Mosaic 235: Duke Ellington 1936-1940 Small Group Sessions

[anton]

Duke Ellington: The Complete 1936-1940 Variety, Vocalion and Okeh Small Groups. Seven discs featuring the Duke Ellington, Rex Stewart, Barney Bigard, Cootie Williams and Johnny Hodges small groups

http://www.mosaicrecords.com/prodinfo.a ... =235-MD-CD

Yes, I got my copy (no 221) from Mosaic today! With the dollar being so ridiculously cheap, every non-American should order their copy today! And all Americans should order their copy as well, since the postage is much cheaper for them. Unfortunately, Swedish customs and the government wanted their share of the fun as well

The sound quality is great, of course. The right amount of surface noise is kept in (as apposed to those horrible, muffled Proper box sets - I can now throw disc one of the Johnny Hodges Proper set in the garbage).

For DJing I found the third take of Peckin' very nice. There's of course lots more but it takes time to go though 7 CDs... Would be fun to know what fave tracks you others have found.

[mark0tz]

I freaking love my set -- listening it to right now. It overlaps some of what I already have, but completes a lot of it, too. Sound quality, liner notes, et al this is an awesome box set. Played the following (none of which I had played before) at Jam Cellar on 1/9:

Boudoir Benny (guess this is on a Duke's Small Group set, but...)
Demi-tasse
Jazz A La Carte

[trev]

Yes, I'm enjoying it too. My new favourite tracks are:

Four and One Half Street,
Demi-tasse, and;
Tiger Rag (at 313bpm!)

Initially when I listened to the set I was worried about the amount of noise that had been left in, and whether it would be a problem at a dance, but i think it's acceptable (and dropping the upper-most frequencies is always an option to cut the hiss). The upside of leaving the noise in is that the playing is really clear, so from a jazz enthusiast point of it's an awesome release. Especially recommended for all you Rex & Cootie fans!

[Jonas]

Hi there!

I have the older

"Duke's Men: Small Groups, Vol. 1" [2CD] [Columbia #46995]; and
"Duke's Men: Small Groups, Vol. 2" [2CD] [Columbia #48835]

They have 86 tracks in total, whereas the Mosaic has 173 tracks, so IF you don't consider the alternate takes, I guess there is quite a lot of overlap.

So to those of you that have (or have had) both the older sets and the new Mosaic, I would like to ask: If I have the older sets, is it worth the money to get the Mosaic set?

There's not a lot I dj regularly from those older sets right now (like ten tracks out of the 86), but that might have a lot to do with the fact that I find the remastering to be quite dull for my taste. So sound quality wise it would be interesting to hear a comparison between the two.

Usually, I don't care much about alternate takes (more for the history afficionado), because in my search for great dance tunes there have not been many alternates that have outclassed the masters, but I've heard about the alternate takes being very good in this case. So if there is a lot of material on the Mosaic set that is not on the two Columbia doubles (mostly alternates I guess), that could also sway me into buying the Mosaic set.

So what is your take guys?

(And my dream for the future is that Mosaic will do those amazing Blanton-Webster years, so that I can get rid of my Bluebird 3CD set "Never No Lament", that has far to much blaring brass noise. I'm sure Mosaic can do that without losing any clarity...)

/Jonas

[anton]

Usually, I don't care much about alternate takes (more for the history afficionado), because in my search for great dance tunes there have not been many alternates that have outclassed the masters, but I've heard about the alternate takes being very good in this case.

I think that alternate takes can be nice for various reasons. Sometimes they have better sound quality and sometimes they have different tempos. Sometimes you are just bored with a particular master take that has been played at dances forever.

In the case of this boxed set for instance, the 3rd take of Johnny Hodges "Peckin" has both a slightly slower tempo and at the same time much better sound quality than the master take. Perhaps it's the case that master takes get worn out over the years while the alternate takes have been laying untouched in the vaults.

[Eyeball]

The thing about a string of alternate takes issued in a row on one LP or CD - If you don't know the original version (or at least one of the versions very well), it becomes very hard to appreciate the many differences at times in all those alternates.

I loved it when I came across the alternate for I CAN'T GET STARTED which had dozens or hundreds of little differences. I was thrilled to hear the original recording of MASSACHUSETTS from 1941 when, for years, I had unknowingly been listening to an alternate take that Columbia had issued on a Krupa LP, but neglected to tell any one - many variations.

