Stereojack

Beautiful!! I don't they ever recorded this tune. Bacharach's tunes always have such nice changes.

Well, here we go. As usual, no reference books or web sources were consulted. I'll let my comments stand as is. 1. A nice slice of swing to kick off this fine BFT. My first thought for the vibist was Adrian Rollini, although Rollini usually worked in a trio format. The violin has a bit of a “gypsy” quality, so I thought of Eddie South. No idea on the others. 2. Rex Stewart! Knew it from the first note. I can also hear Harry Carney & Lawrence Brown in there, so this has to be one of the many Ellington spin-off groups. A lovely side. 3. I was enjoying the fine ensemble work with no idea who this was until the alto came in – Jimmy Dorsey! Presumably that’s him on clarinet at the beginning. Although Dorsey’s band was known for the many vocal hits they made, they could kick ass with the best of them, as this fine side demonstrates. 4. A strong Basie feeling here – I think this might be an early Harry James track. James always took cues from Basie throughout his career, and the trumpet could be him. 5. I recognized Bill Harris right away. At first I figured this was a Woody Herman contingent with Flip Phillips, but once the track got beyond 78 length, I figured it out. This is a live track from an old Phoenix(?) LP “A Knight In the Village”, with Charlie Ventura on tenor and Lennie Tristano on piano. 6. The tune is “Anything”. I believe this is the Original Memphis Five, with Tommy Dorsey, Phil Napoleon, Eddie Lang, and Jimmy Dorsey doing his very best Jimmie Noone. Tommy later recorded this with Sinatra in the early 40’s. 7. A fine pianist with a debt to Fats Waller. Might this be Bob Zurke? That’s wild guess, but I’ll stick with it for now. 8. Here’s a swing version of the New Orleans warhorse “Panama”. I think this might be the Luis Russell band around 1934, after some of the key players had left. Sounds like J. C. Higginbotham and Charlie Holmes were still on board! 9. Here’s a swing version of a tune Fletcher Henderson first recorded with Louis Armstrong in the band in the mid 1920’s – “Shanghai Shuffle”. Not sure if this is Henderson c. 1934, but if it is, that’d be Ben Webster on tenor, still under the spell of Hawkins. My memory tell me that Buster Bailey was in the band at the time, but this doesn’t sound like him. Red Allen on trumpet. Can’t get enough of this! 10. This has to be the Casa Loma Orchestra! The tune reminds me of “Heebie Jeebies”. Billy Rauch trombone, Pat Davis tenor. Clarence Hutchenrider clarinet. Fantastic ensemble work, even if the arrangement is a little ornate. This band must have been great live. 11. I can’t place this – there’s a bit of a Sy Oliver feel here, although I don’t think this is the Lunceford band. I could be wrong. The open trumpet is strong. Might this be Erskine Hawkins? 12. My first thought was Raymond Scott, but I think this might be a little too jazzy for him. Good trumpet player! Good solos all around. 13. There are a few names that come to mind for this trio rendition of Schubert’s “Serenade”. The guitar is a little ripe, sounds like he might be more comfortable playing Hawaiian music! Jazzing up the classics was all the rage in the late 30’s & early 40’s, so this could be any number of pianists. Herman Chittison, maybe, or possibly Erskine Butterfield? 14. One of my all time favorites – “Swing Out”, by Henry “Red” Allen. I first heard this many years ago when I was in high school - this track was on one of those “RCA History of Jazz” LP’s, and all these years later it’s still one of my desert island tracks. Of course, this is actually the great Luis Russell band recording under Allen’s name for Victor in 1929. I’ve always loved the way J. C. Higginbotham comes swooping in on trombone, and all of the soloists (and the stomping rhythm section) are great – Teddy Hill, Charlie Holmes, Albert Nicholas, and Red Allen. Five stars – no, ten stars! 15. I think this is Roy Eldridge, circa 1937. His brother Joe Eldridge on alto – a fine player sounding a little like Russell Procope. Roy is one of my all time favorite musicians – tremendous drive and excitement!! 16. At the beginning this borrows from Louis’s “Yes I’m In the Barrel”. I think it’s Benny Goodman circa 1933. Might this be “Tappin’ the Barrel”? The arrangement is the star here, although Benny and the trumpet (Charlie Teagarden?) have a couple of nice spots. 17. Here’s Benny again, a few years later, with the fabulous Eddie Sauter composition “Benny Rides Again”. Such gorgeous writing, great ensemble work, and BG at his finest. Is that Nick Fatool on drums? It don’t get no better than this. 18. I think this might be Benny Carter circa 1933. Some imaginative changes, and lovely writing, especially for the saxes. I won’t hazard a guess as to the soloists, although they are all good. 19. A Hawaiian vocal group with trumpet – very nice! I’m clueless on this, although I like it. 20. A noble attempt, but it seems a little busy and never settles into a groove. Nevertheless, an interesting finale to a very fine BFT. Thoroughly enjoyed the classic music – thanks, Berigan!

