lipi

*bump* I'd like to send CDs and download links this coming week, so now would be an excellent time to sign up. Don't all crowd around now!

Time to come out of the woodwork, because I see it's almost April and it's my turn to confuse, befuddle, and annoy! If you have a preference for a theme you may voice it here and I'll likely ignore it. Do you want a BFT with all versions of "Dinah"? One that's only New Orleans jazz? One that has no trumpets? My current short list is all over the place and could use some paring down. I'll do that this week, so if you have interesting (or just funny, you wits, you) suggestions, let me hear 'em. In any case, it'll all be old-timey in style, because I don't understand that funny modern stuff. Tubas, banjos, washboards! Kinda like last time (reveal). Download: jeffcrom NIS Bright Moments Spontooneous CD: Hot Ptah

Thanks for this BFT, Jeff! I already ordered the Perrine (Amazon has it), and added the Houdini to my wishlist. Good stuff!

That looks really good...but it's in RealAudio format. Ugh. Any chance of getting these posted in mp3, or are there licensing restrictions that force these to be streaming-only?

I'll look into these, though I'm happy with my Fast Track's amp for now. Thanks!

Thanks for this thread, Allen. I've been experimenting with recording a group of musician friends, and it's nice to know how someone with way more knowledge does it. Do you have some specific recommendations? All the Neumann-like mics I've seen are $1000 (or more) each, making it hard to reach the $2000 total. Instead, I've been thinking about picking up some SM57s to go with the fancy condenser stereo mic I have. Can you share the contact info for this guy? Does he have a website? Hey! Is the prior more expensive one the Fast Track Ultra I bought from you? I've been using a SASS-P (mark I) plugged directly into two channels of the Fast Track, which then connects via USB to my Macbook running Audacity. The most frustrating thing has been trying to figure out mic placement. Since I only have the one stereo pair for now, I would want to set it smack dab in the middle...o.k., in front of the band. I've been trying to record live at dances, though, so it's not possible to stick a mic right in front (people want to see the band, and are likely to bump into any mic stand on the floor--there's no stage). Eliminating room noise (dancers chatting, etc.) and still getting an O.K. sound from the band has been hard.

I'll take a download, please.

Neat! I'd never heard of Towles. Any recommendations reading-wise, Jeff? I see Jimmy Heath was in his band, and this autobiography came out last year. The index shows quite a bit of references to Towles, so I may try and pick it up. Wikipedia also tells me Quinichette and Hefti were in the Towles band. Intriguing.

I thought more about 5. I kept coming back to Webb, Fletcher Henderson, and other such early guys. I hadn't really thought of Horace before, because I don't know much about his recordings--just that there are fairly few with him as a leader. Once I did, it made a lot of sense, and I dove back into my music library. Anyway: it's HH, "Smooth Sailing", from 1940, and embarrassingly enough I have it...this is becoming a theme. What a great, great band: it's basically Fletcher's orchestra plus or minus a few, I think. It's hard to tell, because Fletcher recorded very little during the period leading up to the recording ban (and during the ban itself, of course). I have only a handful of tracks from that era of either Henderson on compilation CDs, so I'll have to track down the Chrono Classics. I love this arrangement, too, and a quick peek in a discography tells me it's not Henderson, so I'll need to look for more by this particular arranger, too. You're causing my to-buy list to grow at an alarming rate, but at least you make up for it by making me discover things I already had and wasn't aware of. Jeff, do you know who is taking the trumpet solo? I assume EB, but both would have been capable.

That would totally explain the playing on that track! And it's probably George Brunies on clarinet. Sorry, couldn't resist. As for 13: I cheated like crazy once you confirmed it was 1929, and slowly worked my way through all the things I have from '29. I won't spoil it for others by giving it away. It's a wonderful recording, and one I must have listened to before. I read the cornet player's autobiography ("Oh, Didn't He Ramble") a year or two ago and I wrote down this lovely bit of 20's slang from a passage in which he describes playing with Armstrong and Petit in a Labor Day parade: "The mounted police stopped the band because we were playing so barrelhouse and all the people, white and colored, were cutting up so bad."

Hah. Track 4 is a particular favourite. And thanks for thinking of me! Sorry I didn't write much--I was in a rush. Some more thoughts, then. I'll take my partial credit, undeserved as it is. It's interesting you mention that one. I had no guesses, so I didn't write anything about it, but I'm really curious about the trombone, and I quite like the tuba and violin. The percussion isn't my thing--more classic New Orleans would be more up my alley. Trumpet is fine, but I like that tuba best. You don't hear enough tuba breaks these days! (In all fairness, you probably never heard enough tuba breaks.) It sounds modern, too, so maybe these guys actually play in New Orleans or thereabouts in the present. O.K., so maybe I have a guess: it sounds contemporary! (Edit: Oh, and that's Muskrat Ramble, of course. Just so you don't think I'm completely clueless.) Another one I quite liked, but didn't have guesses about, is 3. I like the Lord Invader, Blind Blake, and random other calypso recordings I have. This sounds to me like a mix between that old, classic calypso feel, and swinging jazz. I am sorta digging 8, too, perhaps surprisingly. Again, nothing I can possibly say about it. It sounds like an early blues singer playing the saxophone to me--that pained, strangled onset of certain tones and yet that power and clarity. Maybe that makes no sense to anyone else. It sounded good in my head before I wrote it down. 11 is something I have to listen to a few more times, and maybe I'll be able to hazard a guess there, too. I've struck out on the others, so I'm extra motivated. Finally, I'm curious about 15. As modern things go, it's not that horrible. I wish the melodic ideas flowed more--it's all so choppy. But I think I could probably end up liking something like this, if not exactly this.

