YOU GOTTA GET GOODMAN

It came out just in time for the holidays... a 7-CD blockbuster, "Classic Columbia and Okeh Benny Goodman Orchestra Sessions (1939-1958)," Mosaic MD7-240.
While a few collectors may bellyache (in reviews posted on Mosaic's own website!) that Mosaic didn't follow its usual policy of including everything the performer did for the labels, it is "complete" given the set's focused title.
For starters, every instrumental which Goodman did for Columbia and Okeh with his big band between August 10, 1939 and October 15, 1946 is here. That means the original recordings of many Goodman staples, such as Let's Dance, Stealin' Apples, Jersey Bounce, and Mission to Moscow... the fabled Eddie Sauter arrangements like Benny Rides Again, Superman, and Clarinet a la King... plus many other wonderful records, Cocoanut Grove, The Hour of Parting, Scarecrow, Tuesday At Ten, Take It, Caprice XXIV Paganini, and Gotta Be This Or That, to name only a few. Also included are some two dozen alternate takes, not counting ones that were unissued until Phontastic put them out on LP and CD.
Another portion of the set are recordings done in hi-fi when Benny returned to Columbia during the 1950s, including old and new Fletcher Henderson instrumental big band charts, such as Mean to Me, Lulu's Back in Town, and Sunrise Serenade... the Swing Into Spring session of February 25, 1958 with one tune completely undocumented previously, Swanee River... and the selections made with strings for a 10" LP, "Let's Hear the Melody," containing, for example, Embraceable You, Moonglow, and Georgia On My Mind.
The sound on everything is uniformly very good; it was stated in Mosaic publicity that they went back to the original Columbia and Okeh metal mothers, lacquer discs and (for the '50s tracks) reel-to-reel tapes. However, I must mention that, to my ears, it seems a little dry in spots, and I can't honestly say that, for instance, the 1951-53 Fletcher Henderson tunes sound any better than when some of them came out on the LPs "Swing with Benny Goodman" (Harmony HL 7190) and "Swing Time" (Harmony HL 7225).
The cover and booklet feature, among others, never-before-seen images taken by photographer Charles Peterson at a New Year's Eve dance in 1938 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City (see the illustration above) and, 20 years later, Benny and band in the studio during the "Swing Into Spring" date, photographed by Don Hunstein.
Jazz historian and former Goodman musician Loren Schoenberg has written a session-by-session analysis of the recordings, and, in a few places explains why he's not totally enthused about certain performances.
Being a longtime record hunter, the enclosed discographical listing and comments make interesting reading to me, and are based on research done by Russ Connor in his Goodman volumes. Mosaic also stated that it had access to the original Columbia and Okeh ledgers and American Federation of Musicians logs to confirm the details as accurately as possible.
I think that Mosaic made a wise choice in sharply focusing this set, eliminating the vocals of Helen Forrest, Peggy Lee, Helen Ward, and others with the Goodman band, since nearly every one of those selections is already presently available on CD in separate packages by Collector's Choice Music. Also, by limiting this set to studio recordings, they avoided duplication with the live 1958 "Benny in Brussels" performances originally issued by Columbia which are now available on a CD from Collectables.
In spite of others' opinions and my own nit-picky quibbles, this is one to get.