From the Mosaic site:

The Complete Jimmie Lunceford Decca Sessions (7 CDs)
(Release Date: May/June 2011)

Mosaic is pleased to announce a long awaited project that has been on the wish list of many of our customers: The Decca recordings of the Jimmie Lunceford band. Blessed with superb soloists and demandingly advanced arrangements, the Harlem Express, as they were billed at times, became a favorite among swing fans and the record buying public in general.

Amongst the classic Decca sides represented here were hits like "My Blue Heaven", "Margie" (the Trummy Young trombone and vocal feature which became his trademark), "Rhythm Is Our Business", "Sleepy Time Gal" (with its remarkable reed passage), "Swanee River" (the Sy Oliver chart which later was recycled to become one of Tommy Dorsey's greatest successes), "Organ Grinder's Swing", "Blues In The Night", "The Honeydripper" and the smash hit of "For Dancer's Only". The band had a unique one-on-one relationship with the public since they rarely played in one venue for long stretches of time. Their frequent one-nighters made them one of the most traveled bands of the era in theaters, nightclubs and ballrooms country-wide and the first jazz group to tour Sweden in 1937.

The Lunceford roster stuck with Jimmie for much of the band's life history and included the booting tenor of Joe Thomas, the fluid alto of Willie Smith (among the big four along with Carter, Hodges and Parker), Paul Webster's stratospheric trumpet, the brilliant trombone work (and vocals) by Trummy Young and one of the greatest of all jazz drummers - Jimmy Crawford. But what set apart this band from many of the others were the futuristic yet swinging arrangements by Sy Oliver, Eddie Wilcox, Willie Smith, Eddie Durham, Gerald Wilson and Tadd Dameron.

This will be the first time all of these Decca sessions are to be gathered together for the first time. We were fortunate to have not only metal parts available from the Universal Music vaults, but also mint condition test pressings from the collection of the masterful sound engineer, the late John R.T. Davies and mint 78s from collector (and Mosaic customer extraordinaire) Leon Dierckx. The text for our booklet comes from researcher and author of the Lunceford biography Rhythm Is Our Business, Eddy Determeyer. Photographs for the booklet include many never seen before images from the Joe Thomas archives held at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Libraries.

"At the time I joined Jimmie Lunceford's band, they could outdraw any band in the country. Benny Goodman? We were more popular than Benny Goodman!...We could outdraw any band in the country. They were the forerunners, between swing and bebop. They were right there. And their records prove this. One of the greatest bands of all time." - Gerald Wilson

I'm mixed on this one (been aware of it for several months). I really like Lunceford's jazz, but all too frequently he ventured into easy listening pop which I despise.

I'm also concerned about the horribly bright mastering on the recent Ellington 30's Big band box, & i would be FURIOUS if I paid this kind of $'s for an artist I only moderately like to discover similar mastering.

I found it interesting in corresponding with Mosaic on this that when I mentioned the superb mastering on their Chu Berry box they replied that there had been some complaints that box sounded to dull (believe me it was not at all muddy; it may be the best sounding 78 remaster I've ever heard!).

I hope bright & screechy isn't the new policy at Mosaic; it really doesn't work well with jazz!

We've now got a release date of "early July". price is $119 + s/h

As I mentioned above, I was extremely unhappy with the screechy compressed sound of the last Mosaic box I bought, the Ellington Big Band 30's set. I hope that was only a 1 time deviation & that this set goes back to the former Mosaic quality mastering.

Some news on a Chick Webb/Ella set later this year:

http://indianapublicmedia.org/nightligh ... osaic-set/

Coleman Hawkins set later this year as well.

Here's some correspondence I had with Mosaic on the Lunceford:

Q:
Wondering if I could ask you 2 questions on the Lunceford before
plunking down the money:

1. Have you heard the final master yet? What sonic choices did they make?
You likely don't recall, but we had a discussion where I mentioned that I loved
the sound quality of the Chu Berry box (& several others that you've done), but
felt the Ellington Big band box was way too bright in the upper mids & lower
treble.

2. Aprox how much of these selections are jazz vs pop vocals? I much prefer
JL when he's doing jazz, sometimes he tended to slip into the realm of easy
listening when he used a vocalist.

Thank You,

A: The JL is going to be a mixed bag of sounds. It will definitely NOT be as
bright as the 2 Duke sets. We did need to use more 78s than metal or test
pressings but these were mint copies. If you liked the Chu then you will
like a lot of the JL because Ted Kendall (who did the Chu) transferred a
number of test pressings and he tends to take a lot off the top.

