Swinging Swede

Did these small group cuts appear on any Verve/Clef/etc LPs in their time? The two July 1952 small group tracks on Paradise Squat were first on the Clef LP Basie Jazz and later one track each on the reconfigured Clef LPs The Swinging Count! and Basie Rides Again!. The December 1952 small group tracks made their 12” debut on The Swinging Count!. The Jacquet small group session with Basie on organ was on a Clef 12” LP called Port Of Rico.

PM sent!

By the way, what remains after the Japanese batch is the following: Basie Rides Again! (1952) Basie later retitled The Band of Distinction (1954) There are also several 60s albums done for other labels but now owned by Universal. Maybe the Japanese will do a second batch!? [update: Basie Jazz (1952) deleted from the list since all its material later was split between The Swinging Count!, which now is being reissued, and Basie Rides Again!.]

Yes, it is odd. Although the CD format has been around for 20 years now Verve has, except the recent LPR of The King of Swing, for some reason not released any of the many albums covering 1952-54 – the early New Testament period, which I think has to be considered fairly classic. Now these recordings are falling into the public domain, and other labels have been quick to release them in the last year or two (and more will come soon). What has Verve been thinking? As for the contents of Sixteen Men Swinging, it does collect the complete December 1953-August 1954 sessions. The Dance Session albums did however have three tracks recorded earlier. I put together a little discographical list with the tracks involved in the various albums discussed above, and which albums they were on. Maybe it can help to sort things out for those interested in discographical details. DS1 = MGC 626 Dance Session DS2 = MGC 647 Dance Session #2 B = MGC 666 Basie [= MGC 722 The Band Of Distinction] BRA = MGC 723 Basie Roars Again TKOS = MGC 724 The King Of Swing SMS = VE2 2517 Sixteen Men Swinging NYC, July 22-23, 1952 You're Not the Kind (DS2, BRA) Los Angeles, CA, July 13, 1953 Plymouth Rock (DS1, TKOS) Blues Go Away (DS1, BRA) NYC, December 12, 1953 Peace Pipe (DS1, BRA, SMS) Straight Life (DS1, BRA, SMS) Bubbles (DS1, TKOS, SMS) Softly with Feeling (DS1, BRA, SMS) Cherry Point (DS1, TKOS, SMS) Base Goes Wess (DS1, BRA, SMS) Right on (DS1, TKOS, SMS) The Blues Done Come Back (DS1, TKOS, SMS) NYC, August 16, 1954 Slow But Sure (DS2, TKOS, SMS) You for Me (DS2, TKOS, SMS) She's Just My Size (DS2, BRA, SMS) Soft Drink (DS2, TKOS, SMS) Two for the Blues (DS2, TKOS, SMS) Blues Backstage (B, SMS) I Feel Like a New Man (DS2, TKOS, SMS) Down for the Count (B, SMS) NYC, August 17, 1954 Stereophonic (DS2, BRA, SMS) Sixteen Men Swinging (alt) (SMS) Sixteen Men Swinging (DS2, BRA, SMS) Ska-di-dle-dee-bee-doo (B, SMS) Perdido (B, SMS) Mambo Mist (DS2, BRA, SMS) Eventide (B, SMS) Two Franks (B, SMS) Ain't Misbehavin' (B, SMS) Rails (B, SMS)

Actually, the material on the Dance Session albums and on Sixteen Men Swinging is not quite the same, although there is a lot of overlap. The Dance Session albums have together three tracks that aren’t on Sixteen Men Swinging. On the other hand, Sixteen Men Swinging has eight tracks and an alternate that aren’t on the Dance Session albums. Those eight tracks were originally released on a Clef album simply titled Basie. I suppose the playing time on the 70s LPs was a lot longer than those from the 50s. But it gets even worse discographically. Although Dance Session and Dance Session #2 were 12” LPs, it didn’t take long before the same material came out on two other Clef LPs, which not only had different album titles, but also different configurations! The new Clef albums were titled Basie Roars Again and The King Of Swing, and each had half of Dance Session and half of Dance Session #2! The aforementioned Basie got the new title The Band Of Distinction, but at least kept the track configuration. The problematic thing with this is that Verve a couple of years ago released an LPR of The King Of Swing. So if you got that one you already have half of Dance Session and half of Dance Session #2! Frustrating, isn’t it? So what to do now? There is of course a possibility that US Verve at a later point will release an LPR of Basie Roars Again to complement the earlier LPR, and thus make the Japanese Dance Session releases superfluous, but we can’t be certain of that. The Japanese are at least consistent in that the Dance Session albums were the first 12” LP releases of this material. Why US Verve chose what basically is a reissue version instead I don’t know. I was unaware of this mess when I posted the list above, and had assumed that they had completely different material. I only came to this conclusion after doing some discographical research today. I hope I got it right.

