Lester Young and Count Basie on Mosaic...1936-1940

[LouieB]

 

So we have spent a bit of time talking about the Mosaic box set of Anthony Braxton, but it seems like a few words need to be said about another excellent box set from this label, which is the Lester Young/Count Basie sessions on Columbia, Okeh, and other associated labels. Needless to say this isn't the latest hip stuff, but in the entire history of jazz (and popular music in general) there are few figures hipper than these two cats and certainly few musicians who are more influential than Lester Young in general.

 

I picked this set up a few months back after reading about it in the New Yorker, but it is only recently that I have given it a long serious listen. There is some great stuff here (as well as a few clunkers and a bunch of alternate takes...) and well worth checking out. Not only has Mosaic cleaned up this material, it found a bunch of unreleased material in the Columbia vaults, and the booklet that explains the sessions in detail that is truly enlightening. I have always strongly recommended the Count Basie Decca recordings of the same basic period to people, but this stuff is also stunning. Here are musicians who could punch out masterful records in an afternoon and these sides include some of the greats including Charlie Christian, Benny Goodman, Harry Edison, Freddie Green, Jo Jones, Buck Clayton, etc. Much of it will get even the least rhythmic people get up and dance, or at least tap your toe. Great swinging stuff all around. But the highlights are the solos done by Pres, inventive and interesting at every turn.

 

Young is the link between older forms of jazz such as traditional and swing jazz and the coming bebop and modern jazz revolutions of the 1940s and 1950s. Even if you aren't interested in this period, these recordings are well worth a listen. And most astonishing, they were done live with no overdubbing, pitch correction, layering or manipulation, all live and often done with only head arrangements. Crazy brilliant stuff.

 

LouieB

[Mr. Heartbreak]

That sounds really good, and definitely something I would be interested in. I love that era of jazz. In fact, I was just listening to some Basie earlier this week.

It's not on Amazon anywhere, or at least I couldn't find it. Did you get it direct from the label, or somewhere else?

[LouieB]

That sounds really good, and definitely something I would be interested in. I love that era of jazz. In fact, I was just listening to some Basie earlier this week.

It's not on Amazon anywhere, or at least I couldn't find it. Did you get it direct from the label, or somewhere else?

Really the only way to get it is through Mosaic Records website. They do a limited run of most stuff (generally 5000) so when it is gone it goes out into the collectors market and they are more expensive. Alot of eBay action with old Mosaic releases, particularly the vinyl ones.

 

It looks like this one is still available. If you like this kind of music I strongly recommend it, maybe a late holiday gift to yourself.

 

LouieB

[people are leaving]

Thanks for the info LouieB. I'm always interested in any kind of news on Prez. I recently listened to the record he did with Teddy Wilson. Great stuff. Prez certainly had some serious tone. Wow.

[jff]

Really the only way to get it is through Mosaic Records website. They do a limited run of most stuff so when it is gone it goes out into the collectors market and they are more expensive. Alot of eBay action with old Mosaic releases, particularly the vinyl ones.

 

It looks like this one is still available. If you like this kind of music I strongly recommend it, maybe a late holiday gift to yourself.

 

LouieB

 

I have the Mosaic Sam Rivers box and the Grachan Moncur set. Most of those titles were out of print at the time of the Mosaic releases, but now most if not all of it is available as single cds. I would prefer to own the individual discs (anyone want to work out a trade?). To my tastes, aside from the cover photos which are classy, Mosaic boxes are visually very dull and, as is the case with the Rivers and Moncur boxes, they don't always (or ever?) have reproductions of the original cover art. The Rivers and Moncur releases came out during an absolutely brilliant period of album cover artistry. I think it's really lame not to include such incredible cover art as part of a box set. It almost seems suspicious, as if the Mosaic folks know full well that the individual discs will be re-released in the near future and they have some sort of non-competition agreement with the original labels.

 

Sorry for the rant. To their credit, Mosaic has been putting out a lot of great music for a number of years, and the sound quality tends to be top notch.

[LouieB]

You have a point about the art on Mosaic (kinda dull), but the art is really not the point of these reissues; it is the music and the way it is collected. When they collect the complete Blue Note or Capital or some other work of an artist it is for the completeness of the sessions, etc., that they are going for and the liner notes, which are usually fairly scholarly, stand in for the original liner notes, etc.

 

Much of the music on some of these sets (and there are hundreds) is also available in other reissue formats, so yea, it is possible to buy the single disks with original art work and be done with it. I must admit, most of the time I am not interested in these sets; and even in the case of the Basie/Young set I am sure I have part of the music on other releases (the Lester Young Story among others and they have the reissues listed in the box set actually), but in this case they found unreleased material, unreleased alternate takes, refurbished an early rare session, and generally cleaned up a bunch of material. So as with any reissue, I suppose it depends on what you want at the time.

 

In the case of the Braxton sets, finding the original LPs at this point, that are currently not in reissue, would be both time consuming and expensive. Since I have many of the original LPs I am not interested, but having any of these sets is still pretty cool from a musical history perspective. I know a few years back they released some Andrew Hill material that I did not get, but sort of wish I had. (edit- looks like it is still available....)

 

LouieB

[jff]

but in this case they found unreleased material, unreleased alternate takes, refurbished an early rare session, and generally cleaned up a bunch of material. So as with any reissue, I suppose it depends on what you want at the time.

 

Yeah, this is where Mosaic really shines. My beef, I suppose, is with their collections of previously released albums (plus alternater takes). In a perfect world, Mosaic would be able to focus on releasing sets of unheard music, rather than basically reissuing catalog titles that shouldn't be out of print in the first place.

[LouieB]

Yeah, this is where Mosaic really shines. My beef, I suppose, is with their collections of previously released albums (plus alternater takes). In a perfect world, Mosaic would be able to focus on releasing sets of unheard music, rather than basically reissuing catalog titles that shouldn't be out of print in the first place.

Agreed again. But some of the former independents that are gobbled up by corporations don't give a shit about jazz any longer. I would have to say that I don't entirely understand the Blue Note reissue program, since that material IS still in print mostly. But for obscure labels that disappeared long ago, this kind of reissue is perfect, but I mostly agree with you. I don't think i would have bought this Basie/Young thing except my Basie/Young on Columbia is spotty and this got really sterling reviews when it came out, so I did an impulse buy and realized it wasn't entirely out of print, but now that I have listened to it, I am not sorry about it, because some of the non-released stuff, particularly the earliest sessions are pretty damn cool. And the stuff that basically sounds like the Decca releases, I mean I like them anyway. And the notes are really well done.

 

LouieB

[jff]

I would have to say that I don't entirely understand the Blue Note reissue program, since that material IS still in print mostly.

 

I think Blue Note is just trying to cash in on Rudy Van Gelder's name/reputation with the RVG series reissues.

[LouieB]

I think Blue Note is just trying to cash in on Rudy Van Gelder's name/reputation with the RVG series reissues.

Merry Christmas...

 

Actually just so there is no misunderstanding; I do understand the RVG series, I mean what the heck, right. I was refering to Mosaic reissuing the complete Blue Note sessions of different artists. I would think that the current owners of Blue Note would be happy to do that (as they have with the RVG thing) rather than let Mosaic do it.

 

LouieB