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J.A.W.
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Posts posted by J.A.W.
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I also have all the material, but I'll still be buying the set, if only for the upgraded sound - as was the case with the two previous BN Mosaics, the 1960s Mobley and the Henderson; the sound on those two is much better than I've ever heard on earlier releases of the same material,
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2 hours ago, kh1958 said:
Received my set on Tuesday and unfortunately it appears an elephant stepped on one corner of the shipping box, crushing one corner of the black box and plastic tray, though the CDs and booklet are okay.
Mosaic service has certainly gone down hill, as my query as to whether it was possible to obtain a replacement box/tray has gone unanswered for two days.
Did you mail Scott directly at scott@mosaicrecords.com ? In my experience he usually replies within a day.
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Scott Wenzel told me a Freddie Hubbard Mosaic is in the works. No release date yet. It'll be 7 CDs with these Blue Note and impulse! albums:Open Sesame - Blue NoteGoin’ Up - Blue NoteHub Cap - Blue NoteReady For Freddie - Blue NoteThe Artistry Of Freddie Hubbard - impulse!Hub-Tones - Blue NoteHere To Stay - Blue NoteThe Body And The Soul - impulse!Breaking Point - Blue NoteBlue Spirits - Blue Note
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9 hours ago, OliverM said:
Yes, apparently around the 20th but could be longer.
I wonder what JazzMessengers' price will be. I usually order my Mosaics from them, but not this time, I thought a direct order from Mosaic might be a bit cheaper (even with the Customs charges) and faster; unfortunately, my order is still "processing"...
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No notice here yet, and it'll take the set a bit longer to get here, crossing the pond
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2 hours ago, scooter_phx said:
Well, it's the last two weeks of June... has anyone started getting their sets yet?
Scott Wenzel just told me the Black & White set is shipping out next week. He expects the OOS Tristano set not to be available again until August/September.
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15 hours ago, hopkins said:
Thanks for the info. I actually have the 3 LP set. Nowadays, I just like the convenience of having the tracks on my computer, that's all, but it does not stop me from listening...
There might be a misunderstanding here; I wasn't talking about a 3LP-set, I was referring to the 3 mega Mosaic Commodore boxes with a total of 66 LPs, two with 23 LPs each and one with 20 LPs.
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2 hours ago, hopkins said:
A little late, but I found this online discography: http://www.jazzdiscography.com/Artists/Commodore/CommodoreCDr.html
The discography is larger than the Mosaic set, but it references those sessions included in the Mosaic set.
I wish Mosaic would release that set in CD format.
Not going to happen. Once the license runs out or a set goes OOP it will never be reissued by Mosaic, not on LP and not on CD. It's in their misson statement:
Why Limited Editions?
Mosaic does not own Pacific Jazz, Atlantic, Columbia, RCA, Blue Note, Verve or any other catalog product. We lease all of our recordings from other record companies or individual artists and in just about every case there’s a limit on the time period we’re allowed to offer the set for sale. Therefore once the set has sold out, it will not be made available again.By the way, there were three Mosaic Commodore LP sets, with a total of 66 LPs.
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I don't see the problem with prepayment. It's everyone's own choice, one is free not to do it. No need to moan about it.
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1 hour ago, SwingItTrev said:
I’ve said this before, but I’d really really really prefer they just take my money when I order it. Then I have control over when they take money out of my account, and what the exchange rate is, AND they get the bonus of having the money up front to keep things moving.
44 minutes ago, jazzbo said:That's why I use PayPal.
Same here, let them have the money straight away. In my case that also means no hassle with exchange rate fluctuations.
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1 hour ago, tranemonk said:
What Keynote box?
Japanese Keynote box (LPs)
![[The Complete Keynote Collection]](https://microgroove.jp/mercury/img/18PJ-1051_71.png)
Fresh Sound Keynote box (CDs)
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According to the discography on the Mosaic website Jack McVie is included - click on "discography":
B&W set
A Comprehensive Historical Release
Black & White RecordsRescued from extinction – music you’ve likely never heard.
Expected release date May 31
At Mosaic, presenting music that’s been hard to find — or completely overlooked — is as exciting today as it was in 1983 when we assembled our very first package of Blue Note recordings featuring Thelonious Monk. Sometimes we unveil just a handful. Other times, dozens.
So, can you imagine how exhilarated we are about an 11-CD set where nearly every track has been unavailable for nearly 75 years?
