Stereojack

He enjoyed quite a bit of popullarity in the late 50's/early 60's, but is largely forgotten today. I can remember being intrigued with his music at one point, especially by his impressive chops, but ultimately I came to the conclusion that his stuff is just a little too precious, too self-important (don't know if that's the right expression) for my tastes.

The Gumbo session is classic - a real New Orleans feel on several of the tracks. Pony and Booker play great. The bonus tracks with Larry Young were unreleased. It's not hard to understand why - the drummer is a stiff.

Actually, these sides were recorded in Memphis by Sam Phillips, who sold the masters to the Biharis.

Discographies have always listed an alternate take of "Cattin' at Keynote" from the Feb 17, 1944 date. The box and the CD offer only one take, and annotator Dan Morgenstern dismisses the previous information as "a figment of the discographical imagination". Well, the take given IS the alternate, and the master take issued on 78 is missing!

I was lucky enough to see Booker several times in New Orleans. He was outstanding, and I've picked up every record and CD as it has been released. I'll second the "Junco Partner" recommendation, and I also agree with Paul Secor about the wonderful Aves LP's, although they are hard to find nowadays.

He is, er, I am. Thanks for the kind words, guys. Dollar bin still going strong. $$$ Btw, there's nothing hiding "in back", although people always ask.

The Viking sides were issued on "It's Time For T", Jass 624.

Assuming this is not a joke - Rocky Boyd is a real person. He used to live in Boston, and occasionally showed up in the audience for jazz gigs.

I've got the entire set, and I agree that the mastering is superb. I've known most of the classic material since the 1960's, when the most famous tracks were available on Columbia & RCA LP's. In the 70's I moved up to the UK Parlophone & French RCA LP's for added material and better sound. This set superceded all of the previous for sound and completeness, but unfortunately if we want to hear Bix's glorious horn, we must sit through a fair amount of non-essential period music on which Bix does not solo, and this can be daunting sometimes. Still, I give the series a big thumbs up!

Thank you. Frank is now in my jazz birthday data base.

Upon reading Darden's response, it is obvious that the editing oif the Fresh Air interview made him seem less knowledgeable that he apparently is. He is already in touch with several of the major gospel researchers/collectors, so it pleases me that he is farther along than I originally thought.

I would like to add Frank Chace to my jazz birthday database, but cannot find a date of birth. Does anybody have one?

I believe it was Brew Moore who said that.

I heard the program as it was aired. While I admire the man's intentions, it was obvious that he was largely unfamilar with most of the discographical research that has already been done in this area. Several times he guessed as to the recording dates of selections that he played, when a simple glance at the Hayes & Lawton Gospel discography would have provided the answers. He also was unfamilar with labels that are well known to most collectors. Hopefully, the airing of this program will put a number of more knowledgeable collectors and researchers in touch with him. I know several serious gospel music collectors, and I believe that the 70% is a gross exaggeration.

Obviously Columbia & Decca must've made a deal. The Stafford Vocalion album I've seen a number of times is not a Christmas album, so there are at least two instances of Columbia-owned Stafford material showing up on a "rival" label. The Vocalion story related by MG refers to recordings made in the late 20's and early 30's, long before Stafford's career. Columbia "owned" the Vocalion & Brunswick names up until about 1939, when they passed to Decca. At that time Columbia switched the Vocalion catalog (lower priced) to Okeh, and the Brunswick (higher priced) to Columbia. Decca revived the Vocalion logo as a budget label in the 1950's-60's. Perhaps there are other instances, but this is the first time I have seen anything but Decca-owned material issued on a Vocalion LP.

Do you know for a fact that these are from Columbia, or are you just assuming? I've seen the Vocalion LP many times, and since she never (to my knowledge) recorded for Decca or any of its subsidiaries, I've never been able to pin down where these tracks come from. It seems unlikely that Columbia would have licensed these tracks to Decca, since Columbia had its own budget label, Harmony. My theory is that perhaps she made a few singles for Decca at some point when she was between contracts, and they were compiled onto this LP at a much later date.

The one I see most often is Arthur Smith's "Guitar Boogie" (1004), originally credited to The Rambler Trio. I suspect this may have been the label's biggest hit. I agree with Chuck. I find the post war indie labels to be an endlessly fascinating area of collecting - a lot more research needs to be done in compiling histories and listings of what came out on these labels, of which there are hundreds! I believe the Alamac reference on the Drive CD may be to the fact that this CD dupicates an LP issued on Alamac in the 1970's.

The Parlan-Tucker-Harewood trio is one of the great unsung "in the pocket" rhythm sections, whether they are backing Booker or Turrentine, or are by themselves.

I suspect that a lot more than 1000 copies were pressed of the first "Ascension". This was on the market for the better part of a year before it was replaced with the second edition. In 1965-66 Coltrane was a very big name in jazz, and it seems that Impulse would have expected initial sales to have been strong. Over the last 30 years I've seen 10-15 copies of it, and, although prices can be unpredictable, I would expect a clean copy of this would bring around $100.00 on Ebay.

Like most of the titles on LRC, this is a bootleg release. The first three tracks are from European broadcasts 1958-1961, last three tracks are lifted from the 1976 Chiaroscuro LP "Idol Gossip". Music is OK, far from essential.

Ike was a terrific musician and talent scout whose abilities were overshadowed in recent years by the reports of his abuse of Tina. I saw the Ike & Tina Revue in the summer of 1970 at Harvard Stadium in Cambridge, MA. Spectacular show!!

If he didn't mention the cover damage in the listing, you should've returned it. If he refused to refund you, then you could have given him the feedback he deserved.

It's hard to go wrong with Jaws - always plays his ass off. One of my favorite live albums is the Pablo Live at Montreux 1977. Also available on video. All of the albums with Griffin, espercially the live ones from Minton's on Prestige. Night Hawk w/ Coleman Hawkins. Heavy Hitter on Muse. The way he comes roaring out of the Basie band on "Atomic Basie", and on the sleeper album "Basie Plays Bond". This has got to be the greasiest version of "Goldfinger".

I believe there are probably several dozen cast members in various productions around the country. Here in Boston, the show has been running for over ten years. While I might never have chosen to attend a show, we were given tickets for Christmas several years ago, and I have to say it was thoroughly enjoyable. The three main guys are in blue makeup so you can't really see their faces, and I understand it's not the same three guys every night, but a rotating cast.

There are so many fantastic sessions on Keynote. Cozy Cole All Stars (2/22/44) (w/ Joe Thomas, Trummy Young, Coleman Hawkins, Earl Hines, Teddy Walters, Billy Taylor) Blue Moon, Father Co-operates, Just One More Chance, Thru' For the Night "Little Jazz" & His Trumpet Ensemble (4/22/44) (w/ Roy Eldridge, Joe Thomas, Emmett Berry, Johnny Guarnieri, Israel Crosby, Cozy Cole) Don't Be That Way, I Want To Be Happy, Fiesta In Brass, St Louis Blues These are two outstanding dates. Also, I gotta say that the Lester Young quartet session is among my favorite Pres.