Big Beat Steve

Again ... following up on what Scott D. said - the way I understand all this debate it still isn't about not getting items as fast as from Amazon. I guess anybody in his right senses can and will live with the fact that they might take longer to ship - provided that he knows what he is up against! To me it rather seems to be that shipping promises are made ("will ship within X days") and then these promises are not kept and you don't even know what's happening because you do not hear from the "shipping service" either and cannot contact them. So it looks like it's become a bit of a hit and miss affair of whether you get your stuff the way you have been told you would (and of whether you will be made aware of any problems/delays etc. or not). Now what baffles me in all these testimonials is this: If this entire reissue project is such a labor of love (and I will concede any time it STILL is to them today) then can you really afford to let things slip in that one place where you can get the MONEY that will keep you afloat and (hopefully) not only allow you to make ends meet but to actually make some money, i.e. in the selling and SHIPPING department? Is there any sense in creating a bottleneck (or allowing one to happen) right there in this not so unimportant area to your entire business venture? Is it really wise to create the impression (correct or not) that in this entire project order handling and shipping is being treated as a sort of tedious afterthought? Because even if you are swamped with orders at one point, getting the word out ANYWAY to those concerned what's happening and how and why there is a delay is a KEY factor in making people understand (and I guess if they did they could could count on everybody understanding). But leaving things in a limbo by not communicating the status of the orders maybe is not the best idea.

Thanks! Though in the case of Ray Conniff I would not even be half as surprised (or "in pain"). But "Basie playing the Ray Conniff songbook" (or something like that)? Uh oh ....

Yikes .... VERY "period-ish" indeed. Among my dozens of other Basie LPs I have a couple of Basie items from that period too (e.g. those "Baise Way" LPs on Command) but not this (and would not go out of my way., I guess). But if you're in the mood it is bound to be fun ... Though that "Happiness Is .." really is a PAINFUL way to start off ... Can you imagine lyrics that are more contrived than this ...?

Sh.t ..... Those boxes hold more prerecorded jazz cassettes than I've probably ever seen in any record shop through that "cassette" period at any specific moment in one place. Those prerecorded cassettes always were a total niche thing here, particularly in the jazz field. I think the only place where I ever saw more than 5 or 6 jazz items at one time was at our local library.

Reading this as an interested observer (I did not buy many Mosaic items through the years and those that I DID buy were bought from resellers/shops. BUT ... While I would be prepared to cut Mosaic some slack too (like I have done with other mom-and-pop operations in other cases and fields) the gist of all these threads sounds like this to me: Ever since they outsourced their shipping operations things decidedly went downhill. I can understand those who get sort of uneasy about this, seeing that they paid what is no giveaway price for their goods. And if I cared about my business and the product I make available I would not allow this to happen to that extent (in fact it's not just that I wouldn't allow this to happen - I cannot AFFORD to let this happen - I am half of a 2-person office myself and have to see to it that my customers get their stuff on time too). So isn't it about time they get their hired serfs out there in those warehouses to clean up their act - fast?

Indeed. Flourishes (on an admittedly limited scale) over here too (ever since its outburst in the mid-90s) and it IS fun and very worthy of encouragement. And it introduces people to jazz (centered on PARTNER-dancable jazz styles, of course, but there's nothing wrong with that anyway). I had wondered about this aspect in this discussion too but had refrained from bringing it up (I did it before elsewhere) because you know there'd invariably be those who consider al this "old hat" "imitation", "superficial" - whatever high-brow, snobbish attitudes there are out there ... There is far more to this than that, though, as long as it introduces people to one or the other style of jazz (which it does), reminding everyone willing to learnand listen that today's jazz need NOT be all "far out" at all if it is to be labeled "jazz". There ARE more strains and styles in jazz than that, even today, and as long as there are bands that play the music (and make it EVOLVE because outside "dixieland" the days of copycats are largely over anyway) even those "older" styles of jazz will continue, even if only on a niche scale. I've witnessed programs where Norma Miller appeared in those circles of lindy hop dancing clubs, teachers and fans, giving on-stage interviews etc., and she seemed very supportive of that scene. Not to forget Frankie Manning who went out of his way to teach and encourage generations of dancers (who could have been his grand-children) at events and dance camps almost everywhere with incredible stamina almost up to the day he died in his mid-90s. So no need to be condescending about that subculture ...

You've got a PM.

I have it on a VHS cassette that I could probbly copy onto a DVD but the movie is not exactly a first-generation copy. It was copied from some foreign TV station showing a long time ago and I don't know after how many intermediate copies it ended up on that cassette friends in France gave me in the early 90s to copy the movie for myself. It IS watchable, though. (BTW, the Youtube excerpts from that movie aren't really in much better picture quality either) As for the contents - ho hum ... trying to squeeze the older-generation stars into some (non-?) plot around how to cope with (and rein in??) R'n'R. To be taken with a fair grain of salt and just for the fun of it as a document of its times. Though I can see you'd like to watch it for Cal Tjader (right? ).

What you definitely can say right now is that she is better at playing tennis than her sister is at driving a car.

Nice one . Nice series complementing the oft- (very oft-) heard Christian recordings. .

Ouch. I should have known that. Last week I came back from 12 days of holidays about 50 kms west of Montpellier. Not an impossible distance from Sommières (in fact I even drove through that place in May last year one Saturday morning when I was near Nimes for another event during our holidays in the region!).

I know you cannot accommodate everything but just maybe to reduce multiple features of one and the same father/son duo (and offer some instrument contrasts), wouldn't there have been room for a track featuring Jimmy and Doug Raney?

