mikeweil Posted February 9, 2004 Report Posted February 9, 2004 The problem is: all non-ZYX-remastered Fantasy releases are fully price here (33 CHF, currently around 25$ or 21 Euros) - another swiss craze - which as often as not keeps me away from buying them, or buying those I found cheap rather than those I would have wanted to get right now... It's only those 20-bit or what the hell they call it that sound dreadful. The other ZYX pressings use the US mastering and sound fine. Quote
king ubu Posted February 9, 2004 Report Posted February 9, 2004 The problem is: all non-ZYX-remastered Fantasy releases are fully price here (33 CHF, currently around 25$ or 21 Euros) - another swiss craze - which as often as not keeps me away from buying them, or buying those I found cheap rather than those I would have wanted to get right now... It's only those 20-bit or what the hell they call it that sound dreadful. The other ZYX pressings use the US mastering and sound fine. I know, but generally, they don't have those others! They have lots of the dreaded 20-bit discs, and if they have some others (I picked up the Clifford Jordan "Mosaic", for instance), they want lots of money for them (more than 20 euros!). ubu Quote
mikeweil Posted February 9, 2004 Report Posted February 9, 2004 I know, but generally, they don't have those others! They have lots of the dreaded 20-bit discs, and if they have some others (I picked up the Clifford Jordan "Mosaic", for instance), they want lots of money for them (more than 20 euros!). This all looks like there is no distributor for the Fantasy label group in Switzerland, or is there a Swiss ZYX dependency? These prices tell me that they are treated like imports. Who in all the world handles the imports? France, Italy, GB all have their individual distributor for Fantasy labels like ZYX here in Germany. Quote
king ubu Posted February 9, 2004 Report Posted February 9, 2004 I know, but generally, they don't have those others! They have lots of the dreaded 20-bit discs, and if they have some others (I picked up the Clifford Jordan "Mosaic", for instance), they want lots of money for them (more than 20 euros!). This all looks like there is no distributor for the Fantasy label group in Switzerland, or is there a Swiss ZYX dependency? These prices tell me that they are treated like imports. Who in all the world handles the imports? France, Italy, GB all have their individual distributor for Fantasy labels like ZYX here in Germany. I think we just get what ZYX produces, and not much more. That they don't have large parts of the catalogue on display is nothing that remarkable. It takes two months until RVGs show up, and Conns don't always show up at all... They have no idea of what's around, they don't seem to care much... ubu Quote
mikeweil Posted February 9, 2004 Report Posted February 9, 2004 There seems to be much less than the minority called jazz buyers in Switzerland, that's for sure. If yopur country joined the EU at least buying jazz CDs would become a lot cheaper .... ZYX has their own mailorder shop in Germany, with lower prices than everywhere else, Music Garden. It can be reached over the ZYX website, but I can't tell if they ship to Switzerland, and how much it would cost. Perhaps you e-mail them? ZYX website Quote
king ubu Posted February 9, 2004 Report Posted February 9, 2004 Thanks, Mike! I guess their prices are alright. And they do seem to ship internationally. No idea if they would deduct taxes, but with the current Euro/CHF exchange rate, I'll rather buy from the US currently (and I bought so many CDs lately... I really should cut down!). ubu Quote
Muskrat Ramble Posted February 9, 2004 Report Posted February 9, 2004 So ZYX is just the distributor of Fantasy discs in Germany and the sound quality would be equivalent to US discs? I notice that Amazon.de, for example, has two versions of the Live Trane box set: one listed as "Fan/Presti (ZYX)" and another as a US import from Pablo, which is rather more expensive (and more in line with the US prices for the set). Quote
