FI R ST T HI N G
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Ten years in the making.
everal years ago, while accepting an
S Oscar, Maureen Stapleton stated,
"I'd like to thank everyone I ever
met in my life." Although I'm not quite
ready to do the same, I do want to thank
everyone who's ever bought a Mosaic col-
lection. It's hard to believe, but before
1992 comes to a close, Mosaic will celebrate
its 10th anniversary. And, of cour'se, any-
one who bought anything from us dlll-ing
that time helped to get us hel-e. So thank
you one and all!
We've come a long way since releasing
om' first collections. For three years, Michael
and Il'an the entire operation by ourselves
out of my home in Santa Monica, California.
The place was quite a scene, with canons of
inventory piled everywhel'e, truckel's and
lJPS men traipsing about, the phone I'ing-
ing off the hook, European tourists
stopping by asking incredu.lously, "Is this
Mosaic Records?!" and two small children
playing fort between stacks of Monks and
MuLligans. Gene Lees Wl'ote a piece about it
in his wonderful Jazzleuer called "Life
Among the Cartons." It's a vivid po"trait of
those days which I treasu,'e,
Life without cartons.
In 1985, we packed up and moved east to
Stamford, Connecticut where, although we
had more t"oom, we were stil.l in my home
and Michael and I were still doing every-
thing ourselves, The only real diffel'ence
was a very la'"ge increase in the number of
cartons, UPS men, truckers, European
tOUI;stS and phone calls. As wOl'd about us
spl"ead, and business got beuer, and my
marriage got worse, we eoncluded unavoid-
ably that we had to move into commercial
facilities and hire a staff. Three years ago,
On the Cover.
TIME. A drummer captures it, propels it, defines
it. And none more confidently than Art Blakey,
whose Blue Note recordings are themselves
little pieces of time. Blakey made bandleading
part of his artfonn, and each Incarnation of
the Jazz Messengers created history, both for
the music and the personnel that played it,
The complete recordings by the band many
consider his finest - the 1960 version - are all
together on Mosaic's new set. August 1960
photograph at the Jazz Gallery by Francis Wolff.
2
S FI R ST
we did just that.. Since then we've come to produced these sessions, created the sort of
you from real offIces and a real warehouse
and there are five other people hel'e to talk
to. Their names ar'e Phyllis, Margaret,
Ann, Scott and Lloyd. These are bright
people who love music and care about what
they're doing, which is a bit of a novelty
these days.
Along with growth comes change, and
for me it's always a big change when one of
our sets sells out. The Blue Note Monk, the
GelTy Mulligan, the AmmonslLewis, the
Clifford Brown and the Po.-t of Hal"lem
collections al'e sold out now and I feel like
I've lost some old and dear friends. But I'm
consoled and excited by all of oUI' new sets
- the ones we't'e t'e1easing right now and the
ones that might take many years to prepare.
New-from the original wish list.
Sometimes it actually takes ten years to get
something done around hue. Both the
Cole and Blakey eolleetions, which appear
in this b.-ochm'e for the first time, wet'e on
our original wish list when we dt'eamed up
this scheme in 1982. You already know
about the Cole set since it's been out for a
few months now. It's wonderful to see this
transcendent entertainer being recognized
by a whole new gene.-ation of listeners as
the inventive and influential keyboard
giant that he was,
And we finally have a set by Art Blakey,
the heartbeat of Blue Note Records, our
spit'itua.l home. The 1960 quintet featuring
Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter and Bobby
Timmons was one of Blakey's greatest, and
this is pure, classic hard hop at its best.
Putting out the Woody Shaw set is par-
ticularly exciting for me, not only because
Woody was a vel"y beautiful player who
deserves fal' widel' J'ecognition, but because
Michael was the original pl"oduce," of this
music, Woody definitely belongs in the pan-
theon of gr'eat tnuopetrnaster's and [ hope
the re-release of these marvelous sessions
will inc/"case Jlublic awareness of that fact.
And we've got another' great blues set to
add to our T-Bone Walket' L;oUection. Each
of the Candid sessions by Otis SIJann and
Lghtnin' Hopkins is valued amongst their
finest. That, and the inclusion of much
unreleased matel'ial from both sessions,
makes this set a must for blues lovers.
Fans of swing and stride solo piano will
be thrilJcd with thc Master Jazz Piano
Series box. Bill Weilbacher, the fan who
nUl"turing, unencumbered almosphere in
the studio which inspired artists to go
beyond the perfunctOl"y and reach below
the surface. The results are six LPs/four
CDs of absolutely beautiful so.lo piano musie.
Rudy Van Gelder speaks out.
We',"e a.lso happy to bring yOll in lhis
brochlu"e some rat'e public comments by
Rudy Van Gelder, the brilliant recording
enginee.- who almost single-handedly is
responsible fOt, the way we hear jazz on
record. The whole subject of digital
remains controversial and Rudy's com-
ments on this are of particular' intet'est.
For the future, we've got many projects
on the dt'awing hoard, most of which are
too embryonic to publicize here. We may
even be announcing some of them ten years
from now, in 2002! In the next year, you
can look forward to the Basie Rouleue stu-
dio set, a defmitive Lennie Tristano
collection, and sets by Thad and Mel,
Illinois Jacquet (finally!) and Louis
Annstrong. And, as always, we appreciate
and welcome YOUl' suggestions fOl' future
projects. We promise to consider them aU,
no matter how many decades it takes.
Enjoy the music!
Charlie Lourie
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
"The most important
thing you're doing is
mining the Blue Note
vaults. Never stop doing
that." Woody Shaw to
Michael Cuscuna.
A
round twenty yeat'S ago I was going
thl'ough the Impulse vaults fOl'
some reseat'eh on John Coltrane,
and J remembet' being amazed that Bob
Thiele, Colll'ane's producer, had ahso-
lutely no recol.lection of majOI', major
sessions that had oecuned as I'ecently as
eight years before. There I was, looking for
new infol'mation, but instead I wOIUld up
reminding Thiele about a ton of stuff that I
had docwnented, and that he had completely
forgotten about.
Today, I understand why, I grew up
learning about and treasuring a lot of Blue
Note jazz and Atlantic R&B , , , and while I
can still teU you who's on just about every
Below:
flRST. Master of the soprano saxophone Sidney
Bechet ranks first in a lot of categories. He was
the first real giant on this tricky, demanding
instrument; he was responsible for Blue Note's
first hit, "Summertime"; and he's featured on the
Port of Hartem Jazzmen LP, one of the first of
Mosaic's re-releases to sell out. If you missed
that one don't pass up Mosaic's 7he Complete
Slue Note Recordings of Sidney Bechet. Photo-
graph of Pops Foster, Wild Bill Davison and
Sidney Bec:het from April 1950, by Francis Wolff.
Blue Note record between 1940 and 1970, I
now [md I have a hal"d time answering ques-
tions about record dates that 1 produced!
The perfect Mosaic project.
Mter aU these years, it suddenly occuned to
me that my deep involvement with Woody's
music was what was keeping me from I"ealiz-
ing the pedect Mosaic project was stal"wg
me right in the face in the fOI"m of Woody
Shaw's substantial body of work for CBS.
When you WOl"k with someone as dynamic
and passionate as Woody Shaw, you get
close in unexpected ways. You share his
personal triumphs and disastel·s. You hang
around together, talking and laughing and
arguing and working. Many ideas are
explored and abandoned before you find
the one you Like. It can be aU-consuming.
Going through the Sony Music (fol"merly
CBS) vaults and l'elistening to those sessions
fOI" the lil'sttime since we'd I'ecorded them
was an amazing experience for me. Memories
came rushing back of things we tried and
succeeded at ... things we had to scrap, , .
players whose pl"esence at particuJal' sessions
I'd completely fOI'gotten about. For the fil"st
time I became aware of the histol'ic value of
the performances that I'd actuaUy partici-
pated in ... and the feeling was a bit stl"ange.
Now that the project is complete my only
regret is that Woody Shaw is not here to see
it. And I'm particularly proud to have
played a part in making this music avail-
able to the world, not once, but twice.
Michael Cuscuna
MOSAIC RECORDS 3
NEW R E
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
At last - the rest of us
can hear the Master Jazz
solo piano sessions.
ere at Mosaic, we have a natural
H affinity for one-of-a-kind musical
p"ojects that are born out of passion
for the music, and that tr·y to be aU-encom-
passing.
In the case of the Maste,' Jazz label, the
passion belonged to Bill Weilbacher, whose
hobbyist interest in mainstream jazz led
him to develop during the 1960s his mllch-
respected mail-order-only record business
(nice idea, huh?). The project that got our
interest was his obsession with solo piano.
He gathered the giants.
Weilbache,"'s idea was to give g,"eat pianists
in the swing and str'ide traditions a gl"eat
piano in an unp,"essUl'ed setting, and let them
rccord whatever material they wanted.
One by one, he 1)I'ought into the studio
such giants as Earl Fatha Hines, Claude
Hopkins, Cliff Jackson, Jay McShann,
Tcddy Wilson, Sonny White, Cliff Smalls,
Sir Charles Thompson, Keith Dunham,
Gloria Beam and Ham Hamirez.
It was the first opportunity for Jay
McShann, Claude Hopkins and Cliff
Jackson to I'econl solo piano.
Phenomenal. But forgotten.
The first album set the pattern: eaeh
release featured two selections by each of
five masters. And each received rave
reviews. Ultimately, foUl" volumes of Maste,"
Jazz piano recordings were released in the
U.S., as well as a Ram Ramirez album
f"om the same sessions and a fifth Master
Jazz piano LP that was briefly available
only in Australia.
But due to the very hmited mstr'ibution
Maste,' Jazz ,"eceived, even the albums that
wCI'e [)I'essed w,""C hea"d by p,-ecious few.
Until now.
Today, The Complete Master Jazz Piano
Series is a permanent testament to the infi-
nite variety and ,"iehness of the jazz piano
tradition in true Mosaic fashion. Thc set
CALL AND ORDER BY PHONE: 203/327-711110AM-5PM (EST) MONDAY-FRIDAY
OR FAX: 203/323-3526 VISA & MASTERCARD ONLY, PLEASE.
LEA S E S
The Complete Master Jazz Piano Series
Limited to 3500 copies worldwide.
6 LPs [MR6"140j $60
4 CDs [MD4-140j $60
featlll'es all 15 scssions and 63 Iwrformanecs
recorded for Master Jazz, including 13 by
Hines (two previously unissued), eight by
McShann and 13 by the gifted composer
of "Lovc," Man," Ram Ramirez, a major
contl"ibuto,' to Ike Quebec's ear"ly Blue
Note sessions.
The booklet includes ,"eminisccnces by
Bill Weilbacher, notes hy Nat Pierce, and
eare, o"iginal session photographs.
"This is aU top-grade stuff, the very
best that jazz has to offer in every
way, presentedJor the maximum
listening (and learning) pleasure.
Mosaic's produd stands in sharp
contrast to almost everything eLse in
tlwfield. Here is a commitment made
alld a commitment kept, and bodes
weUJor t/wforeseeablefiLture."
F,"ank Driggs, Audio
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Extremes of the blues-
Otis Spann and Lightnin'
Hopkins.
tis Spann and Lightnin' Hopkins
O wel"e about as fae apart as you can
get in the blues wodd. Bnt they did
have two things in common. Each was an
innovative blues mast.er, and eaeh made
one of his finest recordings for Candid, the
short-lived jazz label, in 1960.
Texas folk...
Lightnin' Hopkins, despite being one of the
most-recorded blues artists of his time,
never steayed far £I'om the storytelling
acoustic folk-blues he learned and
nuetured while working as a Texas
farmhand during the dep,"ession. It was a
form of blues not all that distant fl"Om the
origins of the music itself - and even as late
as 1960, not aU t.hat weB-known to whites
or northerners.
... Chicago electricity.
Otis Spann was an architect of the Chieago
school of pohshed electric blues. The
consummate session pianist for' Chess
Records and the heart of the Muddy
The Complete Candid Otis Spann/
Lightnin' Hopkins Sessions
Limited to 7500 copies worldwide.
5 LPs [MR5"139j $45
3 CDs [MD3-139j $45
Watel's band in the 1950s and 1960s, Spann
was a powerfully expressive singer' and a
wonderful boogie woogie pianist whose
technical prowess far exceeded that of the
hlues pianists of his day,
Now Mosaic has gathered together' theil'
entire output on Candid into one sel.
In addition to aLI eight tracks f"om the
o)'iginal Lightnin' Hopkins in New York
album, our set includes one track ("Black
Cat") previously released only in edited
for'111, plus fiVf~ Hopkins tracks previously
unissued in any fOl'm,
". , . Mosaic Records, in Stamford,
Connecticut., has become the jazz COLl1/.-
terpart (if'the Library ofAmerica. it
assembles, in handsome, thoroLlgh, uni-
form paclwges, the best ofthe
out-oj-print, oJien forgo/.ten recordings
that have been made Jor small jazz
labeLs during the pas t fijiy years, "
Whitney BalliI'll, The New Yorker
The Otis Spann s(~ssi()m; featul'c Hobe/·t
Lookwood Jr. (RollPJ't Johnson's stppson)
on c,'1litar' and occasional vocals, the
legendary SI. Louis Jimmy, and six great
instrumental hlues and lJOo~c piano solos,
Also included: the f'ntirr !'lassie Candid
aUlUm Otis Span1/. Is The Blnes, the
ohscure follow-up album Walkin' The Blues
(not n~leased until 10 yean; aftel' Candid
folded., aod then, only hl'iefly), pillS 13
pJ'f~violisly um'eleased perrot·mallees.
Rare then. Limited now.
These "xtl'em.,ly I'an'. ,'el'onlings by
Lightnin' Hopkins <lnd Otis Sp<lnn have
been meticulously tl'ansfern~d fl'Om the
OJ'iginal ste/'eo mastel'S, The booklt,t
includes an informative essay, biogt-aphies
and session notes by Mark Humphl'l~y,
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
The one thing Art Blakey
played better than drums
was musicians. In 1960,
he played the best.
E
Vet'Ybod Y knew whal a hrilliant and
powerful ell'ummer Art Blakey was-
his patented rising press roll; his
dipped, incessant hi-hat; his flutter-effect
rim shots. But Art Blakey's real genius was
shaping the sound and dynamics of a jazz
g"oup as fit'mly and distinctively as
Toseanini ,haped the sound of a symphony The Complete Blue Note Recordings of
on~hestl'a. Art Blakey's 1960 Jazz Messengers
This was Iwver more evident than in the Limited to 7500 copies worldwide.
1960 Jazz Messengers. 10 LPs [MR10-141j $90
6 CDs [MD6-141j $90
Morgan, Shorter and Timmons.
Together.
Lee MOI-gan, on trumpet, composed and 1960 Jazz Messengel's tells thl' tale, f"olll
pla)'l'd pure hard bop. Wayne Shot·tet·, on stal·tto finish. This 10 LP/6 CD Mosaic set
"axopholw, wa" a born futurist, constantly ineilldes all eight albums l'e!east'd lIy this
br'imming with off'-I'f:'nttT ideas that Wl't-!' quint.,ssential gl'oup: The Big Beat, It Night
year's ahead of their time. Bobby Timmons, in Tnnisiu, Like Someolle in Love, Meet
on piano, was a master at funky, gospd- YOIt at the Jazz Corner of the World
hasl'd composition. The pt'oJ'ulsive hass Volumes! and /1, Roots and Herbs, The
playel' .Jymir ."let·rill, an individual who Witch Doctor and The Freedom Rider-
was pat-tieulal'ly aUuncd tu Blakey's most of whidl have Iwen unavailabl(' for
rhythms, nlllnded out the organization, ove'- a deeade, Plus, five j)erfonnall('es
The faet that Blahy had in iVloq;an, releasecl ollly 11I'idly in J aJlan and Iwo
Shor·ter and Timmons thn~e distinrtly unissued perf...·mances.
differpnt musical personalities who wer'e as The booklet illdud"s a complete
talentpd as l'l""po,el's as they weI'" as lliscography, biographical and lIIusi(,i11
instrumentalists gave this Land its analyses hy Bob Blumenlhal and l"iln'
phologl·aphs.
extraordinary dept h and level of quality.
What tlll'Y wen' abll' to generatc in only
14 months i, ahout thc' Ill'st exampll' of
"ereative inspiration" you can find. And
now you ean find it- all of it - on Mosair. "if quality is ·what. yOIt most wallt )'0/1.
A marathon of music.
can S/'art by checking onl iV!oSltic
TIlt> t'ceorrling mat-athon stal-led in March
lY60 and didn't stop until Timmons and
Records, (L sl1'lall,jiRrcely independent
MIJl"gan left in May 1901. Thl'Ough seven
majol' studio sessions and a I,.,eonled stint
IlwiJ-order company I.hal calRI'S to juz;;
at Binlland, Art Blakey's 1960-l'lIi,ion Jazz
MesSl'ngers W('IT Iwpl busy donullenting
cOlllloissenrs orOluult./1R lVorld,"
one of the most impa,·tful small jazz groups
that Blul' NOll"'s Alfl'Nt Lion - or the wo,.[f!
OWl'll McNally, Hartford Courallt
- had ..,v..,r Iward.
To hear OIW of the real signature sounds
in musi(" and thl' OIl(' hand that mayhe !Jl'st
defi/wd it, thi, ('olllplpt(~ s..,1 of AI,t Blakey's
MOSAIC RECORDS S
 NEW R E
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Was there one Woody
Shaw? Or three?
The man tradition
couldn't contain.
hen~ al'e two ways to deal with your
T cultural roots. GI'OW up attached to
them, straight and true. 01" rest on
them gently before you take off and fly.
Woody Shaw was the person who'd
extend the line of great trumpet players
that indunes Clifford Brown, Lee Morgan
a [1(1 Frcdnic HubLunt. He did it as an
individual who drew ft'om the whole tradi-
tion. His unique style was influenced as
much by saxophones as by trumpets.
The Complete CBS SttLdio Recordings
of Woody Shaw, available now fwm
Mosaic, shows that what spl'ang from the
tr'adition was rich; fuU of art as well as
entertainment. MOI'e than something to lis-
ten to, Woody Shaw's music demanded you
listen,
A prodigy at 18.
Woody's fil"st sideman stint came eady-
as an 18-year-old trumpet p"orligy on Eril:
Dolphy's maste"piece, Conversations. He
latel' played with HOI"ace SiJver, Lany
Young, Chick Corea, Andl'cw Hill, Jackie
McLean, Joc Henderson, McCoy Tyner
and Dexter Cordon.
A fascinating component of his sound
stems from his love for classical music.
Then~'s a technical virtuosity, a lightness,
an almost pretty roundness to the tone,
and a feel for composition. The long Lst of
hard hoppers he played with never found
another trumpeter to contl"ibute that.
The leader emerges.
By 1977, Woody was ready to claim his
o\....n place. He put together his first per-
manent working band and signed his first
major'label deal with CBS Records.
From the first, he was confident, dal'ing
and acclaimed - Rosewood, featUl'ing an
electl'ifying 12-piece ensemble, was voted
Album of the Yeal' in the Down Beat
Reader's Poll, and nominated for a
GI"anuny. Three more consistently ehal-
lenuin b b
u and val'ied albums followed, with
sidemen Joe Hendel'son, Gal'y Bartz,
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6 OR FAX: 203/323-3526 VISA & MASTERCARD ONLY, PLEASE.
