ejp626

I actually had forgotten I pulled the trigger on this set. It's gone up an additional $5 on Amazon.ca but is holding steady at $30 on Amazon.com. (Edit, now $35 on Amazon. ) It is indeed 15 CDs. Set list is very heavy on Russian composers (Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Rimsky-Korsokov), a smidgin of Brahms (Hungarian Dances), Dvorak Symphonies 7-9 (two versions of the 9th!) and a couple of CDs with a bit more of a French flavor: Berlioz, Saint-Saens and Paul Dukas. Mostly everything in the standard repertoire, though some of the Russian symphonies are less known. Still, it looks like a really promising set that steers away from the Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms emphasis of so many of the other EMI sets. Not that there is anything wrong with that, just that I have enough Beethoven sets to last me the rest of my life...

Somewhere on Espn Kobe is quoted as saying it is time for more post-up basketball and to slow down the pace. Not a big Kobe fan, but it will be interesting if His Poutiness gets D'Antoni fired. For sure it was a horrible decision to hire him in the first place, which basically every person who knows anything about basketball knew at the time. Just a stupid, get-a-name-coach-at-any-price kind of decision that the Knicks are better known for. Doesn't even make sense, since no one goes to games or buys team merchandise based on the coach.

I wonder if Julius Hemphill heard it? MG Don't know about that, but I am currently listening to Abdulah Ibrahim's The Journey with a frontline of Hamiet Bluiett and Don Cherry (true, this would best be classified as African jazz music). That's kind of interesting. Don Cherry and Hamiet Bluiett are American. But so is Roy Ayers and, if he can make an LP with Fela Kuti and it's African, they can surely make one with Ibrahim and it's African, too. I guess the crucial point is who's in charge and what are they trying to do? All the Ibrahim I've got, whether it was recorded in South Africa, America or Europe (have I any from Europe? not sure) sounds to me like a somewhat sophisticated version of the township jive material that's been heard from fifties kwela bands to Robbie Jansen now (and that music has been getting more sopphisticated without becoming disconnected from its roots in the townships). So I reckon it's African. More African than Blues, soul or jazz, say. But to deny that Ibrahim plays jazz is silly. And the same is true for Jansen, Masekela, Rachabane, Masilela, Zacks Nkosi and the Elite Swingsters. Calling it African jazz music doesn't get it for me, because Super Biton, Bembeya Jazz, Mystere Jazz de Tombouctou, Momo 'Wandel' Soumah play very different kinds of music that can also be described, and some of it has been described (not terribly inaccurately if not terribly helpfully), as African jazz music. So I don't know what the answer is, but it's interesting. MG I'm certainly not an expert on Ibrahim. I would say that his earlier work, perhaps through late 60s is a bit of Highlife mixed with Duke Ellington, and then from the 70s onward it has been more traditional jazz (and plenty of suites in the Ellington tradition). The middle track on The Journey (recorded in 1978 in NYC incidentally) are largely free jazz whereas the last track Hajj feels more like a fusion of jazz and African rhythm (and is certainly the track I like best). The first track (Sister Rosie) actually does have just a bit of Highlife flavor to it that I missed on first listen (distracted by the middle track I guess). Out of curiosity, I wonder if Ibrahim and Randy Weston recorded any duets. That might be interesting -- or too much of a good thing. As far as I can tell from a quick search, they have not. I should have mentioned that in addition to a bunch of other musicians on the CD, Johnny Dyani is on bass (and Roy Brooks on drums). I've been trying to track down the recording he (Dyani) did with Mal Waldron and think I finally have a source that will ship to Canada.

Judging by the skateboarders I've known, it isn't an entirely clean sport. On the other hand, I don't think marijuana is considered a performance enhancer... Okay, curling. Is curling clean? Brewskis aren't a problem, eh?

I wonder if Julius Hemphill heard it? MG Don't know about that, but I am currently listening to Abdulah Ibrahim's The Journey with a frontline of Hamiet Bluiett and Don Cherry (true, this would best be classified as African jazz music).

Completed Madame Bovary. What a downer. Not that I expected things to turn out well for her (that's pretty much a given), but her husband really was such a simpleton. So many people in the novel make such bad choices, though I suppose it really is the Bovarys that end up the worst by the end. Still, I kind of felt Flaubert really piled it on in the last few pages. I guess his point is that there are some people you can't save from themselves, and this includes M. Bovary. I have some shorter pieces to read, including Mahfouz's Karnak Cafe, and then will try to wrap up Midnight's Children.