Gravy/Walkin' actually bears a very close resemblance to "El Sino", recorded by Leo Parker (with Gene Ammons) in 1947. This has always suggested to me that Ammons is the actual composer. To further complicate matters, the composition is credited to Charles Greenlee on the Savoy LP, although I don't have access to the original 78 to check the credit. BMI database also credits Greenlee.

The version with Trane on "Mating Call" (Prestige). Junior Cook has a nice on on Steeplechase.

Record labels show "H. Gibeling". This name was unfamiliar to me, so I did a Google search, and came up with Howard Gibeling, a trombonist who also wrote for Stan Kenton.

Here is a collective personnel as listed in Raben: Lee Castle, Charlie Shavers, Billy Marshall, John Frosk, Paul Cohen, Dick Perry, John McCormick, Art Tancredi, Andy Ferretti (tp) Tommy Dorsey, Tak Takvorian, Vince Forrest, Jimmy Henderson, Sam Hyster, Sonny Russo (tb) Jimmy Dorsey (cl/as), Red Press, Skip Galluccio, Kenny DeLange, Toots Mondello (as) Buzzy Brauner, Joe Pamelia, Gail Curtis, Boomie Richman (ts), Teddy Lee (bars) Doug Talbert (p), Sam Herman (g), Bill Cronk (b), Cliff Leeman, Buddy Rich, Louis Bellson (d) Sy Oliver, Dick Jones, Neal Hefti, Deane Kincaide, Ernie Wilkins (arr) Recorded at several sessions in 1954 & 1955 in NYC. (Edited for typos)

Don't have full details, but there are several tidbits of information in the liner notes. The tapes were produced by Tommy Dorsey & sold to Columbia. Charlie Shavers, Lee Castle (tp) are in the band. Buddy Rich (d) on We've Crossed the Widest River, How Far Is It To Jordan, Judgement Is Coming, Where Is That Rock, Heaven Help Us. Cliff Leeman (d) on Wagon Wheels. Louis Bellson (d) on This Is What Gabriel Says. Neal Hefti (arr) on Moonlight In Vermont. Deane Kincaide (arr) on We've Crossed the Widest River, How Far Is It To Jordan, This Is What Gabriel Says, Judgement Is Coming, Where Is That Rock, Heaven Help Us. Sy Oliver (arr) on Wagon Wheels. Ernie Wilkins (arr) on Peace Pipe, Skirts and Sweaters, Do It Yourself, Flagler Drive, Stereophonic. Btw, several of the Wilkins charts were also recorded by Count Basie.

My discs arrived yesterday. Thanks!

In regards to the Evans box, I both agree and disagree with you, Chris. I was happy to get the additional live material, all of which has value, but I think 3 discs worth of outtakes from the "From Left To Right" sessions is excessive. As for the Benedetti, set, there's no pleasing everybody. There are those people (and we all know a few) who absolutely need to have every scrap, and there are those who are more judicious in their purchases. My criterion has always been "is the thing worth listening to?", as I suspect is yours and most people's. Years ago I had a conversation with a label owner about a poor quality Parker release he had issued, asking (politely) how he could justify such a bad sounding release. His response was that you are damned if you do by those who expect quality, and you are damned if you don't by those who would accuse you of sitting on material and not sharing it. I didn't buy the Benedetti set because I didn't think it was essential, and I think Mosaic could consider a "best of" set. Btw, as it turns out, the Benedetti set is not complete. After Mosaic made their deal with Benedetti's brother, more material turned up in the hands of another relative, and they were unable to agree on a price.

Their plans to do this were announced nearly a year ago. I would certainly attend, if I lived in England! I wonder if there is a plan to release a recording, perhaps a video?

I know Charlie - it's definitely COAL hace.

Somewhat late to the party, but some nice responses. Thanks!

Both of these were dubbed from vinyl, but both are out on CD. The Staton is on Collectables, and the Belvin is on Fresh Sounds. The cover of the Belvin I used is actually from the CD, the image taken from the web. The LP does not mention Art Pepper on the front.

I like the record a lot. Benny put together an all star band for the tour. Besides the familiar material, there are several interesting new charts, such as "Titter Pipes" and Tadd Dameron's "Fontainebleu". I suspect the only way you're ever going to get this on CD is to make your own!

Have never even seen or heard of that recording. Talk about obscure ! If you were a fan of Handy's work with Mingus and his 60s Columbia recordings buying LPs in the 1980s, you would have picked this LP up (as I did) as a return to straight ahead jazz, after his dismal commercial recordings (Hard Work, Carnival...). Yes, it is a fine album. In defense of those who missed it, I don't think it was around for very long. I believe the label, Quartet Music, went belly-up within a year or two, after only a handful of releases.