Unearthing the music on our new collection, Classic Black & White Jazz Sessions, has been a dream for decades. Unlike most of our sets, the original masters of these sessions are not known to exist anymore. Confusion over who owned the copyrights and who owned physical recordings we could use as source material raised additional obstacles.
Again and again we were forced to push the project to the back burner. Finally, after years of research, and after generous help from a great family of record collectors around the world, the music of this incredibly neglected label, is finally available for us to release in the comprehensive, documented, and definitive fashion for which Mosaic is known.
From 78s, LPs and CD compilations that were all in private collections, we’ve gathered the mind-boggling 243 titles that make up this collection spanning the years 1942-1949. Knowing the spotty re-release of just a small number of titles, we can safely say that almost all of these recordings have never been heard by more than a handful of living humans.
Creating Classic Black & White Jazz Sessions was done with the same vision and labor of love that brought together in boxed set form our re-issues of the independent labels Commodore and the HRS. Those collections are long sold-out and forever out of print; they will never see the light of day again in that form. We guarantee the same for this set, so please order today to own this long-hidden treasure of 1940s jazz.
The Black & White Label
In a fascinating way, what makes this set so significant is that it is a microcosm of jazz in a time of transition, encompassing traditional, swing, big band and bebop.
Black & White never had a grand presence and distribution of the label was slim with only two recordings becoming hits: “Call It Stormy Monday” by T-Bone Walker and “Open The Door Richard” by Jack McVea.
Yet, for jazz fans, you could find genres of all styles – that is if you could find them in your local record store or even now at a thrift shop, antique store, flea market or vintage record shop. The label has been underestimated and these rarities, lovingly culled together in one package, are perfect examples of what Mosaic is all about.
Based initially in Brooklyn before moving to California, Black & White documented the kind of jazz you’d be hearing on any given night in New York or LA. The label’s owners gave shots at leading sessions to those working musicians who were not typically leaders, many of whom called in “name” musicians to work alongside them. Though somewhat more obscure, these session leaders took every advantage to make music that was fresh, lively, and expressive.
A Who’s Who of ‘40s Jazz
Some of the artists featured will be unfamiliar to you and will be a delight for you to discover. The others?
How about pianists such as Art Hodes, Cliff Jackson, Willie “The Lion” Smith, James P. Johnson, Phil Moore, Lil Armstrong, Meade Lux Lewis, Art Tatum, and Erroll Garner. Trumpeters include Jonah Jones, Buck Clayton, Dizzy Gillespie, Gerald Wilson, Red Rodney, Howard McGhee, Al Killian, and Snooky Young.
Woodwind players are represented by Mezz Mezzrow, Pee Wee Russell, Sidney Bechet, Rod Cless, Art Pepper, Lucky Thompson, Barney Bigard, George Auld, Joe Thomas, Jack McVea, Marshall Royal, and Charlie Ventura.
Trombone players include J.C. Higginbotham, Melba Liston, and Jimmy Knepper. On bass you’ll find Jack Lesberg, Pops Foster, Oscar Pettiford, Charles Mingus and Red Callender.
Drummers include George Wettling, Baby Dodds, Lee Young, Chico Hamilton, Shadow Wilson and Denzil Best.
The set includes many, many more artists such as Barney Kessel, Teddy Bunn, and Laurindo Almeida, plus vocalists Ivie Anderson, Helen Humes, Ernestine Anderson and Etta Jones.
The Mosaic Records Creative Process
It was a label screaming for attention and to be a part of the Mosaic catalog. Classic Black & White Jazz Sessions has been on our minds for years. But for lack of not knowing who owned the material, after much research and communication with collectors and label companies, we came to a dead end. The last possible owners, Pickwick, were out of business.
It was only after DJ, researcher and collector Lloyd Rauch and jazz film historian extraordinaire Mark Cantor came to us and asked why not put out a set of the rich Black & White catalog did we decide that the time was right to re-visit and assemble a collection of this amazing and diverse record label.
Mosaic’s Scott Wenzel listened and decided what were favorable candidates to the set and then it was time to cast a wide net to an all-star cast of collectors all over the world and help locate the recordings we needed from this rare label and find them in the best sound possible.
But finding the original recordings were not easy to come by. Many releases weren’t of the highest quality shellac and this post-war / independent label had to take what they were given. However, with pristine copies of original 78s found, Andreas Meyer and Nancy Conforti of Swan Studios, who have garnered many Grammys and kudos from around the world on their work both in the jazz and classical fields, have brilliantly extracted more of the music you would ever find anywhere of these precious and neglected gems of jazz.