LEA S E
The Complete CBS Studio Recordings of
Woody Shaw
Limited to 5000 copies worldwide,
4 LPs [MR4-142] $40
3 CDs [MD3-142] $45
George Cables, Steve TUITe and James
Spaulding, among others.
Overlooked. But remembered.
The recm'ded legacy of Woody Shaw - one
of the most important tl"Umpet players of
the past 20 yeal"s - has been vastly ovel'-
looked. We are especially proud to restore
to circulation all of the Columbia studio
recordings hy Woody Shaw (Ol"iginally PI'O-
duced by Mosaic's own Michael Cuscuna!)
and make them availahle on CD fOI" the first
time. The Complete CBS Studio Recordings
of Woody Shaw also includes one unissued
tune, a booklet including biographical
notes by Michael Cuscuna and session
notes by Cad Woideck.
"RECORD COMPANY OF THE YEAR:
Mosaic. Devoted to painstaking
reissu-es in high-class, boxed sets, this
mad-order outfit has earned a unique
reputation.
Leonard Feather, fA Times
S
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
"You've got an awkward
combination there. "
Wkwal'd, indeed. Few, at the time,
A had ever heal'd a piano-guital'-bass
combo. The common perception
was that a small group should sound Lke a
scaled-down big band. And any gl"OUp
highlighting two chordal instruments, such
as piano and {,'Uitar, with a bass to drive it,
was eourting disaster' , , , a musical tr'ai n
wreck in the making.
But Cole felt he was onto something.
The King Cole T"io had a uniquely light
and delicate sound that club audiences
loved ... especially when Cole added an
occasional vocal to the set, with a voice that
perfectly matched his breezy piano style.
But, light as it appeared on the surface, the
music that the trio was playing was power-
ful. , , I"hythmically and hannonicaUy
challenging in a way that presaged bebop.
Poll winners.
The King Cole Trio won the Down Beat
poll fl'om 1944 thl'ough 1947, They won the
Metr'onome poU from 1945 through 1948.
Cole was considel'ed by many to be the best
jazz pianist of his day, winning the top
piano honor's in the 1947 through 1949
Metronome polls, and receiving Esquire
Awards in 1946 and 1947.
Cole's unique keyboard style, and the
fresh configul'ation in the drummerless
trio, began to make its mark on eve"yone,
from future behoppers like Bud Powell and
blues greats like Charles Brown, and even
future R&B giants like Ray Charles.
But it wasn't just musicians appreciat-
ing the trio, 01' jazz fans. Their records
were I'outinely landing on the nation's pop
and R&B charts.
As Cole's popularity began to grow to
almost staggering proportions, he began
introducing new elements inlo his record-
ings. In 1946 he and lhe tl'io wOI'ked with
strings for the first time, By 1950 Cole was
making reeol·ds that were more pop than
jazz. Often, he wouldn't even play piano.
At times, no other member of the trio was
present. Thus ended an el'a, and began
another, that millions of people around the
world associate with Nat King Cole.
ThEl end of an era.
ADd with a few exceptions, that era of
Cole's worldwide, mainstream popularity is
where Mosaic's 27-LP/18-CD compilation
of The Complete Capitol Recordings of The
Nat King Cole Trio ends!
As Mosaic's set demonstrates, Nat Cole's
recorded output of brilliant jazz is stagger-
ing. The availability of these recordings-
some foe the fit'st time in forty yem's, othel's
for tbe fil'st time evee - may well permanently
innuenee the way we view the evolution of
early bebop. Most certainly, they will
shaepen our awareness of Nat IGng Cole's
enormously important contt'ibution to jazz.
Best of all, this is one of the most plea-
surable, important discoveries of the past
several decades. And now, it can be all yours.
Hear for the first time ...
The Complece CapiLOl Recordings of The
Nat King Cole Trio contains every Nat IGng
Cole Capitol commercial and transfTiption
recoeding that features Cole on piano, with
both trio participation and/or a jazz feel.
This ineludes every recording from Cole's
The Complete Capitol Recordings of the
Nat King Cole Trio
Limited to 10,000 copies worldwide.
27 LPs (MR27-138] $270
18 CDs [M018-138] $270
Please note speCial shipping charges
on order form.
fir'st seven years at Capitol (1943-1949),
plus everything released afterward that can
reasonably be considered a jazz-based
recording (including the ol"iginal "Penthouse
Serenade" sessions from 1952 and 1955 and
"After' Midnight" sessions of 1956).
Most of this set consists of I'are material
... with fuUy two-thirds of these recordings
unavailable on LP or CD until now, and
many of thf~ rest long out of pl'int.
In order to make this set truly complete
from 1942 on, we've included aU six
Excelsior recordings, four of which Capitol
chose not to purchase, and the four sides
I'ecorrled for Atlas-Premier just pr'ior to the
trio's first Capitol session.
Contains:
• A lavish 64-page booklet with session-by-
session notes and commentary by WilJ
Friedwald (author of Jazz Singer), and
an essay on Cole's keyboard artistry by
pianist Dick Katz.
• A complete session-by-session discogra-
phy and cross-indexed tune list.
• Rare photographs.
"Great American music comes i.n lots of
styles, but whatever the sound, it doesn't
get much greater than this. Anyone of the
tunes in this coUection can swing you off on
a cashmere cloud."
Jay Cocks, Time
"This set unveils the other Cole - the one
who is revered by jazz scholars and musi-
cians as one of the great pianists and
innovators in jazz's history."
Wayne Thompson, The Oregonian
"This most monumental of Mosaic's
antlwlogies leaves no doubt that Cole's
artistry and influence were as substan-
tial as his commercial success."
Bob Blumenthal, The Boston Gld>e
MOSAIC RECORDS 7
 Mas A I CPR a MIS E S
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
W
e stal'ted Mosaic with an am. bi-
tious agenda of standards and
Mosaic stands goals that, to this day, is stilJ thp
guiding force behind pvprything we do,
by its plan. Important artists. Not just the
biggest.
Thp aJ·tists we choose al'e selected for their
place in the histol'Y of American musie.
Music, above all, is what determines if an
artist bdongs on Mosaic.
You won't necessal·i1y find us going fOl'
the big commereial names. But, neithel'
will you find us diseriminating against
them. Hel'e, 1'01' the first time anywhere,
Brooks and Nichols are J"f'ganled on e<[ual
tenns with Monk, Mingus and Getz.
Everything you expect. And more.
Choosing the al,tist is only half the hattie.
The oth,'I' half is deciding upon a histori-
cally viable coneept. We want Mosaic sets
to be as important, and as complete as we
can make Ihem. OUI' sels indude every sig-
nificant track that falls within the scopc of
a given project, presented in an organized,
chronologieal manner usually for the fil'st
time ever, \Ve go into Ihe vaults of as many
re(,ord labels as neccssaq' 10 examine all
their original session tapes. In addition to
pl'eviously issued material, Mosaic sets are
usually rich with unreleased tl'acks and
valid alternate takes. It's no accident
we're considered the label for failS and col-
lectors "who want it all."
Information, photos and more
information.
To put everything into its proper and
fascinating perspective, Mosaic commis-
sions leading authorities to write OUI'
hook lets and supply collectors with all
pertincnt dates, personncllistings, and
discographical information. Our booklets
range in size from eight pages to 64 pages.
Inteniews and photogl"aphs from the
actual sessions are included whenevel"
possible. Enlightening musical ovcnicws
are a matter of course.
The best we know how to make.
When it comes to our physical product we
take a unique "cost is no object" approach.
We're convinced that our pressing plant,
OUl" pl"intel' and our box fabricator are the
8 CALL AND ORDER BY PHONE: 203/327-711110AM-SPM (EST) MONDAY-FRIDAY
OR FAX: 203/323-3526 VISA Be MASTERCARD ONLY, PLEASE.
best in the countl'y,
Limited Editions make important
music into important recordings.
Mosaic sets al'e limited to no more than
10,000 worldwide (usually even less). Once
they al'e aU wId we wiU never' make them
available again, adding il1lllleaslll"ably to
the future value and historical significance
of the Mosaic sets you buy.
And speaking of value, that's a basic
tenet of ours.
Mosaic pl'ices arc competitvc with common
records and CDs. Record sets al'e priced
at $10 per LP. CD sets aI'e priced at $15
per CD. Thc booklet, the box and the sel'-
vice come to you at no additional ehat"ge.
Mosaie CD huyers get pxaetly the same
l1lusie as in our (TitieaUy acclaimcd, deluxe
LP sets. With the exaet same informative
LlOoklet (not a scaled-down CD pamphlet).
In the same sturdy 12" x 12" libl'al'y box,
With the same ]jmited-edition colleetibilily.
And, sincc there are fewer CDs than LPs in
a given set, OUl' CD sets come at a pl"ice
that's very close to or, in some cases,
exactly the same as the LP equivalents.
We make ordering easy.
And we guarantee satisfaction.
You ean use the order form in this
brochure to onlet· Mosaic sets. 0." simply
('all during working hours and tell us what
you want. You'll be speaking to a mcmber
of the Mosaic family, not a switchboard
onlel' takcr. You may pay with VISA or
MasterCard, a check drawn on aU,S,
bank or money onler in U.S, currency,
Furthel'mol"e, everything we sell is fully
guaranteed. Just say the word and we'll
"eplaee a defeetive I'eeord a maned
booklet ... a worn box even a postal-
damaged entil'e set.
That's the way we first set oul doing
business. And by sticking to the plan, we're
stilJ in business almost ten years late.',
 COMMODORE VOLUMES I AND II

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Complete Commodore Jazz Recordings, Volume I.

Limited to 2500 copies worldwide.
Almost Sold Out. 23 LPs [MR23-123] $230
The Complete Less than 50 remaining as of June 1992.
Please note special shipping charges on order form.
Commodore Jazz Not available on CD.
Recordings, Volunle I.

M
osaie's first volume of The Complete
Commodore Juzz ReCfJnlings
n~t.:t'ivpd five stars in Duttilt
Grannll) Ilo'ninations, and f':xlravagant praise-
in ~v~rylhin~ fnlln JozzTimes to Notio/wl
Review.
Spanninf'; [9:18-[94:3, Volltme I features
,,;ome of the most valued r~eordings by ,,;uch
artisb as: L,>ster Young, Billie Holiday, Chu
BeITY, Jelly Roll jVlorton, Willi" The Lion
Smith, ColemanlIawkin,,;, Md Powell, ami
BeuL., two a host of olhers.
"Can the Mosaie folks top this al't! Yes.
but only with Volume II and III. They'n' doing
Ihl' job none of the conglomerales eould or
would touch."
Alan Bargebuhr, Cadellce

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eould get fO!' hi,,; Commodore lahp!.
During the next 14 month,,; Commodore
The Complete Records would record ami rplease as much
Commodore Jazz great music as it had in its first five yeat'S,
combin.·,I!
Recordings, Volume II.
• In lIofrulIP 11 you'll get :~40 "ecordings made
The Complete Comllwdore Jozz during that historic timp on 2::J LPs. Included
Commodore Story" hy Milt Gahler. session-by-
session notps hy Dan MorgenstPI'n, rm'p
photographs, and a thol'oughJy ,'esearchpd
diseography.
• Edition limited to 2500 copips worldwide.
"*****"
Down Beat

I
n
Recordings, Volume ll, Mosaic Records
takes you back to an cra when a record slol'e
eould thrive sdling jazz.
It was 1944 through parly [945, and the
Commodore Record Shop, together with the
record label that it spawner!., was smoking! The
war ""US winding down, ano ~h('Uae was
becoming more r~adily availablp. A reeording
han imposed on thp industl'y hy the Amel·ican
Fpderation of Musicians was lifted, and
suddenly year, of pent-up crpativity found
pXfJr,-ssion on disc. In New York, Milt Gabler
was thpI'p to I'aptlll'f' as mUl'h of it as he
al'e dozens of "Commodore landmal'ks"
featuring Billie Holiday" L.'stn Young, Bpn
Webster, Zoot Sims. Red MeKpnzie, Hot Lips
Page. Bobby Hackett and Ed Hall with Teddy
Wilson, all sounding better than you've "'ver
heH"d them. Plus., then' are surprisps around
evel'y turn, with llevt·,'-bcfore-released
altentate taktcs and newly discovered tracks by
AlIH'rt Ammons, the DeParis Brothers, Jess
Stacy, Sid Catktt., Jack Teagarden, JoP
Bushkin, P,'e Wee Russell, Eddic Haywood,
George Zack .. and many others.
• 48-page booklet contains Part II of "The
"Mosaic has once again eompiled an historic
and eultul'al document of monumental
significanceo ,~
W. Royal Stokes, JazzTimes
"One wOld,1 havp to thumb thnHlgh tlw
dictionary of circus hype for words like
'stupendous' and 'colossal' to find adjcl'li\'es
ad"''1uate to descrilw tIll" spcond volume of thc
cOlnplete Conunodon-' re("ordin~~ ... To say
volunw two is the P'Iual of volume OllP is v,.,.y
high pl'aise indeed, and so it is." .
Bob HiLbprt, Joslill's Jazz JOllrtlal

The Complete Commodore "Volume II ... testifies to th" invelltiverless of

Jazz Recordings, Volume II Ru,,;sell, Spaniel', f)avison and tile otl"'r
Limited to 2500 copies C()ndolljtps~ and also contains hl"illi<:.lllt wOl'k
worldwide. fnllll Holiday. Paw,', Sid Catl,,1t (with Hell
23 LPs [MR23-128] $230 Wpbskl')" Edmond Hall and Tl'ddy Wil,,," .
Less than 800 remaining as new ideas can llP hp31 0
d 011 tHloHdy P\,(-'I"Y
of June 1992. altl'l'natp takp.'·' ..
Please note special shipping
charges on order form. Bob Blumenthal, Bostoll Globe
Not available on CD.
·'Thp COllllnodon's al'e wO'lller'ful 1 B"th, bllt
pspeeially number two is a kind of mOUUllwllt to
the nIPmory of Pep WeI" Bussell. How that man
could play. But it iSIl't too had either to gct Ilew
takes with James P., .Jaek Teaganlen and Hot
Lips Pagp!! I call hardly wait fot· number
thITe."
Nils-Cunnm' Ande,·hy. Stockholm, Swedell

MOSAIC RECORDS 9
 COMMODORE VOLUME
•••••••••••••••••••••••••
The Complete
Commodore Jazz
Recordings, Volume III.
V
olume III in Mosaic Ref,ords'
wlprecedentl'd Limited Edition release
of The Complete Commodore Jazz
Recordings includ..,s aLI the last 78s, aLI the w-
inch and 12-inch LPs, important addenda to
hoth [wevious volumes, plus a wealth of
previously unissued material hy Billie Holiday ,
Bud Freeman, Jonah Jones, Ralph SUlton,
Frank Wess, Mel Powell, Wild Bill Davison,
Peck Kelley, Eddie Edwards' Original
DLxieiand Jazz Band, and others.
You were there . ..
The years were 1945 through 1957 and
technology was on a rampage. America WaS
going through postwar changes that would set
the tone 1'01' the rest of the century.
The advent of the tape recorder in the late
'40s opened up a Pandor"a's box ruled with
gimmicks, special effects, and easily attainable
perfection. Recorded music had lost its
innocence and it would never be the same again.
Still, the Commodore label remained
steadfast in its dedication to the musie, and to
the musicians, that typiJied the era it had helped
to define. From the all-star Town Hall concert
of June 9, 1945 through the legendary Peck
Kelley private recordings of June 9 and 16,1957,
Commodore was making history to the end.
"I've had offers to produce. And I said, I've
got to get my stuff out again. Then maybe I'U
produce. But at my age, where am I going to
find a Billie Holiday or a Pee Wee Russell? I
enjoy going to concerts ... I hear the new guys
... blowing their brains out and playing their
hearts out. Occasionally you hear something
fabulous, but it doesn't top what we had.
it was a time that may neVer come back."
Milt Gabler
10 CALL AND ORDER BY PHONE: 203/327-711110AM-SPM
OR FAX: 203/323-3526 VISA & MASTERCARD ONLY, PLEASE.
III
Highlights of Volume III Include:
• Newly discovered alternate takes by Bud
• Commodore mainstay Wild Bill Davison in
session with his Commodores; George Brunies;
Freeman and his Gang in 1938, and hy Billie Eddie Edwards and his Ol"iginal Dixieland Jazz
Holiday in 1944. Band; Sidney Bechet.
• The real master takes on Chu Berry's "Blowin' • Mel Powell's only big-band n,eordings.
Up a Breeze" and "Monday at Minton's." • EncOl"es and more by Willie The Lion Smith.
• Conunodore's 1945 Town Hall all-star • Ralph Sutton interprets Bix.
extravaganza in the best sound ever, featul'ing • The authentic New Orleans sound of Johnny
Red Norvo and His Orchestra with Shorty ~liggs.
Rogers, Flip Phi]lips, Eddie Bert, Teddy • Commodore's excursion into modern jazz
Wilson, Remo Palmiel"i, Slam Stewart and with Frank Wess.
Specs Powell; Bili Coleman, featuring Billy • Peek Kelley recorded at last.
Taylor on piano; Gene Krupa with Charlie • 246 recOl'dings on 20 LPs.
Ventura; the Stuff Smith Trio, with Billy • 4-8-page hooklet contains Pal"t III of "The
Taylor and Ted Sturgis; TNldy Wilson fronting COllllllodore Story" hy Milt Gahler, session-hy-
membel"S of the Red Norvo ensemble; Don Byas session notes by Dan Morgenstern, and rare
and Slam Stewart. photographs.
• Serious jazz hy Jouah Jones, with Ike • Special 6S-page beginning-to-end disc-
Quebec, Tyt·..,e Glenn, Hilton Jefferson, Milt ogrnphy of Commodore jazz. Pubhshed for the
Hinton, and .I .C. Heard. first time ... a $25 value.
• Edition limited to 2500 copies worldwide.
The Complete Commodore Jazz Recordings, Volume III
Limited to 2500 copies worldwide.
20 LPs [MR20-134] $200
Please note special shipping charges on order form.
Not available on CD.
Special Offer:
If you purchased
Commodore I and "
send in your coupons
and take 20% off on
Commodor'e III.
(EST) MONDAY-FRIDAY
 S TIL L A
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
His tone could fill the
Polo Grounds - one of
the giants of jazz,
Sidney Hechet.
ew Orleans, teeming with culture
N
from many nations, gave birth to
Bechet and his sound. It also filled
him with the ur'ge to travel. He stomped
'round the world while still in his twenties.
Russia. Egypt. He played for the king of
England, bangcd around in bistros, ran a
Harlem speakeasy, did timc in Paris ...
HI" was all over the globe, making every
musical note count.
An astonishing improviser.
Bechet had an astonishing ability to improvise.
The Complete Blue Note Recordings ofSidney
Bechet is a reminder of his substantial gift.
He h>ld a powerful tone, thick vibmto,
and unflagging energy. He was the first true
master of the soprano saxophone.
New transfers add clarity.
Bechet appeared from 1939 to 1953 on 13
sessions 1'01' Bluc Note, 10 as Ieadel', yielding
these 74 selections. Mosaic pl'Csents them on
six LPs/four CDs, with many tracks taken
from IWW disc transfers to give added
clarity. Including 1:3 unissued tracks and
four titles pl'eviously available only on 10-
inch LPs or 78s.
The booklet includes a bio by John
Chilton, musical analysis by Max Harrison,
a full discography, rare photogl'aphs, and
Blue NOll" cover >lI't from the '40s.
