Johnny Hodges Mosaics

[Bol]

Does anyone know the reason for limiting the first Hodges set to vinyl?  I've been listening to the second set lately, and really wish that the first set was also available on CD.  I have 2 Japanese CD's that cover some of the 1951-54 material -- "Castle Rock" and "Used to be Duke" -- and would love the other sessions as well.

[jazzbo]

I think the biggest guess at the time was that the French branch of Verve/Universal were assembling or planning a cd set of the material--which never materialized--and that for that reason Mosaic was only offered a vinyl license for release.

Happy holidays Bol!

 

[Bol]

Thanks.  That makes sense.  I noticed on eBay that there is a series of LP's put out by the French Verve that covers the period.  Would have been super nice to have the stuff on CD too. Happy holidays to you too!

[Dave James]

4 hours ago, jazzbo said:

I think the biggest guess at the time was that the French branch of Verve/Universal were assembling or planning a cd set of the material--which never materialized--and that for that reason Mosaic was only offered a vinyl license for release.

Happy holidays Bol!

 

On the other hand, there were a number of early vinyl only Mosaic releases...among them the  Monk and Tina Brooks sets...that were taken from their Blue Note catalogs, so while it seems that CD's would have been option, Cuscuna and Lurie chose otherwise.  

[jazzbo]

Well, we can assume Michael and Charlie made those decisions. . . they still could have been the format the label decided. In the case of the Monk it may have been before any Monk cd were released under Blue Note and they may have wished to retain that right. . . .

Edited November 29, 2020 by jazzbo

[JSngry]

When were the first Mosaic CDs?

If we're talking about the first Monk set, CDs were still then very much a developing format, in no way a commercially viable product yet.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

The Commodore sets only came out on LP in 1989 as well. I always assumed that it was just Mosaic being slow on converting over to CDs.

[gmonahan]

44 minutes ago, bresna said:

The Commodore sets only came out on LP in 1989 as well. I always assumed that it was just Mosaic being slow on converting over to CDs.

I think that's part of it. A few sets were "reissued" on cd not long after they came out on LP. I got the Bechet Blue Note set that way. Bought it first on LP, then when the cd set came available, I got that and gave the LP set to a library, but that's the only time I ever did that. The first sets were all LP only--Monk, Art Pepper, Clifford Brown, Gerry Mulligan/Chet Baker, Tina Brooks, and Budde DeFranco/Sonny Clark.

 

gregmo

[J.A.W.]

Several years ago I asked someone at Mosaic (I think it was Scott) about this and he told me they weren't allowed to release a CD-version of the first Hodges Mosaic, they could only get a license for the LP-version; it was Verve's decision, not Mosaic's.

59 minutes ago, gmonahan said:

I think that's part of it. A few sets were "reissued" on cd not long after they came out on LP. I got the Bechet Blue Note set that way. Bought it first on LP, then when the cd set came available, I got that and gave the LP set to a library, but that's the only time I ever did that. The first sets were all LP only--Monk, Art Pepper, Clifford Brown, Gerry Mulligan/Chet Baker, Tina Brooks, and Budde DeFranco/Sonny Clark.

 

gregmo

The Buddy DeFranco/Sonny Clark Mosaic was also released on CD by Mosaic, 4MD-117.

OOP Mosaic sets

Edited November 30, 2020 by J.A.W.

[psu_13]

I have the Buddy De Franco set on CD.

I also transferred my Hodges LP set to digital files using a turntable into USB. I'll never do that again.

 

[romualdo]

I also transferred my LP set (do a lot of vinyl transferring/digitalising) but also have the two Avid (UK - grey area releases) double CD sets - they cover virtually all of the tracks in the box set sans an alternate take (Jeep Is Jumpin') that was only released on a Norgran 78

[ghost of miles]

Blue Moon had a CD set out quite a few years ago that covered the same period as the early 1950s Hodges Mosaic.  As I mentioned recently in another thread, I'm bummed they were never able to put out a post-1961 Hodges box.

[gmonahan]

21 hours ago, J.A.W. said:

Several years ago I asked someone at Mosaic (I think it was Scott) about this and he told me they weren't allowed to release a CD-version of the first Hodges Mosaic, they could only get a license for the LP-version; it was Verve's decision, not Mosaic's.

The Buddy DeFranco/Sonny Clark Mosaic was also released on CD by Mosaic, 4MD-117.

OOP Mosaic sets

You're right, my mistake. Didn't have the bucks to double that one at the time! And like Ghost, I also regret Mosaic never did a post-'61 Hodges Verve set.  All but two are available from "Phono" and "Solar," which I'm pretty sure are Andorran. To my knowledge, "Rippin' and Runnin'" and "Don't Sleep in the Subway" have never been released on cd by anybody.

 

 

gregmo

[SwingItTrev]

I have those Avid releases but I’ve never been particularly satisfied with the sound. Can anyone recommend an alternative that’s not the Mosaic LP?