Shrdlu

Gary, I don't have any respect for people who only bought a set because it is limited. That might be a secondary aspect of such a purchase, but the main motivation ought to be to listen to the music. But, Mosaic has made a legal agreement with the various record companies, and they have to respect that, I suppose. In this case, though, it's only Blue Note (Capitol), which is pretty close to being the same crowd, so what harm would be done if they put people out of their misery and reissued the whole set. This set just came out too soon for most would-be collectors to get it, and we know that they didn't even sell the whole run (5000 or 7000, whatever it was).

Unlikely, Temple: the recent "Jacknife" sounded just the same as the Mosaic, except, probably, louder (I haven't played it for awhile).

One of my very favorite tenors! Always sounded fantastic. The collection of BNs with Kenny Dorham (5 albums) are great to hear, as these two were so compatible. No-one seems to have mentioned "Point of Departure", where Joe's contributions are, as usual, wonderful. (Actually, that counts as a sixth Dorham/Henderson album, but it isn't their show.) I agree with the assessments of the Milestone box. Also, when you hear that, you really miss the production by Alfred Lion and Rudy's clear sound. The Milstone engineering (and remastering) is poor.

If ever there was a set that ought to be reissued, this is the one! Phooey on the "we'll never issue it again" rule. The demand for this set in enormous. Of course, a few TOCJs and a Select or two would cover it all (taking into account the individual CD reissue slated for this fall).

I really like 32 Jazz's albums by Zoot and Horace. The Horace one goes well with the "Cape Verdean Blues" album, with live versions of some of the BN tracks. The MC sounds like Alan Grant. I assume that these Horace recordings are pirate.

Ross, the Monk box set is not missing any of the "Epistrophy" takes. One take broke down at some point after Trane's solo. For the Monk with Coltrane LP, they used a version consisting of this take as far as the end of Trane's solo with the ending of the other released take spliced on. This was well worth doing, as Trane's solo is quite different from the one on the completed take that appeared on the "Monk's Music" album. What the box set does lack is stereo versions of a few tracks from that session and the Mulligan session. The separate (OJC) CDs have stereo versions of some tracks that are mono in the box set. I'm afraid that Orrin is kinda prone to make that kind of error when he produces reissues. He needs a season in France - they sure tend to be thorough and painstaking when it comes to jazz research! But, still, these are minor errors, and some (including a certain RVG) do not like stereo recordings by independent labels in the early days of stereo. I like them, and I think they have a very good "soundstage" in all the cases that I've heard.

I would definitely recommend "Dear John C", King Ubu. It's a fine album, with that intense sound that Impulse was famous for. I have not heard it on CD, and the only U.S. CD is pretty old, but it might be O.K. Of course, there will be at least one Japanese CD version, and those are great. There are several lousy (or, at least dull) altos on BN sessions, but I'm not going to list all the details. I'm thinking particularly of the early Lee Morgan sessions, and the ones with Hank Mobley back then are not outstanding either. The only BN altos that I like are Cannonball (if you can call him a BN artist), Jackie McLean and James Spaulding, who are consistently outstanding.

By the way, Dusty Groove is not listing it anymore.

Charlie has always been a great alto. Here's another album to check out: "Dear John C", by Elvin Jones. This comes across as a Mariano album, as he is the only horn and he gets a lot of solo space. Great rhythm section: Jones, Richard Davis and Roland Hanna or Hank Jones. They should have used Charlie on some of those late 50s BN sessions with alto! There are some painfully bad alto solos at times, which mar sessions which are otherwise good.

Tantalisingly, there is a rare, early 90s TOCJ of "The Right Touch", but I have not heard of any sightings. I did not know that there was a paper sleeve version - that's probably one of those 24 bit ones by McMaster.

A timely warning! As I posted elsewhere, my eBay account was hacked about two months ago, as well as the email address that I used with it. eBay reinstated my account with them, but I lost the email adress - glad that I only used it for eBay. Use wierd passwords, never use the same one for two different things, and change them regularly.

To get all their released material, you will basically have to go the TOCJ route. Re a Mosaic (which I would really like if McMaster didn't do it), there are something like 208 recorded selections and about 60 still unreleased. These figures are from memory, so don't quote me, but they are about right. I wouldn't buy a Mosaic (select or regular) if McMaster did it.

I am a big Elvin fan, but I much prefer his work for other leaders than his own sessions. Just about any BN album that he's on has him in superb form, plus, of course, all the Trane albums.

"Hey There" has a really nice vibe. It would be nice to have this in a newer version - the "Latin Bit" CD is an old McMaster.

I've been reading about this for years, now. Does it REALLY improve anything? It would be nice to settle this matter once and for all. But I sure don't want to have to unscrew the speaker wires all the time. By the way, I tried another JRVG with my new speakers today ("Leapin' and Lopin'"). As with "Speak Like A Child", I got AM radio, but this was fixed by rolling the treble knob way down and the bass way up. Of course, that kind of adjustment should have been done when the CD was being prepared. Why don't they test the sound before issuing the CDs?

That reminds me, I haven't heard from Groovenet in Garland (TX, of course) for awhile. They used to email specials at least once a week. Does anyone know if they are still around. It wasn't all that big a store when I was last there, but they moved after that.

