Swinging Swede

I'm not a Microsoft defender (and there may very well be flaws in the design of Windows in regard to safety aspects, where other environments have safer solutions), but still, one has to take into account the overwhelming market domination of Microsoft products. Virus (and other malware) writers want to make as big an impact as possible, so of course they are going to target Windows, Internet Explorer etc. If Macs (or Linux) had dominated the market and Windows only had a 10 % share or so, the situation would most probably look very different in that respect.

Only one problem...

Hodges stopped playing the soprano in 1940, I think (which indeed is regrettable). But Charlie Barnet continued to play a Hodges-inspired soprano sax on mood pieces long after that (Barnet was a big Ellington fan of course). According to the liner notes to New Orleans Suite Ellington was planning to persuade Hodges to pick up the soprano again for Portrait Of Sidney Bechet, which was to be recorded on 13th May 1970. But Hodges died unexpectedly two days before the session.

I did some research about these sessions recently and came to the conclusion that the best way to get them actually is to get this 2-CD set from Definitive (not a label I normally would recommend): It contains all the material on the three Interpretations albums, as well as the April 1953 session that made up half of the 10" album The Artistry Of Stan Getz (one of the four tunes from this session later made it to the 12" album Stan Getz and the Cool Sounds, which has been reissued on CD). Since this set contains the complete master takes from these sessions, it also contains the three tracks from the last session that were on other albums (two tracks on the Shrine album, and another track on the Cool Sounds album). As you see, the 2-CD set has, in typical Definitive fashion, been released under a sideman's name (Brookmeyer). Why Verve hasn't done anything with this material before it entered the public domain is beyond me. There is an unissued track they could add, It Don't Mean A Thing, from August 1953. (Getz would soon record that number again for Norgran: first in December that year with Dizzy Gillespie, and then live with Brookmeyer at the Shrine Auditorium in November 1954.) There are also a few alternate takes they could add.

I remember the discussion about the Club Mozambique material. The word from Blue Note was that only mono masters existed, but that the music was good, and that it definitely was going to be released. Haven't heard anything after that. Another one that was going to come out was "Gene Harris of The Three Sounds" from 1972. I think there was specific mention of lost guitar parts being restored, and I have written down 2001 as release year for it (probably in 2000). But it hasn't seen the light of day hitherto either. And while we're at it, there is also an unissued Grant Green studio session from May 1970 ('Green Acid'). The last time I saw it listed it was marked as unissued, not rejected. There has not been much talk about that one; does anyone know more about its status?

This label continues to put out a lot of titles, and one of the new releases combines the two Blue Note "Best From The West" volumes, as mentioned by mikeweil in another thread. But what do you say about the title of this one?

It is indeed. By the way, I was thinking that one thing we really need now is covers for all the unreleased Andrew Hill albums that are on the Mosaic Select. I really have to learn Photoshop myself one day!

Yes, strangely enough those Japanese BN covers aren't on any of the "Blue Note" pages, but on the one called "SP.Rec", and below non-BN covers to boot, so it's easy to miss them.

From the great gokudo site:

For what it's worth, the Modern Jazz Discography lists that session as being by "Oscar Pettiford All Stars".

I would recommend either Hiroshi Tanno of Early Records (drop an e-mail to hiroshi@earlyrecords.com - he can get anything that's in print and takes Paypal), or Japanese Amazon (www.amazon.co.jp). Buying directly from Japan is much cheaper than buying at import prices.

I would say no, because Say It Loud would have been an obvious candidate if more batches had been planned, but instead it was licensed to Water. My impression is that the later Rare Grooves sold badly and were rather quickly deleted. This type of material seems to come out on Water now instead. They are the new Rare Grooves.

The Monterose and the Ornette are actually Connoisseurs too!

Ah, the B&R series already has a new distributor! (And the jazz series will have a different one, I suppose?) Thank you kindly for the welcome suggestions - most of which are already on our "to do" list ! Although there is a rough schedule for the next 100+ issues, please understand that I cannot go into details before the pending problems are solved. Glad to hear that big bands of that kind already are on the “to do” list! There were many white big bands that weren't as hugely successful as Goodman, Shaw and Dorsey, but still belonged to the scene of the day and recorded regularly, so it will be interesting to hear their output. Very little of it has been available for a long time, so I think Classics' concept will come in very handy. I understand that you can’t go into details prematurely. But boy – would I like to see that 100+ list!

Well, John Coltrane made some long ones in Japan. My Favorite Things is 57:19 and Crescent 54:33, according to AMG. Leo is a mere 44:49.

That is indeed a great recording; one of my favourites too. One note though: Guarnieri plays harpsichord.

Really? My Disc 1 of that set is only 78:27.

There was a thread about this recently. My shortest CD is Fresh Sound’s Sonny Criss Quartet 1949-1957 which clocks in at 20:09! The longest I have is one or two seconds short of 80 minutes (don't remember what CD). I have not encountered any CD over 80 minutes. As mentioned not all players can play them.

Excellent news! I was fearing the worst... I remember the excitement when the first Classics discs appeared in record stores back in 1989. Suddenly one could get the complete recordings of 78 era artists instead of just compilations. I've picked up many Classics discs through the years, and am glad that the series will continue. But how can a distribution problem affect the jazz series, and not the Blues & Rhythm series? While I'm at it; any new big band names you're going to start releasing? I'm thinking of Jimmy Dorsey especially, but there are so many others I would like to see: Les Brown, Casa Loma, Jan Savitt, Van Alexander, Teddy Powell, et cetera, et cetera. Later bands like Elliot Lawrence as well, btw. And let me echo EKE's welcome to the board. This is a very nice place with a lot of knowledgeable people, and the earlier eras of jazz covered by Classics get their fair share of the discussions here.

