Big Beat Steve

Competitors for delays like that happen all the time. I ordered an LP from an Italian eBay seller before Christmas, and it was marked as being handed over to the shipping agency on Dec. 17. Then nothing happened and the tracking info remained unchanged at that status. I knew holiday shipping loads and the virus were likely to cause delays but around New Year I became a bit worried and contacted the seller who promised to check with the shipper. But stil nothing happened in the tracking status. Then, a couple of days later (around Jan. 7) I finally got an updated tracking info link that showed that the parcel had actually made it to the main sorting center of that shipper (Hermes) in Germany but for 3 days had been marked as leaving that sorting center to go into the distrubution center, then back into the sorting center, out again to the distribution center, and so on. I managed to get hold of someone at that center on the phone around that time and they promised to check it out by the tracking number figuring that maybe there was a problem with the address o the parcel. But things remained unchanged for several more days - into the sorting center, out to the distribution center, back in, and so on. Then, after having already worked out the details of a possible refund with the seller and after some TEN days of this endless circle of to and fro shippings in one and the same center showing up in the tracking info, lo and behold - on Jan. 16 the LP all of a sudden showed up on my doorstep. The original address label had been totally correct but though a new one with my (identical) address had been stuck on the parcel on the day I phoned them (according to the fine print on the label) the parcel still remained stuck for about a week before it finally moved on and then some 300 miles down to my place. Go figure ... Anyway, all was well that ended well but it DOES worry you in these times ...

Ha - I know more than one who'd probably change their entire eating and drinking habits if that "V-8 juice" stuff were marketed over here. (You know - the ones who drool about Small Block Chevies, Flathead Fords, Y-Block Fords and Chrysler Hemis day in, day out when it comes to their rides.)

For those who prefer snippets like this on vinyl, ther was this one on the ZuZazz label: And to add a little reading matter (and a possible antidote to a Phil spector bio ) for those interested enough:

FWIW, the Jim Pewter oldies radio shows we got here through rebroadcasts on AFN in the mid-to late 70s (the period I intently listened to AFN - much less so later) weren't THAT limited. And they introduced me to quite a bit more than the typical Top 40 stuff from the 50s and early 60s. But of course, to go further even then it took specialist oldie shows for REAL fans and collectors (which we luckily did have on one national German radio station at that time) that at least made a point of digging chronologically through the ENTIRE Hot HUNDRED, including (in particualr) its nether regions.

If the usual biographies are a yardstick, Alzheimer does happen to pro musicans, and it is tragic in every case. Though not all of them are as high-profile in the media as Tony Bennett. Those that come to mind right now are Ian Carr, drummer Gus Johnson, R&B pianist/vocalist Betty Hall Jones, drummer Grady Tate, George Russell - and, as the obits said, Oscar Peterson too. And no doubt the actual list is much longer. (Max Roach too, I just found out online) I was relieved to see my ma apparently immune from any such sufferings until the day she died at 96 last October. Though bodily frail for years, her mind was aware and sharp to the end (to the extent that deteriorating hearing and eyesight permitted). But visiting her in her nursing home did show the differences every time as the dining room for the "advanced nursing cases" was next door to my mother's apartment. It was a sad sight to see those people wither away mentally in such a dramatic way.

And you'se surprised?

@Dan Gould: I did notice something like that. Something similar was in the linked article. But the basic problem remains that there IS a difference in effectiveness. Would YOU be willing to go ahead and say "Yes I am happy to take the vaccine with the lowest official effectiveness rate because I believe in the principle of "any protection at all"? The problem is that these differences in effectiveness rates do constitue a real risk of a race of "who will get which one". This is cause for concern as conflicts are programmed. And I still believe groups such as healthcare workers should preferentially be administred the highest-protection rate vaccine as a natural matter of course. If any differentiation is to be made at all (which would be most unfortunate), then THEY do matter in overcoming this entire pandemic problem more than quite a few other groups in the population(s) at large. Because you simply cannot afford to let the healthcare system to be put under further increased pressure due to excessive infection (or even quarantine) cases in this particular group (which unfortunately DOES happen over and over again wherever you look, and don't tell me they all were sloppy in following the precautionary measures). OTOH maybe I should not be too suprrised with the way politicians have been acting here. Not very long ago professional umbrella organizations in the healthcare sector here have told the healthcare workers they were to continue working and coming to their workplace (of course observing all protection measures) EVEN WHEN tested positive as long they did not show any symptoms. Ha - politicians and organizations scared stiff that too many healthcare workers might have to be quarantined and everything going down the drain ... And the healthcare workers having to take the brunt ... Does this inspire confidence?

