John L

OK, I spent the last three days in New York, and finally made it to the National Jazz Museum in Harlem today. I just dropped in, but was told that you need to make an appointment to listen to the Bill Savory collection. Fortunately, they finally took pitty on me and gave me an iPod with the Bill Savory Collection to listen to that was put together by Loren Schoenberg. I only had two hours to spare. So I naturally prioritized the Lester Young-related material. I searched for what I could, although there is still no catalog of the whole collection. So I might of missed something major. My first pleasent suprise was that, when I searched for Pres and Basie on the iPod, I saw that the newly discovered altenate takes of Lady Be Good, Boogie Woogie, and Evening from the 1936 Columbia session were ALSO there. )))) So I finally got to hear those. Sublime! The Lady Be Good alternate is just beautiful. The alternate of Boogie Woogie needs to be heard as well. Pres' solo is killin' here, better than on the master (IMO)! Among the Savory material, I first found an extended jam from November, 1938 of a Teddy Wilson small band with Pres, Roy Eldridge, Benny Goodman, and Jo Jones on drums. I think that Walter Page was the bass player. There is a good 20 minutes of fabulous music. This is rather unique in Lester Young's discography. It needs to be heard. Then I checked the Count Basie broadcasts. There are some very notable items here, including a live version of Pound Cake with Pres that completely blows away the studio track (IMO). There is another dynamite live version of "Woodside" that is different than all of the versions issued by Masters of Jazz. There is a killer live Lady Be Good from 1939, and plenty of Roseland Shuffles of a later vintage than most of the versions issued by Masters of Jazz. I really enjoyed an extended Herschel Evans feature on Star Dust. There is a vintage 1939 live Coleman Hawkins Body and Soul in great sound with a breathtaking solo over 5 minutes long. I wish that I had had more time to dig into that goldmine... or if only there would have been some way to clone that iPod! ))) Unfortunately, they indicated to me that the obstacles to releasing the music have proved so great that it no longer appears to be in the cards, at least in the foreseeable future.

I recall that this "volume 3" was only first issued in the 1990s. It always seemed a bit mysterious. A volume 3 of Thelonious Monk's 1965 Olympia concert was released at the exact same time on Trema. It was discovered later that somebody just took some tracks from Monk's 1961 concerts released on Riverside and doctored up the sound a bit.

The bastards covered their faces!

Well, Bird himself played a lot of bebop on the tenor saxophone when he was playing in the Earl Hines and Billy Eckstine bands in 1943-1944. In some sense, Coleman Hawkins was playing bebop on the tenor saxophone before anybody. Teddy Edwards, Wardell Gray, and Don Byas were also playing a lot of bebop on the tenor saxophone as early as Dexter played it. Like Gheorghe wrote, I think that Dexter Gordon's great achievement was not in facilitating the use of the tenor saxophone for bebop, but in the development of a highly individual and profound approach to playing it.

Yes, "rock always had that connotation in the blues. "Roll" often referred to piano rolls - boogie woogie. Of course, there is also "jelly roll."

Anybody have any idea if the musicians listed are the better-known names of the collective personnel on this CD or the actual line-up throughout (3 horns + 3 rhythm would make sense but such a stable lineup for studio AND live dates during the entire period??) The lineup listed earlier only matches one entry in the McGhee discography in Bruyninckx - an AFRS show from the Hi-De-Ho Club in L.A. in March, 1947 (3 tracks previously issued on Jazz Showcase 5005 - "California Boppin"). But how much of a full CD would these 3 tracks account for? Anyway, none of the "known" (and relatively easily accessible) McGhee studio recordings on Philo, Modern Music, Melodisc and Dial from 1945-47 match the above lineup (Roy Porter and Teddy Edwards crop up most frequently) so this leaves you wondering what else there might be in "new" studio recordings or what the actual studio lineup is or if the studio recordings included are either oft-reissued tracks or alternates of those known items. I'll keep my fingers crossed there actually ARE new discoveries. AFAIK so far similar Uptown releases from the bebop era always have included a lot or even a majority of music never heard before, so ... Good questions. McGhee used the rhythm section of Hampton Hawes, Addison Farmer, and Roy Porter in 1947. That was the rhythm section for the Hi-Di-Ho gig with Charlie Parker that is on the Benededi Box. I rather doubt that McGhee made recordings with this rhythm section dating back to 1945. Since there are tracks on this disc of that vintage, I would assume that the answer to your first question is "no." This rhythm section probably does not play on all of the tracks. I also hope that there are some new recordings on this disc, maybe more live dates with Sonny Criss?

The recent Amsterdam set was nice, but not easy to track down.

Nice!

I remember it well. I had been hoping for years that Monk would somehow find the strength to make one more trip to Califorina, but on February 17, 1982 I finally realized that I would never fulfill my dream of seeing Monk live.

Happy birthday, Victor!!!

I'm also rather fond of the very last Verve session: Blues in the Closet with Ray Brown and Osie Johnson.

Much good music but also considerable chaff amongst the wheat. This set is a warts and more warts approach to Bud. It needed braver editorial decisions. Sometimes less really is more. Agreed. I find that his albums for Blue Note plus the two he made for RCA, 'Strictly Powell' and 'Swingin' with Bud', are more than enough for me. Well... while the point about the inconsistency of the Verve recordings is a good one, the early Verve dates from 1949-1951 are really as good as it gets. If I could have only one set of Bud Powell recordings, that would be it. I couldn't imagine any Bud Powell fan being content without them.

Me too

When I saw this thread title, my first reaction was "yea,sure." Rumors have been flying about a CD release of this album for decades now. Somehow, it never happens. But I trust that Bear Family has its house in order on this one.

I bought the McMasters when they came out and never repurchased the music. So I have no idea.

In all fairness, all it says is that he was a "contemporary" of Ellington and Henderson, which is certainly true. There are some interesting lineups, with the likes of Tommy Ladnier and Doc Cheatham. I will pick this one up. I only have a few of these tracks.

As somebody who spends a lot of time living in various places of the world where accessing clouds is problematic, my iPods have been very important to me. They make my very large collection available to me always and everywhere. The question is what will replace iPods for large collections? On the subject of iPods becoming obsolete, they have always been very uncommon in Nigeria where I am living now. When I turn on my iPod after takeoff on an airplane, they often tell me "Sir, please turn off your phone." "It is not a phone. It is an iPod." "Sir, I said please turn off your phone!"

Don't judge a record by it's cover... ...although in this case, you might find a certain justification. Actually, this is pretty high quality product among today's output, and nice to dance to.

The hottest dance floor sound in Nigeria right now.

Hmm. I downloaded the Yusef/Von album a while back on iTunes (I believe). I don't know if its still there.

It was the seductive sound of Turrentine's tenor (CTI recordings) on FM Quiet Storm radio, more than anything else, that brought me into jazz in the first place. I still love that sound.

Red Garland was really a class act. My appreciation of him grows all the time.

This one