Big Beat Steve

Perusing the "Cash Box" magazines on World Radio History again, I discovered the below cover pic. I suppose it is not all that familiar to everyone around here - so here it is now.

An offer to anyone within reasonable mailing cost distance from here (Germany): I'm clearing out old papers and am about to discard a stack of mailing lists from the renowned "Jazz Is Beck" mail order shop at Munich (Germany). So if there is anyone out there who'd be interested in these lists of new or back-in-stock jazz CD (re)issues with catalog nos., lineups and track listings - for research or whatever other reference or archival reasons - they're yours for the taking: A handful from 1994 and almost all from Jan. 1995 to Sept. 2002 when their mailing lists were discontinued. The only thing I'd ask is reimbursement of the shipping costs (5.20 EUR for a small parcel within Germany, elsewhere at cost). Anyone interested - please be in touch before the end of October. Yes, it's a wild shot but I figured I'd give I'd at least pass out the word this way before dumping them.

I'm certainly not one to belittle the importance of (most often non-soloing) section men but this is a name I cannot recall having consciously noticed before. So I'll read and absorb this profile in more detail later on. Good to see you filled this gap.

The blurb that's everywhere right now ...

Could it be that George Avakian "hipped" Richard Bock to the "benefits" of editing ? IIRC it has often been reported that Avakian did quite a bit of editing on various record productions for Columbia (and received heavy flak for this, as this sort of tampering was considered even less aceptable than later on) in the mid-50s, i.e. before he joined Pacific Jazz.

The RSD advance "blurbs" that are out there do not mention a date for the 1951 recordings from Cleveland so I checked "Bird's Diary" by Ken Vail. If we are to believe its completeness this recording must be from the period between 26 November and 9 December 1951 when Bird played a residency at Lindsay's Sky Bar. According to the Diary he was at Lindsay's on two occasions earlier in 1951 but these were described as dates with his "Strings" band - which does not match the description given in the blurb.

I do not have any info on that "Fortissimo" box set thing beyond what's listed on Discogs (I don't own that set). As for the CD on Be!Jazz 2-CD package (not Bear Family in this case, they only distribute it), I must admit I've only become aware of it fairly recently. It does look very interesting for CD 1. But almost all of CD 2 is a reissue of Naura's three 1950s EPs (1 on Metronome and 2 on Telefunken), and I have all of these. So I'll be on the lookout for a nicer priced copy.

Thanks very much!! That's the only one I've been able to find in the discographies, and after an aural comparison with the Metronome EP in my collection it's that very recording indeed. I might try to compare the three unknowns with other recordings by Naura that I have from this period (just to see if there is some gross mistitling), but I seriously doubt it that this could be the case. Surprising, though, that the below box set (that two of the recordings on the Membran box set SEEM to come from) does not figure in Lord. https://www.discogs.com/de/release/11474034-Michael-Naura-Naura-Box-Fortissimo-Eine-Deutsche-Jazzologie After all it's been out for 17 years now.

It would have been great if Classics had progressed with the Charlie Barnet band up to their 40s recordings on Apollo and Capitol but alas the series stopped long before they got to those years with Barnet.

Thanks anyway, Mike. But what you say reinforces my misgivings about the Lord scheme. Paying on a subscription basis for a (certainly massive) volume that you obviously consult on a frequent (or even more or less constant) basis through the years if not decades. So a subscription sure adds up over time ... Beyond all reason, I wonder? If it wasn't for my initial question that apparently can only be answered by relatively "recent" entries in discographies (due to the fact they seem to be noncommercial recordings that had stayed in the can until comparatively recently) I wouldn't even have brought up Lord's name.

Thanks for checking, Niko. I did find that index online now too. And it seems that titles of the other unknown tracks are too generic to yield SINGLE results. I.e. the index won't get us any further. But the non-existence of "Two Brothers In Law" at least is SOME indicator. Now if anyone has access to the ACTUAL Lord discography ...? (There must be some around here ...)

In most cases, your 1942 starting date then actually means 1943 or 1944 (due to the AFM recording ban). So to try a reply: 1) The Buddy Rich 1946-48 CD (Classics 1099) is definitely recommended! (But much of the contents have also been reissued elsewhere.) The 1945-46 and 1946-51 Georgie Auld CDs should also be nice (I have a large part of their contents on vinyl). Beyond that, I cannot be too specific because I do not have a full overview of which white big bands (swing or bop) were covered in the Classics series up to which date. I did rush through the numerical listing of the series on Discogs, and there do not seem to be all that many white big bands covering the post-1942 years (particularly not lesser-known ones). Many white bands seem to have been late to the game with these reissues and their recordings did not make it far into the 40s by the time the series ran out. Stan Kenton and Gene Krupa were covered into the 50s (but their reissues aren't rare elsewhere either). But beyond that? Certainly not as many "for connoisseurs only" names as with Black jazzmen. If you do not take the music (and yourself) too seriously, try the Louis Prima big band CDs covering the 40s. Their contents fall between his "New Orleans Gang" small group swing of the 30s and his Las Vegas-style jump band of the 50s. A good share of novelties and at times rather pop-ish. 2) IMO all the Coleman Hawkins small group recordings of the mid-40s are VERY much worth a listen. I only have the 1945 (Classics 926) and 1946-47 (984) CDs from this series but there are more. I have not looked actively into the Classics CDs on him, though, as I must have about 95% of his 40s output on vinyl. The above CDs also include a number of tracks that feature him but were released under the nominal leadership of others or as all star sessions.

Nobody ...? Nobody who has access to the Tom Lord discography (or some other more up-to-date source) to check if there is anything indicated in there that might give any clues about the above tracks? Pleeze ...

@John L: I realize that, but (apart from the fact that I'd venture a guess not everyone transfers the CD contents to digital files even today), others did split up their sets. And this is what the browser and buyer is confronted with in those secondhand bins. Because, after all, it is interesting to be able to pick up such records at giveaway prices, and then you come to regret what is missing from the whole set. It is annoying in the case of certain Bear Family and Charly LP boxes, for example, where each single LP that is part of the box set does not come in a plain paper inner sleeve only but has a proper cover of its own and may therefore be more easily treated as an individual LP anyway. Same as with the jewel cases of individual CDs in such box sets. And it is disappointing if, after searching the stock for sale, you still find you are one or two CDs (or LP) short of the entire set, and are missing the booklet and box anyway. Hence my suggestion not to do this in the first place. But in case this wasn't obvious - I was a bit tongue-in-cheek in my "warning" made to Rabshakeh.

But don't do as some (quite serious and long-standing) collectors have done: Split them up and file them individually. And then, when the day comes and the collections end up in some record store those orphaned LPs or CDs will be floating about, separated from their boxes and booklets, with the potential buyer left with the chore of digging through who knows how many racks of discs to assemble the sets back together gain. I've seen this happen with Bear Family, Charly, Rhino and other box sets, and in rare cases even Mosaics. Sometimes I was able to put at least all the LPs/CDs back together again, sometimes it was all in vain.