Big Beat Steve

It sits next to the collected works of Slim Gaillard on my shelves. This LP is one that I was pleased enough to find (at long last) back in the early 90s to make me put aside a second copy on my "reserve" shelf one flight down when I found a mint copy at an irresistible price a couple of years ago.

My, aren't you nasty about Valk's status as a musician being open to debate because he is a bassist? You mean the Bechet bio is "exemplary" in striking the right balance between music and anecdotes and the author's own opinion? I tend to agree, though I am only about two thirds through the book. "The Song of the Hawk" is on my "to read" list too, and I'll probably tackle it BEFORE the "Saxophone Colossus" bio (a "fathers and sons" chronology thing, I guess ). As for the Chet baker bio, its time will come too. But when ...? German translations tend not to make me go overboard in excitement, but regardless of that "Luik" blunder I'll be glad to be proven wrong eventually.

Though I haven't read that book Spillett's review of the Webster biography is an interesting one and presents a lot of "food for thought". Opinions on how to present and (eventually) judge the life of Ben Webster will certainly differ, but strangely a lot of the examples that Mr Spillett mentions (apparently to highlight the inappropriateness of the author's portrayal of Webster) somehow echo the image of Ben Webster that transpires from the Don Byas "Sax Expat" biography by Con Chapman who does dwell on the not always so serene encounters and cooperations between Webster and Byas in the 60s. Was Chapman being just unsympathetic too? "How much of a biographer's own voice is necessary within their work" is indeed a question many biographers ought to answer for themselves (preferably BEFORE writing the projected biography ). Certainly the author should not put himself constantly between the subject and the reader. However, this can be tantamount to walking a tightrope. Because if a biographer refrains from making his own voice heard too clearly the reviewers who will fault him for not providing enough of his own evaluation of the man and the music will only be a computer keyboard away, and he might just as likely be accused of only compiling and rehashing material previously written elsewhere. (It all has happened ...) As for whether a biographer writing about a musician or band should be a musician himself, it all depends ... If in doubt, being a musician certainly helps, but it just seems to me that many excellent musicians usually are not particularly at ease with WORDS at any length, particularly if called upon to put them in writing. Art Hodes, Bill Crow and certain others are notable exceptions, but countless "oral histories" and autobiographies that even after having been "ghosted over" still read fairly "pedestrian" (certainly intentionally and understandably so in the name of down-to-earth authenticity but still stylistically ho-hum in the long run) are examples enough. So IMO you just cannot generalize there. However, Mr Spillett's claim that "de Valk’s first language is Dutch not English and consequently we’re reading a translation, a switch which suggests to me that what is clunky, awkward and poorly reasoned in a second tongue can only be much, much worse in the first" could not be farther from the truth. Assuming that De Valk translated his own Dutch original (as he did with his Chet Baker biography - as you said earlier, Niko), he may have been doing himself a disservice in that he may not be the consummate translator and possibly was blind to any weak spots of his OWN Dutch text. Which makes this an atypical case. Musician or music biographies should not be impossibly hard to translate well into English if you KNOW your craft (otherwise you can and will ruin a lot of what was good in the original text). Other target languages are more difficult (German is one of them, for example, and I've read far more mediocre and awkward translations of musician biographies than really good ones - into German - so am sensitive to that problem). But Mr Spillett's generalization that the weaknesses in the "second language" can only have been worse in the "first" (original) language means he is getting pretty far out on a limb. In an ideal world the translator will spot and eliminate most errors in the original text, but how often does this happen in the real world? And OTOH will he be immune from falling into traps of misunderstanding certain finer points and nuances elsewhere in the original text?? Like you, Niko, in the light of Simon Spillett's review I am almost curious enough to look for a (nice-price) copy of that book myself.

Indeed! Sometimes ...

This monumental opus is one I've put on the back burner over and over again ever since I received my copy new in early 2023. But its day will come. Too many other books that have captured my interest since, including during the past 12-18 months (though some were/are tough rows to hoe ...). At times I've been reading several different ones piecemeal in parallel in the more recent past. Lately John Chilton's Sidney Bechet biography ("The Wizard of Jazz"), plus the Pacific Jazz Records story by James Harrod and a tome titled "Cool. Jazz als Gegenkultur im westlichen Nachkriegsdeutschland" ("Jazz as Counterculture in Post-War West Germany") by Stephan Braese (a highly interesting topic, but an all too scholarly work overburdened by academic stiffness and buzzword slinging that you have to plow your way through ), and then - for some temporary reading relief from the preceding ones - "Teddy Boys - Post-War Britain and the First Youth Revolution" by Max Décharné.