king ubu Posted February 9, 2004 Report Posted February 9, 2004 So ZYX is just the distributor of Fantasy discs in Germany and the sound quality would be equivalent to US discs? I notice that Amazon.de, for example, has two versions of the Live Trane box set: one listed as "Fan/Presti (ZYX)" and another as a US import from Pablo, which is rather more expensive (and more in line with the US prices for the set). As far as box-sets are concerned, it gets a little bit confusing... Let me begin from the start: - ZYX has their OWN (dreaded) 20-bit remastering series, packed in Digipacks. - ZYX also has (older) Fantasy remasterings of the same titles available (but these are not distributed everywhere, as people seem to think 20-bits are better) - ZYX has lots of Fantasy CDs not included in their 20-bit series, with US-remasterings. - ZYX did those box sets (some of them were on zweitausendeins.de for very cheap prizes last spring) with NO LP-SIZED BOX and NO nice & big BOOKLET, but just a flimsy cardboard box wrapped around the CDs, and a scaled-down booklet, that sometimes does not list musicians (the Sonny Rollins Prestige set), or does not have any liner notes (the Bill Evans Fantasy), and such niceties. - obviously, Amazon Germany carries the ZYX boxes (they're far too expansive for what they are!), as well as the "original" Fantasy boxes (full size, booklet etc) - one more thing about box-sets: those box sets (Monk Prestige, Rollins Freelance etc) that also in their Fantasy incarnations are small-sized ones, they seem to be identical to the Fantasy boxes. ubu Quote
king ubu Posted February 9, 2004 Report Posted February 9, 2004 Danke, Ubu! Welcome! Hope I didn't mix anything up, but if I did Mike will step in, for sure! ubu Quote
John L Posted February 9, 2004 Report Posted February 9, 2004 Bobby Timmons fans should be sure to hear Art Blakey live in '58 at the Club Saint Germain. You can get the whole concert on a 2-disk French release. This is one of the great recordings of modern jazz played to please the general public in the most basic and earthy way. Everybody is on, but Bobby Timmons just swings the crowd into copmplete delirium. A classic! Quote
king ubu Posted February 9, 2004 Report Posted February 9, 2004 Bobby Timmons fans should be sure to hear Art Blakey live in '58 at the Club Saint Germain. You can get the whole concert on a 2-disk French release. This is one of the great recordings of modern jazz played to please the general public in the most basic and earthy way. Everybody is on, but Bobby Timmons just swings the crowd into copmplete delirium. A classic! Sounds good, John! Can you give the label of this one? Same tour as that Blakey one in the Jazz in Paris series? That one was recorded at the Olympia, I think. ubu Quote
undergroundagent Posted February 9, 2004 Author Report Posted February 9, 2004 It's also worth noting that Timmons lays down some heavy groove on both Cannonball's "Cannonball Adderley Quintet in San Francisco" and Nat Adderley's "Work Song". These two OJCs are fantastic! Quote
king ubu Posted February 9, 2004 Report Posted February 9, 2004 Bobby Timmons fans should be sure to hear Art Blakey live in '58 at the Club Saint Germain. You can get the whole concert on a 2-disk French release. This is one of the great recordings of modern jazz played to please the general public in the most basic and earthy way. Everybody is on, but Bobby Timmons just swings the crowd into copmplete delirium. A classic! This one, it seems: http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000...4350397-4565025 ubu Quote
John L Posted February 9, 2004 Report Posted February 9, 2004 (edited) You beat me to it! Yes, that is it. It shouldn't be too hard to find in Zurich. Edited February 9, 2004 by John L Quote
Muskrat Ramble Posted February 9, 2004 Report Posted February 9, 2004 I already recommended that one on the first page of the thread Awesome discs! One of the Messengers' best live sets. Quote
BruceH Posted February 9, 2004 Report Posted February 9, 2004 Timmons is also on the Lee Morgan album "Lee Way" I believe, along with Jackie McLean. God, I love that record! Quote
