street singer

I've always been a night person. On weekends, I find myself staying up to 3 or 4 in the morning w/o realizing it. Just listening to tunes, reading, browsing online...whatever. During the week I have to be up by 6-ish, but I still rarely get to bed before 1 in the morning. 8+ hours of sleep per night is nice, but I apparently don't need that much to function. If I had it my way, I'd prefer to sleep for only an hour or so a day...or not at all, even. There's just too much stuff to do - and too much music to listen to!

Just finished reading 'Time Out of Joint' by Philip K. Dick. Now starting 'Counter-Clock World' by the same author.

Just got an email from EJazzLines stating that my order shipped complete today. Wow... That was quick! This batch of CDs should keep me busy for a little while...

Yeah, that's a great tune! One of the ones I forgot to mention in my previous post...

Uncle Skid, Yes, I'm enjoying the Blue Mitchell very much and am extremely glad that I was able to pick it up before it became unavailable. There are some absolute gems on these discs: "Alone, Alone And Alone", "Perception", "One Shirt" "Blues 3 For 1"...I'm still absorbing all this music, but those are the ones that really jumped out at me. I know there are ones I'm forgetting... The Mobley is, ofcourse, excellent. Out of all the Mosaics (in print and out of print), this is the one that I wanted the most. Mobley is simply without question, the man. If you're a Mobley fan, this is simply a MUST HAVE. The only other way to get the bulk of these recordings is to spend a lot more money importing them or get lucky and find them on vinyl. Do yourself a big favor: GET THIS SOON!!! What's next? Well, for me, it's definitely the Carmel Jones and Curtis Amy Selects. After that, I'm going to allow myself one Mosaic select per month, starting with #3, and continue in the order of their release. The price of these sets allows me to do that, and judging from the quality of the Mosaic sets I have so far, I simply do not want to miss any of these! As for the big boxes - there are many that look wonderful, but the budget simply does not allow for me to get every one that I would like! The ones that I will definitely get, at some point in the future (more than likely birthday/Christmas gifts), are these: Donald Byrd/Pepper Adams, Gerry Mulligan CJB, Tristano/Konitz/Marsh. I might be tempted to go for the J.J. Johnson when it's on the Running Low list. We'll see... A coworker of mine just received the Morgan/Shorter the other day and I can personally attest to the quality of that one. While I do very much prefer their later work, this one would definitely be a good one to have as well. You're right, this is an expensive hobby...especially when you include the "audio equipment" side of it...but, I can't think of a more rewarding and enjoyable one. Can you?

For anyone who's still interested in these Spanish Blue Notes, E-JazzLines still has a great number of them available. I was only recently made aware of these hard-to-find sessions being released in Spain, so, in order to snatch these up while they're still around, I went absolutely nuts tonight and ordered the following: THAD JONES - Detroit NY Junction ART BLAKEY - Like someone in love LEE MORGAN - The cooker JOHNNY COLES - Little Johnny C. LEO PARKER - Let me tell you bout it HORACE SILVER - Further explorations CURTIS FULLER - Curtis Fuller 3 IKE QUEBEC - It might as well be spring PETE LA ROCA - Basra HORACE PARLAN QUINTET - Up and down FREDDIE ROACH - Down to earth JIMMY SMITH - Softly as a summer breeze CLIFFORD JORDAN - Cliff Jordan REUBEN WILSON - Love bug SONNY RED - Out of the blue LONNIE SMITH - Turning point All of these were listed as being in stock w/ the exception of the Blakey - this one "usually ships in 7 days", it says. I will post an update in the next few days to advise how many have actually shipped... These were slightly more expensive than Dusty Groove (~$11.50 as opposed to $9.99), but Dusty Groove only had about 5 of these discs in stock. I've never ordered from E-JazzLines before, so...I'll keep my fingers crossed. Now, who's got some good, full-color high-res scans of these album covers so that I can start making some "real" covers to hide those awful blue ones?! Seriously... Anyone?

Uncle Skid, Seems you and I have very similar taste... The Moncur Select was my first Mosaic purchase as well. Followed by the Mobley (Christmas gift) and, most recently, the Blue Mitchell. Mine's #3475, by the way.

Well, as stated previously here, the second season of Twin Peaks. I hate to even think of the possibility of this not being released... I imagine it must be horrible for someone to have bought the first season without ever having seen the second season, and then to just be left hanging like that. Jeez... C'mon, release this stuff already!!! And a complete 'Northern Exposure' set sure would be nice as well. I miss that show terribly...

