mikelz777

Excellent disc Paps, one of my favorites of his. It's a Lester Young day for me today as well. In the mailbox today: Complete Savoy Recordings Ordered today because I need to compliment vol. 1 and I found a new/sealed copy dirt cheap: A Fine Romance, Vol. 2 I think I have a lot of this stuff elsewhere but it's nice to have it all together.

The Don Sleet and the John Wright discs currently listed are both very nice dates that fly under the radar. Someone out there should definitely check them out.

I just finished reading Lewis Porter's "Lester Young" and noted that Pres expressed admiration for Frank Sinatra, Jo Stafford, Dick Haymes and Kay Starr. Lyrics were very important to him. He stated, "A musician should know the lyrics of the songs he plays. A lot of musicians that play nowadays don't know the lyrics of the songs. That way they're just playing the changes [chords]. That's why I like records by singers when I'm listening at home. "

Up with edits and price listings.

PM sent on: EST Esbjorn Svensson Trio Viaticum ACT

Up with the Scott Hamilton titles.

Pushing Daisies, Complete 2nd Season I just completed watching the 2nd season of ABC's "Pushing Daisies" on DVD. This has to be one of the most original, creative, imaginative, visually stimulating, funny and surreal shows I've ever seen. It's a shame that it was cancelled. This show had a great cast and everyone shined in their roles but my favorite had to be Chi McBride as private investigator Emerson Cod. I was really surprised when I heard lead actress Anna Friel speak in the bonus features. She's British! I had never heard her speak outside of the show before and you'd never guess it from hearing her American "accent" on the show.

I've gone deep on a lot of artists: [15+ discs] Donald Byrd, Scott Hamilton, Jackie McLean, Hank Mobley (and who knows how many side dates of Mobes) [20+ discs] Chet Baker, Count Basie, Jazz Crusaders/Crusaders, Stan Getz [30+ discs] John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Bill Evans, Lester Young [50+ discs] Art Pepper After a quick assessment I'd say that I have too much Scott Hamilton. I'd be happy with less than half of what I have now. (I'm selling if you're interested.) I'm a bit richer in Basie than I need to be but 18 of those discs are taken up by two Mosaics. I have a lot more discs of Coltrane than my actual love for him would warrant but 26 of those discs are in 3 box sets I got at prices I couldn't pass up. Somehow I feel a bit rich in Dexter Gordon but on the other hand, I'd be hard pressed choosing what to give up if I had to. I could see myself picking up additional Jackie McLean and Art Pepper but certainly not many. I wouldn't want to be with fewer Art Pepper, Lester Young, Jazz Crusaders/Crusaders, Hank Mobley or Donald Byrd. Other notables-I have 14 Miles Davis discs and that is plenty for me. I have only 8 Charlie Parker discs, 5 Monks and 5 Ellingtons and am very happy with those numbers and don't have any plans for any more. I'm not looking but wouldn't rule out more Monk. I've seen my buying habits evolve over time. Early on when I first started getting into jazz and grew to appreciate it more I tended to seek out artists I liked and then bought a lot of their discs. I've moved away from that mindset and now prefer an approach where I seek out a greater number or variety of artists and aim for/settle for something more in the range of 2-5 discs. Then again, my past habits have made it possible and a lot easier to take that approach since I have everything I want from the giants in my collection. With them, I'm not a completist in that I need to have everything for the sake of having them, I want to enjoy them but it's nice to have a sizable number of discs to choose from to suit whatever mood, see the evolution of the artist or hear the artist play with someone else whom you admire and have a variety of choices at your disposal.

PM sent.

CDs for sale or trade. All the discs below should be excellent to like new. Cases, etc. should be like new to minor wear from normal storage/handling. If there are spine cuts, hole punches, other issues etc. I'll let you know before any deal is made. Sincere apologies to our more distant friends but U.S. deals only please. Shipping for 1st CD $2.50 and $0.50 for each additional disc. Allison, Mose - Down Home Piano $2.00 SOLD Bay City Jazz Band - The Bay City Jazz Band $2.00 Blakey, Art - Like Someone In Love (RVG) $3.00 SOLD Cole, Nat King - A Portrait Of The Nat King Cole Trio (2-CD)(Gallerie) $7.00 Coltrane, John - The Gentle Side Of John Coltrane $2.00 Forrest, Jimmy - All The Gin Is Gone $4.00 SOLD Garland, Red - All Kinds Of Weather $4.00 SOLD Hamilton, Scott - Close Up $8.00 Hamilton, Scott - Live At The Breacon Jazz Festival $4.00 SOLD Hamilton, Scott - The Second Set $4.00 SOLD Hamilton, Scott - The Right Time $4.00 SOLD Hamilton, Scott - A First (w/Ruby Braff) $4.00 Hamilton, Scott - A Sound Investment (w/Flip Phillips) $4.00 Kent, Stacy - Let Yourself Go $3.00 SOLD Pepper, Art - Thursday Night At The Village Vanguard $4.00 Pepper, Art - Friday Night At The Village Vanguard $4.00 Pepper, Art - Saturday Night At The Village Vanguard $4.00 Pepper, Art - More For Les At The Village Vanguard $4.00 Stitt, Sonny - Sonny Stitt/Bud Powell/J.J. Johnson $3.00 SOLD Taylor, John - Rosslyn (ECM) $5.00 SOLD Waller, Fats - A Portrait Of Fats Waller (2-CD)(Gallerie) $7.00 Young, Larry - Unity (RVG) $2.00 SOLD Young, Lester - Blue Lester (Savoy) $3.50 SOLD

PM sent.

