bopmaster

Jack McVea is valid as both a jazz artist and r&b, the two styles intersected closely by the mid to late 40’s and is well represented on lp and cd. The other black and white material is less-well represented and is mostly contained on some 5 or so horribly mastered pickwick CDs and a Storyville twofer. Mosaic will have it’s hands full marketing and selling a black & white set of possibly up to 12 CDs so I think it was to right call to exclude the McVea material. The Marsala material is the most to me as much of has the neglected trumpet player Joe Thomas and has never been reissued.

The musc as art debate is not worth getting into and is also pretentious. Bostic was a great player and if he had to get a bit commercial to survive, so what (very players could make a living playing jazz). His Gotham material is my favorite, though I also like his King material and the later stuff he did with Joe Pass. Not many alto players could make that extra octave that he could. I wish I could have seen him but was too young when he played in New England and of course as a teenager knew nothing of R&B. It is a shame he did not live longer as he might got a chance to make more albums like the Pacific Jazz lps, but I am satisfied with his recorded legacy including his King lps.

Storyville is up to there old tricks: putting out a multi-CD 85 percent hat has been issued by them not all that long ago. The serious collector is forced to re-purchase material he already has to get one CD of unissued material, that could have been issued separately which is what they did with the Art Tatum box set several years ago (which I did not buy) and their last Duke Ellington box which I found used and did purchase!