My biggest gripe was about leaving out the three Sextet albums he released on About Time. I'd prefer to pay more and have three separate sets fully covering (New) Air, Sextet(t) and Very Very Circus, without any gaps.
Sad. I certainly will miss the label when and if it goes -- and, frankly, given the market realities surround both jazz and physical media, I guess it going it all but inevitable sooner rather than later.
Including ~18 Selects, I think I own almost 50 Mosaic boxes total, only 4 of which did I buy used. The prices would hold me back for a while, but about every 3-4 years, usually when something I wanted went on "running low" status, I'd usually buy nearly every single set I was interested in, to save by combining on shipping. Bought my very first set in 1995, and very steadily until just about 3 years ago, by which time I had nearly everything I wanted. I think there were only a couple Selects I regret missing out on (the Brookmeyer, maybe), and 3-4 big boxes I could have gotten in the 90's, but didn't (Blakey). Wasnt thrilled about their prices, but I never hesitated to buy nearly everything I ever wanted from them, and only ever had one set (a Select) that I ever had any buyer's remorse about (and I sold it cheap to a friend on the Organissimo board, where I've been active for going on 15 years).
Just bought the Hines set. If you're on the fence now's the time to get that music you've been considering!
The problem for jazz isn't just that sales of physical media are declining, it's that jazz in particular is in decline. Some stats: Jazz Has Become The Least-Popular Genre In The U.S. I do hope the label pulls though, and it's a shame that they're getting ripped off by PD re-releases.
I own 21 Mosaic boxes, last bought one about 15 years ago. They take great care in mastering, discography details and liner notes and are always an attractive product. Sound quality is always superior and they often release music neglected by the major labels either because it is too old or obscure. I do have a few problems with Mosaic - licensing prohibits use of original LP covers (for LP based boxes) and I enjoy the covers, many of these boxes are too much of a good thing - hard to listen to a CD that has multiple takes of the same song back to back, hard to store the big LP size boxes for me, hard to handle the big creaky boxes and large booklet when listening, and most of all hard to justify $17 a CD for a box of 8-10 CDs (up from their old $16) while CD prices in the marketplace have dropped considerably over the years. I understand their licensing and production costs have not decreased, but as a consumer with a limited budget I can't justify $136 on one box even for something like the great looking Condon Commodore/Decca box (especially when I already have much of this material, although probably not sounding as good or with proper liner notes or discography).
I always saw Mosaic as a labor of love, and functionally (if not actually, or legally), more like a non-profit. Anything I bought for them helped support a cause I cared about pretty deeply. And in that regard, every penny was well spent.
I have never understood the concern about Mosaic pricing. People routinely pay $50-60 for a single 40 min LP - often of material already issued umpteen times and with only the original (usually crappy or misleading) liners. So what is the big deal about paying, say, $120-150 for 8 CDs of music - often rare yet mostly great - and awesome informative booklet? Just don't get it. Also never really got why having more music - alts etc - is a problem. Nobody says you have to listen all at once. Mosaic set and continues to set the standard for reissue labels. I own almost every one of their sets. As others have said they are essentially a labor of deep love for the music. I think they are a national treasure and it would be nothing less than a hit to our national culture if they go under. Maybe hyperbole to some but how I see it - regardless of jazz's lack of current popularity.
How many sets is that? I'm not a jazz guy, but I have the Charles Brown, Peggy Lee, Johnny Mercer and Quincy Jones big band sets. I will be picking up the Duke Ellington 1932-1940 one of these days.
I'd have to count - certainly dozens - the full list of their out of print sets is on their web site: Mosaic Records - Out-Of-Print Limited Edition Collections I lack only about 2-3 of those (compile of Chet Bakers and the Bill Evans - have all the material in those in other releases) and I still am about 10 or so behind on their currently in print sets. I have been buying their sets since 1994 (including catching up gradually with their out of print sets from before that). I have literally never regretted buying a Mosaic set.
I'm curious to know if the Hank Mobley set is available. The Mosaic website says it is on backorder. If you can let me know what information you received about its availability when you ordered the set I would be very grateful. I've been eager for this set to become available again as well. Thanks for your help.
Respectfully, you did not answer my question. Mosaic masters these releases, correct? What happens to the digital files of Mosaic's masterings after a title sells out and/or Mosaic goes belly up? Mosaic's versions resort back to the labels for unforeseen future use? Mosaic pays for the mastering sessions, but then the parent label gets to use those versions afterward?
Yeah, I am aware of some of those But unless I'm mistaken, aren't they "Historical" recordings, Broadcasts and so on, aimed at the long term Classical fans? Relatively obscure recordings that the majors don't want to release? I don't think they're competing with the more "mainstream"/popular Classical releases (Decca/ DG, etc)? These PD releases haven't seemed to affect sales of the Classical "Mega-Boxes", for example.
I don't have time to be at my computer all day and answer questions within a few minutes. The restorations and remasterings are paid for by Mosaic, but, as I said, they are owned by the various labels, which means that they do indeed resort back to the labels once a title goes OOP. As far as I know masterings that were paid for by Mosaic have been used by the labels that own them, but I don't have specific titles.
Michael Cuscuna: "The majors will never give us rights to downloads. It's their feeling that they can take a Mosaic set and dump the CDs into iTunes and put up the downloads for themselves. As long as they don't use the Mosaic name or box it like the Mosaic, they can do whatever they want—it's their material." Read more at The Survivalists: Mosaic and Newvelle Records
Wow - talk about a sense of entitlement. It's not like he works for you man...I'd say you're lucky he even bothered to respond at all after the tone of your other "request" (demand) for info.
Yes, that's already the case for a few titles. For example, the Hank Mobley, Bobby Hutcherson, Elvin Jones, Andrew Hill and others are already (officially) available on iTunes and other download sites, minus the Mosaic name.
They are historical performances, but some of the majors have released those works usually on smaller sets or individual CDs. It has been a while since I've seen them put out these type of reissues, if I had to take a guess the PD labels are making it not worthwhile for them to do so. TBH I am sort of amazed we are getting what we are on classical from the majors, I would think there is not much money in this, particularly with the effort/money required to create some of these boxes that work out to around $1 or $2 per disc.
For what it's worth, I put in an order for that Mobley set in June 2016, and it has never been back in stock.