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Ellington 1930s big-band Mosaic


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As I posted elsewhere on the forum I just heard from Mosaic's Scott Wenzel that the Ellington 1930s big-band set is scheduled for release in late 2010. It will contain only Brunswick/Columbia material.

Edited by J.A.W.
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Yes, incidentally I just got a reply from Scott telling me the same! Great, great news!

Ah yes, but as I posted on that other thread, will it also leave out the vocals? There were some great ones in Duke's band during this period--Ivie Anderson for sure, and Al Hibbler too I think. Inquiring minds want to know!

Not that I won't get it, of course!

greg mo

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Yes, incidentally I just got a reply from Scott telling me the same! Great, great news!

Ah yes, but as I posted on that other thread, will it also leave out the vocals? There were some great ones in Duke's band during this period--Ivie Anderson for sure, and Al Hibbler too I think. Inquiring minds want to know!

Not that I won't get it, of course!

greg mo

The Ellington set will have Ivie Anderson vocals, but, since the set is limited to Ellington's 1930s Brunswick/Columbia recordings, no Al Hibbler vocals - he didn't join until the 1940s.

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Yes, incidentally I just got a reply from Scott telling me the same! Great, great news!

Ah yes, but as I posted on that other thread, will it also leave out the vocals? There were some great ones in Duke's band during this period--Ivie Anderson for sure, and Al Hibbler too I think. Inquiring minds want to know!

Not that I won't get it, of course!

greg mo

The Ellington set will have Ivie Anderson vocals, but, since the set is limited to Ellington's 1930s Brunswick/Columbia recordings, no Al Hibbler vocals - he didn't join until the 1940s.

Of course. Brain fart on my part. Hibbler didn't join until after the recording ban, I think. Nice to know the Anderson stuff will be there. Did Duke have a male vocalist in the 30s? I can't remember. I'm pretty sure that Ray Nance and Herb Jeffries didn't join until around 1940.

greg mo

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The Ellington set will have Ivie Anderson vocals, but, since the set is limited to Ellington's 1930s Brunswick/Columbia recordings, no Al Hibbler vocals - he didn't join until the 1940s.

Of course. Brain fart on my part. Hibbler didn't join until after the recording ban, I think. Nice to know the Anderson stuff will be there. Did Duke have a male vocalist in the 30s? I can't remember. I'm pretty sure that Ray Nance and Herb Jeffries didn't join until around 1940.

greg mo

Yes, Ray Nance replaced Cootie Williams in early November 1940 and Al Hibbler joined in mid-1943.

Amazingly good news re: the 30's big band sides!

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The material from the OKeh 2CD set are owned by Sony.

The material from the "Early Ellington" GRP 3CD set are owned by Universal, hence not likely to be included.

The question is if the set will reach back right to the earliest Ellington ARC/Columbia sessions?

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Will titles from the late 20s be in the box , things such as "Hot and Bothered" or are these not owned by Sony???

As mentioned earlier in this thread and elsewhere on the forum this will be a 1930s box, so the answer to your question is no.

The material from the OKeh 2CD set are owned by Sony.

The material from the "Early Ellington" GRP 3CD set are owned by Universal, hence not likely to be included.

The question is if the set will reach back right to the earliest Ellington ARC/Columbia sessions?

The years covered in this set will be 1932-1939.

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I'd put off ordering the Okeh 2CD set in the (incorrect) belief that it would be part of the upcoming Mosaic, now that I see that the Okeh sides aren't included in the Mosaic I've order them at a very reasonable cost. Any views on the transfers found on Okeh 2Cd set. I have a few of the titles on 78 shellacs (UK issues ) which sound just fine. I really love early Ellington :tup

......early meaning 1924 to 1974 :rolleyes:

Edited by Clunky
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I'd put off ordering the Okeh 2CD set in the (incorrect) belief that it would be part of the upcoming Mosaic, now that I see that the Okeh sides aren't included in the Mosaic I've order them at a very reasonable cost. Any views on the transfers found on Okeh 2Cd set. I have a few of the titles on 78 shellacs (UK issues ) which sound just fine. I really love early Ellington :tup

......early meaning 1924 to 1974 :rolleyes:

I don't have the OKeh set anymore, but if I remember correctly Sonic Solutions' NoNOISE was used on the set; it sounded quite dead to my ears and I preferred the (long OOP) French Masters of Jazz CDs. Your mileage may vary :)

Edited by J.A.W.
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FWIW I scored one of these for about $10 inc. shipping. Last one on sale just about worldwide as far as I could see! If this has, as I think, been pulled, for whatever reason, it is a great pity. At $10 this set could reach a lot of folks: if it comes back as a $200 10 CD purchase later on only the most committed will hear it. Uhh... that might be me though - the 4 CD digest of this period is pretty darn good...

