Duke Pearson - Mosaic Select 8 [3 CD, 2003/FLAC]

 

The Mosaic Select series continues -- having released eight impressive volumes n the calendar year 2003 -- this being the last, it's a provocative set in that it compiles five Duke Pearson albums from 1968-1970, all of them centered around his "exotic period: The Phantom, Merry Ole Sole, How Insensitive, It Could Only Happen With You, and I Don't Care Who Knows It. In addition, it places all of those recording sessions in their proper chronological order and includes two completely unreleased tracks.

 

Sam Rivers & The Rivbea Orchestra - Trilogy : Mosaic Select 38 (3 CD, 2011/FLAC)

 

By the time Sam Rivers was able to document his orchestral writing in 1974 (on the Impulse album "Crystals") at the tender age of 51, he was best known for leading a magnificent, purely improvised trio devoid of all written music. But composition was (and is) as much a part of his incessantly fertile mind as improvisation.

His densely-layered and beautifully voiced multi-sectional orchestra pieces burn with an intensity that never forsakes the music's beauty. Rivers seamlessly integrates improvisation into the written score. Solos are distributed democratically as effective, concise statements.
In 1992, Rivers moved to Orlando, Florida where he quickly formed another powerful improvising trio and set about seeking personnel to form an orchestra for the music that he was constantly writing. After two all-star albums for RCA Records in 1998 ("Inspiration" and "Culmination"), recorded in New York, an Orlando edition of the Rivbea Orchestra started to emerge.

Drawn from teachers and students at surrounding colleges, frustrated members of various Walt Disney World aggregations and retired veterans of orchestras like Tommy Dorsey and Woody Herman, Sam Rivers crafted a first-class orchestra to realize his music. In 2005, he issued the new Rivbea Orchestra's first recording "Airora" on his own Rivbea label.

When we heard the album, we called Sam to offer our jaw-dropping praise, he told us essentially there is plenty more where that came from and set about sifting through hours of studio and live recordings to cull the three CDs of previously unreleased material contained in this set. The results are forward-thinking and electrifying.

CD1 - Offering:

01. Spice (8:52)
02. Ganymede (9:05)
03. Crux (8:13)
04. Aura (15:48)
05. Perkin (9:39)
06. Pulsar (14:13)

CD2 - Progeny:
01. Robyn (6:21)
02. Cindy (5:47)
03. Monique (6:45)
04. Traci (5:10)
05. Iisha (4:43)
06. Tamara (5:21)
07. Tiffany (5:41)
08. Jessica (7:32)
09. Destiny (6:54)

CD3 - Edge:
01. Ridge (10:28)
02. Brink (11:05)
03. Precipice (9:29)
04. Verge (10:32)
05. Point (10:13)
06. Visions (11:39)
07. Pulsar (8:25)

CD1:
Sam Rivers (soprano sax, tenor sax),
Jeff Rupert (1st alto sax)
Chris Charles (2nd alto sax)
David Pate (1st tenor sax)
George Weremchuk (2nd tenor sax)
Brian Mackie (baritone sax)
Tom Parmenter (1st trumpet),
Brian Scanlon (2nd trumpet)
Mike Iapichino (3rd trumpet)
David Jones (4th trumpet)
Keith Oshiro (1st trombone)
Tito Sanchez (2nd trombone)
Steve Smith (3rd trombone)
Josh Parsons (4th trombone, tuba)
Doug Mathews (bass)
Rion Smith (drums).
Recorded live at the Plaza Theatre, Orlando, Florida on November 12, 2008

CD2:
Sam Rivers (tenor sax),
Jeff Rupert (1st alto sax)
Chris Charles (2nd alto sax)
Charlie DeChant (1st tenor sax),
George Weremchuk (2nd tenor sax)
Brian Mackie (baritone sax)
Tom Parmenter (1st trumpet)
Brian Scanlon (2nd trumpet),
Mike Iapichino (3rd trumpet)
David Jones (4th trumpet)
Keith Oshiro (1st trombone)
David Sheffield (2nd trombone)
Claire Courchene (3rd trombone)
Josh Parsons (4th trombone, tuba)
Doug Mathews (bass)
Rion Smith (drums)
Recorded at Sonic Caldron Studios, Casselberry, Florida on February 27, 2008

