Propose a new Mosaic box, dedicated to (or at least featuring) *an artist still living today* (featuring = as a prominent sideman)

[Rooster_Ties]

First name that comes to mind is Billy Harper's 70's output (or some subset thereof).  OR, all those Max Roach quartet albums featuring Billy (also from the 70's).

I look forward to hearing of some other proposals, and the ensuing discussion.  Any other good candidates out there for a Mosaic by (or with) someone who's still with us?

[kh1958]

Sonny Rollins, a collection of well-recorded concerts from 1950s/1960s/1970s.

[jazzbo]

I'd love to see some Cassandra Wilson that has not been released before. I know there must be some live and possibly studio from the years past and present that could be assembled. I love that lady.

[clifford_thornton]

49 minutes ago, kh1958 said:

Sonny Rollins, a collection of well-recorded concerts from 1950s/1960s/1970s.

yeah, would be interested in hearing the quartet material with Prince Lasha.

[soulpope]

Billy Harper hands down ....

[JSngry]

Wanted, dead or alive - Bill Barron.

Although, Billy Harper, lest he become Bill Barron 

[duaneiac]

An approximately 5 or 6 disc set of all new, previously unreleased live recordings of Terry Gibbs' Dream Band.  I have no idea if Mr. Gibbs has any more private tapes of that band in his personal archives, but I'd like to hope so.  Love that band.

[Late]

4 hours ago, JSngry said:

Wanted, dead or alive ... Bill Barron.

Yes. Bill Barron isn't an artist still living today, but his ghost is. The Mosaic could be:

THE COMPLETE BILL BARRON 1961-1972 SESSIONS

The set wouldn't be too large (4 discs? 5?) and would draw from only four labels: Savoy, Dauntless, Diplomat, and Dragon. (There are more recordings circa 1966 from Sweden, however, and perhaps they could be unearthed. Radio broadcasts?)

And if you wanted to go past 1972, you'd hop straight to 1978 and start with the Muse label.

That said, I'd very happily purchase a Billy Harper set. Even if it were, say, nine discs. 

[Rooster_Ties]

37 minutes ago, Late said:

That said, I'd very happily purchase a Billy Harper set. Even if it were, say, nine discs. 

Nine discs of Billy Harper? I’d pre-order tomorrow. 10 discs, 12 discs, 14, you name it, I’m in.

A Bill Barron set would be great too, though I’m a lot less familiar with his output - but I’ve liked what I’ve heard.

[Misterioso]

John Carter's 5 CD set "Roots and Folklore: Episodes in the Development of American Folk Music" featuring Bobby Bradford. Deserves much wider recognition.

[Larry Kart]

[soulpope]

7 hours ago, JSngry said:

Wanted, dead or alive - Bill Barron.

Yes .... and .... YES ....

[danasgoodstuff]

Didn't Mosaic consider the John Carter Roots & Folklore series at one point but they couldn't get the licensing straightened out (Multiple labels)?

Edited November 15, 2019 by danasgoodstuff

[Kevin Bresnahan]

5 hours ago, danasgoodstuff said:

Didn't Mosaic consider the John Carter Roots & Folklore series at one point but they couldn't get the licensing straightened out (Multiple labels)?

Only two labels - Black Saint & Gramavision. I don't even know who owns Gramavision these days. They were part of the Rykodisc labels and many of their recordings reverted back to the artists after they folded.

I also don't think that a John Carter 5 CD box set of his Roots & Folklore series would sell well. Most fans of this music will have the 5 original CDs already. I suppose if they offered them on vinyl, they might pull in some owners of the CDs to drop the money for an LP set. But if they simply reissue those 5 CDs, I don't see a lot of us buying it.

[soulpope]

Unfortunately can't find a (quantitywise to qualify as Mosaic box set) good reason to propose Waldron 70's output released in Japan only .... and yes, for me he is still living on ....

 

 

 

Edited November 15, 2019 by soulpope

[Kevin Bresnahan]

David Murray did quite a few recordings for India Navigation that are now out of print... if they've ever even been in print on CD? Actually, Chico Freeman did quite a few for India Navigation as well. That's one I would be interested in.

[JSngry]

I'd buy a John Carter set for sure, in a minute. I'm sure some of the "others" would too.

And if they could get rights to anything on Moers, they could flesh it out with an extra CD and have an extra-great set:

I've yet to hear the solo record, and only have Variations on an old cassette dub. And clearing shelf-space from the R&F single CDs would be nice

Frankly, though, I think ideas like this are nothing but fantasy. Mosaic does not seem to be interested in doing this type of work anymore, especially pursuing material on labels like Moers, where a LOT of great records got made under some not always transparent financial circumstances.

But if they were...

Ronald Shannon Jackson. Decoding Society and otherwise. There's some music there!

