Christiern

Remember this album? The photo was taken in a window that gave me a view up and down West 82nd Street when this was where I lived. My friend Ole Brask took over the place in '63, when I moved to my present apartment. He also moved in when I moved out, and took the cover photo of Archie. More recently, I took my camera to 81st Street and captured a current view of my old lookout spot (the top window: Just a little Shepp aside.

The photo I posted seems to have disappeared from the thread, so here it is again. It shows Al Casey, Herman Autrey, Arthur Trappier, Gene Sedric, Cedric Wallace, and Pat Flowers saluting Fats Waller at WNEW's "Second Annual American Swing Festival," 1945:

I've heard some of the tracks--interesting (from a historical point of view), but not something one returns to.

One of my favorites since 1948, when I bought my first Lutcher record. Had to take a ferry over to Sweden (from Copenhagen) to get it. She had a truly distinct approach to singing and piano playing, and she always had great sidemen. It's good that she stayed around for so long, I'm sorry that her last years were not good for her.

I wouldn't worry about the tapes being deliberately destroyed, as some alarmists at Hoffman's are suggesting. These tapes represent a considerable investment and even if the current reissue boom has ebbed, there will eventually be another. A good vault has always been the backbone for record companies, an insurance of sorts. In recent years, the industry has been taken over by tone-deaf number-crushing types and lawyers who cannot see beyond the bottom line, but they are not so dumb that they will throw out costly resources. The material is not making enough money for them right now, so they put it on the shelf, not in the garbage.

I'm glad to hear that you like the Cottrell album, I was quite pleased with it. Mr. Cottrell was also the head of the black musicians' union in N.O. (yes, there was segregation, even there) so I got to know him on that level, too. Wonderful person. When I told Bill Grauer (Riverside's head, who sent me to N.O.) how cooperative Cottrell and the union was being, he told me to take them all out for dinner. Well, I would have loved to do that, but the law forbade it--ditto problem when I offered Emanuel Sayles a cab ride one night, following another session. Segregationist laws and attitudes were also behind my decision to do the sessions at this wonderful old hall, in the Quarter. I had originally intended to include a couple of white musicians, so the local studios had to be ruled out. As it turned out, that was a blessing in disguise, for the Jeunes Amis hall not only gave me a desirable, American Music-like sound, it was also a place where all the musicians had performed many times before, so they felt quite at home. Back in those days pre-computer days, almost half a century ago, I used to enter my session info into a little loose-leaf note book. Here are my Cottrell sessions from that book (the in-between session--#14 was an all-day affair that yielded 2 albums by Billie and Dede Pierce.

In 1971 or 2, I produced a 2-record vinyl reissue for Columbia called "Solo Flight," and it was different from previously available reissues, because I had come across several 16" acetates if the sessions that contained all the false starts, alternates, etc. Some of you may know that we spliced several "Breakfast Feud" solos together to make his progression clear. I also came across a tape that Frank Driggs had stashed away between a wall and a console, obviously ready to be removed from the premises (a good thing that I happened upon it). It was the near-legendary Minneapolis jam session. I know that I have mentioned this before, but I was rummaging through a closet earlier today and I came across a pertinent letter that I wish I had been able to draw from when writing the liner notes. It is from Jerry Newhouse, dated May 3, 1972, and I have entered it exactly as he typed it, typos, caps, and all: I have recently purchased a copy of Columbia Records' 2-album set G-30779, "SOLO FLIGHT", featuring guitarist Charlie Christian. I was especially interested in the opening cuts on Side 2, "I Got Rhythm (1 & 2), "Star Dust" and "Tea For Two" ---- rather personally interested because I AM THE ONE WHO ORIGINALLY RECORDED THE SESSION!!!! Let me offer a few pertinent facts for your information. Thanks very much, but I was NOT a disc-jocket --- just one of the world's greatest living authorities on Jazz who was occasionally invited to sound off on the air. The correct date was in the week of 21 September, 1939. Benny and the band were playing a week's run at the St. Paul Orpheum Theatre. The impromptu recording session took place after hours at the Harlem Breakfast Club in Minneapolis. The personnel was as you've listed it except that the bassist was Oscar Pettiford, and there was NO drummer. The following persons can verify my claim to being the original recordist: 1. Jerry Jerome, tenor sax on the date --now at Bell Sound, NYC, 2. Bill Savory (William A. Desavouret) former Columbia engineer--sometimes collator of BG's albums--and now involved in sneaky details for the Naby Dept. in Washington, DC (Falls Church, Va.), 3. Warren Hicks, co-author of "BG on the Record" of Georgetown, Conn. I have never commercially capitalized on my privately recorded collection, and the three persons, above, are the only ones who ever got tape copies of my original discs (and FREE, yet). Inasmuch as I don't ordinarily think of COLUMBIA RECORDS as a "pirate" outfit, I am respectfully submitting a bill for my services as a recording engineer on the aforementioned date. My request is serious, but you will find me easy to do business with--I'll probably settle for less than $200." We asked him to submit a bill and he sent us the original tab for liquor--at 1939 prices! As I recall the check Columbia sent him was more reasonable. Hope you find my little discovery interesting--I forgot that I had this.

I predict that Blue Note will stop rehashing the same material when even the label's worshippers have had enough.

John is right, the big bands took a back seat due to financial concerns and changing public taste. The latter will do it every time. Big bands did not die, the spotlight dimmed and turned to shine on the next hot thing. BTW, I share your enthusiasm for the Herman band and often find myself reliving such gems as "Bijou," "Northwest Passage," and "Summer Sequence" with that wonderfully ethereal tenor solo by 20-year-old Stan Getz.

Don't mean to nit-pick, but how "happy" can a birthday be when you're no longer among the living?

Here are three more somewhat uncommon photos of Ella:

Allen, please don't make fun of our literary giants.

It's a cold February in Chicago, the year is 1926. Police get a tip that a Model A is shaking queerly. They check it out and for Henry and Alonzo, the masquerade is over! Photo is from the February 20, 1926 issue of the Chicago Defender.

I guess a lot of people haven't caught on to Photoshop yet. BTW, these people tried to get more mileage out of their little hoax by producing tape of a skull. Well, the skull was not photoshopped, but it was as clean as white plastic. I hope none of y'all even believe in this a little bit.

Rlla in the pre-Verve days:

He plays best when wearing a sweater, as on a Howard McGhee session I did in 1961 : Seriously, I think he played beautifully on that date (McGhee's "Sharp Edge")

Also, Creed did more than operate the stopwatch and fill out the recording forms.

Yes, Creed, too, but to a lesser extent. Of course, Leonard Feather topped them all when it came to shameless self-promotion. Leonard was also someone who used his column to blackmail record companies into assigning him liner notes. John Hammond.....well, I won't go there! All that having been said, some of these guys made genuine contributions, whether driven by ego or the urge and ability to create and preserve.

Bob Thiele was another one--like Orrin--whose inflated ego compelled him to give the artists a secondary role.

I think you will find the reviews (with sample photos) on this site helpful.

My first visit to Harrods was with my mother in 1946, to buy my school tie, blazer, and gray flannel trousers. Guess that's way before your time there, MG

Returning, for a moment, to the era that dominates the first part of this thread, here is Bobby Shoffner when I recorded him in 1961. He took Louis' seat with King Oliver.

A nice group picture ... Charlie Haden, Dewey Redman, Don Cherry, Ed Blackwell

... and in happier days, with Bill Russell ...

Give Cecil my regards. Chris Albertson