CD3:
Sam Rivers (soprano sax)
Jeff Rupert (1st alto sax)
Chris Charles (2nd alto sax)
Charlie DeChant (1st tenor sax)
David Pate (2nd tenor sax)
Brian Mackie (baritone sax)
Tom Parmenter (1st trumpet)
Brian Scanlon (2nd trumpet)
Mike Iapichino (3rd trumpet)
David Jones (4th trumpet)
Keith Oshiro (1st trombone)
David Sheffield (2nd trombone),
Steve Smith (3rd trombone)
Josh Parsons (4th trombone, tuba)
Doug Mathews (bass)
Rion Smith (drums)
Recorded live at the Plaza Theatre, Orlando, Florida on April 8, 2009

David Liebman, Randy Brecker, Richie Beirach, Frank Tusa & Al Foster - Mosaic Select 32: Pendulum - Live At The Village Vanguard (3 CD, 2008/FLAC)

 David Liebman's transitional album Pendulum, his first live-performance recorded effort on the Ornette Coleman-directed, John Snyder-produced Artists House label, was logically an extension of the Open Sky trio and Lookout Farm recordings he did in the earlier part of the 1970s. This three-CD set is a departure for the Mosaic Select series, in that they include the complete 1979 issued Pendulum recording, and add two further full-length, previously unissued offerings done at the Village Vanguard. The original complement of Liebman, pianist Richie Beirach, and bassist Frank Tusa had been expanded to include trumpeter Randy Brecker, and drummer Al Foster replacing Bob Moses. While mainly a blowing session on standards and removed from the improvisationally inclined smaller combos, the recording reflects Liebman's still devout lineage derived from the tenor sax of John Coltrane, while also exploring possibilities on the soprano sax that he took up, abandoned for a time, and brought back to his heart in a more enduring manner. 

• David Liebman - saxophone
• Randy Brecker - trumpet
• Richie Beirach - piano
• Frank Tusa - bass
• Al Foster - drums

1-1 Pendulum
1-2 Picadilly Lilly
1-3 Footprints

2-1 There Is No Greater Love
2-2 Solar
2-3 Picadilly Lilly
2-4 Night And Day

3-1 Blue Bossa
3-2 Well You Needn't
3-3 Bonnie's Blue
3-4 Impressions 

Toshiko Akiyoshi-Lew Tabackin Big Band - Mosaic Select 33 (3 CD, 2008/FLAC)

 The Toshiko Akiyoshi-Lew Tabackin Big Band was the premier recording and touring ensemble of its time in the mid- to late '70s, recording five albums for the RCA Victor label, and stunning audiences with sheer virtuosity and the charts of the Japanese born pianist. A symmetry between Asian culture and American bop made this orchestra most unique, exciting, and above all, highly original.

 This three-CD set contains the quintuple RCA studio recordings that set a high bar for all others to follow, and gave stiff competition to people like Gil Evans. Akiyoshi wrote music well suited to her rising stars and established veterans, while Tabackin was given more than ample opportunity to express himself on tenor sax, and especially his vibrant flute. This band also grew talent that would go on to become leaders, including Bobby Shew and Gary Foster, those who developed into section leaders like Phil Teele, Bill Reichenbach, and Dick Spencer, and trusted veterans Britt Woodman, Bill Perkins, Don Rader, and King Errison.

If you do not already own these recordings and are a progressive big-band fan, it is in your interest to search for this quintessential collection. Mosaic Select has hit a grand slam with this reissue, featuring a band in their early years that has hit on all cylinders since its inception, and never lets off the gas. It comes with an absolute highest recommendation.

Andrew Hill - Solo : Mosaic Select 23 (3 CD, 2006/FLAC)