Yes it was me, and at the time I should not have thought it would enter the cut-price cycle relatively early. It's been quite a few years now since it showed up on online platforms such as Zweitausendeins and Frölich & Kaufmann at a greatly reduced price (it really was a steal at that price). Out of curiosity, I did a quick online search now - and ... holy shit ... sellers' asking prices are in the 3-digit Euro figure range now on the usual online book selling platforms ... Maybe I ought to check if the NM secondhand copy that's been sitting at a local shop is still there for a measly 20 EUR ... might be a sensible long-term investment

Just found a copy on eBay.de for somewhat less than 11 EUR (including shipping) so jumped on it. Seems like the book has joined the cut-rate sales bins in several places, so this might be the time to go for it. So thanks again, Mike!

Thanks for the hint, Mike! That book (published in 2022) totally escaped me so far. I'll try to browse a copy before buying at the list price, though. How would you assess the overall distribution between photos from the 50s and from the 60s in the book? Chargesheimer is a familiar name. He is represented in the impressive catalog of the 1965 "Weltausstellung der Photographie" (World Exhibition of Photography) that was shown in a huge number of museums across Europe through 1965. And some of his pics are in the "Jazz in Köln" book by Robert von Zahn (also published by Emons) too.

But those (European) concert TOURS played to DIFFERENT audiences each night (sometimes even to different ones during two shows on ONE single night). So with the audiences in mind the sets really weren't repetitive. The tunes that each audience heard were "first heard" items to THEM. Because no doubt "concert followers" who traveled along the band itinerary to attend multiple concerts by the band not only in different towns but even in different countries were a VERY rare breed back then. And who can blame any band for working out a fairly "set" set list for lengthy day-after-day tours? So even incompletely recorded (and released) concerts from one and the same tour have lots of overlaps. So in those cases the "fault" would be solely with the (re)issuers. Case in point: The "On Green Dolphin Street" CD on theJazzDoor label has two recordings each of "So What" and "On Green Dolphin Street" from the 1960 tour (and the fifth track is the omnipresent "All Blues Theme", as I have learnt in this thread ), one from the Netherlands, one from Sweden. With widely varying playing times in each case. So if it wasn't just a matter of lack of source material the reissuers must have found some interest in providing these different versions for comparison. At any rate, these overlaps also happened with other artists and orchestras on 50s/60s live recordings too. I have several such overlaps by the Count Basie and Lionel Hampton orchestras, for eample, with recordings from various countries from one and the same tour. And though I'd guess those big band arrangements left less room for clear-cut variations than the Miles Davis live sets I sometimes find it quite interesting to try to recapture the "live feel" in listening for the differences. As for the recorded club dates that you allude to, assuming that these weren't just one-nighters, the need to include more varied set lists for club appearances seems far greater anyway, of course (unless you want the "regulars" among the club audience to tire of you prematurely ).

But wasn't the original question why only 2 of the 5 tracks were played by MILES DAVIS (and preserved on record) on OTHER occasions (in concert)?

An interesting discussion. I am among those who sometimes feel they ought to have made notes of details to remember about the records they spun less frequently through the years. Sometimes it might have helped to target future listening the next time around. But the only notes I ever made were those I made with my DJing in mind (which happened not extremely often, but relatively regularly from the late 90s to about 2018). So whenever I came upon a track that I found danceable enough I put a small circular sticker next to the track on the back cover and made a small note on the sticker to indicate what the track would be suitable for (jivers, lindy hop, boppers, etc.). And I made similar indications with a felt tip pen on the CD jewel cases. But of course this concerned only a very small part of my records - and not nearly all I listened to through the years. What I liked less (but have come to live with it if the price was right and the record otherwise clean) are those who could not refrain from scribbling this kind of notes directly on the back cover with inerasable pen - marking the tracks with crosses or stars to indicate their subjective quality or liking, or words like "fast", "soft", "weak" or whatever. And then there is something else that seems to have been not all that rare: I've come across and bought quite a few LPs through the years that had dates scribbed in a corner of their inner sleeves. Clearly the dates that the previous owner played that record. Which sometimes struck me like something the pea-counting bureaucrats among the collectors would do. As if you arrange your listening habits so you work off all your records in regular turns. A trait that has died out or no one admitting to this kind of habit today anymore, I wonder?

Yes, that Flemish/Wallonian language mixup in Belgium can indeed be a can of worms ... As for Jacques Pelzer, the French Wikipedia page on him says he had a parallel career as a pharmacist and a jazz musician. But that's all. I looked up info about that book about jazz in Liège by Jean-Pol Schroder. Maybe our federal state library has a copy or one can be obtained through interlibrary loan. Not so much because of Pelzer, but these regional histories sometimes are surprisingly informative. They add a lot to the broader picture. Good luck with finding copies at affordable prices of the other books you are interested in.

