Age of Buyers of Mosaic Records Sets

[medjuck]

I bought the Mingus Candid set  shortly after it cam out. When was that?  Since I bought a cd set I was t least 40 at the time.  I'm 80 now and I've bought most of the sets they've produced for the last 10 years. 

[HutchFan]

2 minutes ago, medjuck said:

I bought the Mingus Candid set  shortly after it cam out. When was that?

1985

[mjzee]

I was aware of Mosaic from their first issue (there was a long article in the New York Times), but it was many years before I could afford one.  I bought my first probably around 2000.  I now have close to 50.  Most recent was Freddie Hubbard.  I bought two LP sets on Ebay from, it turned out, Cuscuna, and the Lang/Venuti from Cuscuna and Wentzel (face to face) at the first Mosaic open house.  When I lived in Stamford, I made a few trips to their building; those were the days.  Let's look forward to future releases.

[Face of the Bass]

I bought my first Mosaic when I was 26 years old. I'm now 45. Something that surprises me is that in those two decades, Mosaic has really done nothing to try to reach a broader audience or to move outside of its particular comfort zone, even though the number of people interested in jazz recordings from the 1930s to the 1960s has obviously shrunk over that time. 

 

[mjazzg]

6 hours ago, Face of the Bass said:

Something that surprises me is that in those two decades, Mosaic has really done nothing to try to reach a broader audience or to move outside of its particular comfort zone, even though the number of people interested in jazz recordings from the 1930s to the 1960s has obviously shrunk over that time. 

Exactly this. Increasingly anachronistic business model means they'll probably just continue to fade away.

[Jack Pine]

I'm 40- never have purchased one and almost certainly never will unless it's in a dollar bin somewhere. Don't get me wrong, they seem like fine products and I am an enthusiastic jazz fan, but I'm not really in the habit of buying physical media(aside from the odd thrift store record).

[Ken Dryden]

17 hours ago, mjazzg said:

Bought my first two big box CD sets in my late 30s when it became easy to do so online, followed by a bunch of Selects and my other three big LP boxes in late 50s.

I'm now likely to sell the first two. 

I'm fairly agnostic about Mosaic, I don't like the alternates running together and really can't see why they can't feature original art work.

Much prefer owning individual albums as they become available.

I agree with a lot of what TTK says on the other thread 

 

I think adding the original art to the booklets would substantially add to costs, especially if done in color like the original releases. It is great having a box that is thorough with detailed liner notes and session photos.

When you consider the times when Mosaic had sales, particularly for several of the sets licensed from Capitol, it is obvious that they have to be careful what music they license to create them. They want to make a decent profit for their considerable investment of time and money.

[Joe]

I bought my first Mosaic set — the then brand-new The Complete CBS Studio Recordings Of Woody Shaw — in 1992. I was 20 years old. As soon as I learned about the Herbie Nichols set, I purchased that, followed quickly by the Mingus and Cecil Taylor Candid sets. Freddie Redd and Tina Brooks were early purchases as well. I've since sold all of my sets (after digitizing them) except the last one I purchased, which was the Tristano. It's not that I am all that much less interested in what they are putting out these days. It's that I don't want more stuff.

[Brad]

Perhaps I should have asked how old were you when you bought your first Mosaic set. 

[Joe]

11 minutes ago, Brad said:

Perhaps I should have asked how old were you when you bought your first Mosaic set. 

I figured folks could do the math!

[Pim]

I am 32 years old now. I bought my first Mosaics when I was in my late 20's probably. The Hill and Tolliver Selects.... Great stuff of course. I hate the fact I missed all of their vinyl releases with which they started. I bought the Mulligan/Baker and Getz Roost vinyl sets last year. There is still one set on my wishlist: the Art Pepper Small Group set. I pity the fact that they only do cd's (like other pity some labels that only do vinyl). And in these times it just might be not a very smart thing to do from a commercial point of view. 

[Cart Ruckbus]

I bought my first (Sam Rivers on blue note) when I was around 16. Couldnt afford more than that at the time. My jazz listening waned for a while but now that its come back and I have the funds I’ve been on a buying spree for the last few years. I’m 38 now.
 

I have at least some interest in nearly every set but my favorites recently have been the ‘20s/‘30s sets like Lang/Venuti, Young/Basie, Savory, and Bunny Berigan. Even though a lot of that music is easily and cheaply available elsewhere, I doubt I ever would have gotten into it without Mosaic. The pictures and notes (esp Loren Schoenberg’s) really bring it to life, at least for me. 

[gmonahan]

I'm 69. I go back to at least 1990, maybe before. My first "brochure" is number 4, and my first set was the Monk Blue Note. So, over thirty years and still at it.

 

[Niko]

2 hours ago, Pim said:

I am 32 years old now. I bought my first Mosaics when I was in my late 20's probably. The Hill and Tolliver Selects.... Great stuff of course. I hate the fact I missed all of their vinyl releases with which they started. I bought the Mulligan/Baker and Getz Roost vinyl sets last year. There is still one set on my wishlist: the Art Pepper Small Group set. I pity the fact that they only do cd's (like other pity some labels that only do vinyl). And in these times it just might be not a very smart thing to do from a commercial point of view. 

