bertrand

You can listen to the conference here: https://www.baltimorejazz.com/baltimore-jazz-conference-2020/ In case I appear somewhat flustered: I was told two minutes before the start that there was a gag order on talking about the tapes or any archival plans for the future. My mistake for having the courtesy of sharing a copy of my notes with the panelists before hand, perhaps I should have blindsided them. Normally never a good approach for a meeting, but this might have needed to be an exception... Just as an example of how effed up this has all been, here is how I first got involved: in the mid-90s, after I discovered a number of unrecorded Lee Morgan tunes at the Library of Congress, someone hipped me to Left Bank and that they recorded a lot of their gigs and that Lee played there a lot, and that maybe he played some of the unrecorded pieces at the gigs. In addition, some/all the tapes were or had been on repository at Morgan State U., presumably for researchers to audition and answer questions such as this one. I was put in touch with Leon Manker, a member who as it turns out did a lot of the booking until he got too old. It was a brief call: are you with a record label? No. And then he hung up. I should have said yes, I am with Green Note records. Anyway, fast forward 25 years, I have not heard a note of Lee in Baltimore (the Fresh Sound CD is from Left Bank DC) and in fact they are claiming that Joel Dorn had all the Lee tapes and never returned them (5-7 concerts worth). I contacted Adam Dorn, the son, who was adamant that everything had been returned. If you look at the liner notes to the Etta Jones CD, you will see that at some point Fowler uncovered a stash of tapes he had misplaced (still no Morgan, alas). My guess is there are still other stacks in the homes of various people, and I know of at least one stack that is lost for good (don't ask). So no matter what liner notes may say, there is a history of disorganization and poor decision-making involved with Left Bank. We cannot change the past, but we can think of the future. Between Blue Note and Cory Weeds and Resonance, only a handful of CDs will come out in the next few years. So what happens to rest of the tapes? Presumably, the labels had to have these digitized so they could pick what they wanted to put out. Is there any reason the digital copies cannot be placed for researchers to audition in some archive, e.g. Library of Congress, Smithsonian, Loyola, Hopkins or another Baltimore institution? The Morgan State thing fell apart, but I am sure there is part of that story I don't know yet. I did visit a couple of years ago, no one there now knew anything but apparently the place was a mess in the 80s. This would not prevent commercialization of some of the recordings. Look at the Newport Collection at the Library of Congress. Researchers can audition in person, and some have been released commercially. Is there one single person on the planet who will say: 'I won't buy this CD because I can just fly to DC and listen to it at the Library of Congress'. There is ZERO loss of commercial potential with this approach. Ultimately, someone from a label has to come around to my point of view. A 5-minute chat with Don Was could change a lot of things. Bertrand.

I preordered the CD, I assume it will have the exact same booklet and essays. How wonderful to hear that Fowler finally sat down and got into some detail, something that none of us who have been dealing with him in the last 10 years gave been able to do. It was all just generalities and vague recollections with approximate dates. The recording of the panel I was on is now available for anyone who wants to listen. Some of my friends who were listening in real time gave up before the end. I am a detail-oriented guy, and I have been trying to make a coherent list for years of what took place, what was recorded and where the existing tapes might reside. I have made a little bit of progress despite much pushback, but I feel confident making these statements: 1) Artists were almost certainly not always given copies of the recording. Possibly sometimes, but certainly not always. 2) There is no one stop shopping. However many tapes existed over the years have been scattered. Some are certainly lost, others in places no one has thought of looking yet. Was there ever a master list of everything that was recorded? I sure would like to know. One example: Sunenblick was never required to send back the 20 tapes he got, he got them outright. How Left Bank could have agreed to this blows my mind. Now Sunenblick is dead. Do the Math. On my end, I am following any leads I can get and have been successful in rescuing at least one recording. I will continue on this quest despite whatever misinformation may be out there. As Dan pointed out, if there were copies given to artists, they must be tracked down. Bertrand.

I went back to the Mingus at Montreux CD, and Mingu s announces Cell Block F and proceeds to play the opening rune on Changes One. He would know... I was also unable to convince Mosaic that the titles for the Wayne Shorter pieces Blues A La Carte and Harry's Last Stand were flipped, although the copyright deposit lead sheets that Wayne sent in confirm it. Oh well...

Steve Novosel is still very active on the DC scene. Gravatt worked as a prison guard and came back to music when he retired. I saw him with McCoy a few times, but it has been a few years. Not familiar with Gene Rush. A great resource right here: https://jazzmf.com/dc-jazz-encyclopedia/

Maurice Robertson? DC still has an incredible scene. I used to go to 4-5 gigs a week. All over now.

Hmmm, I wonder who that would be.

Live in Tokyo is an amazing album, possibly my favorite Weather Report record. Do other recordings from this tour exist? Thanks.

So in addition to the September 1963 Brazilian tour, this places Tina at Georgetown U. in DC in early November 1963. Even more intriguing, he may have contributed a tune to the repertoire. Or could it be the Fred Jackson tune? Someone named Fred Jackson played alto with Ray in 1968. http://raycharlesvideomuseum.blogspot.com/search?q=tina+brooks Grachan Moncur was in the band in 1961. The date was never clear to me before.

What year?

So i just looked at the copy of Duke Pearson's session notes from the rejected session which I have. Duke wrote the word 'Universe' at the top of the page... Also, there were THREE days of rehearsals on 10/8,10/9 and 10/10. That's a lot of rehearsals for a few sketches. They were paid $30, i.e. about $200 in 2020 money. Trying to get a hold of Barbara Burton to fill in some gaps.

I watched the documentary, not impressive. it is more about Wallace and Miles than the Wayne music. And of course, it is now a tribute to Wallace...

I don't think it is Seraphic Light. Is it a different song from Stellar Regions?

Apparently the only helper he ever had was his wife, who taught at my High School. She died in 2011, and after that, he was on his won doing it all.

It is good you brought it up. I am sure someone in DC will start talking about it. I can start a Facebook conversation...

That would be very 21st century, but a drastic change from Andrew's philosophy - he never went online, has no website or even email address. It was all mail order. Let's see where this goes. It is a massive undertaking.