Being almost as geographically antipodal to Conneticut as possible, I anticipate I'll have to wait a bit longer
Enjoy the Fletch!
mosaic sets
Moderators: Mr Awesomer, JesseMiner, CafeSavoy
A great review on Organissimo:
Every time I listen to Fletcher Henderson charts, it amazes me that these guys played all these charts all night long. That's a lot of playing for just one chart, never mind all night, all week!
And Hawk...Jesus, I'm just finishing Disc Three, and LORD have mercy, so much tenor, so much music...and it's only 1933...35 more years of playing lie ahead, and when you hear the stories of how when the work really slowed down he chose to more or less drink/starve himself to death...it makes sense. Not to be too dramatic about it, but guys like this were true warriors. No battles to fight, no life to live.
The duets with Buck Washington are whotally new to me...holy shit, so much tenor. Just so much tenor. And then there's the five-year gap where Hawk takes a boat away from home and then finally takes another one home and then BAM there you are in 1939, and there's all these new harmonic ideas (ideas, not "way of playing") showing up and it's like, whoa, Hawk is in the process of Beating Music At Its Own Game. I've hear a lot of this stuff in bits and pieces over the years, but to follow it chornologially all at once like this set allows is a serious mindfuck.
Holy shit! That's my review. Holy shit!
trev wrote:A great review on Organissimo:
Every time I listen to Fletcher Henderson charts, it amazes me that these guys played all these charts all night long. That's a lot of playing for just one chart, never mind all night, all week!
And Hawk...Jesus, I'm just finishing Disc Three, and LORD have mercy, so much tenor, so much music...and it's only 1933...35 more years of playing lie ahead, and when you hear the stories of how when the work really slowed down he chose to more or less drink/starve himself to death...it makes sense. Not to be too dramatic about it, but guys like this were true warriors. No battles to fight, no life to live.
The duets with Buck Washington are whotally new to me...holy shit, so much tenor. Just so much tenor. And then there's the five-year gap where Hawk takes a boat away from home and then finally takes another one home and then BAM there you are in 1939, and there's all these new harmonic ideas (ideas, not "way of playing") showing up and it's like, whoa, Hawk is in the process of Beating Music At Its Own Game. I've hear a lot of this stuff in bits and pieces over the years, but to follow it chornologially all at once like this set allows is a serious mindfuck.
Holy shit! That's my review. Holy shit!
That's actually a pretty dramatic review. Lots of WARRIOR MAN talk. I lol and lol. And go out to check the mailbox for mine every. single. day. #WANT
Oh yes! There's a block of stuff from that year that's amazing!anton wrote:I've been thru the whole set twice now, wow. The highpoint for me was the late 1933 Allen-Hawkins-Hendersson(Horace) stuff in ace sound quality.
I'm also really loving the little block of 1946 Metronome all star stuff with Sinatra, Nat King Cole and June Christy - it's gorgeously chillaxed and the vocals are really really nice (the Mosaic Christy/Peggy Lee set is amazeballs too).
Really, the best part of this set is that it goes from (lots of) seriously scratchy hot shit, through that chillaxed swing sound to more 'modern' small groups. I do like these Mosaic sets that follow a musician through several bands (like the Chu Berry one).
FWIW, that session is available on the Coleman Hawkins JSP set ("Essential Sides Remstared"). Sound is excellent. I'll end up getting the Mosaic, too, eventually, but the JSP is a nice cheaper alternative.anton wrote:I've been thru the whole set twice now, wow. The highpoint for me was the late 1933 Allen-Hawkins-Hendersson(Horace) stuff in ace sound quality.
There's also a group of sessions from 1957 and 1958 with Hawkins and Allen in a smaller setting. Also very good, though quite different in feel from the '33 recordings.
The JSP set is indeed very nice, but I would call it a complement rather than an alternative to the Mosaic set. The JSP has 104 tracks from 1929 to 1939, while the Mosaic has 190 tracks from 1922 to 1947 - the overlap being only 31 tracks if I counted correctly. The JSP includes tracks with the Little Chocolate Dandies, Jack Purvies, Spike Hughes, and all the European combos. The Mosaic has tons of Fletcher (and Horace) Henderson from 1923 to 1934 and later (post-Europe) recordings with Lionel Hampton, Benny Carter, the Metronome All Stars, Count Basie, Cozy Cole, Leonard Feathers, etc., etc.lipi wrote: FWIW, that session is available on the Coleman Hawkins JSP set ("Essential Sides Remstared"). Sound is excellent. I'll end up getting the Mosaic, too, eventually, but the JSP is a nice cheaper alternative.
So, the conclusion is that you must have both!
