Sam Rivers Mosaic this November

[J.A.W.]

Yeah, I understand the whole business side of things, but I'm not sure I could care less about another Mosaic set of Ellington material, whereas the Studio Rivbea stuff could potentially be genuinely "new" stuff, or at least stuff that hasn't been released on "official" compact discs before.

So apparently you care a lot about "another Mosaic set of Ellington material"... Good to hear

[Chuck Nessa]

Nice to see all this support.

[tranemonk]

I don't get the whole... I wanted it thing... not to want it...

We know that Mosaic does use consumer feedback (e.g., people and boards like this one) to gauge potential interest in a set... It would seem to me that if you wanted it then... why not now?

(If for one was never interested in Threadgill, Braxton....)

I'll be interested to know what is on this set. Some of the trio material has long circulated as bootlegs - let's hope it is not just a belated issue of the same stuff. It's a pity that no-one got around to issuing this material way back when, in the heyday of cd. Same with Braxton and Threadgill sets - it all comes a bit late, to my way of thinking. I'll admit I was one of those calling for this set, but I've waited so long I'm a bit past caring. As for Ellington, fine, but we had 4CDs of this from Sony in excellent masters which cost me $7.50 including shipping. I can't quite work out why I need to spend $200 to get the rest.

[David Ayers]

Well I wanted this stuff 25 years ago. I've learned to manage without. Priorities change. It still hasn't been announced, even, so how excited can anyone get? There is no shortage of boots of this period, after all. Should it ever arrive, I'll consider it, depending at that time what I am thinking about. I suppose that I am not thrilled that it is only after the CD reissue wave is basically coming to an end that only now are we being offered the 'avant-garde' of thirty/forty years ago. I mean, if other people want it, that's fine, but I've been through it all once.

[king ubu]

Yeah... I guess a Select would be really cool, but else it might end up too expensive and not gauge enough interest, since many of the potential buyers may have amassed enough boots to live on. But I'd really welcome this, nevertheless, even if it's a slighty larger four or five disc set. I don't see it being much larger than that though... Rivers isn't always the strongest in keeping focused, so keeping it concentrated to three discs of really fine music would probably be my best suggestion.

[Stefan Wood]

I'll pick up any recordings that Sam Rivers did in the 70s. I'll be happy if this gets issued through Mosaic.

The fact that it is happening now and not ten years ago..... so be it.

[Rooster_Ties]

I'll certainly get one. Might take a little bit to come up with the scratch (and other priorities would surely intercede for a while), but I know I wouldn't be able to hold out any more than about a year or two, at most. Probably the first time Mosaic did any kind of a "free shipping" or some other even mild deal, I'd pounce.

There's never going to be a better presentation of this material (previously released or not). I've heard some of his 70's material, and own even less. It would be great to get it all wrapped up together -- released (obscure or not) and unreleased -- all in one unified set.

I'd venture a guess that well more than half the people with any interest in this set will NOT already have more than one album (at most) that's included in it (from amongst the previously released material). In fact, it would really piss me off if they left out the 'already-released' stuff, because I'm sure most people's copies would be significantly improved upon by Mosaic finally being able to get them out in the market on CD (even if LP sources have to be used occasionally).

Those who want or demand their idea of perfection, are often left wanting.

[AmirBagachelles]

Did Sam Rivers and Jimmy Lyons play together and get recorded at Rivbea? I would sign up for some of that.

[Hardbopjazz]

When I saw Sam Rivers in concert this spring, Sam said he recorded just about everything for 7 years. There is a lot of music to go through in making this collection. At the concert Michael Cuscuna was there and he said there is so much music to choose from for this Mosaic. Maybe the final selections haven't been picked yet.

Edited December 6, 2010 by Hardbopjazz

[7/4]

Did Sam Rivers and Jimmy Lyons play together and get recorded at Rivbea? I would sign up for some of that.

I'd get that too!

[Face of the Bass]

Well as a jazz fan who wasn't alive when most of this stuff was happening in the 1970s, this is the kind of Mosaic set that gets me most excited, and I would hate to see the material sloughed off as a three-disc select. The Braxton and Threadgill sets were some of the best Mosaic has ever done, IMO, and a Rivbea set would fit well in that lineage, I think.

[king ubu]

Well as a jazz fan who wasn't alive when most of this stuff was happening in the 1970s, this is the kind of Mosaic set that gets me most excited, and I would hate to see the material sloughed off as a three-disc select. The Braxton and Threadgill sets were some of the best Mosaic has ever done, IMO, and a Rivbea set would fit well in that lineage, I think.

Oh, believe me, I'd buy a seven or eight disc set, too!

I just have amassed lots of Rivers' music over the years... but I quite agree about the Braxton and Threadgill being an exciting new turn (still have to get the Threadgill one though). I'd be all for more similar releases!