When accessed from here, the listing quotes an INTERNATIONAL shipping price of some $108. This would work out at just over $4 per LP to buyers from here and would even be tempting at that price per item (even if you'd have to allow for customs duty on top of that total - 20% or so). But I am VERY wary of that shipping figure being correct for a bunch of FORTY-NINE LPs.

I cannot add to what others said of the Dragon CD series as I have only one of them to fill specific gaps (I already had three of the four Gullin LPs on Dragon - the Moretone Singers are less essential to me - as well as the old Metronome 2-LPs sets which got me started on Gullin etc.) but another session you might like to get (no idea if it is part of the Dragon CD series) are teh January, 1956 recordings with Lee Konitz and Hans Koller done for the (Italian) Carisch label.

A bit late to the game (holidays ..) but as the Vanguard mainstream jazz series from the 50s (all artists) has for a long time been one of those favorites that I tended to pick up unheard-unseen ... ... the above description reads a bit like an earlier (70s) vinyl reissue on (French) Vanguard (double LP VSD 103/104, i.e. basically same catalog number, and also titled "The Essential Buck Clayton") distributed by Musidisc, except that the only "haphazard" aspect of it is that the tracks are not in the session/original LP order but alternated at random. But it has ALL the music from the three original LPs (Buckin' The Blues, Buck Meets Ruby and one with Mel Powell). So everything is there. The original Vanguard 10" LPs released on those mainstream swing veterans or newcomers (of which I have some, either UK pressings or Austrian Amadeo-Vanguard) have been reissued at least twice in the UK on vinyl, first in the 70s on a Vanguard reissue label (labeled "Recordings for the Connoisseur", like the Musidisc-Vanguard of Buck Clayton above too) distributed by RCA and the on UK Vogue (distributed by Pye) around 1980. Haven't bothered checking Bruyninckx but the Buck Clayton recordings might have been reissued there too. To me those vinyl packagings looked relatively comprehensive and seemed to make sense the way they were compiled (as for the nondescript Vogue sleeve "art"work - oh well ... signs of the times ...). Liner notes of those UK reissues were by Albert McCarthy and Raymond Horricks so I guess theys got the lineups correct too.. Maybe those vinyls would be the way to go for those not dead set on CD and looking for a specific Vanguard artist and who cannot find the original 10" releases?

I'd vote for this pic of his: Not sure if this reminds me of some druid from the highlands or of the reincarnation of that Catweazle character from the TV series (the Catweazle actor died not long ago, BTW). To take two extremes, let Setright and Max Jones take the podium together and they'd be sure to grab the audience's attention by their visual presence alone.

Well, would you consider a band that came on like this (see below - "The Joystrings") to be the ultimate in 60s hipness, relaxedness and coolness?

Yes, a very good read. Brings that era to life to us later-borns ... That description of Ralph Venables wearing white gloves when junking had me smile ... I remember happening upon such a chap in white (then slightly dusty) gloves upstairs at Mole Jazz during one of my visits sometime in the 90s. Cannot have been him, though - he was younger (but very much "out of this world" too). BTW, I never knew Ralph Venables later made his mark in motoring journalism - knowing his name I think I would have noticed, particularly since the motoring writer's faction of that era had its share of "characters" too - L J K Setright, to name just one ...

The "77" label name is something of a code word or "insider's joke" for those in the know only, though? I doubt it would have the same connotations outside the UK and outside the ranks of those who've strolled along Charing Cross Road at the time? As for Regal Zonophone, the first time I ever came across this label name was in connection with the recordings of some 60s British pop/beat band recruited from the ranks of the Salvation Army (no joke!), so this label has held some very odd connotations of utter stiffness to me ever since.

Honestly, I did not know at all. That's why I was asking. And I would not have seen anything wrong with it. I just did not instantly think of "mosaics patterns" either because the script logo did not remind me of anything like that at all.

Archeophone is the perfect name for a reissue label of early jazz. Others that I find quite evocative: Saxophonograph Jazz West Blue Note (of course ...) Fresh Sound (yes, them too - when it came to their West Coast Jazz reissues) Old Timey Arhoolie ... One label name that had me wondering every now and then is MOSAIC. Is this "Mosaic" as in "Jewish" or "Mosaic" as in "Mosaique/Mosaics" or still something else again?

This album was reissued with added tracks (16 tracks insteadof 12) in 1989 on the Official label (6064). 11 of the 16 tracks (including "your" Blue Tango) are on the above 3-CD set on Fantastic Voyage.

Anonymous - is that the one who also goes under the name "P.D." or "Trad."?

Ah, that was one I was going to ask about too. Thanks for the explanation. That explains why a very, very advanced collector (who has a huge collection, compared to which mine is next to nothing) was all anxious to borrow my copy (when he learned I had that Fats Sadi 10" LP ) to burn a CD-R (for himself and who knows who else ...). So I now have not only that 10" but also a CD-R to save spinning my original.

Aren't you belittling Osie Johnson a bit excessively there? IMO it cannot have been a conicidence that he got booked on so many dates in that period - no doubt because he was appreciated as a supportive drummer who "fed" the soloists and got a solid swing going. On dates that certainly were no "moldy fig" dates throughout. A flashy show-off "bomb thrower" doing his own thing along the lines of "hey I can solo too whenever I want to" apparently wasn't called for (this attitude might be described as "interaction" by some but it can fast turn into working "against" the solists or horn front line in those places where it simply isn't called for). I've listened to quite a few recordings with Osie Johnson from that period and always found his presence (along with the other "usual suspects" in the rhythm section) as a sure bet for some fine, no-frills swinging groove. No mean achievement IMO.