J.A.W.

According to the discography on the Mosaic website Jack McVie is included - click on "discography": B&W set A Comprehensive Historical Release Black & White Records Rescued from extinction – music you’ve likely never heard. Expected release date May 31 At Mosaic, presenting music that’s been hard to find — or completely overlooked — is as exciting today as it was in 1983 when we assembled our very first package of Blue Note recordings featuring Thelonious Monk. Sometimes we unveil just a handful. Other times, dozens. So, can you imagine how exhilarated we are about an 11-CD set where nearly every track has been unavailable for nearly 75 years? Unearthing the music on our new collection, Classic Black & White Jazz Sessions, has been a dream for decades. Unlike most of our sets, the original masters of these sessions are not known to exist anymore. Confusion over who owned the copyrights and who owned physical recordings we could use as source material raised additional obstacles. Again and again we were forced to push the project to the back burner. Finally, after years of research, and after generous help from a great family of record collectors around the world, the music of this incredibly neglected label, is finally available for us to release in the comprehensive, documented, and definitive fashion for which Mosaic is known. From 78s, LPs and CD compilations that were all in private collections, we’ve gathered the mind-boggling 243 titles that make up this collection spanning the years 1942-1949. Knowing the spotty re-release of just a small number of titles, we can safely say that almost all of these recordings have never been heard by more than a handful of living humans. Creating Classic Black & White Jazz Sessions was done with the same vision and labor of love that brought together in boxed set form our re-issues of the independent labels Commodore and the HRS. Those collections are long sold-out and forever out of print; they will never see the light of day again in that form. We guarantee the same for this set, so please order today to own this long-hidden treasure of 1940s jazz. The Black & White Label In a fascinating way, what makes this set so significant is that it is a microcosm of jazz in a time of transition, encompassing traditional, swing, big band and bebop. Black & White never had a grand presence and distribution of the label was slim with only two recordings becoming hits: “Call It Stormy Monday” by T-Bone Walker and “Open The Door Richard” by Jack McVea. Yet, for jazz fans, you could find genres of all styles – that is if you could find them in your local record store or even now at a thrift shop, antique store, flea market or vintage record shop. The label has been underestimated and these rarities, lovingly culled together in one package, are perfect examples of what Mosaic is all about. Based initially in Brooklyn before moving to California, Black & White documented the kind of jazz you’d be hearing on any given night in New York or LA. The label’s owners gave shots at leading sessions to those working musicians who were not typically leaders, many of whom called in “name” musicians to work alongside them. Though somewhat more obscure, these session leaders took every advantage to make music that was fresh, lively, and expressive. A Who’s Who of ‘40s Jazz Some of the artists featured will be unfamiliar to you and will be a delight for you to discover. The others? How about pianists such as Art Hodes, Cliff Jackson, Willie “The Lion” Smith, James P. Johnson, Phil Moore, Lil Armstrong, Meade Lux Lewis, Art Tatum, and Erroll Garner. Trumpeters include Jonah Jones, Buck Clayton, Dizzy Gillespie, Gerald Wilson, Red Rodney, Howard McGhee, Al Killian, and Snooky Young. Woodwind players are represented by Mezz Mezzrow, Pee Wee Russell, Sidney Bechet, Rod Cless, Art Pepper, Lucky Thompson, Barney Bigard, George Auld, Joe Thomas, Jack McVea, Marshall Royal, and Charlie Ventura. Trombone players include J.C. Higginbotham, Melba Liston, and Jimmy Knepper. On bass you’ll find Jack Lesberg, Pops Foster, Oscar Pettiford, Charles Mingus and Red Callender. Drummers include George Wettling, Baby Dodds, Lee Young, Chico Hamilton, Shadow Wilson and Denzil Best. The set includes many, many more artists such as Barney Kessel, Teddy Bunn, and Laurindo Almeida, plus vocalists Ivie Anderson, Helen Humes, Ernestine Anderson and Etta Jones. The Mosaic Records Creative Process It was a label screaming for attention and to be a part of the Mosaic catalog. Classic Black & White Jazz Sessions has been on our minds for years. But for lack of not knowing who owned the material, after much research and communication with collectors and label companies, we came to a dead end. The last possible owners, Pickwick, were out of business. It was only after DJ, researcher and collector Lloyd Rauch and jazz film historian extraordinaire Mark Cantor came to us and asked why not put out a set of the rich Black & White catalog did we decide that the time was right to re-visit and assemble a collection of this amazing and diverse record label. Mosaic’s Scott Wenzel listened and decided what were favorable candidates to the set and then it was time to cast a wide net to an all-star cast of collectors all over the world and help locate the recordings we needed from this rare label and find them in the best sound possible. But finding the original recordings were not easy to come by. Many releases weren’t of the highest quality shellac and this post-war / independent label had to take what they were given. However, with pristine copies of original 78s found, Andreas Meyer and Nancy Conforti of Swan Studios, who have garnered many Grammys and kudos from around the world on their work both in the jazz and classical fields, have brilliantly extracted more of the music you would ever find anywhere of these precious and neglected gems of jazz. Our booklet accompanying the set includes essays by Dan Morgenstern, Billy Vera and the producer, Scott Wenzel. You’ll also be treated to the most accurate discography ever of this material plus extremely rare, invaluable, and in some cases never-seen photos amassed from collectors around the world. Audio Clips To Come

