V-Disc Big Band Set Is Coming!!!

[jazzbo]

Mine was due yesterday, looks as if it coming tomorrow instead.

[Dub Modal]

2 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

Wasn't 16" the typical diameter of transcription discs for radio use?

That's it

[medjuck]

On 1/31/2026 at 4:15 PM, Fred said:

I would like to point out the omission of a track on disc 5. The exact order is:

DISC V

HARRY JAMES AND HIS ORCHESTRA

1. James spoken introduction (X) 0:09

2. Blue Lou (X) 2:43

(I. Mills-E. Sampson)

3. Charmaine (X) 1:49

(L. Pollack-E. Rapee)

4. The Sad Sack (X) 3:16
(Harry James)

5. Mexico City (X) 4:12

(W. Donaldson-M. Greene)

6. Sierra (X) 3:45

(J. Matthias-S. Russell)

7. Too Marvelous For Words (X) 3:13

(J. Mercer-R. Whiting)

HARRY JAMES AND HIS ORCHESTRA

8. September In The Rain (Y) 3:15

(A. Dubin-H. Warren)

9. 920 Special (Y) 2:44
(Earle Warren)

10. Rose Room (Y) 4:14

(A. Hickman-H. Williams)

11. Eight Bar Riff (Part 1) (Y) 4:07
(Harry James)

12. Eight Bar Riff (Part 2) (Y) 3:20
(Harry James)

CLAUDE THORNHILL AND HIS ORCHESTRA

13. Easy Does It (Z) 3:18

(T. Young-S. Oliver)

 

COUNT BASIE AND HIS ORCHESTRA

14. Yeah Man (AA) 2:43
(Count Basie)

15. Rhythm Man (AA) 2:40
(Count Basie)

COUNT BASIE AND HIS ORCHESTRA

16. Kansas City Stride (BB) 4:12
(Dicky Wells)

17. Beaver Junction (BB) 3:41
(Harry Edison)

18. Circus In Rhythm (BB) 3:40
(Earle Warren)

19. Aunt Hagar's Country Home (BB) 3:20
(unidentified)

20. Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You (BB) 4:09

(A. Razaf-D. Redman)

21. Basie Strides Again (Along Avenue C) (BB) 3:00
(Buck Clayton)

22. Call Me Darling (feat. Thelma Carpenter)

23. Playhouse No. 2 Stomp (Variations on I Got Rhythm) (BB) 3:17
(George Gershwin)

COUNT BASIE AND HIS ORCHESTRA

24. Kansas City Stride (alt tk) (BB) 3:45

(Dicky Wells)

Yes, "Call Me Darling" is missing   though  it's in the booklet's discography and discussed in the notes. But where did you get the list you cite?  Also my Apple Music player says there are 24 cuts on the disc, the last being "Error-short repeat of Kansas City Stride".

Fortunately I have "Call Me Darling" on VJC-1018 which Mosaic lists as their source. 

6 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

15 records that yield a total of 30 to 60 tunes (i.e. 2 to 4 per disc), that makes sense indeed. So 40 to 60 tunes would make "about 2.5 on average" to 4 per disc. A possible total too.

Old age is catching up with me. I figured it out just as I turned on my computer to read responses.

Edited February 4 by medjuck

[Dub Modal]

7 hours ago, Stompin at the Savoy said:

Here is the quote in question.  I think it is likely Janak meant the 15 records or 30 sides all together had 40-60 tunes. 

That's a great quote from Janek. Setting up unusual combos that he thought would go over well. Sounds like a mix tape session only with live performers. 

[ghost of miles]

The V-eagle has landed! Love hearing a disc's worth of Woody right out of the gate. If Mosaic goofed on disc 5, I assume they'll send out replacement copies, as they have in the past when similar mistakes or omissions were made. 

[Stompin at the Savoy]

2 hours ago, medjuck said:

Yes, "Call Me Darling" is missing   though  it's in the booklet's discography and discussed in the notes. But where did you get the list you cite?  Also my Apple Music player says there are 24 cuts on the disc, the last being "Error-short repeat of Kansas City Stride".

Fortunately I have "Call Me Darling" on VJC-1018 which Mosaic lists as their source. 

Old age is catching up with me. I figured it out just as I turned on my computer to read responses.

Disk 5 track 22 is Call me Darling with Thelma C.  I think Fred has it right.

  Keep in mind that what you see on the player probably reflects the entry in Gracenote database which it picked up when you inserted the disk. I noted that there are multiple gracenote entries for some of the disks.  I ended up changing the metadata for some disks because what came up had an 'album artist' of V-disk All Stars but other disks did not (I ended up deleting all those album artist entries in the song info).  With collections that have multiple artists I always set it up to display the box with one head entry and then disk numbers show up in the track listing.  Like this:

Edited February 4 by Stompin at the Savoy

[Fred]

12 hours ago, ghost of miles said:

The V-eagle has landed! Love hearing a disc's worth of Woody right out of the gate. If Mosaic goofed on disc 5, I assume they'll send out replacement copies, as they have in the past when similar mistakes or omissions were made. 

Sorry for the misunderstanding, it’s my fault. The track is omitted only on the booklet, but present on the disc.

forgive my english…

[AaronG]

Finally got a tracking number today.

