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The discography looks pretty good, though I think it should have included Osby's Invisible Hand. Sorry, still overwhelmed by the arrival of the package and no coherent thoughts yet.

Well, I was bummed about coming to work -- we do about 90% of work for government agencies, so there is really not much I can accomplish today. However, I had a suspicion that the Mosaic order would show up today, and I was right!!! Goodness - I have set 1420. I thought I had my pre-order in fairly quickly. I know the numbers are a bit scrambled but still ... I'd like to find out if this is the fastest selling Select (I'm guessing Moncur also did well, though many long-time collectors would have had the material, unlike me). I'll post some thoughts on the music in the other thread. I'm doubly psyched, since I ordered the Mulligan Concert Band, which also looks great. So much music, so little time... Actually, I am looking at some "life changes" and I think this will be the last big Mosaic order for some time, though I will probably request the Pepper Select for my birthday.

I really didn't have time to ask any of the clerks today why the Jazz Recort Mart had moved downstairs (to a space where they had moved the blues, I believe). I'm hoping it is just temporary while they remodel the upstairs. I wasn't crazy about what I saw, since it was even more crowded and the used CDs (which is the main thing I buy at JRM) were in complete disarray. I sure hope this isn't the beginning of the end. Anyone have more details?

I reckon he was born with bricks in his head.

Well, they get their 10 posts in, post in the Trading Post, get no offers and mosey on out. I guess that's ok. This board isn't going to be to every one's taste. I lurked for a couple of months before I decided I was willing to join.

I've never heard Basra and was pretty excited about it coming out. In this case, I decided to get the EU version. Really I'm not planning on making thousands of copies anyway. I'm confident I've got at least one player that will play it correctly, I'll pipe in into my computer to make some MP3s to take to work and that will be the end of it. I do think it is irresponsible of EMI to make the change this late into the process, since ultimately it means less money they can spend on the next batch of reissues (either pressing them or advertising them). It would have been a different story if the artist had decided on a name change six months ago.

What I read was that of the roughly 700 NHL players, about 400 are playing in Europe right now. The players that the public has actually heard of Lemieux, Yzerman, etc. did stay in the U.S. but are at the very end of their careers. The future looks very bleak for the current NHL. I do hope that whatever else happens, they pry the Blackhawks away from Bill Wirtz, who is one of the worst owners around (of course, I hate the Hawks, but they still deserve a better owner).

I guess I'm surprised there isn't a thread on this already, or a different NHL thread didn't jump to the top. I wouldn't call myself a huge hockey fan. In fact, I am not much of a sports fan at all, but I can watch basketball and as a distant second hockey. But I did grow up in Michigan, so I have fondness for the Red Wings, and was really glad that Yzerman finally won a few Stanley Cups. Anyway, I think it is a shame that the NHL couldn't resolve its labor issues and get the season started. I'm pretty doubtful that the NHL can come back in its current form, since it was always so low on the public radar to begin with. ESPN is threatening to not even show hockey if it comes back next season, since the replacement programming they've come up with does better than hockey. The best players are off in Europe anyway, and all the marquis players are in their early 40s and are ready to retire. So there are a lot of suggestions kicking around. Mine is to scrap the NHL and only return teams to Canada and northern US cities, and call it NHL classic.

It is hard to believe the stupidity of changing the name, especially at this late, late date. Maybe BN should charge Sims for the cost of recalling all these CDs or make him change the inserts by hand. I guess I wouldn't be surprised if it does hurt sales, since there is some market for the difficult to find Basra, but none for Lazy Afternoon (or whatever they finally come up with). So will Sims allow the ads to say Lazy Afternoon (formerly Basra), or is even that too disrespectful? Stupid stupid stupid.

Most shows at the Green Mill in Chicago are in a smoke-friendly environment. When Patricia Barber plays there, they have a no smoking policy. This is kind of off the beaten path but it is a club with a lot of history (one of Capone's favorite joints according to local lore). I've seen Greg Osby there a couple of times and Von Freeman and Ed Peterson. Most of the time, half the room at Hothouse is for smokers. I really don't know about the Empty Bottle or the Velvet Lounge, but I suspect they allow smoking for now. Chicago may yet pass a no smoking in restaurants/bars law, which frankly I would like, but that's another story. It really is up to Daley and his whims. Some days he supports it, then he changes his mind.

