Gerald Wilson w/Wardell, Stan, Zoot, Criss, Teddy E, Clark

[bichos]

and the live concert is recorded in stereo!!! this must be one of the first stereo live recordings. i would also vote for 1953. hear also the m.c. at the end were he mentioned george shearing with cal tjader and toots thielemans. a great recording!

keep boppin´

marcel

[king ubu]

Thanks for bumping this up - completely missed out on this!

I have both Classics, so I'll have to get this just for the live tracks as well, but hey, there's not enough vintage Wilson around!

[Head Man]

Here's the cover of the Jazz Factory reissue. I ordered a copy. I already have the tracks from that 1954 LP on the second Chronological Classics CD, but I need that 1950 live session ... I've grown into a big Wilson fan. 

Thanks for the 'heads-up'. It's available at amazon.co.uk for £7.98. Too good to miss - my order's in!

[medjuck]

and the live concert is recorded in stereo!!! this must be one of the first stereo live recordings. i would also vote for 1953. hear also the m.c. at the end were he mentioned george shearing with cal tjader and toots thielemans. a great recording!

keep boppin´

marcel

A concert recorded in stereo in '53?!! Maybe it was recorded with 2 mikes but I can't believe that it was meant to be in stereo.

[mikeweil]

and the live concert is recorded in stereo!!! this must be one of the first stereo live recordings. i would also vote for 1953. hear also the m.c. at the end were he mentioned george shearing with cal tjader and toots thielemans. 

Cal Tjader's first recording session with Shearing was on March12, 1953, the last was on March28, 1954. Tjader's early stereo recording sessions for Fantasy were on September11 and 21, 1954 - all in California - maybe there was some engineer experimenting with binaural recording at the time in that area?

[jazmaan]

This was truly a great find for Wardell fans. I got my copy autographed by Gerald Wilson! (I work with his young nephew who was thrilled to see such a cool photo of his uncle on the cover.) Wardell is my favorite tenor man. Seems like my collection is now pretty much complete. It was also great to see the videos of him with Count Basie up on YouTube.

[James Accardi]

Hey everyone...

The correct date for this concert is Monday, February 8, 1954.

Definitely among the personnel are Teddy Edwards (as); Bob Collins (tb) and Jerome Richardson (fl) - these players are announced by the emcee (Pat Henry).

More information is at the new Wardell Gray website.

[Pete C]

do u have all the song info, and the personel for the '50 date- my browser wont open that webpage. im pretty sure this stuff was released on crown....i have this one lp w/ all those guys, but im particularly interested in that bonus date

And as an extra bonus, if you order by midnight tonight, we'll throw in a set of apostrophes and a shift key.

[Mark Stryker]

So, I have Big Band Modern on "The Very Best of Gerald Wilson" (Master Classics) but there is no personnel, liner notes or discography information included. I'm trying to nail down info on this date and want to throw some questions out to the board:

 

1. Can someone confirm that the flute soloist on "Algerian Fantasy" and "Lotus Land" is Bill Green, a conservatory trained reedman who became one of the first black studio musicians in LA?

 

2. Can anyone tell me who the trumpet soloist is on "Bull Fighter" (a transcription of the traditional fanfare melody known as "La Virgen De La Macarena")?

 

 

3.I understand the record was released original on 10 inch LP on Federal under the title "Progressive Sounds" and then reissued on Audio Lab. Earlier in this thread it was reported that reissue came on '59 but I saw an online discography of Audio Lab that said 1960. Does anyone have the LP who could literally look as see if there's a date?

 

Thanks.

Edited May 18, 2017 by Mark Stryker

[JSngry]

How did this Barcelona Bootleg go out of print like this one did? Son of a B****!

[mikeweil]

Seems they had only small quantities manufactured. I had ordered a copy when it was newly announced here, which was cancelled by a usually reliable mail order shop over here. I then lost sight of it, and now .... What made me hesitate was the fact that the 1954 studio material already was on the second Chronological Classics Wilson CD, which I have.

Maybe we will see a more complete issue. The guy who runs the Grey website must have a complete copy of the tape.

[Mark Stryker]

I spoke at length yesterday with Jerry Dodgion to try and get some clarity about some issues regarding "Big Band Modern" that have come up in research for my book. Reporting what he said here because I know that if I care about these details then so will you guys. Jerry was just 21 when he appeared on the record. He'll be 85 in August (on Bird's birthday, the 29th) and wasn't  as sharp as when I've spoken with him in the past. But he seemed sure on a number of points, some of which contradict the discographies, including Lord and what's on some of the CDs.

1. The flute soloist on "Lotus Land" is Bill Green. Jerry himself is the flute soloist on "Algerian Fantasy."

2. The trumpet soloist on "Bull Fighter" is likely Allen Smith.

3.  The sessions took place in Los Angeles over the course of a couple of days while the band was playing a full week somewhere -- he couldn't remember the club.

4. Contrary to discographies: (a) Clark Terry is not on the record; Jerry says he didn't meet Clark until later, (b) The baritone saxophonist is Harold Wylie (whose only recorded appearance according to Lord is with Brew Moore in 1957. (c) Bill Green played second alto; Jerry played lead alto.  (d) The presence of Paul Gonsalves remains a bit of a mystery. It's obviously Paul playing the tenor solo on "Romance,"   but Jerry said he was not actually in the band and doesn't even remember him in the studio or meeting him at the time.

On another front, if folks don't know, three of the compositions on "Big Band Modern" are on borrowed themes. "Lotus Land" is by English composer Cyril Scott, "Romance" is an adaptation of the third movement of Khachaturian's "Masquerade Suite." and "Bull Fighter" adapts the fanfare melody known as "La Virgen De La Macarena."

Exit question: Does anybody recognize the gorgeous saxophone melody of the piece called "Theme" as from another source? It may well be Wilson's original composition, but something about it, the title and the fact that other material was adapted from other sources has me wondering.

 

 

Edited May 18, 2017 by Mark Stryker

[mikeweil]

6 hours ago, Mark Stryker said:

Exit question: Does anybody recognize the gorgeous saxophone melody of the piece called "Theme" as from another source? It may well be Wilson's original composition, but something about it, the title and the fact that other material was adapted from other sources has me wondering.

I do not know any modern classical theme reminiscent of Wilson's "Theme" - seems to be his own. He sure was capable of writiing such melodies. Deserves to become a standard!

Finally found an affordable copy from a Korean seller on discogs. I cross my fingers.

Can anybody re-post the link to the Wardell Grey website,please? The link was lost during somebBoard software update.

[BeBop]

The website is here

http://wardellgray.org/

[Jim Duckworth]

While investigating this title over at Amazon, I noticed that they have the The Gerald Wilson Pacific Jazz Mosaic set available as a download.  I recognize that this might not be the correct thread for this question, but are there many Mosaic downloads available or is this an anomaly?

 

[jazzbo]

I have been told that there are a number of former Mosaics of EMI owned material available as downloads with titles that include "from the Capitol Vault" or similar wording. I don't do downloads myself, but they should be easy to find on iTunes etc. . . .

[mikeweil]

Capitol Vaults Jazz Series