gmonahan

It's comforting somehow to know that my collection, which most of my friends regard as a product of uncontrolled addictive insanity, pales in comparison to yours. As for Yanow, where on earth does he keep 60,000?? In a warehouse? gregmo

This thread did cause me to wonder: Are any players today occasionally playing a C melody Sax?? gregmo

From the great period of Legacy reissues, an underrated album, I think:

Disc 2

Take the jewel cases out of the box and put them on the shelf with others, store the box, put the books on a separate shelf. To me, Mosaics are meant to be listened to, not stored away like jewels in a safety deposit box. gregmo

No idea how I ever missed this one, but this is a wonderful disc. 25 tracks from Louis' various appearances in film, and the sound is outstanding. But what I really adored was how much Teagarden there is, especially on the first 8 tracks from the (obscure!) movie "The Strip." As Will Friedwald writes in his very good notes, Teagarden virtually co-lead the All-Stars with Satch, and gets some very good solo/vocal time on the disc. There's also some good Hines and Bigard, aside from the Young/Hall group that appeared in "High Society." Only complaint: you have to read the notes to get personnels, but I recommend this one. gregmo

Thanks Chuck. I thought I remembered them being pretty early. gregmo

I think most, if not all, of the Columbia sides are spread across 4 Classics cds. Don't know about the Victors. Those were recorded early, weren't they? gregmo

Interesting reaction to "Rocketman." I thought it was better than "Bohemian Rhapsody." I liked how they took the music out of its original chronological order and used the themes to tell the story, and I thought Egerton did a fine job singing. But, to each his own!! gregmo

Disc V: The Great Basie Old Testament band in full flight!

Thanks for the heads-up, Lon. It appears that the Musicmasters cds only include four tracks with Django. Those four are also on JSP's "Django on the Radio," CD-A, so I'm wondering if that's it, or whether Savory got more. Of course, your post begs another question. IF the Estates agreed to these releases (they must have agreed to the Columbia box release), why on earth would they ok those--especially the small label releases--and not this one?? Arg!!! gregmo

Toward the end, he also mentioned that there are a number of Goodman recordings with Lester Young. I don't find any of those in the "On the Air" 2-cd set of Savory recordings issued by Columbia. Also an entire concert of Django Reinhardt with Duke Ellington. There are a few bits of their post-war tour together in the massive JSP Reinhardt collection, but not much. Sigh. gregmo

I was just listening and watching the presentation by Scott Wenzel on this set from the Mosaic Jazz Gazette, and he mentioned some of the Estates that wouldn't allow release: Benny Goodman first and foremost, but also Cab Calloway, Bunny Berigan, and Tommy Dorsey. Like many here, I continue to be flummoxed by these estates. Are they in abject poverty and think this would somehow put them on easy street? What kind of massive audience do they somehow imagine is out there? It's bizarre. gregmo

One of my very favorites!

I'm still working on that.... gregmo

Just showed on TCM. Fun little movie! Great special effect with they smash the nasty alien and he goes up in a puff of smoke! gregmo

Thanks for the response! gregmo

I just finished watching this too, and I agree completely. I thought it was outstanding. gregmo

The single review of this on Amazon says there's lots of distortion, and the sound sucks. Curious as to whether you agree?? gregmo

I just finished that one. Well worth a read, and he does a nice job of disentangling the legend of her death. From the same era, I'd recommend the autobiography attributed to Sidney Bechet, _Treat it Gentle_. It's a good read. Aside from that and several of the other suggestions made here, if you're at all interested in a biography of someone associated *with* the music, I liked Tad Hershorn's recent _Norman Granz: The Man Who Used Jazz For Justice_. gregmo

Well, *I* was all wet on that one!! Just shows that sometimes one sees what one *expects* to see, doesn't it?! gregmo

Me too!! gregmo

Making a little space, are we, there, Lon?! gregmo