 Mosaic Select presents a limited edition containing all of the solo piano recordings made by Andrew Hill at the Fantasy studios in Berkeley, CA during August and October 1978. Only a fraction of this material -- the first two titles on the third disc -- had ever seen the light of day prior to this collection's release in the spring of 2007. Having operated throughout the '60s as an innovative composer, pianist and bandleader, Hill spent the first half of the following decade exercising his creativity by composing and instructing at Colgate University in Hamilton, NY, performing internationally, and making records for Freedom, East Wind and Steeplechase. In 1976 he moved to San Francisco with his wife, composer and organist Laverne Hill. The move was motivated by the fact that Laverne had recently learned that she was afflicted with an incurable ailment that would eventually deprive her of her life. Needing more peace and quiet than San Francisco offered, the Hills settled in Pittsburg, a small town east of Oakland. The music on this compilation is very personal, peaceful, ruminative and intimate. It was recorded during a time when Andrew Hill was performing regularly not too far from home, usually as a soloist in spaces better suited for the presentation of chamber music rather than in night clubs. "From California with Love" and "Reverend Du Bop" appeared on Artists House LP AH9, "From California with Love" was released in 1979. All of the rest of this music -- more than two hours of additional solo piano improvisations -- languished in Hawaii until the people behind Mosaic unearthed it and Michael Cuscuna produced this beautiful three-disc set. Readied for release during the summer of 2006, it was made available to the public in a limited edition only weeks after the passing of Andrew Hill in April 2007.

 

Disc I

01. Moonlit Monterey (16:03)

02. 17 Mile Drive (12:22)

03. Gone With The Wind (6:07)

04. I Remember Clifford (4:30)

05. Moonlit Monterey (alt take) (9:01)

Disc II

01. California Tinge (11:46)

02. Napa Valley Twilight (10:13)

03. Above Big Sur (15:59)

04. An Afternoon In Berkeley (12:15)

05. California Tinge (first version) (24:38)

Disc III

01. From California With Love (20:03)

02. Reverend Du Bop (18:43)

03. Pastoral Pittsburg (11:01)

04. Pittsburg Impasse (5:55)

Randy Weston - Mosaic Select 4 (3 CD, 2003/FLAC)

 The three CDs that make up the Randy Weston Mosaic Select package comprise the complete sessions from six different albums, one of which was previously unreleased. Weston has had a long and varied career, and one that has established him in the consummate realm of piano soloists with his idiosyncratic, inclusive style. His deep jazz roots were accompanied, almost from the beginning, by the influences of Afro-Caribbean folk and the music of Asia, which he encountered during his tenure with the U.S. armed forces.

 As represented by this set, the only consistent thing in Weston's output from the years 1957-1963 is the high quality. Piano à la Mode was released on Jubilee with a trio that included Connie Kay and Peck Morrison; two big band albums, Uhuru Afrika and Highlife, were issued in 1960 and 1963, respectively; and there were three recordings in between: an unreleased date for Roulette, Little Niles, and Live at the Five Spot, the latter two for United Artists. Their personnel, producers, and material varied so widely that, if it weren't for Weston's telltale style in the middle register, we'd never know that the albums had the same bandleader. Little Niles, and Five Spot reflect the Weston we've come to know since 1989, creating a new pan-African classical music, structured outside of the Western cultural paradigm. How they came into being after the Five Spot date (the first of his recordings arranged by Melba Liston) -- which featured a band with Kenny Dorham, Coleman Hawkins, Roy Haynes, and Wilbur Little -- is a mystery. The late hard bop and bluesy swing from that date is nowhere in evidence on Uhuru or Highlife. But this set offers clues in the form of compositional development and the gradient incorporation of new ideas, rhythmic concepts, and contrapuntal strategies. As a bandleader, the gradual expansion from a trio to quintet to big band is also fascinating because Weston sounds more at home with each phase of his band. But at the time Highlife was issued, according to the music here, Weston sounded as if he had liked a big band playing trans-African music his entire life. These three CDs are nothing less than monumental in the revelation of Weston's musical thought and application. His interaction with small rhythm sections and various groups of soloists reveal his consummate status as one of the most generous bandleaders in history. This highly recommended package is indispensable not only because it fills the cracks in Weston's legacy, but for the merits of the music in it, as well.

