jazztrain

Portions of the book mentioned in my last post are available for review here: https://books.google.com/books?id=FYTpfp-wA5QC&pg=PR29&lpg=PR29&dq=doc,+the+story+of+a+birmingham+jazz+man&source=bl&ots=KDpG69btKh&sig=VI_tKOHUtuM7gwYyj5k10v6C_Xc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=DkuLVO2VIc3uoATx84LwBQ&ved=0CFYQ6AEwDTgK#v=onepage&q=doc%2C%20the%20story%20of%20a%20birmingham%20jazz%20man&f=false There's a photo on page 196 showing a small group including Joe Guy from sometime in the 1950s.

This link will lead you to some information on post-Holiday activities of Joe Guy: http://steeltoereview.com/2012/11/07/doc-the-story-of-a-birmingham-jazz-man-excerpt-by-frank-doc-adams-and-burgin-mathews/

Big Beat Steve, To put the tune length issue into some perspective, today is the 50th anniversary of the recording of "A Love Supreme." I've aired it in its entirety before (perhaps on some other significant anniversary), but it just won't fit today. I suspect others will be airing it today anyway. I agree with you regarding the personnel of big bands. I generally don't read the full personnel but will try to identify soloists. I always laugh when I hear someone referring to a recording "featuring" followed by the full personnel of a band or, even worse, everyone listed on the cover of a compilation album.

Hi David, I'll try to answer some of your questions from the perspective of (1) a programmer/presenter of a weekly show for almost 28 years on a non-commercial, all volunteer, station and (2) a radio listener. My "thing" as a presenter is, and always has been, themed programs. In the early years, the focus was usually on individual artists but this evolved due, in part, to digital rights management restrictions. In the last few years, the show has presented music recorded (in past years) on the date that the program airs. It keeps things interesting for me (and, I hope, for the listener), provides a themed structure, and allows for a wide variety of music. It takes a fair amount of time to find, preview, and select the music to air, and I only wish that I had more time available to play music, since the show is only 90 minutes. With all sorts of outlets available (Pandora, Sirius, etc.), I sometimes marvel that people listen to radio at all, but thankfully some do. My experience is that, with a few exceptions, you don't get a lot of feedback from listeners. If you have something good to give away, the phones will ring, but, otherwise, most people either aren't motivated to call or don't want to disturb you during the program. There are the occasional folks calling up with questions about what was played or providing thanks for having played something. The exceptions are a small number of fairly regular listeners who call to pass along priceless stories (for example, having seen someone perform years ago, having played with so and so, or even having been in jail with someone, etc.) or just check in to say hello. You can form real ongoing (albeit "remote") relationships or connections with people this way. You don't get that from a streaming service. Most affirming in terms of feedback in some respects are those who will actually send in money to the station during our once a year fundraiser. Regarding the issue of how much information to pass along, this can be a delicate balance. My view is that the music is the primary focus. Ultimately, the show is about the music, not about the presenter. However, I try to provide enough information to help the interested listener learn something along the way and to help put the music into some context without, I hope, getting overly pedantic. In addition to the usual leader and tune, I provide composers, recording date and location, original label, and, when possible, identify soloists via back announcing. I'll also pass along occasional anecdotes or personal observations. Much of the discographical information is also made available in real time via an on-line playlist which is also archived. I mostly listen to music on the radio while driving or occasionally at home from the web. I tend to listen to programs by colleagues from whom I can learn something. Otherwise, I have a collection at home that I can enjoy, explore, and revisit. I try to keep current with new music or discover older music via other radio programs and by reading posts here. I dislike shows that, perhaps under the direction of radio consultants, provide too little information. I really do want to know the soloists, not just the leader. I'm turned off by shows that are too formulaic or clearly based on a predetermined "playlist" or "rotation" selected by someone else. You know the shows. There's a vocal (usually a tune you've heard hundreds of times already like "My Funny Valentine", "Gee Baby, Ain't I Good to You", etc.) every third tune, and little information is provided about the music. These shows essentially provide "background music." in my mind, that's demeaning to the listener and does a disservice to the music. I continue to do the program to help share my passion for the music with others, to expose people to music that they might not hear elsewhere or otherwise, and to help pass along what I learned from others. Listening to jazz radio in my formative years was one of the ways that I learned. When I started to listen and collect, much less music was as readily available compared to today, and jazz radio was one of the few ways to hear music that was not otherwise available. I guess I'm trying to pay back that debt and help ensure that younger people may actually be exposed to musicians who otherwise tend to fall through the cracks. Jon Pollack host of "The Jazz Train" Tuesdays, 4-5:30 pm, eastern standard time (2100-2230 GMT) WMBR-FM, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A. 88.1 fm with streaming and some archives at http://www.wmbr.org/

