New Lester Young set from Mosaic Records coming

[AllenLowe]

thanks, I did not know that.

[John L]

Are the "Jubilee" sessions the AFRS transcriptions from 1946 (about six tracks), or something else?

 

gregmo

Yes, that is what I was referring to.  Of course, there are also Basie Jubilee sessions with Pres.

[medjuck]

According to the discography in Lewis Porter's bio there are at least 7 numbers done by Pres's group as well as a couple he did with Nat Cole.  Although I've managed to find over 100 of the Jubilee shows I don't have those ones.  Anyone know where they're available?  (Many of the shows with Basie can be found on-line.) 

[John L]

According to the discography in Lewis Porter's bio there are at least 7 numbers done by Pres's group as well as a couple he did with Nat Cole.  Although I've managed to find over 100 of the Jubilee shows I don't have those ones.  Anyone know where they're available?  (Many of the shows with Basie can be found on-line.) 

They are on Lester Young, Masters of Jazz Volume 9.   Amazon now has some of the Masters of Jazz volumes for download at $7 a pop, but I didn't see volume 9. 

[crisp]

Thanks again, John, for all that info.

[ghost of miles]

Called Mosaic this morning to order the James P. Johnson and Gerry Mulligan sets, and asked Scott for an update on the release date for Prez.  He says ETA is late May/early June, in time for Father's Day.

[ghost of miles]

Posted just now by Loren Schoenberg on the Lester Young Appreciation Society Facebook page:

>>BREAKING NEWS ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A MAJOR FIND in the Lester Young/Count Basie Decca recordings has just been discovered - stay tuned for further announcements.

Back to you, Wolf.<<

More details as Loren divulges them.

 

 

[medjuck]

And will this find be on the Mosaic set? 

[ghost of miles]

I would hope so... I'll try to find out more.  Alternate takes from the Basie Decca sessions, I'm guessing?  Also wondering if this might push the ETA for the set back.  I'll see what I can find out from either Loren or Scott and report back, if somebody else doesn't find out first.

[bluesoul]

Not sure if this is what is being referenced above:

 

 

 

[medjuck]

This just in: 

"New Lester Young from 1937*

The Basie band arrived in New York for the very first time in late 1936, to play a Christmas week engagement at the Roseland Ballroom opposite Woody Herman. Their first recording date came a few weeks later, on January 21,1937. Honeysuckle Rose was the first tune cut, opening with two choruses of Basie, showing what he had learned from his close friend and mentor, Fat Waller. It was only natural that next up to bat would be theband's most brilliant soloist, Lester Young, who took a break modulating down a major third that swung directly into a typically inspired chorus. Band riffs a la Fletcher Henderson followed and they were on to the next tune.

It has long frustrated collectors that there are only a handful of alternate takes extant for the entire Count Basie Decca recording series (1937-39). Many theories have been advanced for this.

The reason for alternate takes was that the recording company needed to have more than one version of the tune as a master in case there was a glitch with the original one chosen. So they would record a second version and keep it on the shelf as insurance. Decca had a second turntable installed that would cut two versions of the same master simultaneously, obviating the need for a second one to keep in case it was a mistake with the chosen one. This seems like a plausible scenario. And of all the alternates that do exist, none contain a significant solo by Lester Young, which made the dearth all the more frustrating.

I'll turn things over to a hero of classic jazz, producer Scott Wenzel from Mosaic records.

Eureka! You never know what’s lurking around the corner. The premier jazz film historian Mark Cantor, while recently visiting the Grammy Museum in L.A., chanced upon a Decca shellac test pressing of Basie's "Honeysuckle Rose” housed within a display case. After closer inspection he saw that it was a previously unissued alternate take. Knowing that Mosaic Records will be re-releasing an 8 CD set of Count Basie and Lester Young sessions (to be released in early June), he contacted Steven Lasker who is one of the transfer engineers for this set. Steven immediately contacted the Grammy Museum curator about this disc, plans were immediately made to borrow and transfer the disc for our set. Many times when finds like this happen it’s usually too good to be true…but not his time. The take is beyond anyone’s expectations. Bravo Mark! Bravo Steven!!"

Mark sent me an e-mail about this last night but asked me not to circulate the news until Loren made the announcement.  He says Lester's solo is "amazing". 

