John L

...and the universal solvent corrupts unversally.

It is possible to play the same tunes, but very differently. Miles' bands from the 60s used to play the same sets often, but each time it was a revolution of sorts. Alternatively, it is possible to mix up the set list, but still play more or less the same thing every night, i.e. not vary the approach or solos every time a certain song is played.

Interesting. The Lord Discography would appear to take its information from Ruppli's discography that you cite above, including the unsure date. It lists personnel as Albert Walters (tp) Eddie Pierson (tb) Joseph Thomas (cl) Octave Crosby (p) Albert French (bj,ldr) Sidney Brown (b) Louis Barbarin (d). But I guess that you have very strong evidence that this is incorrect.

What ever happened to Pee Wee Marquette? Has there ever been an obituary? I wonder what his source was about why Lester Young called him "half a motherfucker." I wouldn't have thought that it was in reference to Pee Wee's nastiness.

It is interesting that, in the 1930s, there seemed to be an acceptance of integrated small groups, but not integrated big bands.

OK, Lon, that is enough for me to pull the trigger.

But nobody's gotten to Motivation. Somebody does, and it's a deal-changer, musically. I've never even heard Motivation, and am dying to do so.

I guess it's safe to say that the sound is better than on the Classics. I never doubted that for a moment. But how much better?

I certainly love a lot of this music, but have the master takes of virtually all of it on Chronological Classics. Is the sound so improved here, or alternate takes add so much that it is worth repurchasing the music?

I never heard that one before. The 70s music was usually quite interesting and often engaging. But I am happy that Getz changed directions in the 80s. The 1980s are certainly my favorite vintages of Stan.

Good news. Thanks for posting this.

RIP

I think that is the first time I have heard that Levi Stubbs was Jackie Wilson's cousin.

I'm aware that Michael Cuscuna is prejudiced against them, but... 1) There isn't much Blue Note material that hasn't been done already 2) It would make money, which is something Mosaic seems to need right now 3) Who else is gonna do it? 1) There is plenty of good Blue Note material that hasn't been done, but just not from the 40s-60s. 2) I would personally love a Three Sounds set, but I doubt very much that it would make money. The Three Sounds sold well back in the day, but that sort of fan base, for the most part, no longer exists. 3) Who else is gonna do it? As I understand, the European labels have started releasing box sets of the individual CDs. I already bought mine long ago as expensive japanese imports.

This sounds like a great idea! The Robert Palmer book is a good one to use. Given your focus on lyrics, you should be aware that there are a couple of mistakes in it. Palmer cites the lyrics of Willie Brown's Future Blues and James Cotton's Cotton Crop Blues as embodying particularly strong Mississippi Delta themes. But those lyrics were actually borrowed from other songs from other areas. Cotton Crop Blues is another title for Roosevelt Sykes' Cotton Seed Blues that Cih cites above. The lyrics of Willie Brown's Future Blues come from an old Ma Rainey song: Lost Minute Blues. A few early blues artists who sang very interesting lyrics from the social point of view: Ed Bell (Barefoot Bill), Furry Lewis, Charlie Patton, Robert Johnson. Of course, some the most defiant blues lyrics went unrecorded in the pre WWII period. Various euphenisms were also used for "boss man" and the like.

...Or Freddie Redd? On this subject, does anybody know the story of Mr. Persip. Charlie or Charli?

Actually, I think that Pres may have surpassed it himself on that live broadcast from Chicago from 1950 released by Savoy. Two other people who did great things with Body and Soul many times on record: Art Tatum and Warne Marsh.

I had a couple Europrean pressed Fantasy CDs that were like that, but never a Black Lion.

http://www.amazon.com/Sun-Ship-Complete-Session-digital/dp/B00C86JI98/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=dmusic&ie=UTF8&qid=1366134317&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=john+coltrane+sunship+with+booklet

Interesting. It is now available at Amazon as a download for $14.49, but $18.99 if you also want a digital booklet. Is the booklet nice and worth that?

I'm still waiting for a good comprehensive collection of Count Basie at the Lincoln Hotel in 1944. Once I have that, I am pretty well set.

