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What Mosaic set have you listened to the most?


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I played  the Shorty Rogers set and the Herbie Nichols set a good deal when I got them way back when, the former not because I am or was ga-ga over Rogers but mostly because a lot of that material was new to me at the time, the latter in part for the first reason but mostly because the music was unendingly fascinating (probably my favorite Mosaic of all).  Roswell Rudd's note also were a superb guide. The Cecil and Mingus Candid sets for sure. I also recall listening to and enjoying the heck out of most of the Lunceford set, much of which was new to me. Since then my listening to Mosaics probably has dropped off more than it should because a lot of what I've bought is entirely or mostly material I already know quite well -- e.g. the Buck Clayton (I wore out those LPs in my youth), the Ellington band and small-group sets. By contrast, I recall listening to  the Columbia Condon set a good deal when I got it because the music was  much better than I thought it would be and also because I hadn't heard much of it before. Most of the sets of the '50s/'60s Blue Note material (e.g. the Mobley, Redd, Blakey, McLean, also the Morgan-Shorter VeeJay set) I knew from the (my) past. Oh -- I listened a lot to the Tina Brooks and to the Tristano, Konitz, Marsh, the latter because I wrote the notes for it as well as because I love the music and that music calls for repeated listening, the former because some of it was newly released and because everything Brooks plays is fascinating to me.  Also, all of the the Woody Herman Second and Third Herd set -- in part because Loren Schoenberg's notes were a very insightful guide to the music (his comments on Dave Tough are worth the price of the set).

And there are some sets (won't name them) that I bought but haven't even cracked yet. 

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I've probably listened to the 1960 Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers set more than any other.  It was the first Mosaic set I ever bought, and I listened to it constantly back in the day.  Others that get relatively frequent play: Ellington Small Group, Oliver Nelson, Gerald Wilson, Dizzy Gillespie.

The 30s Ellington Big Band set was my most recent Mosaic purchase -- only after their "impending doom" message.  In time, I expect this set will be tops on my "most frequently played" list. ;) 

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A lot of Mosaics I bought for one or two sessions that I wasn't able to find elsewhere so consequently, I didn't always play 100% of every set I bought. And for others, like the Hank Mobley set, I never even bought it because I have nearly all the music on Japanese CDs. The Buck Clayton set was different. It was all totally new to me and I just loved it.

I did play the Tina Brooks set for quite a while before the material was issued on CD. I even made needle drops of some of it so I could play it in my car.

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Maybe the T-Bone Walker, and partly because I have had it longer than any other Mosaic set.   I also come back to the Benedetti Charlie Parker set on a regular basis in search of being surprised again by relatively fresh-sounding Bird solos.  I certainly spin the Andrew Hill box on a regular basis.  

I probably listen to Lester Young more than any other artist.  So those relatively new Mosaics should eventually become the most listened to. 

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It will be the Bill Barron set, once that happens. If it doesn't happen, it's a moot point because the sales have already happened.

The ones I really worked through when I first got the were the Books, Nichols, Hawkins, and Eldridge, things - things, not people - I was pretty much totally unfamiliar with. But with me and listening to Mosaics, it's usually not so much about hanging the picture as it is forming the picture. That and getting shit all under one roof that I either have all or most of. And like others, I have bought things that I've not yet listened to, because, you know, only so many hours in a day. How many days lie ahead, nobody knows, but I'm hopeful there will be enough to listen to them all.

That Bill Barron set's gonna be a bitch, let me tell you! Not that it's going to happen, I seriously doubt that it will. But if a person can't project their own future...well, that's just a drag. Let Georgi Pudhole do it then. I'll not buy that, but I will get a rip of it. A Bill Barron Mosaic, I will buy, if I'm still alive - and if they do it.

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1 hour ago, JSngry said:

It will be the Bill Barron set, once that happens. If it doesn't happen, it's a moot point because the sales have already happened.

The ones I really worked through when I first got the were the Books, Nichols, Hawkins, and Eldridge, things - things, not people - I was pretty much totally unfamiliar with. But with me and listening to Mosaics, it's usually not so much about hanging the picture as it is forming the picture. That and getting shit all under one roof that I either have all or most of. And like others, I have bought things that I've not yet listened to, because, you know, only so many hours in a day. How many days lie ahead, nobody knows, but I'm hopeful there will be enough to listen to them all.

That Bill Barron set's gonna be a bitch, let me tell you! Not that it's going to happen, I seriously doubt that it will. But if a person can't project their own future...well, that's just a drag. Let Georgi Pudhole do it then. I'll not buy that, but I will get a rip of it. A Bill Barron Mosaic, I will buy, if I'm still alive - and if they do it.

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Checked the Barron discography and I've got most of what's on it, except for the two "Live at Cobi" albums, the Swedish material, and the "West Side Story" and bossa nova albums. How much of that would you say is essential. BTW, the Barron discography doesn't include the Audio Fidelity album with Ted Curson, which IMIO is essential. That and the first Savoy were the first Barron I'd heard after Cecil's "Hard Driving Jazz," and I was enthralled.

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I think all Bill Barron is essential, to be honest.

Posted as a public service>

 

Nobody played like Bill Barron. Hell, nobody thought like Bill Barron. I mean, yeah, one can listen superficially and say, oh yeah, that guy's got so-and-so of an influence, but details? No, Bill Barron was a truly original thinker.

Like I've said before Bill Barron is the Tina Brooks of the 21st century, simply meaning that, somebody with the right kind of useful juice would commit an act of true nobility by advocating like hell for this cat and shining the light thusly.

 

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