Sonny Stitt Mosaic

[Leeway]

I know there was an earlier thread on the Stitt Mosaic back in October 03

Stitt Mosaic

What's the latest thoughts on this set? I like Sonny but this is a huge box set with a hefty price tag. Would be interested in hearing what recent buyers have thought of it.

Also, has anyone checked out the Stitt Proper Box? Is there overlap with the Mosaic? And how does Proper compare with Mosaic in terms of sound quality?

[Brad]

This is one of my favorite Mosaics (which I bought when it first came out). I wasn't a huge Sonny fan when it first came out but I became a rabid one after that. Some people say a lot of it sounds the same. I say so what. It's such a huge beautiful set. I don't think there's a lot of overlap because of the copyright limitations but I don't have the Proper set because I have most of it. The Proper sound is very good generally although they don't have access to the masters whereas the Mosaic is from the masters, which Mosaic had a lot of trouble finding. I gave the Proper set to my music teacher for Christmas and he loves it. Sonny is one of his specialties and he can't say enough about the Proper set.

[danasgoodstuff]

The Stitt Mosaic is a good thing, but maybe too much (at once) of a good thing. I borrowed the library's copy and enjoyed it but haven't bought it, and not just because I'm broke. But I did buy the Lou Donaldson, so what do I know. The one pleasant surprise was how good Sonny could be on ballads. Not all the time, he often goes all formalist on them, but when he felt like it, you felt/liked it too!

If I came into a windfall I guess it would be about in the middle of the list of stuffs I'd get from Mosaic...

[BruceH]

I like it, but then, I'm a glutton for punishment. "Too much of a good thing" is a complaint that you could level at many a Mosaic set, but as I had little Stitt in my collection before, I felt good about getting this one.

[J.A.W.]

My advice would be to get the Mosaic and forget about the Proper.

[garthsj]

My advice would be to get the Mosaic and forget about the Proper.

I respectfully disagree with this suggestion. First of all, you can buy the 4-CD Proper set (SAX O' BEBOP) for $17-22, depending on where you shop; second, it contains a remarkable collection of early bop that is NOT found in the Mosaic Box. Much of this material is not easily found elsewhere in this convenient fashion, and if you are in the least interested in how be-bop developed in those significant years 1946-1952, then this set should be on your shelves. In particular, two sessions, with Blakey, Junior Mance, Charles Bateman, Gene Wright on December 15, 1950 and January 31, 1951, are worth the price of this set all by itself. I have derived enormous pleasure from listening to these sides, and they were a revelation to me in understanding this significant period in jazz history.

The Roulette sessions are an entirely different, and somewhat mixed bag ... and worth owning by itself.

Garth.

[Brad]

Hans,

I'm not sure why you criticized the Proper (esp. without elaboration) but I would agree with what Garth said.

About the Mosaic being too much of a good thing, that's what Mosaics are all about: here's all of a person's output and now listen to what you like.

[J.A.W.]

I simply don't like the Proper set (I should have said so in my post instead of advising against it). Besides, it's one of those labels that are rumored to have "borrowed" remasterings by others, but I don't know if that's true.

Edited April 19, 2004 by J.A.W.

[B. Goren.]

Leeway,

The Mosaic set is excellent. I am not familiar with the Proper set and I don’t know what material is included in this set but from my experience with them I know that usually the sound is very good and their booklets are very nice.

If you are not familiar with Stitt at all you better start with his recordings for

Prestige.

Edited April 19, 2004 by B. Goren.

[JohnS]

I agree with JAW about the Proper box ffor the same reasons.

The Mosaic box is very nice, there is a lot of fine music. I'd preferred it if some of the pieces in the middle of the set were a little longer but that's just my opinion.

[Brad]

Hans,

Do you not like this particular set or Proper sets as a rule? I have found a few of them very useful such as the Bebop one and the Hawkins one.

[J.A.W.]

Hans,

Do you not like this particular set or Proper sets as a rule?

The latter. I don't want to support labels that "borrow" remasterings, and, like I said, it is rumored that Proper is doing just that.

[BruceH]

About the Mosaic being too much of a good thing, that's what Mosaics are all about: here's all of a person's output and now listen to what you like.

Right on, Brad.

[Brad]

I don't want to be argumentative about this but a "rumor" is not strong evidence on which to convict a label. On the bebop set, I don't think they could have borrowed from remasterings since a lot of what was on there was not available previously. I would say the same for the Hawkins set, especially the Keynote material although it's conceivable they could have copied the cd versions of the Hawkins material. However, I would need a little more than a rumor to avoid them altogether in the future.

[J.A.W.]

I don't want to be argumentative about this but a "rumor" is not strong evidence on which to convict a label.  On the bebop set, I don't think they could have borrowed from remasterings since a lot of what was on there was not available previously.  I would say the same for the Hawkins set, especially the Keynote material although it's conceivable they could have copied the cd versions of the Hawkins material.  However, I would need a little more than a rumor to avoid them altogether in the future.

Brad,

I was told by a few U.K. sources that they did use remasterings that were done by other labels. Unfortunately I'm not in a position to verify these allegations, which is why I used the word "rumors", but what I was told was actually a bit stronger than that.

Anyway, I choose not to buy CDs from labels that are vague at best about the origins of their remasterings. I prefer labels that do their own remastering jobs (Mosaic, Bear Family, Yazoo, County, and the like) and I'm happy to pay extra for that.