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Lou Donaldson Mosaic


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I received my Lou Donaldson box. The set is 1260 of 5000 sets. I list the set number as an indication that, as of this date, the set has not yet reached the halfway point.

I don't have much Lou Donaldson in my collection. Yes, I've listened to Lou with Blakey, Lou with Jimmy Smith and Lou with Milt Jackson. But never really heard Lou with just Lou. I feel like a bit of an ignoramus because I never considered Lou Donaldson as such a delightful player. I knew he was good, but only now do I view him as really good and unique in his craft. He can stretch from old-fashioned bebop & hard bop to blues & funk and never miss a note.

I agree with other posts on this board that the sound of the Mosaic box seems compressed. After listening to a couple of tracks from any of the six disks, however, my ears/brain adjust and no longer notice the compressed sound. The music and style of Lou Donaldson shine through without limitation.

Edited by wesbed
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I agree with other posts on this board that the sound of the Mosaic box seems compressed. After listening to a couple of tracks from any of the six disks, however, my ears/brain adjust and no longer notice the compressed sound. The music and style of Lou Donaldson shine through without limitation.

Lucky you! While I fully agree that the music is good, I really can't stand the sound of this set, and I'm going to sell it.

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I agree with other posts on this board that the sound of the Mosaic box seems compressed. After listening to a couple of tracks from any of the six disks, however, my ears/brain adjust and no longer notice the compressed sound. The music and style of Lou Donaldson shine through without limitation.

Lucky you! While I fully agree that the music is good, I really can't stand the sound of this set, and I'm going to sell it.

Lucky me. :)

I don't expect the sound quality of a 40-plus year old recording to be perfect. Considering this music is 40-plus years old, I believe it sounds damned good. Could it sound better? Probably. Could it sound worse? Definitely. The sound is crisp with much detail. To my ears, the remastering takes nothing away from Donaldson's horn. Again, listen to a couple of tunes from any of the six CDs and the sense of the compressed sound fades from view, from my viewpoint. In general, I do like Ron McMaster's work.

There is no right or wrong. We like what we like and don't like what we don't like. For me, the sound quality of the Lou Donaldson box is so much more good than bad.

Sometimes, to my ears, a bit of distortion here and there adds to the style of an old recording. The sound quality is very modern yet, when a bit of distortion or faded sound sneaks through, I'm reminded this is recording that was made several years ago. It is the genuine article.

EDIT: The sound is oddly loud. I noticed, upon playing the first disk, I didn't need the volume switch on my stereo set as high as is usual. Still, the set sounds acceptable to me.

Edited by wesbed
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I agree with other posts on this board that the sound of the Mosaic box seems compressed. After listening to a couple of tracks from any of the six disks, however, my ears/brain adjust and no longer notice the compressed sound. The music and style of Lou Donaldson shine through without limitation.

Lucky you! While I fully agree that the music is good, I really can't stand the sound of this set, and I'm going to sell it.

Lucky me. :)

I don't expect the sound quality of a 40-plus year old recording to be perfect. Considering this music is 40-plus years old, I believe it sounds damned good. Could it sound better? Probably. Could it sound worse? Definitely. The sound is crisp with much detail. To my ears, the remastering takes nothing away from Donaldson's horn. Again, listen to a couple of tunes from any of the six CDs and the sense of the compressed sound fades from view, from my viewpoint. In general, I do like Ron McMaster's work.

There is no right or wrong. We like what we like and don't like what we don't like. For me, the sound quality of the Lou Donaldson box is so much more good than bad.

Sometimes, to my ears, a bit of distortion here and there adds to the style of an old recording. The sound quality is very modern yet, when a bit of distortion or faded sound sneaks through, I'm reminded this is recording that was made several years ago. It is the genuine article.

Sorry, but I don't agree at all. I have several Japanese "Blue Note Works" TOCJ reissues of albums included in the set, and, while they're a bit too much rolled-off at the top end, those sound much better, less aggressive and much more natural to my ears. It really isn't necessary to use compression/maximize sound levels - and thus taking dynamics out of the music (and giving me headaches) - like on this set to make these older recordings sound better. In my opinion using compression/maximizing sound levels is one of the evils of modern mastering, and totally unnecessary for and even detrimental to the improvement of the sound of older recordings.

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Sorry, but I don't agree at all. I have several Japanese "Blue Note Works" TOCJ reissues of albums included in the set, and, while they're a bit too much rolled-off at the top end, those sound much better, less aggressive and much more natural to my ears. It really isn't necessary to use compression/maximize sound levels - and thus taking dynamics out of the music (and giving me headaches) - like on this set to make these older recordings sound better. In my opinion using compression/maximizing sound levels is one of the evils of modern mastering, and totally unnecessary for and even detrimental to the improvement of the sound of older recordings.

