gmonahan

I'd rather they bury it in the liner notes as opposed to not listing it at all. I can't tell you how many albums I have that don't bother to list the personnel. Or the recording date. That one always aggravates me. greg mo

B-T is a technology that allows peer-to-peer file transfers in a unique way - you don't just receive files (music or movies typically) with one other person but as part of a "swarm", that is you could get a half a megabyte from one peer, and another half a megabyte from another - and the B-T software you use puts it all together in the right order. When encoded as FLAC files, the music is compressed but not "lossy" and will sound exactly like it sounded originally. It even recognizes if a download is incomplete and furnishes you with the missing bits. Simultaneously, you are uploading bits and pieces from what you have received to other members of the "swarm". So there is no central server that hosts files, as the early music sharing sites did. Dime, AKA dimeadozen, allows B-T uploads that are non-commercial and not specifically disallowed by either the artist or the venue. There are other sites that freely share copyrighted material including things like Chuck's reissues, current releases and current movies. Dan, thanks for the quick reply. It is definitely a brave new world, but it sounds like a wonderful way to share high-quality, mostly non-copyrighted material. Too bad the pirates are all over it. I hope a way can be found to keep them out. greg mo

OK, time for one of my "I'm an ignorant moron" posts. What exactly are you guys talking about?! What are "Bit-Torrent" sites, where are they, and how do they work? It's tough being a Luddite, but hey, somebody has to do it! :blush2: greg mo

Oh, thanks for building THAT image in my head! greg mo

It's not the Blackhawk material, but Fresh Sound already has a box: See this. greg mo I have this... Excellent in every respect. I've been tempted. How complete is it? That is, does it leave much material from the reissued albums off, or are they all pretty much there? greg mo

I imagine they have a limited lease, but can distribute as many copies as they like until that lease expires. greg mo

Like all the majors Victor has blown hot and cold over the years with its jazz holdings. I think their old Vintage series in the late 60s was one of the best reissue series ever done (even if the vinyl was sometimes of pretty poor quality!), and their subsequent Bluebird series reissued a lot of very fine music. Now, of course, they're part of the mammoth Sony/BMG. Who among us "old-timers" would ever have thought that Victor and Columbia would be owned by the same company? Bizarre! greg mo

I just ordered a ton of stuff. Sigh. No self control at ALL. greg mo

It's not the Blackhawk material, but Fresh Sound already has a box: See this. greg mo

Sure wish Mosaic would do a 60s follow-up to that one with all the Verve sessions (and maybe the RCA ones with Davis thrown in). Lots of great music there on the Verves which has never been reissued on cd. greg mo

Mel Torme, vol. 4 of the Proper Box, "Jazz and Velvet." Say what you will about Mel (and I've said plenty), but he really did sing well. greg mo

Scott Wenzel reassured me fairly recently that the Ellington Mosaic will be out next year. greg mo

I suggested that one to Mosaic as a Single one time, but didn't hear anything beyond "we'll look at it," which is their stock answer to irritants like me. I think it's a great album that really captures Hackett's gorgeous tone well, and I've always wondered if there weren't more things recorded at that session worth issuing. greg mo Lonehill is now releasing "Creole Cookin'" along with "Strike Up The Band", a nice 70's session with Hackett, Zoot Sims, Hank Jones, Bucky Pizzarelli, Richard Davis and Mel Lewis on cd. http://www.amazon.com/Strike-Up-Band-Creol...5217&sr=1-1 Thanks *very* much for this heads-up. Of course, I wish it was somebody other than Lonehill, but if that's the only place I can get it....sigh. greg mo

Lots of Chris Connor--complete Bethlehem on Fresh Sound, and the Collectibles box of seven of her Atlantic albums. Looking forward to hearing lots of great music from this late, great singer. greg mo

Yes, an interesting discussion, and one that happened before I discovered this group. While I don't imagine the "originators" necessarily want to take all this up again (!), I didn't see Wardell Gray mentioned in the discussion, probably because he came along toward the end of the 40s, but I'd be interested to know where some of you might think he "fits," if that's the right word. greg mo