Edited March 19, 2016 by medjuck

[bichos]

17 hours ago, bluesoul said:

Not sure if this is what is being referenced above:

 

 

 

no, this is the well known and only take of "one hour". no alternative take.

keep boppin´

marcel

42 minutes ago, medjuck said:

This just in: 

"New Lester Young from 1937*

The Basie band arrived in New York for the very first time in late 1936, to play a Christmas week engagement at the Roseland Ballroom opposite Woody Herman. Their first recording date came a few weeks later, on January 21,1937. Honeysuckle Rose was the first tune cut, opening with two choruses of Basie, showing what he had learned from his close friend and mentor, Fat Waller. It was only natural that next up to bat would be theband's most brilliant soloist, Lester Young, who took a break modulating down a major third that swung directly into a typically inspired chorus. Band riffs a la Fletcher Henderson followed and they were on to the next tune.

It has long frustrated collectors that there are only a handful of alternate takes extant for the entire Count Basie Decca recording series (1937-39). Many theories have been advanced for this.

The reason for alternate takes was that the recording company needed to have more than one version of the tune as a master in case there was a glitch with the original one chosen. So they would record a second version and keep it on the shelf as insurance. Decca had a second turntable installed that would cut two versions of the same master simultaneously, obviating the need for a second one to keep in case it was a mistake with the chosen one. This seems like a plausible scenario. And of all the alternates that do exist, none contain a significant solo by Lester Young, which made the dearth all the more frustrating.

I'll turn things over to a hero of classic jazz, producer Scott Wenzel from Mosaic records.

Eureka! You never know what’s lurking around the corner. The premier jazz film historian Mark Cantor, while recently visiting the Grammy Museum in L.A., chanced upon a Decca shellac test pressing of Basie's "Honeysuckle Rose” housed within a display case. After closer inspection he saw that it was a previously unissued alternate take. Knowing that Mosaic Records will be re-releasing an 8 CD set of Count Basie and Lester Young sessions (to be released in early June), he contacted Steven Lasker who is one of the transfer engineers for this set. Steven immediately contacted the Grammy Museum curator about this disc, plans were immediately made to borrow and transfer the disc for our set. Many times when finds like this happen it’s usually too good to be true…but not his time. The take is beyond anyone’s expectations. Bravo Mark! Bravo Steven!!"

Mark sent me an e-mail about this last night but asked me not to circulate the news until Loren made the announcement.  He says Lester's solo is "amazing". 

wonderful news! thanks for the update!!

keep boppin´

marcel

 

[JSngry]

That's enough to compel my purchse, but...have enough links to the past been erased that following up on this one crack in the conventional wisdom as to the lack of such things become impossible?

[medjuck]

54 minutes ago, JSngry said:

That's enough to compel my purchse, but...have enough links to the past been erased that following up on this one crack in the conventional wisdom as to the lack of such things become impossible?

I'm not quite sure what you're getting at.  In fact I don't understand it at all but I think if I did I'd find it interesting. 

[JSngry]

First, I was on the fence about actually buying this set right away, because I think I have all of it already in some form or fashion. Money is not really freed-up for us right now, so I could miss it altogether if I had to. But this, yes, this is enough to justify the purchase. Yes, I'm that easily persuaded with things Lester Young!

As for the second part, the whole thing has been "Few Decca Alternates Exist" and then, mostly, it's been Because Decca Didn't Do Alternate Takes, They Made Dual Simultaneous Recording To Get A Backup.

But then, hey, all of a sudden THIS thing pops up, and my first response is, oh wow, what caused this to happen? Was it to get a level, were they testing something, or was it done as a band warmup, just what caused this to even be made in the first place? And then - was this an unusual practice for Decca & Basie, or was it standard practice? And then, well THIS one survived,how did it come to be here, who had it, who moved it into this museum, did they recognize the significance, how long has it been sitting there in "plain view" and nobody knowing what it was until now? Wss it donated by some Jerry Valburn type character who came into possession of it by who knows what means, or was it just something that some hired hand found while cleaning up something somewhere and said, oh, cool, Basie, dispose or donate, I don't care, hell, why not donate, it's probably "historical".

Stuff like that.

