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gmonahan

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Posts posted by gmonahan

  3. 78 autochange players;

    in Miscellaneous Music

    Posted

    My grandparents had (and I now have it) a 1939 Motorola console radio/record player that had a changer (as well as a cool push-button radio selector for all those clear-channel AM stations!). It didn't work all that well, though. Would wear the hole in the 78, making it bigger and making the record unplayable.

    gregmo

  5. Mosaic warehouse closed

    in Mosaic and other box sets...

    Posted

    No clue, but some names that have been floated include Keith Jarrett (Atlantic), Miff Mole, and Lucky Thompson.

    Each of those could be very cool, especially Miff Mole! Talk about a forgotten master!

    As for Mosaic, we've been talking about its demise for years, and it's still here. The Recession is gradually ending...too gradually for sure...but ending. Assuming they come out of it in business, I bet they'll be around for a while. They've got great supporters on this Board and elsewhere too. Let's be optimistic!

    gregmo

  6. A Yodel For The Bear Family label ...

    in Miscellaneous Music

    Posted

    I've got their Carter Family box, but none of the other country sets--though two of my buddies here in B-town are waaaaayyy into the country sets. I'd like to eventually pick up the Johnny Cash conceptual-album Come Along and Ride This Train box... on the non-country side, would love to see a third Nat King Cole set that covered 1950-54, but I understand that's unlikely at this point.

    Oh, so would I. The two Cole boxes Bear has put out are really magnificent--complete and with incredible, beautiful books to go with them. A '50-'54 box, even in a smaller format, would be way, way cool.

    gregmo

  8. Portland Jazz Festival

    in Live Shows & Festivals

    Posted

    Anyone in the Portland area going to the Portland Jazz Fest this weekend?

    I saw the Mingus Big Band last night.

    Today is Dave Holland and Christian Wallumrod.

    Tomorrow-Pharoah Sanders (!) and Dave Douglas Brass Ecstasy.

    -Jeff

    Wish I could--live on the other side of the state--but I'm retiring there in a few years, and then I'll make that scene for sure! How was the Mingus Big Band?

    gregmo

  15. Billie Holiday Box Set on Verve

    in Mosaic and other box sets...

    Posted

    I find nothing "classy" about the Mosaic boxes. Unless one still has room on the old LP shelves, they are a bloody nuisance to store. Granted, it's great to not have the photos in miniature and to be able to read the notes, but a booklet half the size would do nicely, I think. I used to take the jewelboxes out of the big box and shelve them with the rest of my CDs. That may not have been the best system, for almost all my Mosaics were stole and I was left with only the outer boxes and booklets. :angry:

    Stolen??! OUCH! That would be really terrible! I do take the jewel cases out and store them with the rest of my cds, but I'd be undone if they got stolen! (And I keep the booklets on a separate shelf close to my listening chair!)

    gregmo

  16. Warne Marsh and Lee Konitz Live Boxed Set

    in Mosaic and other box sets...

    Posted

    Obviously, you ordered before me!

    I must have gotten lucky or something because I only placed my order Thursday night.

    I ordered it from Amazon. They say it should be here in a week and a half or so. Looking forward to it! Getting hold of those Storyville boxes can be an adventure.

    gregmo

    you guys are so spoilt!

    you can easily obtain recent Storyville releases through amazon.de (or amazon.fr - it's always worth comparing the prices, sometimes amazon.co.uk might be an option, too).

    we yurpeens order from the US often and just live with shipping costs of 10$ or so for a single crappy disc (and the jewel case will be uselessly crunched half of the time, too...)

    Spoiled? US?! :rolleyes:

    Actually, I'll be in Yurp for a few months starting next fall, so maybe I'll catch up on some of those Storyvilles!

    gregmo

  17. Billie Holiday Box Set on Verve

    in Mosaic and other box sets...

    Posted

    I guess my complaint about the Mosaic stems from the fact that they don't change their design at all from set to set. Elvin Jones is Bobby Hackett is Bix Beiderbecke is Anthony Braxton is Louis Armstrong is Sam Rivers is the Four Freshmen...you get the idea. The design is perfectly fine taken in isolation, but used a hundred times over? I think a little adventure wouldn't hurt. Maybe something to keep the same overall design and size but a tweak for each box? I don't know. I don't think the b&w look fits all boxes as well.

    I take your point, and I confess that I wouldn't mind having pictures of the original cover art like the best of the old Fantasy/Prestige booklets used to do. (Also wouldn't mind an alphabetical list of tunes.) To its credit, Mosaic does include the color cover art on the Selects. My guess is that with the big boxes, it's a combination of choice and cost. Color costs more, and there are presumably copyright issues with getting all the cover art. All that said, like others here, I love the black and white (as I think Mosaic obviously does). It gives the big boxes a certain cachet, and I sort of like the egalitarianism inherent in treating Sam Rivers with the same respect one does with Louis Armstrong!

    gregmo

  18. Billie Holiday Box Set on Verve

    in Mosaic and other box sets...

    Posted

    I kind of like the design. Actually, if you think about it, compare it to the Mosaic boxes. Unnecessarily large, unimaginative in that they all look almost exactly the same and use boring jewel cases, lacking color, etc. etc.

    Is this a response to my crack about the Evans box? If so, I think you're putting me on, but I'll bite. The large size of the Mosaic boxes permits larger photographs in the booklets, and the black and white is beautiful. The best photos ever taken of jazz musicians are in black and white, especially of most of those to whom the big boxes are devoted. As for the Evans box, nasty to open, hard to get the discs out, liners impossible to read. I long ago repackaged the cds in "boring jewel cases" and threw the box in a box...to rust away. I think most would agree that it represents the nadir of "high concept" packaging for reissues.

    gregmo

  19. LF: Tristano Marsh Konitz Mosaic box (affordable)

    in Offering and Looking For...