I do agree with some of which you write regarding the Donaldson Mosaic. There is a certain something in the sound that feels compressed, kind of narrow and tight in my mind. As if all the instruments are in a straight line within a very narrow, hallway-shaped room. At the same time, I can hear everything I want to hear. The detail and style are all present. But, yes, tight and compressed, and oddly loud.

From my experience with other Mosaic sets, I believe, were Malcolm Addey involved in the remastering of the Donaldson box, for example, the sound would be wider and more natural.

Does the Donaldson box give me a headache? Fortunately, it does not. Would the sound quality of the Donaldson box cause me to decide against purchasing the Donaldson box? No. Would I consider selling my copy of the Donaldson box due to its sound quality? Definitely not.

To be fair, Hans, you do make some valid points in regard to the Donaldson Mosaic.

Edited by wesbed
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  • 3 years later...

I received my Lou Donaldson box. The set is 1260 of 5000 sets. I list the set number as an indication that, as of this date, the set has not yet reached the halfway point.....

I received my Donaldson box yesterday 1 Aug 2008 and its number is 1853! So, 3 years after this discussion started and 6 years after the release of this marvelous set, it has not yet reached the halfway point... Very strange...

I already listened to the first CD two times!

Best

Alex

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I received my Lou Donaldson box. The set is 1260 of 5000 sets. I list the set number as an indication that, as of this date, the set has not yet reached the halfway point.....

I received my Donaldson box yesterday 1 Aug 2008 and its number is 1853! So, 3 years after this discussion started and 6 years after the release of this marvelous set, it has not yet reached the halfway point... Very strange...

I already listened to the first CD two times!

Best

Alex

This has been discussed many times around here but I suspect you were not with us at that time. The set numbers don't really mean much. The fact that you have received number 1853 doesn't mean that they have only sold 1853 sets. I am sure this one is not far from going OOP. BTW, welcome here!

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Sorry guys! I didn't intend to cause so much panic. I got a bit confused with the Mobley set which has been around for quite a while... :winky: Panic over, I hope. Normal life can resume...

No panic here, I had the Donaldson set and got rid of it ages ago because of its to my ears horrendous sound quality - loud/maximized/things like that :mellow: In my view it's one of the very few Mosaics with really bad sound - but that was discussed on this forum a long time ago and things got very heated, so I'd better keep my mouth shut this time :)

Edit: I just remembered that I've already commented on this set's sound quality earlier in this thread, about three years ago :)

Edited by J.A.W.
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Sorry guys! I didn't intend to cause so much panic. I got a bit confused with the Mobley set which has been around for quite a while... :winky: Panic over, I hope. Normal life can resume...

No panic here, I had the Donaldson set and got rid of it ages ago because of its to my ears horrendous sound quality - loud/maximized/things like that :mellow: In my view it's one of the very few Mosaics with really bad sound.

I have most of this material on LPs ( mainly Japanese King reissues). I am only missing two sessions which haven't been reissued in Japan. If the Mosaic set is poor soundwise, I may as well try to find the missing material on original BN records. Thanks for the tip. :cool:

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Yeah - I have quite a lot of the material from the Donaldson Mosaic on a mix of original LPs, Japanese pressings, Conn Lps and 45-rpm issues :beee: . I like the idea of having all of this Lou Donaldson material on CD so that it can be popped on the I-Pod etc. but it is lowish priority. Otherwise I would have jumped on it at the sale !

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I received my Lou Donaldson box. The set is 1260 of 5000 sets. I list the set number as an indication that, as of this date, the set has not yet reached the halfway point.....

I received my Donaldson box yesterday 1 Aug 2008 and its number is 1853! So, 3 years after this discussion started and 6 years after the release of this marvelous set, it has not yet reached the halfway point... Very strange...

I already listened to the first CD two times!

Best

Alex

This has been discussed many times around here but I suspect you were not with us at that time. The set numbers don't really mean much. The fact that you have received number 1853 doesn't mean that they have only sold 1853 sets. I am sure this one is not far from going OOP. BTW, welcome here!

Actually, the numbers DO mean much for the big boxes. It's been well established here that those are numbered sequentially as they are sold (hence, the hand-numbering of the booklet using the sequential number on the receipt at the time of sale). Of course, there's a wrinkle in this system with the Universal-distributed Mosaics (which don't include the Donaldson, of course), since those are not individually numbered and are sold by a variety of merchants. Also, the older Selects (as opposed to the newer ones, which aren't numbered at all) are machine-numbered at the time they are produced, and are not sold in sequential order (especially since, like the newer Universal Mosaics, they are widely distributed and not only sold directly by Mosaic).