LOVED this interview! Thanks for posting the link! greg mo

I thought I smelled something. greg mo

From memory, I think it was the album 12 Songs of Christmas, a mid-Sixties Reprise project. The five tracks featuring Sinatra are on the Reprise travelling case box. Right--my bad this time. I have so much Sinatra, I can't always remember what I have and where it is! Sure would be nice if someone would remaster the DVD stuff--like the Royal Festival Hall concert--and issue all of those in a single box. 'Course, there're also the TV shows.... greg mo

Perhaps hold out for this edition, then. It has a DVD of the 1971 Royal Festival Hall gig thrown in, so at least you might be getting something extra for your money. There's also a version with an older Christmas album with, of all people, Fred Waring! Have you seen that one?! I need to look and see if that material is on the Columbia Blue Box. Can't imagine when else it would have been recorded. greg mo

Love the Lighthouse recordings, most of them on Contemporary. Some fine Rosolino trombone on those. I think just about all of them have been reissued on cd haven't they? greg mo

Quite nice, but not worth buying a whole CD of material you already have in order to get it! Apparently it is a new (and newly recorded) Torrie Zito arrangement married with a 1984 vocal track for which the original arrangement proved unsatisfactory (so I really got my wires crossed when I misplaced it as a Capitol recording). There's a short video about the project here. Love the video--thanks for posting that! Kind of makes me wish they'd rearrange that whole album. I'll probably look for a used copy of the compilation cd. I'm hopeless when it comes to Sinatra. Have to have everything. greg mo

Sorry, Greg, my error. It's actually a Reprise version. But it's on the CD Nothing But the Best if you are looking for it. A better example of a recently released stray Capitol track would be the alternate of Nice n Easy which is on Romance: Songs from the Heart. In any case, there are others. I'd say the Capitol sessions have been treated adequately, but this is Capitol Sinatra! Adequate isn't really good enough. How is that version of "Body and Soul" by the way? I did some searching after I queried you and found the cd, but it's always aggravating to buy an entire cd just to get one track! It appears to come from the LA is My Lady sessions, but has been reset with a new arrangement? And yes, adequate isn't good enough when it comes to Capitol Sinatra! That said, I think their decision to issue the tracks in two boxes is defensible--keeping the Concepts albums together (albeit, as you pointed out, with occasional bonus tracks that don't quite fit the concepts), and issuing all the Singles on one set. My problem with the Reprise box is that it can be hard to isolate the original albums if one wants to, though I did once find a wonderful little website that helped me do that. The Columbia Blue Box, of course, is just way cool. greg mo

The Capitol albums badly need revisiting, I think. I'd like to see a boxed set along the lines of the upcoming Beatles ones: new mono and stereo remasters in mini LP sleeves. The RCA, Columbia and Reprise albums have all been handled perfectly in their respective boxed sets, but EMI's neglect of the Capitol albums stands out a mile. Well, they did do the Concepts and Singles boxes, which pretty well reissued everything. One can certainly argue with the quality of the sound (though it mostly sounds pretty good to me), and it would be way cool to have the mono pressings from the early stereo era, but those still strike me as pretty good boxes. Is your problem with the sound? greg mo Partly the sound, which is variable, but mainly the way the music is organised and annotated. With the other labels putting everything they have in one lavish box, in session order with excellent annotation and illustrations, it stands out that the Capitol material is sort of all over the place and carelessly presented. There are many odd tracks that are only available on "best of" compilations, such as Here Goes and Body and Soul, for example. Songs for Swingin' Lovers! still has that horrible band across the top of the cover explaining what a CD is ("Compact disc version of original full-length album"), Only the Lonely has a couple of bonus tracks that don't fit the concept, and so on. It's probably picky of me, but I think EMI's treatment of these famous sessions is kind of sloppy. It is true that the Capitol stuff is mostly concentrated in two boxes rather than one, and the bonus tracks could have been better organized. I'm curious, though, about the Capitol version of "Body and Soul." I don't think I have that one. What compilation is it on? I have the version Sinatra recorded for Columbia in '47 in the Blue Box, but I don't find the Capitol one. greg mo

One of my very favorite Monk tunes. greg mo

Thanks Chris! I think I understated my enjoyment of the blog. I'll enjoy it even more now that I can see it better! greg mo