Rare Jazz Recordings Uncovered

[Hardbopjazz]

Anyone have any information if this whether it ever got released.

Rare Jazz Recordings Uncovered

1940s Lester Young Jam Session Recording Discovered

During a news conference announcing the fourth annual National Recording Registry, the Library of Congress also announced the discovery of a jam session featuring jazz great Lester Young. Speaking on the Young discovery, Loren Schoenberg, executive director of the Jazz Museum in Harlem, said, "Yes, this was Lester’s absolute zenith and there is precious little extant from this period. Imagine a new Shakespearean sonnet, Chopin nocturne or Hemingway short story – that's what we have here – an American master, a true iconoclast, at his very best."

Three disc sides were found among a donated collection of about 150 16-inch lacquer discs -- a fragile, pre-tape recordable format -- which will be digitally preserved by the Library as part of its continuing digital preservation initiative. Eugene DeAnna, head of the Library’s Recorded Sound Section, said that no one previously knew about this hidden jazz treasure, and he spoke about the compelling story behind the discovery, which was simply labeled "Jam Session, December 29, 1940":

"The outer sleeve had some pencil marks showing first names that would be of great interest to jazz aficianados – Doc, J. C., Shad and, most intriguing, L. Young," DeAnna recalled. "When our audio engineer cued the disc, we were delighted to find a jam session featuring Lester Young leading a small band in an unidentified nightclub." Young was accompanied by Shad Collins on trumpet, Doc West on drums, J.C. Higginbotham on trombone and Sammy Price on piano.

The recording is especially significant because it was recorded during a vital period in Young’s career, when little of his work survives. According to DeAnna, it is speculated that Young was performing at the famous Village Vanguard in New York City. "At one point the emcee announces that the chile con carne is ready," DeAnna said.

A similar announcement was made at last year’s National Recording Registry news conference, when the Library announced that historically significant concert tapes, featuring the legendary jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk and iconic saxophonist John Coltrane, had been uncovered in the Library’s recorded sound collection during preparation for preservation. Those recordings were released as a top-selling CD in 2005, under the title "Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall."

Larry Appelbaum, the Library’s Recording Lab supervisor and jazz specialist who discovered the Monk-Coltrane tapes, will lecture on "Hunting for Jazz Treasures: Discovering the Monk-Coltrane Tapes," at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 19, in the Mary Pickford Theater, LM 301, James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave., Washington, D.C.

The Library of Congress (www.loc.gov) is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution and the world's largest library with more than 132 million items, which includes nearly 2.8 million sound recordings. The Library's Recorded Sound Section holds the largest number of radio broadcasts in the United States – more than 500,000.

[Chalupa]

http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/0605/young.html

DeAnna said no one has come forward yet to release and market the Lester Young recording, but the Library will make a digital master to preserve the sounds from the fragile lacquer discs. The entire Chalfin collection is a leading candidate for preservation in digital format, and the Young recording, "in our priority for preservation, is at the top," DeAnna said.

......

The next step is to make a digital master directly from the lacquer discs. However, noise and vibrations from recent construction projects at the Library's Madison Building have made it nearly impossible to record analog discs at preservation quality, so this digital-preservation project may have to wait until a state-of-the-art digital preservation laboratory opens at the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, Va., sometime next year.

[medjuck]

[

DeAnna said no one has come forward yet to release and market the Lester Young recording,

Maybe it could be a Mosaic Single.

[mjzee]

This is from the Reissues forum:

I direct you to a recent interview w/ Cuscuna (http://www.openskyjazz.com/blog/?m=200905):

"The Blue Note Rudy Van Gelder series will continue to revisit more Blue Note classics. But the Blue Note vault is tapped out of releasable unissued material. That’s why we started what we call internally the discovery series, looking to outside sources for new discoveries. And we hit with a megaton bang starting it off with the Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall. Charles Mingus At Cornell, and Horace Silver at Newport 1958 followed. We have a killer Freddie Hubbard album Without a Song - Live in Europe coming in June. Freddie was thrilled with this music - he told me he thought it was some of his best playing ever captured on tape. He was going to do a lot of press for it but alas… We are working on material by Andrew Hill and Wes Montgomery next."

Hint, hint, hint...

[Tom Storer]

Some unintentional humor...

The recording is especially significant because it was recorded during a vital period in Young’s career, when little of his work survives. According to DeAnna, it is speculated that Young was performing at the famous Village Vanguard in New York City. "At one point the emcee announces that the chile con carne is ready," DeAnna said.

A similar announcement was made at last year’s National Recording Registry news conference, when the Library announced that historically significant concert tapes, featuring the legendary jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk and iconic saxophonist John Coltrane, had been uncovered in the Library’s recorded sound collection during preparation for preservation. Those recordings were released as a top-selling CD in 2005, under the title "Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall."

[bertrand]

What's also hilarious is that now the Vanguard makes a point of NOT serving food, or even coffee. They don't have a kitchen.

Bertrand.

[JSngry]

Where is Biddy Fleet when you need him?

[Shrdlu]

That Pres should be great. Can't wait to hear it.

A friend in France sent me some airshots of Basie from the late 30s, running 6 mins and more. Pres is able to stretch out and it's awesome. What a shame we didn't have tapes back then, as, for me, Pres was at his best then. The Decca 78s of Basie are wonderful, but you only get 8 or 16 measures of each soloist.