I am fairly interested in this series at Hothouse, but not many people are coming out, so I will try to spread the word. I managed to make the first set of Tatsu Aoki's Miyumi project (which was the more traditional set), but sadly had to skip the second set. There were about 20 people in the audience against 5 people on stage. Here's the rest of the schedule. I'm going to try to make several of these shows, particularly Tomasz Stanko. And here's the Hothouse website for more details: Hothouse Grazyna Auguscik CD Release Show Jazz Without Borders Wednesday, February 16 8:30pm $12 in Advance, $12 at the door, (21 & Over) Singer, composer, arranger, and producer Grazyna Auguscik has won the praise and admiration of music critics, jazz enthusiasts and even non-jazz audiences with a singular voice that speaks a universal language. She is one of the most intriguing contemporary vocalists on today’s World jazz scene. Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey with the Goran Ivanovic Group Saturday, February 19 9:00pm $12 in Advance, $15 at the door, $12 students, (21 & Over) From Tulsa, Oklahoma, the JFJO pulls influences from nearly every genre of music, diverse as John Coltrane, and Jimi Hendrix, to Thelonious Monk and KRS-ONE. Together since 1994 and performing over 200 live appearances per year, JFJO is constantly expanding their horizons by collaborations with today`s best musicians, and integrating their improvisational music deeply into the jazz and festival scenes. Tonight will be a very special all acoustic night with the group, playing two sets. (Ok, not Wed. but still pretty interesting) Ted Sirota's Rebel Souls Jazz Without Borders Wednesday, February 23 8:30pm $10 in Advance, $10 at the door, $8 students, (21 & Over) The Rebel Souls have their roots in the rebellious jazz and improvised music of the 1960’s but draw on a myriad of styles, including afro-pop, funk, reggae, ska and hip-hop, to help cultivate what The Reader has called their "immediately recognizable sound". They are the next great Chicago jazz band. HotHouse's Wed. Night Jazz Without Borders series is sponsored in part by Miles Ahead Jazz Radio. Andreas Kapsalis Trio: Jazz Without Borders Wednesday, March 2 8:30pm $10 in Advance, $10 at the door, (21 & Over) Andreas Kapsalis’ acoustic guitar approach is unorthodox and virtuosic. His eight-finger tapping technique yields fantastic melody, powerful rhythm and moving bass simultaneously. Kapsalis composes and performs an original hybrid of Americana, Latin, Mediterranean and Jazz. This inventively unique sound touches on a wide variety of influences making the music of Andreas Kapsalis difficult to categorize. Percussionists Jamie Gallagher and Darren Garvey create a seismic groove through the use of a drum set, hand drums, bowed cymbals, hand claps and auxiliary percussion. Gallagher and Garvey are long-time collaborators and interlock seamlessly with Andreas’ complex harmonic structure. This diverse Chicago trio delivers a dramatic and explosive performance. Paul Wertico Trio: Jazz Without Borders Wednesday, March 9 8:30pm $10 in Advance, $12 at the door, (21 & Over) A world-class, all-around drummer who put in two decades with the celebrated guitar hero and composer Pat Metheny (resulting in ten memorable recordings and seven Grammy Awards). But it is ultimately in the context of his own renegade groups that Wertico has revealed the most about his musicality and philosophy of drumming while also pushing the envelope on risk-taking. StereoNucleosis, his most audacious and musically diverse outing to date, Wertico pushes the envelope like never before in his illustrious 30-year career as a drummer/musical provocateur. The Henry Grimes Quartet featuring Marshall Allen, Fred Anderson, and Avreeayl Ra Friday, March 11 10:00pm $15 in Advance, $20 at the door, $10 students/seniors, (21 & Over) Also Saturday, March 12 9:30pm $15 in Advance, $20 at the door, $10 students/seniors, (21 & Over) Master bassist Henry Grimes, missing from the music world since the late '6Os, has made an unprecedented comeback after receiving the gift of a bass (a green one called "Olive Oil") from William Parker in December, 'O2 to replace the instrument Henry had been forced to give up some 3O years earlier. (Also, not Wed.) Tomasz Stanko Quartet: Jazz Without Borders Wednesday, March 16 8:30pm $15 in Advance, $15 at the door, (21 & Over) Tomas Stanko is a leading European jazz trumpeter, composer and bandleader. Since early 1960s he has been a principal force in European jazz. Highly unique and one of its kind music of Stanko played a crucial role in shaping the many forms of Polish and European jazz avant-garde. Its open form, abstract of expression, diverse interpretation and highly emotional, almost human tone of his instrument, characterizes music of Tomasz Stanko. His art is on one hand deeply connected with jazz universe of John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Don Cherry, and on the other hand profoundly influenced by Slavic lyric and avant-garde form of Stanko's mentor and long time collaborator Polish pianist and composer Krzysztof Komeda. Despite being associated with free jazz, Stanko music is very communicative, receptive and accessible for all jazz fans willing to take the extra step. All Ears Sextet: Jazz Without Borders Wednesday, March 30 8:30pm $15 in Advance, $15 at the door, $10 students/seniors, (21 & Over) Free music, full of furious improvisations, yet eminently listenable - the speciality of international sextet All Ears. Unusual music, but once you’ve heard it you’ll immediately recognize it again: happy, virtuosic and dogma free. The leaders, pianist Michiel Braam and tenor saxophonist Frans Vermeerssen, provide the band with stimulating compositions that fire the musicians to let loose their individual sound. That ranges from sweet talk to full-on screaming, and everything in between. Years of experience in the international improvised music scene ensure that the band members never lose track of the music and keep on searching for catchy sounds and seductive melodies

