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Jaffa

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Posts posted by Jaffa

  1. It appears Garner-1953 will come out in Sept ???

    Thanks for the quick and positive echo ! I don't want to sound rude but please understand that at this time I cannot comment on what will be issued precisely when - although we have a fix schedule for the next months and a provisional plan for issues well into 2006. (Actually, I have already written liner-notes for about 30 Cds that are going to be issued.)

    But here's the info on the forthcoming July-batch:

    1380: Dizzy 1953

    1381: Bill Coleman 1952-53

    1382: Eddie Lockjaw Davis 1948-53

    1383: Billy Taylor (p) 1952-53

    1384: Bechet 1952

  2. I have just spoken to the owner of Classics and I am pleased to announce the good news on this forum - as promised:

    The next CDs (Classics 1380 to 1384) will be released in July !

    Monthly production of 5 CDs finally picks up again after a nine month break.

    Please spread the news to stop rumors that Classics went out of business.

  3. This is more exciting - REALLY un-issued !

    One of the torrents currently downloadable is:

    50 winter - 51 spring. Christy's Restaurant. Framingham, MA. Jam Session. Collective personnel: Howard McGhee, unknown tp, Bob Wilber cl, Gigi Gryce as, p, Joe Roland vib, Duke Jordan, Nat Pierce p, Oscar Pettiford cello, b, Tommy Potter b, unknown d, Eddie Curran mc.

    Blues (theme uses phrases from Rockin' In Rhythm & Jumpin' With Symphony Sid)

    Imagination

    Perdido

    Swingin' Till The Girls Come Home

    Anthropology

    I'll Remember April

    Indiana

    Star Dust

    Perdido

    Lady Be Good

    Jam Sessions at Christy's, Vol. 2. Zim Records ZM-1010 (unreleased). - Art Zimmerman is in possession of the tapes. Pete Bainbridge writes: "It is interesting that the Christy's Jam session was ready for production on Zim records in the mid-1980s. With the advent of cds, Artie Zimmerman concluded that its release was not economically feasible, and so he shelved the project." - Cf. Noal Cohen & Michael Fitzgerald: Rat Race Blues. The Musical Life of Gigi Gryce, p. 376.

    Another torrent collated by Pete as "Ellingtonia" includes these:

    570423 NYC. NBC TV broadcast. Duke Ellington Group. Duke Ellington p, Johnny Hodges as, Harry Carney bs, Oscar Pettiford b, Max Roach d.

    Take The "A" Train (unissued)

    Things Ain't What They Used To Be (unissued)

    Perdido (unissued)

    Duke Ellington Interview with Ben Gross (unissued)

    The show was called "Tonight! America After Dark".

    plus

    580704 Newport Jazz Festival, Freebody Park, Newport, Rhode Island, set 1. Rex Stewart and the Ellington Alumni All-Stars. Willis Conover as emcee. Rex Stewart co, Cootie Williams tp, Hilton Jefferson as, Tyree Glenn tb, Ben Webster ts, Billy Strayhorn p, Oscar Pettiford b, Sonny Greer d.

    Speech by Senator Theodore Green

    East St. Louis Toodle-oo

    Rockin' In Rhythm

    Concerto For Cootie

    C Jam Blues

    Boy Meets Horn

    Chelsea Bridge

    Le Grande Romp

    Unpublished. Tape in: Voice of America Music Library Collection (Library of Congress).

    See details here http://themenschmidt.de/don.htm

    I am currently listening to these - and I am amazed !

  4. I'm going to do a later show on the Donahue civilian orchestra, but man, that navy band was smokin'!

    Ghost, I fully agree about Donahue's Navy band being superior to his civilian efforts. Of these latter, I consider his small-band date for the tiny "Encore"-label specially noteworthy. (I love the smoking solos by Willie Smith there !) Most of Donahue's "Capitols" are rather pale compared to his Navy-stuff.

    However, the most stunning thing Donahue EVER made is - in my opinion - the very first track he ever recorded as leader, on Christmas day 1940... "It Count A Lot" features none other than Basie himself in a most happy mood giving the new band a swinging lift ! I cherish my copy of that swell "Okeh"-78 !

  5. I've heard good things about the big bands that Sam Donahue led throughout the 1940s and decided to bite on a couple of the Heps out under his name (specifically the Navy band titles--isn't this Artie Shaw's Navy band, taken over by Donahue after Shaw left the service?).  Any opinions around the Organissimo joint concerning SD?

    I've always had a weak spot for Sam Donahue's band - not least for the confusion on LP's/Cs's/articles about the title of a fine swinger recorded several times by this band only:

    I mean "LSD Party", "Last Party, "Lost Party" or - what I assume to be correct -"LST Party"; correct since Donahue's NAVY guys knew about landing vessels.

    Incidentally, a lot of terrific info about the Shaw-to-become-Donahue-band was published some time ago in the IAJRC-journal in a series of articles on Dave Tough. Well worth checking !!!

  6. Just received an E-Mail from Worlds Records.They believe that Classics has departed from the jazz reissue business.Anyone receive a similiar mailing ?

    This is simply NOT TRUE - and a totally unconfirmed rumor !

    I talked to the producer/co-owner of the label a few days ago and things look much brighter than they did a few months ago.

    Actually, chances are very good that the next issues will come out within two to four months - and out-of-print CD's are gradually being re-pressed !

    Although I repeat myself for the zillionth time - I keep this board informed based on FACTS - not hear-say.

    Anatol Schenker

  7. There is a recent thread about Classics on the Big Band Talk forum. Here is a worrying quote from someone with inside knowledge.

    "One of the label's owners has expressed his desire to keep the label going but are partnership owns the label and not all partners are of like mind.

