gmonahan

Listening to it now. Music is fine, and I have no objection to the design of the cover, but the *packaging* is unbelievably cheap--skinny cardboard that was warped by the plastic wrap. Luckily, the disc itself was ok, but, really, they couldn't have sprung for a simple jewel box or even a slightly nicer digipac? gregmo

2-cd set from "essential" completes my collection of Ella's Deccas. Some schlock there, but some treasures too.

The Handy album was Columbia, but Sony owns both labels. As I remember, the new Mosaic set was going to include all of the RCA and Columbia studio stuff. gregmo

A Woman Under the Influence on Amazon Prime. Unbelievable performance by Gena Rowlands. gregmo

Disc 2

Music to nap to, but damn, is Hackett's trumpet gorgeous!

Hi Steve! The sites I was referencing are the "official" government ones. I imagine private/commercial ones are fine. My daughter once had to tangle with government sites trying to get a visa renewed. Downright Orwellian--and she's fluent in French! Like I said, I love the country and the language and the people--have lived there a few times--but French bureaucracy definitely has its own...er...character!! gregmo

Disc I. "Early Autumn" never disappoints, no matter how many times I hear it!

My daughter lives and works in France, and I've been there many times. I love the country...but...I think that, per capita, it may have the most infuriating websites on the planet! gregmo

Trying to get out of the hardware store in "Mad Mad Mad Mad World": a classic! RIP gregmo

Disc IV:

Interesting! Thanks for the response. I liked them because occasionally, they provided insights on what was going on at Mosaic (and because they once published a letter I'd written them asking about the process for leasing sets--remember when we used to write letters?!) gregmo

Purely as a matter of curiosity--understanding it's none of my business and you're free not to answer!--but I'm just wondering why do you want them? I mean, I have a bunch too, but that's largely because I'm just a hopeless packrat! gregmo

I've been exploring Ella's post-Webb work for Decca, and I happened on this from Variety. Looks interesting: Ella Fitzgerald Documentary. I don't think I've seen it mentioned here as yet. gregmo

Actually, those are my favorite tracks on the set. gregmo

Trying to amass all of Ella's Decca material is a bit of a challenge. Good stuff here, though.

Me neither. Discog shows it as a CD-R, and it's nowhere to be seen on Amazon. Boot?? gregmo