Bad news from Mosaic

I just got this message from Mosaic:

September 9, 2009

We've all become accustomed to bad news for the past five years, both in the United States and globally and in the arts as well as the world economy. But what we just discovered is a first in bad news for Mosaic Records.

Each of our sets is manufactured by the label that owns and licenses to us the masters contained in the set. One of our major licensors changed pressing plants for the tens of thousands of titles it manufactures. Unfortunately a number of Mosaic titles (mostly Selects) were deleted and all of the components and masters were destroyed in process.

Mosaic Records cannot afford to remaster and remanufacture components for the remaining run of these titles and due to contractual issues there is no relief from the responsible parties. We have no choice but to prematurely retire these titles. For some, we still have some inventory. But for others, we are forced to tell you without warning that we are out of stock and these titles will never be available again.

As champions of the completist concept, we know how important collecting a complete set of releases is and heartfully apologize for this set of circumstances.


Limited Inventory Available

The Complete Blue Note Lou Donaldson Sessions (#215)

"Hear Donaldson in such an orgiastic feast as this, and he becomes something of a monster player - gorgeous sound, capable of playing in all manners of contexts and always dripping with such blues-based earthiness..." - Jeff Simon, Buffalo News

6 CDs - $96

The Complete Roulette Dinah Washington Recordings (#227)

"No matter what she sang, Dinah operated by a simple philosophy: 'When you get inside of a tune, the soul in you should just come out. You should just be able to step back and let that soul come right out.'" - Nadine Cohodas, liner notes

5 CDs - $85

Mosaic Select: Bennie Green (MS-003)

"His execution is clearly defined, non-exhibitionistic and liberally impregnated with the devices and characteristic phrasing of the be-bop style, yet he always manages to retain something of the real jam session atmosphere." - Raymond Horricks

3 CDs - $44

Mosaic Select: John Patton (MS-006)

"This set came into being as a result of a desire to celebrate and make available the first three John Patton albums that Blue Note released: Along Came John, The Way I Feel and Oh Baby! These were a pretty heady triumvirate with which to launch a solo career." - Michael Cuscuna, liner notes

3 CDs - $44

Mosaic Select: Curtis Amy (MS-007)

Texas tenorman Curtis Amy had a long and distinguished career as a jazz artist, studio musician and record executive. During his years with Pacific Jazz, he recorded six superb albums that revealed an artist who constantly challenged himself as an improviser and as a composer.

3 CDs - $44

Mosaic Select: Duke Pearson (MS-008)

Duke Pearson's watermark runs through Blue Note's output in the '60s. As a recording artist, he led lyrical trios, soulful sextets and a roaring big band. But his final Blue Note sessions showed his palate expanding to embrace Brazilian rhythms and melodies and impressionistic harmonies.

3 CDs - $44

Mosaic Select: Bud Shank/Bob Cooper (MS-010)

"...the cool tag can be pretty safely applied to Bud Shank and Bob Cooper. Both were West-Coasters who served apprenticeships with Stan Kenton and both employed lightly swinging rhythm sections and all kinds of arranging devices." - Christopher Loudon, JazzTimes

3 CDs - $44

Mosaic Select: Pacific Jazz Piano Trios (MS-019)

"The six tracks that represent virtually the entire legacy of Richard Twardzik as leader are of special interest, but the set succeeds on the strength of the contributions of Freeman and Fischer." - Duck Baker, Coda

3 CDs - $44


The following titles are no longer available:

Mosaic Select: Bob Brookmeyer (MS-009)

Mosaic Select: Don Pullen (MS-013)

Mosaic Select: Dexter Gordon (MS-014)

Mosaic Select: Art Pepper (MS-015)

Mosaic Select: Johnny Richards (MS-017)

Mosaic Select: Freddie Slack (MS-018)

 

Terrible news, but hopefully a good reason for fans and collectors to snatch these up while they can. Mosaic has always done an incredible job, and it looks like they will continue. I'd buy them all right now if I wasn't in "poor mode".

 

This is truly bad news. Thanks for posting. I love Mosaic box sets.

 

Very sad news, but also not surprising.

I feel like I should jump on the Curtis Amy set, but I just bought a Beatles mono box, so...

 

Why isn't a licensor destroying masters not surprising?

 

That part's surprising--the fact that these sets will soon be (or already are) unavailable is not. Not in the least.

 

That is terrible news--I love Mosaic--I've been getting their sets for over 10 years. I'd advise anyone remotely interested in 60's jazz to grab that Curtis Amy--that set was a revelation.

