Timeless Jazz: Sackville Records 11-24-2019 WUTC

[Ken Dryden]

I will be doing a survey of Sackville Records this Sunday, November 24, from 3 to 5 pm ET on wutc.org.

I will post the playlist later tonight.

 

[sgcim]

There better be a lot of Ed Bickert on there!

[Ken Dryden]

There will be, though this label is one I pretty much had to purchase, as promos were few. I did interview John Norris a few months before his sudden death, though the publisher inexplicably held it until the day after he died. I may broadcast it at some future date.

 

 

[John Tapscott]

7 hours ago, Ken Dryden said:

There will be, though this label is one I pretty much had to purchase, as promos were few. I did interview John Norris a few months before his sudden death, though the publisher inexplicably held it until the day after he died. I may broadcast it at some future date.

 

 

John's death may have been sudden, but he had dealing with health issues for a few years. I remember meeting and speaking with him in the summer of 2009. I hadn't seen him for a few years and I was a bit shocked by how frail he had become.  But he was speaking enthusiastically about a Rossano Sportiello solo piano recording he had produced just a few days before. And he still had some projects in the pipeline. He kept going to the end. 

Here's a Sackville recording I missed when it first came out in 1979/80. I only discovered it a few years ago when I bought the Delmark CD re-issue. It is excellent. 

 

edited to ask - Ken - do you have the 3 CD set - 40 Years of Sackville? - a superb compilation of prime tracks from the label's recordings, chosen by Norris himself. Very few labels had the breadth of Sackville in stylistic terms - from very traditional jazz right through to the avant-garde.   

Edited November 20, 2019 by John Tapscott

[Ken Dryden]

I don't have the 3 CD compilation. John sent me a new Rossano Sportiello CD just after the interview and told me to put together a request list for back catalog items and for some dumb reason, I never did. It's not that I didn't want a lot of things that were still in print.

 

Here is the playlist for both hours:

Artist/Band - Song - CD tTtle

Hour 1
Canadian All Stars    Straight Back     European Concert
Willie The Lion Smith & Don Ewell   Keepin' Out Of Mischief Now
Doc Cheatham & Jim Galloway    Way Down Yonder In New Orleans   At The Bern Jazz Festival
Ed Bickert & Don Thompson    What Is This Thing Called Love    At The Garden Party
Ben Webster & Teddy Wilson   In A Mellow Tone   Ben & Teddy
Harold Mabern    Pent Up House     Joy Spring
Joe Temperley & Harry Allen    Blues In The Closet    Cocktails For Two
Ronnie Mathews    Tenor Madness    At Cafe Des Copains
Dick Hyman & Dick Wellstood    California, Here I Come    Stridemonster!

Hour 2
Ruby Braff       My Funny Valentine    The Canadian Sessions
Jay McShann & Don Thompson   Gee, Baby, Ain't I Good To You?   Solos & Duets
Buddy Tate Quartet     I'll Remember April    Texas Tenor
Jim Galloway's Wee Big Band    Aluminum Baby   Blue Reverie
Don Friedman & Don Thompson   Stella By Starlight    Opus D'Amour
Sonny Greenwich & Ed Bickert    Oleo    Days Gone By
Dick Hyman & Ralph Sutton     Viper's Drag    Just You Just Me
Junior Mance    Yancey Special   Junior Mance Special
Ralph Sutton   S'posin'   More At Cafe Des Copains

Edited November 21, 2019 by Ken Dryden

[John Tapscott]

5 hours ago, Ken Dryden said:

I don't have the 3 CD compilation. John sent me a new Rossano Sportiello CD just after the interview and told me to put together a request list for back catalog items and for some dumb reason, I never did. It's not that I didn't want a lot of things that were still in print.

 

Here is the playlist for both hours:

Artist/Band - Song - CD tTtle

Hour 1
Canadian All Stars    Straight Back     European Concert
Willie The Lion Smith & Don Ewell   Keepin' Out Of Mischief Now
Doc Cheatham & Jim Galloway    Way Down Yonder In New Orleans   At The Bern Jazz Festival
Ed Bickert & Don Thompson    What Is This Thing Called Love    At The Garden Party
Ben Webster & Teddy Wilson   In A Mellow Tone   Ben & Teddy
Harold Mabern    Pent Up House     Joy Spring
Joe Temperley & Harry Allen    Blues In The Closet    Cocktails For Two
Ronnie Mathews    Tenor Madness    At Cafe Des Copains
Dick Hyman & Dick Wellstood    California, Here I Come    Stridemonster!

Hour 2
Ruby Braff       My Funny Valentine    The Canadian Sessions
Jay McShann & Don Thompson   Gee, Baby, Ain't I Good To You?   Solos & Duets
Buddy Tate Quartet     I'll Remember April    Texas Tenor
Jim Galloway's Wee Big Band    Aluminum Baby   Blue Reverie
Don Friedman & Don Thompson   Stella By Starlight    Opus D'Amour
Sonny Greenwich & Ed Bickert    Oleo    Days Gone By
Dick Hyman & Ralph Sutton     Viper's Drag    Just You Just Me
Junior Mance    Yancey Special   Junior Mance Special
Ralph Sutton   S'posin'   More At Cafe Des Copains

An excellent choice. It's hard to go wrong. I have every CD from which these tracks are chosen. I personally would have chosen a track by Phil Nimmons, Canada's premier jazz composer, who has several fine Sackville CD's.  

[Ken Dryden]

Unfortunately, I don't think I own any of Phil Nimmons' Sackville releases. I am also unable to play LPs on my show since the station retired its last turntable a few years before I retired, a horrible decision prompted by the news director's demand for more space (there was plenty of room for it). I may donate one just so I can play stuff there instead of having to dub tracks onto a CDR at home.