after my website was down for a day or so because of some maintenance, I'm back in business.

First of all, thanks for commenting here and clearing that up. I'll reword that sentence in the original post soon.

I couldn't agree more about the labels you mentioned, although I'm not such a huge fan of the Rudy Van Gelder remasters (essential as they are), many of which are lacking the kind of tonality I prefer. Nevertheless, where would we all be without Blue Note and the labels you mentioned? I'm glad a lot of what they put out there is still around.

Sackville Recordings rang a very faint bell, but I need to investigate the label further. For those readers who know as little as I do about this label, a quick excerpt from The Canadian Encyclopedia:

"Record label established in Toronto by John Norris, Bill Smith, and others in 1968. The label released recordings of Canadian jazz musicians [...] as well as leading US traditional, mainstream, and avant-garde jazz musicians,[...]. While Sackville's concentration was originally on jazz recording, and it was at one time the pre-eminent jazz label in Canada, the company has also signed musicians working in other genres, including country. Norris and Smith have served as producers of virtually all Sackville recording sessions. [...] As of 2004, Sackville Recordings was still active, under Norris.

Volkher

In your review, you credit Howard Holzer and Roy DuNann with the recording, but according to the CDs, it was solely Holzer. Not to say that the master tapes weren't sent south to LA and DuNann did the preparation for release, but I'd think the recordings were done live-to-two-track stereo, and what we hear to this day is pretty much exactly what Holzer put on the tape. (I don't have the original LPs any longer, and don't recall the credits).

Yes, there would be some tape-to-disc EQing (and subsequent tape-to-digital EQing required for the CD release, but I say "Thanks to Howard Holzer, the sixth member of Shelly Manne's Quintet".

And thanks to Lester Koenig for making it possible. I don't think I have ANY better-representative-of-the-band issues than those of Contemporary. I love those owner-operated labels that have an outlook and statement to make -- Contemporary, BlueNote, and even my hometown Toronto label, John Norris' Sackville Recordings.

sorry for the very late reply. I've been busier than the proverbial outhouse rat. ;)

I can only add that since I wrote this "review", the files have never left any of my various portable players. It's the one set that's never erased and travels with me wherever I go. As far as I can tell, they are again easier to get hold of when compared to the general shortage around 2006.

The CDs have also stayed next to my stereo since 2006. I'm quite sure this has never happened before, unless you count Bugge Wesseltoft's Christmas CD that gets several spins per month here when I have to do 18-hour correcting shifts. That one has kept me sane this past decade (see my review elsewhere on this site).

This music is timeless and I would go as far as saying that a lot of it comes as close to being what I call "perfect" as can be. I know there are detractors out there, but I wouldn't let those into the above-mentioned outhouse if they paid for it, so ...

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.

:)

So - if you are still on the fence, I heartily recommend you get off that fence and take the plunge. Just go on A____N and find a vendor who has these. I got all 5 disks from one vendor, which saved me on shipping.

If I could only have 10 disks of jazz on that hypothetical island, this set would probably comprise half of my jazz quota. It really is that good. Of course this is one man's opinion, but one can always listen to sound samples if still in doubt. At any rate, check it out. I think you will be glad you did.

It should be relatively easy finding the others if you don’t just look once but keep checking bac, whereever it is you do your shopping. Sometimes one or t’other is unavailable for a while but they usually pop up again relatively fast.

I’m still hoping that someone will put all volumes out as a boxed set one day.

Keep enjoying!

nice to see you ‘round these parts.

I’m not so concerned about CDs disappearing that fast, especially if LPs, which most people thought were dead and buried, are any indication. Besides, I have so many of them that I only need a company that still produces CD players 20 years down the line. If not, I’ll buy one from a company known for its quality products which will then hopefully last until I drop dead (yes, there are companies that sell those kinds of quality products).

Thanks for the link! I also encourage my readers here to visit your “London Theatre Blog” (the site your link above points to) which I love ... as you know.

I wish I had more money, I’d buy CD’s again, even though there’s a degree of fear that the medium will someday soon become obsolete.

Thanks for this great piece of writing. This has prompted me to check back more often to your blog.

I’ll also set up a link to you from my 9rules blog Desperate Curiosity.

Best wishes on a cold night in London,

Andrew.