Woody Shaw - Complete Muse Recordings on Mosaic

[Brad]

I have very few of the Muse so this will be of great interest to me.

[tranemonk]

Who else were regulars on the Muse label?

Looks like the Muse/Savoy catalog is under consideration, with Bill Barron & Hank Jones "high on the list".

Here's to hope!

[Eric]

Who else were regulars on the Muse label?

Looks like the Muse/Savoy catalog is under consideration, with Bill Barron & Hank Jones "high on the list".

Here's to hope!

That is a fairly long list, although a dream Mosaic for me would be the Muse recordings of Bill Hardman, Junior Cook and Mickey Tucker. Most dates feature one of the other players. Very little of this has been on CD.

Ricky Ford has 8-9 Muse lps, a couple of which made it to lp (as well as a sampler). A little hit or miss for me.

James Spaulding also has a nice run, although most of them made it to CD.

A second (or maybe a sixth) for the Bill Barron lps.

Edited May 1, 2013 by Eric

[JSngry]

Not just Muse, mind you, but Muse and Savoy, since they're now under the same ownership.

[sidewinder]

Just pre-ordered my copy of the new Woody Muse box, along with the following Selects: Toshiko Akiyoshi, Paul Chambers, McCoy Tyner, and a safety copy of the Andrew Hill BN Select (something I'd been meaning to do for eons) -- the ONLY Mosaic item I feel I need a "safety" of, BTW.

...unless and until they ever do a Tyrone Washington set.

Wow - great Mosaic blowout !

[Late]

I've been trying to get Jonathan Horwich to consider reissuing Barron's Motivation. (I've had the cover art as an avatar for a while now!) It's a great record, and a fairly unusual one in Savoy's discography (rec. in 1972). It sounds like it could have been recorded eight years earlier. It's also obscure enough that even Jordi Pujol might not "reissue" it.

I agree that Barron is an under-valued master. I wish he could have been given the Blue Note care (i.e. rehearsals, attention to details) that Alfred Lion graced his recording artists with.

[king ubu]

Flurin, your post is over in the "Bargain Box Set" thread, where this set is also discussed.

Oh, good! I thought I had made that up and was getting unhinged

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Not just Muse, mind you, but Muse and Savoy, since they're now under the same ownership.

Only some Savoy - the gospel music is owned by Malaco. Now, a Mosaic of the Caravans States, VJ and Savoy material...

MG

[sidewinder]

As a side issue I see that Woody's "Complete Columbia Albums" is due for release in the UK next week at a very reasonable price. I understand it contains some never before released material but I'm really interested in whether it does actually sound better than the Mosaic set. Can anyone comment on whether it's worth buying?

£16.99 at sainsbury.com is indeed "very reasonable" and very tempting indeed

Looks like it's a Woody Shaw blow-out coming up over the next few weeks. Thanks for that ! I'll order one with the bread and milk.. Nectar points too (32)

damn, I forgot the Nectar points!

My Woody Columbia box is apparently 'in the mail' from Sainsbury's. Damn quick for a pre-order !

[alankin]

Mosaic sent out a "now shipping" email this morning.

[ghost of miles]

Just pre-ordered my copy of the new Woody Muse box, along with the following Selects: Toshiko Akiyoshi, Paul Chambers, McCoy Tyner, and a safety copy of the Andrew Hill BN Select (something I'd been meaning to do for eons) -- the ONLY Mosaic item I feel I need a "safety" of, BTW.

...unless and until they ever do a Tyrone Washington set.

... as long as it includes this:

[ghost of miles]

My Shaw set shipped--should be arriving Monday. It'll be great to sit down and listen to all of these sessions again.

[jazzbo]

Just got home for a few minutes and found mine waiting for me.

[jazzbo]

Listened to the first disc before I had to shut the system down and return to Bay Village.

I would say there's some improvement to the musical presentation, but the sound is not "magically transformed."

[jazzbo]

There's no Blue Note material in this set.

