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French "RCA/BMG Jazz Tribune" series ...


neveronfriday

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Looking for some more Lionel Hampton stuff, I stumbled across three double CDs that I bought and am quite happy with:

The Complete Lionel Hampton (Vols. 1/2, 3/4 and 5/6)

These were issued by BMG France in the 90s (double CDs with a fold-out newspaper-like booklet) and I have seen others from this series around my stomping grounds from time to time. From the numbering system I would conclude that there must be anywhere between 80 and 100 and more of these out there.

Do you have any of these?

Happy with them?

Cheers!

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Don't have any of the CD sets but I have a double LP from the French RCA 'Jazz Tribune' series back in the 1970s which has some of the best 1940s Dizzy Gillespie Big Band material on it (RCA PM 42408). That one (or its CD equivalent) is very highly recommended :tup . If my memory is correct there were very fine releases by Sonny Rollins (his RCA sessions) on this series too.

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I had quite a number of the Jazz Tribune twofer LPs. Great albums for their time. Still kept some of them including the Sidney Bechet and Jelly Roll Morton ones.

Those twofers came out in the late 70s. in pre-digital age.

Catalogue included albums by:

Louis Armstrong (2 albums),

Charlie Barnet,

Count Basie,

Sidney Bechet (3),

Bunny Berigan,

Benny Carter,

Tommy Dorsey,

Duke Ellington (3),

Dizzy Gillespie,

Benny Goodman (3),

Erskine Hawkins,

Fletcher Henderson,

Earl Hines (3),

Johnny Hodges,

McKinney Cotton Pickers (2),

Glenn Miller,

Jelly Roll Morton (4)

Bennie Moten (3),

King Oliver,

Ragtime,

Django Reinhardt,

Artie Shaw (2),

Willie The Lion Smith,

Jack Teagarden,

Fats Waller (4),

Paul Whiteman.

The Sonny Rollins albums appeared on a separate series from RCA France called 'Jazz Line' which reissued post-WWII releases.

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One of those double cds was reissued in the US in their RCA Jazz Tribune series; it's a wonderful release. I haven't ever seen the other French ones; good score. I have the complete material within an RCA lp set on cdr thanks to a board member; timeless music!

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I'm surprised not more people have any of these CDs. They are still widely available second-hand if you know where to look. A few years back, they were virtually everywhere.

Could it be that many board members maybe had these once and later replaced them with single CD re-issues or collectors boxes?

Cheers!

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I remember this series. I only picked up a few of them, since I already had most of the material either on Classics or on earlier RCA CD sets (Waller and Bechet come to mind).

There were some CD sets in that series that were new releases and not reissues of previous LP sets. One of them was a terrific Joe Newman double CD that included four original RCA LPs from the mid-50s. I think the Oscar Peterson set was new too.

The drawback of this series was that the straight reissue of the original double LPs meant that the increased playing time of the CD format wasn’t utilized. Thus the releases of 78 era material only included about 16 tracks on each CD, when 50% more easily could have fitted on a CD.

Also, the original series wasn’t completed. RCA had a tendency in the LP era to start complete reissue series of Tommy Dorsey and other artists with large catalogues, but after a few volumes they would run out of steam and the series would be abandoned, and thus the later years never were reached. Of course reissuing the complete TD is a mammoth task. Classics has released no less than 14 Tommy Dorsey CDs, and yet they have only reached 1939…

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I have the Hampton V. 1/2 and a handful of others. Would esp. like to find the Hines...

Those Lionel Hampton sessions were released by French RCA in two separate boxes of three LP each, vol. 1 and 2 'Historical recording sessions 1939-1941'.

Those were not part of the Jazz Tribune series but they are the best complete boxes of those sessions I found. Worthy of a Mosaic job!

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Hmmmm I have eleven double lps of Tommy Dorsey on R C A US---probably more Dorsey than I'll ever need! :blink: They did complete (US at least) the Shaw, Barnet and Berigan bands in series, for which I am very grateful, sounds very good on lp!

Edited by jazzbo
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I have the Hampton V. 1/2 and a handful of others.  Would esp. like to find the Hines...

Those Lionel Hampton sessions were released by French RCA in two separate boxes of three LP each, vol. 1 and 2 'Historical recording sessions 1939-1941'.

Those were not part of the Jazz Tribune series but they are the best complete boxes of those sessions I found. Worthy of a Mosaic job!

Amazingly, U.S. RCA released a six LP box of the Hampton recordings in 1976. I don't imagine we'll see this kind of thing happen these days, with all of the European issues of vintage recordings.

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One of them was a terrific Joe Newman double CD that included four original RCA LPs from the mid-50s.

That's a great one! Four LPs on two CDs! Beautifully recorded, and some of the best small group Basie-ite swing I have!

I passed by most of the CDs because I had the ones of interest to me on LP, and was disappointed they did not re-arrange them for CD issue to include more music in case where they were not complete editions. The complete ones are great.

In case of Dizzy, e.g., the Bluebird double CD is more complete and has better annotation.

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I have to correct myself: There were eight double lps; I have them burned onto eleven cdrs.

The eighth volume ends within 1939. That's far from the complete Dorsey. . . . I am not sure if there are further volumes available. Regardless, that's about as far as I feel necessary to have a series of Dorsey. . . . I'm not much interested in Dorsey beyond that time except bits and pieces.

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It took me a long time to find a copy of the Joe Newman. One finally turned up on ebay and I got it for less than $10.

I've been listening a lot to the Duke Ellington vol 11-12, which is 4 complete small group sessions. Marvelous stuff, sounds good. I'm sure it's available from lots of other sources, though, and I have not researched its completeness. All I know is it starts with "Daydream" and "Good Queen Bess" and I'm hooked everytime I play it ^_^

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When the work on the Basie site is completed, I'm intending to put a list together of these Jazz Archive discs.

There's a treasure trove of stuff on these which I'm just discovering. If you know ehere to look, you can get lots of them for 5 - 15 Euro. Not bad for double-CDs, even if they're a bit older.

Cheers!

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