But the big boxes sold directly by Mosaic are all individually numbered in sequence at the time of sale, so Alexandros' set number 1853 is, in fact, the 1,853rd Donaldson set sold. :)

EDIT: And of course, sets can--and DO--still go OOP without coming anywhere near their total run, when they time out (i.e., Mosaic's lease for the masters expires).

Edited by Ron S
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I received my Lou Donaldson box. The set is 1260 of 5000 sets. I list the set number as an indication that, as of this date, the set has not yet reached the halfway point.....

I received my Donaldson box yesterday 1 Aug 2008 and its number is 1853! So, 3 years after this discussion started and 6 years after the release of this marvelous set, it has not yet reached the halfway point... Very strange...

I already listened to the first CD two times!

Best

Alex

This has been discussed many times around here but I suspect you were not with us at that time. The set numbers don't really mean much. The fact that you have received number 1853 doesn't mean that they have only sold 1853 sets. I am sure this one is not far from going OOP. BTW, welcome here!

Actually, the numbers DO mean much for the big boxes. It's been well established here that those are numbered sequentially as they are sold (hence, the hand-numbering of the booklet using the sequential number on the receipt at the time of sale). Of course, there's a wrinkle in this system with the Universal-distributed Mosaics (which don't include the Donaldson, of course), since those are not individually numbered and are sold by a variety of merchants. Also, the older Selects (as opposed to the newer ones, which aren't numbered at all) are machine-numbered at the time they were produced, and are not sold in sequential order (especially since, like the newer Universal Mosaics, they are widely distributed and not only sold directly by Mosaic).

But the big boxes sold directly by Mosaic are all individually numbered in sequence at the time of sale, so Alexandros' set number 1853 is, in fact, the 1,853rd Donaldson set sold. :)

Not quite true. The folks at Mosaic told me it's the computer that assigns the number to the big boxes, picking it at random from all still available numbers, and it's then written into the booklet. Therefore, set #1,853 isn't necessarily the 1,853rd set sold.

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I received my Lou Donaldson box. The set is 1260 of 5000 sets. I list the set number as an indication that, as of this date, the set has not yet reached the halfway point.....

I received my Donaldson box yesterday 1 Aug 2008 and its number is 1853! So, 3 years after this discussion started and 6 years after the release of this marvelous set, it has not yet reached the halfway point... Very strange...

I already listened to the first CD two times!

Best

Alex

This has been discussed many times around here but I suspect you were not with us at that time. The set numbers don't really mean much. The fact that you have received number 1853 doesn't mean that they have only sold 1853 sets. I am sure this one is not far from going OOP. BTW, welcome here!

Actually, the numbers DO mean much for the big boxes. It's been well established here that those are numbered sequentially as they are sold (hence, the hand-numbering of the booklet using the sequential number on the receipt at the time of sale). Of course, there's a wrinkle in this system with the Universal-distributed Mosaics (which don't include the Donaldson, of course), since those are not individually numbered and are sold by a variety of merchants. Also, the older Selects (as opposed to the newer ones, which aren't numbered at all) are machine-numbered at the time they were produced, and are not sold in sequential order (especially since, like the newer Universal Mosaics, they are widely distributed and not only sold directly by Mosaic).

But the big boxes sold directly by Mosaic are all individually numbered in sequence at the time of sale, so Alexandros' set number 1853 is, in fact, the 1,853rd Donaldson set sold. :)

Not quite true. The folks at Mosaic told me it's the computer that assigns the number to the big boxes, picking it at random from all still available numbers, and it's then written into the booklet. Therefore, set #1,853 isn't necessarily the 1,853rd set sold.

I'm pretty certain this is not true, though I am not doubting you that someone at Mosaic gave you this info. I will double check with them, but I'm pretty certain that the computer spits out the next available number for sale and does not scramble up the numbers for no logical reason at all. Most of their sets are manufactured 500 at a time, so numbering the sets in order makes it easy for them to see when the next batch of discs for each title needs to be made. There have been many times when members here have ordered a Mosaic set right around the same time I did and our numbers are very close to each other. I bought my Donaldson box a couple of days ago and got 1891.

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I received my Lou Donaldson box. The set is 1260 of 5000 sets. I list the set number as an indication that, as of this date, the set has not yet reached the halfway point.....

I received my Donaldson box yesterday 1 Aug 2008 and its number is 1853! So, 3 years after this discussion started and 6 years after the release of this marvelous set, it has not yet reached the halfway point... Very strange...

I already listened to the first CD two times!

Best

Alex

This has been discussed many times around here but I suspect you were not with us at that time. The set numbers don't really mean much. The fact that you have received number 1853 doesn't mean that they have only sold 1853 sets. I am sure this one is not far from going OOP. BTW, welcome here!

