Django Reinhardt JSP and Mosaic boxes

I love Django and own the Mosaic Complete Swing/HMV Session 1936-1948 and the JSP Django in Rome box.

My question is, which of the other JSP sets should I get with minimal overlap of what I already have?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

anyone?

 

Apologies for the belated reply! If you are going with any of the JSP sets, here is the combination I would recommend.


Essential, no duplication:

Musette to Maestro 1928-1937 {4 CD, JSP; Remastered by Ted Kendall}
• A very different sound from le Quintette du Hot Club de France, but still excellent quality.

Classic Early Recordings 1934-1939 {5 CD, JSP; Remastered by Ted Kendall}
• Depending on the age of the pressing, this set may also be erroneously subtitled "... in Chronological Order."

Renown & Resistance 1937-1943 {5 CD, JSP; Remastered by Ted Kendall}

Postwar Recordings 1944-1953 {5 CD, JSP; Remastered by Ted Kendall}

Django in Rome 1949-1950 {4 CD, JSP; Remastered by Ted Kendall}

Django on the Radio 1945-1953 {5 CD, JSP; Remastered by Ted Kendall}


(Probably) no longer essential:

The Swing Sessions 1937-1940 {4 CD, Frog; Remastered by Ted Kendall}
• Ted Kendall's initial attempt at following up the original Classic Early Recordings 1934-1939 set; these four discs were released as standalone titles, and the link above goes to volume one in the series. Much of this material has already been duplicated on the Musette to Maestro 1928-1937 (includes tracks 1.01-1.10) and Renown & Resistance 1937-1943 (includes tracks 1.11-1.14, 1.17-1.22, 2.01-2.09, 2.14-2.15, 3.01-3.03, 3.05-3.06, 3.11-3.24, 4.01-4.10, 4.18-4.22) sets. Of the remaining material, a good portion can be found in the Mosaic box... but some of the missing tracks are still exclusive to this set, in this mastering. The next, final Django Reinhardt box from JSP should render this batch completely redundant (and should also include remastered versions of any remaining content from the Mosaic box), but I'm not sure when that set will be released.

The Complete Django Reinhardt and Quintet of the Hot Club of France Swing/HMV Sessions 1936-1948 {6 CD, Mosaic}
• For many years, this was the go-to set for Django enthusiasts, and sections of the content have been lifted by many labels. Still a good overview, but this set is now largely redundant given the scope of Ted Kendall's remastering efforts. Tracks 4.01 through 5.15 are the only ones that have not yet (to the best of my recollection) been remastered by Ted Kendall.


Avoid:

Django Reinhardt Volume 2: Paris and London 1937-1948 {4 CD, JSP; poor quality!}
• This set is the only Django Reinhardt box on JSP that was NOT remastered by Ted Kendall; instead it largely ripped off the Mosaic Complete Swing/HMV Session 1936-1948 box. From the beginning through disc 2, track 7, the contents of this box are presented in much better quality on The Swing Sessions 1937-1940. From disc 3, track 19 to the end, the contents of this box are presented in much better quality on the Postwar Recordings 1944-1953 set. The middle section matches tracks 4.01 through 5.15 of the Mosaic box, above.

 

I've the French EMI 20 CD box set Djangologie, but I am not sure or convinced this will hold up against the Mosaic set, in terms of quality of sound and packaging of course.

The Mosaic set is on my list of next to buy, which is already filled to the brim!

 

Correction:

Musette to Maestro 1928-1937 {5 CD, JSP; Remastered by Ted Kendall}