Mosaic Records
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Mosaic Records is an American specialist jazz record label, founded in 1983 by Michael Cuscuna and Charlie Lourie to issue coherent limited edition box sets (initially on LP) of jazz recordings by individual musicians, which had fallen out of print or suffered neglect. The sets would be leased from the major record companies, usually for a three or five year period, with the edition limited to a specific number of copies. Sometimes the complete catalog of a label would appear: the complete masters of Milt Gabler's Commodore Records were contained in three sets consisting of some 66 LPs. In 2003 the company initiated the Select series of smaller sets, not necessarily "complete" in the usual sense. In 2006, the company began a third line, Mosaic Singles, a series dedicated to reissuing individual albums on CD, which have not previously been available in US editions, or at all.
Over a hundred and fifty sets have now been issued (the earlier sets' leases have expired) and Mosaic, now 50% owned by Capitol Records, continues to give gratification to jazz aficionados.