Mark J

Finally picked up this CD after being on my list since Lon's post here. Excellent recordings, a lot of the material Benny Goodman was recording at Columbia in 1934 (much of that with Jack Teagarden) but with a different band. Bunny Berigan is excellent throughout, nice to hear him in this format.

I think this would depend on the paramaters of the set: are they only including Commodores issued under Condon's name or things like the Bud Freeman Gang, Bobby Hacket and his Orchestra, Muggsy Spanier and his Ragtimers, Miff Mole and his Nicksieland Band etc. where Condon participates and the music is basically the same personnel and concept to Condon led groups.

WOW! I haven't bought a Mosaic in 12 or 13 years, the last was the Condon Mob Sessions box, if this set comes through it will be my next Mosaic. I probably have all of this already between LPs and various CDs but all together in good sound with a booklet is hard to turn down.

WOW!!! I read about this a while back, didn't think it would actually surface. Absoultely amazing footage, even silent it has power. The color is great - Sonny Boy is so young!!! Thanks for posting the link.

This set finally arrived after a long delay. Listened to a few songs from each disc; I like the sound, true to the better sounding LPs I have of this material. Some of the Memphis material is a little 'harsh' sounding, but better than earlier muffled presentations of the same. Nice package -- much better than the Muddy Waters. The Muddy set packaging scratched my discs, I had to take them out and store separately, this one appears safe. Also the photos and notes are nice, although of course a Mosaic style detailed approach to the notes would have been more interesting. I haven't delved into the longer 'session' material, but the single tracks are nicely presented with good sound. Overall well worth the price and I'm happy to get this before it sells out - can't wait for volume 2 with the excellent early 60s Wolf sides.

The same as their previous set of Little Walter Complete Chess "masters" that included alternate takes. I don't understand their naming concept but many of these Wolf alternates are excellent and worthy of being compiled here. This appears to have all the late 50s alternate takes that appeared on the old Japanese Chess LP 'Walk that Walk', although I haven't done a track by track comparison and I don't know if it includes the chatter and incomplete takes. I'm waiting for this box to be delivered in the mail and I'm already looking forward to volume 2.

I don't mind compressed sound, I will be happy with no 'reprocessed stereo' or dubs from scratchy 78s/45s. Just the fact that something like this exists is amazing to me, I remember how exciting it was in the mid 1980s when the Chess LP 'His Greatest Sides Volume 1" came out with session info, notes and good clean sound from masters after dealing with the lousy sound of Wolf on 'French Chess', Charly, Syndicate Chapter etc. Unfortunately no volume 2 of that LP ever appeared - I hope we get a volume 2 for this set.

This looks interesting - I have all of this except some of the alternates in one form or another, but that includes the old Syndicate Chapter LP that collected some of the early Chess singles with awful sound and the old Charly 'Legendary Sun Performers' LP. I like the mastering on the Muddy Waters Hip-O so this should be good, much better than the 1980s Chess CDs of the same material. I listen on a 20+ year old stereo setup and the new CDs sound better than the old ones, actually the best sounding Wolf I have is an LP copy of Evil that was actually a 1969 reissue of Moanin at Midnight with a new cover and title (that really confused me when I found this in a used LP store 25 years ago). I do wish they had extended it beyond 1960, some of my favorite Wolf is the singles from 1960-65. The best thing would be a remaster of the old 'Rocking Chair' album - the 2 fer 1 CD with Moanin at Midnight from 1986 has terrible sound and most cuts from Rocking Chaair are not on this Hip-O set. I don't have that Ace CD, but I have the early 90s US CD with most (or all) of the same material, also the really old Kent LP with the jug on the cover that has some of these RPM cuts. I will have to jump on this soon - the Little Walter Hip-O went out of print before I had a chance to buy it.

Price Drop to $125 including USPS Priority Mail shipping.

Near Mint, PRICE DROP to $125 including USPS Priority Mail shipping to any US address. PayPal please. I'm hoping to sell this box here without E-Bay. I'm the original owner of this set, serial number 2075. Box, book and CDs in like new condition. Four CDs of prime Blue Note material by Blue Mitchell - includes the albums Step Lightly, The Thing to Do, Down With It!, Bring It Home to Me, Boss Horn and Heads Up!. You know what it is, you know you want it. I hope it will find a good home.

Intuition isn't OOP. It's readily available, as it should be - it's essential music. Check Amazon or other music vendors.

I think the best choice is Bix Restored Volume 1 on Origin Jazz (mentioned above). This first volume has ALL the Wolverine sides in excellent sound, ALL the Goldekette sides in excellent sound, and the last disc includes a lot of Bix greatest recordings with Tram including In a Mist and Singin' the Blues and as a bonus a few Jess Stacy recordings of Bix piano tunes Bix never recorded. Volume 2 Bix Restored is only slightly less essential with the early Whiteman sides and more Bix/Tram small group sides. There really is no substitute for the Bix Restored series.

