Connoisseur Wish List for 2007

[JSngry]

Duke Pearson produced Super Nova & Odyssey of Iska, so wtf does Wayne have to bitch about? Iska could've been recorded better though...

I remember a Shorter interview from the 70s(?) where he talked about Pearson going around telling everybody to record whatever they wanted, that they were "opening the company up" or something like that. My take on that has been that Pearson saw the writing on the wall, that the Liberty, and later UA, buyout spelled the end of the label as they knew it, so go on ahead and do whatever the fuck it was you wanted to get done while you still had the chance. Considering that Dr. Death, er...George Butler was already waiting in the wings (he co-produced Elvin's Genesis w/Wolff), I'd say that Pearson's actions were not without merit.

Certainly most of the "serious jazz" material that BN released after the Liberty buyout was produced by Pearson. And what could Pearson have done to prevent the Butler/UA manuvers? So, unless Wayne knows something about all this we don't (a distinct possibility), then I think he might just be being a little bitchy here.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Certainly most of the "serious jazz" material that BN released after the Liberty buyout was produced by Pearson. And what could Pearson have done to prevent the Butler/UA manuvers? So, unless Wayne knows something about all this we don't (a distinct possibility), then I think he might just be being a little bitchy here.

Precisely what I was getting at. All the funky Soul Jazz albums, which some people dislike, were produced by Francis Woolf.

MG

[CJ Shearn]

George Butler, ugh........ won that award or whatever which is on that useless track on "Blue Note Live at the Roxy" Dr. Death, err........ Butler knew he didn't know shit about jazz, he just took the gig. I think Butler produced Joey D. "Live at the Five Spot" on Columbia and that didn't turn out bad at all.

Edited September 5, 2006 by CJ Shearn

[Soul Stream]

I think Butler produced Joey D. "Live at the Five Spot" on Columbia and that didn't turn out bad at all.

Except the part where the producer chose not to use a real Hammond B3. Other than that, it's great.

[robertoart]

Enjoying this thread. I must admit I got a surprise when I looked at the liner notes on Arthur Blythe's Columbia release Elaborations and found George Butler's name on it. To quote an old and much remembered TV character....'You've made my day...you have Butler'

[ep1str0phy]

Butler also produced Lee Morgan's "The Last Session"--sort of uneven, but not a failure by any means (and the band is terrific). It's one of Lee's more progressive dates, any way you cut it.

Edited September 5, 2006 by ep1str0phy

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Whenever I think of Butler, after I've stopped fulminating, I think of that tune from an unreleased Lou Donaldson session - "Don't worry about it George".

I not only want that session released, I want to know the story, too.

MG

[Clunky]

Pardon my ignorance but what exactly did the Butler do wrong ?

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I was asking Michael Cuscuna about some unissued sessions in the vault and when we got to that unissued Wayne Shorter session from 1970(?) with the songtitles "A", "Bee", "Cee", etc. Michael told me that he had Wayne in to listen to the tapes to ask what he thought.

Cuscuna said Shorter was disgusted with the music and said, "That's Duke Peason's idea of a fucking record," and walked out of the room. I asked Cuscuna if it was just that session or in general, and Michael said that Shorter didn't think much of Duke as a producer.

Kevin

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Pardon my ignorance but what exactly did the Butler do wrong ?

George Butler was a record producer for UA. He produced Ferrante & Teicher, amongst others. When Francis Woolf died, Butler was drafted in to run BN. He was frank that a) he didn't know anything about jazz and b) he got the job because he was black.

In terms of BN, once George Butler hits the scene, you get a very quick descent into rubbish. Not to say there weren't good albums made after he took over, but there was also a big pile of shit. (I've got quite a bit of it in my collection - you can easily see how people like Lou D, Reuben Wilson and GG were affected.)

MG

Edited September 5, 2006 by The Magnificent Goldberg

[mikeweil]

I was asking Michael Cuscuna about some unissued sessions in the vault and when we got to that unissued Wayne Shorter session from 1970(?) with the songtitles "A", "Bee", "Cee", etc. Michael told me that he had Wayne in to listen to the tapes to ask what he thought.