What a surprise!

Fantastic clip! This comes from the film "Go, Johnny, Go" (1959). Red Holloway did back them on some of their Chance records made in Chicago in the early 50's (including an early version of "Jump Children"), but I believe the tenor on this version is Jimmy Wright.

I saw the Beach Boys in concert on Boston Common in 1971 or 1972. Charles Lloyd was with them on stage, playing maracas.

Have never even seen or heard of that recording. Talk about obscure ! This is one of the things I enjoy about the BFT's. I'm sure that Handy is held in pretty high regard around these parts, yet opinions were all over the map about this track. Not knowing the identity of the artist eliminates preconceptions.

Photobucket worked for me. I was unable to get satisfactory results following Jim's instructions (I'm sure it was me, Jim!). so I joined Photobucket, and voila!

11. James Moody – “Tenor Blues” (composer unknown) live audience recording Rec. October 14, 1979 James Moody (ts), Walter Davis (p), Earl May (b), Alan Dawson (d) (CDR, originally from cassette) This is from a live recording I made from the audience at Lulu White’s in Boston. Moody always comes to play, although he has rarely been captured fully on his commercially released albums. I gave the tune this mundane title when digitizing the cassette – he mostly performed standards that night, but this sounds like an off-the-cuff “composition”. 12. Matty Matlock – “Ida, Sweet As Apple Cider” (Leonard-Munson) (From “Dixieland USA”, Pickwick) Rec. 1957 Dick Cathcart (tp), Abe Lincoln (tb), Matty Matlock (cl), Eddie Miller (ts), Stan Wrightsman (p), Al Hendrickson (g), Phil Stephens (b), Nick Fatool (d) (CD) Originally issued on the budget Tops label, this fine session features Dick Cathcart, a superb musician who was buried in the Lawrence Welk band for most of his career, and Abe Lincoln, one of the great trombone virtuosi. Have always dug this old tune, as well. 13. Dakota Staton – “Play Your Hand, Girls” (Staton) (From “Dakota at Storyville”, Capitol) Rec. April 29, 1961 Dakota Staton (vo), Yusef Lateef (ts), Norman Simmons (p), Wendell Marshall (b), Charlie Persip (d) (vinyl) Uncredited on the LP, brother Yusef Lateef has a booting tenor solo on this track from this classic live album. Dakota can sing a ballad convincingly, and she can shout the blues. 14. Frank Strozier – “Day In, Day Out” (Bloom-Mercer) (From “Cloudy and Cool”, Vee Jay) Rec. October 13, 1960 Frank Strozier (as), Billy Wallace (p), Bill Lee (b), Vernell Fournier (d) (CD) This is from a session recorded for Vee Jay, but not released at the time. I first had this on a Japanese LP that came out in the late 1970’s, and it finally came out on CD in the US in the 90’s, with a bunch of alternate takes. This is one of the alternates. 15. Kirk Lightsey & Harold Danko – “El Gaucho” (Shorter) (From “Shorter By Two”, Sunnyside) Rec. July 19/21, 1983 Kirk Lightsey, Harold Danko (p) (CD) This is from a delightful album of Wayne Shorter tunes by Lightsey and Danko. Wayne’s tunes are really special, and I enjoy the treatment they get from these pianists. Kudos to all the responders – some sharp ears out there! All but two of the tracks were identified.

