jeffcrom

Jazz for a Sunday Afternoon, Volume 2 (Solid State) - Gillespie, Pepper Adams, Garnett Brown, Chick Corea, Richard Davis and Mel Lewis.

There's also a lick from Armstrong's "Potato Head Blues" solo in "Stardust."

I've got my eye out for that other Eddy Howard/Teddy Wilson disc, too, Clunky. I spent an afternoon recently spinning a bunch of my early saxophone 78s. These ranged from 1916 to 1935, and were not jazz, so this will probably only interest my fellow saxophonists. I won't list them all in detail, but the earliest was a 1916 Columbia disc of Fred Brown playing a couple of sentimental tunes with piano accompaniment. I also played all of my discs by the Columbia Saxophone Sextet or Quartet - I'm up to six records by them now. A little research revealed that my earliest "Columbia Saxophone Sextet" record is actually by Rudy Wiedoeft's Master Saxophone Sextet. I've got to give props to Wiedoeft - he was an incredible saxophonist. Nothing to do with jazz, of course, but I had forgotten how good his 1920 Victor record of "Saxophobia" and "Valse Erica" is until I played it again the other day. Same thing with "Pan-Americana" and "Country Dance" (Vocalion, 1922) by Wiedoeft's Saxophone Sextette. These sides are transcriptions of light classical piano pieces, by Victor Herbert and Ethelbert Nevin, respectively. They're beautifully recorded and played - really nice. I ended with two mid-thirties Columbia records by the Quartet of Saxophones of La Garde Republicaine - Marcel Mule's quartet, in other words. Three of these sides have been reissed on the Mule CD Encore!, but "La Veille de l'Ange Gardien" by the French composer Gabriel Pierne has never appeared on LP or CD, as far as I can tell. Gorgeous! And more non-jazz 78 stuff: Since I've gotten more into world music, I've learned to buy any 78 in Columbia's "E" series or its replacement, the "F" series. These were Columbia's records marketed to immigrants, and I've discovered some incredible music by picking up any of these I find, even if I can't read the labels. The latest finds are a couple of Spanish dances by "Spanish String Orchestra" - with guitars, violins, and woodwinds, and a really exciting late-20's Ukrainian record. The latter is raw eastern European dance music played by a clarinet, two or three violins, and arco bass. I love that one.

Hadn't he been one of the Minton's Playhouse innovators, caught on tape, and with a style that lay between swing and bop? Yes, he does some really nice playing on those Jerry Newman recordings from Minton's with Monk and Charlie Christian. He also plays interesting, forward-looking solos on "Rocky Comfort," from the only studio session (1940) by Coleman Hawkins' big band, and the first recording of "Epistrophy," by Cootie Williams' big band.

There's a brand-new New Orleans brass band album that I'm really excited about: 17 Days by the Panorama Brass Band (PR). The PBB is the street version of Ben Schenck's Panorama Jazz Band, one of my favorite New Orleans bands. The Panorama BB plays New Orleans brass band standards like "Lily of the Valley" and "Grazin' in the Grass" (yes, all the brass bands in NOLA play that), but also klezmer, Balkan brass band music, and Caribbean tunes. And Ornette's "Lonely Woman!" This is a really good album, recorded during last Mardi Gras season. I might have a new favorite brass band version of "Nearer My God to Thee"; this one rivals the Olympia BB's version from their first recording session. The twelve well-recorded tracks are followed by a "Lagniappe Track": a lo-fi version of "Grazin'" recorded on the street. It captures the atmosphere of a brass band parade really well - down to the passing of a police car. The title refers to the fact that the Panorama Brass Band only exists during Carnival season each year. Beyond being slightly acquainted with Ben, I have no connection with the Panorama or this CD. I just like this band and the Panorama Jazz Band a lot. The CD is available at CDBaby and the Louisiana Music Factory.

"Fair" would be a good characterization of the sound - good bootleg quality, except for the last two, very short tunes. They were taped from someone's TV set, and are rougher. I second Chuck's endorsement of the Commodore and Keynote sessions.

I assume that you have the Aladdin recordings. Of the less obvious stuff, I've always been fond of Pres In Europe - some of the best playing from late in Young's life.

Jazz at the Philharmonic/Lester Young: Carnegie Blues (Verve) Edited to say that Joe Guy, who plays on one 1946 track here, was a very interesting trumpet player, albeit one whose work doesn't sound quite "finished" to me, if that makes any sense.

I'm right with you on this one.

Lee Konitz - Very Cool (Japanese Verve/Polydor). Chosen partly as a memorial for Don Ferrara, who plays beautifully here. And I love the Sal Mosca/Peter Ind/Shadow Wilson rhythm section.

