Head Man

Hi Allen Just paid $10 for my copy through Paypal, including $6 for shipping to UK. Should I have ordered two copies to hear it in stereo? Thanks David

Anyone found the best price for UK buyers? Bestbuy only ship within the US. BTW Amazon.uk are quoting £43.99 or over $86! It will probably be best to wait for a few weeks and check to see what their US resellers decide to sell it for - but can I wait that long?

Two days ago I received an e-mail notifying me that a member had sent me a message but it has never appeared in my messages 'in-tray'. Is this a known problem?

Thanks everyone. I knew I could rely on you to come up with the goods!

I recently obtained a copy of the latest Johnny Hodges Complete Verve Groups set on Mosaic and I'm really enjoying the music on it. So much so that I'd like to be able to get the music that was available on the earlier vinyl boxset that Mosaic released. Can anyone help me by telling me where I can obtain copies of the same music on CD please. There seem to be quite few CDs available from Bluemoon & Classics but it's very difficult to try and work out which ones cover the earlier 'Small Group' period. Can anyone provide a definitive list?

Thanks Chick (or Check) for the info. I've just placed my order.

Lol, can you confirm the track listing on your CD please. There are several CDs listed on Amazon with the same title but with different covers so I want to make sure I order the right one.

I received my copy this morning and I've played it once. My first impressions are of disappointment. I don't really like the electronic effects and the whole thing seemed rather formless. However that may be because I wasn't really expecting it to be like that and I was looking forward to some straight ahead jazz with Kenny on piano, as usual. I think I need to play it a few more times before making up mind.

I'll fourth it! It was Chuck who put me onto it last year. Cheapish, easy to use & sounds fine - what more do you need?

Just to let you know that Amazon.co.uk are offering this boxset for just under £23 delivered from one of their resellers. That's less than £6 a CD! What it is: Funky Soul & Rare Grooves Boxset Ordered it on Monday - arrived on Wednesday. Lovely packaging and terrific music - who could ask for more?

I don't know whether this has been covered elsewhere on the Board but the first two recordings by Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath have just been reissued on the Fled'gling Label. Apparently they have been remastered and sound terrific. Although the recordings have been available 'officially' and 'unoffically' for some time now it will be great to hear this wonderful, joyful music in all its glory!

I've recently been playing the four CDs I have on the Postcards label: Bruce Ditmas - What if Steve Kuhn - Seasons of romance Reggie Workman - Cerebral Caverns & Summit Conference and was reminded of how good they were. So I thought I'd see what else was available on the same label and was surprised that I couldn't seem to find any information about the label on the web. I then looked on Amazon and found about a dozen releases still available but most of them have fairly lukewarm reviews on AMG (no surprise there!) So, two questions: 1. Does anyone have a link to a discography for the label? and 2. Can anyone recommend any of the releases?

In your dreams!

Well said! My thoughts exactly!

Anyone know when these are due to be available in the UK?

I'd just like to say that I've bought dozens & dozens of CDs from Caiman through Amazon.co.uk and have had virtually no problems at all. OK there have been some delays but they do respond to e-mails and on the odd occasion when there has been a problem I have managed to sort it out satisfactorily. I think we have to accept that dealing with a large 'virtual' retail organisation is not like dealing with a small on-line shop. If you want personal service and are prepared to pay for it, then this is probably the way to go. However I must say that I have had more problems with smaller retailers, particularly about postal charges and delivery times, than I have with Caiman.

Listening to the new Bobby Hutcherson Mosaic Select has reminded me just how good his music is, so I have decided to try and replace a couple of his CDs - 'Stick-Up' & 'Natural Illusions' - which I have on the Applause label. Apart from the very poor liner notes the sound on these two CDs is also poor. I know that 'Stick-up' is widely available as a Connoisseur but I can't seem to find any other version of 'Natural Illusions' other than the one I already have. Does anyone know whether 'Natural Illusions' has ever been released on CD by Blue Note or whether there are any plans to do so?

I bought 'Lola' by Zbigniew Namyslowski's Modern Jazz Quartet last year. Very nice, especially the cheesy version of 'Ol' man river'! There's a very good website for Polish Jazz: Polish Jazz Network Very friendly service and quick delivery.

Here is the link to some vinyl I'm currently auctioning on ebay: Vinyl on ebay Good luck if you decide to bid.

I agree! I particularly like their big band recordings from the 1970's on RCA. Unfortunately they are only available as Japanese imports at the moment but are well worth seeking out. Having said that I also enjoy his Concord recordings from the 1990's: 'I'll be seeing you', 'What a little moonlight can do' & 'Tenority'. Of the three I prefer 'Tenority' but they are all excellent sessions

And why this one, which was a collection of outtakes (good as some of them are) when originally issued, instead of 'For Losers' or 'Things Have Got To Change'? Let's hope the person responsible got 'downsized'.

I'm looking to buy this set once it comes down to a reasonable price. Does anyone have any info when Universal will be putting it out on 'special offer'?

Every CD is 16 bit/44.1 kHz PCM. Sometimes, the mastering engineer will convert the analog to digital at 20 or 24 bit and work on the digital at that point, but it always has to be converted to 16 bit PCM for CD. If the CD is encoded in HDCD and your player can decode it, there are two extra bits at play, but I'm not sure that both bits are always used. FWIW, I've never been a believer that 20 bit or 24 bit equates to "good sounding CD". It's all in the mastering, not the bits. I've heard just as many crappy-sounding 24 bit masterings as 16 bit ones. Later, Kevin Thanks for that Kevin. I was really thinking more of downloads that I have copied to CDs. For instance I have a significant number of CDs created from e-music which seem to vary in quality. I know when I look at the downloaded .mp3 file I can identify the bit-rate at which it was created eg 256kbps, 320kbps etc, but when I then burn it to CD this information seems to disappear. Is there any way of identifying it from the CD?

Can anyone tell me whether there is any way of checking the quality/bit-rate of tracks on CDs? I have some CDs which seem to sound better than others and wondered whether they were recorded at a higher bit-rate or what(?)

Does anyone have a link to where future releases are identified?