For those who don't know, there are stories of 30s jam sessions where Pres played about 30 choruses without repeating any ideas.

[Shrdlu]

Not all of the Blue Note vault stuff has been tapped out. There are dozens of Three Sounds selections that have never been issued. The problem seems to be that there are too many for economical release.

For me, their BN sides are like the Red Garland trio Prestiges: nothing unexpected, but incredibly groovy and enjoyable to play. I could listen to either group all day.

[Hardbopjazz]

Not all of the Blue Note vault stuff has been tapped out. There are dozens of Three Sounds selections that have never been issued. The problem seems to be that there are too many for economical release.

For me, their BN sides are like the Red Garland trio Prestiges: nothing unexpected, but incredibly groovy and enjoyable to play. I could listen to either group all day.

As much as I dig Gene Harris, these won't ever be issued. As you said there isn't a market for the Three Sounds. Maybe Blue Note can go the route of Verve and offer their vault on iTunes.

[Hardbopjazz]

This story makes me wonder, how much is yet to be discovered. I wonder can someone just go to the library of congress and peruse through the bins or piles of broadcasts?

[Stefan Wood]

No, unfortunately not. The catch is you have to know what you are looking for so that the employees can find them. And they are poorly catalogued.

[bertrand]

You can find a listing for a lot of interesting things they have on the SONIC database on the loc.gov website.

I listened to a Dewey Redman quintet set from 1974 last week; mostly material from Ear Of The Behearer.

Bertrand.

Edited June 2, 2009 by bertrand

[Hardbopjazz]

Someone was recently telling me when you listen or watch something at the Library of Congress someone from the LOC will keep interrupting you. I guess so you can't be making copies. I wonder if this is true or not.

[ejp626]

Someone was recently telling me when you listen or watch something at the Library of Congress someone from the LOC will keep interrupting you. I guess so you can't be making copies. I wonder if this is true or not.

Well, it is certainly not true about National Archives, where you can go in (to the Maryland outpost) and make copies of the videos and films, provided they are in the public domain. I did this once for a history software project. Don't know the story about LOC.

[bertrand]

You cannot make copies of the recordings at LoC, that goes without saying. It's annoying to me that I occasionally mention these things here, and invariably someone starts asking about copies or PMs me. One time, someone was berating me because they knew someone who had successfully made copies and was suggesting I was a wimp for not doing the same. I've been going there for years, they've earned my trust, does this dude really think I'd throw that all away???

I'm sorry if someone felt the staff was overbearing, but I can assure you they did not interrupt because they did not trust them.

Bertrand.

[Hardbopjazz]

So Bertrand, I can make an appointment and go view something without being hounded every second. I would love to watch the film from the first Monterey jazz festival donated by the Gerry Mulligan estate. I don't want to make a copy, but I would like to view or listen to something without contently being interrupted.

[bertrand]

Do you have the references for the film you are referring to? Since it's part of the Mulligan estate, it is probably not even through recorded sound that you would view it. I can find out ore for you next time I go there.

Bertrand.

[Hardbopjazz]

It was at Berkley University. Berkley has all recording from the Monterey Jazz Festival from the first till today. A copy of it was given to the Mulligan estate and it was then donated to LOC. I don't have much other then this. I want to view especially since Sonny Rollins is playing on the film. My avatar is a screen shot from that film.

[medjuck]

Given that they seem to be pretty good at obtaining musicians' rights maybe Uptown could release the Lester Young recordings.

[Hardbopjazz]

Given that they seem to be pretty good at obtaining musicians' rights maybe Uptown could release the Lester Young recordings.

Hopefully, but the disc needs some work first. I don't know if they would get involved in that.

[Rooster_Ties]

This is from the Reissues forum:

I direct you to a recent interview w/ Cuscuna (http://www.openskyjazz.com/blog/?m=200905):

"The Blue Note Rudy Van Gelder series will continue to revisit more Blue Note classics. But the Blue Note vault is tapped out of releasable unissued material. That’s why we started what we call internally the discovery series, looking to outside sources for new discoveries. And we hit with a megaton bang starting it off with the Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall. Charles Mingus At Cornell, and Horace Silver at Newport 1958 followed. We have a killer Freddie Hubbard album Without a Song - Live in Europe coming in June. Freddie was thrilled with this music - he told me he thought it was some of his best playing ever captured on tape. He was going to do a lot of press for it but alas… We are working on material by Andrew Hill and Wes Montgomery next."

Hint, hint, hint...

So whatever became of the "Discovery" series??

Anybody know what Andrew Hill and/or Wes Montgomery recordings were being prepared for release, and is any of that still in the pipeline?

FWIW, Freddie's "Without a Song" came out in June '09.

Edited March 31, 2011 by Rooster_Ties

[dankarlsberg]

I too have been curious about that. Andrew Hill is one of my favorites, and I would love to know what they were thinking of issuing.

[jazzbo]

Given that they seem to be pretty good at obtaining musicians' rights maybe Uptown could release the Lester Young recordings.

Hopefully, but the disc needs some work first. I don't know if they would get involved in that.

Why not? When Chuck Nessa was involved with the label he recounted tales of a laborious process to get the sound right for the Town Hall Concert release for example.