Chu Berry Mosaic Has Entered the Building

[Ron S]

Here. With LOTS of sound samples.

[Hot Ptah]

Ah! It includes "At the Clambake Carnival", my favorite Cab Calloway recording featuring Chu Berry.

[jazzbo]

Looks like a great set!

Andreas Meyer transfers, Addey mastering. . . going to sound great too.

[Ed S]

Those sound samples sound VERY nice

Don't think I have much if any Chu Berry. Looks like I'll be getting some soon.

[J.A.W.]

Strange... On the sound samples page it says that Ted Kendall did the mastering, while Malcolm Addey is credited near the bottom of the discography page; no mention of Kendall there

I really hope it's Addey; to my ears Kendall is a bit too generous with noise reduction.

Edited February 12, 2007 by J.A.W.

[jazzbo]

Weird. I didn't notice that.

I hope the discographical page is correct, though either way we should get good sound. I would think, if they're really going in the vaults, that the Meyers transfers would be correct.

Edited February 12, 2007 by jazzbo

[Quincy]

I was just thinking about this set today.

This is 2 big boxes in a row that I've preordered. I'm glad to see them pile on the sound samples as it may help move a few more boxes.

[ASNL77]

Yes these samples sound very nice. Yet, I'd rather listen to two or three full tracks than seven tunes for ten seconds....

It won't be long before this one sits on my shelves!

[J.A.W.]

Strange... On the sound samples page it says that Ted Kendall did the mastering, while Malcolm Addey is credited near the bottom of the discography page; no mention of Kendall there

I really hope it's Addey; to my ears Kendall is a bit too generous with noise reduction.

Mosaic's Scott Wenzel just told me Ted Kendall did the sound restoration.

[Chuck Nessa]

Strange... On the sound samples page it says that Ted Kendall did the mastering, while Malcolm Addey is credited near the bottom of the discography page; no mention of Kendall there

I really hope it's Addey; to my ears Kendall is a bit too generous with noise reduction.

Mosaic's Scott Wenzel just told me Ted Kendall did the sound restoration.

From personal experience, Kendall uses noise reduction as desired by his customers. Don't blame him.

[EKE BBB]

Just put this set on my wish list.

[ghost of miles]

As noted elsewhere, I've been enjoying reading Loren Schoenberg's notes again for the Herman Mosaic, so I'm happy to see that he's done the booklet for this set as well.

[Clunky]

Any comments on what's not included ? I noted that not all of the RCA "Indispensible Chu Berry" 2LP set is reproduced on this set. I'm no expert though

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I've very much enjoyed Chu's contributions to the Cab Calloway box I've got.

I want some Teddy Wilson, as well.

This box is a definite maybe.

MG

[Late]

Well, that does it. I think I'll sell my individual discs (after checking them against the discography), and spring for this set ... around June. Hopefully I'll have some more $ flow around then. (I just ordered the Ellington, so that will certainly tide me over.)

[JSngry]

Chu Berry was a bad motherfucker. I'll be getting this one as soon as $$$ allow.

No self-respecting tenor geek should let this one go.

[Hot Ptah]

I submitted a question on Mosaic's web site about five years ago as to whether they could put together a Chu Berry box, and a Sun Ra Horo Records box. I received a rather curt reply that Mosaic had no interest in Sun Ra because his recordings are too inconsistent, and that it would be impossible to do a Chu Berry box because it would involve the cooperation of too many labels, some of which tend not to cooperate.

I felt rather down after reading that replay, but....could that have been the origin of this set? Does Mosaic really make decisions based on customer emails, or not?

[jazzbo]

I DO think that Mosaic takes customer suggestions to heart and really thinks about the possibilities. At the time you sent the suggestion who would have thought that BMG and Sony would be one umbrella? (Well someone might have. . . ) It's scary in many ways, but does have benefits in the reissue game. . . .

[BruceH]

I was just thinking about this set today.

This is 2 big boxes in a row that I've preordered. I'm glad to see them pile on the sound samples as it may help move a few more boxes.

Not too quickly I hope.

[Matthew]

This looks like one of the best sets in a long time, one that I'm actually excited about right from the start. Like Mr. Sangrey, as soon as $$$ allows, I'm all over this one.

[J.A.W.]

Mosaic's Scott Wenzel just told me they hope to release the Chu Berry set in about two weeks.

Edited March 5, 2007 by J.A.W.

[J.A.W.]

According to the Mosaic site the Chu Berry set is expected to be released March 27.

[Late]

According to the Mosaic site the Chu Berry set is expected to be released March 27.

Aha — strategically timed for Ben Webster's birthday! Chu would be honored.

[Edlock8718]

According to the Mosaic site the Chu Berry set is expected to be released March 27.

That's great news, but c'mon, will somebody please ship this thing already?

Mosaic has been doing this for how long - 10-15 years? Why is it that they still have such trouble nailing a release date? Delays in licensing agreements and research early on in the process are one thing, but this set had already been held back by such things a long time ago, and had supposedly gotten over that hump.

So what it is so late in the process that causes these boxes to get held back? Delays in the production of the boxes, the booklets? You'd think by now Mosaic would've figured these things out, or at least learned how to expect them enough to set a safe release date, and if nothing else, ship early to make people happy.

Don't misunderstand me - I love Mosaic. I have 40-50 of their sets. If anything, I'm just curious...

[Stefan Wood]

Could be something like they got the sets, and discovered that there was a pressing error, or something similar. It's never an easy or quick process, especially for an independent company.