Kevin Bresnahan

I am considering picking up the Japanese RVG CD issues of Jimmy Smith's "A Date With Jimmy Smith Vol. 1" and "A Date With Jimmy Smith Vol. 2". However, I can't remember if my Mosaic box has extra material from these live dates. Could someone check their discography and tell me if there are any bonus tracks? BTW, has anyone ever tried searching the forums for a thread with Mosaic in it? Or even Mosaic and Jimmy Smith? Fuggettabotit. You get like 1000 hits.

Happy birthday from another 6-12'er. One of the things I used to like when George Bush Sr. was president. His birthday is June 12th too.

Ooo boy. These girls aren't much older than my daughter. Man, now I REALLY feel old

Definitely a nice red from the cellar. I do have that bottle of '62 Cote du Rhone that my brothers gave me. Probably vinegar. Another day older and deeper in debt. My oldest daughter graduated from high school last week. I feel old.

So now instead of breaking the PayPal rules, he's breaking the rules for exorbitant shipping as a means to avoid fee payment. You can't do that either. I bet this auction gets cancelled soon.

People just looking to try Jazz are going to start with the compilations. I know I did. Blue Note sees Grant Green as a name that will sell, so they try different varieties of comps, hoping to catch a few new browsers, maybe even one that bought one of the previous comps. As couw said, new gets the press. Old just slows down in sales and is finally deleted. Let Blue Note issue these comps. The fans like us will ignore them. The newbies will buy them. A few years will go by and then the whole cycle repeats. Look at a label like 32Jazz. They sold millions of copies of those "Jazz For XXXXX Day". These comps kept them afloat. When they stopped selling, their catalog sales didn't keep them above water and they closed shop. Every major Jazz label needs comps to attract new fans.

You might be surprised to find that these compilations sell. In fact, they typically sell far more than any individual relase. Not everyone browsing the Jazz section is looking for Grant Green's "Visions". Many are just looking for "Something by Grant Green - I hear he's a good guitarist". I've always bit my tongue on these. Why complain about a CD that sells, enabling the company to issue another title that might not?

The market spoke, Mosaic listened. If the LP sets had sold back when they were issuing both, Mosaic would have kept it up, for sure. Michael Cuscuna does listen to a lot of vinyl. They way the world of reissues is going, we may see Mosaic doing vinyl again. It's much easier to reissue a record than a new digital version. Warner Brothers just started an LP reissue program that should let everyone know what that market is like.

Euclid Records lists this one, albeit in VG+/VG+ condition, which in my experience is listenable, but not perfect. Expect a few crackles.

Maybe it's just me, or maybe it's the Boston area, but I can't remember the last time I ever concerned myself about the race of the players on the stage. Sure, I've thought about the mix of races in a few bands, but I never thought to myself, "Hey, these guys are all white" or vice versa. I just can't fathom what difference it should make. Who cares what skin tone they have? They can either play or they can't play. Only valid criterian in my book.

Back in 1997, I wrote this for the rec.music.bluenote newgroup in discussing the liner notes to a few of Hank's CDs: "These give a good idea of what Hank's performance years were like and talk about what his life was like in his later years. They all portray a man who's addiction (and subsequent health problems) resulted in a bleak ending to a great musical career. In fact, the "Slice of the Top" notes paint the picture of Hank's final years, penniless and homeless in Philadelphia. I read in JazzTimes a few years back that Hank died on a bench in the central Amtrak station in Philadelphia. My favorite tenor player.... I wish I could turn back the clock to that time. Maybe I could have done something. Probably not. Wishful thinking though." So if anyone has a way to search back issues of JazzTimes, they should find it mentioned in there. Kevin

Are you sure about the "Amtrak bench"? The local papers said he died in a hospital. I know that I read that somewhere. Was it that Litweiler piece? Maybe he was found on the bench and they rushed him to the hospital? Can they declare someone dead in a train station or do they have to make an effort to revive them? No matter what, it was a tragedy. I believe that the person who knows the most about Hank's last days is Don Sickler... and maybe his wife Maureen. Didn't I read recently that Maureen and Don tried to help Mobley out near the end? Kevin

You do realize that he died on an Amtrak bench, homeless & penniless, right? Sleeping on a bench or sleeping in a gutter - not too far a stretch for a homeless broke. BTW, according to Michael Cuscuna, Mobley's appearance at the 1985 concert was totally unexpected and no, he wasn't supposed to play. He just mysteriously showed up. Michael sent out invites and when he didn't hear back from Mobley, didn't plan for him. I believe that when they found out he was in the crowd, they had him stand up and wave... maybe even dragged him up on stage for the wave. I forget which one.