 

 

Tony Williams - Mosaic Select 24 (3 CD, 2008/FLAC)

 For the 24th Mosaic Select box set of reissues from the Blue Note vaults, series producer Michael Cuscuna has chosen five recordings in a seven-year span from 1985-1991 by drummer/bandleader Tony Williams. Note that this is not the complete Tony Williams on Blue Note, excluding his sessions after having left the Miles Davis Quintet, especially Life Time, Spring, and his sideman work with Jackie McLean, Eric Dolphy, and Sam Rivers. The complete latter-period group recordings included are Foreign Intrigue, Civilization, Angel Street, Native Heart, and The Story of Neptune. All are solidly in the modern mainstream post-bop mode, featuring the forceful, driving drumming of Williams, and all the sets feature the brilliant pianist Mulgrew Miller with Miles devotee trumpeter Wallace Roney. Tenor and soprano saxophonist Bill Pierce is paired on the sides except Foreign Intrigue. Ron Carter, Charnett Moffett, and Ira Coleman are the bassists, with Robert Hurst making a cameo on three tracks. These are individualistic, solid players, giving Williams the opportunity to not only jam with the best, but write music geared toward their personalized sounds and stances. Four of the five sessions were done in New York City; only Civilization was done elsewhere, in Los Angeles. Of the 38 selections, four are unaccompanied drum solos, and three are covers or standards. There are a few waltzes and no ballads as one might expect, though Miller's piano rhapsodically introduces two tracks. The remainder are original compositions of Williams. Give the drummer some credit, as a total musician and composer. The recordings are programmed in chronological order, starting with Foreign Intrigue, which likely is overall the best of the lot. Williams introduces some of these compositions and utilizes his acoustic kit with a drum machine and electronic drums. There are some classics on this one, like the title track, the hard bopper "Clearways," the cool bluesy "Takin' My Time," and the loping by-now standard "Sister Cheryl." Bobby Hutcherson's presence on vibes truly uplifts this session, as does Donald Harrison's alto sax, the only alto on the compilation. 

 

 

Woody Herman — Mosaic Select 31 (3 CD, 2008/FLAC)

 

Woody Herman’s tremendous success in the mid ’40s was one the last bright moments during the tail end of the Swing Era. At a time when the big bands were being decisively challenged by a growing trend towards small groups, the burning excitement and new sounds of the Woody Herman band stemmed the tide, at least for a moment. Playing the brilliant arrangements of the 22-year-old Ralph Burns, Woody Herman and his Thundering Herds made music that is as electrifying today as it was six decades ago. 

 

 

Bennie Green - Mosaic Select 3 (3 CD, 2003/FLAC)

 

Trombonist Bennie Green's Blue Note albums were almost completely overlooked until this Mosaic Select compilation appeared in 2003. The first session, originally issued as Back on the Scene, features Charlie Rouse joining Green in the front line. Green's up-tempo "Bennie Plays the Blues" is the best blowing vehicle, while he and Rouse both contribute lyrical solos in Melba Liston's "Melba's Mood." Pianist Gildo Mahones wrote three of the six tracks recorded for Walkin' & Talkin', with Eddy Williams taking Rouse's place. The overall session isn't up to Green's Blue Note debut, but his snappy blues "Walkin' and Talkin'" contains some of his hottest playing within this boxed set. Williams is also on hand for the ten selections first released in Japan as The 45 Sessions with pianist Sonny Clark, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jerry Segal. The solos are consistently hot and the quintet never wraps things in a perfunctory manner as one would expect with recordings made for jukeboxes. All of the instrumentals rate high praise, especially the loping "On the Street Where You Live" and the leader's "Ain't Nothin' But the Blues." The addition of singer Babs Gonzales on the last three cuts mar some otherwise excellent performances. Tenor saxophonists Gene Ammons and Billy Root are on hand for the session which produced Soul Stirrin'. While the material on this date is uneven, Green's interpretation of "That's All" is very satisfying. Unfortunately, Gonzales appears for two more numbers. The last five songs come from a date led by tenor saxophonist Ike Quebec (eventually issued as Congo Lament), adding Stanley Turrentine, Milt Hinton, and Art Blakey to join Green and Clark. Green's exotic "Congo Lament" and Turrentine's upbeat "Cue's Pill" are impressive. Unlike the full-sized box set from Mosaic, this collection is in a small cubed package, but with many session photographs and the original liner notes for each date. 