OTOH, I had a huge Count Basie 10 LP box set from CBS in France that had many alternate takes - sometimes 4 - 6 - on lots of the tunes, some of which I didn't know at all. Did I want 6 takes of LOVE JUMPED OUT? I didn't know one of them enough to appreciate the many differences between all those takes.

Anyway - just a Saturday morning thought....

[trev]

So to those of you that have (or have had) both the older sets and the new Mosaic, I would like to ask: If I have the older sets, is it worth the money to get the Mosaic set?

Hi Jonas,

That a tough call, though I don't have the earlier albums to compere. I'd say there were about 20-15 tracks that I would consider DJing on the Mosaic set, not including the alternates. Many of the alternates have better sound quality that the released versions, but I would class the quality as good, rather than excellent.

[kitkat]

Played the following (none of which I had played before) at Jam Cellar on 1/9:
...
Demi-tasse
Jazz A La Carte

My new favourite tracks are:
Four and One Half Street ... and;
Tiger Rag (at 313bpm!)

I've loved those 4 songs since I acquired them on the Columbia "Duke's Men" albums years ago! It's interesting, though...I've never spun them, even though I have them circled as "to spin" items. Chickened out every time at the last minute, worried that people would think it was inaccessible "old music from a pontificating DJ."

Did these recordings make you fall in love with the tracks for the first time or just give you the guts to play them for the first time?

[trev]

Did these recordings make you fall in love with the tracks for the first time or just give you the guts to play them for the first time?

I'd only heard Jazz a la Carte before, and I have spun it maybe twice. The Mosaic version is better than the version I had, but not enough to make me want to DJ it more regularly. These tracks are so great, but I think they do require the right crowd and the right moment to work. I'm not sure I'll ever get to play Tiger Rag, but here's hoping the opportunity arises!

[anton]

My fave tracks right now:

Barney Bigard - Demi-tasse (alt) (204 bpm) - great major/minor riff - sounds like a weird hybrid between Steppin into Swing Society and Christopher Columbus. The alternate take has better sound.

Cootie Williams - Sharpy (215 bpm) - crystal clear sound, strong rhythm. The vocals in the middle are a bit corny, but they compensated for by some killer piano riffs (Duke) towards the end.

Cootie Williams - [The] Boys from Harlem (207 bpm) - killer unison psycho horns in the second chorus.

Cootie is my allround favorite with lots of fun tracks I had never heard before. There's no "groove lindy" on here if that's what you're looking for. The best stuff are the fast songs (Balboa anyone?).

[kitkat]

Oooooh, good! I fell in love w/ "Sharpie" on my 40-disc Duke box set, but its quality was low enough to make the fantastic rhythm apparent to any old swing lover yet perhaps not apparent enough to people who aren't already crazy about the era's music.

Good to know.

[trev]

Last night I danced to "Sharpie" and it felt awesome! Those opening riffs from Cootie allow for some really nice fast/slow contrast moments. The vocals don't ruin it too much, and then there's the killer piano/ensemble at the end. The tune is still stuck in my head!

[Haydn]

Oooooh, good! I fell in love w/ "Sharpie" on my 40-disc Duke box set, but its quality was low enough to make the fantastic rhythm apparent to any old swing lover yet perhaps not apparent enough to people who aren't already crazy about the era's music.

Good to know.

I've only got it on that 40 CD German box set with the nasty mastering. It's still excellent though. Duke Ellington and Fats Waller seem to have recorded masses of material around this time.

[kitkat]

Yeah, those vocal tracks on the 40-disc German set from the era around "Sharpie," "Scrounch," & "Chocolate Shake" are amazing. The only problem is that most of the killer dillers are about 180-235 BPM, making it very hard to 1) ever introduce them all to a scene and 2) repeat them enough to start making them recognizable and loved.

If I were in Seattle, especially at dances with dancers who are practiced at dancing quickly (or who are too young & energetic to care), maybe people would be patient with a relatively high ratio of 180-235 BPM songs in my sets, but not here.

My poor, neglected, amazing 180-235 BPM Duke Ellington Orchestra vocal tracks!

[kitkat]

Does it have a standardized serial number? I'm trying to find out if any libraries are carrying it. I believe for CD sets the serial number I'm looking for is an ASIN, but I'm not sure of that.