Mosaic to release Bee Hive Records box

According to the Organissimo jazz board Mosaic will release a box with all the Beehive sessions except the Johnny Hartman: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?/topic/76534-mosaic-plans-beehive-box

Beehive Records: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee_Hive_Records

 

Great news.

 

That is great new. I used to have a Beehive t-shirt that I had to send away for. Some good, long unavailable music!

I'm in!!

 

I've never heard of Beehive Records before, but their lineup of talent was very impressive!

Incidentally, I really wish that Mosaic would produce more vinyl sets...

 

I only have Baritone Madness out of that set. I thought Elmo Hope was on the label but I didn't see one on the list. Looks good regardless. Shame the Hartman album isn't included.

 

Some great stuff on this label. The Dizzy Reece and Clifford Jordan stuff is very good, as is BARITONE MADNESS, the Ronnie Mathews entry ROOTS, BRANCHES and DANCES, Nistico's NEO...lotsa good ones.

Their original vinyl was always a bit on the low quality/noisy side so will be good to have clean transfers.

Wonder why the Hartman won't be in there.

 

I imagine the exclusion of the Johnny Hartman date has something to do with Beehive record label owner Jim Neumann's licensing agreement with Clint Eastwood, who used that material on his "Bridges Of Madison County" soundtrack CDs. Maybe Neumann sold the session outright?

 

It seems Mosaic will be releasing this as 2 6CD-sets - at least that's what was posted on Organissimo.

 

Only missing three albums -.Burn Brigade, Starfingers, and the sampler. Hope there are a lot of unissued quality sessions or an easy pass for me.

 

More info on the Organissimo board:
http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?/topic/76534-mosaic-plans-beehive-box/?p=1432379

 

The Hartman will be in there. Everything recorded by Beehive will be included.

 

Thanks Hans I had seen something to the effect it would not. That is very good news indeed.

 

Now available for pre-order on the website; late August shipping date projected. One 12 cd set.

http://www.mosaicrecords.com/prodinfo.asp?number=261-MD-CD

 

Discography: http://www.mosaicrecords.com/discography.asp?number=261-MD-CD&price=$169.00&copies=12 CDs

Audio samples (scroll down): http://www.mosaicrecords.com/prodinfo.asp?number=261-MD-CD

The set was mastered by Malcolm Addey.

 

Truly excited about this set! More than I have been about any Mosaic in some time - it's just the kind of thing they do so well. I usually don't preorder from them, but I may just make an exception here.

I have several of the original LPs, and the music is excellent, but it's been my experience that Bee Hive vinyl wasn't of the best quality - rather noisy surfaces, not always very flat, spindle holes off-center, etc.

I'm looking forward to hearing all the titles I have anew, in what I suspect will be significantly improved sound (sans noise), done up by Malcolm Addey (he has seldom disappointed).

And all those other Bee Hive recordings that I've never heard before - wow - they all look so promising. New (to me) Curtis Fuller and Johnny Hartman!

 

I listened to the audio samples on the Mosaic site and to be honest I wasn't that impressed - I had never heard any Bee Hive albums (I wasn't listening to jazz at the time, due to personal circumstances), so it was all new for me, and maybe my expectations were too high - although I had been warned by a few people who have/had the albums that it's mostly run-of-the-mill bop (their words). The first sample with two "racing" baritones is too much for me, they get on my nerves and the piano sounds out of place. The Sal Salvador sample (actually the fourth, not the third as wrongly stated on the site) sounds weird to me, with the guitar way up front; a strange mix. All in all I'm not sure I'll be getting this set.

 

The LPs I have are not overtly exploratory music. But I find it to be very well-executed modern bop, and there is a real nice "go for broke" quality to much of the music/soloing that I found was lacking in a lot of contemporary recordings. Personally I'd have an extremely hard time calling any of the LPs I've heard "run of the mill." I guess if one were expecting, say, AACM-type music, because of the vintage, they could be put off, but that's not what these recordings are about.

About the Adams/Brignola album, which I have - throughout Adams sounds very much like he did on all those great Blue Note appearances, and Brignola likewise sounds much like he does on some of his fine later dates for Reservoir and other labels. Most of the tracks aren't "battles," despite the album title implication. Derek Smith was a bit of a revelation to me - a very fine pianist I'd heard nothing about before; he actually gets a trio feature with Dave Holland and Roy Haynes on the last track, "Alone Together," and it is one of the highlights of the album for me.

Maybe part of your reaction stems from the way the sound samples sound on the Mosaic web site - to me, these sound pretty awful. At least on my computer speakers they all sound very "nasal" and midrangy - whereas the albums I have don't sound anything like that, SQ is quite good overall (though the vinyl surface is noisy and I do think whoever mastered the LPs shaved off some low bass that will be restored on the CD set). That may also account for the weird sound of the Salvador sample (I agree with you there, that is one of the LPs I hadn't heard and the sound sample is odd in terms of mix, but it may be an artifact of listening on these mp3 files on a computer).

Also worth mentioning is that some sessions ARE quite a bit more adventurous. Dizzy Reece's LP (which also includes Ted Curson, Cliff Jordan, and Charles Davis plus Albert Dailey, Art Davis, and Roy Haynes) has a lot of Reece's typically off-kilter perspective on hard bop, akin to his fine Blue Notes. And the Ronnie Mathews LP I have is also not simply straight ahead.

All that said, though, certainly this music may end up not being to your taste, understandable. But I would recommend not trying to conclude too much from the Mosaic sound samples in isolation, they don't sound optimal to me (certainly I hope this isn't what the actual CDs sound like!).

 

I realize that just five audio samples (with not-so-good sound quality) might not give a good impression, but it's what I have to go by since I am totally unfamiliar with Bee Hive and right now getting the set based on what I've heard is too much of a risk, even though the price is reduced compared to their usual $17/disc price.

 

Totally understand, of course!

 

Excited about this set. The samples are bad axx!

 

Just got a shipping notice.

 

Mine was received today, listening to disc 1 right now. Sounds as I would expect it to, knowing the lps and also Addey's mastering work. That is it sounds quite good!

 

Can anyone comment on the sound of the Johnny Hartman tracks vs. the versions on the Madison County soundtrack discs?

 

I have never heard the Madison County version on film or soundtrack recording. But the Johnny Hartman session sounds great in this box set.

 

My wife just bought it for me, what does everybody think about it;
http://www.mosaicrecords.com/prodinfo.asp?number=261-MD-CD