For my first BFT, I decided to include some of my all time favorite tracks among the selections. I expected that several of them would be guessed right away, although I was hoping there will be a few stumpers! Some of these are dubbed from LP, others are from CD’s. The tracks were selected totally at random, and it's just a coincidence that George Duvivier and Charlie Persip each appear on three tracks! 1. Coleman Hawkins – “Cloudy” (composer unknown) (from “The Hawk Swings”, Crown) Rec. 1960 Thad Jones (tp), Coleman Hawkins (ts), Eddie Costa (p), George Duvivier (b), Osie Johnson (d) (vinyl) This was one of the first Hawkins albums I ever heard - picked it up for short money back when I was in high school in the early 1960’s. Hawkins just smokes on this session, which yielded two fine LP’s. Hawk was recording prolifically at the time, and I’ve always felt that this session is overlooked, perhaps due to the “budget” nature of the Crown label. The original pressings were poor, and I replaced my noisy originals with nice Japanese LP’s some years ago. Unfortunately, the Japanese reissues and subsequent Fresh Sound CD’s reprogrammed the tracks. This track led off the original album. 2. Pony Poindexter – “Cattin’ Latin” (Poindexter) (from “Pony’s Express”, Epic) Rec. May 10, 1962 Pony Poindexter (ss), Phil Woods, Gene Quill (as), Dexter Gordon, Billy Mitchell (ts), Pepper Adams (bars), Gildo Mahones (p), Bill Yancey (b), Charlie Persip (d) (vinyl) Pony leads an all-saxophone band (with several lineups) on this rare classic. It has been pointed out that Koch has reissued this, but I dubbed it from my original LP. 3. Jesse Belvin – “It’s All Right With Me” (Cole Porter) (from “Mr. Easy”, RCA Victor) Rec. December 8, 1959 Jesse Belvin (vo), Conte Candoli, Jack Sheldon, Al Porcino, Ray Triscari, Stu Williamson (tp), Frank Rosolino, Harry Betts, Vern Friley, Marshall Cram (tb), Red Callendar (tu), Art Pepper (as), Russ Freeman (p), Larry Bunker (vbs/perc), Joe Mondragon (b), Mel Lewis (d), Marty Paich (arr/cond) (vinyl) Jesse Belvin was widely known as an R&B singer, but was looking toward the mainstream when he cut this LP. Unfortunately, he was killed in an auto crash just two months after recording this session, and the LP was issued posthumously. The arrangements by Marty Paich are sublime, Art Pepper plays wonderfully, and Mel Lewis’ drumming is really uplifting. 4. John Handy – “Soulesson” (Handy) (From “Excursion In Blue”, Quartet) Rec. 1988 John Handy (as), Jim McNeely (p), Rufus Reid (b), Billy Hart (d) (CD) Have loved John Handy since first hearing him with Charles Mingus on the classic “Wonderland” LP when I was a college freshman back in 1963. This comes from a fine album from the late 80’s that came and went pretty quickly. 5. Budd Johnson – “Falling In Love With Love” (Rodgers-Hart) (From “Let’s Swing”, Prestige Swingville) Rec. December 2, 1960 Keg Johnson (tb), Budd Johnson (ts), Tommy Flanagan (p), George Duvivier (b), Charlie Persip (d) (CD) Budd Johnson was a timeless player, and he’s in fine form on this session. Reissued on OJC. 6. Plas Johnson & Red Holloway – “Go Red Go” (Arnett Cobb) (From “Keep That Groove Going”, Milestone) Rec. April 25-27, 2001 Plas Johnson, Red Holloway (ts), Gene Ludwig (org), Melvin Sparks (g), Kenny Washington (d) (CD) Plas Johnson has been heard on hundreds of pop, rock & roll, R&B, and soundtrack sides since the late 1950’s. Here he goes head to head with another strong tenor veteran, Red Holloway. 7. Freddie Redd – “Thespian” (Redd) (From “Lonely City”, Uptown) Rec. January 18-19, 1985 Don Sickler (tp), Clarence “C” Sharpe (as), Clifford Jordan (ts), Gerry Cappuccio (bars), Freddie Redd (p), George Duvivier (b), Ben Riley (d) (CD) Freddie Redd originally cut this tune for Blue Note on “Shades of Redd”. I like the arrangement here. A rare opportunity to hear the legendary alto player Clarence “C” Sharpe. 8. Sonny Clark – “Voodoo” (Clark) (From “Leapin’ and Lopin’”, Blue Note) Rec. November 13, 1961 Tommy Turrentine (tp), Charlie Rouse (ts), Sonny Clark (p), Butch Warren (b), Billy Higgins (d) (CD) One of my favorite Sonny Clark tunes. A nice lope to it, so to speak. 9. Jon Eardley – “If You Could See Me Now” (Dameron-Sigman) (From “From Hollywood To New York”, Prestige/OJC) Rec. March 14, 1955 Jon Eardley (tp), J. R. Monterose (ts), George Syran (p), Teddy Kotick (b), Nick Stabulas (d) (CD) I had this on an old Prestige 10” LP for many years. Eventually OJC coupled it with another rare 10” for this reissue. Eardley is a fine, straightforward lyrical player, and it’s hard to go wrong with a Tadd Dameron tune. 10. Clare Fischer – “Miles Behind” (Fischer) (From “Thesaurus”, Atlantic) Rec. August 26/27, 1968 Larry McGuire, Buddy Childers, Conte Candoli, Steve Huffstetter, Stewart Fischer (tp), Gil Falco, Charley Loper, David Sanchez, Morris Repass (tb), Gary Foster, Kim Richmond (as), Warne Marsh, Louis Ciotti (ts), Bill Perkins (bars), Clare Fischer (piano), Chuck Domanico (b), Larry Bunker (d) (CD) Warne Marsh and Conte Candoli are the soloists on this track from a memorable big band album. CD reissue is on Koch.

Yardbird-oroony

Jim, thanks. With a little trial & error, I think I'm gonna get the hang of it.

I am ready to post the answers to BFT #55. I have composed the entire post with pictures in Word, but when I paste the information into my post, the pictures are lost. I see that many others regularly attach pictures with their posts, so I have to assume that there's an easy way to do it, but I can't figure it out. Is there someone who can walk me through the steps?