Edward

Yes, this is great news (but not so for my wallet). As for Basie's Roulette output, I think that "Basie Plays Hefti" would be a great candidate for reissue. I am surprised that it has not yet been released on CD (other than on the Mosaic).

I am pretty certain that the Teddy Wilson set will be the next endangered Mosaic. Fortunately, I already have it. Hopefully for the rest of you, it will last at least until the end of this year.

"Around the world and back snap!" Men on Film were composed of Blayne Edwards and Antoine Merriwether. A group of us used to watch In Living Color together at the graduate dorm at UCLA (during its inaugural season?). I have great memories of this show, but I am reluctant to take the plunge considering all of the other television series that I am already collecting on DVD.

Congratulations, Johnny!!! I envy you living in Seattle.

I placed my order this morning; Mosaic is now down to around 30-35 copies of each set. I bet that these sets will be gone by Monday June 7th at the very latest.

Dmitry, I am curious. Is your car CD player a factory model? If so, what kind of car do you drive? I ask because I purchased a new car last summer and was also dismayed to find that many of the CD's that I played in my car became scratched. For some reason, it seems as though my Sony CD's are of heartier stock - I have not noticed scratches on any of them. I think that the CD's are getting scratched by the felt dust guard when they are sucked into the player, but I could be wrong.

JohnS, The Verve Music Group website lists an 08/17/04 date for the release of a Tal Farlow Mosaic International boxed set.

I also hope that the Gene Krupa reissue appears in the not too distant future. I have this session on a fairly poor sounding LP - the only ebay vinyl purchase in which I have been disappointed thus far, but I know that I have been extremely lucky in this regard. Swede, I think that the Verve site incorrectly listed "The Sound of Christmas" as an Ahmad Jamal session. Preliminary research appears to indicate that this is a Ramsey Lewis date. Too bad (with all due respect to Mr. Lewis - I might pick it up anyway).

TL, I just sent you a PM. -ED

The albums included in your poll are all fine, but I believe that the best single disc introduction to bossa nova is the Verve compilation, "The Girl from Ipanema - The Antonio Carlos Jobim Songbook." This CD contains only a few of the usual suspects ("The Girl from Ipanema" from Getz/Gilberto and "Jazz Samba" from The Composer Plays). What is impressive about this release is that most of the performances are exceptional, but not otherwise easily obtained - several songs seem to appear nowhere else on CD, while others (such as "Corcovado" by Sarah Vaughan, "Felicidade" by Billy Ecstine, and "Desafinado" by Ella Fitzgerald) come from albums that are NOT bossa nova albums. I highly recommend this collection, and I am not generally a fan of compilations. I believe that it would take a good deal of time (and a great number of bossa nova album purchases) before you found this CD to be a redundant part of your music library. If I had to choose a proper album, however, I would be hard pressed to decide between Getz/Gilberto and Jazz Samba. Cannonball's Bossa Nova is also excellent, and please do not overlook other albums that you have not listed, such as Wave, The Composer Plays, and Stone Flower by Antonio Carlos Jobim, as well as From the Hot Afternoon by Paul Desmond and Big Band Bossa Nova by Quincy Jones.

I have sent you a PM regarding the Bowie.

I REALLY want to pre-order this set (something I do not/cannot usually do), but I have recently been thinking about getting the Mercury "Blues, Boogie, and Bop" set (a local store has a good price on one - I already have the 8-CD Mercury set). I am very pleased to hear that the Tal Farlow set was remastered by Malcolm Addey. I was a little worried that I had been a little hasty in selling my Japanese Verve Tal Farlow CD's a couple of months back. Did anyone else find it funny that the Tal Farlow set is limited to 10,000 copies? I believe that the NKC Trio and Ellington Reprise sets are the only other Mosaics that, thus far, have been limited to as many copies.

Don't forget Art Hodes. The Art Hodes Mosaic is one of my favorites.

