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Michael Cuscuna

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CURATIONS & PROVENANCE

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ARTIST/CREATIVE/EDUCATOR

Name: Michael Cuscuna
City/Place: Stamford, Connecticut
Country: United States

Life & Work

Bio: The Mosaic Story

"Although Mosaic Records' first release came out in July of 1983, the seeds for the business were planted in 1970. As a journalist, radio show host and record producer, I began coming into contact with many musicians who had been major players in Blue Note's repertory company. Since Blue Note had always been my favorite label for its consistent quality, conversations would ultimately drift to those great days of the label.

Increasingly, I would hear about tantalizing unissued sessions. Soon I began writing down sketchy information from musicians about these unknown treasures in a notebook. The staggering amount of unissued material soon became evident, and I tried constantly to get into the vaults. But George Butler, who had been put in charge after Frank Wolff's death, was oblivious to serious jazz and took the label into a very commercial direction. He stalled me for years.

Finally, Charlie Lourie, a former jazz and classical musician and executive at CBS Records, accepted the job as head of marketing for Blue Note in late 1974. We met in Los Angeles in the Spring of 1975. I showed him my notebook, which by this time had grown to sizable proportions. He was so excited that the next morning a contract was drawn up and by afternoon, I was at last in the Blue Note vaults..."

"The nicest part of having this dream come true was the response of the musicians. I remember when I first starting producing Andrew Hill for Freedom Records. He sat in my living room and from memory gave me the complete personnel of 12 unissued Blue Note sessions, hoping I could get them out. Once walking down Broadway, I heard my name shouted form a cab. It was Howard Johnson asking me if I had found the Hank Mobley date that he told me about and if it was coming out. People like Elvin Jones and Hank Mobley would come up to me in clubs and hug my and thank me for getting albums issued. The approval and the enthusiasm of the artists who made the music was very important to me..."

"As serious collectors and lovers of the music, Charlie and I hope to assemble packages that all collectors and serious students of jazz will find valuable. That is one reason why we strive to make every set complete within its own scope. This not only brings unissued material to light, but eliminates the need the have music stretched over scattered albums of varying quality in an incoherent form that makes intelligent listening difficult. The Mulligan set is a classic example. In order to have the 49 issued from our set, one would have to own 10 different albums, most of them very rare and many having duplication of tunes

Our first year was filled with both problems and rewards. But we wouldn't have had it any other way. As for the future, in true jazz tradition, we're just going straight ahead.

(Charlie Lourie passed away in 2000 but his passion and respect for jazz will always be a part of all that Mosaic offers.)

-- Michael Cuscuna

Contact Information

Email: info@mosaicrecords.com
Telephone: +1 203-327-7111
Address: Mosaic Records
425 Fairfield Avenue
Suite 421
Stamford, CT USA 06902
Tel: 203.327.7111 (9-5 EST Mon-Fri)
Fax: 203.323.3526

Media & Markets

▶ Twitter: MosaicRecords
▶ Instagram: mosaic_images
▶ Website: http://www.mosaicrecords.com
▶ Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/2KJ0Xgfw8l7vPZwMjGCEyO
▶ Article: http://jerryjazzmusician.com/2019/06/interview-with-mosaic-records-co-founder-michael-cuscuna/

Clips (more may be added)

5:29
Michael Cuscuna: Producing Reissues
By Michael Cuscuna

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