Well, as promised, it's eclectic! I think there are only two tracks I can even attempt to guess at: 5) The beginning reminds me of Chick Webb's band (though maybe after he died--that doesn't sound like his drumming to me), but then there's some Lunceford sounding bits around 0:45. Don't know what to think of the weird little alto at 1:30 and the tenor that follows it. And a piano out of nowhere at 2:40... I'm going to stick with Webb after his death, with Ella fronting, though I don't recognise the track, and I think I've heard most of those--and that leaves the question of that piano bit. 13) A Red Allen group? Something from 1929 or 1930 or so. Is that a C-melody 0:20-0:40? The repeated guitar lick in track 1 is driving me crazy, incidentally. It sounds familiar, but I can't place it. I keep thinking of Nat King Cole, but that makes no sense!

I don't have the Ellington yet, but the Mosaic jewel cases are truly a nightmare when it comes to getting the CDs out. On the bright side, it means I've never received one with a loose CD shaking around in the package. So no: you're not the only one. I've yet to break one, but I believe someone here has, and received a replacement from Mosaic when he asked for it. I don't remember who it was, though. Edit: ah! There you go.

Which is a good point for me to chime in and apologise for not getting around to posting comments this month. I barely found time to listen to the whole thing one time, and on top of that had no clues about any of it whatsoever. Most of it is incredibly far outside my comfort zone. But thanks for putting it together!

I don't think Amazon lets you do that, but the USPS does (not always with 100% accuracy, I might add): https://holdmail.usps.com/holdmail/landingView.do Just make sure it doesn't ship UPS or FedEx.

A download for me, too, please.

Looks excellent! I just ordered it.

"I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm", Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong (on "Ella and Louis, Again")

I doubt I'll have time, especially for two discs, but I'll try a download. BTW, is there a theme this time?

Seems like this should have gone in the Artists forum, no? (Does a kind mod want to move it?) Anyway: Louis Armstrong, Red Allen, and Muggsy Spanier, for me. Oh, and Maurice André, please. I have a hard time rounding out a top ten. Jabbo Smith, Bunny Berigan, Tommy Ladnier, Wild Bill Davison...maybe Harry James and Bix.

That's from the "in Scandinavia" Storyville set. Two (out of three) tracks recorded by a telephone company employee on line-testing equipment. Neat that things like this survive. Line-up: Louis Armstrong (tp,vcl), Charles S. Johnson (tp), Lionel Guimaraes (tb), Peter DuCongé, Harry Tyree, Fletcher Allen (rd), Justo Barreto (p), German Araco (b), Oliver Tines (d) The liner notes to the Storyville set go further than that and say that it's probably the earliest recording of any live concert.

Has anyone compared track listings yet to see if there's overlap with the earlier sets, and if so, how much? (The "Post-War Years" set did overlap.)

It just goes to show what fine musical sensibilities we have.

The current one (#80) made me think of some great things to include if I ever do this again...so why not do it again? Can I have whatever month's free next, Jeff? I did one in September 2009, but I think that's enough time ago to torture folks again.

I enjoyed listening to this, despite what my somewhat acerbic comments aimed at the more modern things here may imply. Good stuff. I can obsess over this for weeks, but I'll likely not get anywhere, so I'll just post my first impressions. 1. Oh, it's an orchestra tuning up! Mus be that modern jazz stuff I don't get. 2. This is way more my style. Unfortunately, I'm not jeffcrom, so I can't identify jack, even when listening to my own iTunes library on shuffle. What did Baquet sound like? Something like this, perhaps. Could it be very early Noone? 3. No idea who or what. It sounds to me like this is from the beginning of the 50's, but I could be totally wrong. 4. Vibes in a small group with clarinet always suggests Goodman/Hampton, but that clarinet doesn't sound Goodmany to me. "Blue Skies". Someone imitating the Goodman small groups? Doesn't sound like they're going for the Goodman sound, though. 5. Neat. No idea. 6. That voicing with clarinet on top of saxes at the beginning suggests Glenn Miller to me, but a) I have no idea who played clarinet in the Miller band and b) the rest of the chart doesn't sound Milleresque at all. The more I listen to this, the less I enjoy it. My favourite part is the da-da-DAAH piano introduction, but the ballady, schmaltzy melody leaves me unhappy. On to track 7! 7. ...which I have no idea about. 8. Hey, it's a reprise of track 1! But in this one, they taped an orchestra tuning and then *played it backwards*! 9. Excellent. Should know this, but of course I don't. "Honeysuckle Rose." Sounds like a jam session rather than an arrangement. I'll make a fool of myself and guess at the pianist: Oscar Peterson? 10. Love this. Have heard it before, probably even own it. I'm fairly certain it's Bechet. God, this is great. Yes, it has to be Bechet. Who else? Fabulous. One of the early 30's sides--maybe with Noble Sissle? 11, 12, 13. Will have to listen again to at least 13, but I don't know that I'll be able to say much of interest. 14. Buddy DeFranco? The tone reminds me a little of the Artie Shaw recreations I've heard of his. But really, that's a random guess. 15. Probably a xylophone. That pretty much means Red Norvo, but that's where my guesses stop. 16. No, thanks. 17. I think that's Edmond Hall. I can't think of anyone else with that amount of power and excitement in their playing, with the possible exception of Bechet, and he sounded quite different. This is great stuff. 18. You can hear the keys and the breathing! Great recording, though I don't dig the piece much. Classically trained player, or at least one who enjoyed the classics. Don't know who, though. Thanks for the BFT! Edit: after reading jeffcrom's answers, I feel like deleting some of my guesses in shame, but I'll leave them up for the hilarity of all. Should have gotten Noone on track 5, and confusing Earl Hines with Oscar Peterson may just be enough to get me banned from the BFT threads for good.