mjzee

I don't know; I've had good luck with them. I have one return situation now that was caused by Sony, not by ImportCDs, and they've sent me a postage-paid return envelope.

Got an email today from them. Save 10% off every order using the promo code "SAVE10", through June 23.

I've been really enjoying this: Watch for it if it ever drops in price again - I got it at some ridiculously low price back in November.

Chalk me up as another big enthusiast for contemporary country - the music that's played on today's country radio and on awards shows such as the CMAs. There's not really a connection with jazz, so I don't mention it on this board, but I truly enjoy listening to it. And I am consistently impressed by the performing talent shown by country artists, both vocalists and musicians. Our current fave is The Band Perry, though there are also many others.

I was really disappointed with Floating Point. It just sounded like loud, hammering noise; there was no room for the music to breathe. This has dampened my enthusiasm to explore newer releases of his.

I remember this date from the "All Star Bags" two-fer on Blue Note, where I first heard "Hank Mobley and the All Stars".

This is beginning to remind me of a debate I heard in the record library of my college radio station. Two impassioned music lovers, in a loud debate over which was better: Robert Johnson or Kiss? It was pretty funny to listen to, as it eventually descended into smack talk.

When I started working in a jazz record store in 1978, Sophisticated Giant was about a year old but was still selling like hotcakes. It had a very broad base of purchasers. I still haven't heard it! I figured I'd get the Dexter Columbia box, but the price still hasn't dropped. I keep waiting...

Another great little interview with Marc Myers. It begins: All of the guys in my gang in the early 1950s listened to jazz. I was 14 then, and every day after school we'd go to a record store in Eltham in South East London. Back then they'd let you listen to the latest records in soundproof booths. One day I was going through new albums and came across "Quintet of the Year." That record changed me, particularly the song "A Night in Tunisia." More here: WSJ (or Google the article's title: Ginger Baker on the Album That Sent Him Toward Superstardom)

Douglas also released the film El Topo in the US.

Around 2 years ago, I saw a coming release announcement on Amazon for an Alan Douglas career retrospective. It never came out, probably because he didn't own the rights to many of the recordings. But I found an image of the cover: There were some amazing, interesting people in the '50's and '60's; Douglas was one and Tom Wilson was another. Rainmakers. Here's a mention in the Wall St Journal.

This set is going for $50.99 at Import CDs and even a little bit lower on eBay from the same seller, and also Movie Mars. Lowest I've seen it yet. Thanks for the tip. Import CDs also has the Keith Jarrett and Charlie Parker Italian Universal boxes; they probably also have the others in the series.

A day after winning the Drama Desk Award for outstanding solo performance on June 1, actor John Douglas Thompson sat on the stage at an empty Westside Theatre, where he plays Louis Armstrong in "Satchmo at the Waldorf." Seated across from him on the set's sofa was Terry Teachout, the play's writer (and this newspaper's drama critic), who was awarded a Bradley Prize days earlier. Reunited to talk about the one-man play, the performer and playwright spoke freely about craft, process and an unlikely subplot—how they wound up as collaborators. See: WSJ (or Google the article's title: Stage Confessions)

Release date June 17:

I don't think that jazz doesn't appeal to "those people" because "there is a huge entertainment deficit in today's jazz." Rather, as I think you suggest, it's because the kinds of musical entertainment they prefer already amply satisfy their desires to" just ... have fun." If I'm already having lots of fun, why would I go in search of some other ways to do that? Pondering these problems, there's always a temptation to say that jazz such as it is needs to be significantly other than it is, and then we might be OK. Not that the various ways that jazz is nowadays ought to be regarded with complacency, but my experience over the years has been that if we try to gee up the music's supposed "entertainment deficit," we then won't be OK, or that much better off, in terms of popularity, we'll just have some more music that no one will care that much about or remember after a short while. Hey, what about Windham Hill? That was supposed to be our salvation at one point. ​BTW, that is not to dismiss the important practical points that Allen Lowe made in post #34. I agree that jazz should not be watered down to try to appeal to a mass audience. However, even in my lifetime I can remember Lionel Hampton, Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Art Ensemble of Chicago, and Sun Ra emphasizing an entertainment aspect in their shows, or at least a lively, friendly interaction with the audience. Charles Mingus, Dexter Gordon and Carla Bley had large personalities and some people went to see them partly to hear their between song comments and just to see them. I am not aware of anything like that today. I can't name any jazz artist who presents an entertaining, engaging or compelling onstage personality, or who makes their shows entertaining. There are no jazz artists that I can think of who would generate a comment like "oh, he or she is really cool" from a member of the general public. I agree with Ptah. I think 1) Jazz got so caught up with "jazz as an art form" that "jazz as entertainment" was dismissed, as if "entertainment" itself is a dirty word. However, consider that even Frank Zappa referred to what he did as part of show business. 2) I also think that jazz, at a certain point, became too introverted, too shy. Not just in disdaining the entertainment aspect, but even in the way musicians played. As an example, consider the David Sanborn sound: thin, even notes with no vibrato. Contrast that with a Coleman Hawkins or Dexter Gordon - a big meaty sound that can easily fill a room. It's as if men shrank in the last few decades. 3) Audiences need something to connect with, or they'll be disengaged. Give them a reason why they should like this music, or a way to understand. That's why I think cover versions really help. Heck, even Albert Ayler recorded spirituals. 4) Jazz tunes need to be shorter. There are no geniuses out there who can sustain a vamp for 20 minutes, period. Give people a mix of tunes for their money; give them more song form. I'm sure I'll be flamed for a lot of the above, but I've been saying much the same thing for over a decade, and it rings more true to me now than ever. In fact, regarding the recent thread about the Sonny Rollins/Don Cherry band, my takeaway from that band and its aftermath is this: The music was a battle between more traditional jazz forms and "the new thing," more free-form options. Sonny considered it from both angles - you can hear the dialectic in the recordings as he's performing. But in the end, he sided with the more tuneful, traditional forms, because the new thing wasn't including the audience and their desires into the music. Sonny wanted to appeal to the people, and that explains his recordings since "Next Album." I think it's a good lesson to be learned. As Sonny says,

I wasn't aware of the All Baroque Box, probably because they don't picture it as a cube on Amazon! More to consider; thanks.

The two I've been thinking of getting are Philips: Obsessed With Sound and Archiv Production 1947-2013. They both look good.

I don't care much for operas; that's one frontier that's been too far to cross. I did get the Perahia, sad that I missed the big Glenn Gould box.

And then you get the boxes that linger for a long time, at steadily decreasing prices. So you never quite know when to buy.

John Coates, Jr.

Thanks! Definitely got enough then ... ten plus discs from each label, and those are filled up, unlike those in the big box. Not much interest in the Carnegie box either, can take some Horowitz every now and then (and love some of it a lot!), but unlike other artist's monster boxes, I don't feel this one's for me. I just hate the fact that the boxes are limited editions - buy 'em or lose out. In fact, the Horowitz box I got is OOP, but somehow Amazon Germany had some recently at a good price.

Yes, the Horowitz box is the complete Columbia + RCA, remastered. Of course, now not totally complete, since there is the subsequent Carnegie Hall box with much unreleased material.

According to the Cuscuna/Ruppli BN discography (2001 edition), it lists the date as April 20, 1956, and states "Note: This session was first intended to be released as by Curtis Fuller & Pepper Adams."