I haven't bought a Mosaic box in about 4 years - at this point almost every box I own is OOP. The bad ones, boxes I'll sell when I have the time to photograph them and list them on e-bay, are Blue Mitchell (I just don't like his sound at all and dislike him more the more I hear), Illinois Jacquet (I like some Jacquet, but not most of this material), Bud Shank (not bad, but not exciting and not something I ever pull of the shelf), Woody Shaw (not bad, but not what I really enjoy, I guess it's too contemporary) and Jimmy Smith (I like his later BNs, but this box of material all recorded in February 1957 is too 'samey' and I can't listen to more than a couple of songs without being bored) and I'll have to try listening to Andrew Hill and Sam Rivers again, but I don't think those were good purchases either and they will probably go out the door. These boxes date back to the old days when I was buying almost every Mosaic that was running low and my tastes were very experimental. Those days are long gone.

The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of is on my list of things to buy - it is the first release of a recently discovered 1930 Paramount 78 by Son House that was believed lost forever.

Connoisseur series500 said: "The box lid has an attachment to the rest of the box. In other words, you can't just entirely lift all four corners of the lid from the box. It is attached to the rest of the box on the lefthand side, just as the hardcover of a book is attached to the rest of the book." I guess it's been too many years since I bought a Mosaic box - all 20 of my Mosaics have the lid attached to the box on the left side. When did they start selling them not attached???

Coast Concert is on the old Jack Teagarden Mosaic box - this box is a favorite box of mine (I believe Teagarden's singing was at its peak at this point) and Coast Concert is one of the best sessions on the box. Possibly Abe Lincoln's finest moment. The old Condon box is excellent, wonderful sessions that together are even better, since they build on each other. The Condon Mob box is a bit more confusing - I'm not a big fan of some of the Dorsey material, it starts to veer away from jazz, but there are so many great sessions that the box is worthwhile - the Freeman set that opens the box is one of the best jazz sessions of all times, period, in the best sound. There is a Whetling album included which should have been on the old Condon box and is excellent. Some great Bobby Hackett and amazing Lee Wiley classics at the end.

Definitely the most listenable and consistently enjoyable Mosaic I own. I can put on any random part of any disc (except possibly the last session) regardless of my mood and hear some great music played with extreme joy and enthusiasm. Once I start listening it's hard to turn off. Fortunately many (most?) of the albums comprising this box were reissued on CD after the box went OOP, but if you like LPs this is your best bet.

Here's one of Stan Borack's classic 1960's covers for the 1967 pulper I was a teenybopper for the FBI, some sort of spy spoof trash novel.

Here is a cover done by my cousin, the late Stanley Borack, one of the kings of pulp covers in the 1950's and 1960's. This is a classic.

Don't get burned copies! This is a new release of important JAZZ music which is reasonably priced and is getting some notice from the general audience. Support this music by BUYING it to encourage more jazz releases. If you like your burned copy BUY a legit one. Then BUY another and give it to a friend.

5-6 years back cheap-cds was actually cheap, they had a good selection and stock of jazz titles, good shipping time, and even had some hard to find Blue Note Collectors Choice titles in stock long after they were gone from other stores. Recently their prices went up, and most titles either not listed or out of stock. I haven't used them in at least 2-3 years. Sorry to see them go, but can't say it was unexpected.

Mike Thanks for the heads up on I Love Jazz. I've had that for a few years and never knew there was 13 minutes of hidden alternate takes of the title song!

The Sony box mentioned above by Ron is the best way to get all the studio material from the Benny sessions including many excellent alternates and outtakes. The live material is more problematic. No legit US label for this and there are overlapping European boxes and CDs which range from good to awful, but I have the JSP live box and it is mostly complete, the sound is pretty good, especially on the radio airshots with Benny, and the price is right.

Not too bad a storm here in Boca - we lost power for 9 hours (pretty standard here for even minor storms) when the eyewall came through yesterday, but power is back, no damage, not even a lot of rain. Pretty hot and dark last night however!!!!! Poor folks in Miami were hit with this bad and they didn't even expect it. It was supposed to go through Broward westward, not that odd south turn. Very strange storm.

Very odd interview. That was 1987 - I can't imagine what she sounds like now. Smoking and drinking seem to have destroyed her speaking voice. I remember on another board long ago Danny DEEP D'Imperio telling stories about when he was on tour with Anita O'Day in the 1980's. Much of that story is not suitable for a public forum, but if half his story is true she was a wild woman then (in her 60's/70's) and probably still is now.