gmonahan

I adore Toots. There are few artists whom I buy "on sight," that is, whose music I buy whenever and wherever I see it. Toots is one of those artists. My favorite is "Affinity," the album he did with Bill Evans, but they're all wonderful. Happy retirement, Toots! gregmo

Yeah, what's up with this? Suddenly, the new content found thing doesn't work, and I haven't done a thing with my settings! gregmo

It's reviewed in the newest issue of Down Beat by Ted Panken. He gives it a mostly positive review, though he does refer to Crouch's "florid argot" and finishes the review by recommending "Gary Giddins' authoritative, more linear" _Celebrating Bird_ for "impatient observers looking for the entire picture now." gregmo

GREAT post, Ricky! Like so many others, I'm following the progress on this one very, very closely. I visited the Armstrong house where I bought a bunch of your very fine Ambassador cds, and I'm really looking forward to getting this Mosaic set! gregmo

I had a similar problem to skeith. Ordered the Duke Ellington Treasury Shows. They shipped a little over a third of them, I waited, nothing, so I emailed them, and they told me they'd cancelled the order for the rest because they weren't in stock. Yesterday, I ordered the rest of them *again*. We'll see what happens. The prices are good, but I guess you get what you pay for. I'm liking the Treasury Shows that I did get! gregmo

Some of my favorite Pepper. gregmo

I have the Davies-mastered JSP box of their 30s recordings and enjoy it (and I love the two Basie albums). Is there some near-equivalent for the 40s Decca material? gregmo

I used to be one of those "Free Milt from the MJQ!" guys, but listening to the Mosaic set sort of turned me around. Interestingly, I caught this thread as I was listening to "Modern Jazz Quartet: Lost Tapes, Germany, 1956-1958" on SWRMusic (a Twilight Zone moment), and I too have trouble imagining the group without all its voices. In particular, I think Jackson and Lewis quickly developed a really lovely rapport. Particularly on the ballads, they interacted in very intricate and subtle ways, such that the performances would have been much the poorer without both of them (and Heath and Kay) working together. gregmo

Lots of pics of original keynote 78 labels, some in color, as well as some small thumbnail-size pics in color of original 78 album art and, on one page, thumbnails of 6 emarcy album covers taken from the Keynote material. It also comes with an insert with thumbnail (B&W) photos of every musician who played on the sessions. They also appear in the booklet along with a fair number of session photos. It's a cd-sized booklet, so it's all small. While I found the contemporary reviews of discs interesting as historical documents, I would have preferred a Mosaic-style analysis by a good liners-writer, but somehow, I don't quite expect to get that from Fresh Sound! gregmo

I think Medjuck's point is that the only person getting paid by Macy's is Irving Berlin's estate by way of ASCAP. gregmo

I liked the Carroll album, and didn't somebody point out it's his only "leader" album? One of the only ones anyway. It is an odd set, though, that's true. gregmo

I'm up to disc 4 on the set. The sound seems pretty good to me, but I'll bow on that score to the audiophiles on the list. I was fascinated by the book that came with it--a fairly good, if not overly critical, history of the label by (who else?) Jordi Pujol, who appears to have quite an affinity for Harry Lim. Lots of photos, some in color. For "notes" on the tracks themselves, he has used contemporary reviews of the original records from Metronome and Down Beat magazines. No doubt, this choice was dictated by the fact that he's cheap, but it's fascinating to read just how incredibly critical some of these reviews were. Packaging is similar to the Felsted box from a few years back. I'm glad I got it--lots of stuff I didn't have, and I have most of the "essential keynote" series on cd. gregmo

Yeah, that version of Porgy and Bess sort of left me flat too. 'Course, I've always adored the version by Satch and Ella. Any other version (including the one by Ray Charles and Cleo Laine) suffers by comparison to that one, IMHO. gregmo

I have to admit that the Hackett is not one I get off the shelf much. Beautiful tone, but--and it has been a while since I've listened to it--a bit sleepy, if memory serves. But the Herman First Herd Columbias? Essential! gregmo

