Stompin at the Savoy

Cast from Lost Boys musical.

Here's the booklet for the Complete Decca Sessions: https://musicbrainz.org/release/ba5d4236-388e-4dc8-9adf-ed38c4c08b69/cover-art . The set is sold as a (cd quality in some places) download under the name The Decca Singles. I got a complete copy of the box set on ebay in 2022 for $127.

Those Armstrong sets are kind of pricey right now, no idea why. But if you set up notifications on ebay, discogs, and what have you, and watch for a while you can generally get them for the original price ($15-$17 per disk), or less. For ex in 2022 I picked up #146 The Complete Decca Studio Recordings of Louis Armstrong and the All Stars, for $78 (box, book, the works, shipped). Two are available on spotify (and presumably as downloads from the usual sources): Louis Armstrong The Complete Louis Armstrong Decca Sessions (1935-1946): https://open.spotify.com/album/4ePSSZbkcek6jALbNtztI8? Louis Armstrong Columbia And RCA Victor Live Recordings Of Louis Armstrong And The All Stars: Vol. 1: https://open.spotify.com/album/7GwSrFicvM59OYCAFsDB4q Vol. 2: https://open.spotify.com/album/5oPUTne7UdDcLUsRKpODvW Vol. 3: https://open.spotify.com/album/6caWTu3uR6ykaFv1asaqwG

The lady has a great set of pipes. The arranger knows something about arranging. But somehow every time it starts to get going with a little jazz feel, it pulls up short and delivers cringey, artsy-fartsy schmaltz...

Binge watching Lolita Lobosco on PBS Passport.

From https://www.everythingjazz.com/story/the-tiberi-tapes-a-new-addition-to-john-coltranes-discography-for-2026/ The slow speed kind of explains the pitchy quality of the recordings. It often sounds to me like the speed is off and the pitch not standard. https://thumbs.worthpoint.com/zoom/images1/1/1225/17/vintage-magnavox-tr-100tape-recorder_1_d250f172475f7aa8e879a1a41bdb861b.jpg

There is some great playing in there but when the sax is playing the piano and drums are nearly inaudible. The recording level is probably too high and the sax distorts. There is some sort of clipping or distortion on the cymbals even when the sax is absent. The bass is pretty much nonexistent throughout. It's interesting but not really pleasant listening. Streaming it is fine for me - I can't see buying it because I would rather listen to other, well recorded performances of the same tunes from around the same time.

https://archive.org/details/18ShakeYourFeet There's a lot of interesting music from the 20's in these Chronologicals which is barely covered at all in the Study in Frustration collection. I like the use of baritone (bass?) sax as the bass instrument!

It's Coltrane and we're all hooked so naturally we are going to give it a listen. But one wonders if the artist would have approved of people cashing in on bootleg scraps with poor sound quality.

If that clip is representative I doubt I will buy. I'm pretty sure I will listen to whatever becomes available for free streaming, but only once. There are so many great Coltrane recordings with good sound out there.

The answers to that really depend on your budget and just how finicky you are about high end audio equipment and 'audiophile' issues of the diminishing returns variety. For me the answers to both of your questions are yes.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLblW4tsVAe0io2xFbhgf-xLywZXhH8S8E Ellington - Copenhagen 1964

I liked the Elspeth character on The Good Wife so I watched the show a few times when it began. I burned out on it pretty quickly because the format tells you the solution up front and then you are left to watch Elspeth masterfully - or painfully and transparently after a few disappointing episodes - figure out the solution to the mystery. Tada!