mikeweil

http://www.hepjazz.com/hep_jazz_artist_biographies/buddy_defranco.html

That's Max Roach!

Received Classics 1191 today (btw, fastest delivery from an amazon dealer ever, ordered on Monday, they shipped the same day - turned out it was Fenn Music, the series' former distributor in Germany) - brand new copy for a normal price. Half of the disc is from the Mercer catalogue, including all six Pettiford tracks from the Perdido session, and all six with Chubby Kemp - a nice hard driving blues shouter. That unique "New Piano Roll Blues" should be heard (someone posted a YouTube link above). Glad I have it. My collection of original Mercer recording is now complete but for the two Wild Bill Davis cuts. There is a Classics CD with them, but too costly at this time, and I have everything else on it.

Here's an excel file I just complied with most Mercer masters except the tracks from Vogue or Futurama or Joe Roland/Savoy (?) and without the Enchanters. Mercer Records.xls

There are some items that seem strange in the Mercer catalog, like this, but the püblishing co, is Tempo Music .... These Joe Roland tracks were obviously recorded in connection with Savoy, but first issued on Mercer - look at the publisher and the master numbers. Roland was close with Pettiford.

I was lucky that my LPs once were counted by a young boy who was a little bored by the party his parents had taken him along to - back then it was over five thousand. Right now I'm down to about 1500 LPs, but probably 6000 CDs. Isn't there a thread where to post pics of your collection? Go ahead, TTK! Now that's a dream come true.

They did issue a lot of unreleased or rare Ellington stuff. I just read in the liner notes Jack Maher wrote for the Riverside LP reissue that most of the original Mercer tapes were destroyed by a fire in the Apex studios where they were stored ....

Yes they are Mercer recordings. Kemp made a total of eight tracks, two of which remain unissued, one was only on a Up-To-Date LP. Three tracks showed up on different Vogue LPs. All six issued titles are on one of the Duke CDs on Chronological Classics (1950) - just found an affordable copy and ordered it. It gets even more complicated when you consider the Ellington/Strayhorn piano duets and the Pettiford cello tracks, which were reissued on Riverside, later on a Prestige twofer with Duke's Musicraft sides .... The rarest may be the two tracks with Wild Bill Davis.

You have an idea how many LPs there are in your collection?

OJC LP reissue

What was his response? Most likely ...

... and some tracks do not seem to be original Mercer recordings. Mercer LP 1002 is compiled of three Eddie Shu tracks possibly done for Vogue, but recorded in New York; three Joe Roland tracks that later appeared on Savoy; and two Wild Bill Davis tracks, one with the Duke on piano. Only the latter are clearly Mercer recordings. Roland played with Pettiford and thus had a connetion to the label; don't know about Shu. The master numbers of the Shu and Roland tracks do not fit into the Mercer master numbers scheme. A thread about Mercer Records seems appropriate.

Here's a list (mostly 78's) for starters. http://www.globaldogproductions.info/m/mercer.html

On the day of recording, Staier was on a "I can play that piece faster than everybody else" kick for some tracks - the Soler Fandango in particular. Other tracks are just great.

It can be too much of a good thing. For the analytical listener it can be interesting to follow the development or perfectioning of a take. In the recently issued Nat King Cole box set there is a bonus disc with numerous takes of a pop song, "Thank You Pretty Baby" - they mainly tried out different patterns for the rhythm guitars - I have the greatest respect for Cole because his vocals are impeccable in every take. But I doubt that I will ever listen to all these takes again.

I think Mosaic's solution to put the alternates at the end of each disc is the best - you can move on to the next disc or keep on listening. There are alternates with minor differences to the masters, and others with totally different solos, which of course are the ones that really catch your attention. I see your point - I had the two French LP box sets with Basie's complete Columbia output but decided to sell it as it was cumbersome to skip up to four alternates.

All that said, a Mosaic box of the Complete Original Mercer Recordings would be great. I have a lot of it but would buy or it at once, or pre-order, if necessary.

Medea Bindewald's excellent performance on Saturday afternoon inspired to listen to recordings of some of the composers' music that she featured:

Enjoyed a great solo harpsichord recital by Medea Bindewald - Scarlatti-Fever. We had seats in the first row enabling us to watch her hands which was great, lots of crossing hands and other technical extravaganza.

This afternoon, while on the way to a Scarlatti haprsichord recital by another artist:

They improved a bit, but IMO Löw is too conservative and reluctant in his approach. He should have opted for more younger energetic players before the World Championship. After being the champion, things are bound to be less glorious. He wanted to play it safe when taking chances would have been the better option. Same in the German national league with the Bavarians. Their funk just begun, so he should not have elected so many players from their team. With those young fast players, you need more than experience. Any small mistake is taken advantage of.

Both disc and iinlay card and booklet were corrected.