Very sorry to hear this. Liked his posts here.

According to her LinkedIn account she's currently working as office administrator at the Dept. of Public Works, Darien, CT.

Probably Cindy Wilson. She was Mosaic's office manager between 1994 and 2009.

I'm another one, though I still occasionally lurk and post here, but I keep my posts at a minimum. There are more who left because of you, but I'm not going to name names, I only speak for myself. That's all I'm going to say about it.

Wishing you all the best.

Sorry to hear this. Listened to some of his shows, and he did indeed talk a lot, but it was always at least interesting.

I don't agree, a loud mastering can make the music unlistenable (headaches, fatigue, that kind of thing), at least for me. I'm certainly not saying that's the case here, but the so-called "loudness wars" have done a lot of harm, especially in rock music, but not only there.

Funny you should say that, I just got that kind of feeling - being part of a historic run, even though it was years before I was born - when I listened to the first couple of discs of Mosaic's Savory Collection set, which I only got the other day. Wonderful set, a historic document. But I'm digressing...

Thanks. I read some of the opinions over there and noticed the different views, and just mentioned them here without giving my impression - which I don't have yet, I need to hear the set on my system first and intend to get it later this month.

OK, but I said "compared to the earlier versions".

Not if the dynamic range is reduced by compression compared to the earlier versions, at least not for me. I've heard parts of the set on free Spotify, but judging the sound quality that way is not a good idea, given the limited sound quality on Spotify, so I really can't say anything about it. I guess I'll have to get the set and see/hear if there's any truth in the comments. Anyway, the music is great.

The comments (compression, too loud) were about the CD-set, which has indeed a different mastering, done by Robert Vosgien if I'm not mistaken.

Harold Mabern died in 2019, aged 83. [edit] Just noticed Kevin's reply. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some people on the Hoffman board complained about the sound being compressed, too loud and too much 'in your face', compared to the earlier 2LP-set and 3CD-set. I don't have the new set, so I can't comment. I'm still on the fence, but those comments make me cautious. Hmm...

True, but that doesn't alter the fact that I found them rather uninspired, and DeJohnette being barely audible on some tracks doesn't make it any better.

Now listening to Another Time: The Hilversum Concert again to see/hear if I missed anything. At least it's DeJohnette on drums, not Morell.

Which sets with Morell are you thinking of? And I totally agree about LaBarbera.

I find it difficult to describe, to my ears he just didn't sound "right" in the trio, not like Paul Motian did for example. There are more albums, some of them revered, where a musician doesn't sound comfortable/"right" to me, like for instance Kenny Dorham with Cecil Taylor, and John Coltrane on his Blue Train.

No, I didn't, the two I mentioned were quite enough, and I don't feel the need to add to my 80+ Bill Evans collection.. Besides, I don't like Marty Morell.

Really? The ones I've heard (Another Time and Some Other Time) sounded pretty average, uninspired to me.

I was on the fence about this set because I wasn't too fond of the guitar - the sound, not the playing - but decided to get it after all. Glad I did, and I recommend it to anyone who's not sure whether or not to get it - grab it while you can.

Sorry to hear this. Met him once, in the 1970s, when he was touring with Lee Konitz and Jimmy Raney.

Thanks for the info, David. I contacted Dutch customs about this a while ago and apparently was misinformed, they told me at the time the 45 euro threshold for shipments from private persons outside the EU would be abolished, just like the 22 euro threshold for everything else. Good to see it wasn't.

I wonder if they forgot to delete this when the new rules came info force on 1 July Dutch customs is clear about this: no such exception and I think it's an EU-wide rule, but maybe you're lucky. Please keep us posted. Maybe too much hassle for such a small shipment? Officials in the Netherlands complained about the amount of extra work that comes with the new VAT-rules for imports into the EU.

As I understand it nothing is free anymore, VAT will be charged on everything that's imported into the EU, no matter if it's a gift from a friend valued under 45 euros, second-hand/used or whatever.