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Anthony Braxton and Akiyoshi/Tabackin Mosaics up for pre-order


J.A.W.

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Discussion of Opus 23B (New York, Fall 1974) on page 3 of the book mentions Barry Altschul twice, but discography says Jerome Cooper on drums.

Discography is correct, apparently.

On to more important things: this music is absolutely wonderful. I can't express how excited I am about this release. Out-friggin'-standing! :tup

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Got my set today. Looks really nice though a few of the photos, from Bill Smith's archive, are a little fuzzy in quality.

What friggin' moron is posting the discs on eBay without a box or book?!?

I do know he's been selling his "private" collection now for the last 9 months.....he seems to have an unlimited treasure trove of Mosaic sets among other things.....I've seen a couple maynard roulettes sold by this guy. Never seen him sell mosaics' without boxes and booklets though.

Well, the Braxton has only been out for a few days - some people who pre-ordered it haven't even received their copies yet - so it can hardly have come from his "private" collection...

Edited by J.A.W.
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Got my set today. Looks really nice though a few of the photos, from Bill Smith's archive, are a little fuzzy in quality.

What friggin' moron is posting the discs on eBay without a box or book?!?

I see "loose" Mosaic sets - both recent sets and some long oop - in the used stores all the time. No surprise that these are up for sale.

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Got my set today. Looks really nice though a few of the photos, from Bill Smith's archive, are a little fuzzy in quality.

What friggin' moron is posting the discs on eBay without a box or book?!?

I see "loose" Mosaic sets - both recent sets and some long oop - in the used stores all the time. No surprise that these are up for sale.

"Loose" meaning, what? He knows somebody who knows somebody kind of thing?

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With the upcoming release of Mosaic's "Complete Arista Recordings" box, I thought it might be useful to republish those LPs' original liner notes (which will not be included with the box), as well as some previously-published writings about these albums by Ran Blake, John Corbett, Art Lange, & John Litweiler.

I've made these texts available in two forms:

from within my Braxton discography:

http://www.restructures.net/BraxDisco/BraxDisco.htm

and as iPaper:

http://tinyurl.com/Arista

Thank you very much for posting all of this, Jason!!!

For those of us that don't have the original vinyl, this is a most welcome addition/supplement to the Mosaic booklet.

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Got my set today. Looks really nice though a few of the photos, from Bill Smith's archive, are a little fuzzy in quality.

What friggin' moron is posting the discs on eBay without a box or book?!?

I see "loose" Mosaic sets - both recent sets and some long oop - in the used stores all the time. No surprise that these are up for sale.

"Loose" meaning, what? He knows somebody who knows somebody kind of thing?

Sets w/no box or booklet.

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Got my set today. Looks really nice though a few of the photos, from Bill Smith's archive, are a little fuzzy in quality.

What friggin' moron is posting the discs on eBay without a box or book?!?

I see "loose" Mosaic sets - both recent sets and some long oop - in the used stores all the time. No surprise that these are up for sale.

"Loose" meaning, what? He knows somebody who knows somebody kind of thing?

Sets w/no box or booklet.

Ah, thanks.

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Weren't they titled "Composition" on the original albums? When and why were they changed to "Opus"?

I thought they were originally graphic titles and they became compositions when Forces in Motion was published. I noticed they became opus when the Mosaic box was announced.

They're still compositions here.

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Weren't they titled "Composition" on the original albums? When and why were they changed to "Opus"?

I thought they were originally graphic titles and they became compositions when Forces in Motion was published. I noticed they became opus when the Mosaic box was announced.

They're still compositions here.

Per AB, "every composition that I have written has a graphic title, has a coded title... and an opus number title."

Per Lock, opus numbers were assigned starting in the early '80s.

Why did Mosaic use "Opus No. XX" instead of "Composition No. XX" or (as I use) "Composition XX"? No idea. But since the opus number is just a verbal convenience (rather than *the* title), I don't think it matters much. (Scores typically say simply "No. XX", e.g. "No. 364h".)

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How do people feel about Heffley's notes?

I'm getting my set next week, and I'm looking forward to reading Heffley's liner notes. I'd be surprised to see many errors other than the aforementioned, as he is typically careful with the details. I've read the outtakes to the Mosaic notes available on his website and they seem more straightforward than most of his writings, which, coming from academia, are pretty steeped in history and theory. I imagine the liner notes to the Mosaic set will also be pretty straightforward.

He wrote a nice book about Braxton in the '90s, and I enjoyed reading it years ago (time to pull it out again), but his approach was pretty massive in scope. A few years ago, I also bought a copy of his dissertation Northern Sun, Southern Moon, although I'm only about 1/3 through it (it clocks in at 1757 pages). It has since been released as a book in shorter form. Anyone who is interested in the FMP crowd might want to check it out. It is available at Amazon.

For those of you who will be getting the Braxton Mosaic set, I'd recommend getting the book about Braxton by Ronald Radano. He spends a lot of time focusing on the critical reception of Braxton during the '70s, his Arista period. The material is presented clearly, it is well-researched and documented, and it is an enjoyable read.

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Listened to it? I'd be happy to get a shipping notice! smile.gif

Maybe you should get in touch with Mosaic. That is what I did. They got it to me just in time before I left the country. Thanks, Mosaic!

OK, has anyone listened to the set yet.....I'm particularly interested in what you'all think of the 4 Orchestras pieces because I've never heard them, and they've not gotten any rave reviews from anyone in the past.

Heffley certainly gives it a rave review in the liner notes. In fact, he argues that it is the "tour de force" of the entire collection. In general, one gets the impression from Heffley that he considers Braxton the classical composer to be even more important than Braxton the jazz artist.

This is the first time that I have ever heard "For Four Orchestras," and wasn't grabbed by it on first listen. Then again, this is not the kind of music that usually rewards just a first listen. :)

Getting this music on 8 discs required a bit of suboptimal programming. The albums and sessions are typically broken up over several discs, and the chronology is also broken. Given the extreme diversity of the music, this leads to very abrupt changes over the course of a disc. Thank God for iTunes, which allows you to program the music by sessions and albums. That is the way that I am going to be listening to this set.

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