darkprinceofjazz For me, this is one of the best Mosaic releases of all time, Johnny Richards CD's are hard to come by, and many of these sessions on Mosaic Select 17 have never been on CD, and may never be released individually. All of Richards classics are covered here on the 3 CD set, Annotations of the Muses, Wide Range, Experiments in Sound, The Rights of Diablo, Aqui Se Habla and My Fair Lady.

Richards has always been a forgotten band leader, his Contemporaries like Bill Holman, Shorty Rogers, Gil Evans and Gerry Mulligan have always been better known, and The albums he arranged for Stan Kenton have always outshined his own releases, Kenton's Cuban Fire, West Side Story, Adventures in Time and Back to Balboa are Progressive Modern Big Band classics the Richards arranged, But after investigating this Mosaic set, it is apparent Richards should be better known for his own albums.

Rites of Diablo from disc 2, Is one of the Most thrilling Modern Big Band sessions I have ever heard, very unusual and progressive for the time, if not in this current time, the music is based on an African Bantu Tribe's "Purging of Sin" religious ceremony, 7 drums and an 8 voice chorus augment the big band, At times the music is as raucous as Some of Art Blakey's best Blue Notes, Rights of Diablo has a somewhat exotic vibe throughout, I love it.

This entire set is packed with poly rhythms and world music influences not usually melded with big band jazz, the music is way ahead of its time in the mid 50's, any one who runs across any of these albums in the Vinyl Format, should nab them up quick, even though the sound is very good on this reissue, Nothing beats the original vinyl issues of Wide Range and Experiments in Sound, Right's of Diablo also has special value for it's original exotic cover art, one of best from the time period.