You guys are killing me. I had the HUM set -- excellent stuff. Then this thread, and I felt compelled to get a few more Sketch CDs off Indiejazz, since there is no telling when this will come back in print.

They did mention Preston was there heading into or coming back from commercials, but I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't introduce him before that song -- just overlooked it or something. I do think the duet Ray and Bonnie did (which is the one she sang at the Grammys) was way better than the Norah Jones duet that won, but I guess that was to be expected. At least they gave a performing spot to Raitt, so that was ok.

There are now two more cases that have emerged - female teacher and young male student. It's a very disturbing trend.

I don't understand why they would license the material, even only if in Europe, if they truly were considering a Conn. Was the Conn only going to be issued in the US? Was this right hand meet left hand - the rights department not talking to the re-issue department? Very unusual. Anyway, the sound on this CD (Best of the West) is fine.

Just a small follow-up on Playtime. Criterion emailed me back, saying they hope to re-issue Playtime, but there are no definitive plans at the moment. I have no idea what that means. I hope they are working on the re-issue and don't want to tip their hands too much. I may see if I can get a used copy of the R2 version in the meantime, even though the colors are a bit off (green tinged).

I thought Season 1 was quite good, and maybe the first half of Season 2. Perhaps renting the second season is a better approach. The question is whether you can go on, knowing you are turning your back on so much of the story. I guess I have survived so far ...

It's pretty interesting up close, but mostly due to the scale. It really helps outline the immensity of Central Park and all its trails when you see the gates criss-cross in the distance. They were unfurling these things in teams all over the park in the morning, and there were still some to be unfurled by the early afternoon. It was kind of funny, since they pulled on this tab (with a long pole) and the material unrolled and a cardboard tube dropped out. Then the wrapper and the tube were put into a bag (probably to be sold on-line later). All the while there were people taking pictures and probably some teams were filmes for a documentary. Probably there will be pictures of this procedure for every one of the 15,000 gates. It did feel a little cult-like so I moved on. There were many people out walking through the park, and that was great. The numbers are way up for a cold afternoon. Best of all, if you ran into a Gates volunteer and were nice to them, you got a small 2 inch square piece of the fabric used in the Gates. I managed to get one (no it's not for sale) and it is basically orange with some yellow in it if you turn it in the light.

Ok, well I guess I will show up a bit earlier then (I was going to wait until 4 PM when admission becomes free (Fridays only)), but it sounds like it is worth taking the extra time.

I've been to the old MOMA many times, and even made it out to Queens three times, including the awesome Max Beckmann show. I'm going to check out the expanded MOMA tomorrow. Has anyone been through it? Roughly how long does it take to see everything? Two hours? Three? Four? I can probably go through a little more quickly, since I am quite familiar with their core collection, though there will be many favorites near which I like to linger.

I do want to apologize for implying that art lovers are lemmings. I was in a terrible mood and the puffery in the Travel Arts Syndicate "news piece" irritated me. I can believe that 2 million people might see The Gates, but most of them will be locals. The NY Times piece with its guestimate that 200K people would travel to NY to see the piece is much more reasonable. As it happens, I am coming to NY this weekend, for completely different reasons, and I will go ahead and try to see the Gates myself.

Do you really think millions of people will come to NYC just to see this? Millions? Maybe I should try to check it out. I've always wanted to be a lemming.

A UK seller is offering the ultra rare inner glow on Ebay. The opening bid is a bit more than I want to pay (I have my fingers crossed it will show up on the Select). But knock yourselves out.Inner glow

Gotta agree with Dan here. Bluesette is better of course, but I also like Bluesette II. Kind of a warm recording. Amazing really that they got almost all the original performers back together.

I think I only made it to VV once to catch Don Byron. The set consisted of two pieces, long jams each over 30 minutes. The group was kind of Latin-tinged. It was fine, but I enjoyed his recent tour to support Ivey-Divey more.