I can't seem the verify the existence of this one. Anyone have any information? This CD is listed as a 2001 release from Neon Tonic Records on the Tower website. I know that this has actually been released (I was able to get my hands on a promotional copy), but I am positive that it was withdrawn due to legal problems stemming from inclusion of the Sinatra track. My copy has the Concord stamp and indicates that it was marketed and distributed by Concord Records, Inc. The Sinatra track is "All Of Me", and dates from 1978. The Ellington tracks are "Take The 'A' Train" and "Creole Love Call", both dating from around 1970. The Keely Smith tracks are "Misty" and "Be My Love", and date from 1968. There are also tracks by Sammy Davis, Jr. (2), Andy Williams (2), Lena Horne (2), and Ann-Margret (1).

Congratulations, Jim. Your photo shows that Zora truly is a beautiful baby - not all babies are so blessed. Of course, the problem with pretty little girls is that they all too soon grow up to become pretty teenagers and a source of worry for their fathers .

Lon, are you referring to the original two single disc Venuti & Lang releases on JSP or the newly released four or five CD boxed set? Thanks for the clarification.

Hmmm, this will be the second Mosaic set composed of Sony-owned recordings that will have been around for far longer than expected - 8 years this fall. (The first, of course, was the Woody Shaw set.) This set truly is wonderful. I was able to pick it up cheaply from Collectors' Choice Music several years ago when they were selling it as well as the Hank Mobley set at prices considerably lower than Mosaic's. Thanks again to (I want to say Tony Jerant) for alerting everyone on the BNBB at the time to this sale.

Here's wishing you a great birthday and all the best in your ____ year! (Please don't feel obligated to fill in the blank. )

Mark, Please do not give up on recovering your money by having your credit card company refuse the original charge. I cannot imagine why they would not do so considering all of the pertinent facts.

I was going to school at UCLA and living in Santa Monica when the '94 Northridge quake hit. Actually, I woke up about a minute before the quake hit because I had to take a leak (or perhaps I woke up for some other reason and realized that I had to use the bathroom). Fortunately, I did not get started before the quake began. I automatically place myself under the nearest doorway when I feel an earthquake start rumbling. I feel sorry (and concerned) about those not accustomed to quakes. My roomate at the time of the Northridge quake was a med student from Houston, and I yelled at him repeatedly to get under his bedroom doorway, but to no avail.

I heartily second the Helen Carr recommendation. This is a great CD (domestically released), and used copies can readily be found at good prices. There seems to be a great number of Toshiba Bethlehem reissues of albums by little known female jazz singers, and I would love to hear board members' input on these. The six Mel Torme Bethlehems are quite good, and I think that they are only a shade behind Torme's best Verve albums (i.e., "Swings Shubert Alley", "Torme", and "Count Basie and Duke Ellington Songbooks"). My favorites of the six are "It's a Blue World" and "Lulu's Back In Town". The three Chris Connor Bethlehems ("Sings Lullabys of Birdland", "Chris", and "This Is Chris") are not to be missed as I think that they are on par with her best Atlantic albums. I also recommend the two Bethlehem Johnny Hartman CD's that I have: "All of Me" and "Sings from the Heart". I cannot recall off the top of my head whether or not there was a third Bethlehem Hartman album. I also like the 2-CD "Porgy and Bess" set, but why oh why did Bethlehem choose to use Francis Faye as Bess instead of Chris Connor?! I have read that the Bobby Troup Bethlehems are also quite good, even though they might be a bit of an acquired taste for some.

Another reason to use credit cards rather than checking accounts with Paypal-you can take it up with your card issuer, too. Absolutely! I once challenged an internet purchase (non-ebay) because I never received the items and the only "proof" of shipment that I received was the vendor's assurance that shipment had been made. I wrote a very detailed letter to my credit card company, and the charge was removed in fairly short order. If a credit card was the source of your PayPal funding for this transaction, Mark, please give your credit card company a call soon.

I do what Quincy does with his receipts.

For what it's worth, this set will have been released five years ago this summer. ASSUMING a five-year lease period, Mosaic will probably be selling down their current inventory until it is exhausted. (In light of how slow a seller this set has been, I cannot foresee Mosaic running another pressing unless they have very little on hand at present. Consider also that storage space has been a problem for Mosaic in the past. I am only speculating, though. Anyone really worried about this set disappearing soon should ask the kind folks at Mosaic for their input.)

clandy44, Thanks for providing a great summation of the pros and cons of the Ory set.