That's all very well and one would really want to believe it all at face value. Because we all prefer to get out of this sooner rather than later. But I find the below statements a bit doubtful: "...Others are left with the mistaken impression that only the two vaccines with the highest official effectiveness rates — from Moderna and Pfizer — are worth getting. In truth, so long as the data holds up, any of the five vaccines can save your life." Note: Yes - they CAN save everyone's life. Though everyone getting vacinated will be more concerned with "WILL it save my life?" So this "WILL" boils down to the likelihood of protection. And therefore the effectiveness rate (to minimize the residual risk because no vaccine will provide you with 100% guaranteed protection). So what about the "highest official effectiveness rates" that state some 95% for Biontech/Pfizer and Moderna vs 62% for AZ? Is this 62% effectiveness rate light years away from a rate of 50% that basically would mean that this vaccine is just as likely to protect you from an infection as it is lkely that it won't? In short, anybody's guess - as so much in life? In the key question of what level of two-way protection (of not getting the virus and - therefore - not transmitting the virus) can be achived this DOES have repercussions. Isn't it therefore understandable that there are people out there who will shun the "not so good" AZ vaccine and try to go for the other two? At any rate, I find it outrageous that politicians over here, for example (as it is being discussed now), say that the AZ vaccine should be administered primarily to those in the healthcare profession (of ALL protessions ... ). For logistics and "approved use" considerations, it seems ... I'd understand any healthcare worker who will consider this a case of adding insult (2nd grade vaccine) to injury (heavy workload under most difficult working conditions with increased risks).

Your post prompted me to relisten to these sessions (I have them on a late 60s LP from the Capitol Jazz Classics series). Actually the much-commented upon "Intuition" and "Digression" have always sounded rather logical and accessible to me as a sort of somewhat abstract "tone paintings" of that era - certainly much much easier to digest for me than most of the "new thing" recordings of Ornette Coleman and his follow(up)ers, and even easier than some of the free JImmy Giuffre recordings of the 50s. And on relistening to "Wow" now, I find it perfectly natural and in tune with what to expect. It may have sounded mindblowing in 1949 but once you have been listening to the classic early 50s Lee Konitz sessions the lineage is clear (at least to me). Probably all a matter of what your ears have already been attuned to (just like I found the 1945 bebop sessions by Bird and Diz a perfectly natural extension, expansion and follow-up to 40s small group swing when I used these recordings as a starting point to work my way into bebop - unsure of what to expect when I bought the LP - back when i was still in high school in 1976). But this only goes so far - most of "avantgarde" jazz still isn't my cuppa even after all these years ...

Possibly, at least partially. That would be the radio box, right? I've got the "other" Mercury box from that period. Chronological Classics was OK, but never was the final word about top-notch remasted sound improvement, though, IMO. And in the end it is up to everyone to decide if he accepts "digitally remasterd to death" reissues or is happy with reissues of rare(st) material where the clicks, hiss and warts of the source 78s are still audible (cf. the Cootie Williams 78s on Hit and Majestic, not to mention reissues by much obscurer artists). Re- who "stole" from whom, it would be interesting, for example, to compare the Jimmy Jones tracks on the "Wax Sessions" CD shown above and the same tracks on Jones' CC reissue (I already had the CC reissue of these tracks by Jimmy Jones so finally skipped the Wax Session CD though I had had it on "Watch" for a long time on Amazon).

@Cpt. Howdy: Just to add a couple of hints FWIW on the subject of post-Duke Cootie Williams : The May 7 ,1941 session by Cootie Williams for OKeh also was on the (German) Swingfan 1022 LP "Cootie Williams - Hot Lips Page" (a collector's under-the-radar pressing from the late 60s - you might remember the LPs on this label from way back, Mike ...). His somewhat later (1944) recordings for the Hit label were on Phoenix LP 1 and also must have been out on a Storyville LP of the late 70s/early 80s. I have the sessions from Jan. to August 1944 (all 16 tracks from these 4 sessions) on a Spanish license pressing (Discofon J 4436) of the Storyville LP. The (rare) recordings on the "Typhoon" LP on Affinity come from the Majestic label (mostly), plus some from Derby and Mercury. A few more tracks from the post-Duke era of 1946-48 can be found on "Things Ain't What They Used to Be" on Jukebox Lil LP JB-623. This may not be of much help as almost all these are on European labels but "one never knows, do one?"

I am impressed with HIS fairness in accepting (and apparently even applauding) their fairness. This isn't something you can count on in today's world anymore.

Not wanting to speak heresy , but (for want of much else) how about this box on the Proper label? https://www.allmusic.com/album/release/tempus-fugue-it-mr0001675724 (After all "The Complete Bud Powell on Verve" for the most part focuses on the 50s.)

Interesting to be reminded of these. Vol. 1 was all over the place here for quite some time in the shops (I bought my copy of Vol. 1 some time in the later 80s) but I cannot recall having ever seen a copy of Vol. 2 anywhere.

