Mosaic Select

Mosaic Select is a jazz reissue series of numbered limited-edition releases that focus on an artist's important but neglected work in a 3 CD set.
This most recent addition to Mosaic's limited edition Select series bundles five early Weston releases from 1957-63, plus half an hour of unreleased material and one piece from a Roulette sampler.

Onzy Matthews - Mosaic Select 29 [3CD] (2007) {Mosaic Records}
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© 2007 Mosaic Records / EMI | MS-029 / B2-94950
Jazz / Big Band / Swing

Onzy Matthews was an arranger and pianist who wrote for Lou Rawls, Esther Phillips, Ray Charles, Duke Ellington and others without achieving any fame. Matthews recorded 51 selections as a leader, all of which are on the three-CD Onzy Matthews (Mosaic Select). The program, which includes 29 previously unreleased performances, features some of the top Los Angeles-area jazz musicians of 1963-64, including the legendary trumpeter Dupree Bolton, altoists Earl Anderza and Gabe Baltazar, and tenors Curtis Amy and Clifford Scott. The music, played by groups ranging from combos to big bands, includes hard-bop, bossa nova and a few commercial numbers. Capitol only chose to issue two LPs during Matthews’ life, which ended in obscurity in 1997, but Mosaic has now made it possible to fully enjoy and appreciate his overlooked talents as an arranger, pianist and (on three songs) vocalist.

While pianist-arranger-composer Toshiko Akiyoshi headed a fine big band in New York after moving cross-country in 1982, the orchestra that she led in Los Angeles in the 1970s was arguably her greatest accomplishment. The three-CD Mosaic Select set Toshiko Akiyoshi-Lew Tabackin Big Band collects all of the music originally released on the RCA albums Kogun, Long Yellow Road, Tales of a Courtesan, Insights, and March of the Tadpoles. With such major players as Akiyoshi’s husband Lew Tabackin on tenor and flute, trumpeters Bobby Shew and Don Rader, trombonist Britt Woodman and altoist Gary Foster among the many soloists in the all-star band, the orchestra could swing as hard as any of its competitors. In addition to the more boppish pieces, Akiyoshi often wrote works that displayed her Japanese heritage, utilizing Eastern harmonies and instruments along with her husband’s flute. Many of the highpoints of her career are on this perfectly conceived Mosaic release.

Bobby Hutcherson - Mosaic Select 26 (2007) {3CD Set, Mosaic MS-026 rec 1974-1977}
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© 1974-77, 2007 Mosaic Records / Blue Note / EMI | MS-026 | 24-bit Remaster
Jazz / Hard Bop / Modal Music / Post Bop / Vibraphone

The triple-disc Mosaic Select Series has been, in some ways, more rewarding than even its limited-edition box set collections. While these are numbered and limited as well, they tend to shine light either on artists who have never gotten their due, or those who, while certainly respected, have an entire pocket of their careers largely ignored for one reason or another. Some of the titles in this series make that quite clear: John Patton, Curtis Amy, Charles Tolliver, and long unreleased recordings by Andrew Hill, to name a few. Bobby Hutcherson is an excellent example. While his 1960s recordings are well known, most of his mid-'70s recordings have never been available on CDs.

Andrew Hill - Mosaic Select 16 (2005) {3 Disc Set, EMI–Mosaic Records MS-016 rec 1967-1970}
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© 1967-70, 2005 EMI Music / Mosaic Records | MS-016
Jazz / Post Bop / Modal Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Piano

Of all the volumes in the Mosaic Select series, this one, and the Big John Patton box, are the most satisfying, though for very different reasons. This one is a true collector's gem. For starters, all but six of the 31 cuts on this three-CD box are previously unreleased. For Hill fans who knew there was more in the can, this is a most welcoming find. The material here was completely composed by Hill and was recorded in five sessions between 1967 and 1970. The pianist and composer is found in three different settings, from trio to sextet and septet with some octet sides. The personnel here varies, too. The sextet sessions feature Hill with Bennie Maupin, Pat Patrick, Charles Tolliver, Ron Carter, and either Paul Motian or Ben Riley on drums. These are the earliest cuts here and they are solid as solid can be.

Paul Chambers - Mosaic Select 5 (1956-59) [3CD BoxSet] {2003 Mosaic Records}
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© 2003 Mosaic Records / Blue Note | MS-005
Jazz / Hard Bop / Bass

Paul Chambers finally receives the Mosaic Select treatment and there's a surprise tossed in with his catalog for fans and connoisseurs: his material recorded for the Transition label. Also included on the Paul Chambers set are the albums Chambers' Music and Whims of Chambers from 1956 and Bass on Top and The Paul Chambers Quintet from 1957. Musicians on these dates ran the gamut from Elvin Jones to Donald Byrd, Clifford Jordan, Horace Silver, Kenny Burrell, Hank Jones, and Art Taylor – an overwhelming number of fellow Detroiters. There are some other odds and ends as well, but most importantly, the Transition material will be of prime interest to John Coltrane fans.

Duke Pearson - Mosaic Select 8 (2003) {3CD Set Mosaic MS-008 rec 1968-1970}
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© 1968-70, 2003 Mosaic Records / EMI Music | MS-008
Jazz / Hard Bop / Soul Jazz / Piano

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.

Randy Weston - Mosaic Select 4 (2003) {3CD Set, Mosaic MS-004 rec 1957-1963}
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© 1957-63, 2003 Mosaic Records / EMI Music | MS-004 / 72435 82413 2 7
Jazz / Hard Bop / Post Bop / Piano

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.

Dizzy Reece - Mosaic Select 11 (1958-60) [3CD BoxSet] {2004 Mosaic 24-bit Remaster}
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© 2004 Mosaic / Blue Note / EMI | MS-011
Jazz / Hard Bop / Trumpet

The 11th volume in Mosaic's Select series is one of its finest. Devoted to the Blue Note recordings of Jamaican-born trumpeter Dizzy Reece, it offers a particular portrait of one of hard bop's most capable practitioners. There are five sessions compiled here, issued on four albums – the legendary debut Blues in Trinity (1958), Star Bright (1959), Soundin' Off (1960), and Comin' On! (1960). These sides were the introductions American audiences had to the hot licks trumpeter who offered a wealth of influences and styles in his solos and compositions.

Bob Brookmeyer - Mosaic Select 9 (2004) {3CD Set, Mosaic Records MS-009 rec 1954-1958}
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© 1954-58, 2004 Mosaic Records / EMI Music | MS-009
Jazz / Cool / West Coast Jazz / Trombone

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.