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Phil Woods Mosaic set


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I've been greatly enjoying the Woods-Lew Tabackin CD and decided to go for the Woods Mosaic without a whole lot of contemplation--paid $120 (including shipping) for a like-new set with still-sealed CDs on eBay, which may be a bit much in this era of deflating Mosaic prices, but happy to have it on the way nonetheless.  Others here have a take on this set?  I've heard several mixed opinions over the years.

Edited by ghost of miles
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  • 3 weeks later...
5 minutes ago, ghost of miles said:

Yes, the Japanese reissue of the Showboat set is definitely on my radar.  I'm also on the hunt for an affordable copy of Integrity.  I ordered several others from the mid-70s-through-late-80s era via online sellers last night.

About a decade ago, I stumbled across both Live at the Showboat and Birds of a Feather in the dollar bins. Both blew me away. Those two records prompted a huge PW bender. 

ghost, you're in for some great discoveries, great fun! :) 

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2 hours ago, ghost of miles said:

Yes, the Japanese reissue of the Showboat set is definitely on my radar.  I'm also on the hunt for an affordable copy of Integrity.  I ordered several others from the mid-70s-through-late-80s era via online sellers last night.

Regarding "Integrity" - there's a weird CD issue of this recording in discogs: https://www.discogs.com/The-New-Phil-Woods-Quintet-Live-Jazz-Masters-100-Ans-De-Jazz/release/9179371

There is no way that all of this music can fit on 1 CD. It adds up to almost 90 minutes (89:31). No CD can fit that much music. I've had a few with almost 80 minutes, but never one with almost 90.

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Even when you get done with his many albums as a leader, there are still some great things he did as a sideman with Oliver Nelson, Quincy Jones, Benny Carter, Michel Legrand, and many others. The 'Images' LP he did with Legrand was another one that I'm not sure was re-issued on CD, but features PW in a concerto-like setting on the title tune that is one of the most exciting pieces of music I've ever heard.

And then the fact that PW studied composition with some of the heavy dudes at Julliard (Lucas Foss and another composer I can't recall), which resulted is some good pieces for saxophone quartet that are a part of the literature. 

He had his own big band up at the Delaware Water Gap, and at his memorial concert in Penn., the second half of the concert consisted of PW's original compositions/arrangements for the big band. They were all great charts, and they chose ones that featured Randy Brecker, Brian Lynch, Vincent Herring and Bill Mays as the main soloists.

But chops can only get you so far, and IMHO the show was stolen by the great Houston Person featured on an arrangement of Dameron's 'If You Could See Me Now'.

Here's 'Images';

 

Edited by sgcim
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On 7/16/2018 at 8:24 PM, Ken Dryden said:

Stock up on his prolific output for Philology, there are many amazing sessions that he made for the label.

 

Hear, hear! He was still at the height of his powers in 1994 on the 'Ornithology-Phil Salutes Bird' CD. He burns on 'Star Eyes'!

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