And maybe that curiosity has been triggered and further research is being don out of public view (and, perhaps, understandably so). But the press release conveys a simple tone of Gosh, Look What We Stumbled Across, and just leaves it there. But I also wonder if all the "witnesses" who could provide good/good-ish leads to retrace those steps and then go off on some new ones are pretty much gone now, what with all the old folks being dead, and more and more of the younger ones starting on hearsay and handmedown.

As best as I can tell, the people who actually found this and are moving it along are on the tail end of people who would have had access to the lores of Jerry Valburn and his type, the people who ended up with "collections" of sometimes "dubious" origins. It seems to have been a shadowy world to begin with, I didn't start hearing real light-shining stories until after a safe time had passed after their deaths, so I don't know. I just don't know.

I didn't type all of this in the first place, because my computer is acting all buggy now, and I was posting from a phone at the time. Sorry for the "cryptic" message, and sorry for the ramble here.

 

 

[medjuck]

I don't think it's fair to tar Mark and Steven with the Valburn brush. But I get what your question was now and I hope the answer is "no". 

6 hours ago, bichos said:

no, this is the well known and only take of "one hour". no alternative take.

keep boppin´

marcel

wonderful news! thanks for the update!!

keep boppin´

marcel

 

 

6 hours ago, bichos said:

no, this is the well known and only take of "one hour". no alternative take.

keep boppin´

marcel

wonderful news! thanks for the update!!

keep boppin´

marcel

 

I think it is an unreleased alternative take unused in Jammin' the Blues.  Dickie Wells isn't in the take used in the film. 

[JSngry]

Nonono, not looking to tar those guys, not at all. Just noting that finding this type of item seems to defy the conventional wisdom and hoping, perhaps against hope, that its discovery triggers a reexamination of that conventional wisdom and opens up new paths to explore in hopes of finding some more!

Also, the Valburn thing was strictly in reference to how this thing possibly ended up where it was foud, or somewhere on theway to there, nothing at all to do withthe people who found it now.

[Chuck Nessa]

If I haven't decoded all there is in Taxi War Dance, can I justify owning this box? 

[JSngry]

They justified continuing to make records, right?

#PlayYourPart

#SectionPlayer

#KeepDatMoneyMovin

[paul secor]

11 hours ago, Chuck Nessa said:

If I haven't decoded all there is in Taxi War Dance, can I justify owning this box? 

That's what I'm thinking. Doesn't mean I won't break down and get it, but that's what I'm thinking now.

[gmonahan]

I do wonder about this one.  I mean, I've had the Basie Deccas since the truly ancient LP days (anybody remember that cool 2-LP set with pages in the fold--I played that thing until it was practically warn flat).  I have the Decca Jazz 3-cd set, and then I bought the Heps to get better sound.  Now, this comes along.  These are foundational recordings, of course, but yet ANOTHER version!  Sigh.  Still, Mosaic, and I really *love* Mosaic boxes.  Well, who needs money in one's bank account, anyway? 

[l p]

On 3/19/2016 at 5:52 PM, medjuck said:

I think it is an unreleased alternative take unused in Jammin' the Blues.  Dickie Wells isn't in the take used in the film. 

 

according to the lester discography, 'if i could be with you one hour tonight' is not in the film. it was issued on the soundtrack, it's with d. wells, and there's only one version. 

[medjuck]

1 hour ago, l p said:

 

according to the lester discography, 'if i could be with you one hour tonight' is not in the film. it was issued on the soundtrack, it's with d. wells, and there's only one version. 

I think you're correct. 

[John L]

On March 19, 2016 at 5:45 AM, JSngry said:

First, I was on the fence about actually buying this set right away, because I think I have all of it already in some form or fashion.

 

Does that include the 1936 alternates?

On March 20, 2016 at 9:34 AM, Chuck Nessa said:

If I haven't decoded all there is in Taxi War Dance, can I justify owning this box? 

Yes, because there is often great pleasure in what we don't fully understand.   Sometimes it is even better that way.

[dougcrates]

The details for this set are up on the Mosaic site but you have to click Recent Releases at the top of the home page and it's at the bottom of the 2nd page.

http://www.mosaicrecords.com/prodinfo.asp?number=263-MD-CD