Bill Nelson

tI found the Beacon sides to be tame and not terribly well recorded (2 LPs, U.S. reissues from the 80's). It's Hope's Contemporary and Riverside albums that sparkle. The Beacons are for serious completists only.

That might well be one of the very last. Has anyone got a Morgan/Shorter that broke 1900?

What kills me is how someone from Corporate, which acquired the rights to VeeJay, reneges on a pre-existing deal with Rhino and Mosaic -- at a point where about 1,500 sets each had already been sold. C'mon, you greedy MFs, we're not talking about profitable, runaway bestsellers! The original deal was for a total limit of 5,000 each. In April, we started hearing about both sets ceasing at the end of 2004. Then, on May 31, exactly 6 months into 2004 -- the plug gets pulled. No more will be sold, period. What a cut-throat business! My thanks to Michael, Malcolm, et al, for creating admirable 'ne plus ultra' sets on Kelly/Chambers and Morgan/Shorter. They will NEVER be surpassed in quality by whomever gets the rights to the VeeJay masters.

17. The thrill of dialing that 1-800 number and getting a warm, understanding, female voice at Mosaic. Without fail, I CAVE every time she slowly asks, "Will that be ALL?" (Sure beats the 1-900 'boiler rooms' I used to call.)

I'm sure you'll be standing on your chair and screaming in UPPER-CASE.

Richard Cook's slight effort in writing about Blue Note makes it all-the-more LIKELY for a BETTER, more inclusive and personal book to be written. Yes, if Michael Cuscuna could take a one-year sabbatical, he might very well write the authoritative, 'inside' book of Blue Note that we are clamoring for.

S'Allreet. Given the paucity of acoustic solo Herbie for the late-70's, seeing this single copy at the Atlanta Tower was like finding The Golden Fleece. Well, at $24.99 it turned out to be more of the latter. Herbie just ain't happening on 'The Piano', whether you got it intensely in the foreground or atmosphering the background. Maybe the 'expanded' version will have some cool new tracks. All these years, I've been taken with Herbie's 'Evening With' Chick Corea, recorded in '78, as your can feel their brains really stretching into new jazz theory. That's the solo acoustic shit, and Chick rises to the occasion, too.

With my usual high expectations of Herbie, I bought the Jap import CD of 'The Piano' about 6 years ago. I was hoping for an even greater complexity of chordal phrasing in the opening standards ('Green Dolphin', etc.). What I got was indecisive and meandering -- a definate off-day for Herbie. I've gone back to this disc about every year just to be sure it wasn't MY off-day. Nope, same conclusion every time. For Hancock completists ONLY.

I finished reading my copy while on vacation at the beach last week. Richard Cook is either way more fascinated with pre-LP Blue Notes or he had to hurry the ending to meet deadline. And he leaves us holding a rather thin text with a hasty finish -- quite a disservice to Blue Note collectors. There is very little to learn from this breezy sop. I was ready to toss it into the ocean (Destin, FL).

I've still got the 1976 EastWind vinyl slab -- it provides revealing 'bookends' for the Mosaic T/K/M box. And the RVG engineered tracks with Peter Ind and Roy Haynes are happening -- for that matter, all 10 tracks are vital and for real.

Upper-case jizz all the way thru.

"Favorite songs"? Uhh, no. Fortunately, Lennie kept his singing in the closet and the shower.

Check the Discography at the end of Gavin's book. There's six recordings which he recommends -- two of them highly. I don't believe there's much we could possibly add. (Were you hoping for some rare bootlegs from Bricktop's?)

RE: Musician Jerks I don't really let what I read about bad behavior influence me. However, if I'm a paying member of the audience and I have to endure a prima donna in full bloom, nastiness to the band, or overt rudeness to the audience -- that 'performance' is gonna color my perception for a long time. In 1969, at a Buddy Rich gig at the Univ. Rhode Island, guess who rode the limo while his band took the bus. And guess who couldn't be bothered sign autographs -- even of a 15-year-old standing in the February chill outside his limo. But he said,"All right, kid", signed the LP, and zoomed off. That's Buddy for ya.

Larry Young w/ the Tony Williams Lifetime -- They played at the 17th Annual Jazz Festival in Newport, R.I. On Saturday afternoon July 12, they were the headliners and Larry Young "got into a swinging groove", as Dan Morgenstern reported in DownBeat (Sept. 3, 1970). The groups that played (in order) were: Elvin Jones Quintet w/ Frank Foster, George Coleman, and Wilbur Little Chico Hamilton Quartet w/ Arnie Lawrence, Bob Mann, Steve Swallow Gary Burton Quintet w/ Keith Jarrett, Sam Brown, Steve Swallow, Bill Goodwin Very exciting, mind-blowing music to a 16 year-old sitting five rows out. Also, I talked to McLaughlin just before Lifetime played. (By donning a 'Staff' pith helmet and helping the roadies onstage.) George Wein got hip to my ruse, pointing me out and bellowing, "What's HE doing here?" Fortunately, I knew the stage manager, and was able to hang in.