(In order to be complete in each case,
Ihis collection includes three selections from
the Port of Harlem LP and seven selections
from the Art Hodes set.)
"One of the invaluable series of collections
on Mosaic Records."
John S. Wilson, The New Yo/,k Times
" ... 1'1 monument, demonstrating
Bechet's consistency and drive in any
selling"
- Eric Levin, People
v A I LAB L E
Many unissued or rare sides.
Here is Art rolling along with Sidney Bechet,
Wild Bill Davison, Vic Dickenson, Baby
Dodds, Edmond Hall, Max Kanunsky, and
Mczz Mezzrow. The set includes many per-
fonnanl,es pl'eviously unissued or released
only on 78s and lO-inch LPs. Five LPs (01'
foUl' CDs) plus a hooklet wilh original liner
notes, a thorough discography, Art Hodes'
own writings, and many rare Fnrncis Wolff
photographs, plus a new appl'eeiation by
Dan MOI'genslern.
(In order to be complele in each ease,
this collcction includes scven selectiuns >llso
in our Sidney Beehet set.)
The Complete Blue Note Recordings of
Sidney Bechet "This delightful five-n'cord set collects all
Limited to 7500 copies worldwide. of Hodes' infol'mal Blue Note dates, wilh
6 LPs [MR6-110] $60
wondel'fut contribulions f.-om Sidney
4 CDs [MD4-110] $60
Bechet, Max Kaminsky, Vie Dickenson,
and Baby Dodds among olhel·s."
Fl'aneis Davis, Philadelphia Inquirer
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
First we'll tell you
what we went through
with Art Hodes, then
we'll tell you why.
f you think reissuing e1assic jazz is as easy
as pulling a box off a shelf and pressing
up some records, get a load of what we
went through wilh tlH~ Art Hodes recordings.
First we had to transfel' the original 16-
inch wartime acetates to audiotape.
Those wel'e compal'ed to transfel's made
for reissues in 1951, in 1969, and a third set The Complete Art Hodes Blue Note
in the '70s. We even transferred 78s we Sessions
could acquire fOl' fUI,thel' study. Limited to 7500 copies worldwide.
5 LPs [MR5-114] $50
Painstaking comparisons. 4 CDs [MD4-114] $60
We made painstaking iVB comparisons of
all exisling tapes for every cut, justlo see if
transfers made 35 years ago wel'e better than
ours. We'I'e committcd 10 the best even if it
means throwing out our own wOl·k.
As fOl' the documentation, let's just say "Now [Hosaic restores order with
that experience has taught us not to believe
every printed word. meticulous completeness and honest
So how come all the interest in a pianist
sound. "
who I'ecorded before World Wal' Two?
Because Hodes is steeped in three impOl'tant - Alan Bm'gehuhr, Cadence
strains - he's /'r'om Chicago, he plays New
Orleans, and he plays it blues.
MOSAIC RECORDS 11
 S TIL L A
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
"I believe it all comes
originally from I-Bone
Walker. And B.B. King
thinks so too." - Freddie
King
-none \VaJker mayor may not have
Y been the first hluesman evel' to rig lip
an electl'ic guitar in the '30s. But
theee's liule rlollbtthat he was the fint to
figm'e out what to do with it.
Electrifying the blues.
It was vil,tuaUy impossible for an acoustic
guitar to be heard above the early big
bands. T-Bone Walker solverlthe peoblem
by pe..fecting an electrifIed guitae, as well as
a sound and a playing style to go with it.
In 1942, with the FI'eddie Slack Band,
T-Bone Walker' r'ceorded the seminal "Mean
Old World" b/w "I Got A Break Baby" fOl'
Capitol. By 1946, T-Bone was in his prime,
recor'ding 48 jazz-tinged electric blues classies
for the TAls Angeles-based Black & White
lahel. These sides gained T -Bone national
exposure, and taught a whole generation of
blues guitarists how it should be done.
By the mid- '50s, aftel' years of success on
Imperial Records, T -Bone was heal'ing his style
imitated by bluesmen, R&B musicians, and
eventually rock & rollers from coast to coast.
All the recordings that started it all
Today, T-Bone Walker is acknowledged
by all to be the true father of the electric
blues. But while some of the songs he weote
Jive on in the repel'loir'es of thousands of
al,tists ("Stormy Monday," ''I'm Still In
Love \Vith You"), the vast majority of
1'-Bone's originall'ecol"liings have, until
now, been incl'edibly difficult to come by.
The Mosaic set includes all 144 tracks
reeonled hy T-Bone \Valker as a leader dUI'-
jng his most influential years.
The booklet includes an essay by tbe
noted T-Bone biographer, Helen Oakley
Dance, a complete discography of every-
thing in this set, and l'aI'e photographs.
"Among the very best box sets released in
the past decade ... extraordinary ... "
Mike Joyce, The Washington Post
12 CALL AND ORDER BY PHONE: 203/327-711110AM-5PM
OR FAX: 203/323-3526 VISA & MASTERCARD ONLY, PLEASE.
v A I LAB L E
The Complete Recordings of T-Bone
Walker 1940-1954
Limited to 7500 copies worldwide.
9 LPs [MR9-130] $90
6 CDs [MD6-130] $90
"There's simply no way to JuUy
express just how exciting and educa-
tional the T-Bone set is, It goes of/the
top of the scale in record review terms
and ups the ante beyond the reach oj
aU record companies currently raiding
their vaultsfor blues reissue product. "
- Michael Point,
Austin American-Statesman
"It's truly (t plettSltre to be able to com-
pletel)' trust a company that does
things up right. The attention to disco-
graphical detail in the T-Bone set sets
new statulardsJor blues/R&B reissues
in this country,"
-Jack Woker,
Cambridge, Mass.
(EST) MONDAy-FRIDAY
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
What drove Alfred Lion?
A
n immigrant from Berlin, AUI'ed
Lion was a jazz fan the night he
went to John Hammond's
"Spirituals to Swing" concert in 19:38. Six
days later he was a jazz producer with his
fil'st record - and he never looked back.
Lion had a passion for the music and he
I'eeol'ded the music he liked. Three very
early sessions demonstl'ate how Lion
elicited great perfonnances by placing
supel'b players in compelling new envit'on-
ments. We've eompiled those three sessions
on one Mosaic LP, The Pete Johnson/Earl
Hines/Teddy Bunn Bllw Note Sessions.
Lion got Ead Hines to cut two 12"
78t'pm sides of intimate piano, quite unl.ike
most of Hines' diseogl·aphy. Then Lion got
Pete Johnson into his studio for two piano
solos and fOUl' stomping trio sides. A few
months latel' he l'ecol'ded Teddy Bunn
playing unaccompanied jazz guitar. And
the I'esults wel'e exceptional.
"A valuable disc for the historic:al docu-
mentation of the solo Johnson and the oft
overlooked Bunn."
AJan Bargebuhr, Cadence
The Pete Johnson/Earl HinesjTeddy
Bunn Blue Note Sessions
Limited to 5000 copies worldwide.
1 LP [MRl-119] $10
Not available on CD.
 S TIL L A
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
They were called the
"Blue Note Jazzmen"-
anyone of them was
capable of calling the
shots.
ne day the session would be
O Edmond Hall's All Star Quintet.
Another day would feature James
P. Johnson's Blue Note Jazzmen. On a
third date, Vic Dickenson would be in
charge. A fOUl·th, and Sidney De Paris'
Blue Note Stompers had hooked the l"Oom.
Fl"Om J941 to 1952, they were the
nucleus of an early Blue Note t'epertory
eompany, and all they played can be found
on The Complete Edmond HallJ./ames P.
./ohnson/Sidney De Paris/ViA; Dickenson
Blue Note Sessions.
Hall vil'tually talked on his clarinet.
De Pat'is' tmmpet was l'epot·tedly one of
the toughest tl'umpets to cut in Harlem jam
st'ssions. Dickenson didn't just pal·ticipatt'
in tradition, he nearly was one all by him-
st'lf, staying active on tl'Ombone more than
60 years.
"The greatest pianist."
And who was the greatest pianist in jazz?
Acconling to Duke, Basie, Hines, Tatum,
Fats, and Willie The Lion, it was Johnson,
the great stride pianist who was such an
important tl'ansitional figut'e between rag-
time and jazz. Sidemen include Chadie
Chl'istian, Red Nol'vo, Teddy Wilson,
Hal'ry Carney, and Ben WebsteL
A festival of styles.
Get ready for a festival of New Orleans,
stt'ide, swing, third stl'eam, and every com-
bination imaginable. Six LPs, 01' fom CDs
include 13 unissued tl'acks, six: available
only on 78s, and most of the l'est scattel'ed
across little-known anthologies. Where
possil)le, the Ol'iginal discs were newly
transferred for added claeity and pUl'ity.
The booklet includes biographies, musi-
cal analysis, a detailed discography, l'al'e
photographs, and mOl·e.
"Mere words cannot l'cally convey the
ovel'all excellence of the jazz music con-
tained in this Mosaic set."
John Nelson, Mississippi Rag
14 CALL AND ORDER BY PHONE: 203/327-711110AM-5PM (EST) MONDAY-FRIDAY
OR FAX: 203/323-3526 VISA &I MASTERCARD ONLY, PLEASE.
v A I LAB L E
The Complete Edmond Hall/James P.
Johnson/Sidney De Paris/Vic
Dickenson Blue Note Sessions
Limited to 7500 copies worldwide.
6 LPs [MR6-109] $60
4 CDs [MD4-109] $60
" ... a t'are Oppol'tunity to heal' [Charlie
CheistianJ on acoustic guitar instead of the
clef'tric. "
John S. Wilson, The New York Times
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
New Orleans jazz wasn't
dead. And these records
proved it.
I
n the late ';.30S' die-h.arcl enthusiasts. of
authenllc New Orleans jazz, like Bill
Russell and Fl'ederick Ramsey, wel'e
detemuned to keep the sound alive. When
they leal'ned that many of the music's eady
authentics were still actively playing in
New Odeans, and in vel'y much the same
style as ever, their mission was dear.
In May 1943, Bill RusselJ supel'Vised the
George Lewis /'ecol'ding session which, like
the ground-breaking 1940 l'ecordings of Bunk
Johnson by Heywood Hale Beoun and the
1942 Jazzmen sides by Bunk with GeOl'ge
Lewis, proved to the world that all the pas-
sion of the New Orleans style had survived
intact. \Vhen Alfred Lion heard some of
the discs, he immediately bought up the
eights to the entire session, and created a
new subsidial'y, Climax, to l'e1ease them.
A time warp, pure and simple.
When "Climax Rag" hit the Commodore
Musie Shop on Octobel' 11, 1943, it helped
usher in a full-fledged revival of puee New
Odeans jazz. Francis Wolff callcd it "the
very incarnation of the spit'it of New
Orleans jazz." The fact that this was a
current, working band made the event all
the more uplifting. George Lewis became
the standar'd bearet· for the tme diseiples.
Live for real.
By 1954, the George Lewis Band was still
going strong. A radio concert and a live con-
eert, reconled in Bakersfield, California
thaI year, were also purehased by Blue Note.
Then, in 1955, the band made its most pro-
fessionally produced recordings yet, at Rudy
Van Gelder's studio undet· Alfred Lion's
supervision.
\Ven, George Lewis was a man after OUI'
own heart. At Mosaic, we too believe in
keeping original music alive. So, our George
Lewis sel includes all 25 Climax tl'acks, 13
ofwhieh have never appeaeed in the U.S.,
plus both 1954 concerts, with one unissued
tune, as well as the Van Gelder tracks from
The Complete Blue Note Recordings of
George Lewis.
Limited to 7500 copies worldwide.
5 LPs [MR5-132] $45
3 CDs [MD3-132] $45
195.5, with four unissued performances and
one issued previously onJy on a lO-inch LP.
The booklet contains a biography of Geol'ge
Lewis hy Page Van Vorst, along with a
complete discography of this set and l'are
photographs by Francis Wolff and others.
'This 3-CO (or 5-LP) Fetconlains some ofLewis's
gr'P~te;,t nxonled WOl-k, much ofit pr"eviously mus-
sUefl, in a digital rema~ring that beautifully
capture;; the n~lentless drive and haunting tone that
weI,," his trademark.,."
Tom Sandon, Time
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Bird told Miles and Dizzy,
"You better watch out.
There's a little white cat
on the West Coast who's
gonna eat you up."
het Baker I'eports the quote himself,
C out of awe, not pride. He met Parker
when th(·~ altoist was putting together a
band in L.A. Every trumpeter in L.A. came
down, and aftel' Chet played two tunes,
Parker canceled the audition and hired him-
self a horn player.
What Parker recognized, what this
release revcals, is that Chet Baker may have
been 0111' of the most intuitive and improvisa-
tional player's ever.
H,e <:ouldn't ,'ead a note. Didn't have a
due about chonl stnll'Wre and progr'essions.
But what a fahulous ear for melody and
eOlllplernlental'y playing!
Night after night, Ba ker's only safety net
was Russ Freeman's great compositions and
firm suppon. The Complete Pacifu: Jazz
Live Recording$ of the Chet Raker Quartet
with Russ Freeman is the evidence.
Newly discovered sides.
This set - recorded in 1954 - gives you every
note reeonled Jive for Pac,ifie Jazz, four LPs
(01' three CDs) induding two and a half LPs'
worth unavailable until now, The booklet
offers an in-depth essay hy Joe Goldhel'g, a
1954 article by Pacific Jazz owner Dick
Bo<:k, and William Claxton's photogr'aphs of
the a<:tual events,
"Anyone who doubts that Chet Baker is a
major instrumental talent-and anyone who
is unaware that Russ Fl'eeman was an excep-
tional pianist-should bear The Complete
Pacific Jazz Recording$ o/the Chet Baker
Quartet with RLLS8 Freeman. "
R. C. Smith, Durham Morning Herald
their saddle uxfords," said one n~viewer).
Many of these vocal tracks, recorded between
1953 and 1957, wel'e ol'iginaLly released
dl'enched in ccho and foggy hom 11I"a vy
equalization. We seat'ched every tape vcr'sion
of each cut and wl'ung 'em out, back to the
basic "as-recorded" sound Mosaic collectors
expect. Overdubs added latcr' al'e gone.
Untrained hipness, lyrical simplicity.
The coLledion confirms what a lot of fans
have been saying all along- Chet Baker
plays and sings jazz with unlI'ained hipness
and Iy rical simplicity.
"Chet slI'uc:k me as a giant then," said
Freeman years latel·. And he strikes us as
The Complete Pacific Jazz Live
one now - coming through loud and clear in
Recordings of the Chet Baker Quartet
with Russ Freeman the sessions that made the difference. The
Limited to 7500 copies worldwide. booklet contains a perceptive essay by Will
4 LPs [MR4-113] $40
3 CDs [MD3,113] $45
ThOl'nbury, musical analysis by Doug
Ramsey, and many unpublished photographs
by William Claxton f("om the actual sessions.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
The seminal Chet Baker
sessions - cleaned up
and sounding incredible.
"He doesn't have any idea what key
he's playing in 01' what the
chonls al'e," explained quat'tet
member and composer, Russ Freeman.
"It's aLi just by ear". He has not bing to fall
back on. But t/wre would be certain flights,
maybe once a week, when he would be abso-
lutely stagger·ing."
Weare proud to l'e1ease The Complete
The Complete Pacific Jazz Studio
Pacifu; Jazz Studio Recordings a/the Chet
Recordings of the Chet Baker Quartet
Baker Quartet with Russ Freeman. Here with Russ Freeman
are the sessions where Gerr'y Mulligan's Limited to 7500 copies worldwide.
4 LPs {MR4-122} $40
alter ego stepped out front. He was destined
3 CDs [MD3,122] $45
to be a legend before he turned 30.
The FI'eeman-Baker counterpoint is
uncanny, peppered with harmonic twists
and taut musical thinking. Bakel' knows
how to play the "spaces." And between "Chet Baker fans ean't be without this one,
them, hc knows where to put the absolute and it's historieally significant-the guy is
rightest notes. even better than you originally bebeved him
to be."
Back to basics.
Bob Claypool, The Hou$ton Post
The set includes two and a half sides of
instrumentals and one and a hali' featuring "His playing touches emotional nel"Ve centers."
Baker's vocals (he sang "with an innocent George Kanzler, Time$ Pi{;ayruu>
sweetness that made girls fall right out of Entertainment Guide
MOSAIC RECORDS
 S TIL L A v A
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Shorty Rogers was
a West Coast swinger
from way back.
E
verybody thought Shol·ty Rogel's was
just cutting I'econls of "Cool Jazz" in
the eady '50s, But, harmonically, he
was creating a whole language of West
Coast jazz. And, l'hythmically, it swung as
han-l as any jazz 1'1'0111 eithel' coast.
Atlantic signed Shorty in 1954, and the
next 13 months became the most prolific
and creative of his career, But th(' tl'aeks,
scallel'ed among five LPs on two continents
and released over a 20-yem' span, wel'('
neady impossible to find. Sound famiJial'?
It was a typical Mosaic undel'taking-
locating and organizing long unavailable,
('xtr'emely important l'ecol,ds into proper,
cohel'ent sequence. The Complete Atlantic
and EM1Jazz Recordings ofShort)' ROBers
do('s exactly that. It contains the cady
Capitol and Nocturne sides, then the live
Atlantic LPs in original recol'l-ling order, A
total of 54 superb, invaluable tracks.
Featured an' Bud Shank, Jinuny Giuffre,
Bill Holman, Conte Candoli, Pete Jolly and
Bamey Kessel, among many others. It's all
annotated and described in the booklet,
illustrated with William Claxton's pho-
tographs of the Atlantic sessions,
The Complete Atlantic and EMI Jazz
Recordings of Shorty Rogers
Limited to 7500 copies worldwide.
6 LPs [MR6-125] $60
4 CDs [MD4-125]$60
CALL AND ORDER BY PHONE: 203/327-711110AM-5PM (EST) MONDAy-FRIDAY
16
OR FAX: 203/323-3526 VISA & MASTERCARD ONLY, PLEASE.
I LAB L E
"This outstancling set provides positive proof
that what is known as West Coast jazz - and
much of what is presented hel'e touc:hed oil
the genre - was swingin' stuff. It is hard to
helieve that some of this matel'ial was recorded
neady 40 yeal"s ago. It still sounds ft'esh and
vital today."
David Zyeh, JazzTirnes
~~~~~~~~~~
Here's one L.A.
.. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
soloist wi'th no N.Y. com-
parison - pure Pepper at
his peak.
A
rt Peppel' nevel' fully adapted to the
cooled-out West Coast style. His
ph,'asing was jagged and surprising,
his leaps between regbters dramatic, his tone
fuJI and eieh. You ean point to saxophone
forebears with elements of his playing, hut
all togethel', they belonged only to him.
He moved easily between blowing dates
and big band charts, wilh solos full 01'
spontaneous feagments that still managed
to I'elate ingeniously, The l'I'al tension of his
work, it seemed, was his firm contl'ol and
precision balanced hy intense emotion,
The Complete Pacific Jazz Small Group
Recordings ofArt Pepper introduces a
number of tracks never lwfore available 01'
l'eleased only in edited versions, These per-
formances were made dUI'ing Art's most
impor·tant years and include quinlet ses-
sions with ChN Baker and with tenor
saxophonist Bill Perkins as well as a no net
date ananged by Shorty Rogers.
The booklet includes an (,ssay hy Michael
J ames, photographs of the recording ses-
sions and new discographieal information.
