Big Beat Steve

Honestly, Spanish and French are not quite as far removed from each other as Spanish and English are (though, as for the latter problem, I'd rather not go into the question of which language factually still is THE "lingua franca" in today's world ...). However, if the protesting spirit seen elsewhere at this event continues then THAT pairing might raise more than a bit of protests by the French if they should decide to follow the "role model" of the Serbians (who were stupid enough to infer that the referee in the match against Switzerland was biased on grounds of nationality because "as everybody knows, part of Switzerland is a GERMAN region" - I have a hunch I know what the Swiss living in this region would have to say about THAT insinuation ... )

If you remember that war, maybe you also saw that cartoon circulating at the time (at least in Spanish satirical mags): An angry flock of the MAJORITY inhabitants of the island holding up a huge sign proclaiming: "LAS MALVINAS SON PINGÜINAS!°"

For your convenience: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTFEfbzc7dRX7O9xwRe_fPxS1CpZOTLJv (Opening track - third-streamish - to start with, others clickable on the right) Am just listening to my orig. copy (signed by The Man himself - "To Milt for a real happy 15 minutes" - BTW) and find it quite enjoyable for what it is.

Hey, his LP on MODE ain't that bad ...

Compared to the Body & Soul track on the Saga LP, the fidelity IS better but still I am a bit puzzled in this case since this is a standalone track and not part of a full set. And given that the Savory discs must include a LOT more music never issued before anywhere I find the priorities a bit odd. No to mention that a set of 3 or 4 more tracks could easily have fitted on disc 4, for example.

Working my way through the set (re-listening to disc 2, in fact- for the pleasure of it) and enjoying it a lot. Though i must say I am a bit baffled by some details of the track selection (realizing that the following will come across as nitpicking and of course it is only a very minor quibble but still ...). No doubt these 6 CDs hold only a small fraction of the never-before-released music discovered on those metal discs (not even counting the Goodman items). So what is the idea of reissuing tracks that have indeed been reissued before, I wonder? There aren't many but there are a handful - e.g. the Bobby Hackett 1940 version of "Body and Soul" on dics III. The Fanfare LP this was released on and a UK release on Saga aren't that hard to find. So why would this track be that mandatory? Was there such a dearth of Bobby Hacket unissueds? Nothing against Bobby Hackett but no doubt there must be much else to be disocoverd out there ... Similarly for "Liza", the Chick Webb flagwaver issued on JA-33. Was there no other new Chick Webb ripe for inclusion beyond what is on that set? (In this case I'd understand the inclusion somewhat, assuming they wanted to present ALL surviving tracks (assuming they are all?) from the program and not refer people to an OOP LP from 1976 for the rest, but still ...) On the other hand, the liner notes detailing the highlights of the discoveries mention performances that do not actually seem to appear on the set. E.g. that mention of the "forgotten tenor saxist Tony Zimmer of the Larry Clinton band" (or was he named Zimmers? cf. "Lost Chords"). Now if Glenn Miller rates inclusion in this set (and according to the liner notes not even with the hottest all-out swingers) then a sampling of Larry Clinton would have been worthy of it too? Just being puzzled ... but like I said, minor points ...

That's what happened to me yesterday. Normal procedure and to be expected ... and if the invoice attached inside the red plastic sheet on the outside of the parcel had indicated the full amount I would stil have been asked to pay VAT at the customs office because the threshold was exceeded by far. And so nothing gained and the same one way or another ... It will make a difference if you know the total is below the threshold where VAT/Import duty becomes due but not if the total is higher. That one incident where they collected the import duties due at my door was one case quite a few years back (no idea if the laws have changed since) and there definitely was a hefty extra handling fee collected at the same time. For an unsolicited service ..