 

[David Ayers]

30 minutes ago, bresna said:

Only two labels - Black Saint & Gramavision. I don't even know who owns Gramavision these days. They were part of the Rykodisc labels and many of their recordings reverted back to the artists after they folded.

I also don't think that a John Carter 5 CD box set of his Roots & Folklore series would sell well. Most fans of this music will have the 5 original CDs already. I suppose if they offered them on vinyl, they might pull in some owners of the CDs to drop the money for an LP set. But if they simply reissue those 5 CDs, I don't see a lot of us buying it.

While I can't see Mosaic doing it maybe, this music needs to be available. The Black Saint title (Dauhwe) is available for streaming/download, but the four Gramavision LPs and CDs  were not reissued after the 1980s, I believe. To my mind the target should be the reissue of these four titles in whatever format - though to include Dauhwe would obviously make for a more artistically complete picture in terms of the compositions as a set.

 

Would it do well? Arguably it could be a real event and would certainly do well with the jazz press, maybe with the music press more widely, and probably earn an award of some sort. That might not be enough of course. Maybe it needs an institutional funder. This music is often referenced as a benchmark but is hard to access and is still not widely known and celebrated. We are knee-deep in box sets that in some cases are fun but seem like over-documentation. This is a legacy issue: Lincoln, Smithsonian - take a look please!

 

Just for ONCE a sensible suggestion on this board....

[JSngry]

9 minutes ago, David Ayers said:

Would it do well? Arguably it could be a real event and would certainly do well with the jazz press, maybe with the music press more widely, and probably earn an award of some sort. That might not be enough of course. Maybe it needs an institutional funder. This music is often referenced as a benchmark but is hard to access and is still not widely known and celebrated. We are knee-deep in box sets that in some cases are fun but seem like over-documentation. This is a legacy issue: Lincoln, Smithsonian - take a look please!

 

Just for ONCE a sensible suggestion on this board....

Here's an at best semi-sensible suggestion - Don Preston is alive and - presumably - still functional. If he wanted to pimp the set outwards to the more intensely musically minded Zappaphiles, he could, and there's a whole other market window right there. 

But I don't think Mosaic is up to the job, and never will be. This is bigger than where they are now, and impossible for where they appear to be going. And "institutional neglect"...for old-school paranoiacs like myself, the suspicion that the neglect is at least a little intentional can never be shaken entirely. There are elements of society that do not want this music and what it represents to be "on the radar", and if it slowly withers away and disappears while they look the other way, that's ok with them.

[David Ayers]

6 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Here's an at best semi-sensible suggestion - Don Preston is alive and - presumably - still functional. If he wanted to pimp the set outwards to the more intensely musically minded Zappaphiles, he could, and there's a whole other market window right there. 

But I don't think Mosaic is up to the job, and never will be. This is bigger than where they are now, and impossible for where they appear to be going. And "institutional neglect"...for old-school paranoiacs like myself, the suspicion that the neglect is at least a little intentional can never be shaken entirely. There are elements of society that do not want this music and what it represents to be "on the radar", and if it slowly withers away and disappears while they look the other way, that's ok with them.

I'm sure that last part is true in some ways , and that's why I mentioned the Lincoln Center and the Smithsonian - folks who can be appealed to, and the purpose of the Carter compositions and recordings fits their remit - even if, uh...

[mjazzg]

Anyone who really wants to hear that music can buy the LPs, all are fairly readily available and not exorbitantly priced. 

They'll not get a CD reissue now unless as David says it's institutionally supported. Really how many units would sell worldwide, let's face it it wouldn't even get near to 50% take up on this board. 

I love the idea of Don't Preston trying to break it in the Zappa market most of whom would probably want a hologram of FZ included ☺

Streaming/digital possibly but I still don't see that happening soon.

[David Ayers]

5 minutes ago, mjazzg said:

Anyone who really wants to hear that music can buy the LPs, all are fairly readily available and not exorbitantly priced. 

 

True and it's much or all on youtube. The sound on those LPs could do with brush-up though...

[JSngry]

29 minutes ago, David Ayers said:

I'm sure that last part is true in some ways , and that's why I mentioned the Lincoln Center and the Smithsonian - folks who can be appealed to, and the purpose of the Carter compositions and recordings fits their remit - even if, uh...

Wynton advocating for John Carter...

No idea what condition the Smithsonian is in these days as far as political pressure, but...

[David Ayers]

Just now, JSngry said:

Wynton advocating for John Carter...

No idea what condition the Smithsonian is in these days as far as political pressure, but...

My plan is not perfect, I'll grant you that.

 

Re. mjazzg's point, I do know that the issue is not hearing the music, which in this case is possible, but revisiting and repromoting it, marking it as a thing.

 

[JSngry]

30 minutes ago, mjazzg said:

Really how many units would sell worldwide, let's face it it wouldn't even get near to 50% take up on this board. 

If sales on this board - or any one largely insular entity - is what's going to drive global cultural evolution and preservation, then culture is pretty much fucked.