Actually, the numbers DO mean much for the big boxes. It's been well established here that those are numbered sequentially as they are sold (hence, the hand-numbering of the booklet using the sequential number on the receipt at the time of sale). Of course, there's a wrinkle in this system with the Universal-distributed Mosaics (which don't include the Donaldson, of course), since those are not individually numbered and are sold by a variety of merchants. Also, the older Selects (as opposed to the newer ones, which aren't numbered at all) are machine-numbered at the time they were produced, and are not sold in sequential order (especially since, like the newer Universal Mosaics, they are widely distributed and not only sold directly by Mosaic).

But the big boxes sold directly by Mosaic are all individually numbered in sequence at the time of sale, so Alexandros' set number 1853 is, in fact, the 1,853rd Donaldson set sold. :)

Not quite true. The folks at Mosaic told me it's the computer that assigns the number to the big boxes, picking it at random from all still available numbers, and it's then written into the booklet. Therefore, set #1,853 isn't necessarily the 1,853rd set sold.

I'm pretty certain this is not true, though I am not doubting you that someone at Mosaic gave you this info. I will double check with them, but I'm pretty certain that the computer spits out the next available number for sale and does not scramble up the numbers for no logical reason at all. Most of their sets are manufactured 500 at a time, so numbering the sets in order makes it easy for them to see when the next batch of discs for each title needs to be made. There have been many times when members here have ordered a Mosaic set right around the same time I did and our numbers are very close to each other. I bought my Donaldson box a couple of days ago and got 1891.

I can confirm that J.A.W's account is accurate. Apparently Mosaic receives funding from the National Science Foundation to test some of their random number generators.

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I received my Lou Donaldson box. The set is 1260 of 5000 sets. I list the set number as an indication that, as of this date, the set has not yet reached the halfway point.....

I received my Donaldson box yesterday 1 Aug 2008 and its number is 1853! So, 3 years after this discussion started and 6 years after the release of this marvelous set, it has not yet reached the halfway point... Very strange...

I already listened to the first CD two times!

Best

Alex

This has been discussed many times around here but I suspect you were not with us at that time. The set numbers don't really mean much. The fact that you have received number 1853 doesn't mean that they have only sold 1853 sets. I am sure this one is not far from going OOP. BTW, welcome here!

Actually, the numbers DO mean much for the big boxes. It's been well established here that those are numbered sequentially as they are sold (hence, the hand-numbering of the booklet using the sequential number on the receipt at the time of sale). Of course, there's a wrinkle in this system with the Universal-distributed Mosaics (which don't include the Donaldson, of course), since those are not individually numbered and are sold by a variety of merchants. Also, the older Selects (as opposed to the newer ones, which aren't numbered at all) are machine-numbered at the time they were produced, and are not sold in sequential order (especially since, like the newer Universal Mosaics, they are widely distributed and not only sold directly by Mosaic).

But the big boxes sold directly by Mosaic are all individually numbered in sequence at the time of sale, so Alexandros' set number 1853 is, in fact, the 1,853rd Donaldson set sold. :)

Not quite true. The folks at Mosaic told me it's the computer that assigns the number to the big boxes, picking it at random from all still available numbers, and it's then written into the booklet. Therefore, set #1,853 isn't necessarily the 1,853rd set sold.

I'm pretty certain this is not true, though I am not doubting you that someone at Mosaic gave you this info. I will double check with them, but I'm pretty certain that the computer spits out the next available number for sale and does not scramble up the numbers for no logical reason at all. Most of their sets are manufactured 500 at a time, so numbering the sets in order makes it easy for them to see when the next batch of discs for each title needs to be made. There have been many times when members here have ordered a Mosaic set right around the same time I did and our numbers are very close to each other. I bought my Donaldson box a couple of days ago and got 1891.

And the one I received on July 22nd is 1878.

This sequential numbering of the big boxes was discussed here several years ago, and iirc, Brad posted an email he received from Mosaic confiming that they are, indeed, numbered sequentially. Plus, I've also noticed what appears to be sequential numbering of soon-to-be OOP sets when people post the numbers of sets they receive.

I'll try to locate Brad's old post if I can.

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Found it:

I sent an email to Mosaic regarding this numbering question and here's the answer:

The numbers on Mosaic sets are sequential as the order is placed. The system

assigns the next number which you may have noticed is on the invoice that is

sent to you. That number is then written in the booklet at the time of

packing. There can be some exceptions such as when a set is returned and

that number is then recirculated back into the system.

For Mosaic Selects, we get an initial delivery of the first 750 - 1000

sequential numbers. They are randomly picked. After that first pressing, the

sets are picked at random.

http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...st&p=255876

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