Shorty Rogers Mosaic

Mosaic's new collection from bandleader Woody Herman is, flat out, one of the most unique sets we've ever issued, thanks to a rare opportunity it gives us to combine the treasures of a few different music libraries. "The Complete Woody Herman Decca, Mars and MGM Sessions (1943-1954)" presents Woody on seven CDs over a remarkable span of his development: at the very beginning of his career leading a band that would become one of the most enduring in music; a few years later, in the studio and in concert at Carnegie Hall, when the band was enjoying its much-deserved, worldwide renown; and during the Third Herd period, when Woody was not only running his own band but his own record operation as well.

This superior three-LP box set reissues all of altoist Art Pepper's small-group dates for the Pacific Jazz label. Virtually all of the music has since been reissued on CD (part of it as The Artistry of Pepper and part of it under trumpeter Chet Baker's name), but the Mosaic box, which has an attractive booklet, is the definitive treatment of this chapter in Pepper's musical story. The great altoist is heard in a sextet with Baker and tenor saxophonist Richie Kamuca, on a version of "Tenderly" with Chet Baker's big band, with Baker and tenor Phil Urso in a different sextet, sharing the spotlight with tenor saxophonist Bill Perkins in a quintet, and heading a nonet playing arrangements by Shorty Rogers. The music is very much in the cool/bop tradition, but Pepper is instantly recognizable (he never sounded that much like Charlie Parker) and even at this early stage, he was at the top of his form. All 26 performances are quite enjoyable and swinging, making this hard-to-find set worth the search.

This superior three-LP box set reissues all of altoist Art Pepper's small-group dates for the Pacific Jazz label. Virtually all of the music has since been reissued on CD (part of it as The Artistry of Pepper and part of it under trumpeter Chet Baker's name), but the Mosaic box, which has an attractive booklet, is the definitive treatment of this chapter in Pepper's musical story. The great altoist is heard in a sextet with Baker and tenor saxophonist Richie Kamuca, on a version of "Tenderly" with Chet Baker's big band, with Baker and tenor Phil Urso in a different sextet, sharing the spotlight with tenor saxophonist Bill Perkins in a quintet, and heading a nonet playing arrangements by Shorty Rogers. The music is very much in the cool/bop tradition, but Pepper is instantly recognizable (he never sounded that much like Charlie Parker) and even at this early stage, he was at the top of his form. All 26 performances are quite enjoyable and swinging, making this hard-to-find set worth the search.

This six-CD collection contains all the recordings made by Woody Herman & the Second Herd beginning in 1948 and ends with the Woody Herman Orchestra (the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Herds) in 1956. As a record of Herman's activity and accomplishments, it far outweighs what the First Herd was able to pull off in the swing era. That band ended in 1947. Herman was looking to embrace the energy and the harmonic conception and rhythmic inventions of the beboppers who were beginning to make their indelible mark on the jazz scene of the late '40s. Herman was looking for a band that could not only play tight, quick, harmonically advanced charts, but for musicians who were able to improvise freely and creatively in light of the size of the band and the new material.

During the two decades that followed the end of World War II in 1945, independent record labels flourished. Many of these micro labels succeeded by specializing in specific types of music that the more bland-minded giants—RCA, Columbia and Decca—largely ignored. In the process, these small labels wound up establishing beachheads for new music genres and cornering the market for the genres' best musicians and singers.