mosaic sets

Message

anton · #76 Post by **anton** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 12:42 am

Yes! Christmas came early this year - in the form of the Mosaic Artie Shaw 7 CD box! Excellent song selection, from 'Begin the Beguine' in 1938 to 'Hop, Skip And Jump' in 1945, with focus on the instrumentals. All the Gramercy Five sessions are included, of course.

Compared to the Self Portrait box, this set has a more narrow focus. No tracks outside the time span mentioned above, no transcriptions (i.e., no 'Everything is Jumping').

If you only own the 80's Bluebird CDs or the Chronogical Classics, I can definitely recommend an upgrade!

[Edit: the sound quality is not the same, see below]

trev · #77 Post by **trev** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 2:16 am

Would you recommend to someone that already owns "Self Portrait"?

russell · #78 Post by **russell** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:01 am

I am giving myself an early Xmas present with both the Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw sets on their way. I also have the Self Portrait set so will be interesting to compare.

lipi · #79 Post by **lipi** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 1:24 pm

Russell, you're awfully nice to yourself. :o)

The Bing Crosby set was just released. I suspect it's of little interest to most people here, but I'm thinking of ordering it for listening purposes.

trev · #80 Post by **trev** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 6:46 pm

The Bing Crosby set was just released. I suspect it's of little interest to most people here, but I'm thinking of ordering it for listening purposes.

My first instinct was to ignore it, but apparently it's a more jazzier set than his usual fare – so i'm also thinking of ordering it for listening purposes

anton · #81 Post by **anton** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 1:50 am

trev wrote:Would you recommend to someone that already owns "Self Portrait"?

A short run-down of the differences:

Early tracks on Self Portrait (< 1938) not on the Mosaic set:

Cream Puff [1936]
Streamline [1936]
The Blues, Pts. A & B [1937]
Shoot the Likker to Me, John Boy [1937]
Free Wheeling [1937]
Monsoon [1937]

In the period 1938-1945, the Mosaic set has 166 Bluebird/Victor studio recordings, including (only) 15 alternative takes. In the same time period, Self Portrait has only 49 studio recordings. Some studio versions are substituted by (excellent) broadcast transcriptions on Self Portrait, including

Back Bay Shuffle [1938]
Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise [1938]
Carioca [1939]
Rose Room [1939]

About the sound: the remasterings are both good, but quite different. Self Portrait is quite a bit louder and they have artificially boosted the sound in a way that creates a swirling sound in the treble that can be quite disturbing depending on the recording (listen to 'Cream Puff' for instance, and you almost get sea-sick). The Mosaic sound is very clean and flat in comparison. (I personally prefer the latter, especially when DJing over a super-expensive PA system (as we have at Mejeriet in Lund for instance). If I want to boost the sound using compression etc., I can do it on my laptop).

After more listening, I will be back with a list of 'essential tracks on the Mosaic set not on Self Portrait'

trev · #82 Post by **trev** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 2:37 am

Yet again, you are the man!

Posted with TouchBB on my iPhone

dogpossum · #83 Post by **dogpossum** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 3:34 pm

trev wrote:Yet again, you are the man!

Posted with TouchBB on my iPhone

What Trev said.

Balboa Chris · #84 Post by **Balboa Chris** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 6:45 am

Well going by the 5 sample tracks on the Mosaic site, the Bing Crosby set sounds like it could be pretty damn nice. Much more jazzy than the norm for him.

CafeSavoy · #85 Post by **CafeSavoy** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 10:56 am

Balboa Chris wrote:Well going by the 5 sample tracks on the Mosaic site, the Bing Crosby set sounds like it could be pretty damn nice. Much more jazzy than the norm for him.

The samples do sound nice.

trev · #86 Post by **trev** » Mon Nov 09, 2009 11:56 pm

Great article on the making of a Mosaic box set!:

http://www.jazzwax.com/2009/11/how-rema ... -made.html

The interview is with Andreas Meyer, who undertook the remastering for the recent Artie Shaw 1938-1945 Box set.

J-h:n · #87 Post by **J-h:n** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 5:56 am

trev wrote:Great article on the making of a Mosaic box set!

Thanks for posting this - extremely interesting! I had no idea there were so many different sorts of "metal parts" and that they could all be played.

anton · #88 Post by **anton** » Sun Mar 07, 2010 11:24 am

Some distressing news from Mosaic:

<quote>Mosaic Records Operations Update
Mosaic Records has not been immune to the shrinkage of the music industry and the ailing economy. Over the past two years, this has forced us to make some tough decisions and tighten our belt on more than one occasion.

In February, survival required us to close our warehouse and outsource our fulfillment to an excellent operation nearby. Like any new relationship, there will be bumps in the road initially but we are doing everything possible to insure that the quality of our operations maintain the high standard to which you have become accustomed. Please bear with us during this transitional period.

Our goal is to continue to mine vaults and issue definitive box sets of great jazz. The setbacks in the record industry have only made us more committed to the Mosaic Records mission.</quote>

trev · #89 Post by **trev** » Sun Mar 07, 2010 9:21 pm

I hate to be all pessimistic on this, but it think it might be the beginning of the end for Mosaic. Such a shame

Haydn · #90 Post by **Haydn** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 5:48 am

trev wrote:I hate to be all pessimistic on this, but it think it might be the beginning of the end for Mosaic. Such a shame

It makes sense for them to concentrate on what they specialise in (issuing old jazz) and ditching the more general parts of the business (fulfilment). But the words 'survival required us to' don't sound particularly encouraging.