    The partner who wants to keep the label going is, fortunately, the person behind the Classics R&B label and he is the sole owner of that label."

    Yes, that's how it is. The info found on the other board is more or less correct, too. Please understand that I cannot and will not comment details as the situation is intricate and complex since more than just the two parties mentioned on the bigband-era-board are involved. Talks are on-going and let me just say that it is NOT correct to assume at this point that (Jazz)-Classics will NOT go on !

    Again: I will let this forum know as soon as I know myself. Actually, speculating about who, what, when might even be contraproductive. Please don't get me wrong on that remark but I'm afraid it is so since this forum is public, after all.

  8. No recent releases from the Chronogical Classics in the Paris stores yet.

    On the other hand, the Classics Blues & Rhythm Series keeps releasing new CDs.

    Hope Jaffa will update his posts with more precise informations!

    Brownie and Roger,

    I wish I had more precise information myself - but I am afraid to say that I don't have any news. I am waiting for further details from the parties involved and, as promised, I will keep the list informed as soon as there is anything to report !

  9. Does anyone know the date of the next Erroll Garner release on Classics ?

    Vol. 14 is 1370: Have you got it already ? Vol. 15 should be out before long; most likely as 1391. It was originally scheduled to be part of the Nov. 2004-batch which had to be postponed for the reasons I mentioned the other day in this string.

    Hope this helps !

  10. There were many white big bands that weren't as hugely successful as Goodman, Shaw and Dorsey, but still belonged to the scene of the day and recorded regularly, so it will be interesting to hear their output. Very little of it has been available for a long time...

    "Now you're talking my language" (Chu Berry, March 23, 1937) - I totally agree with you ! But please bear in mind that Classics has to be profitable, too. Shaw, Goodman, Woody etc. sells although most/all has been issued often before on LPs and CDs. However, I think it is tough selling an extended series of - let's say Les Brown CDs - no matter how desirable they are for a number of fans that read this forum ^_^ - and myself !!

  11. May I ask if further volumes of Gerald Wilson and Lucky Thompson are planned?

    And is there any coordination with other series on other labels? Or do you simply avoid overlaps?

    Thanks for asking: I also wish there were further issues by either Lucky Thompson or Gerald Wilson real soon !

    But: Lucky T. only has two more sessions (under his name) from 1949/50 before going into "the LP era". And only about 16 tracks from Gerald W. are left to be issued from 78's.

    There are plans "in the pipeline" for further CDs by Thompson and Wilson - but don't ask me when they are issued: But they will be !!!

    It's not quite clear to me what you mean by asking about "overlaps with other series". Do you mean labels from Spain/Andorra or (PROPERly produced) Box-Sets from the U.K. ? Either way: I couldn't (and wouldn't want to) answer your question since I am neither the owner of Classics nor in charge of production !

  12. the riddle of the "chronogical" spelling. This has been debate on these board before.

    Yes, I had noticed discussions on this topic here before.

    Actually, I got sort of annoyed by rather nasty if not rude remarks (albeit not in this forum !) about then Frenchmen's subborn inability to spell English properly and similar bla bla.

    Those of you who own the Classics double/triple CD issued in 1999 know the sketch on the back-cover of the booklet which already pretty much "explains" the typographical error.

  13. Jaffa, any idea if Classics is going to do an updated encore of the wonderful catalogue that listed all of their first 500 releases? That catalogue went up to nr. 1024 and was released several years ago.

    I assume you allude to the 56 p. catalogue from 1998 that listed issues up to 1004. Basically, this was meant to "celebrate" the 500th CD issued. After 5 years on the market, Classics had issued a modest "best of" sampler and another 5 years later, a more structured Double-CD (plus an included 3rd CD correcting goofs and errors).

    Logically, there are plans to do something once the 1000th Classics-CD is due. Please don't ask we whether it's going to be an updated catalogue of some sorts - or anything else - I just don't know. But I promise to let this forum know as soon as I know more.

  14. While I'm at it; any new big band names you're going to start releasing? I'm thinking of Jimmy Dorsey especially, but there are so many others I would like to see: Les Brown, Casa Loma, Jan Savitt, Van Alexander, Teddy Powell, et cetera, et cetera. Later bands like Elliot Lawrence as well, btw.

    Thank you kindly for the welcome suggestions - most of which are already on our "to do" list ! Although there is a rough schedule for the next 100+ issues, please understand that I cannot go into details before the pending problems are solved.

  15. But how can a distribution problem affect the jazz series, and not the Blues & Rhythm series?

    If you check any of the more recent CDs from the Blues & Rhythm-series (to be precise: Since issue 5114; Percy Mayfield) you will note on the back-inlay that the distributor is not the same as for the Classics Jazz-series.

  16. "Chronogical" - "Chronological" - I've been asked many times before... Nobody seemed to believe it - but that's how it really went: When the French producer sketched some hasty drafts of how the design MIGHT look like (back in 1989 !), he erroneously wrote chronogical instead of chronological.

    The graphic lay-outer - obviously far from being proficient in English - chose that ill-spelt version for the very mere reason that it fit with the given font-size above the cameo-pix on the covers !

    Since the first 5 issues of Classics (500-504) were rushed into production before Christmas 1989 nobody noticed the typo in time; at least not before the booklets/inlays had already been printed...

  17. In case anybody wonders: Classics have been on (unpleasant) temporary hold for some time due to a distribution problem that should be resolved within weeks. The last issued was 1379; Stan Getz.

    Incidentally, Classics' Blues & Rhythm-series (5000 ff.) is not affected at all.

    How do I know ? I have written all liner-notes for the (Jazz-series) since 1989...

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