Got this for $5.78 so I couldn't resist. Dizzy Gillespie - The Complete RCA Victor Recordings: 1947-1949 (2-CD)

Came across an easy and unexpected $20 (taste-testing yogurt) so.... Max Roach - Jazz In Paris: Parisian Sketches (featuring Stan and Tommy Turrentine) Lester Young - Jazz in Paris: Le Dernier Message de Lester Young ("The Last Message Of Lester Young", Pres' last recording.) Rusty Bryant - Legends Of Acid Jazz -- Night Train Now/Soul Liberation

Cross-promotion. They had the Deadliest Catch guys on Cash Cab as well trying to earn money for charity.

They must of had a big stockpile of these several months ago because they were practically giving them away back then. I paid $12.53 for the set delivered. Still, the current offering less the discount would be $19.19 which is still a great price for this box set.

I think that any time they list less than 9 copies then that is the number of copies they actually have in stock. If they list that they have 9 copies that means they have anywhere from 9 to 9+++ copies like when they had the Art Pepper Village Vanguard box listed. I'm guessing the window of opportunity has passed on this one.

So... What do you think? I gave this a couple of spins this morning and my general impression is that this is a favorable mixed bag for me. One of my initial misgivings about this CD after hearing sound samples was that it opened with "Caravan". I never really cared for this song. The head didn't really work for me but once they started breaking into solos, I enjoyed it, especially Hubbard's break into the solo and the solo itself. Another hang-up for me was Art Davis' bass solo on the 2nd or 3rd song. I pretty much hate bowed bass solos and immediately thought it was Paul Chambers before reminding myself it was Art Davis. John Gilmore on tenor didn't always work for me. On the plus side, I enjoyed Hubbard throughout. I thought he was strong, played well and had interesting solos. I really liked "Summertime". I also enjoyed "The 7th Day" which reminded me a lot of the sound/feel/vibe of Art Pepper's song "The Trip". Tommy Flannagan and Curtis Fuller were solid and didn't disappoint. Overall, I liked it but I wouldn't list it among my favorite Hubbard CDs.

Today is August 8th and I finally got the remaining 6 titles from my July 5th order. "Stitt's Bits" was one of the 6. It's a real shame that they had to deface that nice/thick cardboard sleeve on the Stitt box with that humungous spine cut. I wish they blacked out the bar code instead.

The darkness and shadows there seem to suit Miles. I was wondering how to interpret the look on his wife's face.

So... What do you think? I just got the shipping notice but I'll let you know. I look forward to giving it a listen.

SecondSpin.com is currently having a sale where you get 20% off plus free shipping when you spend $20.00 (before discount) or more. Woody Shaw - Woody Shaw Live, Vol. 3 Cannonball Adderley - Fiddler on the Roof I also purchased the 25th anniversary, widescreen edition of "The Exorcist" to qualify the order for the discount and free shipping. Time to stop spending for a while.

I just won this set (new/sealed) on an Ebay auction for $8.38 delivered! Bopland: The Legendary Elks Club Concert L.A. 1947 (3-CD) Another Ebay auction win for $6.50 delivered: In Person Friday Night at the Blackhawk, Complete, Vol. 1 (2-CD)

My freebie selection from YourMusic.com. The Artistry Of Freddie Hubbard

So far I have 6 out of 13 ordered titles in-hand. I have been billed for the remaining 7 and customer service assured me that they are on their way with none of the ordered titles in backorder. (That means I should be getting "Stitt's Bits") I was getting antsy about my 7/5 order because I hadn't seen any action on it and hadn't heard anything on it until a day or two ago. I was concerned that they would cancel the entire order after 30 days since they hadn't shipped a partial order. These CDs have some serious, no-nonsense spine cuts. I was able to insert the stacked edges of a penny and nickle into most of them and nearly all went half-way into the black/hinged edge. There'd be no mistaking that any of these would be retail-returnable product to the labels. They're not pretty but still, there's no complaints. They may be cracked and cut wide and deep but I'm buying them for the music.

Just a heads up, I got the following message in an email from Oldies last Friday: "On a side note, if you're interested in ordering any more, I'd highly recommend doing so in the next couple days... our stock today is at the best level in the last 30 days, and we've got stock on most titles now..., but it's going fast..."