both the Louis Armstrongs. On top of that, I have 9 of their Quadromania titles. I might warn someone off of these sets if they are really into the info typically included in booklets or if they really wanted the discography info but I can't think of a single set of mine that I wouldn't recommend based on the sound. The only exception I can think of was on one of the Quadromania sets. There might have been a discs worth of material that had pretty bad sound but I would attribute that to the source material. It was a live concert and it sounds like the group was being recorded from a remote mike or mikes. I think the age was a contributing factor as well. It sounded like one of those things that was intended for personal listening and not intended for release. Given the age of much of the material being released on these sets, I'm not expecting clean/pristine modern studio quality recordings. I've been very happy with the sound on the Membran sets. The sound was good enough for me to buy 14 of their sets and I wouldn't think twice about buying another.

The number of CDs in your collection exceeds what your enjoyment of that artist would warrant.

Scott Hamilton I bought up a lot of his titles when I started getting into jazz. Back then, he was safe, lyrical and easy for me to digest. Now I find him to be a little too safe and a little too easy to digest. I doubt I'll be re-visiting many of them in the future and have a bunch of them listed for sale. For those of you who are heavy in Jackie Mac, do you have any bargains or good deals on some of his Blue Notes you'd be willing to offer up?

From the looks of the picture on Amazon, it appears that this set comes in a CD size clam-shell box with a booklet and the CDs housed in cardboard sleeves. Was the original release larger or a bit more deluxe?

I already have this set: (Documents/Membran) It's a bare-bones CD size clam-shell box, no personnel, dates or booklet info of any kind and I think the sound is fine, I have no problems with it. It appears that the first 8 discs of this set are identical to the Columbia box. That last two discs on this set appear to have her Decca and Commodore material as opposed to the Columbia set which appears to have alternate takes. (and some radio spots?) Would anyone happen to know both and compare the sound? The Columbia box looks tempting but I'm not sure it's worth springing for just to get the alternate takes and the booklet/personnel information. If I dumped the pictured set in favor of the Columbia set, I'd also be losing the Commodore material. (I have the Decca stuff in a different set.)