Everyone knows that the Connoissieur editions are limited, but does anyone know just how limited? Anyone have any numbers? Also, do they press the same amount of all releases? Or do they press different amounts based on how many they think they can sell? If a certain releases sells out...do they ever repress additional copies of it? The reason I'm asking this is because something caught my attention recently and I've been unable to find an explanation. Some of the Conns don't last but a couple of years...the latest examples of this being the George Braith and Don Wilkerson 'Complete Blue Note Sessions'. Why is this? Were these two releases so popular that they simply sold that quickly? I doubt this... Or, were there simply less of these two made to begin with? Then there are other releases that hang around for years. Bobby Hutcherson's 'Components', for instance. This was released TEN YEARS ago in the first batch of Conns...and it's still readily available! What's the deal?! Any ideas? (As an aside to this - how reliable is True Blue in determining when these things are going OOP? Have there been any recent examples of releases going OOP without being mentioned in the Running Low/Last Chance section at True Blue?)

Probably get the Mobley? Man, you gotta get the Mobley! You just GOTTA!!! He's in your avatar, for Chris'sake!

When will they get around to releasing the second series of 'Twin Peaks', I wonder? And how about the greatest television show of all time, 'Northern Exposure'? Is that even on the horizon?

One of my favorite albums (and bands) ever...

Thanks for the clarification, Swinging Swede. Yes, those must really have been the days!

Was going over the list of Connoisseur releases, checking off the ones I have and lamenting over the ones I don't have, and I noticed something odd. Back in 1998, Blue Note apparently released THIRTY CD's in this series - is this correct? I wasn't following the series in '98, or even listening to jazz for that matter, so I have no way of verifying this. That just seems pretty incredible to me since they've only released 6 per year for the past few years. Was there a reason so many were released that year? Any chance we'll see that many (or even half that many) released in a year's time in the near future? 1998. 30 Connoisseur re-issues. Wow... What a year that must've been!

Need good quality cover scans for Curtain Call and Poppin' in order to make CD-R covers from the Mosaic set. Have been able to come up with covers for the rest of the albums in the set but not having much luck with these two. The only images of these I've found on the web are too small and would result in poor quality when blown up to CD size. Can anyone help? Thanks!

Bought this one immediately upon seeing this thread. Thanks for the heads up, guys...(and a snide, tongue-in-cheek "Yeah, thanks a LOT..." from my bank account!). I've been meaning to pick this one up for a while now. Looking forward to hearing these albums as I am only familiar with Blue's work as a sideman.

Thanks very much, cuow! The covers you uploaded were much better than the ones I had. I did manage to touch up 5066 and 1540 using Photoshop, but still am not completely happy with 5066. It's good enough for my purposes, however... Thanks again!

Thanks for all the responses, everyone. As an update to my original post... I was in Best Buy yesterday looking around and found a package of Memorex CD Jewel Case Inserts. It was $9.99, so I figured what the heck. It came with the ExPRESSit software mentioned by shdlu. I've been playing around with this and have come up with some fairly decent results. The software is easy to use and the labels are perforated on the edges for easy tearing. I'm pretty happy with this as a solution and think I'll stick with it. Now, does anyone have better scans of Hank Mobley's 'Hank Mobley Quartet' (Blue Note 5066) and 'Hank Mobley Sextet' (Blue Note 1540)? The ones available from here are not that great. Also, anyone upload a good image of the Blue Note logo for use on my back covers to make them truly authentic looking? It seems that this would be easy to find on the web, but I have been unable to do so.

I've had to wait between 3-4 weeks to receive items on a few occasions. Usually it takes between 2-3 weeks.

Since receiving the Hank Mobley Mosaic set for Christmas, I've decided to make CD-R's for all of the albums contained within. I've downloaded album cover images from here and am now trying to make some covers and inlay sheets with the Adaptec Easy CD Creator software that I've got. I'm finding this to be a much more difficult procedure than it should be since the software interface is extremely cumbersome. Especially when attempting to replicate the back cover "look" of Blue Note albums. I know there are some of you out there that are into doing this kind of stuff as well. What software do you use to do this? Any good free/shareware out there? Any suggestions are appreciated!

They're very good about that. I got a "Last Waltz" (4CDs) set recently that had one damaged disk. I emailed their customer service dept and they shipped another complete set right away. AND I didn't have to return the bad one. I had something similar happen once... I ordered James Brown's 'Live at the Apollo Vol. 2 (Deluxe Edition)'. It arrived without a booklet, and when I asked for a replacement booklet to be sent, they shipped a COMPLETE replacement!

