New Woody Herman Mosaic

[AllenLowe]

11 hours ago, Larry Kart said:

BTW, Jim, Sultanof is an expert on Robert Farnon's music; he worked with Farnon on getting authoritative scores in shape and published. Also, do you know Farnon's arrangement of "Laura"? Good grief!
 

 

did you mean "good grief" as in "that's not so great?" Personally I found the arrangement to be overripe. 

[Larry Kart]

No -- I thought it was gorgeous. Isn't "Laura" inherently very ripe?

[AllenLowe]

I will give it another shot.

[thirdtry]

Looks like the new Woody Herman set has been pushed back to March 2019.

[mjzee]

1 hour ago, thirdtry said:

Looks like the new Woody Herman set has been pushed back to March 2019.

At least that means Mosaic will be around until March 2019.

[gmonahan]

20 minutes ago, mjzee said:

At least that means Mosaic will be around until March 2019.

I'm not sure I can remember the last time a set came out when first predicted.

 

 

gregmo

[ghost of miles]

On 11/9/2018 at 11:33 AM, mjzee said:

At least that means Mosaic will be around until March 2019.

I think we’ll definitely see the Louis Armstrong 1950s Columbia set as well—no updates to offer re when, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it emerge sometime later next year.

[miles65]

On 9-11-2018 at 4:27 PM, thirdtry said:

Looks like the new Woody Herman set has been pushed back to March 2019.

Suits nu fine as long as this sets comes. Teddy Wilson and Savory just arrived. Dail and Savoy in the pipeline.

Realy looking forward to the Armstrong set. Reissued so far did not cut the mustard fir me.

[Dave James]

Anyone have any idea how many tracks on this new set will feature Woody's vocals?  I'm not a fan.  A few of those go a long way.

Edited November 11, 2018 by Dave James

[ghost of miles]

Mosaic update that just went out:

 

 

Complete Woody Herman Decca, Mars,

 

  MGM Sessions (1943-54)

Upcoming Release Update: March 2019 

When it comes to Woody Herman we've covered the full blooming of the First Herd (on Columbia), the Second Herd (on Columbia and Capitol) and the Third Herd also on Capitol. His magnificent Herd of the mid-1960s was the subject of a Mosaic Select. We continue the bands legacy this coming Spring with The Complete Woody Herman Decca, Mars and MGM Sessions (1943-1954) where we'll explore the very beginnings of the First Herd and much of the Third.

Delving into the Decca vaults we've been able to uncover some previously unissued gems on Decca lacquers and some rarities that only were released for radio station play only on 16" transcription discs - the well-known World Program Service recordings. Getting these 16 inchers in mint shape has had us pitch a far and wide net in the sea of collectors worldwide and I'm very happy with the results. In addition, there has been much in the way of correcting dates and personnel for these 1943-1944 sessions and with the assistance of those at the Library Of Congress (where the Decca masters are held) we are just about ready to transfer these sessions.

The famous 1946 Carnegie Hall concert has been re-issued many times but thanks to a tip from broadcaster and collector Patrick Goodhope, we may have a nugget in a set of Armed Forces Radio Service discs that may have superior sound from this concert. If this doesn't prove fruitful, we are prepared to make the '46 better sounding than ever.

With the very start of the 1951 New Year, Woody went to MGM records with his Third Herd and set out, as many bands did during the earliest 1950s, to bring back dancing to big bands. But this wasn't only a watered down dance band playing standards. Much maligned through the years, the Third Herd (and later the New Third Herd) continued with some fine Ralph Burns arrangements peppered with those by Shorty Rogers, Gene Roland, Nat Pierce and others.

Thanks to the Universal Music archivists we have uncovered a number of tape sources including some session reels which might give us more unissued material. It's a long, tedious process to get these reels, arrange for studio time and begin auditioning for the best sound. Thankfully many of these MGM sides and ones made for Woody's label, Mars, have been issued on vinyl promotional copies and the sound is spectacular. 

All of this material has been carefully researched and lovingly told by composer, arranger, author, historian Jeff Sultanof who has recently sent me a first draft of the notes. They do not disappoint and Jeff's uncovering of who the arrangers are and of dissecting these arrangements are done with great detail. I am also finding some glorious images for the booklet from various collections including the Ray Avery archives. A handful of images come from the exact sessions as well.

They'll be more to report after the holiday season but so far it looks like another "must have".

Scott Wenzel 

 

 

[SwingItTrev]

I was just wondering about this and noticed that the expected release date now says June 2019

[Shrdlu]

What's this about an Armstrong Columbia set? Mosaic already did a set with the 50s Columbia material. Is this 30s?

[jazzbo]

3 minutes ago, Shrdlu said:

What's this about an Armstrong Columbia set? Mosaic already did a set with the 50s Columbia material. Is this 30s?

The Columbia set already done was live material. This proposed one is not thirties but the later studio material.

Edited March 4, 2019 by jazzbo

[Shrdlu]

Thanks, Lon.