Albums in the set:

Muse MR 5058 The Moontrane
Muse MCD 5472 CD reissue of above
Muse MR 5074 Love Dance
Muse MR 5103 Little Red’s Fantasy
Muse MR 5139 Concert Ensemble At The Berliner Jazztage
Muse MR 5160 The Iron Men
Muse MR 5298 In The Beginning…
Muse MR 5318 Setting Standards
Muse MR 5329 Solid
Muse MR 5338 Imagination

I don't really know how to label this music. Much of it is sort of mainstream post-hard bop. The Shaw originals I like, he had an interesting way of writing that he presents very well with his sound. The standards are generally played very well too, I like the ballads especially.

Edited June 7, 2013 by jazzbo

[erwbol]

Sorry, I deleted my previous post after I realized I hadn't thoroughly read all previous posts.

[Eric]

Received my copy today, will have a chance to listen later. I did spend some time with the booklet. A few comments - first, they have gone back to their "original" booklet production, i.e. in contrast to say the recent Mingus set (which had a relatively slick cover). Not sure I have described this well, but if you have the Mingus set you know what I am talking about. Second, skimming the notes (which are primarily written by Woody III), they seem pretty comprehensive, both in terms of describing the music and describing the man. Both Billy Harper and Anthony Braxton have written portions of the notes - the ones from Braxton are particularly enlightening/entertaining.

Edited June 10, 2013 by Eric

[BFrank]

I think I have all of the LPs up through Berliner Jazztage, and none of the ones after that.

Look forward to getting this someday.

[Carl Baugher]

Got my copy today and am eagerly anticipating spending some quality time with it...soon!

[J.A.W.]

I was just listening to the Savoy reissue of one of Shaw's later Muse albums, Imagination, to help me decide whether or not to get the Mosaic. In fact, it's the only post-Columbia Shaw I have and I must admit that I was disappointed (hadn't heard it in years). It's a pretty routine date, very straightforward, with few interesting moments. I didn't re-read this whole thread, but didn't someone (Jim Sangrey?) say Shaw's post-Columbia dates were nice, but not that interesting? If they're like this one, I'm not sure I'll be getting the set. Another problem is the weird mix: Shaw sounds like he's playing at a distance, in a hall (too much reverb), while on the other hand Turre and Drummond sound dry, close-miked. The original 1987 recording and mix were done by RVG, while the reissue was mastered by Gene Paul, whose work I usually don't have problems with. According to the Mosaic site it wasn't remixed for the set, so I assume the set has the same RVG mix.

Any opinions?

[erwbol]

Perhaps try to get your hands on the live Bemsha Swing (Blue Note)? I like it better than the last three Columbia studio albums, and the sound is very good.

[Niko]

I wouldn't get the Mosaic for the post-Columbia albums alone... there are some fine moments and all but they don't hold up to the earlier ones (or the Contemporary albums), and other albums from that time (Bemsha Swing, indeed, or In you own sweet way) are better

[J.A.W.]

Thanks for the advice, guys. I don't know Shaw's albums very well; they were made during a period of time I lost interest in jazz for all kinds of reasons, both personal and otherwise, and I only got a few from his Columbia era when I started listening to jazz again but hardly played them.

[Chuck Nessa]

The pre-Columbia dates are all interesting or better. The Columbia recordings were not my favorites (they seemed contrived to prove Woody's stature) and the post Columbia material is ok in a retro way. Woody unfortunately arrived at the end of one stylistic era and could not completely move on. He was great when he was great but floundered later. I knew him a little bit and really admired him as a person and musician.

[J.A.W.]

Thanks Chuck, very useful info. Just checked the discography on Mosaic's site again and noticed that only two of the seven discs have his later material. The first five discs contain his Muse dates up to 1977, so it might be an interesting set after all.

Looks like I'll also have to check out a few of his earlier albums on other labels than Muse.

Edited June 15, 2013 by J.A.W.