Chanders

My Armstrong set arrived earlier this week and today I finally had a chance to listen today. Beyond the sound (great) the book (lovely) I just want to say - listening to Louis especially from this era is an amazing experience. When he puts the horn in his mouth the room just lights up. It’s like living in a black and white world that suddenly goes to color. What a gift.

Mark, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on this - how much of a loss is it that the complete tapes are only available In the format- and especially at the price!- they are? That is, how disappointed should someone who is willing “to meet these tapes where they are” be that they can’t get access to the whole thing, at least not yet? This was my whole point in positing the original thread I guess - I am someone who enjoys the historical nature of stuff like this, which is just a personality quirk but I would never assume that this is the general point of view, even amongst fans. Not sure if I’d pay for a tape of Dylan defecating though - it would really depend on which era we are taking about tbh (just kidding!) Not sure if it is quiet or not as I am pretty new to this board but I am enjoying the conversation and the huge archive of knowledge. I will say that most of the jazz discourse these days is not usually centered around topics like this, and indeed hardly anyone writes about anything online anymore, it is mostly all short mood enhancing videos. And even the people writing stuff are mostly writing about audiophile releases of long lost spiritual jazz albums on blue splatter vinyl.

It depends. Some days I am in the mood for the top-shelf audiophile version of a certified beautiful classic. Yesterday, on the other hand, I sat down and listened to the first half of the (in)famous Valleydale Ballroom concert of the Velvet Underground, really the only surviving document of what they sounded like live with Nico. After 1 cd, I was done! My ears couldnt take it anymore. But it was 40 min well spent. My problem w this full set from Coltrane has been just that it seemed designed to make the music scarce and available only to the rich. Beyond that, people have their own weird idiosyncrasies when it comes to music.

Sure, it’s not so much money if you break it down by hour but what are you paying for? There’s the extra restoration work, assuming any was done. You have to pay Porter, ok fine. And then what? The cost of the physical *audio* medium could be close to zero … so what you are paying for is all the additional nonsense, and for the part of being in some exclusive club I suppose. It seems designed to keep as many people from hearing this music as possible. And of course yes, it will all be available digitally but why should I have to go to some ad ridden YouTube channel to hear this, or some bootleg download site, and why is the work of Lewis Porter, a scholar, locked away behind a 550 USD velvet “box” that only the very rich can buy? There’s just an element of cash grabbing cynicism about it that really rubs me the wrong way.

There’s definitely a sweet spot between 3 and 26 hours, though I couldn’t tell you what that is. Bottom line with this though - it seems deliberately designed to keep the music from as many people as possible. Sad.

I feel awful writing this on John Coltrane’s 100th birthday but seriously, Verve, you can go to hell. https://store.ververecords.com/products/john-coltrane-the-complete-tiberi-tapes-live This has to be one of the most blatant examples of price gouging and object fetishization I have seen yet. You are going to tell me that the only way to get the complete set of tapes is to pay 500 USD for a thumb drive house in a deluxe box … with an extra record that isn’t even on the main record set. And no download and no complete cd collection … or anything. A thumb drive! In a box! Limited to 750 copies? At bootleg quality? And I say this as someone who would happily own Benedetti’s Parker, so sound quality is not the problem And this makes me love places like Mosaic even more, or appreciate the big “Compete” box sets that were going out in the 90s. Those days are never coming back, what a rip off. Seriously though god bless Mosaic. We live in a screwed up economic time to say the least.

Fantastic. Can't wait. Do any European buyers know how Mosaic in Europe is working these days? I've not pre-ordered a set since I left the US and I have seen nearly all the new releases eventually show up at TYQ or JazzMessengers ... is that to be expected with all new sets?

Apologies Allen, there was no intent to slight your work or the work of the many others you mentioned, all of whom are field defining. I was just trying to mention some of the names that have come up recently in the threads about these boxes.

For a long time, most of the Armstrong material released on Mosaic- his work with Decca and RCA primarily- was sen as lesser or inferior Armstrong (certainly compared to his revolutionary work as a younger man. That view has been challenged recently, led by folks like Ricky Riccardi who has written a 3-part biography of Armstrong and has contributed to a lot of the Mosaic liner notes. The argument is that critique of the later Armstrong rests in part on the uncertain boundary between jazz and popular entertainment, particularly jazz as it exists post-bop. Nevertheless, you wouldn't be alone in seeing Armstrong's Mosaic material as somewhat peripheral to mainstream jazz. If you don't like *any* Louis ... well, what to say, tastes differ. 😉 I would just finish by saying that early jazz often takes more "work" to enjoy as a listener, in part because of recording quality and in part because it is musically a step removed from the musical world we live in in the 21st century. In my experience you have to get past its inherent oddness to appreciate it on its' own terms. Nonetheless, as I said before, tastes differ.

So looks like those who speculated that early Duke was coming (at some point) fron Mosaic were right. And more! Really great news. From the Jazz Gazette Future Sets: 1920s Jazz In addition to inquiries about the upcoming Louis Armstrong release we also have received inquiries on other early jazz sets we may be considering. While these 2 sets won’t be released for a couple of years we are in the process of sourcing the material: Jelly Roll Morton: The Complete Early Recordings 1923–1927 Duke Ellington: The Complete Brunswick, Columbia, Victor & OKeh Recordings 1924–1929

I mean yes, this would obviously be fantastic if someone was willing to do it.

Let’s hear it for the public domain 😃. This raises a lot of questions about what Mosaic might be able to do as more and more jazz passes the century mark.

Ah well! At least a refund was issued. I will raise it with them when it gets over here. Wonder what discs I got ...lol

Grabbed it! 45 EUR total with shipping costs. I'm curious to see how it arrives. Is the box there? The booklet? There was no description at all, but for that little it was worth taking a shot. It has been on my list for a while ...

Thanks so much for the post on this. To be honest I’ve always been intrigued by this series but it has seemed like a LOT to wrap ones head around especially after it is all out (and presumably more expensive than it was when it all came out). I am curious about the box sets all of which are supposed to be very nice. This is one of those moments when discogs seems to fail as a database - from what I can tell there are mega boxes with all the discs (a 75 and 25 disc set) but there also also compilation box sets? That is what I can’t figure out. What are these sets? It seems like a nice way to start but I have a hard time tracking them down.