I just found out through a friend of mine that the Complete Miles Davis box set is available from Amazon in the UK.  This set features all of Miles Davis’s recordings on the Columbia label.  It also features a new release in the complete Isle of Wight festival performance, and includes a DVD as well.

The deal through Amazon in the U.S. is currently around $293, which works out to just over $4 per disc (the set has 70 discs).  It is also an exclusive Amazon item.  What I wasn’t aware of is that Amazon UK has it also, but at a much lower cost.  In fact, the total cost is over $70 less than the US price, shipped to the US!  Read on for details and an ordering link.

This past Sunday (November 15th), we were fortunate to see Herb Alpert, Lani Hall and their stellar band in concert at the Wharton Center in East Lansing, Michigan.  Despite my usual aversion to anything Spartan-related (inside joke), we made the trip and had an enjoyable evening of music.  Touring with Herb and Lani are Hussain Jiffry on bass, Michael Shapiro on drums and percussion, and Bill Cantos on piano and vocals.

The set list for this gig was pretty much the same as other stops on the tour, but the whole musical approach is open and flexible.  It is as though the whole group comes in with their rough sketches of the songs beforehand, and completely colors them in during the performance, with the lucky audience able to witness the artistry firsthand.  In other words, a lot of the music is improvised, but it still follows the basic arrangement on which it is based.

What can I say?  I couldn’t resist!  In the past several months, I’ve tried three different (albeit lower cost) in-ear monitors.  None were perfect, but each had strengths and weaknesses.  In my last installment, I had tried the Koss in-ear monitor and was pleased by its performance.  No, it wasn’t anything that would slay a $250+ set of Etymotics, but for the money, it was my favorite of the three I’d tried.  The ear tips have turned out to be mediocre–I still have a problem with them slipping out after about an hour of use, and they fall out even faster under moderate activity.  Still, I picked up a second set since they were on clearance, as they’ll be great for outdoor or “active” use.  Poking around online, I discovered that Grado now offers in-ear monitors.  One of them looked interesting, and the price was right.