doneth

I'm disappointed at Naxos's rising prices, but let's face it, the CD market is collapsing. One used to grab a handful of Naxos CDs like candy bars because they were so cheap, but fewer people were doing that (they want their music online or free), so Naxos had to raise their prices, so I can no longer afford to buy 'em by the handful. Until about ten years ago a Borders store in West Des Moines had a huge selection of Naxos CDs; Borders is gone and Barnes & Noble treats music like greeting cards...or candy bars...

German Archiphon issued just the quartets in 1992 in a 2-CD set, then I bought the M&A set, I think on Chuck's recommendation. The earlier transfers of these very unusual recordings are brighter but also a bit shrill, and noisier. I prefer the M&A, as warmer and more listenable and of course as Chuck says the box contains many more goodies. Nowadays the transfers could be improved but we are lucky to have them at all.

Martha Glaser died on 2 December 2014 aged 93. She was indeed the toughest of gatekeepers!

A dear old friend of mine, who now plays cello in the Montreal Symphony, wanted to go the college in Bloomington in the early 1970s and was being interviewed by a committee; she had been playing for years at that point, and the panel was badgering her about her academic record. Starker finally growled, "Oh, leave the girl alone; she's smart enough."

I've published several books and I've kept all the reviews. There aren't many bad ones but they are the ones that make me laugh: in every case the reviewer has an agenda which makes no sense to anyone but him. Don't forget that Ted Brown likes All Music!

Two points to be made: because of the collapse of the record biz, there is a new emphasis on playing music for a living, with selling a few recordings as a side benefit. That's why a lot of pop and rock bands give away a new single on their websites; we may be getting back to the music business as it was before the baby boomers started buying albums by the millions. And the other thing is the single itself: fans are able to buy the track they want for 99 cents instead of an overpriced, over-produced album, just as I used to buy 78s for 89 cents when I was a kid. These are changes, as someone said, not the end of the world, and they may be changes we should welcome. Donald Clarke

More and more of us don't. I don't even like the cellphone, but can no longer do without it, and there's no point in having both.

A track called 'Makin' Time' is one of my favorites, recorded in 1954 and should have been reissued on the "Interchange 54" CD; it is in the same groove as "Audrey". But apparently it's lost in the vaults because it was only ever issued on the sampler "I Like Jazz" and nobody but me knows it exists (boo hoo, sniff). Desmond is sensational on it IMO.

Best news I've heard today!

I read this and enjoyed it. It's very thorough and told me a lot I didn't know about Rachmaninoff. I agree that the price is ridiculous.

According to AMG he was born in 1921, so he was either 88 or 89. Chuck, Any chance the LP will be reissued on CD? I was planning a late fall issue but it feels a little creepy now. I will see how I feel about it later. Don't postpone it, Chuck. I remember you telling me about Eddie Johnson, and now I've been listening to the Beautiful Indian Summer LP for many years, which we wouldn't have if you hadn't done it. The sooner you reissue it the more people can hear it.

I've often thought that one had to be very lucky to have been born white, male, American, and before Pearl Harbor: too young for Korea and too old for Vietnam, I've been surfing all my life on the tidal wave of prosperity thrown up by the baby boom. I've never really had to worry about anything. And now that I'm a 'senior' with no pension and a reduced Social Security as a result of having been a grasshopper all my life, I've got a wonderful wife who has a terrific job. I must be the winner of winners!

Sue who? In Serbia? I should try to hire a lawyer in a country that is still hiding Ratko Mladic?

I'm reading it and I'm enjoying it. It's a very good popular bio so far, not the be-all and end-all that Kelley's book on Monk is, but Teachout does his research and writes well. He follows Gary Giddins' (much shorter) book in emphasizing what a good man, what a great American, Armstrong was.

When I started this thread I had forgotten my best publishing story of all. I sold the Serbian language rights to my biography of Billie Holiday to Narodnaknjiga in Belgrade for $1,000. The contract (dated 'this 26th day of 2006') says that the money was to be paid 'on execution of this agreement'. They have published a book, ISBN 86-331-2068-2, a copy provided to me by a member of Organissimo, and the translation copyrighted 2005 (?) but have never paid me a dime. RIPPED OFF (boo hoo)