Wonderful thread! It made my day! Best was the phrase "early rising polka fan". Imagine having to listen to music like that at the crack of dawn. Remember the John Candy polka bit in "Home Alone 1"? ("Polka, polka! No?") I just posted about borrowing my son's boom box. If you do decide to hit back, ah garontee that that would do the trick, mon ami. For an album, I would use "Free For All", by Art Blakey. Seriously, I think I have the answer, J. It's already been mentioned, but I'd like to enlarge on it. Wax earplugs are the way to go. I started using these in the 70s, when I lived in an inner city apartment with lots of noise. These really do the job! They are fairly hard when you get them out of the box. You soften them a bit with the fingertips and push them gently into the ears. After they have warmed up, you give them a firm final push, and bye bye noise. They won't help with the neighbor's fart, though. These are mainly made in England, and I have imported many a box. I have not seen them in the U.S. or Canada.

My son had a "boom box" (that is, a subwoofer) in his last car, but he recently changed cars and has not had time to install this monster into the trunk of his new car. I once heard it in his bedroom, and it was quite impressive (!), so I borrowed it to hear it with my new speakers. Wow, what bass! (And I'm not talking all this deafening kid stuff.) I tested it first with the Japanese K2 CD of Milt Jackson's "Jazz 'N' Samba", as I knew that that would sound good. Richard Davis sounds wonderful with that woofer. What a rich sound. It was a mistake to test the thing with that CD, as it's the best CD sound that I've ever heard. My next CD was the JRVG of Herbie Hancock's "Speak Like A Child", as Ron Carter plays so well on that. Man, it sounded awful - like an AM radio. Hans, where are you? I'm going to try it soon with a Jimmy Smith BN. Anyway, the Shrdlu household is going to get its own sub soon. After all, the speakers and box are basically the same as my 60s stuff: 10" Wharfedales in large boxes.

I can help you with the "Ba-lue Bolivar Ba-lues-are", Ross. (I hope you spelled it right! I just copied it from your post and I'm not going to check. ) The scratchy opening IS in the U.S. set, and Orrin explains in the notes that this opening was removed from the piece on LPs issued after the very earliest editions. He does not recall why this was done. When they were preparing the box set, they had to dub the opening from a rare copy of the LP. The Evans Riverside set from ZYX is definitely sonically the same as the U.S. one. And it's remarkably good, too. So good, that a friend of mine was able to detect an out-of-tune piano for the first time ever!

Do you mean the Bb, or the Eb? By the way, the range of the Eb contra would make it a more versatile choice than the more regular Bb bass clarinet. But I haven't blown one, so I don't know how cumbersome it would be. Not something you see every day. You're right about these things not being easy for soloing. When I first tried a Bb bass clarinet, I was full of Eric Dolphy (those Prestige "In Europe" LPs especially) and I was bursting with excitement, after having wanted to get my hands on one for a long time. I was very disappointed when I found that it loses volume after you go above the "break" to B and upwards, and you can't really push it. The drums tended to drown it out - I had no mike where I was playing. It did get louder again for the top register (top D and upward). My admiration for Dolphy increased after that experience.

Get all the albums with this lineup - some under Horace's name, some under Stanley's. The Parlan Mosaic is recommended! That rhythm section really tells a story and works hard. George Tucker was a physically strong bassist in the Mingus manner; one of my favorites. Hey, old Les is hard to please, isn't he? Very stingy with his "stars". What would you have to do to get 4, let alone 5?

It sounds like several have had problems with Paypal. It's sad, as, in theory, Paypal should be a very convenient way to buy or sell. Anyway, my CD is now paid for (by the direct deduction from my checking account), and I was also successful in deleting that account from Paypal. I just hope that the details are not stored in their computer, now that I've heard that Paypal was hacked. One thing that I've noticed since I started buying through eBay in 1999 is that few sellers will now take a check. Back then, I could usually pay with a check, even though my eBay score was very low. I used to offer to let the seller wait until the check cleared if they were worried. Now, I have a score well over 100, with not even any "neutrals", let alone any "negatives", and nobody wants my checks. Why bother with feedback at all? Paypal has effectively neutralized it.

I didn't know that Tetley tea was sold in the U.S., CS500. In the U.K., it used to be good, but no longer. There, the best "ordinary" teas are Typhoo and PG Tips. Twinings IS too expensive in the States if you are using a serious amount. I am, among other things, a Canadian citizen (my wife was from Ontario, not far from Windsor), and I certainly recommend Red Rose ("Only in Canada, eh? Pity!") But they also sell PG up there in Windsor. Next, a Canadian couple who are deadly afraid of scorpions. "It hurts, eh!"

Yeah, the Selmers are pricey, Jim. I was in a music store in Salina, Kansas in 1992, to get some reeds, and I noticed a new Selmer alto for $3995! I haven't looked at the prices since. I guess my Selmer tenor (new in 1974) is worth burgling. It is still looking good. There were some threads about bass saxophones awhile back, and I wanted one of them. The Selmer looks gorgeous on their website. Imagine what IT would cost, not to mention their Eb contrabass clarinet, which I would also like! But how much would I really play them? A guy in Sweden has a bass sax, and he says they are hard to blow.

Further point: the word is that Gil Evans arranged the opening to "So What". Whether that extended to the actual chord voicings, who knows. By the way, Wynton uses those fourths in the Blackhawk version of this piece, but only in the opening (I am hearing the Blackhawk stuff for the first time at the moment); seems as if they are considered as part of the composition. I traced the Trane quote about McCoy. It was in a logical place: the notes to McCoy's first album under his own name, "Inception", though I think I have seen these remarks somewhere else too. "He also gets a very personal sound from his instrument; and because of the clusters he uses and the way he voices them, that sound is brighter than what would normally be expected from most of the chord patterns he plays."