Mosaic to release 1960s Freddie Hubbard set

[danasgoodstuff]

6 hours ago, JSngry said:

Hmmm...at what point does it become counter-productive to spend money on stuff you don't want/need in order to keep a company in business that is going to keep selling you stuff you don't want/need 

I'm certainly not buying this, I'l just be glad if they stay in business.

2 hours ago, JSngry said:

A great player though, undoubtedly. But these records are not really the meat of his legacy, imo 

I own very little Hubbard post-BN, so it is to me.  But he is often better as a sideman.  So is Joe Henderson, IMHO.

[clifford_thornton]

I guess as an amendment to my earlier comment, who are the buyers for something like this? Heady jazz fans already have the material and audiophile collectors don't often buy CDs. 

[Teasing the Korean]

On 7/15/2022 at 0:34 PM, jlhoots said:

I have all 10 of those. 

Yeah, anyone who would want this has most of these albums already.

Kind of like the Miles Davis box set.

[mjzee]

3 hours ago, clifford_thornton said:

I guess as an amendment to my earlier comment, who are the buyers for something like this? Heady jazz fans already have the material and audiophile collectors don't often buy CDs. 

Me, for one.  As I've said, I own some of these albums, but Freddie was never one of my favorites.  I much preferred Lee Morgan - a little more relaxed, less continually intense.  But tastes change as we get older, and maybe I can hear more than I could before, or maybe it's just that those times are gone, they ain't makin' 'em like they used to, and this is still a frontier to explore.  On the contrary, I wonder about those people who need to own every Blue Note title.  There's such a wide range of styles and quality - doesn't discernment also play a part?

[kh1958]

I like Freddie and Lee equally.

[JSngry]

4 minutes ago, kh1958 said:

I like Freddie and Lee equally.

It's like hot sauces that way. Depends on what you want at any given moment. 

[Dub Modal]

While I don’t really enjoy what I’ve heard of that big band album, there’s 3 others I don’t have and the improved SQ, potentially informative liners and support for Mosaic put me in the market for this. Blue Spirits is a sneaky good album that I’d like to hear the Mosaic treatment on. Should be better than the RVG CD I have. 

[CJ Shearn]

I'm  not buying this... I already have Hub Tones, Hubcap, The Artistry of Freddie Hubbard and The Body And Soul  on AP SACD and Open Sesame on Audiowave XRCD in my rebuilt collection.  I used to have Ready For Freddie as a Connoisseur since I was 14, Breaking Point, Blue Spirits and Night Of the Cookers as RVG's, the only one I never owned was Goin Up which was OOP.  Casual fans won't buy this so what's the aim? Is it Mosaic's way as they can do material from Universal, a way to counter cheap PD sets which do not have the sound, or documentation? I love Mosaic but sorry to say the Joe Henderson was probably the last set I'll ever buy from them.

Edited July 16, 2022 by CJ Shearn

[JSngry]

Please buy the Bill Barron. 

[T.D.]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

Please buy the Bill Barron. 

Passing on Hubbard.

Will definitely purchase the Bill Barron in the (exceedingly unlikely ) event it's released.

[Late]

 

I wonder if the Blue Spirits session will have any other bonus tracks. This one is superior.

[felser]

5 hours ago, Teasing the Korean said:

Yeah, anyone who would want this has most of these albums already.

Kind of like the Miles Davis box set.

Except this one doesn't average $3.50 a disc or add bonus tracks and original artwork.

[Mark Stryker]

On 7/16/2022 at 9:52 PM, JSngry said:

The one that I really feel a need for a "sonic upgrade" is  The Body and Soul of Freddie Hubbard. I only have that on an older LP, and although I think that Wayne might have over written the orchestrations, but maybe not?  

Past that, other than Ready For Freddie, I think Freddie was far more effective as a sideman than as a leader until CTI more or less showed him that people liked it when he did that. Then, for better and/or worse, he stopped diddling around as a leader 

Bonus points for Breaking Point, but the story about that band playing that music live and clearing the house in one set and Freddie pulling the plug on THAT right then and there speaks volumes, imo  I think to be a real leader, you have to defy people to not like you, not hope that they will like you. Courage of your convictions, maybe? 

A great player though, undoubtedly. But these records are not really the meat of his legacy, imo 

FWIW, I posted this Top 20 Freddie Hubbard solos on Twitter for birthday in April. Half are from his own records or concerts as a leader. 