Which leads us into Keynote territory (even if we concentrate on the LATER 40s, as this thread is - correctly - supposed to do), I first managed to get my hands on these sessions on this Mercury reissue far more than 20 years ago (but mostly pull out my Fresh Sound box for convenience these days to listen to them): https://www.discogs.com/Red-Rodney-Lennie-Tristano-Bebop/release/4615146

I don't know about the Dutch either, but I haven't heard about cricket being big in Austria and Switzerland, for example. I mentioned Bert Trautmann just as a very approximate analogy of someone coming into a foreign country and making it big there through sports (not as a confirmed sportsman - as in the case of international soccer transfers - but as someone working his way up through sports). Isn't that likely to happen with cricket because the domestic base of cricket just is very limited and makes this a very minor sporting event without much media coverage, except as a kind of "oddball attraction".

You know what? Seriously, and at the risk of being political, here is an observation: After the big refugee crisis in the center of Europe in 2015 there were not just suggestions but even urgings on the part of well-meaning persons that oh so many people from countries had been coming in where cricket is strong and who in turn were good at playing cricket themselves that their integration into the host society ought to be fostered by providing them much more of a cricket platform here. Well, unfortunately (or??) cricket is strictly nowhere here in Germany and in neighboring countries so this is to no avail at all and won't fall on fertile ground in any respect for the foreseeable future. Because the DOMESTIC basis just isn't there. But this might give you an idea of what the English team could have been up against. A kind of legions of reverse cases of soccer goalie Bert Trautmann ...

I think you are looking at a side effect of the basic problem of how to treat a former EU member that has decided to leave the EU and will now be treated as a non-EU state. In one way it is a special case but in another it is a fallback into times that were long considered to be overcome. I remember in my early freelancing days in the late 80s there was quite a bit of paperwork involved in getting clients in other (then) EEC countries as well as in non-EEC countries (e.g. Switzerland) to sign up with German tax authorities so they could recover the VAT that we had to invoice but they were able to claim back by filling in various forms. Needless to say this cost us several abroad customers who just felt that the paperwork wasn't worth it. And (I am saying this after some 25 years of working with HUGE amounts of EU documents day in, day out) it fits into the picture that the entire Brexit negotiations between the EU and the UK were governed by an overriding approach (on the part of the EU) to most certainly not make it easy for the UK. Thus maybe forcing the UK to take these steps to ensure VAT due is paid where it is supposed to be paid? Not that I am saying that the UK side did well but this mess that becomes apparent now has more than one originator.

I have a feeling that your feedback won't be liked by some or even many in certain circles (not here on the forum but overall) but IMO ist is important that you told of your expriences. What you describe is an uneasy feeling that unfortunately seems to exist over here too. I.e. a feeling of "we are not being told the whole story". Unfortunately (for the poltiicians) the majority of the citizens aren't that dumb. Even though most of the "people in the street" do not fall for conspirationist theories, once that feeling of your trust being shattered or abused is there this is harder to remedy than those in power apparently are likely to imagine. (Or they are more at their wit's end than we'd like and hope them to be)

About the allergic reaction of that "louis satchmo" that Jazzbo posted: Which brand of vaccine was he given? Pfizer/Biontech or a different one? That might be important to know too.

Montmartre - Momatta?? Oh my .. That sounds like this one here had been at work ...

Actually I am not so much worried about imports from the UK into Germany (in fact, though, I wasn't charged extra for the larger-size letter that contained a 2021 calendar that I received from a colleague in Britain the other day). Things have run their course for the most part (mainly due to the rise in shipping rates from the UK - that in fact happened well before Brexit) although I'd still like to stock up on certain period UK magazines to complete my collection. But I was wondering about what to recommend my collector friend in the UK (the one I mentioned in another post on the post-Brexit "ordering from abroad" discussion). He has often bought collectable printed matter (magazines, sales folders, etc.) from abroad in the past and I wonder what to advise him if he considers using me as an intermediary for a transaction from Germany again. Lame joke ...

Actually I am really talking about "collectible, of sorts" items. I.e. magazines, sales brochures and books from, say, anywhere between the 30s and 60s. Items that sometimes can be very collectible (and pricy too) in the right circles but don't usually look so to the uninitiated. I wonder how shipping and customs clearance of such items in both directions will be affected now.

I wonder: Even secondhand (collectible, of sorts) one?

This is something I have been wondering about too. A British fellow collector I have known for close to 40 years and who has loads of international contacts through his hobby and has actively purchased collectible items abroad (from Italy, in particular, but also from Germany and other places) some time last year told me he had indeed voted "Leave". To my surprise, but I won't hold it against him (the blame for this mess certainly is not on the UK alone). Though I wonder how he now intends to go on about his collecting. Or else he either had decided about scaling down anyway (he is well into retirement age) or had already cut back on his foreign buying. On 2 or 3 occasions in recent years I indeed had to act as an intermediary for him because - unbelievable as it may seem - the shipping costs from Germany to the UK incurred by having the seller ship the item to me domestically and me then forwarding it to him was significantly lower than what the seller - an auction house - would have charged for shipping direct to the UK. And the items weren't even bulky or heavy! And this was way before Brexit.