I wonder how much of the new set will overlap with "Ambassador Satch", if any at all. As you know, some of that was studio material, with fake audience noise added.

[jazzbo]

I think all Ambassador Satch material that could be included was in the previous box--recorded in a theater with an invited audience, and additional applause added for the lp. This box will have studio material from Plays W.C. Handy, Plays Fats Waller, et al.

From this page of Ricky Rickardi's blog is the information below:

http://dippermouth.blogspot.com/2017/11/in-loving-memory-of-george-avakian.html

And there WILL be more tributes. Maybe this isn’t the right time to formally announce this but Scott Wenzel and I have already gotten the ball rolling to do another Mosaic Records box on Louis’s Columbia STUDIO albums of the 1950s and 1960s. Yes, if you’re curious, it will contain tons of bonus tracks and previously unreleased material from Handy, Fats, the “Mack the Knife” session and more. We want to really start working on it in 2018 and the plan has always been to release it in 2019, The Avakian Centennial. We hoped that George could see the finished product but hell, the man lived it, and now we hope to make it the ultimate tribute to the work he did with his hero and his friend, Louis Armstrong.

[medjuck]

There was an early cd release of Plays W.C. Handy that contained several cuts that were not on the original Lp (and left out some that were).  That cd was soon replaced by another one with everything from the original Lp and some extras but not everything on the first cd. it would be interesting to see what else is in the vaults.  (BTW there's also a great cut of Pops trying to get Lotte Lenya to syncopate Mack the Knife on a Lotte Lenya cd.  I presume this will be included if Mosaic does do this box set.) 

[jazzbo]

1 hour ago, medjuck said:

There was an early cd release of Plays W.C. Handy that contained several cuts that were not on the original Lp (and left out some that were).  That cd was soon replaced by another one with everything from the original Lp and some extras but not everything on the first cd. it would be interesting to see what else is in the vaults.  (BTW there's also a great cut of Pops trying to get Lotte Lenya to syncopate Mack the Knife on a Lotte Lenya cd.  I presume this will be included if Mosaic does do this box set.) 

Same is true for Plays Fats Waller as for Plays W. C. Handy I believe. This set (hope it is made) will have some very good material, old and new.

[miles65]

The projeted release date is now June.

[gmonahan]

On 3/4/2019 at 10:40 AM, jazzbo said:

Same is true for Plays Fats Waller as for Plays W. C. Handy I believe. This set (hope it is made) will have some very good material, old and new.

I do wonder if this set got grandfathered in before Sony announced they were no longer going to lease any material to other labels.

 

 

 

gregmo

[jazzbo]

That worry occurred to me too. We'll see. I hope so.

[Shrdlu]

I have the two CD copies of each of "Plays W.C. Handy" and "Satch Plays Fats", which, as was said, are not identical. I wonder whether there is any more material on the session reels. But, really, these four CDs are enough.

[ghost of miles]

Scott gives an update on the Herman set (still listed for June release) in today's Jazz Gazette:

Many of you have pre-ordered The Woody Herman set of Decca, Mars and MGM sessions (1943-54) and we wanted to give you an update on the progress of the production of this box set.

Because of the busy calendar that the Universal Music engineers have we are waiting the completion of the tape transfers of the MGM and Mars sides. The Library of Congress have had the lacquer and transcription discs transferred and a date has been set with our mastering engineer, Andreas Meyer, on March 10^th. The booklet is coming along well in terms of both the liner notes and photos.

We are pushing on all fronts and appreciate your patience.

Thanks,

Scott

 

[mjzee]

Mosaic needs to update the link in the Jazz Gazette email.  When I click on "Visit the Jazz Gazette," it takes me to the URL "http://click.umusic-mail.com/expired.html", where it says "This link has expired. Please contact the sender of the email for more information."

[miles65]

This set is now expected in August

[Brad]

Today’s update from Mosaic:

“The Herman First Herd and Third Herd is almost at your doorstep. I’ve been listening to Andreas Meyer’s reference discs of his newly restored work on this material and it is music worth hearing for the first time or for the umpteenth time because he has worked miracles in a number of ways. The embryo of the First Herd, the Decca and World Transcription dates from 1943 and 1944, has never sounded better. And take into consideration that those World sides have seen very little light of day since they were made available for radio broadcast only and not for public consumption. The Carnegie Hall Concert of 1946 has been maligned with distant and inferior sound for years, even with the much improved Verve 2 CD release of a few years back. You will hear this concert like it has never been heard before.

The MGM sides are good and nice to have finally in one fell swoop, but when you hear the Mars sides (all of these MGM/Mars sides by the way are taken from the original tape transfers) you’ll have a new appreciation on how tight the band was and how masterful the soloist are (Urbie Green, Arno Marsh, Dave McKenna just to name a few). The booklet for the set is full of great insights by Jeff Sultanof, photos are rare and the discography is completely updated.

I know most of you have been waiting for this set for over a year and for that we apologize. All sorts of unexpected delays has made you and I wait until September for this Mosaic offering. We hope you will not be disappointed.”

Edited July 28, 2019 by Brad