mikelz777

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.)

In today's mail: Charles Tolliver Mosaic Select

The New Testament of the Bible on CD.

The Bob Brookmeyer Select. This one was definitely worth the hustle and hastle of ordering from 4 merchants only to be burned by 3 of them. Thanks again to Bull Moose!

I know this has been hashed out before but I don't know if there is a definitive answer on whether the Selects (or the big boxes for that matter) are distributed in numerical order or not. My Brookmeyer set is #4027 so if they are issued in numerical order, this one was getting up there and probably would have sold out in the fairly near future on its own.

I'll name names. I'd like to put a bad word out on White Elephant Media and their do-nothing customer service. I placed an order for the Brookmeyer on 9/11 and was charged on my bank account the 13th or14th. As of the 11th, the date of my order, they had 8 copies of the Brookmeyer for sale on Ebay "Buy It Now" albeit for a higher price than what I paid on their web-site. Those copies sold out the 13th. (7 of those to one buyer) My copy was supposed to ship 2-5 business days after the purchase date. Once that time expired with no word I contacted them only to be informed that they had "sold their stock before their system updated" and that my order was in back-order. I then replied that they had 8 copies of the Brookmeyer for sale on Ebay that didn't sell out until 2 days after my order date and that one of those copies should have been mine. They replied by completely ignoring my email and informing me that my item was back-ordered and that they didn't know when it would come in. I replied by telling them the item was now out-of-print and that I'd apprecitate it if they contacted their distributor to see if they would actually be able to get a copy or whether it was a lost cause. They again replied by ignoring my request and informing me that the order should ship 2-5 business days from the intial order date and if it didn't, they would contact me. Well, it was pretty easy to see where this was going. I asked them to cancel the order and refund my money today. I hope that the refund doesn't become a problem now. I guess I can't complain because I did get a copy of the Brookmeyer for about the same price Mosaic offered it before factoring in Mosaic's shipping charge. Thanks Bull Moose!! Still, no one likes getting reamed and then ignored by a merchant after they've already taken your money. I really would have been ticked off getting jacked around like this if the other order hadn't gone through. Anyway, that's my warning. I wouldn't recommend ever giving White Elephant Media any business.

Mosaic Select: Charles Tolliver Inspired or prompted by Mosaic's recent sudden shortage of sets and as a witness to the quickly escalating prices of those sets, I ordered this one to assure myself of no future regrets. While I'm pretty certain I'll like it, I haven't heard a whole lot of talk on this one. We'll see how it goes in about 4-5 days.

Marx Brothers stateroom scene. Click here. A Night At The Opera is my favorite Marx brothers movie.

Amen!!

That would be Michel Petrucciani.

That's weird. I don't know if Movie Mars and Movie Marz are the same things but Movie Marz currently has a listing on Ebay stating they have 2 copes of the Brookmeyer available for $62.23. ("Buy It Now", free shipping)

The Legendary Prestige Quintet Sessions or Chronicle: The Complete Prestige Recordings (1951-1956)

just to clarify: one disc of the select is bonus tracks not available elsewhere; that said, i have some of tolliver's other albums and i believe i understand what you mean by "musically limited"... the two selects i really want to get eventually are the tolliver and the first hill, at this point... I do like Woody Shaw. I have the Mosaic, Stepping Stones, In My Own Sweet Way, Live Vol. 3 and the sessions with Freddie Hubbard. Some of his stuff (not what I own) is a bit too "out" for me. What do you mean when you say that the Tolliver stuff is "musically limited"? Is is because there is not another horn involved other than his trumpet? Is it because you see it as too straight ahead vs. adventurous or vice versa? Because the music starts to sound all the same or the soloing patterns are all the same? Because of the skills or execution of the musicians involved? I'm just curious about what you meant by that.

Just placed this order. Excited as hell, but not looking forward to the credit card bill! All four of those sets are excellent. You've got some great listening ahead of you. Enjoy!

