Leeway

Come... Come... The Dark Side beckons.... Buy a turntable... Last year I had a chance to buy about 5 or 6 Tal Farlow Verve LPs. I think they were about $12-14 each. For some reason, I passed. Now I'm regretting that decision (or lack of decison). So my question is: Would I have been better off with the LPs, or does the Mosaic set supercede the LPs? In other words, is it better to have the Mosaic presentation of the music, albeit on CD, or the original LPs?

What do you think of a Helen Merrill set? A terrific and underappreciated singer. Most of her EmArcy and Verve albums are OOP, and Mosaic should be able to get the licensing worked out (I think).

Then why were the other LPs all under Pearson's name and for other labels? Good question, and I probably don't have a good answer. What I was thinking was that Pearson might have wanted to do the albums for BN with Coles listed again as leader; when BN declined that arrangement, Pearson took the album(s) elsewhere, to Atlantic. Yes, Atlantic wasn't going to put Coles in the leader spot either, but perhaps Pearson was making a point simply by taking the albums elsewhere, even if he couldn't help his friend Coles. Admittedly, sheer speculation, but it is interesting to try to figure out why BN did not continue to support the Coles/Pearson arrangement.

Mosaic sets are limited, numbered sets, ipso, the concern for numbering. That is doesn't bother you is OK, your mellowness is enviable. There is a practical downside. If you ever want to sell the set, your potential buyer will probably be a neurotic number counter

I have two of those repackaged issues, although they are on the Applause label. I'm listening to Dexter Gordon "Doin Allright" right now and it sounds great. I don't have another copy to compare it to, but I like this one. The other is Lou Donaldson's "Lush Life." I like it better than my other vinyl copy, which is a 1986 DMM digitally remastered version (remastering by Ron McMaster). I don't know when these were issued, because the only date on each of the Applause copies is the copyright date of the original recording, but it identifies Liberty Records as the copyright holder. The cover art is pretty bad, but not quite a 32 Jazz level of bad. On the Gordon it's just a bright yellow cover with the image of Dexter in the carriage cut out , and on the Donaldson it's a white background with a red-tinted black and white photo of Lou . Looks cheap, but inoffensive. Edit: Both were gotten very cheap as I remember. The price sticker is still on the Donaldson and it was $4, and I remember picking up "Doin Allright" at a garage sale here in DC for $2. I have both of those on Applause. "Doin Allright" sounds especially good. These reissues usually can be had for $3-$5. Cover art is not so good, but these reissues can provide a good vinyl fix, when other pressings are beyond reach.

Nevertheless, Phil is in there, with his piece about his earliest music teacher. Nice little article really. I know that DB wanted to have major jazz figures of today commenting on major jazz figures that influenced them. Phil's piece doesn't quite fit that parameter, I guess that's what the controversy was about, but to Phil's and DB's credit, they buried their differences and the piece got run. Interesting issue, worth getting.

Agreed, but that's DESPITE Evered and BN. THEY wanted to punish us by closing the BNBB. B3#er stepped in heroically and made this site work for us. But Evered dismissed us like stray dogs. I don't give a dman where he is, but I do give a damn what he's doing, as what he does affects BN tremendously, and jazz in general. That he chooses to cut himself off from the many BN loyalists here shoudl tell ya something (and it isn't good). Not sure where the strech is, as you say yourself, this board "contain the greatest single concentration of former BNBBers." That's exactly my point, which I thought was clear enough. That's why it's insulting that Evered and the rest of BN management chooses to continue the attitude they displayed near the end of the BNBB.

Here's a question implict in Santana's comments: Has the mainstream media's lack of attention to jazz been fundamentally a matter of race? WHY such a lack of attention?-- one must ask. Perhaps because jazz is identified as race music in much of the public consciousness, and therefore not to be given too much attention, ignored? Instead of accepting the lack of attention to jazz as a given, we should always ask why that is. For example, check out the ownership of radio stations. Most are owned by two huge right-wing media giants, Clear Channel being the worst. They have homogenized the radio market so that wherever you go you get the same formulaic pap-- e.g, thousands of hours for Jessica Simpson. There are very few forums for jazz to be heard nowadays. Yes, Santana's comments are uncomfortable. I don't think Carlos is a racist; he's been open to playing with, and addressing, all musical segments. But I think he's conveyed the racial frustration and antagonisms that are under, but still close to, the surface of American life. Seems like Santana's realing feeling it now. That's worth noting.