" ... captures Pepper'sfertileform in
1956 and 1957, . , aU these recordings
tingle with vitality"
- Erie Levin,
People
THE COMPLETE PACIFIC JAZZ
SMALL GROUP RECORDINGS
OF ART PEPPER
The Complete Pacific Jazz Small Group
Recordings of Art Pepper
Limited to 7500 copies worldwide.
Less than 1000 copies remaining
3 LPs [MR3-105] $30
Not available on CD.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
"I quit!" - Johnny
Hodges to Duke
Ellington in 1951.
I
t was a bold move fOl' the geeat. alto sax-
ophonist, and a blow to the Ellington
Orchestra. BUI aftee too many yeal's of
feeling like a sideman, Johnny Hodges felt
the time had eorne to go it alone,
He'd been with Ellington sinee 1928,
whpn Duke tit'st heard the young alto saxo-
phone player. At 22, Johnny Hodges had
Ihe ehops, together with a fresh individual
style Ihat made him a prime eandidate for
solo stardom.
Through the years, Hodges had many
opportunities in the spotlight, hoth on tour
and on recordings. He developed a signifi-
cant following among jazz fans, . , and by
the late '30s, he'd become an important
innuence, What he didn't have was the
chance to prove himself as a learlel',
Time to move on.
Hodges' solo contraet with N(H'man Gl'anz
gave him the oppol'tunity to lead his own,
tight, seven-man working band, Over the
course of the next five years, he would su,'-
muml himself with a galaxy of '50s jazz
geeats, including John Colteane, Jimmy
Hamilton, Ben Webster, Flip Phillips, HalTY
Camey, Emmett Berey, Sonny Greel', Billy
Strayhorn, AI Sears, and LawI'enee Brown.
 But great as the music was, it did not
Iwing Hodges fame, for1une or g10t)' eommcn-
sur'ate with the added pressures and details
that went with leading his own bane!.
"Welcome back!" - Duke Ellington to
Johnny Hodges in 1955.
In late 1955" Johnny Hodges r'eturned to
the Ellington o"ganization,
It was the end of a mini-era, The music
created between 1951 and 1955 hy Johnny
Hodges and his "small big hand" was released
briel1y on the Clef and NOl'gran labels, and
later r'eissued on Ver've. For this release, it
is being made available in its entirety,
transfelTed din~<:tly from the Ol'if,rinal master'
tapes, and chronologically sequerwed. The
teacks total 15 complete studio sessions with
Johnny Hodges and Co, - and a delicious
wealth of scaled-down Ellingtonian swing.
The booklet includes a musical analysis
by Stanley Dance, a biography of Johnny
Hodges, and rare photographs of his hand
in performance.
-
I0Il_ _
, . (0MftITt
1ft1-1955
The Complete Johnny Hodges
Recordings 1951-1955
Limited to 7500 copies worldwide,
6 LPs [MR6-126] $60
Not available on CD.
", .. ther'e is no hetter' concentration of Hoe1?;es
und"I' one cover than this Mosaic set ... "
W. Royal Stokes, Jazz Times
"He was, as Ellinl,'1.on said, beyond category.
Hodges played with more self-assurance
than almost any musician I've ever seen."
Nat HentofT, The Wall Street Journal
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Three plays a quarter
.. . Ike Quebec's soulful
jazz jumps off these
jukebox sides.
ineteen fiJty-two to 1959. Hard times
N
for the big-toned, impassioned tenor
players from Coleman Hawkins and
Ben Webster' on down. Hard bop ancl the
cool school were the I'age, Ever'ything else
touk a backseat.
] ke Quebec, one of the most souU'ul,
melodic, and complete musicians to pick up The Complete Blue Note 45 Sessions of
the tenor saxophone (see Mosaic's The Ike Quebec
Complete Blue Note Forties Recordings of Limited to 7500 copies worldwide.
3 LPs [MR3-121] $30
Ike Quebec and John Hardee [MR4/MD3-
2 CDs [MD2-121] $30
107]), did not recol'd at all dlll'ing this
period. nut he nevel' stopped playing.
Real singles. "These sides provide r'evelation uJJon n've-
But hy 1959, the ul'ban, hlack jukebox cit·- lation of Quebec's completeness as a tenor'
cuit was big .mough to hold blues, H&B, and
jazz. So when Blue Note president, Alfred
Lion, decided to cut some singles - r'eal sin-
gles; 45 RPM r'eeonls with a big hole in them
voice. He shares Coleman Hawkins' and
Ben Webster's commandingly stout tone ...
the exuher'ant shout of Count Basic tenor'
Herschel Evans is herf', too. ****"
- and Ike Quebec's sound hit the jukes, his Peter' Kostakis, Down Beltt
music was again recognized for its strength
and heartl'ending beauty. (Note: very few
recordings were constnlctecl to be l'eIeased
"Qu-ebec was definitely a m.aster of SCtxO-
as singles at that time - most singles were
album cuts with a quick fade-oul.) plwtU! jazz. His tone goes bac,," to the
At a total of three single sessions (1959,
1960, and .1962), Quebec was joined by such classic tenor sOlutd of Coleman
sidemen as Skeeter' Best on g"uitar, Milt
Hawkins, Ben Webster, Herschel
Hinton and Sam Jones on bass, Sir Charles
Thompson on organ, and J. C. ]-Ipanl on Evans, Budd Johnson, wuJ. Buddy
dl'ums. Most of the titks, fl'OJIl thl'Oaty blues
or'iginals to big, bold standal'ds, r'emained Tale, His performances show It cease-
unissued on LP u.ntilnow. Mosaic has taken
Jessl)' inventive jazznwn. "
the entire output of these tll,'ee ,'ecording
dates and assemble.1 them into a three- - Owen Cordle,
LPftwo-CD set, The Complete Blue Note 45
Raleigh News and Observer
Sessions of Ike Qu-ebec.
The booklN contains Quebec's biognl-
phy, a complete updated Bluc Note
discography, a wond(·J'i'ul essay by Wl"itet'
and tenol' playel' Lm'en Schoenberg, and
many previously unpublished photogr'aphs
of the sessions, taken by F,'ancis WoJft'.
#2 Reissue of the Year'
(1988 Down Beat Intel'national Critics Poll)
MOSAIC RECORDS 17
 S TIL L A
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Stan Kenton waged a
one-man war against one
dimensional music. Here's
evidence that he won.
he music he was making was heresy!
T
His statements to the p~e.ss, ~ueh as
"the integra ted compositIOn IS the
thing, not the solo," had the jazz estabJish~
ment up in arms! Yet today, there can be
no doubt that Stan Kenton's greatest crime
was being ahf,ad of his time.
One of a kind.
Kenton had the wodd of exptTimental, Lig~
band jazz 11I'actically aU to himself. Perhaps
that's why he was always able to altnlet
some of the day's gl'eat musicians, vocalists,
composers and a'Tangcrs into his creative
wodd, ineluding saxophonists Bud Shank,
Lee Konitz and Charlie Mal'iano; tl'llmpetel'
Conte Candoli; trombonist F"ank Rosolino;
drummers Mel Lewis and Stan Levey; and
most signirif,antly, writer! arrangers BiU
Russo and Bill Holman.
From 1950, when Russo joined Kenton,
until 1963 when Holman ended his associa~
tion, these two men were "esponsible for' some
of Kenton's most swinging and adYentlll'e~
some recordings, Their charts are invariably
the highlights of Kenton's most productive
years, and their reconlings a,'e the ones
that jazz fans haye long been "equesting
that Mosaic organize, and I'estore to pl:int.
This 6~LP, 4--CD set contains all 72 wod<s
that Russo and Holman wl'ote andJOI'
arranged for Kenton, induding Russo's
famous "2:3 Degrees West - 82 Degl'ees
North," and Holman~alTangedstandards
such as "Stella By Starlight" and
"Yesterdays."
Most of tlus music has been unavailable
1'01' many yeaJ's, Some appeared on lO~inch
LPs that were nevel' reissued. Seyeral
recOl'dings appearerl only bl'iefly on
Kenton's own Creative World recol·d label.
One performance is being released hel"e fOI"
the fi"st time.
A buoklet wl'iuen by authol' Will
Friedwald, reminiscences w,"ilten by Holman
and Russo and rare photographs round out
this long ovel'due compiJation.
v A I LAB L E
him with Ba,"ney Bigard and Ben Wt'bstel'
miJli~EUington front line. Jimmy
1'0'" a
Hamilton replaced Biganl in Ellington's
1942 band - and stayl'd 25 years. Hp did
most of till' writing fOl' his sl'ssion.
This single LP indudes a trio date with
Morton's aceomflanist, thl' wonderfully
tasteful Sammy Benskin. Half of his set
appeal's 1'0" the very first time. Stanlt~y
Dance captures the histol'y and musical
analysis in his knowing liner' notes.
"This is of immense mllsi.cal interest..
Hend.erson Chambers's powerful sOllnd
Stan Kenton: The Complete
Capitol Recordings of is a revelation and his plunger solo in
the Holman and Russo Charts.
Limited to 7500 copies worldwide. 'Slapstidr' would grace any Ellington
6 LPs [MR6-136] $60
4 CDs [MD4-136] $60 band date. Forty~eight minlltes of
music ofsubstance and character wor~
"FI'om a technical standpoint, the record~ thy indeed of the now-familiar Mosaic
ings are as clear as if they were digitally
recorded this year." prodllctwn stand.ards ofcare, pure
Dayid Steinbe,"g, Albuquerque Journal
original sound quality (no equalizing or
"Kenton ,bd pussess an in(luiring intelligence other hypes), and attention to detail."
and a love of musicianship, and these sides
are the pick of his legacy." - Bl'ian Dayis,
Richard Williams, The Sunday IJldepe,u1ent Jnzz Forum
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Swing's top soloists
finally stretch out.
t was a little world caught between worlds_
I The wartime economy and changing
taste forced musicians to explore smaller
units. But bop wasn't the stuff 1'0" guys
used to ensembles and tuxedos. The I"esult,
then, was the swingtet, and sessions with more
solo spaee 1'01' musicians at the height of
their powel'S.
The Benny Morton arul Jimmy Hamilton
Swingt.ets completes the I'escue of Blue Note
I-ecordings in the idiom. These swing ses~ The Benny Morton and Jimmy Hamilton
Blue Note Swingtets
sions fl'om 1945 captul'e the mood of one
generation in the fOl'mat of a newer one. Limited to 7500 copies worldwide.
1 LP [MR-115] $10
Benny M.orton was a trombonist who could Not available on CD.
belt it out 01' weave subtly, Lion coupled
MOSAIC RECORDS 19
 S TIL L A
44444444444444444444444444444
Time out: Here's a
personal pitch for some
of the finest tenor
playing ever.
W
at we need here at Mosaic is a
patmn - someone who will just
dump bags ofrnoney at the door
and let us put out records like The
CornpLete Bllle Note Forties Recordings of
Ike Qllebec and John Hardee without
I'egard 1'01' pmfitability. Any applications?
Full of love and soul.
Her'e's why we want to keep this music
alive: For' John .Hanlee, it's that he's a
gl'eat example of a '40s musician wOl'king
in New YOl'k - in Camegie Hall one night
and a Bl'onx bar' the next - always shouting
on his horn, fuJJ of love and soul and
swing, Fol' Ike Quebec, the I'eason's a little
different: Aecor'ding to Michael, "Ike
Quebec has always been one of tbe few
players who I'eally touches my heart."
Both Hal'dee and Quebec came up at a
critical time, when swing had swung and
bop wasn't hom, Har'dee marked those years
with these sessions including Tiny Grimes,
Sammy Benskin, plus Sid Catlett, Jimmy
Shidey, Gene Ramey, TI'ummy Young,
and othel's.
Quebec's inno'vation.
Quebec was a soulful master of the balJad,
In addition to his career as a player, he
was also an A&R man at Blue Note,
I'esponsible for br'inging Monk, Bud Powell
and many other modernists to the label.
And yet, despite his innovation and taste,
he is still negleeted, more than 20 years after
his death! At least we have h.is sides with Tiny
Gr'imes, Ram Ramirez, Milt Hinton, Buek
Clayton, Tyree Glenn, Oseal' Pettiford,
and mOre,
The set: four LPslthl'ee CDs ineJuding 14
unissued sides, 14 mOl'e available until now
only on 78s and 28 only on var'ious out-of-
pl'int anthologies. The booklet includes an
essay by Dan MOI'genstern, newly researched
biographies, and r'are photographs.
"The Ike Quebec perfOl'mances are great
jazz. , . some of the last gl'eat swing music
20 CALL AND ORDER BY PHONE: 203/327-711110AM-5PM
OR FAX: 203/323-3526 VISA & MASTERCARD ONLY, PLEASE.
v A I LAB L E
The Complete Blue Note Forties
Recordings of Ike Quebec and John
Hardee
Limited to 5000 copies worldwide,
4 LPs [MR4-107] $40
3 COs [Mo3-107] $45
to come to LP.!t's about time."
Bob Porter', JazzTirnes
"Mosaic cannot be praised too highly for
,'eissuing this ran~ '40s outplll of two sadly
neglected tenol' men, with Ike Quebec quite
dd'initely proving his place alongside the
tenor giants of jazz."
Brian Davis, Jazz Forllm
44444444444444444444444444444
Twenty years after
Count Basie was in his
prime ... he entered his
second prime!
y 1957, twenty years had passed
B sine.'.e t. he heyday of the Count Basil'
Orchestr·a.
Entering the Atomic Age.
The conventional wisdom was that Basil'
had long since peaked. The conventional
wisdom was wl'Ong. In 1958, Count Basie's
first album for Roulette R"conls was
released, and The Ittornic Mr, Basie set the
jazz world on its eal'.
J3asi(~'s Rou lette period (l958--19()2),
featuring his "Atomic Band," is now consid-
ered to he his second gr'eat era, Technology
(EST) MONDAY-FRIDAY
had caught up with musicianship and his
Roulette albums remain among the finest
sounding reeords of Basie's career.
Out in front, he had assembled some of
the most exciting soloists of the day, like
Joe Newman, Thad Jones, Frank Wess,
Fr'ank Foster and AI Gl'ey, What n~aJly
gave the new Basie band its signature was a
new generation of char'ts - model'n,
swinging, high-pl'ecision or'chestnltions
supplied by a virtual who's-who of modern
jazz arranging, induding Quincy Jones,
Er'nie Wilkins, Frank Foster', Thad Jones,
Benny Cat'tel' and Neail Hefti,
Live all night.
On three occasions during this era, the
Basil' Or'chestra was recorded live by pr'o-
ducel' Teddy Reig. The fil'st was a
legendar'y night at a disc jockey convention
in Miami, on May 31, 1959, when the band
began playillg at 1 a.m, and didn't finish
until well after sunrise. With the help of
guests like Harry "Sweets" Edison and Joe
Williams, the band was wailing. Less than
half of the results were included on the
eight-tune album I'eleased from the session.
Breakfast, Barb"cue r.tnd Dance.
Basie at Birdland ... and abroad.
Two yeal's latel', inJune 19()1, during the
final two days of a two-week engagement at
Bir'dland, the band was confident, tight,
and inspired. 0, C. Smith was the band
The Complete Roulette Live Recordings
of Count Basie and his Orchestra
(1958-1962)
Limited to 7500 copies worldwide.
12 LPs (MR12-135] $120
8 CDs [Mo8-135] $120
vocaLi,t on many of the tunes, with guest
appearances by Jon Hendricks and S31'ah
Vaughan, A wealth of matuial was
n~eonJcd, hut nnly onr~ album, Basil" at
Rirdlarul, ITleased,
Basie'5 last Jive sessions fo\' Roulette
took plar,e at a dub in Stotkho)m during a
I'elaxed foul'-day f,'ig in August 1962, Louis
Bellson, suhbing for Sonny Payne on
drums, gave the hand a speciall<iel<, while
Irene Heid and O. C. Sm.ith handled the
vocals. An unfol'gettahle I'ed'ormance of
"April in Pari;;" helped mal,e the Rasie in
Sweden alhum a ;;uccess.
Nine albums of unreleased, live Basie.
Mosaic';;12-LP, 8-CD package, The
Complete H.oulettl" Live Recordings of
Count Rasie and His Orchestra (/958-
1962) includes cvel'y one of the 2S l.ive
tracks relea,ed by Roulette on Ba;;ip's three
live LPs, plus an astonishing 108 previously
unissued perform.ances. rn every r'ase the
OI'iginal playing onler has heen faithfuUy
adhered to. The Miami and Birdland pel'-
formances have heen lH'wly mixed fl'om the
nriginalth"ec-track tapes, and the Swedish
tl'acks haYt~ heen tl'ansferred directly from
the (wiginal two-tracl, masters.
The hooklet include;; a pOI'tl'ait nf the
hand and a track-hy-tnl<;k musical analysis
by Chris Sheridan, authol' of Count Basie:
A Rio-Di.scography, and I'are photographs
fl'Om the el'a.
"Then~'s no nostalgia in nllmlwrs I.ikp. "Li'l
Darlin'" or the Count's tOllchstone "Apl'il
in Pari;;," not a hint of th(e L1nti<fllp., This is
jazz thai IHlI'ns on eneq,y, spiril and inspi-
I'ation, and swings on fr\f'(' vel'. "
Time
", .. a mOlhedorlp of high-eneq,'y alTangc-
ments and gn~at playing. It', also a Il'iumph
of packaging.. "
Newsweek
"Featuring mOl'e than eight hOLll'S of music,
most of it previously unreleased, Ihese CD's
offer an unlll'('n~dented look at an ul'ehestra
in action. The music itself is cxtraonl.inal'y,
and yet casual."
Petel' Watl'ous, New York Times
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Presenting The Complete
Dean Benedetti
Recordings of Charlie
Parker.
T
he s.t 01')' hehind the m),th bel,rins in.
March of '47.
Bird took an extender! gig at the Hi-De-
Ro in Los Angel('s with Howard McGhee,
Hampton Hawes, Addison Farmer' and Roy
Portel·. BinI was healthy, having just coml'
out of Camarillo Stat(e .Hospital, ami hp wa;;
at the peak of his powers. When a saxophone The Complete Dean Benedetti
playedamateul' n~eordisl name(1 Dean Recordings of Charlie Parker.
Benedeui hean1 hun, hI" was aweslnl('k. Not a Limited Edition.
BenedeUi approadwd Bini and asked for 10 LPs [MR10-129] $100
7 CDs [MD7-129] $105
pel'mission to run a dise r<~(:order dUI'ing the
sets. Bil'd agL'eed, and Benedetti began! To
pl'esel've disc space, Bpnedetli would Slart
thi;; pel'iod, a hiognlph)' ofD"an B(·,nedpui
the mach.ine when Birel was soloing, and stop
b), Bob POI·t(~r, a musical analys;;; I,y Pal"kel'
the machine as soon a, the solo was ovel',
authOl'it)' James Patl'iek, and Phil Schaap's
Benedetti u;;ed a mike, I'laeed l·ight in front
ulInpJete annotated discography of all the
of BinI's instrument, and except 1'01' Bird
music in the S(,t.
and the hass directly hehind him, little el;;e
The Complete Df>an Bener/etti Heron/illgs
was eaptured on disc..
o/Charlie Parker is OUI' 1II'st Mosaic Un!imitl'o
Using this technique, Benedetti n'conled
I'elease. Since we o\\'n, ratlwl'lhan II'ase, tlw
m,arly four hours of concenll'ated BinI solos
l'ights to these reconungs., W('. are not restl'i(·ted
ov('!' a two-w(,ek IWl'iod, with the sound
in any way as 10 thf' numhf'r (If sl'ls w(' ..an
val'ying from quite poor to fairly gnoel,
makf' available, This histori .. set, as WI',U as
Bil'd's musical ideas, howeve.', are nevel'less
future Mosaic Unlimitt:d sets, will n'main in
than I..-illiant.
print and available to thp intemational jazz
On to New York. communit), for as long as Mosaic exists,
Latel' in '47, BinI neturnt'd to New YOI·k
.. , and Benedetti followed, This tim", how- "The 48-pagf' booklet is a mastl'rpiecp of his-
evpr, he had an t'a"'y ll1odell.ape '"eco"dcl'. toriogL'aphy, with Pa "ker's solos II'ansITilwd,
B,'nedelti taped Bird one night at the Onyx, rare photos, and mieroscopi"ally df'tailed
and another night at thle Three Deuces essa)'s by Schaap, Porter and Jim PatTi.. k."