• Bennie Green - trombone
• Joe Knight, Gildo Mahones, Sonny Clark - piano
• Milt Hinton, Paul Chambers, Ike Isaacs, George Tucker - bass
• Louis Hayes, Art Blakey, Al Dreares, Jerry Segal, Elvin Jones - drums
• Babs Gonzales - vocal (on “Soul Stirrin', “Lullaby Of The Doomedon, “Encore”)
• Billy Root, Gene Ammons, Ike Quebec, Stanley Turrentine,
• Eddy Williams, Charlie Rouse - tenor sax

 

 

Johnny Richards - Mosaic Select 17 (3 CD, 2005/FLAC)

 

This three-CD set reissues arranger Johnny Richards' Capitol and Roulette albums that originally were called Wide Range, Experiments in Sound, The Rites of Diablo, My Fair Lady, and Aqui Se Habla Espanol, the great majority of his recordings as a leader. In addition, Richards' portion of the album Annotations of the Muses plus a few unreleased selections are included. Johnny Richards, who is most famous for his association with Stan Kenton, was an inventive writer who starting in 1957 and had a band of his own. The music on this three-fer includes the adventurous three-part third stream piece "Annotations of the Muses," a set of Richards' adaptations of themes from My Fair Lady, a few Afro-Cuban projects, some relatively straight-ahead but complex jazz, and Richards' hit "Young at Heart." There are many short solos from the top-notch sidemen, but it's Johnny Richards' writing that makes this set quite definitive and memorable. 

Bob Brookmeyer - Mosaic Select 9 (3 CD, 2004/FLAC)

 The Bob Brookmeyer volume in the Mosaic Select series is one of the more enlightening issues in that it not only includes his little-known debut quartet sides for Pacific Jazz in 1954, featuring Red Mitchell, but more importantly, brings back into print his classic Traditionalism Revisited, Street Swingers, and Kansas City Revisited albums from 1957 and 1958. These sides in particular showcased Brookmeyer's fantastic compositional and arrangement skills even better than his work with Gerry Mulligan. Some of the players on these sessions include Jimmy Giuffre, Jim Hall, Ralph Pena, Jimmy Raney, Paul Quinichette, and Dave Bailey. Brookmeyer was a complete traditionalist, but an unusual harmonist. His charts extrapolated the essence and melodic purity of the earlier jazz material and read it into the advanced harmonic theories of the day on the West Coast, as well as brought it's "cool" ambience to the proceedings -- whether the tempo was up or down. In addition to this music, there are tracks that first saw the light of day on the Playboy Jazz All Stars compilation, and Brookmeyer's self-titled album on Crown. The Street Swingers disc, in particular, with its quintet setting putting Hall, Raney, and Brookmeyer on the frontline, is a masterpiece. Also from 1958 is the Stretching Out album originally issued on United Artists with Zoot Sims and Al Cohn, as well as Hank Jones, Charlie Persip, and Freddie Green on guitar. This is a smoking, wonderfully up-tempo session full of many colors and textures, and showcases Brookmeyer's charts at his developmental peak. In all, there are the four complete albums, some alternate takes, and compilation sides, making this essential for not only Brookmeyer fans, but West Coast jazz collectors as well.

Gerry Mulligan - Mosaic Select 21 (3 CD, 2007/FLAC)

 

Gerry Mulligan was certainly busy in December 1957. During a two-week period, the baritonist recorded a reunion album with trumpeter Chet Baker, documented a set of his songs with an octet that featured five top saxophonists, recorded a very obscure set with a sextet that included four strings, and cut most of an album in which his quartet teamed up with singer Annie Ross. This limited-edition three-CD set contains all of the music plus alternate takes and the last part of the Ross album, which was recorded nine months later with trumpeter Art Farmer in Baker's spot.

McCoy Tyner — Mosaic Select 25 (3 CD, 2007/FLAC)

Pianist and composer McCoy Tyner already had an illustrious career during his tenure with the John Coltrane Quartet, and as a leader in the 1960s. Along with the sides he recorded with Trane, Tyner led a number of excellent sessions for Impulse, among them his debut for the label, Inception, as well as Ballads and Blues: both were issued in 1962. Today and Tomorrow (containing a three-horn front line) and Reaching Fourth (with bassist Henry Grimes and drummer Roy Haynes) both appeared in 1963. He was already a fully forged identity, though the influence of and on Coltrane's sound was profound -- his playing and improvising were as much a part of the architecture of that sound as they were part of him when he signed to Blue Note in 1967. He recorded Real McCoy in 1967 with Joe Henderson, Elvin Jones, and Ron Carter, and a quartet date in 1968 called Time for Tyner with Bobby Hutcherson, Herbie Lewis, and Freddie Waits. Between these two albums was the compelling Tender Moments, which boasted on a couple of its selections a nonet. It is on this last recording that the blueprint for Tyner's next move was apparent.