Cuscuna said Shorter was disgusted with the music and said, "That's Duke Peason's idea of a fucking record," and walked out of the room. I asked Cuscuna if it was just that session or in general, and Michael said that Shorter didn't think much of Duke as a producer.

Kevin

If one considers that Shorter was in a period of re-orientation at the time, after leaving Miles and a number of dates bordering on free playing, but which ultimately lead to the formation of Weather Report .....

Edited September 5, 2006 by mikeweil

[jazzbo]

I was asking Michael Cuscuna about some unissued sessions in the vault and when we got to that unissued Wayne Shorter session from 1970(?) with the songtitles "A", "Bee", "Cee", etc. Michael told me that he had Wayne in to listen to the tapes to ask what he thought.

Cuscuna said Shorter was disgusted with the music and said, "That's Duke Peason's idea of a fucking record," and walked out of the room. I asked Cuscuna if it was just that session or in general, and Michael said that Shorter didn't think much of Duke as a producer.

Kevin

If one considers that Shorter was in a period of re-orientation at the time, after leaving Miles and a number of dates bordering on free playing, but which ultimately lead to the formation of Weather Report .....

Michael probably gave the tapes to Wayne to destroy or whatever. He did that with a Horace Silver session that they listened to together and when Horace voiced his displeasure, he gave him the tapes. At least this is what he told me over the phone about four years ago. Edited September 5, 2006 by jazzbo

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I was asking Michael Cuscuna about some unissued sessions in the vault and when we got to that unissued Wayne Shorter session from 1970(?) with the songtitles "A", "Bee", "Cee", etc. Michael told me that he had Wayne in to listen to the tapes to ask what he thought.

Cuscuna said Shorter was disgusted with the music and said, "That's Duke Peason's idea of a fucking record," and walked out of the room. I asked Cuscuna if it was just that session or in general, and Michael said that Shorter didn't think much of Duke as a producer.

Kevin

If one considers that Shorter was in a period of re-orientation at the time, after leaving Miles and a number of dates bordering on free playing, but which ultimately lead to the formation of Weather Report .....

Michael probably gave the tapes to Wayne to destroy or whatever. He did that with a Horace Silver session that they listened to together and when Horace voiced his displeasure, he gave him the tapes. At least this is what he told me over the phone about four years ago.

Lon,

I know Michael gave Horace the tapes from the "Live At Pep's" sessions, but he said he didn't do that with this unissued Shorter date. The tapes must be still in the vaults. I've heard that there is a bootleg out there but I've never seen or heard it.

[jazzbo]

Actually IIRC it was another Horace date Michael was referring to. But interesting that the Shorter remains in the vault. I don't think we'll see it if Wayne opposes, though despite Wayne's opinion it may be nice to hear.

[bertrand]

I suspect the Silver tapes were the only ones Michael would have given back to the artist, partially because these were not done in the RVG studio.

We know the incident with the Shorter date (it's been 11 years - does he necessarily still feel that way?), but has Michael ever said anything about the rejected McLean date with Bobby Hutcherson, Tyrone Washington and Woody Shaw? I know Jackie thought the drummer (Norman Connors) ruined the date (I saw it in a Cadence interview I can no longer track down), but is it really all that bad? There are five compositions: 'Abrasion' and 'Hymn To Rap' by Jackie, 'One For Jeru' by Connors, 'In Case You Haven't Heard' by Shaw and 'Kupenda' (composer unknown). I found the composers by looking through an assignements file at LC (there are no lead sheets, however).

Does anyone know anything else?

Thanks,

Bertrand.

Edited September 5, 2006 by bertrand

[jmjk]

My vote:

Kenny Burrell - Freedom

Jackie McLean - High Frequency

Sam Rivers - A New Conception

Jimmy Smith - Minor Fare (unissued 1961 session)

Louis Smith - Smithville (in stereo and with two bonus tracks)

Larry Young - Contrasts

Great list! If we're sticking to BN stuff, then I'd pick up all of these. If they wanted to reissue the odd Cap Jazz or PJ session, then that's cool too.

