jazzbo

That's a very good one! I've had that one for years. Basie and Pres. . . how can it be bad!

Merry Christmas Freddie!

Not yet. . .I imagine JSP will get to it, but I'm not sure there's a set anywhere compiling all the forties sides. Some nice single disc offerings. . . .

JSP has several comprehensive Cab Calloway sets, nothing to complain about at all, very good sound, inclusive discographic material. http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=2113122 http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=5893680

Sonny Rollins in Austin. . . . The next Mosaic sets. . . .

A sweater! A shirt! A check for 250! A "Harley Davidson Encyclopedia" book! A "Marvel Vault" book (which I got from my youngest brother, and got from my sister last year, but I didn't let on and neither did she!)! Lots of good holiday wishes!

None, whatsoever! Which is just fine!

Mark, Try either "The Big Sleep," "Farewell my Lovely" or "The Long Goodbye." You'll dig. What a writer!

Raymond Chandler, The Lady in the Lake. I just had to read another Chandler, good traveling reading.

After watching the comedy "Guru" on dvd, I'm now watching Band of Brothers, Chapter 6 on Blu-Ray.

"Get Shorty"

Okay the next standout track for me is "My Foolish Heart," Bill Evans Trio, the version on "Waltz for Debbie" (I listen to the K2 version). Just. . . so beautiful, so controlled and moving.

Two PBS shows: just finished watching "To the Contrary" and now about to watch "The McLaughlin Group"

Well, I think it's great. But i want to qualify that: I'm a piano fanatic, I love the music of this time frame, I have listened to the set about eight time through since I've bought it (when it was first released). But. . . it is a lot of boogie woogie music, I'd wager this is not a set anyone except maybe the boogie woogie pianists among us would listen to straight through time after time. It's great in small doses. And great overall; many of these sessions simply aren't going to be on cd again would be my guess. Many haven't been on cd before. A real historically important set. I do think that anyone who really enjoys boogie woogie would enjoy this set. Just as anyone who really loves Sidney Bechet would really enjoy the Bechet Select. Someone who likes "some boogie woogie" or "some Bechet" won't really be the target audience for either set and won't feel they're "great." I'm not sure how familiar you are with boogie woogie piano; if not very, I'd buy a separate compilation or single cd of a boogie woogie artist first. . . And thanks, I've really enjoyed my Fat Bob, think it's probably the best DynaGlide model for me, and it's been a tremendously exciting bike to own and ride, and also completely utterly trouble-free.

Stereojack has made one of his typically very good answers. That's how I'd put it. This box set has done jazz collectors a great favor. .. I am so glad to have it (and the studio jams smaller box). I think you'd really like it TraneMonk. . . calling it essential is hard. . . it's essential for SOME. Me, for instance.

Well, it's a WHOLE LOT OF BOOGIE WOOGIE! Excellent sound, some excellent sessions and playing. I can take about one half to one disc at a time. If you think you'd like it because you know what that type of music is like, you'll like it.

Alias, Season 2, disc 3

I do the exact same thing, except with the cd booklet. For me, the album cover sets the tone for what music is inside and its part of the whole listening experience for me. Reid Miles has a lot to do with that along with other album cover artists that really had an uncanny ability to produce in art, what the musical artists were laying down in sound. I heartily agree with these statements. I know its off the original topic, but I find this discussion regarding the importance (or lack of) original album art very interesting. As a child of the 70's (and 60's to some extent) I came of age during the vinyl era. At first, we thumbed through crates of albums front to back to select one, viewing the art on each album as we went. Viewing the cover was part of the "gestalt" of choosing one to listen to, and for familiar music, subliminally reminding us of contexts and associations in which we'd listened to it before. As time went on and lp collections grew, we started to store them bookshelf style and selected them by title printed on the spine. We lost the ability to view each cover as we searched, and I learned to make sure to select a copy on which the title lined up with the spine, which was not always the case. But even then, once an album was chosen, the cover was on display. The cover art was an art form unto itself, and while not the main focus, still a part of the listening experience and conveying the artist's "vision" for the music and/or the "image" of the artist or group and also to some extent the record label, e.g. Blue Note. With the switch to CDs, the art got a lot smaller, but retaining the original art remained and remains important to me. Some of the cheesiest CDs to me are ones that do not retain the original art, regardless of the recording quality. Don't get me wrong, this does not make or break a decision to buy a CD but quality original art adds value to what I'm willing to pay. Now that we find ourselves on the brink of a wholesale switch to storing our music in complete virtual fashion, completely free of any physical copy, I'm trying to figure out how to retain the album art in my music files. I know itunes and various other media players can help with this, but I hate itunes and do not use it. So I need to figure out a solution. Among the myriad different options for digital music servers and PC-based playback, the only options I will consider as a semi-permanent solution will have to include a screen and capability to view the album art in decent size. I'd love to find an option that displayed a small, high quality image of the album art as part of the filename for each recording I have stored as a digital file, so that I could retain my old process of triggering memories and seeing the art when choosing music. Ideally, these icons would be "clickable" to bring up a larger version of the cover art, and additional content such as the back cover art (if any) liner notes, reviews, etc and other info regarding the recording. I have 1200+ CDs worth of CD-quality music files at my fingertips. It is incredibly convenient, and clearly the wave of the future. But something is definitely lost when all I get to look at while selecting one is hundreds of identical little yellow file icons... You know what? I feel this is all very personal because though I like artwork, it's not essential in any way to my musical enjoyment or the ritual of the listening process. I like it, I even make a lot of my OWN artwork for items without artwork or without original artwork. I was born in 1955 and so lps were my first listening lifeblood, but even then, artwork was not that important to the experience to me.

Many many more happy ones!

Yes, Betty Carter. . . she was amazing! I listen to her stuff and sometimes even knowing it's coming, I'm surprised! "The sound of surprise. . . "

The Weston is wonderful. I've sort of fallen out of love with the music on the last disc, but the first two discs are as good as it gets. This Select probably won't be "around forever". . . . I suggested the Hill for Rooster Ties because . . . Rooster Ties and Andrew Hill are always joined together in my memory!

Does it all have to be women? Among my favorites are Louis Armstrong, Jack Teagarden, Fats Waller and Ray Nance. I just don't get Johnny Hartman any longer. Puts me to sleep. I LOVE Helen Merrill, I LOVE Una Mae Carlisle, I LOVE Carmen McRae. I LOVE Peggy Lee. I LOVE June Christy. I really like Jeri Southern.

I feel for you. . . sorry to read this. We had a stray adopt us that way and had years with him. I miss him a lot. . . it's been about seven years since he passed now.

Best wishes to all. I'm going to Cleveland to Mom and Dad's, the first time since 2005 that the whole family (all siblings, nieces and nephews) has been together, and the first Christmas since 2000 we've all been together. I hate flying on Christmas holidays but. . .not going to ride my motorcycle there and back! Best holiday wishes to all and please be careful in all you travels.