I’ve wondered all this year why Verve and EMI don’t utilize the Basie centennial to put out a bunch of titles, as record companies did when Ellington turned 100 five years ago. I mean, if not this year, then when? They won’t get a better opportunity. Well, as usual it is the Japanese that come to our rescue. I just noticed on hmv.co.jp that Universal Japan on August 4 (the month Basie was born) is coming out with no less than twelve Basie Verve albums, eleven of which as far as I know are new to CD! (if we count official releases at least; the earliest of these recordings are in the public domain now and have recently come out on other labels) Here is the list: The Count! (1952) The Swinging Count! (1952) Norman Granz Jam Session #3 (1953) Norman Granz Jam Session #4 (1953) Dance Session (1953) Dance Session #2 (1954) Hall Of Fame (1956) One O'Clock Jump (1956-57) On My Way & Shoutin' Again! (1962) Basie Land (1963) Basie Picks The Winners (1965) Basie’s Beat (1965-67) One O’Clock Jump was a VBR some years ago. There is also a release the same day called Cheers For Basie!. I don’t know what that is; maybe a compilation or a tribute. (Now we can only hope that we will see some Roulette releases too. It would be inexplicable if we didn’t.)

Be warned that although Dusty Groove calls it a CD, it isn’t. Since it’s a new European EMI release it is in the Cactus Data Shield format. You can see the copy protection symbol on the back cover (lower left).

I just saw (on World's Records' site of all places) even more upcoming Lone Hill releases. They seem to be cranking out titles at quite a pace right now. WOODY SHAW QUINTET JERSEY BLUES JOHN LEWIS ORCHESTRA U.S.A. THE DEBUT RECORDINGS [1963] ART FARMER NEW YORK JAZZ SEXTET THE ALBUM: COMPLETE RECORDINGS [1965-1966] CLIFFORD BROWN QUINTET COMPLETE LIVE AT THE BEE HIVE EMMETT BERRY OCTET & SEXTET THE NEW YORK RECORDINGS [1958] WES MONTGOMERY ALL-STARS A GOOD GIT-TOGETHER [1955] PAUL CHAMBERS MOTOR CITY SCENE: COMPLETE RECORDINGS [1959-1960] RUSTY BRYANT ORIGINAL QUINTET COMPLETE RECORDINGS [1963] I obviously noticed the Clifford Brown Bee Hive recording.

More Lone Hill titles now listed on Fresh Sound’s site. Lots of ”complete” this and that. Bobby Hackett - Complete In A Mellow Mood & Soft Lights (2 Lp On 1 Cd) Buck Clayton - Complete Legendary Jam Sessions Master Takes (3 Cd Set) John Coltrane - The Complete Mainstream 1958 Sessions - 2 Cd Set Dodo Marmarosa Trio - Complete Studio Recordings - 2 Cd Set Dick Twardzik Trio - Complete Recordings Eric Dolphy - Eric Dolphy Quartet's Complete Recordings Featuring Lalo Schifrin Pee Wee Erwin Sextet - Complete Fifties Recordings Eric Dolphy - Eric Dolphy Quintet's Complete Recordings Featuring Herbie Hancock Kai Winding & Carl Fontana's Cleveland Express - The Complete Ohio Sessions

Yeah, you’re right, it must be Ramsey Lewis. There was even a second Christmas album by Lewis, and I suppose both would fit on one CD, but since it’s an LPR it will probably be just the first album. Well, more Jamal can’t be far off anyway now when the legal problems are over.

I thought the consensus was that he was Ravi Shankar's son. Maybe I got it wrong.

Quoting myself just to mention that in the above batch the Krupa and the Roach seem to have been dropped in favour of Patato & Totico - Patato & Totico (LPR) - Reissue - GRP Records Dave Pike - Manhattan Latin (LPR) - Reissue - GRP Records I already have the Roach but I was looking forward to the Krupa. Hopefully it (they) will appear in a later batch. The Roach is in print as part of the Mosaic set, so that might have something to do with it being dropped. Some new batches announced too: 2004-07-09 Bill Evans - California, Here I Come (LPR) - Reissue - Verve Records Ahmad Jamal - Chamber Music of the New Jazz (LPR) - Reissue - GRP Records Ramsey Lewis - Another Voyage (LPR) - Reissue - GRP Records Oscar Peterson - A Jazz Portrait Of Frank Sinatra (LPR) - Reissue - Verve Records Jimmy Smith - The Boss (LPR) - Reissue - Verve Records 2004-09-21 Alexandria Lorez - Alexandria the Great (LPR) - Reissue - Impulse! Records Freddy Cole - Waiter, Ask the Man to Play the Blues - Reissue - GRP Records Blossom Dearie - Sings Broadway Hit Songs (LPR) - Reissue - Verve Records Ella Fitzgerald - Hello Love (LPR) - Reissue - Verve Records Sergio Mendes - The Fool On The Hill (LPR) - Reissue - A&M Jazz 2004-10-19 Ahmad Jamal - Sound of Christmas (LPR) - Reissue - GRP Records Jimmy Smith - Christmas Cookin' (LPR) - Reissue - Verve Records Not pertaining to the LPR series, but also worth mentioning; on 2004-10-05: Norman Granz - The Complete Jam Sessions Box Set - Box Set - Verve Records

Which immediately shows in Verve's reissue schedule. There are already two Jamal albums slated for reissue later this year in the LPR series: Chamber Music of the New Jazz and Sound of Christmas.