(where in one segment. we hear Monk com-
ing out of the audience to tear,h Bil'd how to
play "Straight, No Chaser,") The quality of "In. an. art form whose principnl rltar-
th£' New York n,conlings is quite good, and
acteristic is improvisation, this cache
they account fol' fully half of this collection.
These are the Bel1f~detti I'e(~orrlings in of work by one of the genuine giants is
their' entiret)" and aftl'" fOI"t)' y.'al's of
rumor, speculation and dehat(e, they al'e at in fact something like a previously
last availahle to the wodrl.
undiscovered trunk of Beet.hoven
Everything is t"ansfel'l'ed dil'ectly from
the ol'iginal discs and tapes hy legendary nlanWK ripts, "
engineer Jal;k Towel·s and eo-pl'odllCt'" Phil
Schaap. The 48-page booklet includes musi- - Jack Fullel', Chicago Tribune
ealtl'anseriplion;; by Benedetti and others,
essays by Phil Schaap on Parker's life during
MOSAIC RECORDS 2]
 , .

• ON LOCATION orw
......, V_';'
~in~h:I~S~li;vii~~~~~;JIP"""
standard for
capturing jazz 011 recordings. At this live remot ••••
r-""""""-.'-J1lllll 1cI Byrd at 111:&
11,1960, produc
.1Ip, .hlt "
~}itt " ......&~
~th III

with the great souUet.hneer. Rudy's equip-

ment back then appears crude compared to his
preferred medium today - digital (see Inter-
view). But the pursuit of excellence was the
..... Photograph by Francis Wolff.
 The Rudy Van Gelder Interview

Modern Jazz Recording

Grew Up in His Parents'
Living Room.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Did you design the living room to be (j
udy Van Gelder is the legendary sound engineer whose technical ingenuity
R and lo've of mu.sic forever influenced the way we listen to recorded jazz.
Van Gelder was a practicing optom~t,ist in the late '40s when he set up his
recording studio?
No, not then. It was a nne-floor houst>, hut
there was a nice high ceiJjng in the living
Just, nwdest recording studio in the living room of his par-ents' home in room and it had tittle halJways, and tittle
Hackensack, New Jersey. In that room, he would go on 10 record most of the nooks and crannies going off. It was really
nwjor East Coast jazz artists of the 19.50s, including virtuaUy every session for a nice place to ref:ol"{l in. Made som(' good
Blue Note and Prestige Records as weU as nwny classical dates for Vox and t'{~cords then' on Wcdne~day, which I had

other labels. off, I would ref:Ord aU day for Pn'stigp, or

Savoy, or Blue Note.
In 19.59, over the course of a single weekend, Van Gelder moved his studio
to his own new home in Englewood Cliffs, Nj, where it has renwined. Van
Is there some way YOlt can LeU me how
Gelder has kept pace with the technicLtl advances that have occurred since that
come yonr records didn't sound like any-
time and renwins as active as ever. "Anyone wants to come out and get a good one else's records;) Bltt-c No/.e records
two-track thing going, I'm ready, " says Rudy. specifically;)
In 1986, Van Gelder agreed to a rare rad;v ;.ntenJ;.ew with Ben .s;,dran of Well, it's not ",asy to desc,'ib{, it in wonls.
National Public Radio. .some excerpts: It's a question of Alfred Lion pn~sf'nting
me with a pl'Oblem and my solution to thc
H DY VAN GELDER: Back in thp. '40s equipnwnt. There was nothing available problem.
thtTC was no recording ind ustry as such. that you could go out and buy. Then~ was
From an enl:,rineering standpoint, it was an no manufacture of consoles. That didn't How 'was the problem presented?
offshoot of the radio stations. The engi- exist. You had to make YOlll' own. The big He was unique at tnat time in that he 1.lI"e-
neers usually workp.d for companies who {~ompanies had their own staff of engineer- visualized 0/' pre-aun,).izefl his l'ecoeds.
were associated in some way with ,·adio. It ing people and maintenance people who He Imew what he wanted before he nUlIe to
was totalJy liifferenl. The equipment was would do that. That's why there were only the studio. He wOltld then bring thrse
different. Eve"ything was diffe,'ent. two or' three {'ompanies doing it. musicians in, and I c:onsidered it was my
job to make these people sound the way hI:'
And you were a hobbyist iniLiaUy? And did yOll build your amplifiers at tha/. thought they should sound. Now, 1 want to
Yes, that's right. T was a radio ham opera- point? say that's within the fr'amewOl'k of the
tOl' originally, also an amateut· musi«;ian. Absolutely. You had to build everything musicians themselves, too. That's where it
So the two things sort of came together and yourself. I'eally begins. We're talking about jazz
that's how it happened. now, where it's an exprt'ssion of a musi-
You did graduate from school and practice cian's personality and his own sound. And
That's probably a real interesting [Joint, as an optometrist . .. he's recognizable, and he's unique, and
the fact that you weren't comingfromjust Thirteen years I did that. Of course, by you can identify him just as t'asiJy as I can
the musical side of it or just the ham radio '52, I was also recording. Actually, it was n~cognize YOU," voice or' your face when I
side, but you brought the two together. dUl'ing that period that r was doing aU of see yOU. Alil'ed had a way of presenting
Yes, I've always felt that it was a strange those eady mue Note things, and Prestige. the situation - here they al'e, this is the
combination of ways to look at music:, At The Modern Jazz Quartet and Miles and way they sound as individuaJs, oow yOll go
that time you had to build all your own all of those people wel'e (;orning over to my ahead and do what you have to do lo make
parents' home and T was n~eordiJig them.

MOSAIC RECORDS 23
 Rudy VanGelder interview, continued
that thing sound the way we want it to
sound - and that's how he would present
the p!'Ohlem,
I think some musicians don't know what
they sound like until they hear themselves
011 tape.
That's right. I beljeve that. And thel-e's
nothing really bad about that. It's under-
standable - a tl-umpet player' is th.-ee feet
from where the bell is and 20 feet f!'Om
wher'e the sound is ('eally cl·eated.
lIlt I'm going to do a session and I can choose
what I want to choose, I will choose a digital
recorder. There's just no question about it. "
Let's talkJor a minute about thefeeung
that those musicians brought with them
when they call1.e into the room. Is your
memory specifu; in terms ojwhat the Jeel-
ing was, doing those sessions night after
flight?
First of aLI, it wasn't night after mght. It
was very often day after day. Not even 50
percent of them were done at night. A lot
of them were done on Sunday afternoon.
Alfred and Frank had to run their business
during the week, and they uked to come in
Sunday and do theil' sessions.
What was theJeeling of those sessions?
It's not a specifIC feeling, it's more of a gen-
eral feeung. But I have a recollection that
what we were doing was important at the
time. It was impOl'tant to the producer-s, it
was impol"tant to me. I felt that it was mOI"e
important than the politics of the day Or
anything else that was going on, What we
wel-e doing really had a lasting sigmricance,
II"caUy had that impression at the time.
When JOlt movedfrom Yoltr parents' house
in Hackensack, to the new stu.dio, it was
late in the '50s, is that correct?
I don't have an internal time clock that
tells me where I am at every moment, but
Bob POI'tel" established that the last date in
24 CALL AND ORDER BY PHONE: 203/327-711110AM-5PM
OR FAX; 203/323-3526 VISA & MASTERCARD ONLY, PLEASE.
Hackensack was in July 1959, Iremembel"
very c1ear'ly the panic of hl"eaking down
that studio over there on a Friday and then
setting up here fOl' a session Monday mOI"n-
ing. Moving the console, moving the
machines, getting everything )-ight. Oh it
was a terrible time, but I did it and we
I'ecorded Friday in Hackensack and
Monday in Englewood Cljffs.
Wlwt was your Jeeling when multi-track
recording came along?
Well, in the beginning, I reaUy resisted it.
Multi-track didn't happen at once. You'l-e
assulmng that everyone went from one-
track to 24. It didn't work that way. It
evolved track by track. First one-track,
then two-tl-ack, then three-track, then
fom,-track, then eight-track, then 16-
track, with maybc 12-traek in hetween and
all the val'iations, too. And the mOl-e
tr-acks you had, and the more you used, the
less you had to do it right, from the begin-
ning. And that's the way the recorel
indust.,y is.
What was most exciting to you about
multi-track?
I thought, this is terrific! Now 1 don't have
to be gr-eat on each date. I can relax. I can
just make sure everything goes right, and
then we're going to mix it later and have a
second chalice at everything if I miss all
enh"ance of a solo or something Like that - I'm
going to be able to fix it later. But it didn't
work out uke that because musicians were
just as aware of this as J was, and it ended
up that they used it for Mfel'ent purposes.
They wanted to overdub, amI once you- were
overdubbing they hali to have eal'phones,
and everyone had to hear what was on the
tape, and then a generation of musicians
developed that relied on that and expected
(EST) MONDAY-FRIDAY
to be able to use that as a way to make records,
YOll didn't llse earphones in Hackensack?
That's exactly l'ight. It's almost as if- if you
wanted to think of a way to inhibit creativity
in jazz music in the stumo, you would come
up with a multi-track machine, a 24-track
recorder you could overdub on. It's a
machine of mass destl"uction. I mean, what
we've been saying is, that in OI'der to make
a presentable record, a jazz record, eve."y-
one has to play together, and they have to
play together at one time. And once you
e1i/mnate that necessity, then you've
described a situation where you don't have
to play together, and the musician doesn't
have to listen to other musicians. He can
just do ills own thing, and you can ftx it later',
But if you can't do it later. then while thp
two musicians al'e playing togethel', they
have to listen to each other. They have to.
1grew up listening to scratchy Charlie
Parker records -1 would listen past that
and I would hear the art and I would be
happy . .. am I being sold a bill ofgoods
with this digital stuff?
If I'm going to do a session and I can
choose what I want to choose, I will choose
a digital recorde ... There's just no ques-
tion about it.
What about the technical criticism ofdigi-
tal recording that I've read about, the
fJrubletn~ of it feeling unnatural in some
ways?
Digital recording has been totally reliable
[01' me. It fll1al.ly does what a tape machme
should do - I"eally, just store what you're
putting into it. No analog machine ever
made could do that correctly. None. Not
even the best, the most expensive, could
ever do what a pt-opedy designed two-track
digital machine will do. We'n~ talking
about clarity of sound, clean sound, wide
range, beautiful, no noise problems,
To me it's made working a pleasure.
It's uke starting aLI over again and being
excited about t.hings, uke being able to play
back a g,'eat sound to the group right aftet"
they've played it, and they can heat· it right
then. Everybody knows it's good, Before
they go home.
 S TIL L A
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
A jazz organist more
influenced by John
Coltrane than Jimmy
Smith?
A
~a 196; session for Gr'ant Gr~en's
falktn About album,featurmg
Larry Young on organ and Elvin
Jones on drums, Alf/'cd Lion heard Young's
astounding talent and signcd him to Blue
Note "ight away.
Alfred Lion knew.
For the next twelve months Lion kept Larry
Young husy recording his Bluc Note solo
debut album, Into Something, and appear-
ing as a sideman on two more Gr'ant Green
albums, Street oIVrearns and I Want to
Hold Your Hand.
Thcn, in Novcm}>er 1965, Larry Young's
post-Smith style exploded on Unity, featwmg
Joe Henderson on tenor, Woody Shaw on
tnunpct and Elvin Jones on dl'UJ11s. It was the
album that wouln changc the sound ann attitude
of jazz organ for aU time, and inspire a strWg of
follow-up alhwns that would clinch YOWlg'S
placc in jazz history as the most inlluentiaJjazz
organist of his generation, and the next.
The Complete Blue Note Recordings oj'
Larry Young, a 9-LP, 6-CD set, includes
Lany Young's total output for Blue Note.
In addition to three albums as a sideman
with G)'ant Green, Young recorded six
albums undel' his own name, fcaturing such
'60s greats as James Spaulding, Lce
Mot'gan, Geo"ge Benson and Eddie Gladden.
1'111' booklet includes a biography by
Michael Cuscuna, and many previously
unpublished session photographs by
Francis Wolff.
, . the n~leas(~ of The Complete BLue Note
Recordings oj'Larry Young .:an only help
draw rnon~ attention to this daring musi-
cian, Young took jazz oq,;an to places
Jimmy Smith. feared to tread, Rediscov-
ering Young can b(~ a revelation,"
Steve Futterman, Rolling Stone
"Aside fro III taking the instrument another
step into the world of Colt,'ane, Young had
an uncommon sense of his instrument in
v A I LAB L E
The Complete Blue Note Recordings
of Larry Young.
Limited to 7500 copies worldwide,
9 LPs [MR9-137}$90
6 CDs [MD6-137} $90
terms of orr:hestration and ensemble,
Throughout the Mosaic box, Young revels
in ensemhle give-and-take."
Jon Ga,-elick, The Bostol1 Phoenix
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
The Stan Getz recordings
that set him apart from
the herd.
hen Leste,' Young disciple Stan
W Getz recor'ded "Early Autumn"
with the Woody He"man hand, a
star was born.
Even as part of thl·~ "Four' B,'others"
tenor saxophone al'senal in Herman's
Henl, Getz's fluid tone and rav'ishingly
heautiful musical ideas were a singular
delight. In his solos, Getz managed to tr'ans-
f0l'l11 the lyrical bri.lLancc of Lester Young's
playing into a mode,-n, vibr'ant style that
seemed to touch everyone who heard it.
On his own.
With his creative )Jowers at their peak,
Stan Getz left Woody Herman and set out on
his own, Afte,' a couple of years of fronting
h.is own qual'tet, he added Jimmy Raney on
gwtar, giving the band gI'eater tooal variety.
The Stan Getz Quintet, with its gorgeous
blend of Getz 's tenor and Haney's guita"
playi.ng in tand(~m, was a sound that was
unique in jazz . .It was almost as if Getz and
Raney hl'eathed togethe,-. The piano (,hair
was initially filled by Getz discover"y HOI"ace
Silver', then Al Haig, and, finally, Duke
Jordan.
A decade later', Stan Getz had moved on
to almost unbelievable celebl-ity. His Roost
quintet recordings wen' reissued and r'eis-
sued again, usually in haphazard fashion,
with atrocious sound.
Now, fo" The Complete Recordings oj'
the Stan Getz Quintet with Jimmy Railey,
we are including the original Roost studio
sessions, as well as the g.'eat live session
r:eeOl'ded at Boston's StoryviUe, the qillntet's
final session as a wo,-king unit, l"eeon1cd for
Verve in 1952, and the quintet's 195;~
reunion session, recOI'ded fo.- P,'estige
under Jimmy Raney's name, All in all, this
is thc Getz to stand the test of timc.
Our booklet includes a hiogl'aphy of
Stan Getz and ral'e early pholog,·aphs.
The Complete Recordings of the Stan
Getz Quintet with Jimmy Raney.
Limited to 7500 copies worldwide.
4 LPs [MR4-131] $40
3 CDs [MD3-131] $45
"The cagerl)' anticipated Stan Getz Quintet
r'ecordings, , , an-ived today, It meNs
every expectation - which I must tell you
was quite h.igh!"
Dick Bank, Los Angeles, California
MOSAIC RECORDS 25
 S TIL L A
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Grant Green, we
hardly knew you.
G
uitarist Grant Green could play the
whole spectnun, from blues with a
backbeat to the modern experiments
of LatTy Young. Blue Note recorded Green
in a vat'iety of funky settings. But for pure
hard bop, nothing matched Green's four
sessions with Sonny Clark in '61 and '62.
Unfortunately for the wodd of jazz, these
magnificent sessions weren't in keeping with
the soulful image that Blue Note had in mind
for Gt'ant Grt'en. So, for nearly 20 yeat's,
they remained unissued in Blue Note's vaults.
Then, in the late '70s, news of these
sessions - and a l'eaffirmation of Gl'ant
Green's brilliance - came out. Two Grant
GreenJSonny Clark albums were l'cleased
in Japan, followed a few years latet' by two
others in the U.S.
One of Blue Note's house pianists, Clark
had played with the likes of Buddy DeFnmco,
John Coltrane and Dinah Washington. For
the Grant Gt'een sessions, Clark was joined
by Sam Jones on bass and Louis Hayes (or,
in one case, Art Blakey) on drums. On one
occasion, Ike Quebec was added to the group.
Now, for the first time, these t'are
performances of Grant Gt"een at his purest
and best, featuring Sonny Clat"k shortly
before his death of a heart attack at age 32,
are being made available in their entirety,
In addition to everything significant recorded
at the four sessions, including several
The Complete Blue Note Recordings of
Grant Green with Sonny Clark.
Limited to 7500 copies worldwide.
5 LPs [MR5-133] $50
4 COs [Mo4-133] $60
26 CALL AND ORDER BY PHONE: 203/327-711110AM-5PM (EST) MONDAy-FRIDAY
OR FAX: 203/323-3526 VISA & MASTERCARD ONLY, PLEASE.
v A I LAB L E
worthwhile alternate takes, there are two
later pedormances featuring Sonny Clark,
Ike Quebec, and a Lati.n rhythm section.
The booklet indudes an essay by Bob
Blumenthal and many unpublished session
photographs by Francis Wolff.
"Green was a master at hinting at ideas,
slipping into a blues phrase fot, a seeond,
only to tail away with a run, Throughollt
the pieces tbet'e's a feeling that Gt"een saw
music making as an at·t in whi(~h each note
had to make sense,"
Petet' Watt"ous, The New York Times
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
The Connection should
have launched a long
recording career for
Freddie Redd.
Inexplicably, it didn't.
T
he Connection was an early example
of jazz reach,in g, heyont,l its accepted
platform in duhs and conee,"t halls.
As the playwright, Jaek GeIbel., coneeived
it, jazz would be used, live oostage, as an
integral par't of the dramatic show, New York
pianist/eomposel' Ft'eddie Redd was hired to
wt'ite and perform the play's inventive, eon-
temporal'y scot"e. and when the play beeame
an immediate eult hit, Blue Note signed him.
Freddie Redd and his stage quartet (whieh
also included Jackie McLean on saxophone)
made their '"ecording debut with The
Connection score.
One strike, you're out.
Fot" a time, it seemed that Freddie Redd would
have a long recording cal'eer ahead of him.
But the superb follOW-lip album, Shades of
Redd, which featured Jackie McLean
together with Paul Chambel's, Louis Hayes.
and Tina Brooks, did not sell very well,' '
appal"ently due to the vagaries of popular
taste at the time. And Redd's next session,
which ineJuded Benny Bailey on trumpet,
wasn't even released. Freddie Redd was
never to record again for BIlle Note.