Bummer that the prices have gone back up. The last few batches of CDs from the majors have been 1500-1800 Yen. These new releases, with prices at 2300-2500 Yen, will be priced too high to generate too many sales to US buyers. I guess Japan isn't going through the same market contraction that the US is seeing.

You'd have to pry it from his cold, sticky hands.

If someone doesn't like Jazz, leave 'em alone. In my own experience, changing listening habits is gradual. Just because the person walking by didn't like Tal Farlow, and he's not my favorite, maybe he'll dig Art Blakey tomorrow. One day soon, someone will stick their head into your cubicle and ask, "What is this music", with a genuine interest. That's the person to talk to. I've lead many people in my office down the path to being a Jazz fan. A few mp3s on their PC, a few dupe CDs from my trade pile, and the next thing you know, they're telling me who's playing at the Regattabar next month. You want to know the easiest way to sneak up on someone with Jazz? If they're Christian and listen to Christmas music, play Christmas Jazz. Works like a charm. At Christmas time, I play Charlie Brown's Christmas all the time. People dig it. After the season ends, I play Guaraldi's "Charlie Brown" CD. Sometimes people catch the comparison, sometimes they don't. Kevin

If you heard one of these recordings on 3 channel SACD, you'd cream your pants as if you were with Cybill Shepherd. The realism acheived with the full sound stage of 3 channels cannot be described. You can't get this from vinyl.

First off, you cannot plug a turntable straight into a PC line input. A PC line input is not at the same level as the turntable and does not have the necessary EQ applied to it. You need a phono pre-amp. If you do record it straight-up, it'll sound very weird, all tinny and the level will be so low, you'll have to crank up the input level so high there will be distortion. I believe you should be able to pick a good one up for under $100. If you have something plugged into the PC line input and nothing is happening, some Windows installations default to have the line-in muted. To unmute it, double-click the picture of the speaker down in the right-hand corner of your taskbar, next to the clock. Under "Options", click Properties. Select "Adjust volume for" Recording. After you click "OK", you should see sliders for your inputs. The box has to be checked or the input is muted. Different sound cards may have different lingo here, so look around these windows until you find the right input. DO NOT USE THE MICROPHONE INPUT. Really lousy sound from this input. I did it by accident once and I couldn't believe how bad it sounded.