What does that mean? Are some new EU rules putting Classics and their bastard cousins out of business for post-1953 material? Starting in 1989 Classics has released a monthly batch of five jazz titles and not missed once in 15 years. But after the August 2004 batch nothing new has come out. The announced upcoming 1380-1384 batch has been hanging in the air for many months now. I also noted the following statement on crazyjazz.co.uk: "A significant number of Chronological Classics titles have now gone out of print." which isn't a good sign either, since they used to be all available. Meanwhile the Blues & Rhythm series that they started some years ago has continued to come out with its monthly four titles, so it's not like the label is entirely dead. I hope it's just a temporary hiatus for the jazz series, but fear that it's worse. Without an official website it's difficult to know what's going on. Perhaps someone in France knows more?

The RCA and the Savoy CDs togther are missing a few sessions by Diz under his name from the 1940s: The session where he recorded the first version of "Salt Peanuts", plus "Good Bait", "I Can't Get Started", and "Bebop"; the session with the first version of "Groovin' High" (the same session where he recorded "Blues 'n' Boogie"--but Keepnews kept "Groovin' High" off the Savoy disc because it was "sonically inferior"; a sesson from LA where he and Bags et al did "Dynamo", "Diggin' for Diz", "Round Midnight", "When I Get to Old to Dream", and "Confirmation" (a great session, but Bags sounds like he's playing milk bottles); and a four tune session with strings. This is from memory, so I am sure I screwed something up somewhere. No, that's it (for the pre-1949 sessions anyway). The 1945 Manor session (Dizzy's important first leader session, with Don Byas on tenor) and the rejected version of Groovin' High (with Dexter instead of Bird), as well as the 1946 Dial sessions and the 1946 Paramount strings session (which was quickly withdrawn originally!) are available on Classics. Belonging to the period covered by these box sets are also the 1949-1950 Capitol sessions (his last with the big band), the 1950 Prestige session, and the 1952 Atlantic session, which was recorded before the last Dee Gee session. There are also plenty of Vogue and Blue Star sessions recorded in Paris 1952 before the last Dee Gee session. All of it is included in the Classics series which is at 1953 (and will remain so?).

I liked the Aric album covers. etc...

Some of the Verve LPR reissues are really short. Lalo Schifrin’s Piano, Strings and Bossa Nova is 28:26. Sergio Mendes’ Equinox (although I don’t have it) adds up to about 25-26 minutes! That’s pretty amazing for a 12" LP! The one Hardbopjazz mentioned is also from this series, and I think there are other ones. The shortest CD I have though is Fresh Sound’s Sonny Criss Quartet 1949-1957 which clocks in at 20:09! The music that’s actually on it is very good though.

Actually I think that only Eldridge recorded with strings for Verve of those names... Bird never even heard of a label called Verve! As for Lester with strings, don't forget those early Basie sides with Claude Williams!

Interesting that these earliest Brown/Roach sessions are being mentioned, because Fresh Sound is just releasing (on January 10) an improved version of this album. Apparently they have done what they did with the Sweets At The Haig album and compared various 10” and 12” releases and found that some pieces appeared in edited form on the GNP Crescendo 12” LP and CD. Here is what they write about it. I have added the track timings (in blue) from the GNP Cresendo CD when they are considerably shorter than on the Fresh Sound CD: "Jazz historian Robert Gordon in his book Jazz West Coast writes that there was considerable editing on the two 1954 California Concerts when they were released on record on the GNP label. This editing refers mainly to the tenor saxophone and piano solos. On comparing the original releases, we have also found an additional 35 seconds of Clifford Brown's trumpet solo on "Tenderly", which has been included here. We are also pleased to present the spoken introductions by Gene Norman and Max Roach from the first date. Regrettably, the solos of both Teddy Edwards and Carl Perkins on "All God's Chillun Got Rhythm" were originally edited to one chorus each. This is the only available example of this recording. The full version has not been located and, half a century later, may be considered lost. All of the previous releases of these recordings have the same editing on three tracks from the second concert: On "Jordu", the tenor saxophone and piano were fully edited; on "I Can't Get Started" the piano intro was shorter; and the Richie Powell solo on "I Get a Kick Out of You" was deleted. These historic concerts are now issued in their most complete versions for the first time on the present CD. Tracklisting: 1. Intro by Gene Norman & Max Roach 1:01 [not present] 2. All God's Chillun Got Rhythm (Jermann-Kahn-Kasper) 6:18 3. Tenderly (Gross-Lawrence) 5:25 [4:39] 4. Sunset Eyes (Teddy Edwards) 6:40 5. Clifford's Axe (Clifford Brown) 7:15 Max Roach (d), Clifford Brown (tp), Teddy Edwards (ts), Carl Perkins (p), George Bledsoe (b. Recorded at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, April 1954 6. Jordu Duke Jordan 10:09 [6:43] 7. I Can't Get Started With You (V.Duke-I.Gershwin) 4:04 [3:38] 8. I Get A Kick Out Of You (Cole Porter) 8:37 [6:58] 9. Parisian Thoroughfare (Bud Powell) 7:45 Max Roach (d), Clifford Brown (tp), Harold Land (ts), Richie Powell (p), George Morrow (b. Recorded at the Shrine Auditorium, Hollywood, August 30, 1954"