[LarryCurleyMoe]

Put my vote in for Dexter Gordon's "Club House!"

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Put my vote in for Dexter Gordon's "Club House!"

Reinier says that it's coming out in the RVG series.

[Bluerein]

Reinier says?????? Reinier posted you mean, MC said!!!!!

[Bluesnik]

I don't want Connoisseurs. I want RVGs. From the first fifteen years of the label.

And so do I. I have some forties BN sessions on Toshiba, but I want more. Some Bechet, Quebec, Lewis material has already been released in compiled form (plus different BN Jazzmen incarnations), but I want the original sessions with their covers from the 7000 and 5000 series. The Art Hodes, Sydney de Paris, James P. Johnson, Port of Harlem Jazzmen, etc.

And, no, not all 5000s were released on the 10" Conn batch. AFAIK there are some Erroll Garners, a Wade Legge, James Moody with strings, The Cool Brits, a Fats Sadi, a Jutta Hipp, a Lou Mecca, the two Best from the West and the famous Urbie Green still to be reissued, if not more (I'm speaking off the top of my head). I have the Urbie Green as a TOJJ and the Jutta Hipp and the Mecca as TOCJ mini LPs.

So there's still much important historical material to be pulled from the vaults and I always hoped BN would not be waiting for their 70th anniversay to do so. But under the present climate even that would be a scenario to look out for.

[jazzbo]

I don't want Connoisseurs. I want RVGs. From the first fifteen years of the label.

And so do I. I have some forties BN sessions on Toshiba, but I want more. Some Bechet, Quebec, Lewis material has already been released in compiled form (plus different BN Jazzmen incarnations), but I want the original sessions with their covers from the 7000 and 5000 series. The Art Hodes, Sydney de Paris, James P. Johnson, Port of Harlem Jazzmen, etc.

And, no, not all 5000s were released on the 10" Conn batch. AFAIK there are some Erroll Garners, a Wade Legge, James Moody with strings, The Cool Brits, a Fats Sadi, a Jutta Hipp, a Lou Mecca, the two Best from the West and the famous Urbie Green still to be reissued, if not more (I'm speaking off the top of my head). I have the Urbie Green as a TOJJ and the Jutta Hipp and the Mecca as TOCJ mini LPs.

So there's still much important historical material to be pulled from the vaults and I always hoped BN would not be waiting for their 70th anniversay to do so. But under the present climate even that would be a scenario to look out for.

Yes, but theMoody, the Cool Brits, the Sadi, the Garner and the Legge were all leased material, and EMI/Blue Note never owned and doesn't now own the masters or the rights to those, so we won't see them. The Garner and the Moody material have shown up on cd from Classics, etc.

I'd like to see the Green and the Lou Mecca out together on one disc, misfits in a way on a single disc, but both are EXCELLENT sessions. Best of the West would make a nice RVG. I don't know or remember for certain if the Jutta Hipp was a leased item, I think it was. Interesting date.

[Kyo]

"Natural Essence" with hopefully most of "The Trainwreck" as bonus tracks (oh please, oh please, oh PLEASE!!!)

After some research I feel the need to support this request! Come on, Cuscuna!

[jazzbo]

Natural Essence would be great! (I'd rather it be an RVG). I don't believe Michael will EVER release the "Trainwreck" session.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Natural Essence would be great! (I'd rather it be an RVG). I don't believe Michael will EVER release the "Trainwreck" session.

I agree. Cuscuna has said he listened to the "trainwreck" again back when they did those "Lost Sessions" Connoisseur CDs and he said he wasn't worthy of release.

Of course, he's changed his mind about sessions before. Grant Green's first session comes to mind.

FWIW, I still think that with some judicious editing, that unissued 1958 Jazz Messengers session could work.

Later,

Kevin

[bertrand]

And yet MC has also been categoric about this one!

Kevin - any thoughts on the rejected McLean?

Bertrand.