An all too well-known situation. Over here the threshold used to be some $25 and shipping fees were NOT subject to customs fees, just the value of the goods. Then the state decided they needed to "levy more revenue" and abolished the threshold in the sense that once the value exceeded this threshold the ENTIRE amount became subject to duties, not just the amount exceeding the threshold, and on top of this the shipping costs were charged too. Happened a couple of years ago but like you correctly say, it still is a reason to feel that if anybody is being ripped off it is not the state.

I must admit I cannot quite figure what the bone of contention is to Neveronfriday. Is it OK to be asked to pay the customs fees due or isn't it? The way I have experienced things it makes no difference if they indicate the ACTUAL value or if no value is indicated at all or if the value indicated is so low that this alone makes things look suspicious. Even in the "worst" case you never pay more than the actual fees due. And sometimes items just slip through and you are lucky. I don't know about other regions of this country (though I doubt that the law differs by regions) but I'd HATE to have the carrier (who delivers the parcel) or postman collect my import duties at the door. I have had this happen to me ONCE years ago with a shipment from the US and this meant that in addition to the import duties (applicable VAT on the total purchase price, i.e. item price plus shipping) I had to shell out for a handling fee that was not exactly negligible (not sure if it was as high as the 28.50 EUR I mentioned in the Savory thread but it was a handful). I certainly can do without this because I'd feel like I seriously overpaid in that case. And usually I manage to go to the customs office within the 10-day storage period when I have some business or shopping to do in the same area so it's not that much of a fuss. As for Neveronfriday doubting my statement that this experience was neither better nor worse than with other shipments form the US - if you have been dealing with US sellers for about 18 years (mostly through eBay which runs the whole gamut from pros to mom and pop affairs to downright clueless characters) you could write a book about it ... Yet strangely what happened on the customs side very often was unrelated to how professionally the seller had handled his part of shipping (and many of thse sellers declared the customs values - e.g. on the green slip - on the low side). I actually remember cases where I received 3 or 4 separate shippings (of identical size etc.) of "bulk" orders from one and the same seller in the US where half of them ended up with me having to go and pay customs duties whereas the others were delivered to my door with no questions asked. It's all part of the game to me so you just have to take it in stride if you want the stuff ... Anyway .. I am surprised about what Mikeweil said about asking Mosaic specifically to attach copies of the invoice to the package. I'd have figured they have a standard procedure that they adhere to, particularly now that shipping is handled by an outsider. The $15 quoted on my parcel in fact is on a form called "CN23 Customs Declaration". Looks like the kind of paperwork intended for customs processing. I did not ask for that low amount and would not have been surprised if the customs people had doubted that amount. But in fact they seem to have ignored it because the letter I received told me that NO value had been given on the parcel and I therefore had to come collect the parcel at the customs office, invoice in hand. Some you win, some you lose ...

Well, looking at the finer print on the shipment sticker I did notice that my Savory box set was shiped with an indicated value of $15. Conveniently overlooked by the customs people here, maybe because more stickers (by the 3rd party shipper and by Swiss Mail that was brought into play for no good reason at all) were stuck on the OTHER side of the parcel. All in all not better and not worse than how many US shippings fared en route over here. Sometimes you pay customs duties, sometimes the item slips through. And since the set still is not listed with Jazzmessengers and judging from how comparable Mosaic box sets are priced there, I ended up paying maybe 5 euros more (customs fees included) than what a purchase from Jazzmessengers likely would cost me. I guess I will survive that ... Yet these Asendia people need to clean up their act and learn something about overseas shippings and about dealing with their counterparts in the ACTUAL country of destination, not some third-party country that only causes detours and delays.

Thanks for putting into words what I really couldn't think of at the tine. Boxy and awkward dancing indeed. Whatever you tap your feet to, it's not to her dancing.

Listeing ot disc I now. I really cannot say I am underwhelmed by the Fats Waller tracks but apart from the fact that fidelity seems to be better on this one I'd rate this set set on a level with other live recordings of his that have been on the market for a long time, e.g. his "Live At The Yacht Club" LP on Giants of Jazz (GOJ 1029) which in fact was recorded only a few days before the Savory tracks at the same place. In short, Waller is what Waller is and the performances are very enjoyable (and a nice addition to his discography) but not out of this world. And I agree about the silliness of that "jolly joshing" remark. Where and what would Fats Waller be if he hadn't thrown in his bits of fun? So, Mr liner note writer - man, be glad he was no groaning Keith Jarrett!