A dazz:ling triple play.
Today, Freddie Redd is still pet1ot'ming ...
still known primarily as the man behind The
Connection. But as his complete Blue Note
sessions demonstrate. he is a superb com-
poserlarranger and an impeccably tasteful
pianist whose entire body of work deserves
much wider recognition,
Mosaic's set, transferred <lit'ectly from the
origina I stereo master tapes, contains every-
thing that Freddie Redd recorded for Blue
Note. "pleased and unreleased. Fans of the
Shades ~fRedd alhum should note that it
appears here in stet"eo for the first time, along
with two previously unissued alternate takes.
Tina, too.
Of panicular intet'est to Nlosaie "regulal's"
is the fact that in addition to expanding the
world's view of Freddie Redd, tlus relpase
also adds significantly to the pt'eciously
sparse recorded legacy of Tina Brooks.
The booklet eontains an up-to-date hiog-
raphy of Freddie Redd, as told to Will
Thol'llblll"y. Also included at'e the ot'iginal
The Complete Blue Note Recordings of
Freddie Redd
Limited to 7500 copies worldwide.
3 LPs [MR3-124] $30
2 COs [Mo2-124] $30
linel' notes to The Connection and Shades 0/
Redd, a musical analysis provided hy Ben
Sidt'an, a complete Freddie Redd discogra-
phy, and t"are Francis Wolff photographs
from the original Blue Note sessions,
"As the incandescent perfot'mances on this
handsome anthology remind us, Redd was a
relentlessly swinging piano player ... "
Jim Millet', Newsweek
"The colleetion reveals something nobody
seems to have noticed before: Redd is on~ of
the very best hard bop composers, the equal
of Horace Silver, fot, example, as well as a
most ingenious pianist."
John Litweiler, Chicago Tribune
 S TIL L A
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
The first Bud Powell
collection that isn't
screwed up.
e'd be willing to bet a high per-
W centage of the people reading this
brochure own at least some Blue
Note Bud Powell What has always puzzled
us is the strange way the music has been
released throu~hout the years.
Take Bud's very fil'st session for the
label. Up until now, the 11 tracks recorded
that incredible afternoon of innovation and
inspiration have been available only on
four different albums - never all together
and in recorded sequence.
His most spectacular recordings.
So here at Mosaic, we've done the only
right thing. At last, it's possible to heal'
Bud's work complete, whole, and fOJ'ever
on The Complete Bud PoweU Blue Note
Recordings (1949-1958), By universal
assent, the Blue Notes are the most consis-
tent and spectacular recordings by this
chief architect of bebop piano,
Ferocious, intl'icate, dignified, surpris-
ingly joyful. This set eorreets the sequence
of Bud's first set for the label and adds all
of his 1953 date - 10 definitive perfor-
mances - for the first time on one LP, in
proper order, Included as well are a few
relevant alternate takes never before avail-
ahle with the original masters,
Sidemen include Fats Navarn>, Sonny
Hollins, Roy Haynes, Max Roaeh, Art
Taylor, Philly Joe Jones, GeOl'ge Duviviel',
Sam Jones, and Paul Chambers. Five LPs,
plus a booklet, with a rare reminiscence by
Alfnxl Lion, analysis by Mal·k Gar"dner,
and F't"ancis Wolff's unpublished pho-
tographs of the actual sessions. HUJTy. As
with all Mosaic sets, when this sells out, we
won't press any more,
"The set is imperative and the results -
indispensable. "
Boh Blumenthal, Boston Phoenix
"It's good to have this impn~ssive body of
music in one definitive edition."
Francis Davis, Phiu1delphia inquirer
28 CALL AND ORDER BY PHONE: 203/327-711110AM-SPM
OR FAX: 203/323-3526 VISA & MASTERCARD ONLY, PLEASE.
v A I LAB L E
rhythmie density; it is idiosyncratic and
I'IIfCClMPIRI
IUD PC\!IIU
IWllon
brimrning with eharactel',
IltOltllGl
(1949,1958) Nearly double the amount of Herbie's
work on record.
With pride and elation, Mosaic presents The
Complete Blue Note Recordings of Herbie
Ni<:hols, 30 tlmes and 18 alternates o,'iginaUy
t'eeonled in 1955 and 19.56 that amount to
five LPs or three CDs - nearly doubling the
amount of Herbie Nichols' work on rl'cOt"d,
The inn'edible t!'io performances feature
bassists AJ MeKibbon and Teddy Kotick,
and drummers Art Blakey and Max Roaeh.
We feel this joyous music is some of the
most important ever made,
The Complete Bud Powell Blue Note
The booklet includes an intimate pet"-
Recordings (1949-1958)
Limited to 7500 copies worldwide. sonal portt'ait and musical analysis by
5 LPs [MR5-ll6] $50 Roswell Rudd, AJso included at'e sevl'l'al
Not available on CD. unpublished Niehols poems, as well as
reprints of his writings on music, a complete
discography of his work as sideman and
leadel', a wealth of previously unpublished
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• photographs by FI"aneis WoUf, and testa-
"It seems like you either ments from artists who knew him, including
At'chie Shepp, Max Roach, and Sheila
have to be an Uncle Tom Jordan,
or a drug addict to make
#1 Reissue of the Year"
it in jazz, and I'm not (1988 Down Beat International Critics Poll)
either one." "A masterfully assemhled reminder of a
regrettably ignored artist. It rates an
unqualified five stat·s."
~
e scene aceording to Herbie Nichols,
who was largely if,'llOred by his peel's, Leonanl Feathet', The L.A, Times
the record companies, and the dubs,
If fame eluded him, inspiration didn't;
pianist and eomposel' Hel'bie Nichols wl'ote
OVe!" 100 ()["iginal and eomplex jazz compo-
sitions (mixed in with poetry, operas,
theatel' pie!~l's, prose, and dassical music).
Imagine Teddy Wilson mingled with
Monk.
To paraphrase A. B, Spdhnan in Four Lives
in the Bebop Business, Herbie Nichols'
piano playing has both Teddy Wilson's ele-
gant clal';ty and a complex melodie/rhythmic
stnll:turl' as unique as Man k 's.
Sa,Uy, this imml'nse, ol"iginaltalent has a
name few people recognize; he spent a lot of
his life playing in Dixieland bands. Herbie
Nichols only l'I'r'OI'ded a few tunes for Savoy,
two lO-ineh LPs and one] 2-ineh LP fOl' The Complete Blue Note Recordings of
Blue Note, and a final alJlUm for Bethlehem Herbie Nichols
before he died of leu kemia in ] 963 a t the age Limited to 7500 copies worldwide.
5 LPs [MR5-ll8] $45
of '~3. Herbie Nichols' revolutionary music
is filled with swinging melodic lines and 3 CDs [MD3-1l8] $45
(EST) MONDAY-fRIDAY
"The paintedy detail of Nichols' composi-
tions and the percussive density of his
chord c1ustlTs will startl<, anyone who
hasn't heard him hefol'e. Easily the year's
most signifir',ant reissue,"
Francis Davis, Philadelphia Inquirer
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
"Dry martinis."
~
at's Paul Desmond's own descrip-
tion of his celebl'ated sound: the sexy,
subtle alto, cutting :hrough the
countel' rhythms and affirmative chOl'ds of
the Dave 8mbeck Quartet. Tangible.
Minimal. Sophisticated. Slt'aight up.
Simpatico setting.
Now hear' that sound in a vel'y different
seltinf!;' Quietet'. Less about contl'asts,
more about simpatico. Intl'Oducing The
Completc Recordings of the Panl Desmond
Qlwrtet with .lim Hall.
Hen>, Desmond's lyrical phl'ascs join
with the swinging pel'fection of Jim Hall,
the quit't authol'ity of Modem Jazz Quartet
dnlmmcl' Connie Kay, and eithel' Pel'cy
Heath, Gene Wright, 01,' Gene Cherico on
bass to create masterful sides, The quat·tet
sounds like they played togetht'l' for yeal's,
though they neve,' played a single live gig.
This is Desmond as lead"r and musical
organizer, whose wit and warmth come
singing through his song ehoiees, his
arrangements, and his compositions.
A great six-year studio matchup.
The sessions arc gathen>d chrono1ogieally
into one six-LP/four-CD set, Iwginning with
a 1959 Warllf~I' Bros, album and continu-
iug into 1965 with four morc RCA albums.
Included are a rare title that only appeal'ed
on a Playboy Records anthology and 12
previously unissued pel'fonnances from the
RCA years,
The booklet contains a new essay fl'orn
Desmond's close friend, joumalist Doug
Ramsey, as well as reprints of some of
Desmond's famed dry prose: "I have won
several prizes as the world's slowest alto
player, as well as a speciaL award in 1961,
for quietness."
"J azz is I'al'ely as pl'eUy as this; and jazz this
pn>tty is pmeticaUy nevel' so fuJl of sullstanee."
Richanl Williams, The London Times
"It's a tleaming made in Iyeical heaven,
Entering this wo,'ld of hreathy beauty and
ready wit, you'll find it perfectly easy to
sail through all six records and then start
over again. And again,"
Lloyd Sachs, Chicago Slln Times
The Complete Recordings of the Paul
Desmond Quartet with Jim Hall
Limited to 7500 copies worldwide.
6 LPs [MR6-120] $60
4 COs [M04-120] $60
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
From the end of his
career, Monk's Black Lion
masterworks - including
a rare glimpse inside
the nlind of the man.
he yeal's of staying tnle to hiscalling
T weren't kind to Thelonious Monic By
the late '60s, he was through with CBS
(they wanted an album of Beatles tunes) and
perfonned mostly with a contl'ived group
called The Giants of Jazz. It was finan-
ciaUy, but not artistically, rewarding.
Magnificent solos and trios.
The one high point came during a eerord-
ing session Monk made in London for
Black Lion on November 15, 1971. Many
listeners l'egard them, his finaL l'ecol'dings
as a leader, as equal in quality and inspil'a-
tion to his first sessions fOl' Blue Note,
Thes" pianistic tOllrs deforce put to the
test, once and for aU, the notion Monk sae-
I'ificed teehnique to sel'V(~ his style,
AJl the solos and trios he ITeOl'ded on that
one day, plus an entil'e nine-cut stndio date
from Paris in 1954, appear togethel' for the
first time on The Complete Black Uon and
Vogue Recordings ~fTheloniolls Il'lonk.
First cut worth the price.
The very first cut he I'ecorded in that
London studio is wOI,th the pl'ice of the
whole set alone.
It was un unfamilial' studio and instru-
ment. Pianist and piano had to gt'l to know
each othel', Monk, [.eing a compos"r, ('ould
not calTY out even this task without expel'i-
menting with chords and melodies. What
he played in total p,-ivaey leads to unpn>ct"-
dented understanding of this great talent.
This set: four LPsltlll'ee CDs, with seven
performances issued hel'e fi"st and several
others previously hal'd to find, The Pal'is
date is issued foe the fit"st timt' with COITt'ct
titles and impl'oved sound. The booklet
includes an essay by Brian Priestley (who
was present at the Black Lion date), the
fil'st biography of Monk's last yeal's,
Monk's last Down Beat intel'view, and rart'
photogt·aphs.
The Complete Black Lion and Vogue
Recordings of Thelonious Monk
Limited to 7500 copies worldwide,
4 LPs [MR4-112] $40
3 COs [M03-112] $45
I
MOSAIC RECORDS ~
 I
S TIL L A v A I LAB L E

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • 4.44• • • • • • • • • • • (On sides one and two the cymbals are over-
"Phantom album" recol'ded, ereating a certain amount of
distol'Lion Lhat cannot be repaired.)
mystery solved!
"lnc1ude(s) his rare True Blue, one of Lhe
gl'catest albums Blue Note ever released."
"This is simply a joy, definitive modcrn
clarinet pail'ing and ample exposure for
MI'. Clark, one of the finest modern
pianists, "
Robert Palmer, The New York Times

H
ere is one that stumped coUeetors for
yeal's. Catalogues listed it - inner Jim MilIcI', Newsweek
sleeve displays pictLII'ed its cover. Yet
no one had ever seen ai' heard the album.
The artist was Harold Floyd "Tina"
Brooks, a fiery tenol' player who appeal"ed •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
fl-equcntly as a Blue Note sideman, writer, Why is the world ignoring
and an'angeL Buddy DeFranco?
The missing album? Something ealJed
Back to the Tracks - I"econled, designed,
ame three bebop e1arinetists.
sequenced, catalogued, forgotten,

His prayerfUl style.

No one knows why, except those were husy
yean; at Blue Note. Finally he's getting his
due, this gentle, neglected man whose
pl'ayerful style cleaved fil'mly to the blues
and gospel. Back to the Tracks is just one
of two unissued albums, plus two mon~ I"are
discs, compiled as The Complete Blue Note
Recordings of the Tina Brooks Quilltets.
Pel'sonal solos, distinctive horn voicings,
dear, melodic compositions - Tina did it
aU. This mystery ends in a discovery more
rewarding than ever imagined,
The four albums, recorded fl'om 1958 to
1961 . featu,'e Art Blakey, Lee Morgan,
Sonny Clad" F,'eddie Hubbard, Blue
Mitchell, Wilbur' War'e, Paul Cbambel's,
and Jackie McLean, Plus, there's a booklet
with a newly I'esearched biography by
Michael Cuseuna, analysis by Robel't
Palmel', complete discography, and many
unpublished photographs, induding a shot
of the unused Back to the Tracks cover.
The Complete Blue Note Recordings of
the Tina Brooks Quartet.
Limited to 7500 copies worldwide.
4 LPs [MR4-106] $40
Not available on CO.
N Evel'ybody knows the saxophone
players, trumpeters, pianists, and
drummers. But sinee IJebop clarinet is so
rar'e, DeFnlnco just gets lost completely,
DeF'"anr'o was a virtuoso on the instru-
ment. A classicist until he discovered
Goodman, DflFraneo fell into the "new
thing" on the road, when he and othcl" ven-
turesome swing musieians would transpose
Parker's solos down in the basement.
He pushed the clarinet's limits.
DeFranco was constantly expedmenting,
pushing the lilnits of the instl"llment. He
played George Russell's music, in Basie's
septet, in his own iJI-fated big band, then he
went on the wad with a quartet. Sonny
Cla,"k was the pianist (after Kenny Drew),
It was one of the most tight-knit, fun-loving,
vel'sati.le organizations around, with Gene
WI'ight on bass and Bobby Whitc on dl"llms.
Here are all the originally scattered and,
untiJ now, long-out-of-print l"ecOl'dings uf
The Complet.e Verve Reeol'dings Of the BlIddy
DeFranco Quartet/Quintet wit.h Sonn.y
Clark (the fifth was the occasional coLlabo-
I'atol', Tal Farlow). Recol'ded in 1954 and
1955, these selections show Buddy's
remarkable faeility and mastery of harmony.
Complete and chronological.
A five-LP/four-CD set, complete and in
chl"Onologi(~aJ selJ.uence, it includes a hooklet
with a new essay by Ira Giller, the original
vintage liner notes from the sessions, a new
interview with DeFraneo, and rare pho-
tographs.
We've got a special affeetion for this
music. If you don't know about Buddy
DeFranco, pick up this set.
"The preferred clarinetist of Art Tatum,
Count Basie, Lester Young, and countless
other jazz musicians, DeFranco was to the
clarinet what Powell was to the piano,"
Leonard Feather, The L. A. Times
The Complete Verve Recordings of the
Buddy DeFranco Quartet/Quintet with
Sonny Clark
Limited to 7500 copies worldwide.
5 LPs [MR5-117] $50
4 COs [Mo4-117] $60
••••••••••••• 4.44 ••••••••••••
When jazz turned
commercial, Mingus
turned rebel. The fire of
the times - in these rare
Candid recordings.
et's tum back the clock to 1960, The
L times we,'e turbulent, and so was the
music. Mingus' core personnel (EI"ic
Dolphy, Ted Curson, and Dannie
Hichmond) were capable of anything, and
given Charles' inner demons, they needed
spidt and stl'ength to go exploring with him.
In t.he spring, when Mingus and othe"s
were disappointed with the financial
arrangements at the Newport Jazz Festival,
Mingus hatched a plan. The Newport Rebel
Fest.ival.
Critics and musicians hailed it. StiU
boiling, Mingus hit the studio, The
Complete Candid Recordings of Charles
Mingus was the result.
Results left musicians elated.
Mingus and his collaborators were elated.
"I made it!" Richmond yelled after one
take. "1 finalJy got to play it like I've been

CALL AND ORDER BY PHONE: 203/327-711110AM-5PM (EST) MONDAy-FRIDAY

30
OR FAX: 203/323-3526 VISA &. MASTERCARD ONLY, PLEASE.
 heal'ing it." And Dolphy said, "We never
got it togethel' like this in the club."
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Thl'ee sessions in all were recorded. The
How could SO much
fil'SI 'Hlded Lonnie HiUyel', Charles explosive energy stay
McPhel'~on, Ni(:o Bunick, Jimmy Knepper, bottled up for so long?
and B"itt Woo.lman. One month later,
CUI'son and Dolphy returned for thn~e cuts Cecil Taylor and Buell
on a date featuring Hillyer, McPherson, Neidlinger on Candid.
Booker' £.-vin, and Paul B1ey. AJso that
day, a I'emarkable jam was ~ssembled­
You haven't heard the
Mingus with Richmond and EI'ic Dolphy, half of it.
plus Jimmy Kneppel', Jo Jones, Tommy
Flanagan, and Roy Eldridge!

Roy told the bass player, "A lot of the
young ones fOI'get the basics. They don't
get all the way down into the music. You
did, baby."
FOlll' LPsltfll'ee CDs include the two
Mingus Candid albums, seven titles issued
only on anthologies, and five maste"pieces
issued fil'st in this set. The booklet includes
essays, Nat Hentofrs oribrinal tinel' notes,
and newly discover'ed photogr'aphs.
#1 (tien) Reissue of the Year
(1986 Down Beat Intemational Critics PoU)
"This may be the most valuable item in
Mosaic's sel'ies to date."
Leonal·d Feather', The L.A. Times
TIlE COMPLETE
CUD•• RECOIDIKS Of
CHAlliS .. Ileus
The Complete Candid Recordings of
Charles Mingus
Limited to 7500 copies worldwide.
4 LPs [MR4-111] $40
3 CDs [MD3-111] $45
" ... you pl'obably have the ol'iginal
albums released on Candid, or the Barnaby
reissues, but don'tlet that deter you from
looking into tlus 4~LP/3-CD set on Mosaic. , ,
supel"b sound and annotation and five
previously unreleased tl'acks."
Chris AJbe"tson, Stereo Review
C
edi Taylor may he, in all tbe turbu-
lent history of jazz, the one
individual who has thrown down the
most (:hallf,nges-I'or PI'ities, for listeners,
and 1'01' fellow musicians,
While many in music al'e content to estab-
lish a style 1'01' themselves, gain some
notol"iety, and stick with the shtick, Cecil's
cal'eel' has been a constant, uncompromis-
ing Journey.
But there were only hints of where hi~
musical exploration would take him when
he, Neidlinger, Dennis Chades, and Archie
Shepp entered the studio in October 1960
and January 1961 to make the l"ecol'dings
that woukl clearly statp his impo,'tance to
the world.
In the tradition.
Some listeners al'e r-eminded of EUington,
Monk, and Mingus by the harmonies Cecil
was investigating, whieh suggests he had
alt'eady aligned himself with the most
adventurous musicians in the jazz tradi-
tion. But the "hythms wc"e his own brew.
