Scott Wenzel at Mosaic Records says that the long-rumored Benny Goodman Mosaic set will be out in time for Father's Day 2008. It will consist of the big-band instrumental sides that Benny recorded for Columbia between 1939 and 1958, amounting to 7 CDs. The vocal sides are not being included, due to the numerous reissues featuring Goodman singers put out in recent years by Collector's Choice. (Also not included: the late-1940s Capitol big-band sides that capture Benny under the influence of bop...for those, look for the fast-vanishing Undercurrent Blues CD.) For a future project, how about the classic-but-obscure 1962 RCA-Victor LP Benny Goodman in Moscow as a Mosaic Single?
Watch Benny's band perform Mary Lou Williams' "Roll 'Em" from the 1942 film The Powers Girl (that's soon-to-be Peggy Lee hubby Dave Barbour on guitar):
Benny, Lionel Hampton, and Mel Powell stealin' some apples in 1947's A Song Is Born: