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The Complete Norman Granz Jam Sessions


bolivarblues

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I just got this one a couple of days ago, so I've only been able to scratch the surface of all the treasures contained within these 5 discs. The musicians involved in these jam sessions represent some of the greatest of that era that falls in between swing and bebop, as well as some of the top boppers of the time. Right off the bat, disc one gives you Benny Carter, Johnny Hodges, Charlie Parker, Ben Webster, Oscar Peterson and Barney Kessell, all in one group! And there's plenty of solo time for everyone involved; the liner notes are nice in that they denote the order of the solos, though in most cases the musicians have such an easily indentifiable sound that they're not necessary. Elsewhere, we get the likes of Sweets Edison, Stan Getz, Count Basie, Buddy Rich, Roy Eldridge (in the same group with Dizzy Gillespie on discs four and five!), Illinois Jaquet, and Lionel Hampton, just to name a few. We are so fortunate that Granz had the foresight to assemble such a stellar cast during their prime and document these jam sessions on record; the sound quality of the remastered discs is quite good, too.

What are your favorite performances from this collection? If you don't have the box set, what are you favorites from any of the various Norman Granz Jam Session albums (one through nine)? This one is definitely a must-have; for those who are interested, you can get it through yourmusic.com for $34.95.

Edited by Frankie Machine
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I don't have the box set either but most of the individual Jam Session LP's.

My favorite is Jam Session #1 with Charlie Parker, of course (Jam Blues, Ballad Medley, Funky Blues, etc.).

Put on the record, take out Esther Bubley's "Charlie Parker" book with the full pictorial record of that session and the music really comes alive - almost as if you'd been at the session ...

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Wish there had been books similar to the Esther Bubley one for the other Jam Session gatherings! This was one of the best book on jazz photography to be published.

As for a favorite Jam Session, Il love 3 and 4, the ones with Sweets, de Franco, Benny Carter and Willie Smith, Wardell Gray and Stan Getz, Basie...

But 1 and 2 were something, too!

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A great jam session needs, imo, an insistent and driving rhythm section that doesn't lag, and individual voices...not good if you need the liner notes to tell you who's soloing. It seems like everybody was recording jam sessions in the 50s, Prestige, Columbia, Verve, BN, but now maybe it's a bit of a lost art.

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This set really took me back to my youth -- some of these were among the first jazz LPs I heard. IIRC there's a moment on Jam Session 5 or 6 where Jacquet, backed some riffing from the other horns, kind of does an imitation of a four-engine propeller aircraft buzzing past, a doppler effect thing. Whatever, that moment utterly transfixed me back then -- more like an isolated "cool" bit on a pop record would have, but that's the way it goes (or went). I played it over and over.

Edited by Larry Kart
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  • 5 years later...

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