Pee Wee Russell Plays Pee Wee (Stere-o-craft). The recent discussion about CD reissues of this made me want to hear my copy of the original, in stone mint condition. What a great album.

The best trad jazz piano player in Atlanta, Scott Hooker, came over tonight for a 78 listening party. We spun a pretty wide variety of discs - trad jazz, ragtime, swing, gospel, New Orleans R & B. I won't list it all, but it was a fabulous session.

I've the coupling of Exactly like you/Stardust ( Columbia)- I'd missed Christians solo on Stardust but hear him clearly now that I re-listen. Any idea what else came from this session ? The Rust discography lists one more release from this session - Exactly Like You/Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams. I'm going to be on the lookout for that one. I listened to this one again just last night.

The Complete Norman Granz Jam Sessions (Verve). 30 bucks.

Happy vibe-a-listic birthday!

This show was one of my earliest memories. I was five, and remember my parents' negative reactions to the Beatles' performance more than the music itself.

I have a box of 85 country 78s, from the 1920's to the 50's, but mostly from the 20's and 30's. I spun ten of the older ones tonight. It was a wide variety of music: commercial, downhome, touching, funny, lively, lonely. The Carter Family - Worried Man Blues/The Cannon-Ball (Victor, 1930). I love this group - great American music. Vernon Dalhart (as Al Craver) - The Freight Wreck at Altoona/Kinnie Wagner (Columbia, 1926) West Virginia Night Owls - I'm Goin' to Walk on the Streets of Glory/Blind Alfred Reed - Fate of Chris Lively and Wife (Victor, 1927). Reed was one of the Night Owls. Clayton McMichen and His Georgia Wildcats - Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane/Red Wing (Joe Davis, 1932). This is a 1940's reissue of these sides. Jimmie Rodgers - I'm Lonely and Blue/Treasures Untold (Montgomery Ward, 1928). The famous department store leased this from Victor to release on their own label. Fiddlin' Powers and Familey - Ida Red/Old Joe Clark (Victor, 1924). One of the earliest country groups to record. I guess Victor was worried about Cowan Powers' Appalachian accent, because they got the more urbane Carson Robison (see below) to do the vocals. Carson Robison - Poor Man's Heaven/So I Joined the Navy (Champion, 1930) Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers with Riley Puckett and Clayton McMichen - Pretty Little Widow/Liberty (Columbia, 1928) A Fiddler's Convention in Georgia, parts 1 & 2 (with Clayton McMichen, Gid Tanner, Riley Puckett, Bob Nichols, Fate Norris and Bert Layne) (Columbia, 1927) Kessinger Brothers - Chicken in the Barnyard/Devil's Dream (Brunswick, 1928)

Good one.

For anyone who has decided that they can't live without the Chubby Jackson 1949 Columbia date, the same album I got it from is on Ebay now - a sealed copy.

I'll pick up any 78 that looks interesting, but I've begun (through chance or design) to specialize in a few areas, like The Original Memphis Five. One of those areas has turned out to be the records Don Byas made in 1945 and '46 for a handful of little labels. I don't seek out the Savoys, since I have those on CD, but I have Byas 78s on Jamboree, Hub, Arista, Super Disc, and American. I just found the record that completes the Byas Jamboree recordings, so I listened to all of those tonight - Jamboree 900 through 905. They're really wonderful musically, and all are in excellent condition, although the wartime shellac resulted in some noisy surfaces, especially on the first session, from January, 1945. Trumpeters Joe Thomas and Buck Clayton show up for one session each, and Eddie Safranski, Cozy Cole, and Denzil Best are on some of the records. Great stuff.

I use these Sony earbuds. This might be a little more than you want to pay, but they sound great. I think I paid slightly less than the Amazon price at a brick-and-mortar Best Buy.

Elington Brunswick/Columbia/Master, disc 9.

I am playing my LP copy now - it's a facsimile reissue, possibly the LP Clifford was referring to in the second post. It's mono, and if it's a needle drop, I can't tell. It sounds pretty good - a little distortion around the edges. It didn't occur to me when I bought it about five years ago that it might not be a legitimate issue, but I suppose it might very well not be.

Kenesaw Mountain Landis Bud Selig Bud Freeman (The first two parts of this entry might be incomprehensible to you Brits.)

Braxton/McDonough (and one from the catalog I didn't have) arrived today - I echo papsrus' amazement as to the speed of delivery. I'm looking forward to hearing both. Finances are forcing me to "settle" for hanging on to my copy of the Art Ensemble box instead of uprading to the new CDs of that material, but I'm looking forward to the unreleased Mitchell Quartet CD. The Braxton/McDonough disc wasn't in the Gracenote database when I put the music into my iPod, so I submitted the info - accurately, I think. Thanks again for the great service.