Don't!! Listen to the music. If tells you everything you need to know Sure the booklets are great, but the story is the music
Even though I'm not into Louis Armstrong's post-1920s stuff, I just listened to parts of the new 1946-1966 Armstrong Mosaic and I must admit that, while mainly being a modern-jazz lover, I liked what I heard better than expected.
I love the Armstrong set. The 40s stuff sounds really great and was far more entertaining than I expected. Handy and Fats are both great albums well presented and the session tapes from these two are both enjoyable and interesting. The tapes were rolling and you get a good sense of the sessions. The Real Ambassadors, which I had never heard before, is less consistently enjoyable for me, but some of it is great (Summer Song) and it is quite different stylistically from most of Armstrong’s work. I only had Handy before, so this was a lot of new material for me. I think I’ll be spending a lot of time with it. Some classic Armstrong performances, well recorded and well presented.
No, I didn't, and I don't think I will when it becomes available from Jazz Messengers, Barcelona; importing Mosaics directly has become way too expensive. I listened to a couple of the albums in the set on Spotify to refresh my memory
Just listened to parts of The Ambassadors and didn't like it at all. Reason for me not to get this set, though the W.C. Handy and Fats Waller tributes are nice.
You don't have the Waller set? If you don't buy the Mosaic, you should at least get that. Together with the Handy set, two masterpieces.
I received the Joe Henderson set. Sounds really great in comparison the 80s/early 90s cds I have. I need to reach out to Scott. It looks like there were some problems with the resolution of photos in the booklet and on the CD covers themselves. They are low res. Not like I’m going to return it. I think I noticed something similar with the Desmond set.
Just checked my Louis Armstrong CDs and found that I have the RCA 78s on a French RCA Jazz Tribute 2CD-set, which covers disc I of the Mosaic and the RCA part of disc II. Don't need umpteen versions of "Mack the Knife" and certainly not The Real Ambassadors, so I'm definitely going to pass on this set.
Joe Henderson Mosaic is up at Jazz Messengers! €110. The Complete Joe Henderson Blue Note Studio Sessio - Jazz Messengers
Just checked again and it's still 129.98 euros. As I said on another forum I think that's a bit steep for 5 CDs. Usually Jazz Messengers' prices for Mosaic sets are 20 euros per disc on average, but 26 euros...
The Henderson set is sold out at Jazz Messengers, and I was too late. They'll hopefully get new stock.
Wow. When I ordered my copy, I was able to put over 25 copies in my cart. Got tired, and didn't try to find out where the limit was. Good money for Jazz Messengers.
Just got this email from Mosaic: “Thank you for your recent order of the Joe Henderson set. Unfortunately, there was an inventory error at the warehouse and they are out of stock on the box for the set. The box manufacturer has been notified and we expect them to arrive at the warehouse in about 2 weeks. We are hoping to have your order shipped out to you in about 3 weeks.”
Mosaic sent out an email today, as follows: “Mosaic Operations We would like to thank you all for your continuing patronage, support of the music and for being family members of a great community of jazz lovers. As things all over the world moves progress towards normalcy, we hope that you & yours are doing well. Just wanted to drop a quick note to everyone regarding our operations currently and the past year. It's obviously been a very difficult time, well over a year now with respect to the Covid-19 pandemic. Customer service has always been a high priority for Mosaic Records and we weathered the previous storm of reducing staff and moving warehouse operations to a separate fulfillment center over 10 years ago. We work mainly with individual contractors/small companies and Covid-19 has presented operational challenges to make good on our promise of exceptional customer service. We have encountered timing delays with the recent Joe Henderson set and in discussions with our warehouse and outer box vendor we expect to be up to speed a couple of weeks. We are headquartered in CT and warehouse restrictions are now eased and they are restaffing. We want to thank you for your understanding, patience and support. Best, Michael, Scott & Fred”