Hmmm... So he was stabbed twice? I hadn't heard that... That alone leads me to believe that it was more than likely not a suicide. I mean, how many people could stab themselves in the chest once, much less twice?!

Well...it depends on the type of box, I guess. For the large boxes (Mosaic, etc), I usually take the discs (along w/ jewel cases) and put them on a CD rack with the rest of my CDs - otherwise, I wouldn't listen to them as much if I had to dig them out of a box everytime. I put the box (along w/ the booklet, which stays inside the box) on a bookshelf. For the smaller sets (Mosaic Select, Miles Columbia Boxes, etc) - I usually keep these discs in their boxes and put them at the bottom of my CD rack. When a box set consists of full albums, I'll usually burn these onto separate CD-R's since I prefer to listen to the songs in their original album sequence.

Thanks for the heads up on that Buckley EP. I picked up the 'Grace EPs' Box during their recent "2/3 Off w/ No Shipping" sale. Good, good stuff...

BMG Jazz Clearance Section (as of 12/29/03) *Note that the first price listed is the regular price; second price is the sale price* Cannonball Adderley And The Poll Winners (Remastered) $17.98 $3.99 Cannonball Adderley Ballads $17.98 $3.99 Chet Baker Jazz 'Round Midnight $17.98 $3.99 Gato Barbieri Qué Pasa $17.98 $1.99 Gato Barbieri Che Corazón $17.98 $1.99 Bob Belden Tapestry $17.98 $1.99 Bob Belden Re-Animation Live! $17.98 $2.99 David Benoit Shaken, Not Stirred $17.98 $1.99 David Benoit American Landscape $17.98 $1.99 George Benson Standing Together $17.98 $3.99 Terence Blanchard Let's Get Lost - The Songs Of Jimmy McHugh $3.99 Michael Brecker Two Blocks From The Edge $17.98 $3.99 Clifford Brown Ultimate Clifford Brown $17.98 $1.99 Don Byron Romance With The Unseen $17.98 $1.99 Ruth Cameron Roadhouse $17.98 $1.99 James Carter In Carterian Fashion $17.98 $2.99 Charlie Christian The Genius Of The Electric Guitar $17.98 $1.99 The Clayton Brothers Siblingity $17.98 $1.99 Natalie Cole Snowfall On The Sahara $17.98 $3.99 Ravi Coltrane Moving Pictures $17.98 $1.99 Randy Crawford Every Kind Of Mood - Randy, Randi, Randee $17.98 $3.99 Olu Dara Neighborhoods $17.98 $2.99 Miles Davis & Gil Evans The Best Of Miles Davis & Gil Evans $17.98 $3.99 Paul Desmond The Paul Desmond Quartet Live (Remastered) $17.98 $3.99 Stefano di Battista Stefano di Battista $17.98 $2.99 DJ Smash Phonography $17.98 $2.99 Bob Dorough & Dave Fishberg Who's On First? $17.98 $2.99 Dave Douglas A Thousand Evenings $17.98 $1.99 George Duke Illusions $17.98 $1.99 George Duke Is Love Enough? $17.98 $1.99 Eliane Elias Everything I Love $17.98 $3.99 Duke Ellington The Okeh Ellington (Remastered) $24.98 $7.98 Maynard Ferguson The Essence Of $17.98 $3.99 Rachelle Ferrell Live In Montreux 1991-1997 $17.98 $2.99 Ella Fitzgerald The Best Of The Songbooks: The Ballads $17.98 $3.99 Ella Fitzgerald Jazz 'Round Midnight $17.98 $2.99 Robben Ford Tiger Walk $17.98 $1.99 Robben Ford The Authorized Bootleg $17.98 $1.99 Michael Franks Abandoned Garden $17.98 $1.99 Russ Freeman & The Rippingtons Brave New World $17.98 $2.99 Kenny Garrett Pursuance: The Music Of John Coltrane $17.98 $2.99 Kenny Garrett Simply Said $17.98 $2.99 Kenny Garrett Happy People $17.98 $2.99 Benny Green Naturally $17.98 $1.99 Dave Grusin Two For The Road $17.98 $2.99 Jim