Hints of stride showed up in Cccil's two-
handed playing style, and Iw had already
developed an cal' 1'01' the heavy percussion
of Afl'ican lIlusic. CI"ady, he was on his
way to inventing himsf,lf.
Fl'om a tot<ll of fOUl' days of intensive
playing, Candicl r-eleased exact.ly one album
- The lVorldQjCecil Taylor. Ten yeal'S latel',
in 1971, CBS/Sony in Japan released an aU-
new album from the second sessions, which
were actually led by Neidlinger. Latel' that
same yea I', Bamaby in the .5. I'eleased yet
another, all different Cecil Taylor album.
Three down, three to go,
As obscure and hal'd to find as those three
albums al'e, a like amount of music from those
sessions went totally unissued ... until now.
This Mosaic set contains everything o[
merit from the Candid sessions, including
th"ee LPs' worth of tmissued titles and worthy
alternate takes. In addition to the quartet
recol-dings, there an~ several tr'acks with an
The Complete Candid Recordings of
Cecil Taylor and Buell Neidlinger
Limited to 7500 copies worldwide.
6 LPs [MR6-127] $60
4 CDs [MD4-127] $60
expanded ensemble th<lt incluclps Billy
Higgins, Clark Ten-y, RosweU Rudd,
Charles Davis, and Steve Lacy.
Historic highlights.
Listen fOI- the recording debut of Sonny
MUlTay on the previously unissued Taylo"
composition "Numbel' One," And in a
se"ies of ftve takes Oil Ceeil's mastfTl'ul
"Ai,'," heal' how the quartet (with An·},i ...
Shepp also making his rlebllt) work thl'ir
way into the composition 0111" pxperinlPnlal
step at a time - aU the way thl'ollgh the
master take - and thp.n one tak... Iwyond!
The booklet illclucles musical n.,minis-
cencI's by Nat Hl'ntof[ (pmduccr' of Ihe
o,'iginal sessions) plus a musical anaJysis
and pel'sonal rec{)Uections by Nt'idlingel'.
AdditionaUy, ther-e's a complete Taylor!
Neidlinger discography and ran', unpuh-
Jished photographs.
"Evel'y note on the [ouI,-CD sP.t The
Compkte Candid Recordings ojCecil
Taylor and BueU Neidlinger aUfsls to the
IIncompmrnised hriUiance of pianist/com-
poser Taylor,"
RusseU Woessner, Philadelphia Cit} Poper
"Thne is alI-eady no doubt what 1989's
best reissue witi be."
Jules Epstein, Philadelphia Tribnne

MOSAIC RECORDS 31
 S TIL L A
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
The first Bud Powell
collection that isn't
screwed up.
e'd be willing to bet a high per-
W centage of the people reading this
brochure own at least some Blue
Note Bud Powell What has always puzzled
us is the strange way the music has been
released throu~hout the years.
Take Bud's very fil'st session for the
label. Up until now, the 11 tracks recorded
that incredible afternoon of innovation and
inspiration have been available only on
four different albums - never all together
and in recorded sequence.
His most spectacular recordings.
So here at Mosaic, we've done the only
right thing. At last, it's possible to heal'
Bud's work complete, whole, and fOJ'ever
on The Complete Bud PoweU Blue Note
Recordings (1949-1958), By universal
assent, the Blue Notes are the most consis-
tent and spectacular recordings by this
chief architect of bebop piano,
Ferocious, intl'icate, dignified, surpris-
ingly joyful. This set eorreets the sequence
of Bud's first set for the label and adds all
of his 1953 date - 10 definitive perfor-
mances - for the first time on one LP, in
proper order, Included as well are a few
relevant alternate takes never before avail-
ahle with the original masters,
Sidemen include Fats Navarn>, Sonny
Hollins, Roy Haynes, Max Roaeh, Art
Taylor, Philly Joe Jones, GeOl'ge Duviviel',
Sam Jones, and Paul Chambers. Five LPs,
plus a booklet, with a rare reminiscence by
Alfnxl Lion, analysis by Mal·k Gar"dner,
and F't"ancis Wolff's unpublished pho-
tographs of the actual sessions. HUJTy. As
with all Mosaic sets, when this sells out, we
won't press any more,
"The set is imperative and the results -
indispensable. "
Boh Blumenthal, Boston Phoenix
"It's good to have this impn~ssive body of
music in one definitive edition."
Francis Davis, Phiu1delphia inquirer
28 CALL AND ORDER BY PHONE: 203/327-711110AM-SPM
OR FAX: 203/323-3526 VISA & MASTERCARD ONLY, PLEASE.
v A I LAB L E
rhythmie density; it is idiosyncratic and
I'IIfCClMPIRI
IUD PC\!IIU
IWllon
brimrning with eharactel',
IltOltllGl
(1949,1958) Nearly double the amount of Herbie's
work on record.
With pride and elation, Mosaic presents The
Complete Blue Note Recordings of Herbie
Ni<:hols, 30 tlmes and 18 alternates o,'iginaUy
t'eeonled in 1955 and 19.56 that amount to
five LPs or three CDs - nearly doubling the
amount of Herbie Nichols' work on rl'cOt"d,
The inn'edible t!'io performances feature
bassists AJ MeKibbon and Teddy Kotick,
and drummers Art Blakey and Max Roaeh.
We feel this joyous music is some of the
most important ever made,
The Complete Bud Powell Blue Note
The booklet includes an intimate pet"-
Recordings (1949-1958)
Limited to 7500 copies worldwide. sonal portt'ait and musical analysis by
5 LPs [MR5-ll6] $50 Roswell Rudd, AJso included at'e sevl'l'al
Not available on CD. unpublished Niehols poems, as well as
reprints of his writings on music, a complete
discography of his work as sideman and
leadel', a wealth of previously unpublished
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• photographs by FI"aneis WoUf, and testa-
"It seems like you either ments from artists who knew him, including
At'chie Shepp, Max Roach, and Sheila
have to be an Uncle Tom Jordan,
or a drug addict to make
#1 Reissue of the Year"
it in jazz, and I'm not (1988 Down Beat International Critics Poll)
either one." "A masterfully assemhled reminder of a
regrettably ignored artist. It rates an
unqualified five stat·s."
~
e scene aceording to Herbie Nichols,
who was largely if,'llOred by his peel's, Leonanl Feathet', The L.A, Times
the record companies, and the dubs,
If fame eluded him, inspiration didn't;
pianist and eomposel' Hel'bie Nichols wl'ote
OVe!" 100 ()["iginal and eomplex jazz compo-
sitions (mixed in with poetry, operas,
theatel' pie!~l's, prose, and dassical music).
Imagine Teddy Wilson mingled with
Monk.
To paraphrase A. B, Spdhnan in Four Lives
in the Bebop Business, Herbie Nichols'
piano playing has both Teddy Wilson's ele-
gant clal';ty and a complex melodie/rhythmic
stnll:turl' as unique as Man k 's.
Sa,Uy, this imml'nse, ol"iginaltalent has a
name few people recognize; he spent a lot of
his life playing in Dixieland bands. Herbie
Nichols only l'I'r'OI'ded a few tunes for Savoy,
two lO-ineh LPs and one] 2-ineh LP fOl' The Complete Blue Note Recordings of
Blue Note, and a final alJlUm for Bethlehem Herbie Nichols
before he died of leu kemia in ] 963 a t the age Limited to 7500 copies worldwide.
5 LPs [MR5-ll8] $45
of '~3. Herbie Nichols' revolutionary music
is filled with swinging melodic lines and 3 CDs [MD3-1l8] $45
(EST) MONDAY-fRIDAY
"The paintedy detail of Nichols' composi-
tions and the percussive density of his
chord c1ustlTs will startl<, anyone who
hasn't heard him hefol'e. Easily the year's
most signifir',ant reissue,"
Francis Davis, Philadelphia Inquirer
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
"Dry martinis."
~
at's Paul Desmond's own descrip-
tion of his celebl'ated sound: the sexy,
subtle alto, cutting :hrough the
countel' rhythms and affirmative chOl'ds of
the Dave 8mbeck Quartet. Tangible.
Minimal. Sophisticated. Slt'aight up.
Simpatico setting.
Now hear' that sound in a vel'y different
seltinf!;' Quietet'. Less about contl'asts,
more about simpatico. Intl'Oducing The
Completc Recordings of the Panl Desmond
Qlwrtet with .lim Hall.
Hen>, Desmond's lyrical phl'ascs join
with the swinging pel'fection of Jim Hall,
the quit't authol'ity of Modem Jazz Quartet
dnlmmcl' Connie Kay, and eithel' Pel'cy
Heath, Gene Wright, 01,' Gene Cherico on
bass to create masterful sides, The quat·tet
sounds like they played togetht'l' for yeal's,
though they neve,' played a single live gig.
This is Desmond as lead"r and musical
organizer, whose wit and warmth come
singing through his song ehoiees, his
arrangements, and his compositions.
A great six-year studio matchup.
The sessions arc gathen>d chrono1ogieally
into one six-LP/four-CD set, Iwginning with
a 1959 Warllf~I' Bros, album and continu-
iug into 1965 with four morc RCA albums.
Included are a rare title that only appeal'ed
on a Playboy Records anthology and 12
previously unissued pel'fonnances from the
RCA years,
The booklet contains a new essay fl'orn
Desmond's close friend, joumalist Doug
Ramsey, as well as reprints of some of
Desmond's famed dry prose: "I have won
several prizes as the world's slowest alto
player, as well as a speciaL award in 1961,
for quietness."
"J azz is I'al'ely as pl'eUy as this; and jazz this
pn>tty is pmeticaUy nevel' so fuJl of sullstanee."
Richanl Williams, The London Times
"It's a tleaming made in Iyeical heaven,
Entering this wo,'ld of hreathy beauty and
ready wit, you'll find it perfectly easy to
sail through all six records and then start
over again. And again,"
Lloyd Sachs, Chicago Slln Times
The Complete Recordings of the Paul
Desmond Quartet with Jim Hall
Limited to 7500 copies worldwide.
6 LPs [MR6-120] $60
4 COs [M04-120] $60
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
From the end of his
career, Monk's Black Lion
masterworks - including
a rare glimpse inside
the nlind of the man.
he yeal's of staying tnle to hiscalling
T weren't kind to Thelonious Monic By
the late '60s, he was through with CBS
(they wanted an album of Beatles tunes) and
perfonned mostly with a contl'ived group
called The Giants of Jazz. It was finan-
ciaUy, but not artistically, rewarding.
Magnificent solos and trios.
The one high point came during a eerord-
ing session Monk made in London for
Black Lion on November 15, 1971. Many
listeners l'egard them, his finaL l'ecol'dings
as a leader, as equal in quality and inspil'a-
tion to his first sessions fOl' Blue Note,
Thes" pianistic tOllrs deforce put to the
test, once and for aU, the notion Monk sae-
I'ificed teehnique to sel'V(~ his style,
AJl the solos and trios he ITeOl'ded on that
one day, plus an entil'e nine-cut stndio date
from Paris in 1954, appear togethel' for the
first time on The Complete Black Uon and
Vogue Recordings ~fTheloniolls Il'lonk.
First cut worth the price.
The very first cut he I'ecorded in that
London studio is wOI,th the pl'ice of the
whole set alone.
It was un unfamilial' studio and instru-
ment. Pianist and piano had to gt'l to know
each othel', Monk, [.eing a compos"r, ('ould
not calTY out even this task without expel'i-
menting with chords and melodies. What
he played in total p,-ivaey leads to unpn>ct"-
dented understanding of this great talent.
This set: four LPsltlll'ee CDs, with seven
performances issued hel'e fi"st and several
others previously hal'd to find, The Pal'is
date is issued foe the fit"st timt' with COITt'ct
titles and impl'oved sound. The booklet
includes an essay by Brian Priestley (who
was present at the Black Lion date), the
fil'st biography of Monk's last yeal's,
Monk's last Down Beat intel'view, and rart'
photogt·aphs.
The Complete Black Lion and Vogue
Recordings of Thelonious Monk
Limited to 7500 copies worldwide,
4 LPs [MR4-112] $40
3 COs [M03-112] $45
I
MOSAIC RECORDS ~
 I
S TIL L A v A I LAB L E

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • 4.44• • • • • • • • • • • (On sides one and two the cymbals are over-
"Phantom album" recol'ded, ereating a certain amount of
distol'Lion Lhat cannot be repaired.)
mystery solved!
"lnc1ude(s) his rare True Blue, one of Lhe
gl'catest albums Blue Note ever released."
"This is simply a joy, definitive modcrn
clarinet pail'ing and ample exposure for
MI'. Clark, one of the finest modern
pianists, "
Robert Palmer, The New York Times

H
ere is one that stumped coUeetors for
yeal's. Catalogues listed it - inner Jim MilIcI', Newsweek
sleeve displays pictLII'ed its cover. Yet
no one had ever seen ai' heard the album.
The artist was Harold Floyd "Tina"
Brooks, a fiery tenol' player who appeal"ed •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
fl-equcntly as a Blue Note sideman, writer, Why is the world ignoring
and an'angeL Buddy DeFranco?
The missing album? Something ealJed
Back to the Tracks - I"econled, designed,
ame three bebop e1arinetists.
sequenced, catalogued, forgotten,

His prayerfUl style.

No one knows why, except those were husy
yean; at Blue Note. Finally he's getting his
due, this gentle, neglected man whose
pl'ayerful style cleaved fil'mly to the blues
and gospel. Back to the Tracks is just one
of two unissued albums, plus two mon~ I"are
discs, compiled as The Complete Blue Note
Recordings of the Tina Brooks Quilltets.
Pel'sonal solos, distinctive horn voicings,
dear, melodic compositions - Tina did it
aU. This mystery ends in a discovery more
rewarding than ever imagined,
The four albums, recorded fl'om 1958 to
1961 . featu,'e Art Blakey, Lee Morgan,
Sonny Clad" F,'eddie Hubbard, Blue
Mitchell, Wilbur' War'e, Paul Cbambel's,
and Jackie McLean, Plus, there's a booklet
with a newly I'esearched biography by
Michael Cuseuna, analysis by Robel't
Palmel', complete discography, and many
unpublished photographs, induding a shot
of the unused Back to the Tracks cover.
The Complete Blue Note Recordings of
the Tina Brooks Quartet.
Limited to 7500 copies worldwide.
4 LPs [MR4-106] $40
Not available on CO.
N Evel'ybody knows the saxophone
players, trumpeters, pianists, and
drummers. But sinee IJebop clarinet is so
rar'e, DeFnlnco just gets lost completely,
DeF,"anr,o was a virtuoso on the instru-
ment. A classicist until he discovered
Goodman, DflFraneo fell into the "new
thing" on the road, when he and othcl" ven-
turesome swing musieians would transpose
Parker's solos down in the basement.
He pushed the clarinet's limits.
DeFranco was constantly expedmenting,
pushing the lilnits of the instl"llment. He
played George Russell's music, in Basie's
septet, in his own iJI-fated big band, then he
went on the wad with a quartet. Sonny
Cla,"k was the pianist (after Kenny Drew),
It was one of the most tight-knit, fun-loving,
vel'sati.le organizations around, with Gene
WI'ight on bass and Bobby Whitc on dl"llms.
Here are all the originally scattered and,
untiJ now, long-out-of-print l"ecOl'dings uf
The Complet.e Verve Reeol'dings Of the BlIddy
DeFranco Quartet/Quintet wit.h Sonn.y
Clark (the fifth was the occasional coLlabo-
I'atol', Tal Farlow). Recol'ded in 1954 and
1955, these selections show Buddy's
remarkable faeility and mastery of harmony.
Complete and chronological.
A five-LP/four-CD set, complete and in
chl"Onologi(~aJ selJ.uence, it includes a hooklet
with a new essay by Ira Giller, the original
vintage liner notes from the sessions, a new
interview with DeFraneo, and rare pho-
tographs.
We've got a special affeetion for this
music. If you don't know about Buddy
DeFranco, pick up this set.
"The preferred clarinetist of Art Tatum,
Count Basie, Lester Young, and countless
other jazz musicians, DeFranco was to the
clarinet what Powell was to the piano,"
Leonard Feather, The L. A. Times
The Complete Verve Recordings of the
Buddy DeFranco Quartet/Quintet with
Sonny Clark
Limited to 7500 copies worldwide.
5 LPs [MR5-117] $50
4 COs [Mo4-117] $60
••••••••••••• 4.44 ••••••••••••
When jazz turned
commercial, Mingus
turned rebel. The fire of
the times - in these rare
Candid recordings.
et's tum back the clock to 1960, The
L times we,'e turbulent, and so was the
music. Mingus' core personnel (EI"ic
Dolphy, Ted Curson, and Dannie
Hichmond) were capable of anything, and
given Charles' inner demons, they needed
spidt and stl'ength to go exploring with him.
In t.he spring, when Mingus and othe,'s
were disappointed with the financial
arrangements at the Newport Jazz Festival,
Mingus hatched a plan. The Newport Rebel
Fest.ival.
Critics and musicians hailed it. StiU
boiling, Mingus hit the studio, The
Complete Candid Recordings of Charles
Mingus was the result.
Results left musicians elated.
Mingus and his collaborators were elated.
"I made it!" Richmond yelled after one
take. "1 finalJy got to play it like I've been

CALL AND ORDER BY PHONE: 203/327-711110AM-5PM (EST) MONDAy-FRIDAY

30
OR FAX: 203/323-3526 VISA &. MASTERCARD ONLY, PLEASE.
 heal'ing it." And Dolphy said, "We never
got it togethel' like this in the club."
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Thl'ee sessions in all were recorded. The
How could SO much
fil'SI 'Hlded Lonnie HiUyel', Charles explosive energy stay
McPhel'~on, Ni(:o Bunick, Jimmy Knepper, bottled up for so long?
and B"itt Woo.lman. One month later,
CUI'son and Dolphy returned for thn~e cuts Cecil Taylor and Buell
on a date featuring Hillyer, McPherson, Neidlinger on Candid.
Booker' £.-vin, and Paul B1ey. AJso that
day, a I'emarkable jam was ~ssembled­
You haven't heard the
Mingus with Richmond and EI'ic Dolphy, half of it.
plus Jimmy Kneppel', Jo Jones, Tommy
Flanagan, and Roy Eldridge!

Roy told the bass player, "A lot of the
young ones fOI'get the basics. They don't
get all the way down into the music. You
did, baby."
FOlll' LPsltfll'ee CDs include the two
Mingus Candid albums, seven titles issued
only on anthologies, and five maste"pieces
issued fil'st in this set. The booklet includes
essays, Nat Hentofrs oribrinal tinel' notes,
and newly discover'ed photogr'aphs.
#1 (tien) Reissue of the Year
(1986 Down Beat Intemational Critics PoU)
"This may be the most valuable item in
Mosaic's sel'ies to date."
Leonal·d Feather', The L.A. Times
TIlE COMPLETE
CUD•• RECOIDIKS Of
CHAlliS .. Ileus
The Complete Candid Recordings of
Charles Mingus
Limited to 7500 copies worldwide.
4 LPs [MR4-111] $40
3 CDs [MD3-111] $45
" ... you pl'obably have the ol'iginal
albums released on Candid, or the Barnaby
reissues, but don'tlet that deter you from
looking into tlus 4~LP/3-CD set on Mosaic. , ,
supel"b sound and annotation and five
previously unreleased tl'acks."