 

This would be the EMI Music Group - the parent company of such labels as Capitol, Blue Note, Virgin et al. Their contract with Cinram (the company which EMI used prior to this) expired in mid-2009 (they had a five-year contract with Cinram after they closed down their own Jacksonville, IL CD manufacturing plant), and are now switching their CD production to the same primary company now used by the Universal Music Group labels. And when a company switches manufacturers in the middle of a limited audiophile run, the glass CD masters are destroyed rather than sent to the new plant. This forces whomever mastered the audiophile editions to make a new transfer with the exact same quality and care - something that's not economically feasible.

 

Interesting. Kicking myself for not getting the Art Pepper. Now scrambling to find one....

 

Yeah, I ordered one of these back in July. It's been on backorder (until now, I guess ), like a number of Mosaic titles.

Good luck finding one. Amazon Marketplace sellers are asking upwards of $100.

 

I second that. Terrific set.

 

I think this is terrible news for all Jazz fans. There is some great music disappearing with little chance of it reappearing any time soon. I hope this isn't hurting Mosaic too badly. They are already feeling the economic crunch as it is.

I ordered 4 Mosaic Selects quickly after getting the E-mail yesterday. Previous experience saved me. By early yesterday afternoon, 3 of the 4 boxes I ordered were gone.

 

Judging by the US pressings of the very newest CDs from both EMI and Universal which I have recently acquired, that new primary subcontractor turned out to be SDM (Sony Disc Manufacturing), with plants in Terre Haute, IN and Pitman, NJ. SDM USA has been around since the original plant, Sony DADC in Terre Haute, opened to CD production in 1985.

But back to the topic:

I wish I could have afforded those Mosaic Select boxed sets of some of the musicians. But alas, other things are higher in priority for me.

 

Best wishes for the people at Mosaic that they will be ok through this and will be able to continue their great work.

 

So no one -- including Mosaic -- makes backups of the masters prior to sending them to the plant??? I'm sure I must be missing something here . . . .

 

Yet another chapter in the criminal neglect of the Don Pullen catalog.

 

Mosaic doesn't own the masters, in this case EMI did. It was their responsibility.

 

I have been concerned about Mosaic all year. They have a lot of titles on backorder. There's no question they are being hit by the tough economy. I just hope they survive.

I have already bought all the titles I was even remotely interested in this year. Everything else I want is on backorder.

--Jerome

 

The tapes survive; it's just that the glass parts used in the preparation of the CD masters for these boxed sets have been junked. And whomever did the mastering of the EMI jazz catalog did not have the resources to do more than one compilation of transfers for these complete career boxed sets.

And I was incorrect that EMI's manufacturing contract with Cinram (its previous primary manufacturer) expired. In reality, Cinram had recently shut down its Richmond, IN plant which pressed most of the CDs for EMI in the USA and sold all of EMI's manufacturing contracts in the USA to Sony DADC.

 

Not all Mosaics are complete-career boxed sets; some of the big sets are, but the Selects aren't, hence the name, "Select"

Whoever mastered the EMI jazz catalogue for these sets: most of it was done in-house, by EMI engineers such as Ron McMaster. Mosaic paid for the masterings and the components and they can't afford to have it all redone.

 

This is true - and Ron doesn't keep back-ups laying around. He is a mastering engineer, not a pressing plant. They don't have the room to start storing glass masters (which probably needs to be "clean" which = "expensive").

The other thing to consider here is that the glass masters used at the CINRAM factory might have been incompatible with the pressing machines in use at the Sony factory. I know this has happened before. I believe Steve mentioned that this was the reason he had to re-do several DCC titles when they switched from a Japanese pressing plant to one on the US. If this is the case, keeping them around wouldn't have served any purpose either.

Kevin

 

The titles don't need to be remastered again...You can just clone the existing CDs for a new glass master. It isn't even that expensive to do that. If the packaging components were also on site at Cinram and if those were also destroyed, the big cost would be reproducing those.

 

Mosaic is not going to clone the existing CDs; even if they wanted to (which they don't), the licensor (EMI) doesn't allow it. Besides, the components were also destroyed.

People don't seem to realize that Mosaic does not own the rights of anything they release (with the exception of the Charlie Parker box), they are just licensees.

 

I was able to find a Dinah Washington Roulette box and ordered yesterday (as well as a couple of the Selects), but unfortunately missed out on the Lou Donaldson box.

Anyone who has a copy of the Donaldson Mosaic they'd like to sell? I'll post on the Marketplace Forum as well but figured I might be more likely to find a copy here. Willing to pay $150.

 

Black Saint/Soul Note is still out there. Take heart. There's even a used Mosaic box on amazon, but the price is steep.