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I haven't watched Dexter since season 4. I read a spoiler-heavy review of the finale that said it was so bad it invalidated the entire series -- and that they now regretted watching any Dexter episodes at all. Harsh...

So I have done a bit more investigation into the Reiner set. There are 17 CDs largely dedicated to him in the RCA Living Stereo box that duplicate the material in the new 63 CD box set. Another 5 or 6 CDs were fairly easy to track down. Someone has indicated that about 20 CDs worth of material was remastered in the new box, but it was available previously in one form or another. I would guess I have 35-45% of the material in the box, mostly depending on how they spread it out. Given that it is essentially an original jacket collection, many of these 63 CDs will be awfully short. At the moment, Amazon.ca has it for about $30-35 less than Amazon.com, though that is without shipping to U.S. Probably is still a good deal for Americans (compared to the Amazon.com pre-order), with shipping but without tax and the US dollar up just a bit against $Can. Definitely worth considering if one is north of the border.

I didn't realise there was a book. It was/is a very good exhibition at Dulwich Picture Gallery where I obviously didn't visit the shop on the way out That does sound interesting, though I don't think I'll make the exhibit There are a bunch of decent books on the Group of 7, but this book is quite interesting for a much later, lesser-known Canadian group, the Painters 11. (I tend to gravitate towards abstract art, so I was glad to read up on this group.)

Sometimes it is worth asking if you increase the donation a bit will they at least ship the CD internationally. (That's what happened for me with the Harrison Bankhead.) I might look into this.

After some consideration, I decided to go for the Paavo Berglund set. No question some reviewers are unhappy that it is not a complete Bournemouth set (missing essentially all of the Sibelius symphonies -- available in a different box that then has a lot of overlap with CDs 12/13 here -- and Shostakovich's chamber music). However, I thought that having the Shostakovich symphonies as well as some slightly off-the-beaten track repetoire (CDs 7 & 9-11) made it worth it for me. I found an Amazon reseller offering it at a pretty good price. Should have it next week. Actually, the overlap with this set of the symphonies (http://www.amazon.ca/Sibelius-Symphonies-Paavo-Berglund/dp/B0091JQH2Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1380213268&sr=1-1&keywords=berglund+sibelius) is confined to CD12 (of this set). Kullervo is included in this EMI set, but not the Sibelius symphony set. That actually makes it a bit easier to swallow. If I like what I hear, I probably will get the Sibelius symphony set next.

F. I completely disagree with the notion of ranking jazz musicians... nonetheless this is a scandal and Ω was robbed. (Omega has way more cred than Z.)

Imo, Roscoe Mitchell has more music ahead of him - no matter how much longer he lives - than Vijay Iyer ever will. So I don't think that the "investment in the future" concept is valid. You don't but others don't see it that way. I am not very interested in Roscoe Mitchell's work and generally am intrigued by what Iyer is up to. Certainly, the odds are that Vijay will be creating a lot longer than Roscoe at this point. It comes down to taste, and there is no point in getting too steamed over it.

You can agree or not but the current steering committee certainly seems to be looking at this as an investment in the future, i.e. giving money to much younger artists who presumably are at an earlier point in their careers, rather than going to established artists and validating a career that is mostly behind them, a la the Nobel prizes.

It sounds interesting, but I'm uncertain... See I'm afraid that I would order it, and it would sit there in the box from Amazon. I wouldn't know whether I had already read it or not until I opened the --- Ok, I'll stop there. On a recent trip to Chicago, I read Jedediah Berry's The Manual of Detection. It starts with a lot of promise, but then by the end basically devolves into Inception-lite (even though it came out a year or so ahead of that movie). More than anything it reminds me of a mash-up of Dark City, Borges and Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday. Not a bad book, but just beware that you will probably feel a bit let down by the end.

I wasn't really in the market for this set in the first place, and I can guarantee you I am not interested in it now. Mosaic has to hope more people are in that other camp of those who buy Mosaics mostly because they buy all Mosaics to support Mosaic...

It looks like Harold Mabern is in town in Vancouver for a 3 or 4 day residency. I've seen him before (usually with Eric Alexander) and he's always been great, so I'll try to make it to one of the shows, perhaps on Friday. Oh, as Gilda Radner/Emily Litella would say "Never mind." Too bad. The club where they are playing has only one option for standard tickets -- a $60 cover including a two-course meal (which, as a vegetarian, I'm quite sure I would find not worth it). Just not going to pay that kind of money and be forced into a situation where I will be resentful all evening...

Saw Miguel Zenon at the Jazz Showcase in a quartet with bass, drums and percussion (no piano). It was a good set, drawing a fair bit from his recent live album, Oye. He's got several more shows for those in Chicagoland.

It all comes down to taste, but I'm confident I would not have preferred Alabama Concerto with Coleman/Cherry.

It's on Spotify - listening now - it's...ok so far... AFAIK, Spotify is still not available in Canada. This particular CD is on eMusic, however, and I downloaded a few representative tracks. I suspect I'll get the whole thing, sans the last track which breaks off very abruptly--

This intrigues me, but I might as well hold off a year or two and get it at a bargain price. (That's what I did with Wallace's The Pale King...) I have at least 24 months of books in my TBR pile.

I love Ben but even ten years ago I am not sure I'd put this at the top of my list to buy. Today, I'm perfectly happy with all of the other live recordings I have of Ben in Europe playing these exact same tunes. True, but if it hits eMusic, I would probably give it a go...

Pure speculation, but I would imagine that they wouldn't duplicate any of the Tolliver that already came out on Mosaic. That would cover at least Music Inc. and Impact. I have Glass Bead Games and In the World, so I would have to find out what else is actually on there, but I might be part of the target market for this set.

Slowly, oh so slowly, getting into Proust. I recall having trouble for the first couple hundred pages getting into the pacing of Trollope, and this is even more extreme. It actually takes 50 pages for him to get to the madeline cookie that sets off the whole series. I am going to have to find a way to spend more time with this, as at my current rate I won't finish until Dec.! It has some subtle payoffs, but I simply cannot imagine ever reading this a second time. On the side, I am nearly done with Heller's Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man. It has fallen further in my estimation. It simply is not a good book at all (what a shame), though it is short, so I will finish reading it.

One of the best of the Singles IMO - and they did a very good job with the sound. Essential.. Ordered this and the Mingus (finally). Waiting patiently...

I had almost given up railing against this one. You give an old man hope. (and Hope is none too pleased) The kids in the school I work in have been using it for some time. In the last year I noticed its use by younger members of staff! I do my fogeyish bit with them. I blame American High School movies (interesting the way that British kids have picked up on a lot of that argot but use it in a highly ironic American accent). On the topic of awesome, the Book of Mormon is awesome! I guess it just made it over to London's West End. I would recommend seeing it, though perhaps not at those prices... Anyway, the reason I bring it up is that many of the songs include the word "awesome" used much as an American teenager would use it. Indeed, the first two use it this way. Here are the first few lines of "Hello" (the opening number):

If anyone's seen Avenue Q, the song "Mix Tape" is a good reminder of what it was all about.

Action; Solid; Midnight Special; Look Out! (followed by Breaking Point) Ready for Freddie The Jody Grind(?) But for so many of us jazz fans, Idle Moments/The Waiting Game...

He's busy making a mix tape...

According to Guardian, the poet Seamus Heaney has died. http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/30/seamus-heaney-dies-74-poet Of his various collections, District and Circle is my favourite.

We've talked a bit about it in the Classical Music Bargains thread. I'm a little on the fence. I have a lot of the best material already. But if the price came down a bit, I might go for it.