Good call on the Selects, my post above was only about the big boxes, not Mosaic Singles or Selects... I have only two big boxes and haven't played them much (the Gerald Wilson bought from j.a.w. ages ago and the Hall Johnson Blue Note bought cheaply a few weeks ago), a few of the Selects are prized possessions (Andrew Hill, Randy Weston, Curtis Amy, Carmell Jones, Charles Tolliver). Those product lines were more targeted at people like me...

Pretty sure I saw the Pepper Mosaic at Concerto earlier today, but didn't pay close attention...

[sidewinder]

I think the (then new) Gerald Wilson and Jacquet/Phillips (just about to go out of print)  on LP were the first ‘full’ ones I bought, also a partial Jackie McLean and Larry Young on CD that Scott kindly put together for me. That was about 20 years ago. Back in Mosaic’s infancy their sets were obscure rarities over here which I read about in magazines but never saw. In more recent years I have managed to fill the gaps, including those old LP sets.

I used to get the Mosaic magazine mailed out and have kept them.

Edited April 2, 2023 by sidewinder

[Pim]

9 hours ago, Niko said:

Good call on the Selects, my post above was only about the big boxes, not Mosaic Singles or Selects... I have only two big boxes and haven't played them much (the Gerald Wilson bought from j.a.w. ages ago and the Hall Johnson Blue Note bought cheaply a few weeks ago), a few of the Selects are prized possessions (Andrew Hill, Randy Weston, Curtis Amy, Carmell Jones, Charles Tolliver). Those product lines were more targeted at people like me...

Pretty sure I saw the Pepper Mosaic at Concerto earlier today, but didn't pay close attention...

Ah sorry didn’t realize it was boxed only. Those Selects were a fine introduction to the label anyway

thanks for noticing. It’s been a while I’ve been to Amsterdam. The set isn’t very rare fortunately so I am in no hurry obtaining it.

[Daniel A]

I was 26 when I got my first set and 40 when I made my latest purchase, but that was almost a decade ago. There are still a couple of sets I might want to get second hand (e.g. Jackie McLean), but mostly I have what I need.

[Fred]

I am now 66 and I think I bought my first Mosaic at the beginning of the Internet era, perhaps the very first was the Ellington Capitol set, when it appeared. Now I have all the sets, many of them purchased at Ebay, from overseas sellers (I'm from Italy). I love the "spirit" of Mosaic, the serious work they do, so I bought (and listen, obviously) a lot of music very far from my taste, and this opened my ears and my brain.

[sidewinder]

17 minutes ago, Fred said:

I love the "spirit" of Mosaic, the serious work they do, so I bought (and listen, obviously) a lot of music very far from my taste, and this opened my ears and my brain.

Agree with every word of that. 

On 4/1/2023 at 8:58 PM, felser said:

My last purchase any kind from them was the Charles Tolliver All-Stars/Paper Man Mosaic Singles CD in 2019, when I was 64. 

Was that an actual Mosaic Singles? - Discogs doesn’t show it as such, was reissued after that series ended I think.

[mjzee]

26 minutes ago, sidewinder said:

Was that an actual Mosaic Singles? - Discogs doesn’t show it as such, was reissued after that series ended I think.

It was a Strata East release that Mosaic was selling.  This is from the Mosaic newsletter from 3/27/19:

NEW FROM STRATA EAST

Charles Tolliver All Stars $16.98
 

This July 1968 session was Charles Tolliver’s first album as a leader. The setting is unique because his all of his subsequent albums on Strata-East featured his quartet Music Inc. Here he is surrounded in quartet and quintet formats with a truly stellar cast of the leading players on the New York jazz scene: Gary Bartz, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Joe Chambers. Newly remastered from the original analog tapes.

[mikeweil]

I bought my first Mosaic in 1984, when I was 30 years old, and it was their first issue, the Blue Note Monk LP set. The last I bought was the Mobley 1960's box at age 68, but via Jazz Messengers, which is less of a hassle with the customs and costs about the same. 

Edited April 3, 2023 by mikeweil

[JSngry]

1 hour ago, mikeweil said:

I bought my first Mosaic ...it was their first issue, the Blue Note Monk LP set.

Same here, only I paid for it about a year or so before they actually brought it out. Apparently all sorts of QC issues, so many that they even sent it out with a single-sheet errata and such page included. Pretty sure I sent them the check in 1982, know for a fact that the set wasn't shipped until 1983.

My age is not important. I'm one day older than I was yesterday, and one day younger than I will be tomorrow.

A more germane question is this - when will my money run out? For that, I have no firm answer.

[kh1958]

First purchased Mosaic set was the Monk set at age 25, shortly after it came out.

[scooter_phx]

Go out and look at dirt.  That's how old I feel.  Bought my first Mosaic set in my twenties during the eighties.  Close enough.

[Patrick]

On 4/1/2023 at 7:45 PM, HutchFan said:

I bought my first Mosaic set -- Art Blakey's 1960 Jazz Messengers -- in my mid-20s.  I'm in my mid-50s now.

I haven't bought any sets in a while.  

 

Me too.