Shrdlu

I think this is seriously bad news. Universal is not a friend of the jazz lover. We have all relied on the constant availability of the OJC series and the various great boxed sets, and made BN and Japanese CDs a higher priority. I would suggest that, if there are any OJCs that you have been meaning to get "one day, but there's no rush", you make plans to order them as soon as you can. I hope that I'm wrong, but I am pretty sure that I'm right.

In the manner of Steven Wright: I wish everyone all the best for Thanksgiving. I have plans for a big turkey meal with all the family.

Man, what a huge fuss about a recording! It's just a record of a few guys having a blow, not the Bohr theory of the atom. Maybe this should go into the Politics section, which I decided to avoid today.

I think you all are right, but, you know, my LP --> CDr copies, made with Musicmatch, sound so close to the vinyl, and so much better than even a 24 bit Japanese CD, that I would be very happy to play the CDrs. The problem is the time it takes to do the transfers, which have to be done in real time, of course. I do play a lot of vinyl, though. The comments about wear, if you look after an LP, are right. I have never put many marks on an LP. It is easy to take care of them. I just wish that the used LPs that I buy had been looked after properly. Time and again, a NM or VG+ LP arrives here loaded with crackles, and then I have to chase the sellers up. Most are pretty helpful about it. Does anyone agree that Columbia LPs seem to have lasted better than, say, Impulse or Verve LPs? I have recently picked up some Brubeck Columbias in superb condition, but usually when other labels get here, they are pretty noisy. Perhaps one can't expect clean vinyl from smaller companies that probably didn't release many copies of their albums. Any comments on this?

I am more than happy with the stereo U.S. CD of Trane with Hartman. Sounds great, to me. My LP was stereo, too. I don't think I've ever heard that album in mono. When it was first released, stereo had just about completely taken over. Rudy has a bit of a bee in his bonnet about mono, especially for the Hackensack recordings. I like the stereo versions of those, and was surprised to hear that they are not considered to be well mixed or balanced.

Am I alone in this? I have always felt that Cannonball did not fully realize his potential after leaving Miles. So I would say that none of his albums were his best. I am not putting him down as a musician or a man. There is no question that he was an absolutely superb alto saxophonist. Not only was he a great, but he also played in tune! So many altoists have had miserable intonation. This remark does not mean that I don't greatly enjoy his albums. I don't think I've ever heard a bad one.

Here's a beauty for you: get ahold of a very old Duke Ellington recording, circa 1929, called "I Can't Realize You Love Me". That vocal is like the old Goon Show on the radio in the U.K. in the 50s. Even allowing for the style of the time, ...

That's the way to go, Lon. There are just too many CDs out there in several different versions, and one can't spend all of one's time tabulating what's "best" (note the quotes there). I don't think I've heard very many CDs that really stank. And, don't tell anyone, but the difference between vinyl and CD is not all that huge for me. (Yes, there is a difference, but can you concentrate on it all the time?)

That eBay false bidding scam is repulsive and unethical of course, Leeway, but the silly bidders (the real ones) should not have bid more than they were willing to pay. That way, the items would have closed with no real bids and the sellers would not have received a penny, and would also have had to pay the eBay percentages of the final "bid" amounts. This does not justify what the crooks did, but people have only themselves to blame if they over-bid for something.

The main problem is that some sellers are either ignorant about LP vinyl grades, or just crooks. There is a mixed bunch out there. In the last few years, I have picked up quite a lot of very quiet-sounding LPs (mainly ones that have not been reissued on CD). They would be officially described as NM or VG+ (which is as low as I am prepared to go). But you get sellers who give a detailed description, in addition to the grading letters, and it's just a flat lie. Example: "only a few minor visible marks that do not affect play", plus "no crackle" (in response to a direct question from me), and then the LP arrives and it's just scrap vinyl, covered with deep scratches, unbearable to listen to. I always send those straight back, of course. If you want an LP of a particular album, and are prepared to persist, then you will get one, unless it was a rare album with few copies made.

I really like the mini-LP covers, ASNL, and wish that I could get one for each BN album. When they did Herbie Hancock's "Speak Like A Child", the mini-LP concept even extended to their doing it in gatefold, just like the original. That one is terrific. I also like the sound on it. Other great-sounding JRVGs (to me) are the first four Jackie McLean albums, Tony Williams' "Spring", and Sonny Clark's "Leapin' And Lopin'". I have played all of these many times, and really like them. Generally, though, my favorite BN CDs are the "Blue Note Works" series, called TOCJs since the days of that galaxy.

It's a bit different from what you are talking about, but when I was in South Africa, I discovered Rooibos "tea". This is not the same as regular tea, but is a herb tea, made from the leaves of a bush. (Rooibos is Afrikaans for "red bush".) It is caffeine-free, by the way. I spotted it in a health-food store recently, and it was great to be reunited with it. It comes in a superb retro box with a kids' tea party theme. My kids laughed at it and said "What's that?" Give it a try. I think you'll like it.

Well, I always knew that the E.U. was a lot of devilish nonsense, but this really takes the cake! That there would be E.U. regulations about something like this is so idiotic that it's probably true, and not a put-on. The famous English writer Malcolm Muggeridge resigned as Editor of Punch magazine because he found that the real world was far more ridiculous than any satirical article that they could come up with. He is no longer with us, but would have added this to his list of reasons, I'm sure.

As "Latin Shadows" was arranged by the great Gary McFarland, I wonder if it was Gary who encouraged her to include a vocal - he having felt an urge to sing on his own recordings a couple of years earlier. I base this partly on the fact that Zoot Sims sings on "Waiting Game", which was also arranged by Gary, and also recorded for Impulse, and recorded at about the same time. This would be similar to Pops encouraging Diz and Clark Terry with their vocals.

Aren't those in the Riverside box set?

Thanks for that huge list, Chaney!

Seen Jay Walking recently?

All so far have been copied into a file. More, please!

The appearance was far too short, for a comedian of that caliber. The rest of the show was just airhead filler - such things as an 80 lb pumpkin being blown up outside the studio, yet. Yet another reason why I don't watch much TV anymore. Seems to me that when digital appeared, the supply of reasonable-quality programming pretty well dried up. I'm not demanding Marsterpiece Theartah type stuff, just stuff that's nice to watch when I want to relax and unwind. But that's what CDs and LPs are for.

What you are saying is you were late to the game. Why blame Mosaic? I have all of these.

This is in the Arnold Fishkind category.

He is a reasonably good English baritone player, but I wouldn't have bid a penny over 589 pounds for that album.

As has been said before, these heavy hitters on eBay are a pain. It is their privilege, of course, to bid over three large for an old Jackie McLean LP, and best wishes to the seller, but it's just nuts. There's a guy in Japan, with an unlisted eBay rating yet, who drowns out ordinary bidders. His top bid does not show up, as no-one can keep up with him. I guess he just sticks in something like $1000 and leaves it to scoop the pool. Oh well, most of us have lots of other things to listen to, and we can even unmute CNN.

This is another Mosaic set that was perhaps put out too early - by this I mean that it was all over before a lot of people who would like to buy it knew about it. Must they really never issue a set again? Other obvious ones in this category are the Jones-Lewis set, and the Larry Young.