Teasing the Korean

Thanks, but the part that I thought was racist was what he said about the background singers, not the concept of "race records." The name Lester Melrose does indeed ring a bell, but that article has him working primarily out of Chicago. Is there any evidence of him doing sessions in NY during any of those years that I previously posted?

My parents were both professional group singers in New York, singing on commercial jingles and providing oohs and aahs behind singers on radio, records and TV. Sadly, they are no longer of this realm, and there are a lot of things I'd like to ask them that I've either forgotten or didn't know enough to ask in the first place. Here's my question: My Dad told me on a few occasions that he'd hooked up with a producer/A&R guy from RCA Bluebird in New York and sang backup on a number of so-called "race records" on that label. I had never heard this term until he used it. I'm guessing in this case we're talking proto-R&B/jump blues. I don't remember the A&R guy's name, but if I remember correctly he was African-American. My Dad was (primarily) white. This will sound racist from today's perspective, but the producer told my Dad that "You have to have some white singers in the group or no one will understand what the hell they're saying." (These are the producer's words according to my Dad; not mine). Based on my Dad's time in New York, his service in WWII, and what I know of his work history, these recordings must have occurred between 1938 and 1943 (recording ban notwithstanding); and/or between 1945 and 1950, maybe even as late as '52 or '53 (He had more regular gigs by this time and did less freelancing). As stated, I don't know the name of the producer or the artists involved. I know this may be vague, but can anyone provide educated guesses as to: 1 - Who the producer/A&R guy might be; 2 - Who the artists may have been 3 - If any of this stuff has been collected on CD. Thanks in advance for any direction you may provide.

When I was 16, circa 1980, my Dad took me to see George Russell and Max Roach live. It was at the University of South Florida in Tampa. George conducted the jazz department's jazz orchestra and Max played drums, both with the orchestra and also for some small group and solo pieces, IIRC. While I of course knew jazz from records and radio, this was the first "real" jazz concert I ever attended. The adventurousness of GR's arrangements and the incredibly melodic nature of Max's drumming truly made an impression. At the time, the community radio station WMNF played a lot of jazz in the evenings between 7 and 11. From the perspective of a teen, the station was a true oasis for experiencing "real" jazz, as opposed to the fusion stuff that was so prevalent at the time (I'm not necessarily knocking fusion, it's just that a lot of it was bad by then). This coincided with a period where I had a little bit of spending money from my busboy gig, and lucky for me a lot of classic Blue Note and Impulse albums were showing up in the Peaches cutout bin for very little money. All of this together, at an impressionable age, sent me off on a long and rewarding path, which has now resulted in my need for extra shelving in my packed-to-the-gills record room (see the vinyl forum). Over the years, I've accumulated a decent amount of George Russell's stuff from between, say, the late 40s and late 60s. Really love all this stuff, always discover something new, and I always remember that concert that my Dad and I went to. I'm also a certified exotica freak, as you know, and the early George Russell track "Fellow Delegates" shows up on my "Buried Treasures" compilation series of exotica one-offs buried on non-exotica albums. Thanks George, RIP.

If you need direction on what to seek out or what to avoid, I'm your man.

Ooh, thanks for sharing that important tidbit. And thanks all for the replies. Most of my albums are on these discontinued modular units that Home Despot used to sell. They are these white wooden stackable things with a movable shelf in the middle. I've stacked these floor to ceiling and reinforced them on the tops with brackets. I break up the monotony of record spines by having occasional squares filled with outer space toys like Major Matt Mason and Lost in Space robots. It has a very Euro early-70s feel. I don't know why they discontinued these shelving units. I've had them for more than ten years and there's never been a problem. Maybe Chuck's solution is best. Still, even if I unload the Herb Alpert and Ferrante and Teicher, I've only freed up space for about 20 albums.

The wall space in my record room is completely maxed out. Sure, I could unload the Herb Alpert and Ferrante and Teicher records to make more room but that won't happen. We have a seldom-used closet in this room and I am thinking about buying this product: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70103085 My intention, if I am not crazy, is to put the unit upright on heavy duty castors sold by Ikea and then rolling it a short distance to open the door when needed. I asked the salesperson repeatedly if the wheels would support the weight and height combination, and also about the center of gravity issue. He said yes, as long as the weight was distributed evenly. Is this workable or do you think it's risky? If it's any consolation I'll put the thrift store records in it and not the rare mono deep groove Blue Notes. I'd hate to get killed by my record collection, but for a vinyl junkie, maybe that's appropriate.

My favorite Enoch Light albums are on Project Three. "Spaced Out," featuring groovy now sound versions of Beatles, Bach and Bacharach, with moog; and "Permissive Polyphonics," another sampling of today's hits and featuring moog. The version of "Marakesh Express" is pure bliss. Of the earlier Command albums, I really like his crime jazz album "The Private Life of a Private Eye," later reissued as "Paperback Ballet."

I keep having dreams about Stereo Jack's. Last night I dreamt that they had an entire bin filled with nothing but different Moog albums of Beatles tunes. I was pulling out the records one by one and thinking "Where the hell did they get these?" "Why have I never heard of this album," etc.