There were two Bechet albums in the old Victor Vintage series that had excellent sound. They were: Bechet of New Orleans (LPV-510) The Blue Bechet (LPV-535) Of course, these are not complete. In some cases, they used alternate takes that, as a result, I know better than the master takes that I obtained later.

Thanks for the replies. The Dec. 29 reference must be a typo.

The Blue Note Discography (original edition), the on-line Jazz Discography web site (jazzdisco), and an old edition of Lord all give December 9, 1961 as the recording date for this session. The LP provides no date. However, my copy of the Japanese CD (TOCJ-4105) gives the date as December 29, 1961. Is there any other support for a December 29 recording date or is this just a typo? Does anyone have the later Blue Note Discography or another CD issue of the album? Thanks in advance for any help.

Have a great one!

Thanks for the answer. Now I know for the next time it comes up. I may have said it wrong at the time, but, if so, no one apparently noticed. Rig-Nold: just the way it looks. (I lived in Birmingham for many years, and he conducted the CBSO for a time, so his name came up occasionally with musicians who had worked with him and it was always pronounced like that).

Way to go, David! All the best.

Horrible news. He'll be missed.

Ironically, I just did this puzzle yesterday (missed it originally while away on vacation).

When I saw Scott Wenzel in June, he had mentioned a box set with Commodore and Decca sessions led by Eddie Condon and by Bud Freeman. The Commodore material was going to be remastered. The Commodore LP boxes were transferred from tapes that Milt Gabler had made and, to my ears, were less than ideal (my Commodore 78s sound much better). Scott also mentioned an upcoming James P. Johnson project.

Has anyone seen this documentary?: http://www.bayoumaharajah.com/

I've seen her a couple of times (Tanglewood and Symphony Hall in Boston). She's quite good. The tickets were a lot less. If the program doesn't appeal, you might wait for another chance.

I've occasionally wondered about the same thing but never bothered to check. Apparently, there is a connection. See here: http://www.loisbrandwynne.com/about.html Here's an extract: >>> Soloist, chamber musician, master teacher and recording artist, Lois Brandwynne represents the fourth generation in a family of professional musicians. Her father, Nat Brandwynne, was a pianist and orchestra leader accompanying such pop legends as Frank Sinatra and Lena Horne. Her greatuncle, Naftulah Brandwein, “the pied-piper of Brooklyn,” is an icon among Eastern European gypsy musicians, remembered for his passionate and wildly imaginative clarinet style. >>> Any relation (after phonetic "anglicisation") to big band leader Nat Brandwynne there, I wonder??

Will the Beatles ever come back? At that time my parents were sure that they would come back, that this new stuff like the Beatles was just a passing fad.

Dan, I'd be surprised (pleasantly) if Lester returns. The talk seems to be that the ownership is averse to signing pitchers over 30 to long-term contracts. Drew actually was our problem last night. He had 4 RBIs against us in a game in which Buchholz couldn't hold two different 3-run leads. If he's our ace now, it's hello cellar (but we're there already). One assumes that they'll pursue some experienced starters in the off season. The rotation is really scary (in a bad way) now. Allen Webster couldn't find the plate on Saturday night.

