The Complete Pharoah Sanders Theresa Recordings - New Mosaic

[jazzbo]

2 hours ago, B. Goren. said:

I have some of the albums mentioned in the discography, but what I have was issues by Evidence Records. I can imagine Evidence reissued recordings originally recorded and issued by Theresa. Am I right?

Right. I believe Evidence at one time (still?) owned/owns/purchased Theresa Records.

[Brad]

2 hours ago, jazzbo said:

Right. I believe Evidence at one time (still?) owned/owns/purchased Theresa Records.

The information out there on ownership is scanty. 

[jazzbo]

22 minutes ago, Brad said:

The information out there on ownership is scanty. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theresa_Records

[david weiss]

3 hours ago, jazzbo said:

Right. I believe Evidence at one time (still?) owned/owns/purchased Theresa Records.

Evidence owns this material. This is where it was licensed from. 

We tried to do more research on the original owners of the label to see if the original multi track tapes still existed or if they still had all the live recordings they did (they recorded at at least 4 venues for the Live recording for example) but we got nowhere. 

 

[jazzbo]

Thanks for that info.

[JSngry]

I liked pretty much their entire catalog.

[B. Goren.]

6 hours ago, jazzbo said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theresa_Records

Thank you, now everything is clear.

[Brad]

15 hours ago, jazzbo said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theresa_Records

I saw that in my search but it doesn’t tell you very much as I was looking for prior ownership. There was some info about partnership but it couldn’t be substantiated. However, David Weiss confirmed present ownership. Some things are just lost to history. 

Edited Saturday at 12:14 PM by Brad

[Ken Dryden]

Given that I have all the Evidence CD reissues and most are still unheard, I will likely pass on the Pharaoh Sanders.

[jazzbo]

6 hours ago, Brad said:

I saw that in my search but it doesn’t tell you very much as I was looking for prior ownership. There was some info about partnership but it couldn’t be substantiated. However, David Weiss confirmed present ownership. Some things are just lost to history. 

It seems to me a complete story: owned by stated original owner and then sold to Evidence. Glad that Mosaic had access to what "masters" there are.

[Brad]

20 hours ago, jazzbo said:

 

2 minutes ago, Brad said:

 

Please ignore prior post. Tried to delete it but couldn’t. 

Edited Sunday at 03:40 PM by Brad

[felser]

There was a book published decades ago about Allan Pittman and Theresa Records, focusing on the difficulties of running an independent label, IIRC .  I read it and may still have it around the house somewhere.  It was not well written and I think may have been a published masters thesis.

Edited Sunday at 06:29 PM by felser

[Stefan Wood]

This is the first Mosaic set I will have ordered in over 15 years.  This is also the first post I have placed here in what seems like as many years, but I think it was less - 7?  

The Theresa recordings are among his best IMO. Journey to the One is one of my favorites.

Edited Sunday at 11:46 PM by Stefan Wood

[felser]

55 minutes ago, Stefan Wood said:

 This is also the first post I have placed here in what seems like as many years, but I think it was less - 7?  

Welcome back, Stefan. great to hear from you!

[jazzbo]

Hello Stefan! Good to see you back on the site.

[BFrank]

"Live" is pretty excellent, too.

I was at the Great American Music Hall in SF for the April 12 show, too

[Mark Stryker]

On 6/15/2025 at 2:29 PM, felser said:

There was a book published decades ago about Allan Pittman and Theresa Records, focusing on the difficulties of running an independent label, IIRC .  I read it and may still have it around the house somewhere.  It was not well written and I think may have been a published masters thesis.

The book is Producing Jazz: The Experience of an Independent Record Company, by Herman Gray, now emeritus professor of sociology at the University of California-Santa Cruz. It's a small monograph published in 1988 (Temple Univ. Press), when Gray was a young scholar interested in independent cultural production -- though much of the initial research was conducted in 1983, when Gray was a grad student.  Though the writing is a bit flat and academic, it is truly a remarkable document, opening a window on a corner of the jazz record business on the ground, at a particular moment and in real time. It proved invaluable to me in writing the notes for the forthcoming Sanders set, particularly because both co-owners of Theresa, Allen Pittman* and Kazuko Ishida, are now deceased and the details of the company's history and Sanders' involvement, including direct quotes from Sanders himself, would have otherwise disappeared into the ether.  I spoke with Gray in the course of writing and he was quite amazed and proud (as he should be) that after all these years, his early work was being recognized and recirculated to a wider audience. 

 

*Note correct spelling of Allen with an "e."

Edited Tuesday at 03:40 PM by Mark Stryker

[Dub Modal]

Looking everywhere online and outside of random YT videos this music doesn't seem to be on any streaming platforms or bandcamp. The LPs can be found for decent prices here and there, but Mosaic does such a good job on sound quality. 

[david weiss]

On 6/16/2025 at 1:33 AM, BFrank said:

"Live" is pretty excellent, too.

I was at the Great American Music Hall in SF for the April 12 show, too

We used a couple of photos from that show in the booklet. 

While doing my research, I came across video from that show on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRlg8mg1czA&t=3407s

[BFrank]

20 hours ago, david weiss said:

We used a couple of photos from that show in the booklet. 

While doing my research, I came across video from that show on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRlg8mg1czA&t=3407s

Thanks, David.

That video says it's from 1985. The show I saw was 4/12/81.

Edited 3 hours ago by BFrank