The Complete Pharoah Sanders Theresa Recordings - New Mosaic

[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 June 14 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 June 15 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 June 15 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 June 15 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 June 17 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 June 20 by BFrank

[david weiss]

17 hours ago, BFrank said:

Thanks, David.

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

The listing is wrong (I forgot to mention that)

Same clothes (as the photos I haven’t), same repertoire as the 4/12/81 show. 

Watch it, see if it rings some bells.....

[BFrank]

7 hours ago, david weiss said:

The listing is wrong (I forgot to mention that)

Same clothes (as the photos I haven’t), same repertoire as the 4/12/81 show. 

Watch it, see if it rings some bells.....

Oh - OK, I'll check it out!

Not sure that after 40+ years it will "ring any bells", but worth watching anyway!

[Dub Modal]

Preordered. I hope this is a big seller for Mosaic. 

[tranemonk]

On 7/1/2025 at 12:09 PM, Dub Modal said:

Preordered. I hope this is a big seller for Mosaic. 

I did too, but I fear (based on the limited universe of this board) that it may not.  It might be my misreading of it, but I thought there'd be more enthusiasm for this kind of set. 

[JSngry]

That would depend on what Mosaic does with marketing. If they market it just to the V-Disc-era audience, it's probably DOA.

But it seems like Pharoah had quite an audience apart from that. So the question is - who's gonna be marketing this set?

[mjazzg]

A lot of that wider audience is a good bit younger than the average age here and Pharaoh is probably a bigger pull than Coltrane to this segment. That audience will be buying their music as downloads or LPs (please let's not debate this all over again, it is what it is) and as such may not be setup to play this set. 

Other than that, I completely agree with JSngry, it will be in the marketing. As yet I have seen zero mention of this set anywhere but here.

For instance, there's no buzz on Jazz Instagram, a pretty lively community. Mosaic's only presence on that platform is a Mosaic Images feed which is 2 years dormant which says a lot for their marketing choices.

Maybe Mosaic have worked out that there's enough potential even within their usual marketing scope. 

 

[jazzbo]

I don't look at many places, this set has been discussed in the Hoffman forums, and has about the same audience as far as age and very similar comments there.

[Stefan Wood]

10 hours ago, JSngry said:

That would depend on what Mosaic does with marketing. If they market it just to the V-Disc-era audience, it's probably DOA.

But it seems like Pharoah had quite an audience apart from that. So the question is - who's gonna be marketing this set?

Seriously, how significant a market is there for pre 1950 music to warrant the Mosaic treatment in 2025?  As well as post 1960 "modern" or "new thin" or avant music?

New thing

[Dub Modal]

No idea but hopefully these Sanders and the other BN sets help sales enough to keep sets like those coming.