I wouldn't take it too seriously, you just have to let it roll. I'm certainly not losing any sleep over it nor do I feel any kind of need to justify my buying habits with anyone. Taken to it's logical conclusion, he seems to be saying that there's something wrong or unethical about buying used CDs or buying new CDs from anyone other than the initial distributor. On top of that, that we should feel guilty for being in the position of having to buy these CDs from anyone other than Mosaic in the first place. I have 5 Selects and all 5 of them were purchased brand new from merchants other than Mosaic. Did these merchants get them for free? I hardly think so. Mosaic made their money on these sets. Mosaic made their money, I got them at a better price and the merchant got their cut as well. Win-win-win. One also can't assume that if these sets weren't available elsewhere that Mosaic would make the sale instead. There are several sets I own that I would never have purchased at Mosaic's price but was able and willing to purchase because of a much lower price offered by a private seller. (Mosaic made their money on that set too.) On these sets, if it came down to paying Mosaic's price or not having the set at all, I wouldn't have the set. I'm sure Bluerein and I are in disagreement on this matter but my conscience is clear despite how (s)he would try and make me feel about it. I'd say kick back, relax and enjoy those Mosaic's no matter where you might have gotten them.

What a difference a bank system update makes! The charge from my "shipped" merchant went through my account this morning! It looks like I'll be getting at least one of the Brookmeyers and that's all I really wanted. The other merchant indicated they usually ship w/i 2-5 business days and the 5th business day would be tomorrow. If I don't hear anything by then I'll probably contact them to see if I'll be getting a 2nd Brookmeyer or if I need to arrange for a refund. With all the goings-on with these sets, I'm a lot more compelled not to wait around to pick up a set I'm interested in. Fortunately, I was able to jump on the Brookmeyer before the prices got too out of hand. I don't think there's any big sets that I'm interested in enough to spend the asking price. Even the Selects are a bit higher than I like to spend. Of the Selects, I'd be OK with letting the remaining titles slide except maybe the Charles Tolliver. Anyone have thoughts on that one? I'll usually listen to sound samples several times over the course of a couple of weeks and then decide if I really want it. That approach usually weeds out the "I'm more excited to get something new" vs. the "I'd really like this recording." So far, the Tolliver sound samples have held my interest.

I'm still hangin' in the breeze on my 2 Brookmeyer orders. Both orders were placed on the 11th. The one retailer's site indicates that it shipped but they haven't charged my account for it so I'm starting to question whether shipped really means shipped. It doesn't exactly boost my confidence that nothing appears in the tracking number section either. The other retailer has charged my account but I haven't got a notice that it shipped yet and their site doesn't indicate it's shipped yet. I think I'm in hopeful denial. I don't want to call to check on my orders for fear of finding out that I'm not going to get either one of them. I hope at least one of them pulls through. Patience...patience...

The Harper Brothers and Winard Harper. I discovered Winard Harper while listening to jazz on Pandora.com. He's a name I hadn't heard of so I decided to explore a little further. After a little digging I discovered that not only did he record on his own, but he also recorded with his brother as The Harper Brothers. I found 3 of the Harper Brothers discs (Artistry, Remembrance: Live At The Village Vanguard, The Harper Brothers) and 2 of Winard's discs (Be Yourself, Trap Dancer) surprisingly cheap. ($3.00 to $5.50 delivered) I'd have to say that it was a fine investment, I really enjoy them all. I might have to dig a little deeper into Winard Harper's stuff.

No, it wasn't Keenzo. They were one of my 2 no-gos. I got the cancellation email 2 days after I placed the order. They did place an authorization on my card but it has since disappeared and my account wasn't charged.

Having experienced 2 no-gos already for the Brookmeyer Select, I have orders in for the Brookmeyer at two more retailers. It looks like they're going to keep me guessing until the very end. One of the retailers put an authorization through on my card and their web-site indicated that the order moved from being sent to fulfillment, to packing, to shipped. The odd part about that is the authorization disappeared off my card and my account wasn't charged. (yet at least) The other retailer shows that my order moved from "payment processed" to "payment approved". They've actually charged my account but I haven't received notice that my order has shipped nor does it indicate it was shipped on their web-site. I suppose I could call to follow up on the orders but I really don't feel like it and the anticipation is kind of cool. Sometimes the journey is more fun than the destination.