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Slightly off-topic: Does someone have a recommended buying guide to early (pre-1947) Ellington, based on best sound quality? I have all of this material on cheap, poorly remastered discs and I'm gradually upgrading it, but I'm trying to avoid repurchasing the same material over and over again.

I have...

  • History: The Complete Works 1924-1947 BOX SET (poor)
  • Dreyfus: Ko-Ko (okay)
  • JSP: From the Cotton Club to Sweden (okay)
  • RCA: Centennial Edition (good)
  • Sony/BMG: The Best of Duke Ellington: 1932-1939 (good)
  • Mosaic: Small Group Sessions (excellent)

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Just a minor question from a practical (and musical) point of view (though it will probablyx sound like blasphemy to some around here :rolleyes: ):

If this set reproduced the same well-known arbitrary cutoff dates (arbitrary from a musical ppoint of view) dictated only by label (and, hence, ownership) questions then isn't this a point where the comprehensive Mosaic concept (especially at THAT price) approaches its limits?

I have most of the French RCA LPs from way back that jump from 1932 to thew 40s in the music they cover as well a many of the 70s CBS twofers that cover the Columbia years and a couple of early 30s LPs issued elsewhere (e.g.in Sweden) covering the Brunswick years. A bit inconvenient if you want to listen through somebody's works in a really chronological strech ACROSS label boundaries. After all the music does not change (or evolve differently) just because of a change of label (and if it does, it would be interesting hearing it directly track by track). Multi-disc reissue boxes such as this one would have been able to solve the problem but seem to be stumbling at exactly the same hurdles. So (possible sound issues aside) what is the REAL progress?

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Just a minor question from a practical (and musical) point of view (though it will probablyx sound like blasphemy to some around here :rolleyes: ):

If this set reproduced the same well-known arbitrary cutoff dates (arbitrary from a musical ppoint of view) dictated only by label (and, hence, ownership) questions then isn't this a point where the comprehensive Mosaic concept (especially at THAT price) approaches its limits?

I have most of the French RCA LPs from way back that jump from 1932 to thew 40s in the music they cover as well a many of the 70s CBS twofers that cover the Columbia years and a couple of early 30s LPs issued elsewhere (e.g.in Sweden) covering the Brunswick years. A bit inconvenient if you want to listen through somebody's works in a really chronological strech ACROSS label boundaries. After all the music does not change (or evolve differently) just because of a change of label (and if it does, it would be interesting hearing it directly track by track). Multi-disc reissue boxes such as this one would have been able to solve the problem but seem to be stumbling at exactly the same hurdles. So (possible sound issues aside) what is the REAL progress?

Progress?

TimeWarner, SonyBMG, EMI - that's progress... then come the hedge funds and down to the drain things go... capitalist idea of progress, I guess...

That's an interesting point you're making... but I have given up ever having an Ellington set compiling all the sessions chronologically, in good sound and with alternates. I have two dozen or so of the Classics, but there'd be so many more, and then they lack the alternates and they aren't in that great sound. But I guess it's the closest we'll get.

On the other hand, with SonyBMG having been under one roof for a while, why can't Mosaic try and get the early sessions all in one place? They could do an Ellington 27-31 (or whenever the ownership change of Brunswick/Vocalion took place) box. But I guess it's pointless in the current market situation to reissue again the RCA sessions that were around in the 24CD set as well as some 3CD sets for quite a while. And then you'd still have the problem of the smaller labels...

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It would be a huge box set. Too huge for me, at least ... and I think they don't see a point in replicating a reissue that most Ellington fans will already have. I'm glad they do the Columbia stuff in parts, like the small groups first, then the big band, and I hope the later stuff will follow, the late 40s early 50s Columbias before the Capitol sessions. I would have bought the RCA stuff right away if they had issued it in four smaller boxes.

I won't complain about Mosaics's Ellington reissues.

Edited by mikeweil
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