Coda: This is Freddie's best working band based on all the stuff I've been able to hear. 1973 -- Junior Cook, George Cables, Kent Brinkley, Michael Carvin. 

 

Edited July 17, 2022 by Mark Stryker

[Late]

On vinyl and compact disc September 2nd:

[sidewinder]

3 hours ago, Late said:

On vinyl and compact disc September 2nd:

Already issued over here as an RSD vinyl 2LP. 

[colinmce]

Like the Hank Mobley and Joe Henderson sets, I have all of this so it poses little to no interest. It seems like this approach is working more or less, so if it helps to fund other projects like Black & White then I suppose no harm. But definitely a bit of a bore in my opinion. 

Speaking of however, I would always welcome a complete Shepp Impulse set, even though I have all of that too. With all the jumble, it would be great to have everything in session order for those. 

[mjzee]

On 7/17/2022 at 9:43 PM, felser said:

Except this one doesn't average $3.50 a disc or add bonus tracks and original artwork.

The Freddie will be 7 CDs, so will probably cost $119.  It consists of 10 albums, so each album costs $11.90.  While it won't have original artwork, it will have a new essay that will lend historical perspective and continuity to the period in question, and will probably have striking Frank Wolff photographs, many perhaps never before seen.  Bonus tracks are still an open question.

[danasgoodstuff]

Bonus tracks not available elsewhere might get me to buy this, maybe.

[BFrank]

Wow! Interesting they seem to be emptying the classic BN catalog now. I might go for this one.

[scooter_phx]

It's only money, right?  I have the original CD releases of all of the albums listed (no RVGs).  The Mosaic release *might* be a sonic upgrade.  I've always been a Freddie fan; one of the very first Lps I bought as a kid was Sky Dive on CTI.  I found out about the Atlantic years (IMHO, underrated) and the Blue Notes.  All good.  Yeah, I might splurge for a Mosaic box.

[jazzbo]

I was hesitant about sound quality but went for the Mobley and it had the best sounding cd versions of the sessions I had heard and I had updated these several times, and even sold the Japanese versions I had favored and kept before. And then bought the Henderson set and discovered the same sonic upgrade. I'm going for the Hubbard for the same reason. 

Edited July 20, 2022 by jazzbo

[Dub Modal]

Been listening to some Hubbard BN leader dates and while uneven, especially in comparison to Lee Morgan’s albums, they’re overall good records. Have to agree his best work is as sideman however. 

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I do like to support Mosaic, who have released some great music over the years that I still enjoy. However, their recent modus operandi on new box sets, which seems to be, "Release material that has been in print for decades but in better sound", came a bit too late for me. My ears aren't good enough these days to care about a better-sounding CD of any of this material, which I have - sometimes in multiple versions - including LP. In fact, I listen to my Q0 VBR mp3 rips more often than my massive CD collection, which really needs to get thinned.

[felser]

The last box set I bought from them was the Clifford Jordan Strata-East in 2013 (and I bought dozens from them in their heyday), and my only other purchase from them since then is the Charles Tolliver All-Stars CD in 2019, so I'm well past the expiration date of feeling compelled to buy things from them to support their work.   They aren't ever going to do the Bill Barron, the Hutcherson/Land, or any of those other sets we dream of no matter how many boxes of recycled BN's we buy from them.  I much prefer the original cover art on the BN single CD's, part of the "magic" of the BN ownership experience for me.  More meaningful to me than a slight sonic upgrade and a new essay I may never get around to reading.  Just me, I realize.

[jlhoots]

2 minutes ago, felser said:

The last box set I bought from them was the Clifford Jordan Strata-East in 2013 (and I bought dozens from them in their heyday), and my only other purchase from them since then is the Charles Tolliver All-Stars CD in 2019, so I'm well past the expiration date of feeling compelled to buy things from them to support their work.   They aren't ever going to do the Bill Barron, the Hutcherson/Land, or any of those other sets we dream of no matter how many boxes of recycled BN's we buy from them.  I much prefer the original cover art on the BN single CD's, part of the "magic" of the BN ownership experience for me.  More meaningful to me than a slight sonic upgrade and a new essay I may never get around to reading.  Just me, I realize.

Not just you.