Harold_Z

There's a VHS video that pops up on ebay very often. It's an Eddie Condon show form around 1960 with Thelma Carpenter singing a couple of tunes backed by Willie the Lion, Cutty Cutshall, Al Hall and George Wettling. It's terrific - as is the whole show. Also present are Wild Bill Davison, Wingy Manone, Ed Hall, Vic Dickenson, Gene Schroeder, etc. Even Johnny Mercer and Sammy Davis Jr are there. The video quality is a little grainy, but hey!....know what I mean? The Ebay blurb usually has the date wrong - I think they put 1972 or 1964. It's a "Tribute To Eddie Condon" or something to that effect and it looks like somebody has a copy that they use for a master to crank out copies.

Just listen to the music. IMHO For the most part for me it's really hard to judge someone one way or the other without knowing them personally. I've known a lot of musicians with "bad reps" that I got along fine with - and some that I didn't.

I find the sound on the Classics VERY acceptable. It's not JRT Davies (first choice) but I have usually have no problem with it. There have been a few I did not like, but really I'm usually happy with the Classics. Re RCA: generally speaking I find RCA recordings from the 30s and early 40s to be somewhat shrill and that's going back to microgroove of the 50s. Fats, Muggsy, etc. Duke excepted.

You already have a large chunk of the essentials, but I'm like Lon - if it's Bechet I get it as soon as I see it. Also I'll second John L's recomendation for the Clarence Williams material (particulary the things with Louis Armstrong) and Noble Sissle stuff. Probably the easiest way to get it is on the Chronogical Classics. There's a great sounding Timeless cd called "Young Sidney Bechet 1923-25" that has a lot of the Clarence Williams stuff (and the companion band "The Red Onion Jazz Babies" - almost the same band) in the best reissue sound to date. "Cakewalkin' Babies From Home" was down by both bands and makes for great comparison between Pops and Bechet in what was somewhat of a rivalry match in two rounds according to jazzlore. There's a great session from the 50s on Vogue with Jonah Jones. I have it on vinyl, but I think it's available on cd from fantasy on the Good Time Jazz subsidiary.

Can anybody ID the bassist or pianist in that band ? the guitarist is Chuck Wayne.

I dunno...it's a few disappointing episodes in a row for me. I'm not looking for a shootout each show, but the lack of continuity is annoying me. Don't get me wrong - I still think it's the best thing on tv, but It's not living up to it's own standard - unless they deliver a super episode tying it all in. It still keeps me totoally involved. Thank the powers that be that Tony didn't make it with Polly when she sang HAPPY BIRTHDAY....as great as she looked back in the day - NOW'S THE TIME. The writers still seem to be making the point that Tony is slipping further into dissipation and lack of control. he really didn't handle the Phil Leotardo scene to well...and here is one of the major points I've been following reinforced. The scene wher Phil says to Johnny Sack with raised eyebrows ".... New Jersey ??" Johnny is the main cat Tony has to watch. In the first season he doesn't appear, but Livia mentions him in passing... "That snake Johnny Sack"...... Hmmm. It was a better episode than last week. There's a lot of psyche stuff going on with Tony, but I think it's being handled in a heavy handed manner.

I heard one track on the FM - sounded really good.

I can't remember the title for sure, but it's a Coltrane blues head - I think MR PC - and the melodic line Trane plays is a lot like Sonny Rollins take on SHADRACK.

In his autobiography "We Called It Music", Eddie Condon said that the first time he heard Bix play it sounded "like a girl saying yes". Somewhere else, I can't recall where, Eddie said that Jimmy McPartland sounded like what he thought Bix would have sounded like had he lived. If you can get a hold of a copy of Jimmy's "Shades Of Bix" you can see what he meant. Every year on Bix's birthday, WKCR usually plays at least 24 hours of Bix. At some point they play a "Bix Solo Tape". A tape where all his solos have been excerpted and strung together. It's fascinating. It goes well over an hour and is totally interesting all the way through. Bix was one of the handful of guys whose playing was so influential that it influenced people 2nd and 3rd hand. He changed the music that came after him.

Literally the first example that came to mind when I saw the thread title.

For the most part movies about musicians make me cringe. They just don't get it right. Most egregious examples being Steve Allen's Benny Goodman, Jimmy Stewart's Glenn Miller, and Sal Mineo's Gene Krupa (light up and be somebody). Really just good for laughs. Having said that, I DID like Forest Whittaker's Bird portrayal, but there is an example of a movie that came under heavy flak for various reasons, a lot of them wrong. I'd rather see footage of the real guys with as little commentary as possible.

I don't find this board overly aggressive at all. I made a personal decision when I started posting on boards to not participate in political forums. That alone eliminates 99% of aggressive attitudes. For me it's hard enough to express my Haroldist and Z-ism political opinions in person, let alone in print, so I decided to let that one go.

Where do you guys find these moving avatars ?

I don't find it offensive at all.

From around 1972 thru 1986 or so my system was a Dynaco, AR, and Cerwin-Vega speakers. It was a great hookup.

I heard it in the background at a party the other night and I obtained a copy that I haven't listened to yet. Prior to hearing it, I had been thinking it was Eric Clapton doing solo guitar and vocals and I was somewhat disapointed to find out a band was involved - even a band with guys like Billy Preston and Steve Gadd.

I think Dan has a good point and is pretty much right, although I think perceptions may be pretty subjective here. I can only speak for myself and I was a kid then. Basicly what I remember is one piece Mono setups in the early and mid 50s. A box that contained a speaker and a turntable that played 78, 45, and 33 1/3 records and was erroneously called a victrola no matter what company manufactured it. flipover cartridge. My first box was like that and when I got a stereo it was almost the same except the lid contained a speaker which you would place in the proper position to obtain the stereo effect. The only other hookups I saw were console type things that had space below the turntable to store records and were nice pieces of furniture. I think, but I'm not sure, they had beter bass happening. Once I knew what was going on I got a Garrard type A turntable, a Heathkit FM, soem kind of amp and speakers and I became an audiophile. I had components. ....But never as good as a juke box !

Real good playing on this one. Strong drums kicking good solos and a very strong trumpet section. In addition to Lew Tabackin and the above mentioned, Gary Smulyan on Baritone also sounds great.

Yeah...the worst so far this season. The Sopranos is the greatest series on TV imo, but now and then they simply tread water. I guess the mai points were: A: That life for Carmela is not much better without Tony than with. B: Tony Blundetto can't and won't stay straight...but this point was made in an awkward and ultimately unrealistic fashion. The beating of the Korean store owner was in left field. It was just too far out, a non-sequitor, there to show us that a leopard can't change spots. The writing wasn't up to the usual standards.

That's not the Al Casey of Fats Waller fame. There was (is?) an LA studio guitarist of the same name. I recall he was involved with the Duane Eddy (among countless other sessions) series of hits and might have been the actual player on those.

Thanks Mule. Nice article. Too bad the studio scene has dried up to the extent it has.

I think the sound on the Verve stuff is better - typical of Verve sound in the 50s and 60s and I think the rhythm sections are more 4/4 or swing oriented than some other Ory I've heard.

I like this set a lot. If you think you might like it, I would go for it - I don't think it will see a lot of reissue action in the future and even when the original Verve lps were out you didn't see a lot of them.

My copy, and any I've seen in stores. is as Chuck describes.

Welcome aboard. Hope you're posting soon.