Chris AJbe"tson, Stereo Review
C
edi Taylor may he, in all tbe turbu-
lent history of jazz, the one
individual who has thrown down the
most (:hallf,nges-I'or PI'ities, for listeners,
and 1'01' fellow musicians,
While many in music al'e content to estab-
lish a style 1'01' themselves, gain some
notol"iety, and stick with the shtick, Cecil's
cal'eel' has been a constant, uncompromis-
ing Journey.
But there were only hints of where hi~
musical exploration would take him when
he, Neidlinger, Dennis Chades, and Archie
Shepp entered the studio in October 1960
and January 1961 to make the l"ecol'dings
that woukl clearly statp his impo,'tance to
the world.
In the tradition.
Some listeners al'e r-eminded of EUington,
Monk, and Mingus by the harmonies Cecil
was investigating, whieh suggests he had
alt'eady aligned himself with the most
adventurous musicians in the jazz tradi-
tion. But the "hythms wc"e his own brew.
Hints of stride showed up in Cccil's two-
handed playing style, and Iw had already
developed an cal' 1'01' the heavy percussion
of Afl'ican lIlusic. CI"ady, he was on his
way to inventing himsf,lf.
Fl'om a tot<ll of fOUl' days of intensive
playing, Candicl r-eleased exact.ly one album
- The lVorldQjCecil Taylor. Ten yeal'S latel',
in 1971, CBS/Sony in Japan released an aU-
new album from the second sessions, which
were actually led by Neidlinger. Latel' that
same yea I', Bamaby in the .5. I'eleased yet
another, all different Cecil Taylor album.
Three down, three to go,
As obscure and hal'd to find as those three
albums al'e, a like amount of music from those
sessions went totally unissued ... until now.
This Mosaic set contains everything o[
merit from the Candid sessions, including
th"ee LPs' worth of tmissued titles and worthy
alternate takes. In addition to the quartet
recol-dings, there an~ several tr'acks with an
The Complete Candid Recordings of
Cecil Taylor and Buell Neidlinger
Limited to 7500 copies worldwide.
6 LPs [MR6-127] $60
4 CDs [MD4-127] $60
expanded ensemble th<lt incluclps Billy
Higgins, Clark Ten-y, RosweU Rudd,
Charles Davis, and Steve Lacy.
Historic highlights.
Listen fOI- the recording debut of Sonny
MUlTay on the previously unissued Taylo"
composition "Numbel' One," And in a
se"ies of ftve takes Oil Ceeil's mastfTl'ul
"Ai,'," heal' how the quartet (with An·},i ...
Shepp also making his rlebllt) work thl'ir
way into the composition 0111" pxperinlPnlal
step at a time - aU the way thl'ollgh the
master take - and thp.n one tak... Iwyond!
The booklet illclucles musical n.,minis-
cencI's by Nat Hl'ntof[ (pmduccr' of Ihe
o,'iginal sessions) plus a musical anaJysis
and pel'sonal rec{)Uections by Nt'idlingel'.
AdditionaUy, ther-e's a complete Taylor!
Neidlinger discography and ran', unpuh-
Jished photographs.
"Evel'y note on the [ouI,-CD sP.t The
Compkte Candid Recordings ojCecil
Taylor and BueU Neidlinger aUfsls to the
IIncompmrnised hriUiance of pianist/com-
poser Taylor,"
RusseU Woessner, Philadelphia Cit} Poper
"Thne is alI-eady no doubt what 1989's
best reissue witi be."
Jules Epstein, Philadelphia Tribnne

MOSAIC RECORDS 31
 M 0 S A IcE
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Exhibit Your Passion
ow, for the first time, you can see, own
N
and display jazz history in the form of
limited-edition, museum-quality
Francis WoUT photographs.
Several years ago while we were consulting
with Alf"ed Lion ahout Mosaic's impending
Bud Powell and Herhie Niehols reissues, Lion
happpnpd to mention that hp had heen given hy
IUs partner, Francis Wolff, thousands of
WoU"fs never-hefon'-publishe.l photographs of
jazz artists, and would we be inll'rested in
some new shots of Powell and Nichols for OUI'
rpleases'! You ,'an imai-9ne what our answpr was.
From that 1l10Illent on we hf~gan U1COll)ol'ating
ran' Franc-is Wolff photographs into evel'y Mosaic
spt of Blue Note material. We enjoyed them
almost as much as finding long-forgotten tracks
in the Bille Note vaults. And we weren't alolle.
Our custom"l's deeply apl,,'eeiall'd them, too.
When Alfred Lion passed away in 1987, his
wiJc entrustcd the entire collection to us, Aftel'
/Ilw'h thought as to how best to bonor the memory
and the art of Francis Wolff, we decided to
"egin offering his most visually powedul and
historic.ally important photogTaphs to jazz
coUectorslike ourselves, in high-quality limited
.,ditions of pl'ints and postcrs.
Th,' same care and passion that we put into
our "ccordings has gone into the production of
IhcS(' photographi.· prints and posters.
THE POSTER
The paper used for oUl'photograph "eproduction
pOS«'I' is hcavyw(>ight, Grade #1 coa«>d,
an'hival ucid-fn'l> stock. Mosaic posters will not
Yl'UOW 01' dt·'tt··rionlh-· llurillg you I" lif'etirne ... (H·
.'vcn your grandchildren's lifctinw. The poste,'
image is reproduced using a sIH'('ial scannf'd
(Iuotonc proccss using the colol's black and gl'ay.
Though IlIon" pxpensive than straight single-
('0101' reprorlUf:tion, Ihis pnlCess allows rielwr
lights <:lntl shadings., ~i\,jng the photogruphj('.
image more puneh. Ead1 poster in our Iimilf'd
edition of 3000 is individually numhel'ed.
THE PRINT
For connoisscu,'s of rine photographie art we
are also offering an extrem..Jy Limited edition of
50 pholographie prints, each one individually
processed to archival standards by mastel'
printer Chuck Kelton. This time-ronsuming
D I T ION
pmcess, previously employed by Mr. Kelton
while working with sueh photogTaphers as
Ansel Adams, involves a costly ch"mieal
washing process to neutralize all acids, and
selenium loning to rnhance Ihe photogJ'aph's
natural tones. Each muscum-worthy, eustom-
pro('essrd photographic print is numbe,'pd.
Seeing these images reproduced in this
catalog is no substitute for seeing., and living
with, the real thing. Therefore every Mosaic
postr.' and print is sold with an ulll'esh'icted
money back gual·antee.
When Francis Wolff captured Art Blakey's
mood in this 1960 photograph, Blakey was in
the midstof a session that would become a
classic. That Whole period - with Lee Morgan,
Wayne Shorter and Bobby Timmons - is
considered one of the best editions on the Jazz
Messengers ever. See page 5 for a complete
description of the boxed set.
W'e at'(> pnHld 10 I", in a position 10
this very special offe,'ing and we hope that it
will be the first of St'vpral.
THE JOY OF BLAKEY
On March Ii .. 191i0, Art Blakey's recording
carcer was riding high. Afll',' some 20 albums
as a leadpr, he went into the studio with onc of
the g"eatest "ditions of thl' Jazz M"sseugcrs
evel', featuring Lpr MOI'gan. Waylw ShOl'tel'
S
and Bohby Timmons (Sce page 5.) As Frank
WoUf's lens peered through the drmnset,
Blakey's inrertious joy of playing was neve"
more evident. Ct'opped and tiuted, this
photogJ'aph became the cover 1'01' The Big
Beat. Francis Wolff's photograph, nntinted,
joyfully embodies the essence of Art Blak.,y
and the spirit of his musie.
Edition Limited to :3000 numbe,'ed posters
and 50 numbered and authentieall'd custO!ll-
processed photog"aphic prints woddwide.
Poster price: :5;40
Print p"iee: $500 (only a few left)
CAPTURING A COLOSSUS
In 1957 Sonny Rollins was busy winding down
his stint with Max Roach, playing in the Miles
Davis group, forming his first band as a leader
and recording the four Blue Note albums that
would furthpr establish his t'cputation on the
Icnor saxophone. At thp Apt'il 14. ] 957 session
for Sonny Rollins Vol. 2, F"ancis Wolff was
somcwhat busy himsplf. Like all Blue Not"
sessions of that ("I'a, it look place amongst till'
lamps. microphones, wnctian bLinds '111([ patch
cords at Rudy Van Gclder's, wherc Rollins lcd
Thelonious Monk, J. J. Jolmson, Horace Silvpr,
Paul Chambers and Al,t Blak.. y into jazz hjslew)'.
The p,msive cover shol of Sonny Rollins is
un<{uestionahly one of Wolff's mastel'pie.·cs.
Edition limited to 3000 numlwrcJ posters
and 50 numlwrcd and authenticated custom-
Ill'ocpssed photographic prints woddwidc.
Postn pri<'P: ;840
Pl'int pricc: %00 (only a few left)
BLUE NOTE COLTRANE
Shortly 1wfor.. Coltrane signed with P"estige,
Iw made an oral agl'eemt'nl with Alfre,l Lion to
"c('ord one allHun for Bluc Not", with a modcsl
ou-tlw-spot advance. Tlw rpsnlt was Ilw
singulal' Blue Train for thc label. This
bl'illiantly cOIH'piv..d and execuled aUlIlIll. along
with thc ..lassic Francis Wolff photograph uscd
for the cove,', is Ill<' only evid,'nc.' we have of
make what a Blue Note/Coltrane legacy might have
sounded amI looked ill",. The pholog,'aph. takcll
Sqtl{o'mbf'l" 15., ] 957 ~ wa~ l"f·Yt'Tf"ly (Topperl for
th .. aUHlm cover and has 'WH'" been shown in
its glo,'ious pntin'ty untiJ this offe,·ing.
Edition limit..d to :3000 numlwn'd posters
and 50 1ll1l11lwr"d and authenlicated cuslom-
J)I'ocessed photographie prints woddwide.
Poster price: $40
SORRY, PRINTS SOLD OUT
MOSAIC RECORDS 33
 NOT ICE
- - S

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Going, going ...
Many ofyou have asked us about the stahlS ofvari-
ow; sets. To better help you plan your Mosaic
purcha.-"€S, we have compiIro thi~ list ofour collec-
tions which are either near the end of their edition or
for which our leases are about to expire with little
possibility ofan extension. We cannot guarantee the
availability of these items beyond 199"2 ahhough
some may last into the next year.
The Complete Pacific Jazz Small Group Reco~
of Art Pepper [MR3-1OS] page 16
'I1w ('..omplete Blue Note FOrlID; Rfn)r~ofThe
Quebec and John Hardee [MR4/MD3-107] page 20
The CompleteEdmond HalIIJames P. John.."<.mf
Sidney De ParislVic Dickenson Blue Note Sessions
[MRCJMDl..-I09] page 14
Gone for good. Out of
print. Sold out.
Boogie Woogie Harlem Jazz Monk's
Blue Notes Gerry Mulligan Clifford
Brown. They're aU gone for good.
We don't make hits trying to go gold or
platinum. We lease masters because we
believe in the artists and in the music. Our
leases are limited - and we live up to our
wOI·d. When they're sold out, they're gone
for good. Out of pr·int.
We're sorry when tl'ue fans miss out.
Since we can't always predict when certain
Mosaic sets are nearing their sales linilt, we
urge you to order the ones you really care
about. Befol'e all tills music history truly
slips into history.
Sometimes Mosaic
limited edition sets are
even more limited then
you may think.
A few months back we sent a postcard with
the heading "Going ... Going ..." to
everyone on our mailing list.
It was to announce that two more early
Mosaic sets had sold out, and to provide
advance warning that a dozen more were in
imminent danger of joining them.
Almost immediately after the postcard
mailed we received the folJowing letter,
which brought home to us the realization
that a lot of our customers may not know
exactly how our policy of "limited editions"
works. If you are among the confused, or
merely curious, please read on.

The Complete Blue Note Recor-dingi of Sidney Dear Mosaic

Beehet [MR&'MD4-11O] page II
The Complete Candid Recording; ofOmrles
Mingus [MR4IMD3-111] page::lOI31
The Complete Pacific Jazz live R~;()rding;of the
Chet Baker Quartet with Russ Freeman
[MR4IMD3-113] page 15
The Complete Blue Note Art Hodes Ses.~ons
[MR5IMI}t.-114] page 11
TIle Benny Motton/Jimmy Hamilton Bhle Note
Swingtets [ME 1-115] P<!,,"C 19
The Coml'lde Verve Recording:; of the Buddy
DeFlanco Quartet/Quintet with Sonny Clark
[MR5IMI}t.-117] page 30
The Pete J ohnsonlEarl Hines'I'eddy Buon Blue
Note Sessions [MRl-119] pa",oe 12
'The Complete Recon:lings of the Paul funlOnd
Quartet with JimH:aJl [MR6'MD4-l2O] page 29
The Complete Commodore Ja7Z Recol-dingi,
Volume I [MR23-123] page 9
The Complete Atlantic and EMl J UZl Recording:; of
Shotty Rogers [MB6'MD1.-125J page 16
Please find enclosed my orderfor the Mingus,
Chet Baker live and Shorty Rogers sets. I
had planned to buy them more slowly over
time, bltl your recent flyer announcing their
potential demise hurried me up a little.
Now a warning. Be car'eJul about how
often you do this. It is a valuflble service,
but one with an immense potential for
Blue Note Monk Gerry Mulligan
Limited to 7500 copies Limited to 7500 copies abuse. 1 assume because you have built up
worldwide. worldwide. a valuable climate oj trust among your
customers, that when you say the numbers
ojspecifu: sets are getting lower, you are
speaking the truth. It would be helpful if in
your next regular flyer, you set out criteria
for a postcard like this, teUing us, ~f you
have the data, just what number consti-
tutes a low number ofsets. Likewise, Ifor
one wouullike to know what you meant by
Ammons/Lewis Clifford Brown
"expiring leases". Does this mean that sets
Limited to 7500 copies Limited to 7500 copies you have alread)' printed cannot be soUL
worldwide. worldwide.
once a lease expires on them? If not, what is
the signifu:ance ofan expired lease? I had
the impression that your lease of these
materials extended to the sale oJthe entire
number ofsets (usually 7500) no nu:ttter how
long it took. If this impression was in
error, 1 think you can trust your customers
(most ofwlwm are weU experienced collectors
who understand many of the intricacies oj
Port of Harlem Jazzmen
"labelology") to explain how it works.
Limited to 7500 copies Don't get me wrong, Mosaic is the best
worldwide.
that ever was, perhaps the best that ever

34 CALL AND ORDER BY PHONE: 203/327-711110AM-5PM (EST) MONDAY-FRIDAY

OR FAX: 203/323-3526 VISA & MASTERCARD ONLY, PLEASE.
wiU be. 1 will continue to buy and treasure
Mosaic sets more than any others in my
collection. I guess that when I buy one of
your limited edition sets, I feel a little pos-
sessive, like a stock holder in the company!
Thanksfor some wonderful music. The
Basie live set, by the way. is a pure gas.
Sincerel)' ,
Greg Monahan, La Grande, OR
We appreciate the trust that our customel's
place in us. Now with so many of our early
sets about to become unavailable, we thought
we'd better explain why our editions al"e
limited ... and spell out what that means.
The image that you may have of a giant
Mosaic warehouse, stocked with as many as
7500 copies of each l\'losaic set, is not at aU
accurate.
There is no way that we can affon.l or
even wish to manufactuI"e, or store, the full
run of each set that we release. As you can
see, Mosaic sets released ten years ago are
just now beginning to reach the end of theil"
run. 7500 sets represents a biggel" up-front
manufacturing eost, and ongoing storage
cost, than we've ever been able to handle.
And we also know there al"en't too many
people who would I"elish huying a set that
had been sitting on a shelf fOI" eight years.
LPs and CDs are manufactured as we
need them. The only elements that we must
produce in large quantities are our book-
lets. In tltis case, small press runs are
pJ"Ohihilively expensive. So, when ou,·
booklets run out befol"e an edition is com-
plete (sueh as when have to we discard a
few hundred for quality controll"easons),
we're out or luck. We can't go back to press
fOI" only a few hundred hooldets. For' this
reason, our limited editions occasionally
have to be dosed out befol'e we reaeh the
maximum numher we've set as our goal.
(As wt~'ve stateo fr'om the beginning,
Mosaic sets are Iim.itedto a specific numher'
of copies. However', r'est assured, in no case
no we evel' manufaelure mor'e than the
sta ted rigu 1'1'.)
There's also another r"eason why an edi-
tion sometimes has to be dosed out before
the end of thl' edition is reached. As you"re
probably aware, Mosaie does not own the
Blut" Note, PaeiJic J<lZZ, Atl<lntic, Columbia,
RCA, 01" any other' catalog. With the exeep-
tion of our Benedetti set (which is not a lim-
ited edition), Mosaic leases aU of its
recordings from major record companies.
These leases eventually expil·e. So, even
if we haven't I'eached our stated goal, when
the lease expires after five or even three years,
the set must be discontinued. In our" begin-
ning days we had no trouble getting long-
term leases from the major I"ecord compa-
nies ... and renewing them, if need be,
when they expired. But that was befor'e CDs.
Today, jazz reissues are a big business.
Record companies al"e much more resll"ic-
tive in what they will lease, and in the terms
of theil" leases. For Mosaic to continue
releasing "names" like Basic and Nat King
Cole, we must now accept shol"tel' tenn
leases, often with no possibility of renewal.
What's more, now that Mosaic has made a
name for itself as a successful reissue label,
even the Tina Brooks' and Hel·bie Nichols'
of this world ... artists who have been
neglected throughout history ... come
under closer scrutiny by the major labels
the instant Mosaic asks about reissui.ng them!
So, as you see, Mosaic's limited editions
are often more Limited than we originally
planned. To prevent any disappointing sur-
pl"ises, we will continue to keep Ollr
eustomers informed ahout which sets are in
danger" of being discontinued or sold out.
As a general nile of thumb, keep in mind
that most sets prior to MR-126 will almost
certainly he gone with.in the next two years.
At this point, we can't even speculate on
t he availability of more cun"enl sets beyond
their lease terms, like the Larry Young and
Nat Cole sets whieh have leases scheduled
to expire during 1994.
We, too, consider our customer"s an inte-
gral part of our ol"ganjzation - stock
holders, if you wiIJ. MOI"e than any specific
sales goal or numbel" figure, our main
imperative is that evel'y Mosaic limited edi-
tion set be available to evel'yone who cares,
for a reasonable amount of time.
And pay dividends for a lifetime.
On the Back Cover:
RESPECT. You see it in the way guitarist John
Collins looks at Vic Dickenson, a virtual one-
man tradition on trombone and the leader of
this session whic:h also features Joe Jones. At
Mosaic, our love for the music - and respect
for the musicians - is the reason we bring you
complete and chronological collections,
unreleased cuts in many of our sets, and
infonnative booklets. Photograph from June
25, 1952, by Francis Wolff.
Below:
DEVOTION. It's why Dean Benedetti followed
Bird from Los Angeles to New York, dutifully
recording the saxophonist's solos. And at Mosaic,
devotion is what's behind our detennination to
put this music into circulation for the first time,
ever. This extremely rare photograph from a gig
in 1945 (two years before the Benedetti rec0rd-
ings) appears in the booklet accompanying the
set. From left to right: Stan Levey, Leonard
Gaskin, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and Dexter
Gordon (pianist 5ir Charles Thompson is hidden).
Photograph courtesy of Fred Greenwell.
MOSAIC RECORDS 35
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