And tried his very best to destroy the lives and careers of all those who told the truth about he was up to. Don't think that "all of his peers" did that. Yes, but that was not cheating, that was something else. Only the winner would ever have had to do that. Why be more angry about Armstrong's cheating than about that of every rider who took a podium place, or indeed of anyone who placed 50th? The answer is not in the cheating. That was already there in the sport, there are hundreds of names implicated. The teams and cycling authorities knew all about it. So yes people dislike Lance humanly, but without him some other cheat - sanctioned implicitly by the team and by the race and by the UCI - would have won. Hate Lance, yes if you like, but why not hate everyone else? If Armstrong were not so arrogant in his denials, if he didn't sue and otherwise try to ruin people who told the truth about his doping, if he had merely denied the doping and then admitted it I might be OK with that as an admission of guilt. But he didn't. Let's not forget that he sued a UK newspaper for libel for hinting he was doping -- and won! That takes real chutzpah when you know you are lying -- and again puts him in a category quite different from his peers. You can better believe they are going to ask for some higher court to overturn that judgement and ask for costs etc., and probably get them. Some folks are saying that Lance is not actually in legal jeopardy in the US for this reason or that. I'm not so sure about that. But I do think he probably perjured himself in the UK libel case and that may cause him serious problems in the future. Couldn't happen to a nicer dirtbag. (Not that I don't think the UK libel law is a shambles that deserves to be completely uprooted, but that is a different post for a different day.)

It's a tough call. I have somewhere between 60-75% of this, so I'm probably not in the market for it, but maybe there will be enough newly released material to cause me to change my mind. If the packaging is really well done, it might sway me a bit as well, since I have a lot of the Vogue material on fairly ugly cut-outs.

True, though it wouldn't have been much of a shop if he hoarded the best LPs. I don't know about the UK, but the US changed the way inventory was treated for accounting purposes, and this was one factor in the decline of brick-and-mortar stores.

No, I think he was worst than most in being a heavy pusher -- and someone who tried to and often did destroy the careers of those who blew the whistle on him. That puts him in a special category well beyond his peers.

It is a CD. I believe they will press more than the number pre-ordered and sell through normal channels. But the label is trying to pre-sell enough to make sure they can pay the musicians and cover costs. No system is perfect, that's for sure.

You could always try to email the sponsor and see what they say. Of course sometimes all the info goes away after the project closes. I believe I still have contact info, since I am one of the backers. No rush now, given that the CD should be shipping in the summer...

Should have tried working on the plane this weekend, but just too cramped, so I gave up and read the books I brought instead. I wrapped up Edward Jones' Lost in the City, comprised of short stories set in Washington D.C. After reading several of them, it struck me that the tone was quite similar to Raymond Carver, though the stories were not nearly as tight. Carver often wrote about working class whites, and Jones is writing about Blacks further down the class spectrum, though there are a handful of children who "escape" and live among the ghosts, i.e. in white neighborhoods in D.C. The stories are accomplished, but boy were they depressing. I'm not sure there is a single one with an uplifting ending. I also read Mordecai Richler's Barney's Version. This was recently made into a movie, though so much of it covers the same territory as Sideways and Paul Giamatti is in it as well, that it seems really redundant. Anyway, it has some amusing moments, but I did feel somewhat manipulated into siding with a guy who was an absolute boor and drunkard, and whom I would avoid in my real life. Back to my other reading, I am about halfway through Madame Bovary. It certainly has its moments, but I wouldn't call it a page-turner or anything like that.

It looks like they just made it. About 90 minutes left. I am probably going to go ahead and pledge as well. Remember seeing Harrison around Chicago a few times. Any idea who the other 3 musicians being recorded are? Are they drawn from the sextet he used for Morning Sun Harvest Moon? It would have been nice to know that...

Am listening to the download of the album -- really digging Dr. Funk. Le Petite Ditty is an interesting change-up. Reminds me a bit of Verdi's Voice off of Goldson's New Time, New Tet (the concept of the track more than any musical similarities).

Releasing at the same time as the Silverstri is a 6 CD set (for $4 more than the Silvestri for half the CDs!) of Toscanini (the Complete HMV Recordings). I assume no overlap with the huge RCA set, but hard to tell sometimes. I think I have enough Toscanni to digest for the moment.

Another one of these EMI big boxes coming out - this time the complete EMI recordings of Constantin Silvestri. Really almost no info on this (even whether it is 13 or 15 CDs) at the moment, but the pre-order price is just about $30 (slightly higher at Amazon.ca) and it seems hard to go wrong at that price. Some of the individual recordings that must be on this set have been highly praised. I think I'll go for it.

Ok, the guy really knows his stuff. I particularly liked some of the less iconic ones, like the take-off of Stylings of Silver and Slow Drag. At the same time, it feels a little creepy to be that into Obama, and the cumulative effect is too much hero worship for me.

