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    • On Verve, which is kind of surprising.
    • The most difficult part of Tjader's discography is the first, his early sideman dates (most importantly with Dave Brubeck and George Shearing) and his first tenure with Galaxy and Fantasy labels. The problem lies in the rapid changes of disc formats between the 1940's and 1960's. First there were only 78 rpm 10" shellac dics with close to 3 minutes maximum playing time (the 12" discs were reserved for classical music), but the desire for discs with longer playing time led to the invention of the LP played at 33 rpm, which was a 10" disc at first, too. The term "album" was initially used for a compilation of several discs, the LP replicated that playing time. 3 to 4 sides of shellac discs were on one side of a 10" LP. Recordings of longer tracks were now possible. There were re-issues of older material as well as new recordings conceived with the longer playing time in mind. But the advent of the 12" LP necessitated reissues and caused new compilations, adding previously unreleased material or omitting tracks when there was too much - independent jazz labels had there problems during those years - take a look at Blue Note, Prestige or Riverside and how they handled repackaging the music originally released on 10" Lp to 12" LP. Fantasy had a little less problems: The main business of Max and Sol Weiss was a manufacturing plant for custom made plastic parts, part of which soon was a vinyl record pressing plant, the Circle Record Co. So when they finaliy realized their idea of their own record labels, which they named Galaxy and Fantasy (they were fans of Science Fiction and Fantasy magazines) they had all formats at their discposal. All the issues of Cal Tjader's music are a perfect illustration of how to handle this - or how you shouldn't but nevertheless did.  For details, please have a look at my discography: https://jazzdiscography.com/Artists/cal-tjader/cal-tjader-discography-part1.php It started with the Dave Brubeck Trio's four sides for Coronet, which the Circle Company had manufactured. Brubeck had baught them back and approached the Weiss brothers, who agreed to reissue them but wanted new recordings first, which led to the release of singles, at first 10" 78 rpm shellac discs, then 7" 45 rpm vinyl, and later 10" LPs. They kept the new sessions intact but added two Coronet tracks. So if you talk about "original LPs" of the Brubeck Trio, mention the ten inchers first: Fantasy LP 3-1, 3-2 and 3-4 - Distinctive Rhythm Instrumentals (1951-52) Tjader was the Jack of all trades here, playing drumset, bongos, or vibes, which he had just bought - he was entirely self taught on that instrument! His mother's piano lessons were a good base, of course. The discs pictured above had three tracks on each side, but then were reissued as a double 10" with four track per side. Furthermore, Frantasy reissued the same takes on single releases as the Coronet 78's but used two alternates for the 10" LPs - a fact the label never noticed, or so it seems. Next step were 12" LPs and CDs with all 24 tracks as released on the 10" LPs, but missing the two original takes and some radio material a board member recently discovered. Pleas consult my disco - it is complicated. These are the later issues: The Fantasy CD reissues this, as well as several European public domain issues: The latter displays later Fantasy LP issues. None of these includes the two origianlly issued takes of Laura and Tea For Two from the Coronet 78's.
    • Now spinning: Milton Nascimento - Encontros e Despedidas (Polydor, 1985) The album title translates to English as Meetings and Farewells.  
    • Thanks. Also some website/blog reviews I saw. Next time in the shop I'll leaf through the book (I'm a fast reader) and check...no time today. OTOH, I suspect that Dolphy bio material is really scarce, rendering a detailed biography a la Szwed (for instance) unlikely. By way of comparison, I sprang for Combs's Dameronia, which had the same shortcomings. Tadd was both secretive and prone to dissembling / dissimulation, so there wasn't much to go by. [Sadly, I never managed to get a hold of Ian MacDonald's Dameron book.]
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