crisp

I always wait until they appear at hmv.com, which sometimes offers decent preorder prices (if they don't backdate them). Alternatively, if you don't want to wait and don't want to register with Dutton, crazygreen8 (which I suspect might be Dutton under another name) sells through Amazon marketplace and has a stellar rating (I've always been happy with this seller too).

Another one has popped up: Bennie Maupin: SLOW TRAFFIC TO THE RIGHT & MOONSCAPES

Vocalion has released a lot of vintage TV theme albums, so probably. The jazz content of this one may be low, but since Race is a jazz musician I included it just in case. Almost definitely. Vocalion is owned by a recording engineer, Michael J. Dutton, and I can't think of any Vocalion release that hasn't been remastered specifically for the label. Sound quality is always excellent, even on PD releases, which these are not.

This page gives some info.

Some new Vocalions on the way. Not on the homepage yet so there may be more to come: THE DICK MORRISSEY QUARTET: HERE AND NOW AND SOUNDING GOOD & STORM WARNING! JOHN DANKWORTH: THE ZODIAC VARIATIONS & THE $1,000,000 COLLECTION JOHN DANKWORTH BIG BAND: FULL CIRCLE & LIFELINE BUDDY RICH, KENNY CLARKE, LOUIE BELLSON & ERIC DELANEY: CONVERSATIONS & REPERCUSSION ALAN SKIDMORE QUINTET: TCB JOHN CAMERON: COVER LOVER & WARM AND GENTLE STEVE RACE: TAKE ONE & DANCE TO THE TV THEMES PAUL GONSALVES, TUBBY HAYES & JOHNNY SCOTT: JUST FRIENDS & LONDON SWINGS Excuse caps -- just cutting and pasting.

Details here. "Satchmo contains 10 CDs, a 200-page hardcover book and an assortment of sheet music reproductions, all housed in a replica of Armstrong’s travel trunk. Although we have not yet been able to confirm the track listing, it’s known that seven of the CDs will cover previously released Armstrong classics. An eighth disc will consist of previously unreleased and rare material, a ninth will present his 1956 concert at California’s Hollywood Bowl, and a tenth will feature a 1965 interview with Armstrong conducted by Dan Morgenstern." No track listing yet, so hard to say whether this will have that much that folks on here don't have. It's pretty pricey at £119.99 from the Universal Store.

Another new jazz title: Thelonious Monk with Misterioso, Monk in Tokyo (both discs), Monk and Thelonious Sphere Monk

Not quite a box, but Tammi Terrell Come On And See Me: The Complete Solo Collection is £5.99 at Amazon UK.

I'm at the relatively early stages of seriously following classical, but I tend to buy these mega-sets rather than individual CDs. The reasons: they are cheap, don't take up much space and along with the pieces I specifically want, there are others that I may come to enjoy. Duplication isn't a problem because I like to hear how different artists tackle the same piece. So I say: go for it!

It is a great box but it often sells for much less than that on Amazon. If you can, bide your time.

Sometimes all in the same day.

Car 54 Where Are You: Complete First Season: $22.49 (44% off) at Amazon. One of the funniest sitcoms ever!

Noir is great (and I'd second all the recommendations for Chandler, Hammett and Cain), but don't forget the earlier British type of crime novel: Golden Age detective fiction, ie, classic whodunnits. My favourites include John Dixon Carr (first choice: The Hollow Man), Gladys Mitchell and Michael Innes. Colin Dexter is a decent revival of the tradition that I've recently begun reading. There's Agatha Christie, of course, although I haven't read much of her, and Arthur Conan Doyle is a must. This website is a great browse that I return to again and again.

Sounds great -- I'll be listening.

Any Twilight Zone material in there? Your TZ Jazz show kept me eerily entertained on an evening Eurostar trip back from Paris last year and I've been waiting for an excuse to thank you.

Dionne Warwick Original Album Series £5.99 at HMV.

George Benson Original Album Series is £5.99 at Amazon UK.

Some more jazz-oriented releases have just come out: Herbie Mann Ornette Coleman John Coltrane Antonio Carlos Jobim

This is probably the best bet for pre-Capitol Sinatra if you don't want to get everything.

The Real Johnny Cash: his first six Columbia albums (minus The Lure Of The Grand Canyon) plus bonus tracks for £2.59 at Amazon UK. FWIW there are editions in this series for Elvis and Miles, although they are just best-of compilations (I think).

The Getz set was mentioned in the box bargains thread. Much cheaper here. I've got it and really like it even though it's not from a vintage period for Getz. Captain Marvel isn't typical as the albums vary widely in style. The Best Of Two Worlds is a decent bossa nova set; The Peacocks is really a Jimmy Rowles album and quite uneven, but pretty good; Another World and Forest Eyes are interesting (and very 1970s if you know what I mean) orchestral albums, the former especially nice for what it is; Children of the World is a pop album with Lalo Schiffrin and the only duffer. The revelation in the set is The Master, a terrific quartet album with Albert Dailey, Clint Houston and Billy Hart playing lengthy versions of four standards -- it's brilliant and although it was taped in the studio it sounds a lot like it was recorded in concert, it's that fiery and spontaneous. The packaging of my copy is quite different from the one in your pic -- it's a longbox with the discs held in place by little plastic hinges. Rattlers are guaranteed.

In my twenties I had to be given the all-clear to like Sinatra by those in the know: his reputation was clouded for me by all the negative propaganda that surrounded him. I remember getting Songs for Swingin' Lovers (on vinyl), then No One Cares on a recommendation. One more purchase and I realised I had to get the lot. I'd say you can safely buy all the Capitol albums: excellent is the word for the worst of them, most are beyond that. RCA/Columbia is also consistent but very different: he's very much the little-boy-lost balladeer here and it's a jolt if you are used to his later persona. Get a compilation (there are lots of good ones) and proceed accordingly. Reprise: tread *very* warily. There is lots of good stuff, but it's not limited to the immediate post-Capitol phase. When Sinatra started tackling contemporary tunes in the mid-Sixties the quality became extremely variable, but he continued to do good songs, work with good arrangers and sing well. It's a mixed bag -- sometimes even on individual albums, such as Sinatra and Company, one side of which is devoted to a collaboration with Jobim, the other to covers of John Denver and Kermit the Frog. Rule of thumb: if he's doing standards, it's probably safe.

Blackberry? Apple? Either one can crumble.

What I meant were GRP/Impulse Master bonus tracks, not actual albums tracks. Universal hasn't done any reissues with bonus material for years now - the LPR series was the end of that, alas. Although the Amazon listings say there are bonus tracks on both the Scott and the Jackson, so who knows?

Film Noir Classic Collection, Vol. 5 (Cornered / Desperate / The Phenix City Story / Deadline at Dawn / Armored Car Robbery / Crime in the Streets / Dial 1119 / Backfire): $20.60 at Amazon (59% off). Inner Sanctum Mysteries Complete Movie Collection (Calling Dr. Death / Weird Woman / The Frozen Ghost / Pillow of Death / Dead Man's Eyes / Strange Confession): $5.42 at Amazon (82% off). Adventures of Superman: The Complete First Season: $14.69 at Amazon (63% off) The Errol Flynn Signature Collection, Vol. 2 (The Charge of the Light Brigade / Gentleman Jim / The Adventures of Don Juan / The Dawn Patrol / Dive Bomber): $22.95 at Amazon (54% off).