Longevity of the Hank Mobley Mosaic.

[grooveyard]

Like many others I had most of the LPs and was a bit put off from buying the Mosaic set as a result, also because of the uncharacteristic sound of Milt's vibes on the All Stars session.   (Perhaps I should explain; I am a vibes player - heavily influenced by Milt - and his fast vibrato on this session is truly awful.   I couldn't understand why he didn't slow it down and get his normal soulful sound but this became clear when I got the Mosaic and the notes explained he was using a borrowed set of vibes!   Presumably these vibes only had a one speed motor but I'm surprised that he didn't turn it off completely as the sound would have been far better - mind you, I remember Milt turned down playing with Shearing's quintet because George wanted him to play without any vibrato!).   Anyway, it's a great set overall and I too am surprised it didn't sell out long ago.

Ken.

[mjzee]

6 hours ago, grooveyard said:

 I couldn't understand why he didn't slow it down and get his normal soulful sound but this became clear when I got the Mosaic and the notes explained he was using a borrowed set of vibes!  

This info was in the liner notes of this two-fer, which is how I first heard the session:

[Jordan]

I know the email from mosaic said last chance for this set, but now it’s really showing on the last chance list and not running low list like it was earlier today.

[BFrank]

After ALL these years, hard to believe it's finally going OOP!

[Kevin Bresnahan]

If all of this music hadn't been issued on Japanese CDs shortly before this box set was released, I would think that it would have sold out much sooner. I know that I already had all of the material found in this box on CD before it was issued.

[mikeweil]

It's now on Last Chance ..... 

[Ed S]

Looks like the Mobley's gone

[sidewinder]

(10 gun salute)

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

[David Ayers]

End of an earache... 😉

[mikeweil]

Last chance: https://www.jazzmessengers.com/en/2832-mosaic-box-set-editions

[erwbol]

Great set, and in better sound than I was led to believe. 

[Brad]

9 hours ago, David Ayers said:

End of an earache... 😉

Not a fan I guess?

[Clunky]

I love this set but if everything else was equal it would be in my opinion the early 1960s dates Roll Call, Workout etc that merited the Rolls royce treatment of a box set. I was delighted when this set appeared as the Japanese reissues Kevin referred to were not widely available in my neck of the woods.

[David Ayers]

13 hours ago, Brad said:

Not a fan I guess?

Oh I am! That was my first Mosaic. But I also enjoy a corny pun. That set really does feel like a link to the heady days of the reissue...

[mikeweil]

13 hours ago, Clunky said:

I love this set but if everything else was equal it would be in my opinion the early 1960s dates Roll Call, Workout etc that merited the Rolls royce treatment of a box set.

IIRC there was the idea of a Mosaic box with all of Mobley's Blue Notes with Wynton Kelly, but these were all reissued on single CDs and we got the 1950's box - fair enough, as all other Mobley Blue Notes were reissued, too. IMHO they are all worth hearing.

[sidewinder]

Wasn’t there talk at one time of a big box with all of Mobley’s 60s sessions in it ?

Probably just a wild rumour !

[J.A.W.]

2 hours ago, sidewinder said:

Wasn’t there talk at one time of a big box with all of Mobley’s 60s sessions in it ?

Probably just a wild rumour !

If I remember correctly Michael Cuscuna said a 1960s Mobley set wasn't viable because all the sessions were available individually at the time, which wasn't the case with the 1950s set when that one came out (1998), at least not outside Japan.

Edited May 24, 2018 by J.A.W.

[Clunky]

52 minutes ago, J.A.W. said:

If I remember correctly Michael Cuscuna said a 1960s Mobley set wasn't viable because all the sessions were available individually at the time, which wasn't the case with the 1950s set when that one came out (1998), at least not outside Japan.

that's what i recall too. We can be thankful that MC managed to get every Hank session reissued and at a price/availability that meant it could be widely enjoyed.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

If only Mosaic had let it slip that they were working on this box, they would have saved me some money and earned themselves another sale. I'm a huge fan of Mobley's music so when the Japanese started reissuing these dates, I paid big bucks to import them all. Big bucks that I would have gladly sent Mosaic's way if I only knew.

This was one time when Mosaic's secrecy backfired on them - with me at least.

Oh, and I have to add that I did buy the Mosaic later anyway, just so I could read the booklet and to see if the sound was better than what i had. After I compared the sound, I preferred the Japanese CDs so I eventually sold the Mosaic. What I should have done was ordered the LP set. Then I'd still have this box & booklet.

Edited May 24, 2018 by Kevin Bresnahan

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

so was it 2500 cd sets, and 500 lp sets, which sold out years ago?

[Kevin Bresnahan]

9 hours ago, chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez said:

so was it 2500 cd sets, and 500 lp sets, which sold out years ago?

I don't know how many LP sets were made but the rumor mill has always been that some deep-pocketed Japanese buyer bought up most of them for resale in Japan.

[Daniel A]

9 hours ago, chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez said:

so was it 2500 cd sets, and 500 lp sets, which sold out years ago?

I believe it was 7500 sets, but I don't know if that included the LP sets.

[mikeweil]

It was 7500 copies including the LP sets.

[felser]

What were typical sales for something like a Blue Note Mobley LP back in the 50's/60's?  I remember reading that Tina Brooks' "True Blue" sold under 1000 copies when it came out back then, but can't verify that.

Edited May 26, 2018 by felser