Favorite Mosaic

[vajerzy]

1. Capitol Jazz: a wonderful collection!!

2. HRS Sessions: Again, a wonderful collection!!

3. Nat King Cole: I never tire of hearing his voice or his playing!!

4. Thad Jones/Mel Lewis: I have a CD-R of this and it is played alot!!

Still looking for the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis set!!

[JohnJ]

Out of my meager collection of eight CD sets, I really like the Freddie Redd and am a little surprised nobody has mentioned it. My favourite is probably the Jackie Mclean though. I have bought all of my OOP Mosaic's at Disc Union stores in Tokyo, generally at less than the original price. I am surprised, and happy, that they continue to sell them so cheaply.

[danasgoodstuff]

My Fav Mosaic? Why, it's always the next one I'm gonna get, of course!

[brownie]

Already cast my ballot for the Herbie Nichols set but I see one BIG name still missing from the list: Miles Davis!

The Mosaic LP boxes of the Miles/Gil Evans collaboration and the 'Miles at Plugged Nickel' are treasures. Wish I could afford more of those Mosaic Miles Davis boxes. The sound on the ones I have heard is unbelievable...

[desertblues]

Favorites are:

Shorty Rogers

Jones/Lewis

Miles with Coltrane

Buck Clayton Jams

Kenton (Holman/Russo charts)

Mobley

Blue Mitchell

Desmond

Thad Jones

Byrd/Adams

Phil Woods

Tina Brooks

Art Blakey

all except Byrd & Mobley are on vinyl, of course!

[BruceH]

As it happens, I've been listening to the Desmond/Hall a lot lately. Has to be one of the best box sets of all time!

[WD45]

It would have to be the Giuffre set for me.

I have listened to the Western Suite so many times I can sing the solos along with. [When I am alone, of course.]

I am a sucker for almost everything Giuffre did. Thankfully, I snatched this one as it was on its way out. The Pee Wee Russell stuff is fun, and the trio items with Jim Hall are superb.

[Deep Groove]

It would have to be the Andrew Hill set for me, followed by the various Pacific Jazz releases (Shank, Baker, Mulligan, Wilson, etc).

The music on the Hill set was a revelation to me. Period.

[sidewinder]

I find it an impossible task to single out any one Mosaic as favourite. Those that seem to get plenty of regular airplay at my place though are as follows:

- Miles/Gil (LP)

- Larry Young (LP)

- Thad & Mel (LP)

- Thad (LP)

- Shorty Rogers (LP)

- Gerald Wilson (CD)

- Lee Morgan (CD)

- Woody Shaw (LP)

- Andrew Hill (CD)

- John Patton (CD)

- Kenton/Holman/Russo (LP)

- Miles 60s Quintet (LP)

- Miles/Coltrane (LP)

- Complete Bitches Brew (LP)

- Plugged Nickel (LP)

- Complete In A Silent Way (LP)

- Jackie McLean (CD)

- Blue Mitchell (CD)

- Donald Byrd/Pepper Adams (CD)

- Curtis Fuller (CD)

- Sam Rivers (LP)

- Mingus CBS and Mingus Candid (both LPs)

- Tina Brooks (LPs)

- The two Sonny Clarks (LPs)

If it came to the crunch, I would probably find it hardest to be without Thad & Mel, Miles/Gil and Larry Young. Every one a treasure, really..

Edited December 18, 2003 by sidewinder

[desertblues]

As it happens, I've been listening to the Desmond/Hall a lot lately. Has to be one of the best box sets of all time!

DITTO!!!

[BERIGAN]

I only have a few Mosaics(I'm not a multi-millionaire like half the boardmembers are! ) but I would have to say the Capitol set...so very many artists/genres to choose from, and a fair bit of the music will never see the light of a laser ever again....

[Sahara Blue Orchestra]

Probably the Stan T. and Brownie sets. But I could change my mind if I thought about it too much.

[Jazzmoose]

Sahara, every time I come to this thread, I think about it too much. I just give up and move on without posting...

[Chuck Nessa]

My four favorite Mosaics arrive early in the series. Ammons/Lewis, Monk BNs, Port of Harlem and Nichols. All these sets included historically important new material. The label justified being with these releases.

[jazzbo]

I've never had those sets, but I have that music, and I agree: it was very important to put them out and I'm so glad they did! I think the first decade and a half of BN's history was something else!

[JSngry]

Can't forget the Tina Brooks in that category. At least the Monk & Nichols had surfaced in various forms of completeness a few years earlier as two-fer LPs (but I picked'em up anyway,,,). But at the time of its issue, the Brooks set was a MAJOR release, what with only one of the sessions having been previously released. I obsessively listened to that set for quite a while, let me tell you!

[BeBop]

BeBop's the name; bebop's the game. With a side order of hard bop. So what's my favorite Mosaic? Django.

Don't think anyone else picked this one, and I'm not sure why.

And I'm not sure why it's my favorite. On some level, it's easier to listen to (though not Easy Listening). Six discs of hard bop (with copius alternates) and my ears are bleeding. But Django and company are smooth, swingin', stylish...

Some of the vocals are a drag. And the smaller the group, the more I tend to like the music. But it's all good. Check it out.

[DTMX]

What I got:

Chico Hamilton Quintet

Bud Shank

Sam Rivers

Donald Byrd/Pepper Adams

John Patton (Select)

All great, but the greaterest one of all:

Elvin Jones!

[ralphie_boy]

I'm still partial to the Woody Shaw.

[neveronfriday]

Very simple for me to decide which ones are my favorites. I only have two, the Teddy Wilson and the Ellington Reprise sets, and they definetely are my absolute favorites.

The Gerry Mulligan one will be my third absolute favorite when it gets here.

Cheers!

[mikeweil]

Don't remember if I have already posted in this thread, too lazy to look, but I love 'em all - though the one that I would keep under any circumstance are the Thad Jones small group and the Giuffre.

[LAL]

Both the Johnny Hodges sets top the list. Hodges alto sound is instantly recognisable and absolutely gorgeous, particularly on the ballads.

The BNote Thad Jones, Sam Rivers, Curtis Fuller, Stan Kenton 40s, Classic Capitol Jazz Sessions sets rank not far behind.

[paul secor]

My favorites are probably the Cecil and the Herbie Nichols. Both introduced a wealth of new material to the music audience. I believe that each of these boxes doubled the amount of music previously available, and in each case the unreleased music was/is well worth hearing. As an afterthought, both also have unique booklet liner notes, by Roswell Rudd and Buell Neidlinger, respectively.

I have to put in a word for the HRS Sessions box, because I had only heard a very small amount of that music before I bought the Mosaic, and I was surprised and amazed by the music in that collection. Great stuff! (Thanks to those here who recommended it. I might not have picked it up if not for your recommendations.)

Edited February 21, 2004 by paul secor