street singer

I've been plugging holes in my Mosaic Select collection over the past month or so, and have scored several at really good prices (about half of these were in the $15-20 range). #9 - Bob Brookmeyer #10 - Bud Shank & Bob Cooper #15 - Art Pepper #19 - Pacific Jazz Piano Trios (feat. Russ Freeman, Richard Twardzik, Jimmy Rowles, Clare Fischer) #21 - Gerry Mulligan #27 - Al Cohn, Joe Newman, and Freddie Green #29 - Onzy Matthews #31 - Woody Herman #34 - Denny Zeitlin The Zeitlin I was familiar with after having had a burned CD-R of it for many years (it's fantastic!). The rest of them are new to me. I haven't gotten past playing the Art Pepper and Pacific Jazz Piano Trios sets, as I've really been stuck on them the past few days. The Pacific Jazz Piano Trios set, in particular, is one that I can't believe I've gone so long without. It's an absolute gem of a set!

The Tone Poet series has never been exclusively Blue Note. One of the first albums in the series was Chick Corea's 'Now He Sings, Now He Sobs' (Solid State), and one of the most recent is Serge Chaloff's 'Blue Serge' (Capitol). They've also issued many Pacific Jazz titles and a few albums from the Transition label. This does seem an odd choice for the series, though... From Joe Harley regarding the mastering: "Capitol ran two tape decks for this recording (and others). One set was assembled and used many 100s of times. The other was put away with each track filed separately on what we call phono reels. These tracks had never been used before. I had them assembled and this is what we used. The sound is astonishing...Frank is in the room."

Those speakers look great in walnut. I'm also partial to the blue, which I understand may not be to everyone's taste! Hoping to see some pics when you get everything set up.

Yes, there will also be a 3-CD set. https://craftrecordings.com/products/bill-evans-trio-haunted-heart-the-legendary-riverside-studio-recordings-3-cd?_pos=9&_sid=1b55be98e&_ss=r

That's certainly great to hear, but...the last sentence in the article will continue to be an issue for a while, I suspect. "Even with the exemption, US consumers may still face challenges when purchasing from international retailers. More than 30 countries have suspended or restricted parcel shipments to the US in response to the Trump administration’s tariff rules, while some sellers remain unclear — or unaware — of the exemptions for physical media."

Ah, that would certainly make a difference. I only see three sealed copies for sale currently on Discogs, ranging from $220-$300. Your price of $240 is in line with those offerings. I hope you didn't think my response was being snarky. Honestly just trying to help you make a sale!

Understood. 🤐

Well... There are 24 copies currently for sale on Discogs, starting at $87.84. The median price is $122.19, and the highest sold price was $162.16 in July of this year. I'd probably knock at least $200 off your selling price if you actually want to sell it. Just a suggestion! It's a great set.

I don't recall Analogue Productions ever releasing this album. I believe it's the Music Matters 45 that you have, correct?

Their website recommends a minimum of 2.5' to 3' from the rear wall, which isn't as much as I was expecting. They really are an interesting design, and I like the modular concept. Definitely post some photos when you get everything set up. Sounds like a fantastic system!

Thanks for the reply. This is something that I assumed would be simple...but, having never done it before, it's proving to be a bit of a headache. If I ever get it figured out, I'll follow up and let you know! Yeah, this is exactly what I would like to do. In addition to the artist and album title, I'd like to include the year of original release and some basic edition-specific information (RVG Edition, OJC Edition, etc) as well, since I have multiple editions of some discs. I just ordered 1,000 CD Pro sleeves, so...looks like I'm committed. 😄

Not at all. I often wonder about this. I finished Geoff Dyer's book 'But Beautiful' last night, and one of the passages towards the end touches on this. He mentions several of the greats who died young, in particular Clifford Brown, who died at twenty-five. He remarked that if Miles Davis had died at a similar age, there would be nothing beyond Birth of the Cool. Hard to even fathom the things that we never got to hear. And when you consider someone like Coltrane, who covered so much ground in such a short amount of time before he died...where would he have gone from there?!

