All Activity

👍

New day, wipe the slate clean

Ted Fio Rito normally is outside the jazz field but was BIG among the sweeter big bands. Clyde Lucas - apparently one of the many jazzwise nondescript hotel bands catering to the "sedate set" and doing his patriotic duty on these V-Discs. Bill Heathcock (not even listed in Simon's book, not in Leo Walker's Big Band Almanac, so a maximum obscurity ) has some interesting names in the lineup of V-Disc 619, and "Late at Night" would be one I'd find interesting to explore. Randy Brooks was a fairly big name back then and from today's listening perspective he should not put off anyone who is into the likes of Glenn Miller or the Dorseys. Johnny Blowers admittedly IS obscure as a bandleader (his was one of those "sidemen-turned-bandleader" outfits, but apparently only briefly) but as a drummer he was present on many Swing sessions. Mal Hallett (the chapter on him in George Simon's Big Bands" book had me intrigued when I first got hold of that book more than 40 years ago) seems to have had his heyday in the pre-Swing era years and recorded fairly little during the Swing era, and reissues of his recordings are very, very thin on the ground. Tony Pastor, OTOH, recorded a lot; he had a very swinging and enjoyable band IMO, not least of all thanks to his hip (or should I say "offbeat"?) vocals which place him not too far away from Louis Prima, right down to some overlaps in their repertoire. Some of his V-Discs were reissued before on vinyl. However, I'd sure like to hear V-Disc 275 by the Tony Pastor band and his recording of a tune titled "Schickelgruber"! Pity it's not on that Mosaic set. Now THAT would be one "period piece"!

Clyde Lucas, Ted Fiorito, Johnny Blowers, Randy Brooks, Bill Heathcock are obscure to me... Also the Curtis Bay Coast Guard Training Station Dance band and the other military bands... Yet others like Mal Hallett or Tony Pastor do ring bells, but I don't know anything about their music... To be fair, most of the more obscure bands are only covered with relatively few tracks...

Which bands would you consider to be among the "really obscure"? Just wondering ...

Another break from football (at least the Bengals got eliminated in our division too)

Good stuff, for sure!

Yeah, that blow out, maybe I need more distractions from football 😊

With extra material?

No. 408 from ZIM is mind blowing. Listening to the entire album on headphones is recommended.

I messaged Joe Harley about this. He says they intend to get to this but didn’t specify a time frame.

Looks sort of like the Bears playbook with Ben Johnson at the helm.

I guess this is my idea of taking a break from football

It’s a Christmas miracle!!!

Mine is a 2-CD set. https://www.discogs.com/release/3818299-Woody-Herman-His-Orchestra-Blowin-Up-A-Storm-The-Columbia-Years-1945-47?srsltid=AfmBOoqbRbGN43mRvijFgZ1_XrLWLedpc4naVvtpaoCT4nfXpuuaDGGc

This is your idea of taking a break from football?

Underwhelmed is the understatement of the year.

The Mosaic Hank Mobley 1963-1970 box set is now SOLD. The Mosaic Hank Mobley Fifties Sessions box set is still available. The Complete Blue Note Hank Mobley Fifties Sessions (6 CD, Mosaic (1998) All is in Near Mint (NM) condition - outer box, CDs, jewel cases, booklet https://www.discogs.com/release/5250366-Hank-Mobley-The-Complete-Blue-Note-Hank-Mobley-Fifties-Sessions $85 (+ $10 media mail shipping) U.S. shipping only. I can only ship on the weekend. Payment by pay pal friends/family

Fiesty!

Need a break from football

It will be interesting to see what happens to physical media in the next decade or so. Nothing is fixed. What we have today for streaming could look very different in terms of content and pricing in future. If these large platforms ever introduce tiered pricing mixed with AI-artist development and promotion, some of their customer base could leave and go seeking physical media or other options. I just don't see it happening for CDs overall though. One needs a CD player, receiver and speakers to listen to them and younger millennials and gen z don't seem like the demographic that's going to go out of their way to get all of that going. Happy to be wrong on that.

Both Mobley sets are still available. PM sent.