"Handling fee" on top of the customs duties? They tried to cheat me out of that too here. If I had not wanted to go collect the parcel at the customs office (a 10 to 12-mile drive, except that today it was more due to several construction sites and detours en route) I could have had the customs clearance handled by the postal office - for a fee of a whopping 28.50 euros (on TOP of any customs fees - i.e. VAT - due). No thanks.

Prime candidate for the next Darwin Award ...

Was able to collect my set from the customs office today - exactly 4 weeks in transit. Oh well ... that was to expected, given the detour via Switzerland and Swiss Mail (discussed in passing in the Mosaic "trouble" thread). Two remarks: Very pleased to see some Basie recordings from that Randall's Island open air concert have finally come to light. Ever since watching that footage in the Ken Burns documentary where they say that unfortunately no recordings were known to exist I figured this was something you'd sure like to get the soundtrack of. Now this has been partially taken care of. On another aspect, I found the packaging box of the set a bit on the skimpy side. Well wrapped in bubble wrap but not so much round the edges but rather on top and bottom, and as the box set just oh so narrowly fitted very sungly inside the cardboard box, dinged or split corners really were only a small step (of postal manhandling) away. Beware, and something maybe to give some thought to (given how finicky most collectors - understandably - are about the condition of the Mosaic box itself too). A shipping box that is slightly larger, offering more space for all-round bubble-wrap really could not have done any harm. BTW, my set is #549 FWIW.

Why not do it the other way round? Do a discography of "collected accompanying noises". I think the grunts by Oscar Peterson would come in an honorary second. Seems to be a topic of some concern: http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/the-groaning-jazz-pianists-thread.62376/ http://observer.com/2015/12/the-great-groaning-pianists/ etc.

Prestige LP 181 is on 12in LP 7085 (When Farmer Met Gryce) - along with the contents of LP 209. Prestige LP 177 and 193 are on the New Jazz LP 8258 you show above but also on Prestige 7665 with identical contents. Reissued often.

Say it in full: "Jo...! Que lío!" Well, nobody can say this is a championship for the faint-hearted ... I guess everybody over here who's halfway objective will have to say the German team had it coming to them. They just did not get their act together. My family watched while I was tinkering away intn he garage, and the way they just told me, sometime during the first half the speaker on German TV told the spectators "Make no mistake, you are watching the match in real time, this is NOT a slow-motion replay!" Isn't that telling?

Despite his mishap, Rudy's had his share of leg pulling (again ... ) in the media here: http://www.sueddeutsche.de/sport/rudy-wm-maske-1.4030305 For those who don't understand German: (subtitle:) "Sebstian Rudy is looking forward to his protective face armor. Not just because of his broken nose .... " Pic 1: Mail for little Rudy: "Hey Rudy, your face mask has arrived!" (Rudy: "At last ...") Pic 2: "Cool! Such a gleaming, black nose armor sure will make me look much more martial and intimidating ...!" Pic 3: (No words needed ... )

Just listened to a discussion panel of experts on this match on French radio (my radio in the garage is always tuned to Europe 1 for background entertainment and distraction - and keeping up with the language too - when I work on one of my collectible cars - my other collecting hobby ). Though I only listened with maybe half or two thirds of an ear , the key points in the experts' views (incuding Guy Roux, a legend among French coaches) were that apart from the fact that the Danish team appeared to be very "solid" (meaning, from the way they stressed it, that they were very ... eh ... broad-shouldered compared to the Latin-type team of French players ), the French team lacked a real team effort, as if the motivation of the individual players, many of whom earn top star salaries in their league teams, wasn't quite what it ought to have been in the national team. Dembelé, for example, was singled out, and one commented that given the huge millions he earned from his transfer to Barcelona one would have been entitled to see a bit more action from him in this, the national team. Another one commented that the match may have been all about tactics, with France specifically playing for a draw so as not to risk losing the match and ending up in a group they do not quite want to be in. So that's a bit of what they think in their home country ...

