sidewinder

Happy Birthday !

Saw him on keyboards with the Gil Evans Orchestra at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester in February 1978. It was about 1982/83 I saw Gil's band - I actually had a ticket for the 1978 tour at Colston Hall, Bristol but the biggest dump of snow for many a year early 1978 meant we were all holed up in my neck of the woods. So bad that the villages all had to be supplied by helicopter. I guess it wasn't meant to be. If it was Elvin's group I saw him with, that would have been about 1980. The lineup with Pat LaBarbera.

Sad news - RIP. Pretty sure I got to see him but not sure whether it was with Elvin Jones or Gil Evans. Elvin's Jazz Machine, I think. Just read the 'Do The Math' interview. Very interesting, he was a witness to the Tokyo B29 raids.

But how likely is Ray's to sell them SOON at that price? Not very, I think..

The US market for these seems to be quite different to the UK i.e dollar for £ or worse. Saw this set at £90 recently and it wasn't even mint either ! 'Ray's Jazz' in London had a whole load of the CD sets in recently - most were priced around the £200 mark so no deals there.

Cannonball Adderley 'African Waltz' (Riverside DG mono)

Very fond memories of seeing Hank Jones in a trio along with George Mraz at Catalina Bar & Grill in LA in the late 1990s. Hank was kindness personified and got his best gold pen out in the dressing room to sign my flyer (he was also wearing this very 'Monkian' paisley-patterned smoking jacket). Remember thinking at the time that the Teddy Wilson influence seemed pretty strong and that he took such care and pride in his performance and seemed to really enjoy entertaining the audience. Pretty sure I went back the next night as well. Pretty sure that the first Hank I heard was the Verve material with Parker. Have that Savoy trio set on a UK London LP.

Happy Birthday !

Happy Birthday S-Jack !

Freddie Roach 'Down To Earth' (Liberty blue/black stereo) Sounds spectaculartly good - 'Van Gelder' in the runout, these blue/black Liberties can be real sleepers. Lee Morgan 'The Sixth Sense' (Liberty) Yeah, the recording suffers a bit on that one. I have an original Savoy that sounds murky, but the music is sublime. The score of "Winter Song" (the longer piece - the titles are switched on the record) was printed in an issue of Down Beat in '65 or '66 I believe. My Savoy copy sounds as if it was recorded in the Gents.. (maybe it was?)

Only one thing worse than cassettes and that is 8 track ! Thankfully, Mosaic didn't dabble in either format..

Don't they stick their desks outside in the sun these days? Used to do that back in my day !

If you have an Ortofon cartridge, are you running a little heavier than they recommend? I find that my 2M Black tracks better and sounds a bit better when I track a little over the 1.5 gram recommended tracking force. No, I run a Dynavector moving coil. It is trial and error as to what weight setting works best but I find that slightly above the recommended level gives the optimum output. This is with the Naim Aro arm with heavy counterweight.

Why? Once you dial it in, it should be fine. Same goes for the platter level, unless your floor or equipment rack are perpetually sagging and expanding... Unipivot arm.

I use an Ortofon analog scale along with the tonearm counterweight for setting the correct weight. Re-check the setting every month or so (along with the level).

That's true - good aircon by this country's usual standards too.

Scorchin' over here this week. Too bad I have to work..

Interesting - big price on that 'Pendulum' select.

Anyone buying these for investment quality was an idiot. The music comes first and - combined with what are usually some very valuable booklet notes - means that I will not be parting with Mosaics anytime soon, CD or LP (with the exception of a duplicate or two, perhaps). Suspect that quite a few sales of Mosaic collections have been initiated by folks who have run out of space, which is often an issue with these boxes. Or people who have made the transition from CD to streaming devices (a growing community).

Happy Birthday Late !

Reminder to self to dig that one back out ! That's one of those that never made it to CD? Discogs only shows three volumes of vinyl. On reflection - it might be Vol2 that I have got on the Birdseye LP. Must check !

Great news ! Picked up the first box set for about £20, which was a bargain. Hope a similar deal comes up for the new one.

Reminder to self to dig that one back out !

Another one where the master tape was 'lost'. I think.