Well, there's a reason I read the article... it was in the Boston Globe, an on-line newspaper that I read with some regularity. From http://www.boston.com/business/technology/...hnology+stories iPod generation tunes out of Japanese jazz culture By Aiko Wakao | January 28, 2007 YOKOHAMA, Japan (Reuters) - Once a haven for Japan's earliest jazz fans, cafe Chigusa is packing up its thousands of vinyl records. "These days, kids don't listen to jazz, and they walk down the street with iPods, which makes the whole idea of 'place' irrelevant," says Michael Molasky, author of "The Jazz Culture of Postwar Japan." Seventy-three years after first opening its doors, Chigusa, among the oldest and the most cherished of Japan's jazz coffee shops, has become a victim of the electronic revolution. For its patrons, mostly male and alone, the cafe was a place of learning and of comfort. The unspoken rules, which they followed faithfully, included listening to the music in silence and waiting in turn to make a request, jotting it down on a scrap of paper. And no alcohol or snapping fingers. "Filled with sound, smoke, and hundreds of records, jazz coffee houses used to be a space for young people who came looking for a proper understanding of the music," says Molasky, professor of Asian languages and literature at the University of Minnesota. Chigusa enjoyed a glorious epoch in the 1960s and early 70s, when students and musicians gathered to listen to imported albums that were otherwise beyond their means. "Now we only have about 10 regulars, who've been coming for years," says Masatomi Kaneshige, a 65-year-old retiree who often helps out at the cafe. "Young people hardly come here. This place must look so strange and dark to them, with old men sitting quietly, sipping coffee and listening to vibrant jazz." But on its last Saturday in business, the small cafe was full from before its official opening at noon. Around the six tiny tables sat 10 customers, half familiar faces and the rest newcomers -- both young and old -- who came for their first and last Chigusa experience after hearing about its closure. Kaneshige gazed at the 40 record covers pasted on Chigusa's walls and pointed at the signed copy of Bill Evans Trio's best-selling "Waltz for Debby," a favorite, he recalls, of the cafe's founder, Mamoru Yoshida, who passed away 13 years ago. Chigusa, soon to be replaced by a new building complex, was opened in 1937 by 20-year-old Yoshida, who fell in love with jazz at public dance halls and began collecting imported records. World War Two brought great troubles for Yoshida, who had to hide his 6,000 records in his basement at a time when many jazz coffee houses were raided and most dance halls closed. A U.S. air raid in 1945 destroyed the cafe along with all the vinyl albums. Yoshida reopened his cafe soon after the war, creating a refuge for occupying American soldiers and musicians who played at nearby U.S. bases. They also brought Yoshida many of the latest 12-inch records, valuable additions to his new collection. Chigusa, located in an old nightclub district in the port city of Yokohama, also became a classroom for young Japanese talent, such as pianist Toshiko Akiyoshi and trumpeter Terumasa Hino -- now world-class artists - where they listened to rare John Coltrane LPs and learned to write scores. "There was a huge jazz boom triggered by the arrival of French new wave movies and Hollywood films that used modern jazz," Molasky said. "Suddenly, jazz coffee shops sprung up everywhere." In the 1970s, even popular writer Haruki Murakami, then a student, set up his own jazz cafe, where he began work on his first novel. His later works are peppered with jazz references. But then, rock and punk came along, as did CDs and better personal audio systems. The fever for jazz began to fade. After founder Yoshino passed away, his younger sister Takako Yoshida took over Chigusa. Lately, though, Takako, now 77, found it difficult to run the place on her own. For long-time regulars like Masayuki Isozaki, everything from the walls yellowed by cigarette smoke to the simple menu of 500 yen ($4) coffee, tea and soda were the reasons that drew him to Chigusa almost every week since the age of 20. "Last week at work, the thought of saying goodbye to all this brought tears to my eyes," said Isozaki, 54. But jazz coffee houses are not only about what went before. "Yes, times are changing and many old cafes are closing," said 36-year old Yusuke Miyamoto, who grew up in the neighbourhood. "But there are some new ones opening up and many young people like jazz too, including me, who picked up the alto saxophone after I started going to these coffee shops." Yukio Saito, 31, started an online community for jazz coffee shop owners and customers in 1997. There are now around 100 listed on the Web site, which posts events and reviews. "I am sure there are people out there who would love to take on a place like this, or at least, carry on the tradition," said 29-year old Megumi Saito who stepped into the cafe for the first time. "It has such a wonderful atmosphere."

I just read an article about these shops with the gist of it being that they are rapidly closing up shop. They blame the iPod generation. I can't remember where I saw it, but it wasn't too long ago.

This is a big bummer. I will always remember that concert I saw in June of 2000 with Andrew, Jackie Mac, Hutcherson and Smilin' Billy. What a show!

I think he was referring to the unissued material. That's the way I read it too.

It is very disappointung to see this, but not totally unexpected. These CDs are very rare and someone will always see profit first. Not everyone is as altruistic about this music as many of us here. Hell, I've sold several Mosaic boxes at face value to other board members knowing I could have tripled my money on eBay. I have to admit that although I didn't buy any CDs to re-sell, I did buy several thinking that if I didn't like them, I would have no trouble re-selling them. Quite frankly, anyone trying to earn a buck by flipping Jazz CDs on eBay in this rapidly declining market is doomed to failure, even if they initial outlay is $10 each. This seller's starting price for most of these titles is $20. I didn't buy them from ejazzlines at $10, why would I buy them at $20? Later, Kevin

I asked Michael Cuscuna about this issue yesterday and he replied: "We never got the rights to the rest of the material and Tony never selected and mixed it. I'm not sure what I will do about that at this point." From the sounds of it, if you want it, pay the piper. IMHO, $80 is a lot more than I'd be willing to pay for this.

We can go around and around with this and it will never get us anywhere. Let's keep it simple and cut out all the analogies. If your conscience allows you to buy Lonehill releases, go for it. Mine does not. I consider their product stolen goods, in many cases stolen from companies I really like and would hate to see close... like Mosaic Records. My conscience sees Lonehill and it equates them with "death of Mosaic Records". I only worry about my end. You worry about yours.