It's already been introduced in the German Bundesliga - with mixed results, reactions and satisfaction.

Now that you describe it, I do remember that scene. So I pulled out my VHS cassette and watched that sequence. Somewhere through that sequence piano and bass come in too but the drummer is very much in the foreground throughout. The music is effective as background to that film scene but on its own? Not so sure. A criticism that had been levied at the soundtrack in period reviews, BTW. Personally I tend to disagree in the case of the other tracks but here it indeed is so that the music on its own doesnt do much overall IMO. In short, a track for completists only.

Indeed. I bought the 26-track CD (single CD, including everything from the item above except 'L'Interrogatoire de Julien") from a rack of budget-priced CDs in a shopping center in France last year. Same cover pic as on the set under the Discogs link above. I cannot make detailed comments about the sound quality (whcih basically is OK to me). The only other reissue of this I have is on an LP I bought new in 1983 (Italian Philips) - the 10 soundtrack tunes on one side and the soundtrack of "Des Femmes Disparaissent" on the other. I haven't listened to other reissues so do not feel qualified to judge.

I doubt that they sent me your tracking number. My item is still listed as being in transit. My point is that to the best of my knowledge Swiss Post does not do parcel deliveries on German territory. So even if Swiss Post in turn has some sort of cooperation agreement with DHL for cross-border shippings, involving them in this case where they have no point being involved at all because Switzerland is no transit country for US-German shippings can only mean detours and delays. Senseless ....

Weeelll .... I was half tempted to add a post in the Savory box set thread about eagerly waiting for the shipping to arrive, but seeing this post by neveronfriday (hey, never knew you live in this neck of the woods, more or less ... ), I just had to chime in with another status report re-Mosaic shippings: Ordered the Savory set on 31 May, received an order confirmation from Mosaic on 1 June, an order forwarding (shipping) confirmation from Mosaic on 7 June, communication with Scott Wenzel was good and prompt , no complaints at all. Spot on. Then on 7 June a shipping notification from this William B Meyer company arrived, including a tracking number which initially did not show up any details of the actual status of the parcel. So far, so good - was to be expected that this would take its time. Then, on checking 2 days ago, the tracking details (handled by "Asendia" - who??) said that after receiving the shipping information on 12 June (what hapened to the parcel between 7 and 12 June, but never mind ...) the shipment seems to have left the "origin border point" (read, the US of A, innit?) on 14 June. But then ... while no more status info has been added to the page since then and though the destination country "Germany" is clearly indicated, the info under the "Postal tracking #" now reads: " Asendia has partnered with Swiss Post for final mile delivery of your parcel ", and when clicking on the POSTAL tracking number a page comes up with the logo of SWISS POST at the top (i.e I am on a website in Switzerland now) WTF?? I am of course keeping my fingers crossed about the parcel showing up eventually and safely but I am more than a little surpised by this turn of things. Do those who handle shipping "stateside" realize that these are two different countries? What's the business of SWISS Post with delivering a parcel coming from the US for delivery to Germany? What kind of order processing is this? In about 18 years of ordering regularly from the US I have never seen such bizarreries. DHL (operating internationaly) - yes, but Swiss Post for an item that does not even go though Switzerland? As for having to go to the customs office showing an actual invoice and pay the fee, no big surprise, this can happen and I am more than half expecting this here with an item of this bulk. It just is anybody's guess which parcels slip through under the customs radar (including if the value ahs been declared low or not at all). I've been lucky a number of times so the overall ratio is bearable but the delay this will inevitably cause (King Ubu is right about the 2 weeks' span - same here) is annoying indeed.