[sidewinder]

I've not even picked up the Braxton set yet !

Agree that this is a very welcome new area for Mosaic. Maybe they could have a chat with Evan Parker and put out a complete Incus set?

[David Ayers]

By the way I am not down on Mosaic or anyone else doing this, it's just that over the decades I heard it all already, so it comes late for me and I can't get excited about it. As for Incus, haven't a lot of key title been released and are mainly still in print? The Parker Incus LPs without Bailey have certainly all appeared on Psi. Maybe not all of the Bailey have been done but would Mosaic collectors really go for a box of the titles never yet on CD? WOuld they go for Bailey at all? I mean yeah there are odds and ends, but not many and these will likely come from Psi and elsewhere. Or who knows maybe we'll just have to listen to the LPs. In any case there is no shortage of Bailey or Parker CDs on the market....

[Face of the Bass]

Well as a jazz fan who wasn't alive when most of this stuff was happening in the 1970s, this is the kind of Mosaic set that gets me most excited, and I would hate to see the material sloughed off as a three-disc select. The Braxton and Threadgill sets were some of the best Mosaic has ever done, IMO, and a Rivbea set would fit well in that lineage, I think.

Oh, believe me, I'd buy a seven or eight disc set, too!

I just have amassed lots of Rivers' music over the years... but I quite agree about the Braxton and Threadgill being an exciting new turn (still have to get the Threadgill one though). I'd be all for more similar releases!

I don't have nearly enough Rivers, but generally love the stuff I've heard. To me the shifting of focus to the avant-garde of the 1970s and 1980s is a natural direction for Mosaic. They've just about gone through everything there is to go through on Blue Note from the 1950s and 1960s, and the reissues from the earlier eras are nice, but are also (generally) retrospectives of music that mainly is available from other places.

[John L]

I would certainly buy this set, although it is true that an abundant amount of live tapes of Rivers' 70s trio float around the web. I already have more of them than I really have the time to listen to. But a Mosaic packaging would certainly keep my listening occupied for a while.

[thelbc]

43

Edited December 11, 2010 by TheLBC

[king ubu]

43

As in: a Sam Rivers 43 disc set?

[J.A.W.]

Scott Wenzel just told me the Rivers Mosaic has been postponed until some time next year.

[David Ayers]

Scott Wenzel just told me the Rivers Mosaic has been postponed until some time next year.

Did he tell you anything about what it would contain?

[sounds212001]

I hope it doesn't get delayed too long. I have a lot of bootlegs of Sam's performances and have heard rumors that he has a large collection of self produced recordings "in the can." I can't wait to find out what the content will be for this Mosaic release.

[J.A.W.]

Scott Wenzel just told me the Rivers Mosaic has been postponed until some time next year.

Did he tell you anything about what it would contain?

He didn't.

[sounds212001]

And still no re-issue of Contrasts from ECM. That is a strange omission. It is one of Sam Rivers' most unique visions and one of the best ECM records I know.

I have all of Sams official releases and over 200 bootlegs, and I think Contrast is great, my alltime favorite ECM release. I think they should have included Sam on piano and made it a double record. I always wondered why it wasn't wasn't released on CD?

[sounds212001]

I thought this was going to be Trio recordings from the 70's? Was there a change? Either way I'm still looking foward to this up coming release.

Sam Rivers & The Rivbea Orchestra - Trilogy (3 CDs)

(Release Date: End of June 2011)

By the time Sam Rivers was able to document his orchestral writing in 1974 (on the Impulse album "Crystals") at the tender age of 51, he was best known for leading a magnificent, purely improvised trio devoid of all written music. But composition was (and is) as much a part of his incessantly fertile mind as improvisation.

His densely-layered and beautifully voiced multi-sectional orchestra pieces burn with an intensity that never forsakes the music's beauty. Rivers seamlessly integrates improvisation into the written score. Solos are distributed democratically as effective, concise statements.

In 1992, Rivers moved to Orlando, Florida where he quickly formed another powerful improvising trio and set about seeking personnel to form an orchestra for the music that he was constantly writing. After two all-star albums for RCA Records in 1998 ("Inspiration" and "Culmination"), recorded in New York, an Orlando edition of the Rivbea Orchestra started to emerge in the early 2000s.

Drawn from teachers and students at surrounding colleges, frustrated members of various Walt Disney World aggregations and retired veterans of orchestras like Tommy Dorsey and Woody Herman, Sam Rivers crafted a first-class orchestra to realize his music. In 2007, he issued the new Rivbea Orchestra's first recording "Airora" on his own Rivbea label.

When we heard the album, we called Sam to offer our jaw-dropping praise, he told us essentially there is plenty more where that came from and set about sifting through hours of studio and live recordings to cull the three CDs of previously unreleased material contained in this set. The results are forward-thinking and electrifying.

[Deepak]

Any updates about this release?