Well, this one obviously... A real classic, and yet very few have heard it.

Has the Booker Ervin been dropped?! I was looking forward to that one, and I think I'm not alone.

From amazon.de: Good question. Corrupted disc and corrupted cover. I'm not buying them either. But someone obviously thought it was a great idea.

Some nice covers there. But the one above is the cover of the Charly reissue from the 90s. This is the original:

It's listed on the Disconforme site: http://www.disconforme.com/pages2/lonehill...hilljazzcat.asp

This is yet another Disconforme label (Definitive, Jazz Factory etc.). As one almost could have guessed from the excessive use of the word "Complete".

From Ebay auction here.

Well, we know that Cuscuna likes Andrew Hill and since Hill is typical Connoisseur material and several of his albums have not been on CD or only in the OOP Mosaic set, I think a new Hill Connoisseur is a reasonable guess. Compulsion maybe? Maybe another Larry Young? Another Jackie McLean from the mid-60s, like Consequence perhaps? Although there are many new McLean BN reissues, so that might make it less likely. There probably will be something noone thought of also!

We also know that Horace Silver’s United States of Mind trilogy (That Healin’ Feelin’, Total Response & All) probably will be released as a double CD in the next Connoisseur batch. Since the last two Connoisseur batches came out in October (2002 and 2003), I think that is a safe bet this year too.

I should also add that Hawkins is in much stronger form on the 1968 tracks than on Sirius, so it wasn't a straight decline.

So, there isn´t any recorded evidence of Hawkins playing live after 1966? Yes, there is - both live and studio! This very subject came up at the BNBB a few years ago when a member had thought that Sirius was Hawkins's last recording, so I'll simply copy and paste my old post below: Re post-Sirius Hawkins recordings Although Sirius from December 1966 was Hawkins’s last American studio album, it was by no means the last time he was recorded. In June/July 1967 there were a couple of JATP concerts in Los Angeles, from which material was released on a Pablo 3-CD set titled The Greatest Jazz Concert In The World (how’s that for a title?). Hawkins is backed by the Oscar Peterson Trio on two numbers, and also participates in a jam session. In October 1967 Hawkins recorded live in Copenhagen, backed by the Oscar Peterson Trio. Five tracks (including the version of Stuffy mentioned above) were released on a Moon CD, which also had a set by Don Byas backed by the Teddy Wilson Trio from the same year. This Moon CD actually has pretty decent sound. The title of it is Coleman Hawkins Vs. Oscar Peterson & Don Byas Vs. Teddy Wilson. In February 1968 Hawkins was once again in Copenhagen and recorded two tracks in a Danish Radio studio with the Kenny Drew Trio. I have these on a Storyville CD, titled Masters Of Jazz, Vol. 12, which seems to be still in print (it’s listed at CDNow for example). This CD also has the Essen tracks from 1960, and a stray track from 1954, that first was released on a compilation. The same two tracks plus four more tracks from Copenhagen 1968, where Hawk fronts a group that includes organist Lou Bennett (one of the very few times Hawk recorded with an organ) have, according to Tom Lord, been out on a CD on the Italian Tempo di Jazz label. I’ve never seen this or any other Tempo di Jazz CD. These would be the last released Hawkins recordings, but since he continued to perform until shortly before his death in May 1969, who knows what tapes may lie around somewhere? There is also a Pablo 2-CD set titled J.A.T.P. In London 1969 that purports to have Hawk in surprisingly good form just two months before his death. It has however been established that this concert is from 1966, and thus predates Sirius. Another example of Fantasy not doing the necessary research before putting out Granz tapes.

True. That’s because it isn’t a copy protection per se; it’s just a number of errors inserted in the discs, with the intention to take advantage of the traditional difference that has existed between computer drives and regular CD players in the way they handle error correction. Thus the Cactus Data Shield scheme has errors inserted in a way that will render the disc unplayable in most computer drives, and playable in most regular CD players. It never was 100 % in either case, due to the diversity of CD player models out there. This difference is however quickly eroding now, as manufacturers of CD-ROM drives are moving forward technically as well, and are adjusting the design of the drives so that they are able to play copy-protected discs too. It’s only a natural competitive move to do this, since a drive that can play more types of discs will be more attractive to the consumer. So especially if you have a new CD drive, it is not so surprising if it can handle Cactus Data Shield discs. So what are the record companies going to do about this development? One attempt is to step up the error level even further (and there are signs that they already have done this), to try to get ahead of the CD drive designers again, but this will have the drawback of making it unplayable in even more regular CD players as well. And the reports of CD players that have been damaged temporarily or permanently after a Cactus disc has been inserted (yes, there are many reports of that, especially for older CD players) will only increase. I wonder if this might be a reason why EMI now is considering dropping the Cactus scheme, as your source says. I also wonder if a possible substitute then might be the Darknoise technology briefly discussed in this thread: Copy Protection. That one might be trickier if it actually works the way it is described in the CNET article. I absolutely agree. But if the record company executives think it makes a difference, then it makes no sense having copy protection only in parts of the world, and that’s why they likely have some sort of plans for the US market.