There's more about Porter Steele here (according to Jack Mitchell), some of which I'll paste below: http://ml.islandnet.com/pipermail/dixielandjazz/2009-August/060790.html >>> There's more to the clarinet solo than that. Far from being "a traditional New Orleans march" HIGH SOCIETY was written by 21 years old Porter Steele in 1901, when Steele was at Yale University, leader of the University Orchestra and Band, and active in the mandolin and glee clubs. It was published that year by Ruby Brooks and E. J. Denton, a banjo duo, well known in 1890s on the vaudeville circuit. They engaged Robert Becker, leader of a pit band in NY city, to write the orchestration. Becker transcribed the tune for orchestra and invented the brilliant piccolo part for the Trio. I can't find the details at the moment but at least two recordings were made of the tune in the early years of the twentieth century - it would be interesting and no doubt educational to hear them, and the piccolo part. When the orchestration reached New Orleans John Robichaux, then playing at Mahogany Hall, bought it, and his clarinetist Alphonse Picou transposed the piccolo part to his clarinet, and it became a hit. At the time HIGH SOCIETY was played as a slow march. Pops Foster recalled that Bab Frank with his Peerless Band played it on the piccolo. George Baquet is also credited with transposing the piccolo part to the clarinet. Possibly other clarinetists around the country played the piccolo part on clarinet, in bands lacking a piccolo. Whether an orchestration of HIGH SOCIETY with the clarinet solo in it was ever published I do not know. Most of the above information was published in The JOURNAL OF JAZZ STUDIES back in June 1975. Earlier the derivation of HIGH SOCIETY was also discussed in early copies of RECORD RESEARCH. >>>

A reference on line suggests that the Porter Steele below may be the one in question. The following extracts are from "The Achievements of the Class of 1902, Yale College, From Birth to the Year 1912." >>> Porter Steele Partner in the firm of Steele, DeFriese & Steele, lawyers, 32 Liberty Street, New York City Residence, 33 Monroe Place, Brooklyn, N. Y. Bom December 12, 1880, in Natchez, Miss., the son of Judge Hiram R. Steele, a lawyer, and Mary E. (Porter) Steele (died May 25, 1910). He is of English descent. His great-great- great-grandfather, Rev. Stephen Steele, was graduated at Yale in 1717, two brothers, Roswell Hiram Steele, 1908, and Charles Messinger Steele, 1910, and a cousin, Albert Aston, 1905. Prepared at Brooklyn Polytechnic Preparatory School, where he belonged to the musical clubs. In college he was leader of the University Orchestra and the University Band Junior and Senior years and a member of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. He received second colloquy appoint- ments. He is unmarried. On graduation he entered the Columbia Law School, where he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon and Phi Delta Phi. In 1905 he entered the law office of Steele, DeFriese & Frothingham, his father's firm, and in 1908 was admitted to the firm under the name of Steele, DeFriese & Steele. Aside from his profession he has continued to devote a great deal of time to music, composing instrumental and vocal pieces of both seri- ous and popular themes, and conducting musical plays. A complete list of his compositions will be found in the bibliographical notes. Since January, 1906, he has been a trustee for the Bondholders committee of the Arizona Water Company. He received the degree of LL.B. from Columbia in 1905. He is a Eepublican. He is a member of Christ Church (Episcopal), Brooklyn, N. Y. His clubs are the Yale of New York City and the Representatives Club (honorary member). Porter is giving, I am glad to say, more time to music. He writes : ' ' Have finished a course in harmony counterpoint and composition with R. Huntington Woodman, the composer, and expect to continue further with him in the theory of music. Expect eventually to give up the greater part of my time to composing. ' ' >>> Elsewhere in this volume the following appears: >>> Better show the ''High Society" one to Porter and get his 0. K. on the way it goes to the music. If I have time, and it seems worth while, I '11 try and string words to the whole march; but the trio which I send you is all we arranged for, and probably all we can get the oinobathetic bunch to memorize. >>> As far as early recordings of the tune, it looks like there's one by Prince's Band from May 6, 1911 on Columbia. There also was a version recorded by Benny Peyton's Jazz Band (with Sidney Bechet) in early 1920 in London, but it wasn't issued.

