Claude

I've bought more than 50 ECM LPs in the last two years, mainly made from analog recordings (up to 1985 or so). The LPs of these recordings sound better than the CD transfers, which are less dynamic and more distant, amplifying the "ECM sound". Some people say the US pressings (black label) are not as good as the german pressings (green label), but I can't verify that as I only have german pressings, which can be found for 5-10€ in german second hand stores and on Ebay.de. A limited number of titles (german pressings) is still available from the ECM webstore and other german shops, mainly top sellers from Jarrett or Metheny, many "Works" samplers and some newer titles. As far as digital recordings go, I would not recommend buying the LPs for reasons of sound quality, because they sound identical to the CDs. http://www.ecmrecords.com/News/Special_Off...mp;lvredir=3094

Many will be happy about this decision just because the RIAA is unhappy about it, but the current copyright situation in Russia is very unhealthy. Allofmp3 was just lucky to get away with what they do because the russian copyright laws are outdated. They are using broadcasting licensing rules to sell MP3s, but both situations are different. For radio broadcasting the compulsory licensing system (any radio station can play any released music without requesting authorization for every individual track, but they have to pay a small copyright fee to the local collecting society) is fair, but for selling MP3s it is not. Some artists or labels may not want they music to be sold as downloads, and most will want a fair compensation. If all countries had the same laws as in Russia, anyone of us could open a download store and sell any music for 50 Cent per album, as the low broadcasting fees paid would still allow for a considerable profit. iTunes, which has negociated licensing deals with all the labels, would be driven out of competition.

My feeling is that the Amazon.co.uk price is temporary, so don't wait too long. You can always cancel the order later if you find a better offer.

Amazon UK says September 17

The german OJC LP pressings by Mikulski (later ZYX) sound consistingly poor. The pressing quality is very good, but the mastering is flawed.

Price change on amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000TLMWMO/

BTW, vinyl fans should get the OJC LPs (only the US pressings) while they are still available. I managed to get a dozen from a german store for 12€ each, all of them sound very good, better than the OJC CDs. Apparently they are all from the analog master tapes and were mastered in the early 80's, despite the remastering info on the back, which has been copied from the CD reissues.

R.I.P. Richard Cook, and thank you for introducing me to many great but hardly known jazz recordings

Clifford Brown - Study in Brown (the brand new Speaker's Corner reissue). Sounds warmer, more dynamic and detailed than the old CD version

Does anyone know if these are mono or stereo recordings? CD Universe says "stereo" for the Monk release, but their info is usually not reliable.

Is this a good way to sample Hovhaness' works? I can get it from Caiman for 10€, and being an audiophile I prefer classical recordings on SACD http://www.sa-cd.net/showtitle/1063

I ordered today from Caiman and DVD-Legacy, through the Amazon.fr Marketplace: - Woody Shaw - Blackstone Legacy - Joe Newman - Good & Groovy - McCoy Tyner - Atlantis

I've seen many CDs priced $50-100 on Amazon Marketplace, which were indeed OOP but could still be found at regular price elsewhere. Maybe those Marketplace sellers are counting on someone who needs the disc urgently, and who is willing to pay premium price. I bet those $100 CDs will remain unsold for months or even years.

2009, when the recordings go into public domain in Europe. BTW, the Hampton Hawes set is probably in violation of copyrights for taking over the original artwork (something that previous Definitive CDs have always avoided).

Are my eyes deceiving me?? "Hybrid"? No way! SACD hybrids? I'm there. How many can I afford... hmmm. Kevin From a sonic point of view, "V.S.O.P", "Flood", "Tempest in the colosseum", "Live under the sky" and "Live in the USA" are not worth SACD or any other audiophile treatment IMHO. These large stage live recordings sound muddy and distant. Concerning the music, my favourites are "Flood" and the second disc of "V.SO.P.". Great Headhunters stuff. "Five stars" is a short (30 minutes) direct-to-disc studio session by the V.S.O.P. band. That's probably the only one I will get. I would have loved to see the other Headhunters studio albums "Thrust" and "Sextant" on SACD.

Yes, the sound is very good, as with most Enja live recordings from the 70's. But with two albums from the same artist having the same title, confusion is inevitable.

My copy is all Tolliver. Is it a collector's item now?

Unfortunately that isn't true. Even the lowest level meetings with government experts have an almost full interpretation regime, with close to 20 languages. This is extremely expensive of course, and it requires the presidency to book meetings 8 months in advance! On the other hand, many experts don't speak English well enough to discuss very technical matters, so it would be unfair to impose English on everyone, except on diplomats who are supposed to speak and understand several languages (the English diplomats generelly speak good French, the second EU language) The best thing would be to limit interpretation to 3-5 languages, like in many international organisations like the UN. Two anecdotes on interpretation in meetings that I have attended: - At at diplomatic conference of a UN agency, negociations were difficult and long, the meeting was suspended at 6pm to resume the same evening for a night session. At 9pm most of the 100+ delegations had come back from their hotels, the meeting started, but after two minutes the argentinian delegate complained that thare was no spanish interpretation. As there was indeed no spanish interpreter available and this was against the meeting rules, the chairman had to end the session immediately, sending the 200 delegates away. - In 2005, my country had the EU presidency and I had to chair an expert meeting in the Council. I was happy to announce that for the first time for that sort of meeting, interpretation from and into Maltese language was available (Maltese interpreters are rare and the Maltese delegates speak excellent English anyway). But unfortunately no Maltese delegate was present for the meeting ... The idea of the Economist author for Brussels to switch to English as a dominant language is unrealistic, as French is by far dominant, except in the EU "ghetto". Theoretically, the city is bilingual (French/Dutch), but 85% of the population has French as the first language and knowing Dutch is not really necessary. And native French speakers are as reluctant to learn other languages than native English speakers.

It's also kinda unreal to expect the average American to buy a house that costs a minimum of three times what they make, yet that is where we are today. The price of homes across the country is insane compared to what we make. But in other countries it is much worse. Ten years ago, my appartment (2 bedrooms) cost 5 times my annual salary. In Spain, many people are forced to take a 50 year loan to be able to afford to buy a home. Is the US situation really insane in that respect?

No, maybe they were told the tape was not available because it had been cut up for the LP release.

Why would they cut up the original 3-track tapes instead of a stereo copy? That sounds very unprofessional to me. Maybe the 3-track tapes were just lost or misplaced, or unusable for another reason.

It's not a technical defect, they had put a wrong track on the CD, which is already elsewhere in the set.

Another recommendation for OpenOffice. I use it at home, but I don't much experience with it. Some large public administrations here in Europe have switched to Linux and OpenOffice, so it fulfills professional requirements. It's the ideal alternative for home users who don't want to spend big bucks on software. http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/1705

Jim, how much is the Amazon provision for affiliate sites? I've been using the Organissimo links every time for my purchases (at least $2000 in the past 6 months), most of the done at Amazon marketplace sellers. Is there something in their affiliate system that privileges new customers and doesn't make you benefit from the purchases made by regular customers?

The auction seems to have been deleted, there is no NATHAN-DAVIS-paris-reunion-jazzbuhne CD currently listed. Of course it's not legit to sell CD-Rs, including an offer to sell an LP together with a CD-R copy of the same music.