Good Lord, Chris. All of them?! More like "C'est la mort"! I'd be in mourning for *years*! gregmo

Damn, Jim. Next you'll be telling us you don't like Kenny G! gregmo

Jimmy Lunceford: re-assessing the Decca Jazz GRP vs. the Decca Jazz Heritage series 'enhanced stereo' vinyl (1969): Since writing #8 above, I've A/B'd the Jimmy Lunceford tracks on both and consistently arrived at a surprising conclusion: If you can handle the slight reverb of its 'enhanced stereo', the Jazz Heritage vinyl provides more clarity, open air, and detail. The computerized NoNoise of the Decca GRP CD not only dampens the total sound but also muffles the instrumental solos and vocals. The result of this processing and re-equalizing depletes the ambient air so the Lunceford band sounds like it's in a closet full of clothing. While the seven bonus tracks on the CD are nice, the overall playback does not reward close listening. An interesting finding, but I think the new Mosaic trumps any other reissue of the Lunceford Deccas. It certainly does to these ears. gregmo

Haha, file those under "Seemed like a good idea at the time"? Ha - over here quite a few of the vols. from that Jazz Heritage Series (with exactly the same tracks in the same order) were reissued on German Brunswick in their "The Golden Swing Years" series in the mid-60s, strictly in mono and with no tampering. On the other hand those Decca Jazz Heritage LPs were very nicely compiled for their time and for some LPs from that Decca Jazz Heritage Series there just was no subsitute (that was compiled as well) in any other reissue series for a VERY long time - e.g. the Jan Savitt LP (DL 79243) (and as Trev no doubt will confirm this one has some great lindy hoppers' delights on it ... ) You're dead on about the Jan Savitt LP. It remains the only one in that series I still dig out on rare occasions, but the material from the others has mostly been reissued in far better sound on cd, thank goodness (well, maybe not the Woody Herman "Turning Point" volume??). That said, Milt Gabler did do a fine job on the compilations, and the liners were generally pretty good too. But the sound. Oh my. gregmo

That was sadly the case with many cd reissues from the early 90s. I think engineers were so enamored of the "silence" of cds that they sometimes neglected to realize that a little noise could hide a lot of music. That got corrected later, but by then, some of the big labels had already "done" their work and were not interested in going back and doing it again. Mosaic did (look what they've done with the cd remasters from the GRP Decca Jazz Chick Webb, for example), as did Jasmine and a few small labels, but, well, so it goes. Look at it this way--the GRPs were FAR superior to the old re-processed stereo disasters of the ancient Decca Jazz Heritage Series on LP! gregmo

A friend and colleague of mine who is a fine jazz pianist in his own right recently published a book on Ellington as pianist entitled _Duke Ellington as Pianist: A Study in Styles_. I thought some out there might be interested so here is the url: http://www.music.org/index.php?option=com_hikashop&ctrl=product&task=show&cid=60&name=volume-24-duke-ellington-as-pianist-a-study-of-styles&Itemid=108&fb_action_ids=10201772651095420&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map={%2210201772651095420%22%3A585514004852530}&action_type_map={%2210201772651095420%22%3A%22og.recommends%22}&action_ref_map=[] gregmo

Great clarinet too, difficult although he no doubt was, BG could certainly play some. True that! gregmo

I just figured you were riffing on the getting old line!! gregmo

That particular program (with Diahann Carroll and the Fifth Dimension) is available as part of volume 3 (entitled "Primetime") of the 7-DVD set, "The Frank Sinatra Concert Collection." It's a good set. That particular ballad was part of a four-ballad medley, "Glad to Be Unhappy," "Here's That Rainy Day," "It Never Entered My Mind," and "Gone with the Wind." It aired on 15 November 1968. gregmo

So, working for Benny Goodman was not, after all, the worst experience of her life! Definitely one of the greatest of the classic big band singers. gregmo

I was wondering where this one went. Thanks, Lon, for the reminder, and especially, thanks Ricky for your hard work AND for joining us on the Board to keep us up to date! gregmo