LAL: "Is this also true for CDs?" Answer(s): "No." "Not nearly." It's the apples/oranges equation. LPs have cardboard jackets and paper inner sleeves which act as sponges in attracting moisture from damp environments. Even the paper label around the LP spindle hole can serve as a 'host' for mold. CDs are much more resistant. They're finished with a protective coating and are much easier to clean. Also, there's no grooves for the mold to seep into. And there's only a paper booklet nearby (not in direct contact) which might possibly serve as an 'agent provocateur'. Of the two, CDs will emerge from a dark closet in better shape. during manufacture.

Can the rest of us learn from this? Yes! 1. Never store records in a basement. Even without a flood or busted pipes, the moisture accelerates the growth of mildew and mold, starting inside the jackets and paper inner sleeves. If you've have absolutely no choice, then store 'em off the floor and close to any source of light. Randomly check them every month to catch the first signs of mildew. No cardboard boxes! 2. Storage in a dry, spacious attic that permits light is acceptable. Dark closets or other enclosures will eventually lead to mildew formation. Your LPs need to breathe and be seen, admired, and enjoyed. Boxing and 'deep-six' storing in funky spaces is the kiss of death.

I must correct the sequence and authorship of Goldmine Jazz Album Price Guides: 1992, 1st ed. -- Terry Leonard, principal author 1994, 2nd ed. -- Neal Umphred, author 2000, 3rd ed. -- Tim Neely, author As one can surmise, Goldmine didn't wait long to pull their 1st edition. There was no mention of Terry Leonard in the 2nd ed. acknowlegements.

This site is just a web-based price guide... and a dubious one at that. If you've seen a Terry Leonard price guide, you'll know how error-prone it is re: LP pressings and prices. Goldmine dumped his Jazz Price Guide totally (no back-orders) and handed the 2nd Ed. to the more-responsible Tim Neely, who thoroughly researched the collectible jazz-selling community. My advice is two-fold: Get a recent Neely Goldmine Jazz Price Guide and check Ebay for the last 30 days of bid activity as a frame for your bidding range. An Ebay jazz bid-closing is just a frozen moment at a particular time. There's no need to strictly adhere to any guide as the ultimate arbiter. Many jazz LPs close at half their 'book' value -- it's just a moment in time.

Well I sure dug it -- as I wasn't on this scene last November. (Thanks, Foghorn!) As for real jazz club booking and concert 'programming' in Athens-Atlanta, it's a sure way to lose the farm, the inheritance, your shirt and wallet. You might as well go for a ride in the bronze-handled sedan, serve a 'major' in the oblong penalty box, or hold the line in the pine phone booth while waiting for The Man to Pick-up. But at least you'll have gone out in style while making a joyful noise!

Atlanta Show, Sat. Night 4/3/04 Was there and dug it supremely. (No, I wasn't sitting in C-104) Such an incredibly intuitive mind-meld of Shoter and his three Sons of Miles. They ARE the post-Miles classic quintet of 1966-68. Without electric keys, of course. Danilo is a hybrid of Chick and Herbie. The water bottle on piano strings was just for one number. Didn't mind the absence of tune titles -- they're just words.

He's famous for playing the hammered stromboli, if you must ask. (That's AFTER he and the stromboli get hammered, of course.)

Jazzmoose caught my typo. Meant to say 'unformed', not uniformed. Both you and Brad were civil, not civilian, in your ripostes. Appreciated, and I'll post with greater respect.

Point well taken. I'll cool it down. Written support for Tristano is better-stated on another thread. (See: the the T/K/M Mosaic Liner Notes, Larry Kart reply) Obviously, not everyone 'gets it' right away. One reason why this set will max-out at 4,500 on a 7,500 limit.

"...but these guys overall don't excite me that much." Bradski, you fascinate me. Tell me more. Tell me anything specific. Your vague, uniformed riposte has given the deep-freeze to this thread for the last 50 hours. If you don't understand Tristano and Konitz, perhaps you're still young. And years from now, when you can truly hear how Tristano and Konitz are dealing with musical space and playing on the 'inside track', maybe you can cop this set for a grand. Whatever Tristano you've already got has been rendered obsolete. The tape transfers and CD mastering of Malcolm Addey are unsurpassed. At some point, may you have the wisdom to hear and know.