desertblues

The Hodges is a must-have Mosaic, IMHO!

How sad to hear "The Genius" has passed away! One of the very first lps I bought was "In Person" with that killer version of Drown In My Own Tears-wore out a couple of copies in fact. RIP Brother Ray...

I have a ten-lp box set on Montgomery Ward with one record each from Woody Herman, Kenton, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, Harry James, Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Lionel Hampton, Tommy Dorsey and Prez Prado! It's called "The Golden Sounds Of The Big Bands" supposedly a limited edition series with absolutely no liner notes. I have not been able to find any info on this set, but I suspect the big department stores issued records to demonstrate their record players, and maybe as give-aways with a purchase. Atlantic pressed some lps as "for in-store demonstration only", I have one with Wilson Pickett and Sam and Dave.

Yes indeed! Any lp with a track dedicated to a bottle of J&B is a winner in my book. Joe Newman is great on this one too, IMHO.

Another knock on Atomic: at one time I was bidding on and buying records from them regularly. A Jimmy Smith B.N. had a bad skip - they really got uptight and took way too long to refund it, even going so far as to "block" me from bidding on their auctions for a few days! Needless to say, they lost a good customer. Still, they do list some great records (with high reserves).

Some notable recent vinyl finds: Excellent - condition (better than vg+) Blue Note 1st pressings of: "Midnight Blue" mono deep-groove (amazing sound!) "Idle Moments" mono Verve "trumpeter" label: "Mulligan Meets Ben Webster" m-/m- "Back To Back" Ellington/ Hodges in Near Mint condition! Riverside blue label mono: Joe Albany w/Warne Marsh m-/m- Prestige yellow/black Bergenfield label: "Mainstem" -Oliver Nelson w/ Joe Newman You can still find 'em if you know where to look...

Johnny Hodges, Johnny Hodges, Johnny Hodges!!!

Back in the days of cassette tapes for the road, my spouse treated us to a 90 minute "compilation" that repeated Bob Marley's "Three Little Words" over and over with just a few other tunes thrown in here and there. After a while listening to this tape became part of the ritual every time we hit the highway...she really digs Bob Marley.

Yes, I have it - it does include material from "Outcats" (including The Mystery Of Herbie Nichols w/interesting discussion of the Mosaic box), "In The Moment" with his terrific Sonny Rollins piece, and from "Bebop And Nothingness". Also there are newly collected essays including "Jim Hall Has It Made" as well as non music-related material on subjects like films and Bob Hope. Davis calls it his "greatest hits" in the intro. I like this one a lot and have re-read some of it - Davis is one of the best jazz scribes out there, IMHO! No Hentoff articles though... B)

I also heartily recommend this set - I got mine about a month ago and have listened to some of it almost every day. The musicians on this set are hall-of-famers: Hodges, Webster, Eldridge, Nance, Herb Ellis and the amazing Booty Wood! It is definitely one of my favorite Mosaics.

I definitely agree - that whole series of Pablo lps with the full cover photos in b&w are classics!

DAMN! Those are high prices for some admittedly rare Blue Notes! I mean yeah, they are hard to find in near mint condition but I have some of those listed and I paid WAAAAAYYYYYY less (and not that long ago either). It's because so few were sold and fewer still have survived in nice condition.

Most recent Mosaics: Johnny Hodges! (got it today), Gerry Mulligan and Carmell Jones 2 weeks ago...

A close call, but I'll go with Curtain Call. Mobes and Dorham with Sonny Clark George Joyner & Art Taylor - does it get any better than that? Amazing that this went unreleased until the Japanese lp came out! The sextet session (with Mighty Moe & Joe) is the other standout session from this group of Mobley lps IMHO. B)

I've only had experience with XM which was in my rental car last summer. They did have some very cool jazz stations including a 1940's one that played some great bebop and such. I have been considering getting XM or Sirius myself - wonder if one offers more jazz?

Dmitry, as for the $1 lps, I should have mentioned I'm in Phoenix and the store is Tracks In Wax. Anyone in the area should check it out.

I only have two selects (so far): Carmell Jones and Bennie Green. I knew I was gonna like the Carmell, but the Green really knocked me out! It's just a great set all the way through. Next Select for me would be the Amy or Brookmeyer.

Got 'em yesterday too! Listening has begun...

If it's NM you got a very good deal, IMHO. I've seen the live Basie go for well over $250 in M- or "unplayed" condition. Ebay prices on most Mosaics seem to be going down a little lately. Enjoy the Basie!

One of my favorites is "Reading Jazz" edited by Robert Gottlieb which has excerpts from the Hawes and Pepper and many others like Anita O'Day's bio. Reading this one has led to quite a few worthy purchases.

My favorite local used record store bought a collection of 2500 mint-condition lps (most are in unplayed condition)-all jazz, mostly of the "trad" or swing variety. They are ONE DOLLAR each if you get ten or more! Yesterday I got: Benny Carter "The King" on Pablo Prez & Sweets on Verve (Japanese reissue) L. Young "Jammin With Lester" on Jazz Archives Al Cohn "Standards Of Excellence" on Concord W. Herman And His First Herd "Juke Box" on First Heard (lim. ed.) Ruby Braff-George Barnes Quartet on Chariascuro Warren Vache "Blues Walk" on Dreamstreet Johnny Hodges in Disco Order Vol. 1 on Ajax Benny Carter with Ben Webster and Barney Bigard on Prestige Ellington '55 on Capitol (mono reissue). All the above for a grand total of ten bucks! They're all mint!

That "America's #1 Band" boxset has made me a huge fan of that wonderful band! It's absolutely my favorite release of the last year or so, and I can't wait to hear more. Long live the Count!

Jeez, this must be the norm for wives of jazz collectors! We are in the midst of cleaning out some closets and a storage room and I'm getting the "why the hell do you have to have so many records, I bet you could make some serious money" speech. Admittedly they take up a lot of room, but they just don't get it...

For me the addiction began years ago with the T Bone Walker lp set, bought for $40 at my favorite used record store. At the time I was mostly into blues - almost 30 Mosaic sets later it's mostly jazz...

Sent you an email - put me down for both discs too!