Pablo reissues

[crisp]

Concord is reissuing five albums from Norman Granz's Pablo label on September 17:

• Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Pass, Ray Brown and Mickey Roker, Dizzy’s Big 4 (1974)
• Zoot Sims, Zoot Sims and the Gershwin Brothers (1975)
• Art Tatum, The Art Tatum Solo Masterpieces, Volume 1 (1975)
• Duke Ellington and His Orchestra, The Ellington Suites (1976)
• Oscar Peterson and Stephane Grappelli, Skol (1979)

Details here.

[alankin]

From the Concord site "For the OJC reissue [of The Ellington Suites], a new track will be added: the previously unissued 1972 “The Kiss,” recorded that the same session that yielded The Uwis Suite. Historian Ashley Kahn puts it all into perspective via new liner notes."

[jeffcrom]

Cool! The Ellington album is one of my favorites; The Queen's Suite, from 1959, has some of Ellington's best writing. The Uwis Suite is an excellent late work, from 1972. The Goutelas Suite is more of a sketch than a fully finished work, but it has its moments.

[alankin]

Three of the other titles also have new tracks:

Pablo was also home to the great Canadian pianist Oscar Peterson. He teamed with French violinist Stephane Grappelli for Skol, recorded live at Tivoli Concert Hall in Copenhagen, Denmark, on July 6, 1979. The two legendary leaders were joined by Joe Pass, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, and Mickey Roker for the performance, from which three additional, previously unissued bonus tracks have been added to this new reissue: “Honeysuckle Rose,” “I Got Rhythm” and “Solitude.” Herschorn again adds new notes to this anniversary toast. Skol!

Trumpeter, composer and bebop trailblazer Dizzy Gillespie was already a living legend and veteran artist at just 57 years of age when he recorded Dizzy’s Big 4 with Pablo labelmates Joe Pass (guitar), Ray Brown (bass) and Mickey Roker (drums). Gillespie looked back to his own classics (“Be Bop” and “Birks’ Works”) and popular standards (Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson’s “September Song,” Fats Waller’s “Jitterbug Waltz”) plus an original (“Frelimo”) for this all-star jam session. Two bonus tracks will appear for the first time, alternate takes of “Jitterbug Waltz” and “Russian Lullaby.” Concord’s Nick Phillips promises that, true to form, these significantly different alternates show off these talents at their improvisatory best. Willard Jenkins writes the new liner notes.

Finally, OJC revives Zoot Sims’ tribute to George and Ira, Zoot Sims and the Gershwin Brothers. The saxophonist is joined by Peterson, Pass, George Mraz on bass and Grady Tate on drums for this 1975 set newly annotated by Doug Ramsey. The Pablo 40th anniversary edition adds three bonus tracks to the original 10 songs, all previously unreleased: outtake “They Can’t Take That Away from Me” and alternates of “Oh, Lady, Be Good!” and “I’ve Got a Crush on You.” This swinging LP proved that Sims and his ace rhythm section and the Gershwins were a match made in musical heaven

Edited August 7, 2013 by alankin

[CJ Shearn]

Couldn't they have selected a few of the "Montreux '77" titles and put the complete sessions (where applicable) on one disc? Those masterings are still ok, but a few of them I would want to hear upgrades of.

[JSngry]

Nice to get some new Ellington, but to pick a very tiny nit, the original b&w Pablo LP covers would be preferred here.

[felser]

Couldn't they have selected a few of the "Montreux '77" titles and put the complete sessions (where applicable) on one disc? Those masterings are still ok, but a few of them I would want to hear upgrades of.

Why not do a Montreux '75 box and a Montreux '77 box? Each could probably be housed in maybe five or six CD's, from what I remember. And there was a lot of cross-pollination which would make a box flow well. And the quaility was consistent from what I remember, wouldn't be the yo-yo effect of. say, Blue Note Montreux '73 or Flying Dutchman '71 being gathered in a box.

[mjzee]

There were (on vinyl) two Montreux '77 boxes; each was 8 discs:

Count me among those heartened that Concord is continuing a reissue program.

[CJ Shearn]

Couldn't they have selected a few of the "Montreux '77" titles and put the complete sessions (where applicable) on one disc? Those masterings are still ok, but a few of them I would want to hear upgrades of.

Why not do a Montreux '75 box and a Montreux '77 box? Each could probably be housed in maybe five or six CD's, from what I remember. And there was a lot of cross-pollination which would make a box flow well. And the quaility was consistent from what I remember, wouldn't be the yo-yo effect of. say, Blue Note Montreux '73 or Flying Dutchman '71 being gathered in a box.

Well, there are 15 albums in the Montreux '77 series, I have 9. Each set runs about 45 minutes with the exception of the Basie Septet, Brown/Jackson, and Peterson jams which lasted a bit longer. All those extra tracks were collected on the "Jam Sessions: Montreux '77" double album which is one CD on the OJC reissue.