Interesting to read your comments, Niko. So the Baker bio apparently is one of some renown even compared to others. But the author fell into the "Luik" trap too? I'll cut him some slack there because as the author he may have taken things for granted that he shouldn't (the name of that town commonly used in the English-speaking world is "Liège" - never mind if some out there pronounce it like "Leech" or in other strange ways ). Let's hope he did better in other respects where cross-cultural/cross-national differences would have to be taken into account for a GOOD and fitting translation. At any rate, I'll keep your endorsement of that biography in mind when I get around to reading it (hoping the German translator did not make too awkward a job of it). Jacques Pelzer's pharmacy as a source of supply for Belgian musician addicts is puzzling ... and difficult to understand. Particularly if he carried on for decades, as you indicate. (Is there a written and published biography of Jacques Pelzer out there, BTW? I wonder how ANY author and editor would manage to deal with clearly not too trivial aspects like this ...) BTW, the Ed van der Elsken "Jazz" book of 1959 (reprint) can sometimes be found on eBay or Abebooks for less than 20 EUR (the original shop price). Same for the expanded book of his jazz photos published in the 90s (I just saw the edition by Nieswand was preceded by a Dutch edition). So it pays to be on the lookout (avoiding the totally overpriced offers for these "reissues", of course).

Now that you bring up this topic again, I realize a lot of water has passed under the bridges of the Rhine, Maas, Schelde (whatever ... ) and I've become aware of a few others (for what they are worth ...). And maybe you already have these but i figured it might be useful to mention them here anyway: 1) Are you familiar with the Chet Baker biography by Jeroen de Valk: "Chet Baker, herinneringen aan een lyrisch trompettist", Uitgeverij Van Gennep, Amsterdam - (which for you others translates as "Chet Baker - Remembering a lyrical trumpeter")? I don't know how this book compares with other Chet Baker biographies. I got the German translation of this book (published by Oreos) last year from that jazz collection estate that yielded me LOTS of other books (plus many LPs and CDs ) but must admit I have not yet started seriously on it. Browsing through it I have my doubts about the overall quality of the German translation (which often happens, alas). One sore spot that struck me was that at one point the text dwelt on Chet's search for drugs to take care of his addiction, and he ended up being given access to some under the counter by a pharmacist who happened to be a fellow jazz musician (saxophonist Jacques Pelzer, no less!), and this happened in the Belgian town of "LUIK" - as it says in the GERMAN text ! Which had my hair stand on end because as you know too this is the town of "Lüttich" in German, or "Liège" (in French and internationally). "Luik" is correct in Flemish or Dutch, but in GERMAN?? It's not exactly a small town in Belgium (and not THAT far away from the German border), so how can anyone handling languages professionally be so clueless? Such hiccups are not relevant to the Dutch original, of course, but this does not bode well for other finer points that may need some general background knowledge to be translated correctly ... 2) The below pocket book is one I bought for a few euros in a local antiquarian book shop early last year. It was just about the only one of interest in their music book corners. They had gotten in a decent collection of jazz books not long before, but even those that I otherwise might have picked up for "casual reading" were priced too high. It was written by A. Heerkens, has 64 pages and was published by ARTI (Alkmaar) in about 1960 as part of the "Beeldencyclopedie" series. A book for the general public and definitely non-essential, but it has a few photographs that are not all that common (which was the reason I took it home). And if found cheaply at a fleamarket or so it might be fun just to read some more on jazz in general terms in the Dutch language. (Too bad I was not aware of that book in 2016, or else it would have been a nice recommendation as another INTRODUCTORY reading course into the Dutch language via jazz ) 3) The below one is another one I found a few years ago - a sort of pictorial history book, and reference book on what happened on the concert scene there (about 100 pages, Dutch text for your reading pleasure , and many brilliant photographs: It's the kind of illustrated music history books I usually buy sight unseen. 4) And since only relatively few photographs in this book are by the legendary Ed van der Elsken, his below book might be worth mentioning too (though you may already have it because it is a "cult" book among this sort of photo books) This is not the the "Jazz" photo retrospective of the work of Ed van der Elsken published by Nieswand in Germany in the 90s but the Dutch original of his 1959 book of the same title (with only relatively few overlaps of the contents with the Nieswand book). I guess originals are rare and expensive (originals of the 1959 German edition of this ( "foto jazz") definitely are costly!). But about 20 years ago a very accurate facsimile reprint of this book appeared on the market by a publisher linked to or sponsored by no less than Karl Lagerfeld! Everything (including the unaltered Dutch text) is as in the original and except for the barcode on the rear cover there is hardly anything to distinguish it from the original edition. Nice ... Maybe all this might be useful to you or others .

Seriously? That's a no-go for any serious reissue. I am surprised that Frémeaux resorted to such tampering.