The Savory Collection - Jazz Trove To Be Released

I ran across the following article about The Savory Collection, a trove of historic jazz recordings from the 1930s and 1940s that are about to be released to the public. I see that there is an iTunes pre-order available for them. Does anybody know whether they will receive a full resolution CD or digital download release as well? Vinyl? I cannot bear the thought of such important recordings that have been restored over many years to only be released on mp3 format.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/23/a...atedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article

 

I don't know the answer to your question, but I'd love a CD release.

From the article, this got me salivating: A second volume, due later this year, will feature more than an hour’s worth of broadcast recordings by the Count Basie band featuring Lester Young on tenor saxophone, unheard since they were broadcast in the late 1930s

Wow.

 

Yeah, that doesn't deserve the AAA treatment in the least.

 

I'm hoping there will be many volumes. It's great to see progress in the past six years as they were expecting quite an expense. I'm certainly enjoying the Coleman Hawkins' Body and Soul.

 

Here's the press release with track listings, and PR contact info. Might be worth a few of us emailing our interest in physical media. The National Jazz Museum in Harlem Presents The Savory Collection, Volume 1 »

 

I emailed them, at the least I'd prefer a lossless download over AAC.

 

I've emailed them, too. This would have been right up Mosaic Records' alley. I can only guess that we are witnessing the diminishing capability and willingness of Mosaic to issue new box sets in the face of the limited demand for physical media. Sad, but I don't blame Mosaic for being fiscally conservative about what it is going to issue. And to be fair, we obviously don't know whether they even were given a shot at issuing this material.

 

All very good points. I really hope that Mosaic are doing ok. Their Coleman Hawkins 1922-47 box from 2-3 years ago sold out and is now OOP. The Prez/Basie set has also been selling briskly as they were out of stock until recently, I need to make sure I don't forget to order that

New Prez/Basie from the 30s, man this is damn exciting even if it's an OTA recording.

Edit: that's weird I can't reply to the Organissimo thread. I've been a member there for years

 

I just downloaded this today from iTunes. Unfortunately, it is an "Apple exclusive" so I suspect that this AAC download is as good as it is ever going to get. Ridiculous. Also, the Fats Waller tracks are all mislabeled and chopped up. It's an insult to the musicians and listeners alike that the producers couldn't be bothered to track and sequence the files correctly. The kicker is that it is supposed to come with good liner notes / "electronic booklet," but they did not download on any device on which I tried.

The Smithsonian should be ashamed to have their name on this. The music deserves better.

 

I don't think The National Jazz Museum in Harlem has any connection to The Smithsonian, does it? The director, Loren Schoenberg has said that it's very possible that the Savory Collection releases will get a CD release. So we can hope.

The booklet downloaded fine on my computer (it's a .pdf file, do you have adobe?). Lots of fascinating info and pictures.

Also, some of the Fats Waller tracks are listed as medley's in the booklet notes:

Track 6: Fats Waller and His Rhythm: (Medley) Yacht Club Swing/Hold My Hand
Track 7: Fats Waller and His Rhythm: I Haven't Changed A Thing
Track 8: Fats Waller and His Rhythm: (Medley) Summer Souvenirs/Who Blew Out The Flame
Track 9: Fats Waller and His Rhythm: (Medley) You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby/Sixty Seconds Get Together/I've Got A Pocketful Of Dreams
Track 10: Fats Waller and His Rhythm: Alligator Crawl
Track 11: Fats Waller and His Rhythm: Spider And The Fly

 

The National Jazz Museum in Harlem is a Smithsonian Affiliate.

I have Adobe. The file itself never downloaded from iTunes on two devices.

Yes, the Fats Waller tracks are listed as a medley, but they contain parts of other tracks that are in the medley, and out of order as well. Tracks 6-8 are the offenders.

 

Got this letter from iTunes. You might be interested if you haven't already heard from them.

Dear iTunes Customer,

Thank you for purchasing songs from the album The National Jazz Museum In Harlem Presents: The Savory Collection, Vol. 1: Body and Soul: Coleman Hawkins & Friends by Various Artists. In your original purchase, the following tracks may not have been properly labelled or may have had incorrect audio: “A-Tisket, A-Tasket", “Yacht Club Swing / Hold My Hand", "I Haven't Changed A Thing" and “Summer Souvenirs / Who Blew Out The Flame". The tracks have been corrected, and new copies are now available.

If you downloaded these tracks before they were corrected, you will need to remove the tracks from your device(s) and redownload them in order to access the corrected versions.

For information on how to remove downloaded content, go to:
Delete music, movies, apps, books, and other content from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

For information on how to download the new copies, go to:
Download your past purchases

 

Is this stuff going to be download only, or worse, mp3?

 

iTunes AAC download only.

 

Somehow to me that seems worse than leaving it in the archive

 

Loren Schoenberg has repeatedly stated on Facebook: "About format - there would be NO difference in lossless format given the source material."

 

But that's a meaningless reality for those of us who don't use iTunes. I don't care about a few % loss in fidelity (or not); I care about getting it.

 

You don't have to play the files with iTunes. You can download the files from the iTunes store and play them on any device that plays AAC files.

 

Frankly, I have no idea what AAC means. I'm a musician and music lover, not a tech-o-phile. Not trying to be combative, but this is still not clear to me. And why do I have to purchase something that plays AAC files when I have multiple devices that play the common formats of the past 100 years?

 

AAC is apple's name for their equivalent of .mp3 files. If you have a device that plays mp3 files it probably plays them.

 

I found this explanation:

Is an AAC file the same as an mp3?
AAC: Advanced Audio Coding, also known as AAC, is similar to MP3, although it's a bit more efficient. That means that you can have files that take up less space, but with the same sound quality as MP3. And, with Apple's iTunes making AAC so popular, it's almost as widely compatible with MP3.

 

There were rumours some years ago that Mosaic would be involved in making the Savory Collection available on CD, but nothing was confirmed.

The fact that some Mosaic sets are no longer available doesn't mean they sold out; some did, but the licensing agreements of other sets expired before they sold out and Mosaic could no longer sell them.

They have been struggling for years now, and the fact that they are a niche label doesn't help. I hope they will survive.

 

The "almost" makes me cringe, but thanks very much for your help.

 

This is what I wrote in late September:

1. Will there be a physical media release of this material, especially on CD?
2. Will the iTunes release of this be in lossless format (.wav or .flac), or will it be lossy mp3s and/or AAC?
I'll admit that I was simultaneously excited to see the release, and disappointed to see that iTunes and its lossy format is the likely sole way to procure this material. Have you considered approaching Mosaic Records or some other physical media label committed to reissuing great jazz?

And this is the reply I received, in its entirety:

This is a digital only release available exclusively via Apple Music and iTunes for both download and streaming. The format is AAC Mastered for iTunes.

This is a great set regardless of it being digital only.

 

Volume 2 is available for pre-order now.

The National Jazz Museum in Harlem presents the Savory Collection, Vol. 2: Jumpin’ At the Woodside: The Count Basie Orchestra featuring Lester Young