Anyone else use DiscSox sleeves to store their CD's? After using them for DVDs and blu-rays for years, I'm slowly converting my CD collection to them after previously using the Jazz Loft-style sleeves. The one issue I have is how to use the empty space at the top of the sleeve. This space is there to allow for a paper insert containing information about the disc (artist, title, year of release, year of reissue, etc). I would like to be able to use this space for an insert containing this type of info, because it would make flipping through a large collection much easier, but...I'm at a loss as to how to go about printing this information on paper. DiscSox offer a template on their website, but it's pretty basic. Is there a way to use something like MS Word, or some other software, to design a custom template better suited to my needs? Anyone with experience with this sort of thing? Any advice is appreciated!

Those Pure Audio Project speakers look amazing. I would certainly have them on the short-list of a future speaker purchase if I had the room to accommodate them. Don't open baffle speakers need a bit of room to breathe?

Good news for those who have been waiting for this set to come back in stock. I recently asked Mosaic about its status and received the following response today: "Thanks for the interest. There have been issues and they have all been settled. We have the components in house and will be sending an e-mail in 2 weeks to announce order availability. FINALLY!"

Yeah... I've found that CD is typically the better option for these archival live releases, as the sound quality usually doesn't justify the additional expense and inconvenience of vinyl.

I received the following response from Zev on Instagram, regarding the limited nature of this series: "Time Traveler just needs to be cautious pressing the right amount, especially out of the gate for the label launch. As we go deeper into the series if we notice a greater demand we’ll consider pressing accordingly but we want to go into this carefully. We have invested lots of resources to build what I think is the definitive edition which I hope you’ll agree. I’d encourage anyone interested to please pre order now. Thanks again to one and all for your support. We’re just getting started."

They have only announced three so far: Roy Brooks - The Free Slave, Kenny Barron - Sunset to Dawn, and Carlos Garnett - Cosmos Nucleus. He's been involved in some fantastic releases, though. The Xanadu CD reissue series from a decade ago was my introduction to him. Since then, he's been involved in many releases on the Elemental and Resonance labels that I'm happy to have in my collection. He also was involved in the Lee Morgan 'Live at the Lighthouse' box set that was a dream come true for many. So, overall, I'm glad he's out there doing his thing.

The lack of quality control in modern pressings is, indeed, quite frustrating. When done right, records can be pressed exceptionally well these days...arguably, better than ever...which makes it all the more frustrating when corners are cut and they have the issues that you mentioned. The apparent "manufactured scarcity" of this series is certainly off-putting. I wish that they had gone the route of the new Stata-East reissue series, with high quality vinyl reissues and CD reissues released at the same time, and not hyped it up as being a "limited edition...buy now or cry later!" situation.

When asked about how limited these reissues would be, Zev Feldman stated on Instagram: "extremely limited. The series is designed to be pressed conservatively low and ship sold out." Interesting... Maybe CD editions to follow if these sell well?

Agreed on all points. And those Xanadu CD reissues were fantastic! And $30 would've bought you a basketful of groceries back in the day, also... The dollar doesn't go as far now, hence the reason why records cost $30.

I absolutely can comprehend that "not everyone is a committed audiophile desperate to shell out approximately a dollar per minute of recorded sound" - we all have different priorities. I have no issue with that. I also have no issue with CD's. There's a reason why I have collected several thousand of them, and will never part with them! But, saying that vinyl reissues, sourced and cut from the original master tapes, inherently sound no better than the sound of a CD...is just not an accurate statement. It's all subjective, of course...but there are many variables involved that would determine whether a record sounds better than a CD - the most important of which being the mastering, of course, and the system that the music is being played back on. Not looking for an argument, and nobody wants to get into a discussion of the "minutiae of audiophilia" here. I get that. My issue is with the statement that $30 is somehow overpriced for a record in 2025...when in reality, it's really no more expensive than it was 50 years ago. The cost of everything has gone up. Records are no different. That being said...I do find it unfortunate that this new Muse reissue series isn't being released on CD along with the vinyl. Good point. And I won't be paying list price for any of these new Muse reissues, either. I'll pick up a few of them, but will wait for a price drop, as I do with most reissues.

PM sent re: Sam Rivers set.

How is $30 massively overpriced for a record? Adjusted for inflation, $30 today is about $6 in 1972 when this album was released. $30 is absolutely reasonable for this level of quality in a modern vinyl pressing. I would actually expect the price point to be closer to $40, which is still not unreasonable.

The email certainly wasn't very clear. When I checked the website for clarification, it appears that there is no longer a 'Last Chance' section. How long has that been gone? Regardless...I have the Desmond set, but will be picking up the Savory set as that is one I definitely don't want to miss out on!