Charlie Lourie was the co-founder of the jazz label Mosaic, which specialized in limited edition CD and vinyl reissues of jazz artists, sold via mail orders. Born in Boston, Massachusetts on April 20, 1940, Lourie graduated from the New England Conservatory, and throughout the '60s, worked as a clarinetist with chamber groups and symphony orchestras (including the Boston Symphony and the Boston Pops, among others). After relocating to New York City during 1968, Lourie landed a Manager of Contemporary Artist Relations position at Columbia Records, before eventually working his way up to Product Manager and Director of Merchandising for Columbia's subsidiary, Epic. Six years later, Lourie moved once more, this time to Los Angeles, where he was named Head of Marketing for Blue Note Records, and in 1977, moved on to Warner Bros. Records, where he worked as a Product Manager, and eventually, Director Of Jazz and Progressive Music. Shortly after the dawn of the '80s, Lourie began to think about launching his own label, and by 1983, did so with Mosaic Records. Co-founded with Michael Cuscuna, the label caused a splash with jazz buffs worldwide, as it focused on boxed sets of such great jazz and blues artists as Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, T Bone Walker, Harry James, Count Basie, Kid Ory, Mildred Bailey, Louis Armstrong, and Max Roach, among countless others. Although the company was originally set up in Santa Monica, California, it eventually found its permanent home in Stamford, Connecticut. In addition to overseeing the label's operation, Lourie served on the board for a pair of jazz organizations - the Jazz Foundation of America and the Jazz Musicians Emergency Fund. Lourie was diagnosed with sclera derma by the late '90s however, which sadly led to his death on December 31, 2000, when he died at the age of 60 from cardiac arrest. ~ Greg Prato, Rovi