And as with any Mosaic, if you're not 100% satisfied you can always return
it for a refund or exchange.

All the best!

Geff, how are those Ellington Treasury shows on Storyville? As much Ellington as I have, I never got around to picking up any of those.

How much do you like the DE RCA period right after Blanton-Webster; & right before the 1946-47 Musicraft recordings?
If you like that period, you'll probably like these. (Do you remember the OLD 1944-46 RCA Black, Brown & Beige 3 cd set? That's the same time frame these are from; well so far 44-45)

As I'm a DE completest I have all of them. I don't consider them essential, but they are enjoyable, & as a bonus each volume has liner notes written by a different DE scholar; they also have a few htf tracks

2 negatives:
1. To me, after awhile they all start sounding the same. While there are definitely some things to like about this period (especially Ray Nance & Kay Davis who along with Ivie Anderson were likely DE's best vocalists ever), to me this wasn't one of his most creative periods.

2. A couple of the later volumes (I can't remember which ones) were poorly produced with tons of added reverb. Even folks on the DE list who usually aren't nearly as picky as I about sound were unhappy. I could be wrong here (I'm really tired), but I THINK due to declining health Jack Towers & Jerry Valburn had less to do with the later volumes on cd, & sadly they both passed last year

One general good idea with Storyville: if it was released while Karl Knudsen (the original owner) was alive the quality control is likely quite high. While they still release some great stuff, it's a bit more hit & miss today.

With all of that said, I do own all of them. There also have been a number of significant Storyville sales the last couple years including this series. One source is to subscribe to Allegro's newsletter; when they do their blow out sales, they have the best prices.

Storyville has really slowed down on the speed of release. They're up to V14 of 24 that were originally planned. I don't know if I'd count on all of the final 10 making it out. Knudson, Jerry Valburn & Jack Towers are gone, & the series was really Jerry's baby as they were taken straight of collector's LP's that JV originally released & if my aging memory serves, Jack Towers did the transfers on the first few.

To the best of my knowledge, Carl Haalstrom is the only one of the Storyville old timers left, & I'm pretty sure he is no longer associated with the company.

Hope that helped (probably more than you wanted to know!). I'd say they're more for hard core collector's than a casual fan; but any fan would likely be able to enjoy pretty much any 1 or 2 of the volumes. The best bet may be to find the cheapest price on Amazon or ebay on any of the first 8 or so, & buy 1 & see what you think. Do stay away from the "manufactured on demand" cdr's; all are still around on real factory pressed cd with full liner notes, although Amazon seems to have stopped carrying the factory pressed.

i swear this was a coincidence, but http://www.allegro-music.com/label_search.asp?label=stc

the treasury's may be going oop, all they're listing is 13 & 14.

I just got the same mailing from Allegro and placed an order. Also snagged the Johnny Griffin box and a few others. Thanks for the info. I knew I was asking the right guy. My favorite DE is the Blanton-Webster band, but like the post B-W as well. Currently enjoying the Mosaic Capitol box I snagged a few months ago. Relistened to Phil Schaap's 2010 Ellington birthday show today so got me back in the mood.

BTW, if you don't have the Storyville DE Cotton Club broadcasts set yet (part of this sale), pick it up. It totally blows away all previous editions. Bjorn Almstead did the mastering (he's known for the Jasmine Benny Goodman Carnegie 1938 which is also the definitive edition of that concert).

More on the Ellington Treasury Series:

"This ? came up on another board last night:

With most of the principles having passed away & the speed of release
having slowed way down, is it likely we'll ever see the final 10 volumes
in the DETS treasury series?

Geff"

"Hi

I received this from Carl Hällström yesterday! And I am pleased to announce that we
will do our utmost to finish this series and today stock of DETS Vol. 15 is due to
arrive here. It will be made available as soon as possible.

Best regards,
Mona

STORYVILLE RECORDS"

The Lunceford is supposed to be out. If anyone bus it, would greatly appreciate a review, both music & mastering/sound. I keeping coming back to: I kinda want this, but $135 is a lot of $'s for me.

Picked up a half dozen or so of the DE Treasury CDs as well as the Storyville Cotton Club set on your recommendation. Love them. Thanks for the tips.

Glad you like them! That also reminds me, i still need to pick up #15.

Also snagged the Dig Ben Webster box from Storyville. Nice collection of later Ben from the 1960s recorded mostly in Europe with local sidemen. One of my favorite pianists Kenny Drew is featured quite a bit as both he and Ben lived in Copenhagen at the same time. Dexter shows up too. Mostly small group but some big band. Decent sound and great booklet too.