Grachan Moncur III - Mosaic Select 1 (3 CD, 2003/FLAC)

 

Mosaic Records -- that venerable jazz and blues collector's label that issues completely necessary packages by legendary, if sometimes obscure, artists in limited editions on both LP and CD -- is a name synonymous with the finest quality in sound, annotation, and packaging, and they are branching out. Mosaic Select is a side label dedicated to bringing to light the work of musicians whose role in the development of jazz was seminal but whose catalog was small, or whose work was neglected or otherwise overlooked. These editions, in two or three CD sets, just like their other boxes, are numbered and limited. The music on this collection features both of trombonist and composer Grachan Moncur's Blue Note LPs as well as his four historic collaborations with Jackie McLean, the albums One Step Beyond, Destination Out, Hipnosis, and 'Bout Soul.

Onzy Matthews - Mosaic Select 29 [1963-1965] (3 CD, 2007/FLAC)

 Los Angeles based composer/arranger/band leader Onzy Matthews was in many ways a poor man's equivalent to peers like Gerald Wilson, Oliver Nelson, Manny Albam, and Bill Holman. Perhaps as obscure a jazz musician as there has been in recent memory, Matthews was no less talented, but in fact a specialist whose style was based in blues, also veering into other areas that showcased his interest in diverse music. Consisting primarily of studio sessions previously unreleased, this three-CD package sets the record straight on the ability of Matthews to assemble a top-notch West coast group and whip them into a tight unit able to play relatively uncomplicated charts, but with no modicum of interplay and precision.

Bobby Hutcherson - Mosaic Select 26 (3 CD, 2007/FLAC)

 Among the relatively small community of vibraphonists, Bobby Hutcherson is not only one of the most influential, he's clearly the most widely versed and consistent too. In a career now nearing its sixth decade, Hutcherson has played mainstream to Third Stream and soul jazz to free jazz. A mainstay of the Blue Note label in the 1960s and 1970s, he released ten discs as a leader between 1965 and 1969, and also played on albums by artists including Eric Dolphy, Andrew Hill, Jackie McLean, Joe Henderson, Tony Williams and Grachan Moncur III.

While the 1970s was a decade when most artists dabbled, to a lesser or greater extent, with the integration of electric instruments and rock rhythms, Hutcherson remained relatively unswayed. So while the five 1974 through 1977 sessions that make up Mosaic Select 26 find the vibraphonist incorporating electric piano, and giving an occasional nod to a more pop-centric approach, for the most part Hutcherson continued to do what he did best: put together strong working ensembles capable of handling a diversity of material that nevertheless remain stylistically in the center of the mainstream. The majority of this material has never been reissued domestically in the US in any format, and much of it is seeing release on CD here for the first time, outside a few tracks that have appeared on compilations. 

Dexter Gordon - Mosaic Select 14 (3 CD, 2004/FLAC)

 Nights at the Keystone dates from a couple of years after Dexter Gordon had returned triumphantly to America (1978-79). He took strong solos on several lengthy performances. One can fault the occasional excess of song quotes (especially "Laura," which seemed to pop up in every solo) but Gordon's authoritative sound, freshness of ideas and confident explorations easily compensated. Pianist George Cables was often in dazzling form (check out "Tangerine") and was continually inventive. Bassist Rufus Reid and drummer Eddie Gladden were perfect in support. In addition, the ambience of the late, lamented Keystone Korner, San Francisco's top jazz club and possessor of one of the most knowledgeable jazz audiences anywhere, can be felt. Mosaic has packaged all three volumes into a single box as number 14 in its limited-edition Select Series. It features gorgeously remastered sound, original sequencing, and a 16-page booklet with copious notes and full session information. 

