CSB046

Excellent!

Cool. Thanks to both of you for the quick reply. I'll go ahead and assume it's okay. Like I said, the CDs seem fine, and I'm not going to find another nice copy too much cheaper. My timing was really bad on this set. I had literally just ordered my first-ever Mosaic Selects about a month before the unfortunate circumstances that put several of the sets out of print. At the time, I hunted down a few (Patton, Brookmeyer, Shank/Cooper), but I didn't consider the Richards too important. It was only later that I really got interested in big band jazz, and by then all the remaining sets were outrageously expensive. I'm sure I'll be happy I didn't let this copy slip by.

Hi all. It's been a while since I bought a brand new Mosaic Select set, and I'm trying to remember: The outside of the package is shrinkwrapped, of course, but are the three individual CDs also shrinkwrapped? Long story short: I bought a "new" Johnny Richards Select from an Amazon seller for an okay price. The outer shrinkwrap was "coincidentally" split open right where the CDs would come out. If the CDs are also supposed to be shrinkwrapped, then it's definitely used. If not, then I guess I can give the seller the benefit of the doubt. The CDs and booklet seem in good shape. Still, I specifically paid a bit more for a new set than what the used sets were going for, so it's a bit irritating to think I've been tricked... Thanks much.

Shelly Manne's Complete Live at the Black Hawk I'll probably lose my jazz lover's card for this, but I had never even heard of this material until a week or so ago. Once I learned about it and read all of the glowing reviews, I knew I had to order it immediately. And it is indeed great stuff!

Yeah, I happened across someone on Amazon selling a brand new copy for $39.85 (plus $2.98 shipping). I received it in just a couple of days too. Can't complain!

Just got a copy of the Tony Williams Select in the mail today. I'm almost finished with Disc 1, and I like it quite a bit. (And I say that despite listening to several of the songs during my first workout on my new elliptical machine. Even proving that I'm woefully out of shape couldn't put a damper on this music!)

Thanks to everyone! I did take the timing of the Mosaic sale as a sign and order the earlier of the two Selects (the group album). As for Grass Roots being off my radar, I think I never really considered it. At some point, I just assumed that all of Hill’s albums were in a similar vein to the ones I didn’t really like. Not particularly fair to the artist, but there you go. Looks like Amazon has a CD-R version of this, so I’ll check it out (along with the other suggestions throughout this thread). Thanks again.

A confession: I've never really understood Andrew Hill's music. My preference has always tended toward straightforward hard bop and away from anything close to avant garde. I do own four Andrew Hill CDs. I picked up Passing Ships first and kind of liked it. I followed that album with Dance With Death, Black Fire, and Point of Departure, but I rarely listened to any of them. I felt like I should have some of his work in my jazz collection, but I just never enjoyed the music that much. It’s probably been two years or more since I touched any of the albums, but for some reason, yesterday I put on Dance With Death…and I thought it was awesome! Today, I followed that up with Point of Departure…and again, I really liked it. So, I’m not exactly sure what clicked in my brain, but suddenly I seem to have “gotten” his music. That leads to my question: Where do I go next? What other albums would you recommend? Thanks for any advice to a new Andrew Hill convert!

They do sell a few, though it might mostly be the Selects. I picked up the Onzy Matthews and John Handy Selects from them late last year...on sale and with free shipping. (Of course, as I posted in another thread, the Matthews set packaging was a bit worse for wear. The Handy was fine.)

Got a ship notice today on the John Handy Select that I had preordered from Deep Discount. Woo hoo! Now if they can just manage to crush it less than my Onzy Matthews set...

Got my Onzy Matthews set today. Outer box seemed okay, but man...the first two CD cases looked like they had been run over by a truck. Not just cracked, but actually splintered in places. Luckily, the paperwork only had minor damage, and the CDs were fine. I wasn't thrilled with the condition, but CD cases can be replaced. Looking forward to hearing the music. I just started buying Mosaic Selects fairly recently, so I'm curious: When did the spine design on the outer boxes change? My previous Mosaic Selects ranged from the Carmel Jones (2) to the Charles Tolliver (20). They all had brightly colored spines with the cover photo duplicated in a small box at the bottom. Now the Matthews (29) has the cover photo duplicated along the entire spine. Looks very odd next to my handful of earlier sets!

Yes indeed. I didn't actually buy the Mosaic because I had most of the individual albums (and just recently placed an order for the final missing piece), but the music is not to be missed.

I went ahead and ordered two items....separately, so I could use two coupon codes The Onzy Matthews Select was showing as being in stock. The John Handy Select was showing as out of stock. We'll see what happens. Since the John Handy is new and still readily available, it won't be any great pain to get it someplace else if needed. (And the out of stock delay could give me a chance to save up my pennies for it!)

It's now gone. And apparently just today. I looked at the Mosaic site this morning and it was still listed. Now, as you said, it's gone from the list. I'm still not 100% sold on the whole set, but I like pieces of it enough that I'm glad I picked it up.

This is good to know. Maybe it's a "music thing." I have ordered many, many backordered DVDs from them (usually around sales like this, when things tend to go out of stock) and only once did I not get the DVD. On the other hand, I have never tried ordering music CDs.