Fer Urbina

This may be a good one for you This is a 2-CD reissue (by Sony UK, methinks) with the same tracks as the two old "Columbia Jazz Masterpieces" CDs (Singin' The Blues and At the Jazz Band Ball). Does anyone know which one has the better sound quality? F

I like him very much in Louis Armstrong's Symphony Hall live album (rec. 1947) singing (Stars Fell On Alabama) and playing (Lover). Have not listened to it for ages, but the record he did originally for the Urania label in the mid-50s may be worth checking out. F

Sonny Stitt should be up there... 11 LPs in 1962, and that's according to allmusic.com, not the best of sources, but it shouldn't be too off-mark. F

Or a city in Indiana. Or a popular egg dish. Or a BBC weatherman F

On a (perhaps) similar point, I just realised that on September 11 it'll be the 50th anniversary of Art Tatum's last recording session (the one with Ben Webster anyway), which means that his whole recorded output will be PD in the EU. I know some people don't wait till the 50 years, but could this be another reason to get rid of the old Fantasy boxes asap? F

Apart from the Bobby Jaspar thing, he calls Sacha Distel's guitar style "pure commercialism". IIRC Distel played very much in a Jimmy Raney/Tal Farlow vein, which I wouldn't call "commercial". The jacket shows the author holding an old Selmer guitar and the short bio says he writes for Vintage Magazine, so that may explain it. Other than that, I haven't read the whole thing, but I was surprised by the detailed account of the fire in Django's caravan. F

My last order from him was posted in Japan on July 28 and just got it in London today (August 1). For anyone who hasn't dealt with him (yet) he's attentive, efficient and prices are very reasonable. Hiroshi is a jewel! F

According to IMDB this would be from 1941. Can't check right now, but I think Evans was already with Claude Thornhill by then. F

I haven't really paid attention, so I should check next time I got to HMV in London, but I think I've seen something about being able to buy the Universal Mosaics in installments, or at least not having to pay the full price upfront. Anyone knows? F

cone sea air toe day ah ron chwez (ch as in 'loch' lomond and the accent on this syllable) Almost perfect. "deh" instead of "day", vowel should sound as in "set". "ran" instead of "ron", vowel should sound as in "map" (although with an American pronunciation you're probably right). In most of Spain we have a different sound for "ce" and "ci", as in "thorn", and the last syllable in "Aranjuez" should sound like "Beth", but most of the Spanish speaking world don't use that sound, anyway. F

Vacation?!? If only!!! I'm in London, anyway, so I'll stop reading this thread... F

I just looked on the Concord site, and not only is New Directions available directly from them, it's on sale for $7.98. Looks like they may be having a clearance sale on the OJC Limited Edition stuff, so it may be now or never if there are titles you want. http://concordmusicgroup.com/artists/album/index.php?id=1493 Been away for a couple of days, just checked if anyone had posted after my message, only to find 15 pages of raving shoppers Anyway, thanks for that Felser. I actually got the New Directions second-hand, but the Concord site would have been the last place I've looked for it. F

Teddy Charles' New Directions seems to be completely OOP. F

I'd go first for the three things Giuffre arranged for Hal McKusick's Cross Section - Saxes, "Sing Song", "Yesterdays", and especially "It never entered my mind". There is a Japanese reissue of this album, and "It never entered..." is also in "Now's The Time" (GRP, now OOP) F

Nice cover too... F

Well, it does mean a thing to me: someone who had an important job at an important company (pre-Concord Fantasy, or so I thought) but, unlike many of her colleagues, used to answer emails personally, without preset messages, and frequently went out of her way to help. So, whatever the reasons behind these, and I accept there might be some good ones , this is definitely no good news. And why exactly did Concord buy Fantasy? And what for? F

Never thought much of them, but a few days ago I had Allen Lowe's "Devilin' Tune" on while I was doing something else and this tune came on. I thought they had a little extra something, stopped what I was doing, went to check the band and tune in the booklet, and it was the ODJB. Would have to check again what made them stand out from other contemporary bands, but I think it could be a certain rhythmic zest. F

RCA did quite a few CD reissues in the late 80s-early 90s that would deserve re-reissuing too. Also, has "The 86 Years of Eubie Blake" (Columbia) ever been reissued on CD? Not really urgent, but I'd also like to see a decent reissue of Woody Herman's First Herd (whenever the Mosaic and the poor Blowin' Up A Storm become OOP, I guess). F

I wouldn't mind seeing a couple of Tony Bennetts like "Hometown" and "My Heart Sings" reissued on CD (although Legacy did do a series of Tony Bennett CD a while ago, I don't think those two where included). Someone mentioned Mosaic's pricing in another thread - that and especially their distribution could be improved IMHO. And with the European PD law as it stands, competition is going to get tougher (you can get decent CDs from mint copies of LPs from 1956 onwards). You can read a list of Columbia LPs, 1951-56, here. F

I second (third?) the call for a reissue of the mid-30s Ellington sides. There are some interesting possibilities from the 30s-40s with RCA and Columbia under the same roof (Benny Goodman, even Ellington - Basie recorded only for Columbia and RCA in the 40s?) but I don't think they'll happen. All that stuff is PD in Europe and I doubt the labels would have any interest anyway (let's hope they'll keep licensing stuff to Mosaic and other labels). In any case, I have the impression that the ones with the massively giant but largely untapped vault are Universal. F

From jazzmessengers.com (a shop based in Barcelona, Spain) http://www.jazzmessengers.com/ProductInfo.asp?ref=113593 From DustyGroove http://www.dustygroove.com/jazzcd5.htm#423129 I guess the personnel and dates on the jazzmessengers site should be the other way around. F

Lonehill's misuse of the word "Complete" has been reported so many times I'm beginning to think they have more CDs wrong than right (not going to count them). Case in point, the latest Eddie Costa, what is the point of calling it Complete Trio Recordings if you then explain (in the back of the CD) that they're really a couple of LPs straight? The only reason I can think of is misleading the buyer (for the record, they're not the complete trio recordings, not as a leader, or in studio). As for non-reissued albums, do check their reissues against Japanese reissues and you might be surprised. Japanese is expensive, right, but not outer space. I don't think Pujol works anywhere near the majors (doesn't need to, anyway). As for Lonehill going in that direction, I don't see that happening. Not at all. F

McKusick plays next Sunday in Sag Harbor. http://www.hamptons.com/calendarmain.ihtml...arbor¤tmonth=05

Or is it "Fans are daft"? Also, due to a misprint instead of "Da ya think I'm sexy?", there are 10,000 copies that carry the title "Da ya think?", which the company are trying to retrieve in case the fans find it offensive.

If heard this many times, but is this always so? IIRC the ZYX remaster of "The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery" sounds better than the original OJC CD. F