    Posted

    I didn't know about this material (from the Tristano estate on Jazz Records). Has any of it been reissued by other labels on cd, or is it all unavailable elsewhere? And, for those who have these records, I'd be interested in hearing about sound quality and particular recommendations!

    gregmo

    Some of it has been issued on boots at various times. I've got several of the Jazz issues. The two CDs of the early Tristano group (Birdland 1949 & Wow) are excellent musically, but rough sledding sonically - they were recorded on a wire recorder. Toronto 1952 had decent sound and is maybe the Tristano album I'd take to a desert island - phenomenal music by a quintet with Konitz and Marsh. Continuity is okay - the quintet session doesn't get to me as much as the Toronto recordings, and the fragmentary quartet session with Marsh is good, but the sound is not so great. Manhattan Studio is well-recorded, excellent trio music.

    But IMHO, the Toronto session is the one to get. Like I said, this might be my favorite Tristano album.

    Many thanks for the reply. I'll definitely look into getting some of these.

    gregmo

  22. Another Miles Box ...

    in Mosaic and other box sets...

    Posted

    What I don't quite get is that someone in some other thread said this wasn't legit but a rip-off from some Euro label... jazzecho.de is Universal's German page, and it gives Concord as the label (Universal is the distributor of Concord in Europe). Also someone (else) said the albums with Coltrane weren't included... of course they are (CD11-14).

    uhm, discs 10-14 or course, including "Miles" or whatever it's title was.

    and to me, having the stuff on disc 4 of the "Legendary Quintet" set official was enough to get it, eventually (I never had "Chronicles" though, I'd have had more doubts if I owned that one, I guess...)

    Hey, I was the one who made that erroneous claim about the set being not legit, where/when I saw it listed it said nothing of Concord and i thought it was just another out of copyright rehashing. I was wrong. I apologize.

    That said, this set holds no interest to me, I have the original Prestige box set and I have all these session in XRCD or K2 issues and I know when to stop in this instance. :)

    You stopped?? Lon? YOU? That's it; the Maya were right, the world really must be coming to an end!! :D

    gregmo

  23. Armstrong Complete RCA Set '97 vs. '01 edition.

    in Re-issues

    Posted

    I have the studio material here, from our Andorran friends. I picked it up from Berkshire Record Outlet on sale; I think it was $3/disc.

    51BT3VBQ6WL._SS500_.jpg

    When I was a teenager, my first real introduction to Louis was the summer he died, 1971. About 2 weeks after he died, RCA (I don't know how they did it) had in the stores a 2-LP set that was a retrospective of his RCA material. It had a white cover and was titled 1900-1971. I loved the '30's material, wasn't that crazy about the '40's, but throughout it all was Louis's personality.

    I had that 2-lp set too. I liked the 40s stuff better than the 30s stuff! Different tastes. Always particularly loved "Jack-Armstrong Blues," and, of course, Teagarden's majestic feature on "St. James Infirmary" from the Town Hall Concert from that period. What an amazing performance that was!

    gregmo

  24. Sinatra Song Often Strikes Deadly Chord

    in Miscellaneous Music

    Posted

    February 7, 2010

    Sinatra Song Often Strikes Deadly Chord

    By NORIMITSU ONISHI

    GENERAL SANTOS, the Philippines — After a day of barbering, Rodolfo Gregorio went to his neighborhood karaoke bar still smelling of talcum powder. Putting aside his glass of Red Horse Extra Strong beer, he grasped a microphone with a habitué’s self-assuredness and briefly stilled the room with the Platters’ “My Prayer.”

    Next, he belted out crowd-pleasers by Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck. But Mr. Gregorio, 63, a witness to countless fistfights and occasional stabbings erupting from disputes over karaoke singing, did not dare choose one beloved classic: Frank Sinatra’s version of “My Way.”

    “I used to like ‘My Way,’ but after all the trouble, I stopped singing it,” he said. “You can get killed.”

    The authorities do not know exactly how many people have been killed warbling “My Way” in karaoke bars over the years in the Philippines, or how many fatal fights it has fueled. But the news media have recorded at least half a dozen victims in the past decade and includes them in a subcategory of crime dubbed the “My Way Killings.”

    More

    Well, if it makes Philippinos feel any better, Sinatra shared their opinion of the song:

    -- "I hate this song -- you sing it for eight years, you would hate it too!" (Caesars Palace, 1978)

    -- "And of course, the time comes now for the torturous moment -- not for you, but for me." (L.A. Amphitheater, 1979)

    -- "I hate this song. I HATE THIS SONG! I got it up to here [with] this God damned song!" (Atlantic City, 1979)

    I share his opinion. When I do a Sinatra show on the radio, it's one I almost never play.

    gregmo

  25. Benny Goodman at Carnegie Hall

    in Artists

    Posted

    That's odd. I just clicked on it in your response, and it took me right there!

    Try again.

    BTW do I owe Barbara Woodhouse to you? If so, thanks and please note that I made the change. Which gives me an opportunity to test another link.

    I hadn't visited the blog in a while, so I enjoyed returning to it. I haven't heard the Jasmine version of the concert. Despite its "provenance," I do like the Definitive version. The Schaap is indeed a horror.

    gregmo

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