mikeweil Posted February 9, 2004 Report Posted February 9, 2004 Welcome! Hope I didn't mix anything up, but if I did Mike will step in, for sure! Oh no, everything is correct. It seems someone - maybe amazon themselves, maybe Zyx, maybe both, maybe still somebody else - imports the US releases, at least when they're brand new, so both versions seem to be around. ZYX does not manufacture all titles in Germany, but you never know which ones ..... The most ridiculous things about the scaled down box sets is, that the CDs in the jewel cases are identical, the only difference are the LP sized box and booklet, as though they would import these and put their own CDs into them, and considering the price while knowing that ..... The low budget versions were sold by zweitausendeins at the same price that retailers had to pay for them, that's why no other shop used to have them in stock! I wonder what will happen to the ZYX/Fantasy jazz box set repertoire now that the deal with zweitausendeins seems to have ended. Quote
chris olivarez Posted February 10, 2004 Report Posted February 10, 2004 Bobby Timmons was a badass player. Quote
king ubu Posted February 11, 2004 Report Posted February 11, 2004 The most ridiculous things about the scaled down box sets is, that the CDs in the jewel cases are identical, the only difference are the LP sized box and booklet, as though they would import these and put their own CDs into them, and considering the price while knowing that ..... The low budget versions were sold by zweitausendeins at the same price that retailers had to pay for them, that's why no other shop used to have them in stock! I wonder what will happen to the ZYX/Fantasy jazz box set repertoire now that the deal with zweitausendeins seems to have ended. Well, let's hope they NEVER EVER AGAIN produce any of these dreaded scaled down versions any more! When entering jazz, I ordered the Sonny Rollins, in a shop here in Zurich, and they got me the ZYX version, full prize of course! Shit! There's an alphabetical list of musicians, a list of tunes, and the liners (which are good) - with help of the liners and internet, you can make guesses at who was involved in what tunes, what tunes were done on what date etc... 175 CHF! When I found out about this a few months later!!! Nothing low budget about swiss imports of ZYX stuff! However, most important is the music, and that I AM enjoying a lot... But: last summer there was a shop in Zurich main station carrying lots of ZYX/Fantasy (US-remasterings) discs, for around 8 Euros, and I bought around 20 of them, probably almost all they had... ubu Quote
king ubu Posted February 11, 2004 Report Posted February 11, 2004 Timmons is also on the Lee Morgan album "Lee Way" I believe, along with Jackie McLean. God, I love that record! That's another good one, regarding Timmons! Jackie and Lee Morgan are both a little rough - which is cool, but gets on my nerves a little bit, and doesn't make "Lee Way" the Morgan disc I listen the most. Timmons is very good on it, though! ubu Quote
king ubu Posted February 11, 2004 Report Posted February 11, 2004 You beat me to it! Yes, that is it. It shouldn't be too hard to find in Zurich. I think I never actually saw it in a shop, but Amazon France will certainly help (and as they offer the Jazz in Paris discs for around 6 Euros currently... killing my bank account again!) ubu Quote
Rooster_Ties Posted April 16, 2004 Report Posted April 16, 2004 (edited) Just came into this UK two-fer (on one CD) via a trade. My first time hearing "Soul Man" with Wayne. Only listening to it for the very first time this afternoon (hence my new Avatar), but damn - what a great date. LOVE that version of Wayne's "Tom Thumb". Funkay!!! B) Edited April 16, 2004 by Rooster_Ties Quote
couw Posted April 16, 2004 Report Posted April 16, 2004 damn - what a great date. LOVE that version of Wayne's "Tom Thumb". Funkay!!! B) yes Quote
Shrdlu Posted April 17, 2004 Report Posted April 17, 2004 I especially like Bobby on the BN Blakey sessions, as well as the late 50s BN sessions that he did with other leaders. He was a superb player. For me, he's at his best when he plays lean, single note lines in his solos. I've never been fond of his block chord passages, which are harsh to my ears. I wish that he had voiced those like Red Garland, whose block chords I do like. We have probably overdone the ZYX rabbit trail in this thread, but I'd like to weigh in against their 20 bit and 24 bit series too. Avoid! How silly it all is, when all they had to do was to issue the American remasterings, which are fine in my opinion. Herr ZYX has effectively killed off the terrific OCJ series outside the U.S. One should definitely get only the U.S. versions, including ZYX ones when they are known to be the same. Quote
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