Carmell Jones - Mosaic Select 2 (3 CD, 2003/FLAC)

 

Trumpeter Carmell Jones is best known as a sideman (especially Horace Silver's Song for My Father), but he made several valuable recordings as a leader, though most have long languished out of print. To correct this oversight, Mosaic Select released this three-CD set in early 2003, including all three of his earliest Pacific Jazz albums (The Remarkable Carmell Jones, Business Meetin' , and Brass Bag), as well as a long unavailable Harold Land disc and a previously unreleased date led by pianist Frank Strazzeri. The quintet with Land and Strazzeri works wonders with Jones' jazz waltz "That's Good" and a similar treatment of "Beautiful Love," but the high point of their various sets is the 11-minute workout of Duke Ellington's "I'm Gonna Go Fishin'." Jones is accompanied by five reed players and a rhythm section on a later date; check out his marvelous playing in the richly textured chart of "Stella by Starlight." Gerald Wilson's stimulating scoring includes an unusual five trombones in a nonet; Jones' conversational muted horn makes Duke Ellington's "Mood Indigo" shine. A later Wilson-arranged date with two trombones produced the snappy rendition of Dizzy Gillespie's "Ow!" Strazzeri's studio date merited release originally, but producer Dick Bock thought the pianist's playing was too reserved. Maybe his originals aren't as memorable as Hoagy Carmichael's "New Orleans," but Jones shines without trying to show up anyone else. The final session, led by Land, is a fun-filled exploration of folk tunes in a jazz setting. Most of the solos are quite enjoyable, though Land has some problems with reed squeaking at times. This smaller-sized set, a numbered limited edition of just 5,000, fills a valuable gap in Carmell Jones' discography and it is destined to become a sought-after collector's item.

Bud Shank & Bob Cooper - Mosaic Select 10 (3 CD, 2004/FLAC)

 

For hardcore West Coast jazz fans, this Mosaic Select volume will be a kind of treasure-trove, though for most it will simply be a compelling curiosity piece. The collaborations of saxophonist and flutist Bud Shank and arranger, saxophonist, and oboist Bob Cooper created some tumult in the mid-1950s, when they recorded four albums together with various-sized ensembles, and, to a lesser degree, on Shank's date with Bob Brookmeyer arranged by Cooper. All tolled, there are five albums on these three discs: Bud Shank and Bob Brookmeyer (along with the session's remaining tracks that showed up on Bud Shank and Three Trombones on Pacific Jazz), Jazz at Cal-Tech (Pacific Jazz), Flute and Oboe (World Pacific), Swing's to TV, as well as the cuts from Jazz Swings Broadway (World Pacific) and of course, the classic, Blowin' Country (World Pacific). The quark strangeness and charm of these recordings cannot be underestimated, and neither can their swing. With sidemen like pianist Claude Williamson, drummers Chuck Flores or Shelly Manne, bassist Don Prell and others, these dates have a kind of quaintness that dates them in that restless yet ultra-hip period in the 1950s when almost anything went as long as it swung, and that stood outside the entire hard bop scene. These sides are not for everyone, but they are priceless for the sheer sophistication and adventurousness of their arrangements and the interplay between Shank and Cooper, which was symbiotic. A very fine idea by the folks at Mosaic. 

• Bud Shank (flute, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone)
• Howard Roberts (guitar) 
• Benny Gill, Samuel Cytron, Tibor Zelig, Sam Caplan, Milton Feher, Marshall Sosson (violin, strings)
• Jack Pepper, Robert Sushel, Eudice Shapiro (violin)
• Myron Sandler, Louis Kievman (viola, strings)
• Milton Thomas (viola) 
• Paul Bergstrom, Ray Kramer (cello, strings) 
• Bob Cooper (bass clarinet, oboe, tenor saxophone) 
• Maynard Ferguson, Stu Williamson , Bob Brookmeyer, Bob Enevoldsen (valve trombone)
• Claude Williamson (piano)
• Chuck Flores , Larry Bunker, Shelly Manne (drums)

Art Pepper - Mosaic Select 15 (3 CD, 2005/FLAC)

  Featuring Art Pepper's 1956 and 1957 Aladdin sessions, Mosaic's 3-CD boxed set portrays the alto saxophonist in familiar company, full of life and at his best. The collection includes several bonus tracks, alternate takes, and material that was previously available only on reel-to-reel tape.

Mosaic's 24-bit re-mastering provides a clear sound that lets you appreciate this artist who "grew" from Bird and who helped pioneer the cool school of West Coast Jazz. Pepper's attack was fast, fluid, and quick to turn on a dime. He was equally adept at animated bebop antics as with a tender ballad.