Classic V-Disc Small Group Jazz #279 – 11 CDs

[JSngry]

14 hours ago, Brad said:

I looked over the discography today and I can’t envision that I would listen to this more than once, if that, so I’ve decided to pass. 

I've adopted a rule to not take a CD out of the player 2-3 times (or more). That way, if I never listen to it again, I will at least have heard it enough to know it well enough to feel good about having heard it.

[gvopedz]

On 10/15/2024 at 7:43 PM, Brad said:

I looked over the discography today and I can’t envision that I would listen to this more than once, if that, so I’ve decided to pass. 

I have CDs that I also thought I would not listen to more than once – but then comments I read (often on this forum) about the music on the CDs make me pull out the CDs and listen again!

[Brad]

A portion of this is traditional jazz and Dixieland that I can do without plus a number of vocalists that don’t appeal to me. There is probably more on this set that doesn’t interest me than does so that is the reason I will pass on this one. 

[Chuck Nessa]

I received a shipping notice.

[medjuck]

4 hours ago, Chuck Nessa said:

I received a shipping notice.

Wow maybe this will arrive before Bird in KC. 

[Chuck Nessa]

Set #0124 in the house.

[jazzbo]

Awesome! Wish I had a notice.

[John L]

My set arrived.  I am really looking forward to digging in. 

Having read the booklet, I am still a bit puzzled about how they chose what to include in this set.   This box is almost all traditional (mostly Chicago-style) jazz and vocals.  That struck me as very strange at first, given that a lot of well-known V-discs were made by swing bands and small groups from swing bands.  

The "Producer's Note" indicates that only genuine V-Disc recording sessions were included, as opposed to V-Discs taken from sessions made for other labels or live broadcasts.   That would seem to explain why none of the many Duke Ellington V-Discs were included.  But the Count Basie Band certainly had genuine V-Disc sessions, including a special one with Lester Young in 1944.   Perhaps they should have included in the note that all big band V-Disc sessions were also excluded?   But that wouldn't seem to explain why Woody Herman's small group V-Disc sessions are not in the box.  Was the Bob Crosby small group session included because it fit the traditional jazz bill as opposed to the more modern swing of Woody Herman?   A bit more information would have been useful.  

Edited October 21 by John L

[jazzbo]

Mosaic is quoted on the first page of this thread as saying they are hoping to release a big band V-Disk set as well as a Benny Goodman V-Disc set.

Edited October 21 by jazzbo

[John L]

OK, thanks.

[jazzbo]

That doesn't explain all the omissions. . . it's a challenge to curate this sort of set and also have a set that people can and will afford I think.

[Chuck Nessa]

So far I am really impressed by the quality of the transfers.

[JSngry]

Is there Boyd Raeburn to be had?

[jazzbo]

Some sides were issued. I don't know if Mosaic has any plans for incorporation.

https://www.discogs.com/artist/341415-Boyd-Raeburn-And-His-Orchestra?page=3

[JSngry]

Some of the Jubilee shows were great! Not sure if there were V-Discs?

[jazzbo]

There are a half a dozen or so V-Discs listed on that discogs page.

[JSngry]

Ok, I see now. The link did not go to the page with them and I did not recognize that.

[John L]

I actually stand corrected.  The Woody Herman small group session IS on this box.  Sorry for the error in my previous post. 

[mjzee]

Mosaic now says I'll receive the box this Friday.

[Big Beat Steve]

21 hours ago, John L said:

Having read the booklet, I am still a bit puzzled about how they chose what to include in this set.   This box is almost all traditional (mostly Chicago-style) jazz and vocals.  That struck me as very strange at first, given that a lot of well-known V-discs were made by swing bands and small groups from swing bands.  

The "Producer's Note" indicates that only genuine V-Disc recording sessions were included, as opposed to V-Discs taken from sessions made for other labels or live broadcasts.   That would seem to explain why none of the many Duke Ellington V-Discs were included.  But the Count Basie Band certainly had genuine V-Disc sessions, including a special one with Lester Young in 1944.   Perhaps they should have included in the note that all big band V-Disc sessions were also excluded?   ...
 

Regardless of what you stood corrected for , you raised some valid (IMHO) points. I know I am nitpicking quite a bit here, but even after having checked the track list AND the list of artists/bands they deliberately omitted, I still felt puzzled a bit.
Some of those acts on the list of excluded (our should I say discarded?) artists that they may have felt to be of "slight" or limited jazz content IMO can (almost) only be judged that way (to the extent that I have heard these acts on other records) by the fact that the compilers' idea of "jazz content" is a fairly conservative one. And this seems to favor traditional jazz and hesitates much more often about what was popular on the "swing" (or swing-infused) end of jazzish popular music in the 40s. That end of the spectrum in fact included quite a few artists that had a solid following in their day but fell by the wayside of the historians' way of writing about jazz of that era in later decades. And therefore passed into oblivion with the "general" jazz public. (And I am not even thinking of Louis Jordan there ... whose omission I personally can live with because his V-Discs have been around in easily accessible form on the reissue market before.)
Adding this to the fact that building such a box set to a greater extent on such relative obscurities instead of mostly firm "name" favorites (of whom there remain many in the field of traditional jazz) might have hampered sales potential, you just end up with the artist selections they preferred. Understandable yet a pity in some cases.

[jazzbo]

I can see your point. . . but to be honest looking at that list I would myself have chose the artists they chose and omitted those they did for space reasons. I think the one artist I'd most want to see in this set and not included in Joe Marsala, but I do have this material and can understand their assessment.

It's already a large set and something "had to give." I can't wait to have mine delivered! Mosaic likes to make me wait this decade. I order within minutes after the set goes to pre-order. . . and wait weeks while others enjoy theirs!

[trane123]

In another new Mosaic wrinkle, I hadn't received a shipping notice so I logged in to my account to check the order status.  The order was marked "complete" and had a USPS tracking number.  So, if you're missing the shipping notification, you might try that.

[Stompin at the Savoy]

51 minutes ago, trane123 said:

In another new Mosaic wrinkle, I hadn't received a shipping notice so I logged in to my account to check the order status.  The order was marked "complete" and had a USPS tracking number.  So, if you're missing the shipping notification, you might try that.

Yeah, same here.  The notification got lost.  Whatever - I have the tracking number.

[jazzbo]

I checked my order every day and it just showed "Processing." So I inquired via email with Fred today and he told me it has been shipped and is due to arrive Saturday. And I checked this morning and the order is "Completed" with a tracking number that was assigned yesterday. So mine is on the way. . . . Looking forward to it.

[Stompin at the Savoy]

I used credit card and ordered the morning pre-orders were announced while Lon used PayPal and our orders shipped the same day so I guess there is no real difference in cc vs paypal.