My wife and I saw him last year at Fenway Park. I went with very low expectations (not my idea) and was blown away. Very memorable. It wasn't cheap. But then almost nothing at Fenway is cheap.

This Dick Katz played with Ray Ellington in a quartet that was part of the Goon Show for many years. I can't get it to work as a link, but if you cut and paste the following into your browser, you can get to a page from which you can open a pdf file that provides some information, including liner notes from an album he recorded for Pye called Kool for Katz. (Now it appears to work as a link) http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=34&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCwQFjADOB4&url=ftp%3A%2F%2Fdef92-10-88-162-195-105.fbx.proxad.net%2FCommun%2FMusic%2FBritJazz%2F0261%2520Dick%2520Katz%2520%5BKool%2520for%2520Katz%5D%2520FLAC%252010(22.39)%2FDick%2520Katz%2520-%25201958%2520-%2520Kool%2520for%2520Katz.pdf&ei=Gg3NU-WlDsH_oQTn0YDwBQ&usg=AFQjCNENwGkg3oUCp9e5qGyKSTF7jZktZQ I'll try to cut and paste the transcribed liner notes from that file below: >>> DICK KATZ, though this be his initial solo recording, is a journeyman of jazz, a matured product of an apprenticeship that was served on one-night stands in clubs and the studios of radio, TV and records. This man, short in height but a giant in musical stature, has been content to remain ‘a boffin of Tin Pan Alley’. He has, for twelve years, steered the career of RAY ELLINGTON in the multi-capacities of partner, personal manager and pianist. And today, should he wish, he can reflect with pride upon his helmsmanship that has brought success to others, not least among these being singers MARION RYAN and VALERIE MASTERS. This application to business has meant that his own accomplishments at the keyboard have not received the credit deserved. Kool for Katz sets right this omission. This long-playing record displays a blend of the preconceived pattern with a jazzman’s natural bent for extempore. Fats Waller, Duke Ellington and our own Alan Clare are the fabric from which jazz is made. They have fashioned their creations with an intense love of their art. I contend that the rarely-played Jitterbug Waltz or Morning Glory, I'm Beginning To See The Light and Mirage are executed by Katz in a manner that could demand approval from all – not least the composers. This is a disc of moods – sometimes jubilant, at others pensive or mysterious. But, whether the offering be the three-decade-old Eddie Cantor hit Makin’ Whoopee, the Rodgers and Hart perennial Lover, There Will Never Be Another You, Grieg’s Anitra’s Dance, or Dick’s personal composing contributions Pet and Dick’s Boogie, the facile playing displays an abundance of imagination that marks DICK KATZ as a refreshing recruit in the restricted recorded spheres of British piano jazz. Les Perrin >>> Some more information from that page: 'A rare quartet outing for pianist Dick Katz recorded in London in 1958. This might well have been Dick's only jazz album under his own name. 'There is another pianist called Dick Katz but he was an American and not to be confused with the British version heard here (actually a German born in 1916 who moved to the UK before the start of WWII). 'Dick played with the Vic Lewis Orchestra during the early 1940s and later became a long-serving member of various Ray Ellington groups before becoming involved in the management side of the music business. He was married to singer Valerie Masters and died in London in 1981. 'He is heard here with an interesting group including session guitarist Judd Proctor, a most under-rated musician, and Peter McGurk who was later to become Dudley Moore's long-serving bassman in his jazz trio from 1960-1968. Peter committed suicide in 1968 by taking an overdose of drugs. He was only 41.'

Jim Brosnan. "The Long Season."

i was thinking of a Sidney Bechet LP of private (John Reid) recordings from 1939 that was issued on what I had remembered as Ne Plus Ultra. Checking the shelves, I see that it is "Nec Plus Ultra" but that it may be a series (of one?) issued by French Vogue. Perhaps I was confusing that and the Warne Marsh album "Ne Plus Ultra."