I realize that Europeans get more vacation time than we drones who live in the US. Just wondering.

I had high hopes for this record when I picked it up, but it failed to deliver, and came off as pompous and dull. IMHO, of course. ABSOLUTELY LOVE the liner notes, though, where they talk about Bill Russo wearing Brooks Brother suits and sipping cognac while reading Proust and listening to Bach. He's like Don Draper in Madmen, except that he doesn't have a wife and kids (as far as the liner notes are concerned, at least).

I will spend the rest of my life buying Ellington and Morricone albums, because there are so many of them, and most of them are great.

Howard Roberts - Out of Sight - Capitol (rainbow stereo) Bernard Herrmann - It's Alive II OST - Starlog The latter is a totally tripped out late score by Herrmann featuring synth mixed in with orchestra, not unlike Les Baxter's similar masterpiece from the early 80s B-flick "The Beast Within."

Thanks. I received volume one as a gift. It's hard for me at this stage of my life to imagine spending any more money on the Beatles, so it's doubtful that I'll ever get volume 2. To be clear, that last sentence of my previous post was referring to them putting out the UK versions with mono and stereo on each disc and selling them individually. I like both the UK and US for different reasons and feel that there are gems and duds in both catalogs. I feel the UK mono "Revolver" is better than the US, and the UK "Hard Day's Night" is better than either the United Artists album or "Something New." On the flip side, the UK never got an early album as great as "The Beatles Second Album," and the spy/Indian underscore of "Help" is way better than the mishmash of (mostly) duds that show up on side 2 of the UK "Help." IMHO. Not to sound like a snob, but for better or for worse, the Beatles constitute pure nostalgia for me now, and little else. They are a part of my childhood, along with Topps Wacky Packs and Ugly Stickers, Aurora monster models, DC comics, Star Trek, the Remco Lost in Space Robot, and Meco action figures. I'm not knocking them in any way, that's just where I am right now.

Is Trunk the record company? Do they ship to the US?

I buy just about every solo piano record I come across, and the one I have by Cedar is a real gem.

Can you post a link to where I can buy this in the US, assuming there are any left?

To the degree that I even care about 60s pop and rock any more - which is almost nil - I almost always prefer the mono versions. But the White Album is an exception. When you compare the mono and the stereo, it's pretty clear that the focus was on the stereo version. The mono one has a lot of the sort of quick, sloppy mixes that you typically hear on stereo Beatles. For example, the guitars are mixed way too low on rockers like "Yer Blues" and "Helter Skelter," and on the choruses of "Savoy Truffle" they forget to pull up the fader with George's syncopated repeated high notes. A lot of the tunes have a muddy sound as well. That said, the stereo version is not perfect, and includes some real lopsided mixes, such as "Blackbird." Everything up until the White Album, though, right up through "Hey Jude" and "Revolution," is way better in mono IMHO. I still have all the US and UK Beatles albums in mono, but on the very rare occasions I spin any Beatles, the only things I reach for are the US mono "Rubber Soul," "Yesterday and Today," "Revolver," and the US version of "Help" with the Indian source music and spy underscore. I enjoy the tactile experience of looking at the album covers much more than I like listening to the records inside. I especially like looking at the US album covers because the revisionists have tried to erase these albums from the history, despite the fact that the sheer geographic size of the US meant that gazillions and gazillions of them were sold. I'm glad they're releasing the mono Beatles box set, but I seriously doubt I'll plunk down that kind of money for it. They really should have released these albums individually, paired with the stereo versions, space permitting.

Unload them Chuck. You're too cool to own Beatles albums!

THE ALBUM was a fold down, but the FILM had dedicated mono mixes, including new mono mixes of tracks that previously appeared on LP. They should have included these. IMHO.

Interesting that they left off "Yellow Submarine" from the mono box, considering everything in the film was mixed for mono. They're pretty stingy when it comes to repackaging Beatles. Amazing that the mono box is listed as "limited edition." These were the definitive mixes.

Yes, and the late 70s too. The 80s was such a bankrupt decade in nearly every way - music, fashion, architecture, politics. A few good albums were accidentally recorded (e.g. Tom Waits). Film from this decade seems to be one exception to this axiom. I once picked up, at a thrift store for a dollar, a Caetano album from 1984. He looks like a member of Wham! on the cover. I figured, how bad can it be? I couldn't even get through the second track - bad drum machines, dated production. What an awful decade.

STEREO JACK'S CAMBRIDGE, MA

Oh, absolutely agree. That whole time between Rubber Soul and Revolver they looked great. Check out the Youtube videos of their Japan tour, especially "If I Needed Someone" and the press conferences from the 1966 US tour.

I'm a big mono-phile, in general, but as with the White Album, I think that the work on "Notorius" went into the stereo version and the mono was done quickly.

I got mine for three bucks and sold it for much more than that. The stereo version of this one is better, IMHO. I like all the other ones better in mono, however.