[John L]

It's nice that Concord hasn't shut its vaults yet.

[Chuck Nessa]

I will live with the earlier issues.

[JSngry]

... to pick a very tiny nit, the original b&w Pablo LP covers would be preferred here.

Yeah, those min-LP things. Do the B+W LP covers and make them glossy and shit. Do that.

and yeah, charge extra for it. Hell yeah. Only so many people gonna buy anyways, so charge the money.

For real - this:

not this:

One looks real, the other looks like repackaged product.

[king ubu]

With Chuck here ... at least the ones I've got (including the Ellington with original cover) won't be replaced.

The only one I don't have is "Skol".

[paul secor]

I'll go with what I've got also.

[CJ Shearn]

... to pick a very tiny nit, the original b&w Pablo LP covers would be preferred here.

Yeah, those min-LP things. Do the B+W LP covers and make them glossy and shit. Do that.

and yeah, charge extra for it. Hell yeah. Only so many people gonna buy anyways, so charge the money.

For real - this:

not this:

One looks real, the other looks like repackaged product.

... to pick a very tiny nit, the original b&w Pablo LP covers would be preferred here.

Yeah, those min-LP things. Do the B+W LP covers and make them glossy and shit. Do that.

and yeah, charge extra for it. Hell yeah. Only so many people gonna buy anyways, so charge the money.

For real - this:

not this:

One looks real, the other looks like repackaged product.

I agree there, Jim. Pablo covers were glossy so yes, do that!

[Big Beat Steve]

Agreed with Jim too. The original all-black glossy covers conveyed an unmistakable Pablo identity.

The Ellington reissue cover above looks nondescript ("repackaged") indeed. If I had had to guess the label and if it had been a vinyl reissue I'd guessed something like Affinity (UK) that repackaged earlier jazz from labels such as Bethlehem with such relatively bland "one-cover-fits-all-labels" covers in the 80s. Nothing to wrote home about ...

[jazzbo]

There's also a 2 cd set of Sarah Vaughn singing Ellington coming out in a few weeks.

[king ubu]

Are they worth hearing?

CONCORD TO RE-RELEASE SARAH VAUGHN ELLINGTON RECORDS

On August 20, Concord Music Groups will be releasing a two disc collection - Sophisticated Lady: The Duke Ellington Songbook Collection, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Norman Granz's Pablo Records label.

The set is comprised of Sarah Vaughn's two albums of Ellington material (Duke Ellington Song Book One and Duke Ellington Song Book Two) released in 1979 and 1980 respectively.

Included with the original albums in their entirety, The Duke Ellington Songbook Collection also features six previously unreleased tracks including Benny Carter arranged, "Sophisticated Lady" and "In A Sentimental Mood."

http://www.jazz.fm/index.php/news-a-events-mainmenu/8559-concord-to-re-release-sarah-vaughn-ellington-records-

[mjzee]

If you're a fan of late Sarah. Gary Giddins couldn't get enough of her; I find her better in small doses. You should be a fan of vocal pyrotechnics, deep glissandos, wide vibrato, and a deep voice that can pass for a man's. However, there are times when Sarah could really cut to the heart of a lyric. Oh, for this package, you also must be a fan of Ellington's songs.

[king ubu]

I don't really know much late Sarah ... but I love "Crazy and Mixed Up"!

[gmonahan]

If you're a fan of late Sarah. Gary Giddins couldn't get enough of her; I find her better in small doses. You should be a fan of vocal pyrotechnics, deep glissandos, wide vibrato, and a deep voice that can pass for a man's. However, there are times when Sarah could really cut to the heart of a lyric. Oh, for this package, you also must be a fan of Ellington's songs.

I never found myself mistaking Sarah Vaughan's voice for a man's, but to each his own. The Ellington Songbooks are among my favorite Vaughan performances, and my collection of Sarah is fairly complete. She does a wonderful job on every tune. Six more performances, especially if they are new tunes and not just other takes of older ones, would be very attractive, but for my money, this is very, very fine "late" Sarah.

gregmo

[mjzee]

What's weird is that there are 3 alternates (I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good, I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart, and I'm Just A Lucky So And So) that are not on the new reissue that are on this:

I guess they didn't realize it?

[mjzee]

Track list for the new reissue can be found here:

Amazon

[gmonahan]

Track list for the new reissue can be found here:

Amazon

Thanks for this. It looks like they're all alternate takes. I'll have to think hard about this one.

gregmo

[sonnymax]

I don't know who currently owns the masters, but I would like to see reissues of the three Richie Kamuca albums Concord released in the '70s: Richie, Drop Me Off In Harlem & Charlie.

Edited August 11, 2013 by sonnymax