Our booklet accompanying the set includes essays by Dan Morgenstern, Billy Vera and the producer, Scott Wenzel. You’ll also be treated to the most accurate discography ever of this material plus extremely rare, invaluable, and in some cases never-seen photos amassed from collectors around the world.
Audio Clips To Come
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Very sorry to hear this. Liked his posts here.
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30 minutes ago, tranemonk said:
Anybody know what happened to her?
According to her LinkedIn account she's currently working as office administrator at the Dept. of Public Works, Darien, CT.
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On 10-4-2021 at 4:00 PM, romualdo said:
I used to order by phone (late at night) from here in Australia - I always spoke to the same person - she's been mentioned on this board previously. Can't remember her name but she had a lovely voice.
Probably Cindy Wilson. She was Mosaic's office manager between 1994 and 2009.
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2 hours ago, JSngry said:
No, he was not.
Actually, there's only been one that I know of - Paul Secor. And hey kinda took his own car on that one.
I'm another one, though I still occasionally lurk and post here, but I keep my posts at a minimum. There are more who left because of you, but I'm not going to name names, I only speak for myself. That's all I'm going to say about it.
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Wishing you all the best.
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Sorry to hear this. Listened to some of his shows, and he did indeed talk a lot, but it was always at least interesting.
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4 hours ago, BFrank said:
For those on the fence regarding the new mastering, that's trivial compared to the content of this set. If you like Lee and this group, and you like LIVE Lee (none other exists with him as *leader*) then it's a no-brainer. It's 8 CDs and no two performances are alike. And they didn't phone it in, I can tell you that.
I don't agree, a loud mastering can make the music unlistenable (headaches, fatigue, that kind of thing), at least for me. I'm certainly not saying that's the case here, but the so-called "loudness wars" have done a lot of harm, especially in rock music, but not only there.
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7 minutes ago, jazzbo said:
I hope you enjoy the sound. I feel fairly confident you will. I am equally confident you'll enjoy all the music--I particularly like hearing full sets on consecutive nights like this. . . I feel as if i'm a part of a historic run.
Funny you should say that, I just got that kind of feeling - being part of a historic run, even though it was years before I was born - when I listened to the first couple of discs of Mosaic's Savory Collection set, which I only got the other day. Wonderful set, a historic document. But I'm digressing...
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27 minutes ago, jazzbo said:
The presentation of the new mix is different--more modern, as if one were closer to the stage and with a less hard right and left orientation--than the earlier versions, but dynamics are improved imo. One could say the soundstage was slightly compressed but the numbers and my ears don't show the music sound is.
Anyway, I always take Hoffman reviews with a salt shaker handy. So much depends on an individual's system and perception system. I generally take a chance after reading about a release in several places or just take an intuitive leap. I'm glad I went for this one, better sound for me than the 3 cd set or the single disc I have. And lots of great music.
Thanks. I read some of the opinions over there and noticed the different views, and just mentioned them here without giving my impression - which I don't have yet, I need to hear the set on my system first and intend to get it later this month.
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5 minutes ago, jazzbo said:
I don't sense a lack of dynamics or compression artefacts in either the US or Japanese versions of the set in my system.
OK, but I said "compared to the earlier versions".
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49 minutes ago, sidewinder said:
Yes, ‘in your face’ is a quality I would also offer up for the sound on the LP version but in a good way. Has presence and immediacy.
Not if the dynamic range is reduced by compression compared to the earlier versions, at least not for me. I've heard parts of the set on free Spotify, but judging the sound quality that way is not a good idea, given the limited sound quality on Spotify, so I really can't say anything about it. I guess I'll have to get the set and see/hear if there's any truth in the comments. Anyway, the music is great.
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Just now, sidewinder said:
I can only speak for the LP set (and I understand that the CD mastering is somewhat different) but I can only say that this new version sounds far superior and in greater clarity all round.
The comments (compression, too loud) were about the CD-set, which has indeed a different mastering, done by Robert Vosgien if I'm not mistaken.
Mosaic's Black and White label box set
in Mosaic and other box sets...
Posted · Edited by J.A.W.
Mosaic outsourced their shipping a few years ago. For European orders they use Asendia, a joint venture launched by French La Poste and Swiss Post, and they (Asendia) cooperate with USPS. European orders are sent in bulk from the US to a central point overseas, from where each order is forwarded to its ultimate destination. To be honest I'm not too impressed with the service Asendia provides, it took a long time for my order to even leave the "processing" stage. Dutch Post informed me that they plan to deliver the set Thursday morning, after some delay. Finally...