Chet Baker - Complete Barclay Sessions

[mikelz777]

Chet Baker - The Complete Barclay Sessions(8-CD)

As of this posting, a marketplace seller on Amazon is selling a new/sealed copy of this box set for $38.95. I grabbed one and they re-listed so they may have several to sell. If you're curious or interested, I'd grab one fast.

Edited October 31, 2010 by mikelz777

[Van Basten II]

They don't sell to Canada

[brownie]

Wish I had waited until now to get that box

[jazzkrow]

Too bad that they are all gone at that price....

[mellowT]

No more at that price. Besides, it looks like a ton of alternate takes.

[brownie]

Lot of alternate tracks, yes. Short ones mostly.

But the 84-page album-sized book that comes with the box is worth the asking price!

[mikelz777]

I'm a Baker fan so at about $5 per disc, I couldn't pass it up. On the one hand, with all the alternate/partial takes and short play time on some discs, you could say that this box set is bloated at 8 discs. On the other hand, you could say that it's an interesting and somewhat unique way to present the material by putting each session on a seperate disc. I'm sure the approach probably causes a lot of love/hate reactions. I remember avoiding the 2-disc Lester Young set on Savoy because of all the alternate takes since I already owned the single disc version without them. After picking one up at another can't pass it up price and giving it a listen, the back-to-back alternate takes didn't really bother me and I actually ended up enjoying them. Having said that, the Barclay set comes at a great price at $38.95 but even so, it's still coming near the top range of what I was willing to pay for it. I'm excited about it and I'm looking forward to giving it a listen and checking out the 84-page book. This should be a good one and I highly doubt that I'm going to regret buying it at this price. (Hey, it was cheaper than a Mosaic Select!)

Edited October 31, 2010 by mikelz777

[mikelz777]

For those of you interested in the box set but missed it, I would keep an eye on it at Amazon. The prices seem to be moving around quite a bit. After the $38.95 sets disappeared the next best price for a new one was around $65.00. I just checked it again and a seller is now offering a new set for $56.00. If the price keeps moving, you might find one at a price you like.

Edited October 31, 2010 by mikelz777

[mellowT]

I noticed that too. Did you buy yours from Hoarders Warehouse?

[mikelz777]

I bought from ImportCDs. I haven't had any experience with them before but they had a 5-star, 98% positive rating with 1,524,722 lifetime ratings.

Edited October 31, 2010 by mikelz777

[king ubu]

Mike, you'll enjoy it! The booklet is indeed wonderful, as I've mentioned here before (I think I was amongst those who gave brownie a push...) - amazing set!

[jazzbo]

ImportCDs has been a good vendor in my experience. Nice score.

This is a very nice box set. Yes, the material would have fitted on a smaller number of discs, but the presentation makes sense. The mastering is excellent. The booklet (I was surprised at how easily I read the French after all these years) is superb.

[brownie]

The booklet is in french and english.

One of the drawback of the box is that it's one CD per session and sometimes the session produced little music.

There are about three CDs that run for less than 20 minutes.

[mikelz777]

I'll have to post my impressions once I've had a chance to listen to it and look it over. I'm still waiting for that shipping confirmation!

[cliffpeterson]

I ordered it on the 30th within a couple hours of the original post. got an email from amazon yesterday indicating that my order had been canceled.

[mikelz777]

That's disappointing, sorry to hear that. I've been there several times most notably when a merchant was selling an outrageously low-priced Monk Complete Riverside Recordings box set and another, Wynton's Village Vanguard box set then cancelled on me. Fortunately, I got the delivery confirmation on the Barclay box yesterday.