Hall Grand Slam-Live At The Regattabar $17.98 $3.99 Everette Harp Common Ground $17.98 $1.99 Everette Harp Better Days $17.98 $1.99 Tom Harrell The Art Of Rhythm $17.98 $1.99 Tom Harrell Paradise $17.98 $1.99 Joe Henderson So Near, So Far (Musings For Miles) $17.98 $3.99 Billie Holiday The Quintessential Billie Holiday, Vol. 2 $17.98 $3.99 Lena Horne We'll Be Together Again $17.98 $1.99 George Howard Do I Ever Cross Your Mind $17.98 $2.99 Incognito Beneath The Surface $17.98 $2.99 Bob James Playin' Hooky $17.98 $3.99 Roland Kirk Roland Kirk's Finest Hour $17.98 $1.99 Earl Klugh Ballads $17.98 $3.99 Earl Klugh Peculiar Situation $17.98 $1.99 Kombo The Big Blast $17.98 $1.99 Buckshot LeFonque Music Evolution $17.98 $1.99 Jacques Loussier Trio Take Bach $17.98 $1.99 Jacques Loussier Play Bach, No. 1 $17.98 $1.99 Joe Lovano Celebrating Sinatra $17.98 $1.99 Joe Lovano Flights Of Fancy $17.98 $2.99 Bobby Lyle The Power Of Touch $17.98 $1.99 Russell Malone Sweet Georgia Peach $17.98 $2.99 Bobby McFerrin The Best Of Bobby McFerrin $17.98 $3.99 John McLaughlin Remember Shakti: The Believer $17.98 $3.99 Milton Nascimento Amigo $17.98 $1.99 Gilles Peterson Incredible Sound Of Gilles Peterson $17.98 $1.99 Oscar Peterson Ultimate Oscar Peterson $17.98 $3.99 John Pizzarelli Dear Mr. Cole $17.98 $2.99 John Pizzarelli After Hours $17.98 $3.99 John Pizzarelli Our Love Is Here To Stay $17.98 $1.99 Joshua Redman Timeless Tales (For Changing Times) $17.98 $1.99 Eric Reed Manhattan Melodies $17.98 $1.99 Dianne Reeves In The Moment--Live In Concert $17.98 $3.99 Return To Forever Best Of $17.98 $2.99 Marc Ribot y Los Cubanos Postizos $17.98 $2.99 The Rippingtons Live In L.A. $17.98 $2.99 The Rippingtons Sahara $17.98 $3.99 Lee Ritenour Alive in L.A. $17.98 $3.99 Marcus Roberts As Serenity Approaches $17.98 $2.99 Marcus Roberts Gershwin For Lovers $17.98 $2.99 Royal Crown Revue Mugzy's Move (Remastered) $17.98 $1.99 Royal Crown Revue The Contender $17.98 $1.99 Philippe Saisse Next Voyage $17.98 $1.99 David Sanborn Songs From The Night Before $17.98 $2.99 David Sánchez Street Scenes $17.98 $1.99 David Sánchez Obsesión $17.98 $1.99 Diane Schuur Music Is My Life $17.98 $3.99 John Scofield A Go Go $17.98 $3.99 Shirley Scott Talkin' Verve $17.98 $1.99 George Shearing Quintet Back To Birdland $17.98 $1.99 Mark Shim Turbulent Flow $17.98 $3.99 Dan Siegel The Best Of Dan Siegel: Along The Way $17.98 $2.99 Jimmy Smith Dot Com Blues $17.98 $3.99 Soundtrack Introducing Dorothy Dandridge $17.98 $1.99 Tierney Sutton Unsung Heroes $17.98 $3.99 Take 6 Brothers $17.98 $3.99 Ben Tankard Song Of Solomon $17.98 $3.99 Martin Taylor Kiss And Tell $17.98 $1.99 Wayman Tisdale Decisions $17.98 $1.99 Mark Turner Dharma Days $17.98 $2.99 US3 Hand On The Torch $17.98 $2.99 Various Artists An Anthology Of Big Band Swing (1930-1955) $24.98 $3.99 Various Artists S' Marvelous-The Gershwin Songbook $17.98 $1.99 Various Artists A GRP Artists' Celebration Of The Songs Of The Beatles $2.99 Various Artists Red Hot & Rio $17.98 $2.99 Various Artists More Fabulous Big Band $17.98 $3.99 Grover Washington Jr. All My Tomorrows $17.98 $1.99 Rob Wasserman Space Island $17.98 $1.99 Kirk Whalum Hymns In The Garden $17.98 $3.99 Joe Williams That Holiday Feelin' $17.98 $1.99 Cassandra Wilson New Moon Daughter $17.98 $3.99 Yellowjackets Run For Your Life $17.98 $1.99