[jazzbo]

#338 arrived yesterday, quite a handsome set.

[hopkins]

Got my copy today. Looking forward to listening.

[romualdo]

#955 made it to Brisbane (Australia) today - impressive booklet. Havn't listened yet

[hopkins]

On 2/4/2026 at 4:32 AM, Stompin at the Savoy said:

Disk 5 track 22 is Call me Darling with Thelma C.  I think Fred has it right.

  Keep in mind that what you see on the player probably reflects the entry in Gracenote database which it picked up when you inserted the disk. I noted that there are multiple gracenote entries for some of the disks.  I ended up changing the metadata for some disks because what came up had an 'album artist' of V-disk All Stars but other disks did not (I ended up deleting all those album artist entries in the song info).  With collections that have multiple artists I always set it up to display the box with one head entry and then disk numbers show up in the track listing.  Like this:

I updated the entry in Discogs. Some software can use Discogs data to tag files automatically.

[tranemonk]

Any place for more sound samples other than the three on Mosaic's website? 

[Dub Modal]

21 hours ago, tranemonk said:

Any place for more sound samples other than the three on Mosaic's website? 

I'd be willing to bet some of these tracks could be found here at archive's site: https://archive.org/search?query=subject%3A"V-Discs"

 

[tranemonk]

15 hours ago, Dub Modal said:

I'd be willing to bet some of these tracks could be found here at archive's site: https://archive.org/search?query=subject%3A"V-Discs"

 

thanks so much

[ghost of miles]

Knockout version of “Begin the Beguine” by Boyd Raeburn’s band near the end of disc 3 (arrangement by Johnny Richards). Also recently encountered big-band singer Dorothy Claire on a new CD of Glenn Miller’s Chesterfield broadcasts and was pleasantly surprised to hear her again on the V-disc set with Raeburn’s orchestra. She did a stint with Bob Crosby in 1939 but doesn’t appear on the Crosby Mosaic, which omits most of that band’s vocal sides (but does include a couple of vocals from Teddy Grace, another lesser-known fave of mine among swing-era singers).

[Stompin at the Savoy]

7 hours ago, ghost of miles said:

Knockout version of “Begin the Beguine” by Boyd Raeburn’s band near the end of disc 3 (arrangement by Johnny Richards). Also recently encountered big-band singer Dorothy Claire on a new CD of Glenn Miller’s Chesterfield broadcasts and was pleasantly surprised to hear her again on the V-disc set with Raeburn’s orchestra. She did a stint with Bob Crosby in 1939 but doesn’t appear on the Crosby Mosaic, which omits most of that band’s vocal sides (but does include a couple of vocals from Teddy Grace, another lesser-known fave of mine among swing-era singers).

Also interesting to find Dizzy Gillespie arranging Claire's performance of Who Started Love.  This Boyd Raeburn group is good stuff!

[Big Beat Steve]

13 hours ago, ghost of miles said:

Knockout version of “Begin the Beguine” by Boyd Raeburn’s band near the end of disc 3 (arrangement by Johnny Richards). 

This made me curious, of course. In case you're familiar with the respective LPs, am I right in assuming that this version is very similar to the recording of "Begin The Beguine" (which might be described as a "Tone painting and exercise in dynamics on Begin The Beguine" ) recorded around the same time in 1948 that is on Golden Era GE 15014 and Hep LP 3?  

[RiRiIII]

#010 (!) just arrived.

[EKE BBB]

Marc Myers' review in Jazz Wax.

I do not concur with this particular paragraph (bold letters), but not agreeing with Myers happens quite frequently...

"The newly released box is technically a sister set to Mosaic’s Classic V-Disc Small Group Jazz Sessions released in 2024. But there’s no comparison (sorry, sister). For me, the small-group V-Disc box was loaded down with flat, uninteresting and quirky recordings.

By contrast, the big-band box is an astonishing and superbly edited collection of 218 tracks free from novelty material and packed with thoroughly exciting material, thanks to producer Scott Wenzel. What’s job Scott has done. Even bands you’re familiar with will impress you with some songs they never wound up recording for their record labels once the bans (there was a second one in 1948) lifted."

[Big Beat Steve]

I did not spring for the V-Disc small group box because I already have many of the sessions by those artists that I find most interesting on this set, but looking at the track listing again now, the only conclusion I see is that Marc Myers must be one of those jazz purists who does not appreciate traditional or early revival jazz all that much.  I am no completist for that 40s revivalist traditional jazz either (which contributed to making me pass), but calling these recordings "flat, uninteresting"?? 

But if I had to choose between the small group and the big band set, I'd take the small group set because with the big bands the "already there" rate is even significantly higher (though some intriguing items in between are tempting ...). 

[Stompin at the Savoy]

I don't really see that much difference in quality between the small group and big band v-disc sets.  I remember noticing there was at least one session that was actually split between the two sets.  And there are a few vocals on the big band set that are pretty dated, too.

This material has been available and much or most of it could be found on the internet prior to the Mosaics but I do think the sound quality on these two sets is great and sets a standard for any future release of V-discs.  Very worthy sets!