I heard Pres in Chicago in Oct. 1955 with JATP. He was not in good shape and was hospitalized that November for alcoholism and depression. He emerged, judging by the music he made in 1956, in very good shape. IIRC, the superb "Jazz Giants' 56," with Roy Eldridge, Vic Dickinson, Teddy Wilson, Gene Ramey, and Jo Jones, was the first album to proclaim his return. Yes, 1954-1955 was generally a down time for Pres. It was no accident that one of the tracks from his Verve session as a leader in 56 with Teddy Wilson was titled "Pres Returns." Still, lucky you to have seen Pres live in any condition! What I wrote about that concert in my book: 'The first live jazz performance I heard was a Jazz at the Philharmonic concert that took place at the Chicago Opera House on October 2, 1955, with a lineup that included Roy Eldridge, Dizzy Gillespie, Flip Phillips, Illinois Jacquet , Lester Young, Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown, and Buddy Rich. Aware of the music for just five months, at age thirteen I knew the names of most of these musicians. And one of them, Eldridge, was a particular favorite because he seemed to speak so personally and openly through his horn, with such passion, genuineness, strength and grit. (By contrast, I thought that Jacquet and Phillips’s tenor saxophone battles were exciting but mostly for show, not to be taken at face value.) 'Lester Young, however, was only a name to me; I’d yet to hear a note of his music. And partly because of that lack of context, much of what he played that afternoon struck me as very strange. (As it happens, the concert was recorded, and eventually released on the album Blues in Chicago 1955, so I can place memories alongside what actually occurred.) Young was not in good shape on the1955 JATP tour, physically or emotionally . He would be hospitalized for several weeks that winter, suffering from alcoholism and depression, though he would recover sufficiently to make two of his best latter-day recordings, Jazz Giants ’56 and Pres and Teddy, in mid-January 1956. But in the gladiatorial arena of Jazz at the Philharmonic, the wan, watery-toned Young I heard seemed to speak mostly of weakness, even of an alarming inability or unwillingness to defend himself. And yet this state of being was undeniably, painfully being expressed, though at times perhaps only out of dire necessity; the brisk tempo Gillespie set for the piece the two of them shared was one that Young could barely make. 'Then toward the end came a ballad medley, which began with Young’s slow-motion restatement of “I Didn’t Know What Time It Was.” That he seemed to be more in his element here was about all I realized at the time, though even that fact was provocative. And the recorded evidence confirms this, as Young bends a bare minimum of resources to the task --as though he were saying “This is all I have” and asking “Is this not enough?” Admittedly, that is largely an adult response to a performance that now seems remarkable to me. Yet something of that sort must have been crystallizing back then, because I was immediately eager to find out more about Lester Young.' Thanks, Larry. I recall also reading this in your book. I didn't realize that the 1955 Chicago concert was recorded. I have never heard it. One of the notorious Spanish boot labels did release a September Carnegie Hall JATP concert from that tour not long ago. Pres is featured on "I Didn't Know What Time it Was" at that concert as well. He sounds weak, but still manages to get off an absolutely gorgeous solo on that song. In fact, I think that it is my favorite Pres solo from 1954-1955 among those that I have heard.

I heard Pres in Chicago in Oct. 1955 with JATP. He was not in good shape and was hospitalized that November for alcoholism and depression. He emerged, judging by the music he made in 1956, in very good shape. IIRC, the superb "Jazz Giants' 56," with Roy Eldridge, Vic Dickinson, Teddy Wilson, Gene Ramey, and Jo Jones, was the first album to proclaim his return. Yes, 1954-1955 was generally a down time for Pres. It was no accident that one of the tracks from his Verve session as a leader in 56 with Teddy Wilson was titled "Pres Returns." Still, lucky you to have seen Pres live in any condition!

1956 was probably the last great year for Lester Young. In addition to these recordings, there are the Verve sessions with Teddy Wilson, the European date on Onyx, the Cafe Bohemia are more. Just about everything on wax by Pres from 1956 is highly worthwhile.