I second that opinion. I haven't picked up the Mosaic as I have quite a bit of it already, much on vinyl, some on CD. Anita is terrific and, odd to say maybe, but still underrated in many quarters.

Maybe BN did not want anymore albums with Cole listed as leader?

That Evered notice has the smell of ego all over it. Really, of all the unmitigated gall (as they say)! Not blaming XRICCI- he's doing what he can for his site. But Evered knows that the BN faithful" are concentrated here, yet he chooses to blow us off. Frankly, it bugs me.

Hey, c'mon man. You must admit to what you purchased from Mosaic and submit the results, the complete, results in this thread. Don't you know nothin'? You'll never drag it out of me :rsly: Hey come on, there must be some thoughts on which Mosaic are moving quickly? If my estimate is correct, Mulligan wil be gone by end of year!

I was listening to my "Little Johnny"- Johnny Coles - Conn, and persuing the liner notes, from the original album, which are by Duke Pearson. It really struck me on this listening how much of a Duke Pearson album this is. All but one of the songs is by Pearson (with one by Joe Henderson) Then I read the last paragraph of the liner notes by Duke: "So, with given permission to prepare this album, the original compositions contributed, piano accompaniment, and the writing of these liner notes, it gives me a great honor to pay tribute to such a little giant as 'Little Johnny C'." Sounds like Pearson is saying - "Hey, I've done just about everything on this album except deliver it to your house. My name should be on the title." Did Pearson do this album as a favor to Coles? Or was Pearson trying to help the label develop another artist (I recall reading that Pearson took Ike Quebec's place as BN's artist liaison). Should one consider this a Pearson album in disguise"?

I'll have to check that out. Thanks for the post. I'm listening to "Blue Hour" -- Stanley Turrentine with the Three Sounds. I've got the "Blue Hour" LP on Affinity, sounds to me like simply a repackaged BN, pretty good sound really. Anyway, great mellow, bluesy feel to it.

Due to the diabolical free shipping offer from Mosaic, I went a little overboard. I won't admit the full scope of my indulgence, but I did acquire, among other things, the Mulligan and Gerald Wilson sets. Mulligan was numbered in the 2800 range (if I read the hand-numbering correctly) and Wilson was already in the 2900 range (too lazy to get the boxes and get the exact number). This indicates to me that these sets are selling at a brisk pace. I wouldn't be surprised to see either sell out by year's end. Am I right on this? And what other sets are moving fast? Can anyone identify the fastest selling Mosaic? Just curious. Some sets seem to hang around forever, but there seem to be a few that meet their sales mark pretty quickly.

Let us know what set number you get. Curious: what's the lowest set number anyone has got from Mosaic? I've never bought a set upon issuance. Who gets set #1?

Let's face it, if we did have 5,000, and someone came out with some new Lee material, we'd end up having 5001

Yes, the hell with this egalitarian business! Howza bout "Organissimo Insider" and "Organissimo Pioneer" categories, etc.? You know--backstage passes to party with the band, access to "secret" parts of the site, and, for the really big spenders, the creation of honorary forums named after them? B) You must have this site mixed up with the Republican National Committee site How about for REALLY big spenders, you get to, er, rig the post count? I love the idea of "honorary forums" What a hoot! Gotta try the donate button.

Is this title due for the RVG treatment any time soon? Also, I can somewhat understand the lack of critical enthusiasm, as the "Sidewinder" boogaloo-type piece really got way overdone. It seems like nearly every post-Sidewinder BN had at least one track like Sidewinder. Not Lee's fault, but the label really went overboard trying to get another funky hit. Lee had far more going for him than that, as he showed before and after Sidewinder.

I always request UPS. AE is a pain to deal with. I suspect that feeling is fairly common (?). Maybe Mosaic is also finding it easier to deal with UPS.

Just picked up a vinyl copy of my avator. Also looking forward to digging into my Mosaic VeeJay set.

Who knows, what with the convergence of audio formats, we might end up with an HDCDXRCDSACDCD What would Greg do then?

Wow, a lot of great ideas and suggestions! Obviously, licensing issues and economics play a big part, but Mosaic has no excuse based on lack of appealing material.

The cases might be cheapo, but there has been some good music inside those cases. I'm glad to have my 32 Jazz Woody Shaw CDs, for example.

So who should have gotten the "Mosaic" treatment but have not? I'm thinking especially of Blue Note artists, but all suggestions welcome. First on my list is Bobby Hutcherson. Why he never got the Mosaic treatment is beyond me. I think there is still enough unreleased or OOP material to justify a Hutcherson Mosaic, or at least a Mosaic Select. What think you?