Wendell Bell

Sonny Stitt - The Complete Roost Sonny Stitt Studio Sessions (1952-65) {9CD Box Set Mosaic MD9-208 rel 2001}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 3.05 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 1.37 Gb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 110 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1952-65, 2001 Mosaic Records / Capitol / EMI | MD9-208 | 24-bit remaster
Jazz / Bop / Saxophone

Under the watchful eye of famed producer Michael Cuscuna, this nine-CD set serves as a compilation of Stitt's 1950s and 1960s Roost LPs. This release also features a 28-page booklet consisting of comprehensively annotated liners. Moreover, the record label does its best to convey the artistic element via a series of black-and-white photos of Stitt and his sidemen amid anecdotes by many of the late saxophonist's affiliates. Interestingly enough, seven of the original LPs did not list personnel. In some instances, guesses were made, although most of these tracks are well-documented, thanks to the producer's diligence and painstaking research. Artists such as drummer Roy Haynes, bassist/composer Charles Mingus, and pianist Harold Maber represent but a few of Stitt's accompanists.

Eddie Costa - Guys and Dolls Like Vibes (1958) {Verve Master Edition 549 366-2 rel 2001}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 144 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 94 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 126 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1958, 2001 Coral / Verve / UMG | 549 366-2 | Verve Master Edition Series
Jazz / Bop / Vibes

The reissue of Eddie Costa's Guys and Dolls Like Vibes once again makes available one of his few dates as a leader. A talented vibraphonist (and also pianist, though he doesn't play it on this 1958 session), Costa leads a sterling quartet with the legendary Bill Evans on piano (although he was just starting to get noticed by the jazz press at the time), Wendell Marshall on bass, and drummer Paul Motian, in a Frank Loesser songbook taken from the musical Guys and Dolls.

Count Basie - The Complete Roulette Studio Recordings Of Count Basie & His Orchestra (1993) {10CD Box Set Mosaic MD10-149}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 3.45 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 1.32 Gb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 55 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1957-62, 1993 Mosaic Records | MD10-149
Jazz / Big Band / Swing

Some of Count Basie's finest recordings were cut for the Roulette label during 1957-1962, and all of his studio performances are included on this massive Mosaic ten-CD boxed set. Among the classic former LPs that are reissued here are The Atomic Mr. Basie, Basie Plays Hefti, Chairman of the Board, Everyday I Have the Blues, and Kansas City Suite. With such soloists as trumpeters Thad Jones and Joe Newman, the tenors of Frank Foster and Eddie Lockjaw Davis, Frank Wess on alto and flute, vocals by Joe Williams, and the timeless arrangements of Neal Hefti, Thad Jones, Frank Foster, Ernie Wilkins, and Frank Wess among others, this essential (but unfortunately limited-edition) set features the second Count Basie Orchestra at its very best.

In rural Texas, welder and hunter Llewelyn Moss discovers the remains of several drug runners who have all killed each other in an exchange gone violently wrong. Rather than report the discovery to the police, Moss decides to simply take the two million dollars present for himself.