Yes, free shipping (to the US only). I will be in the States this weekend. Any orders must be placed by 9 Eastern, 6 Pacific today (sorry for short notice). After that, I will be back to regular shipping rates. All from the Leo Records sale (except last 2 not in sale itself) All CDs near mint. $6 Alati, Iselasi, Radaele, Scianjino I am surprised ... $6 Joelle Leandre/William Parker - Live at Dunois $6 Glenn Hall/Roswell Rudd The Roswell Incident $5 The Remote Viewers Stranded Depots $6 Simon Nabatov Nature Morte $6 Moye-Tchicai-Geerken Casava Balls $10 Moye-Tchicai-Geerken The African Tapes (2 CDs) HOLD $7 Simon Nabatov-Han Bennink Chat Room (Leo) HOLD $7 Ivo Perelman-Louis Sclavis The Ventriloquist (Leo) Odds and ends HOLD $7 Alexander Hawkins Moholo-Moholo Keep Your Heart Straight (Ogun) some unfortunate lines on back of CD from plastic sleeve, but plays fine $5 Mal Waldron Black Glory (Enja) VG Thanks for looking! Eric

But if they can literally press 100 copies and essentially sit on them, that hardly seems reasonable and yet meets the letter of the law. Not sure about the Motown stuff whether it can be found in a tangible format, but iTunes is widely available, even if I have decided to opt out.

Still working our way through Get Smart -- up into Season 2 now. Still holds up pretty well, though every now and then Max seems too stupid to tie his own shoes. It's odd, because he isn't simply incompetent -- there are times he occasionally has some good insights. And he is braver than I remembered, though even there it [the writing] isn't entirely consistent. Am supplementing a bit with Futurama vol 7 (the episodes that aired last summer). There are another 13 or so coming this summer. Yea! I do wish Comedy Central would go ahead and renew for the 8th production series, but I suspect the writers are at least sketching a few things out in case it is renewed.

Things have changed. Zoverstocks used to be Guernsey based, but now dispatch from Macclesfield, presumably because the Channel Islands tax loophole has been closed. I agree that the condition of their used stock can be poor, but I've been prepared to overlook this because of their really low prices and the fact that they've always replaced stuff instantly when I've complained. So you're telling us that customer service (or really base competency of the staff) on the mainland can't live up to Guernsey? Only being a bit ironic. In my 18 months living in East Anglia, I found overall customer service appalling compared to typical service in the States with most folks resentful of the fact they had to work in a shop at all. Of course, standards everywhere are slipping. So many stores in North America have decided to cut waaaay back on staff, so it is pretty much self-service. Until you get to the till, and sometimes even finding anyone to take your money can be a challenge...

No problem. I do think the RCA set is quite good. I have the earlier (more "collectible" but also more shelf-filling) version. And there are some performances on the Decca sets I like. I expect the EMI is probably the most thrilling of the 4 sets, but I haven't really absorbed it. The Columbias are probably my least favorite of the 4 sets so far, but I don't regret picking it up. But it will take me years to really absorb these performances. I'm enjoying exploring some of the less famous conductors through these sets that came out over the past 5 years - Munch, Ormandy, Szell,Tennstedt, Barbirolli, Giulini and so on. So much to listen to... No one from the 1950s or 60s would believe that we could basically compile dozens if not hundreds of these LPs and fit them into a shoebox.

Oh please. Even Homer nodded, as the old saying goes. Anyway, different strokes and all, but I have been completely underwhelmed the 2 or 3 times I've seen Shorter as a leader (not necessarily as sideman). I have no interest in where he is going/where he is now. And for sure I will be passing on this CD.

I guess it depends what you are looking for. There are box sets from Columbia, Decca, RCA and EMI. The Columbias are mostly the most recent recordings from the last years of his life (1976-77), so sonically they are pretty good, but they are not really Stokowski at his peak. (Indeed, the RCA set you reference draws most heavily from 1973-75, so also a fairly aged Stokowski.) The Decca sets are the "Phase 4" recordings mostly from the 1960s and early 70s. The EMI box is even earlier, mostly mid 50s. So the most "youthful" Stokowski from among these 4 sets is the EMI box. There is no comprehensive box set of his mono recordings. Andante had done a good job with the 78s, but those box sets are out of print and starting to get pricy. Cala has kept some of these recordings in print, and also has a license for the Phase 4 recordings (so beware of duplication with Decca), but they have not put out a box set. In any case, aside from one of the Decca sets and the Andantes, they are all bargains, and I didn't see any harm in picking them all up.