A friend writes to pass along the good news: Mosaic Records is still planning on doing a 1930s Duke Ellington Columbia big-band set.
A Mosaic employee states, "We are looking to do the 1930s big band Columbia owned material sometime either late this year or next year." The late-1930s Ellington orchestra was (in this blogger's humble opinion) one of Duke's strongest, unfairly overshadowed, perhaps, by the epic Blanton-Webster years that followed.
For a taste of what the Mosaic will deliver, check out this compilation.