Big Beat Steve

Dig it? Out of the snow?

I suppose, though, he'd have been outdistanced by Jean-Christophe Averty over on French radio. That man was on permanent speaking overdrive on his "Les Cinglés du Music-Hall" show (which presented its share of early French and US jazz too) I tuned in to repeatedly in the 80s. And the funny thing was that there was a second host on that show who was calmer and more factual. So this one (forgot his name) came across like a sort of "straight man" to Averty. Re- the silence in Strozier's reply, I somehow understand this on the part of the interviewee. (Have heard similar situations in radio interviews elsewhere.) The radio host rambles on and on about this and that about the interviewee and tells the interviewee what he did and and did not and whatever ... (as if the interviewee would not have known for himself and been able to tell it himself to the listeners if asked the right questions ...). Small wonder some of those prodded for a reply felt like "What am I doing here anyway if YOU do all the talking?" Some interview hosts just ought to restrain themselves a little in such situations.

On a slightly more somber subject, some time ago I noticed a "miscellaneous news" item in a 50s jazz magazine that showed the following tongue-in-cheek practical use of this jive lingo: A recently-deceased cool cat had had the following words engraved on his gravesite marker prior to his passing: "DON'T DIG ME, CATS - I'M GONE!"

Thanks for the link to the article on Dan Burley. I knew about the reprint of the Dan Burley Jive handbook but for some reason never bought it. Maybe it was because I regretted they had needlessly changed the cover (not for the better). Does your reprint at least look like the "inside" is an actual reprint that reproduces the 40s layout? The contents of the Cab Calloway "Cat-ologue" dictionaries must be online out there. About 20 years ago I found (on two different websites) and printed out lists of the Calloway dictionary that were described as the "Revised 1939 Edition" and a somewhat expanded list that seems to correspond to his "New Hepster's Dictionary" of 1944. The introduction to the "Revised 1939 edition" describes the glossary taken from the original booklet as "containing about two hundred words and expressions employed by the hep cats when they talk their jive, as Harlemese is called on Lenox Avenune. This is nearly twice the number of words included in the original glossary." So this is an indicator of the scope of the dictionary. I have no idea if these are still online on the same sites. But there are others. I just found this one that reproduces the 1944 version of the Hepster's Dictionary: https://dancesafari.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/The-Hepster’s-Dictionary.pdf This article (that I just discovered after googling) also is interesting as it provides a peek into the actual booklet and shows what the 1939 edition really looks like: https://graphicarts.princeton.edu/2021/03/04/a-hepsters-dictionary/ I wonder what they paid for their "acquisition" that they describe there. Googling shows there are couple of original copies for sale on various bookseller platforms. But the prices range from $1,000+ to some $3,000!

Yes, worth watching and listening to any time. Particularly since she has also been graced with excellent reissues (and in some cases first-time discoveries) in recent years.

Amazing ... I wasn't even aware that the ubiquitous BILLY bookcases by IKEA had such a CD insert spinoff too. The way my record collection has expanded in more recent years and is now occupying two Billy bookcases in an adjacent room as well (in addition to a wall of sturdier and modular shelves in my original music room) I'd be able to make good use of some of these inserts. But as they have been discontinued 10+ years ago as you say ...

I wouldn't disagree with you about 40 CDs being a bit much.

Given the masses of reissues, that's a touchy question and I doubt it is easier to answer than it was 21 years ago when the discussions in THIS thread were "hot". I've wondered about this myself. At any rate I think it MUST be one that goes across label boundaries. Ultraphone/Swing/Decca/Columbia/Rhythme etc. all would have to be included, regardless of who "owns" what. And then it all depends on the programming/compiling philosophy: Will it be Django Reinhardt with the QHCF and/or his solo/trio/"Django's Music" recordings only or will his sessions with other French band leaders (Alix Combelle, Philippe Brun, André Ekyan etc.) and visiting US musicians backed up by French groups (where Django always made important contributions IMO) be covered as well? Back in the vinyl days when I started out, the "Djangologie" series of some 20 LPs by EMI/Pathé probably was the most comprehensive and best-organized one. But of course it was limited to the labels linked to Pathé. And these were too much for my student funds anyway ... and I already had some on individual other LPs and could not afford dumping these. Later on (in the late 80s) I bought this 8-LP set on Affinity (UK) which gives a good cross-section (including his very interesting recordings with visiting US jazzmen) but is not comprehensive either, of course: https://www.discogs.com/release/5952389-Django-Reinhardt-Django Over time I picked up most of those LPs from the Djangologie series that more or less fill the gaps left by this Affinity box. Plus some "outliers" such as the sessions from Belgium, Italy, the session with US musicians from 1945, etc. But if I wanted to be still more comprehensive yet I'd have to almost start from scratch and get the Frémeaux CD series - as the "Intégrale - Saison 1 to 3" box sets which include 40 CDs. Which from all I've read and heard would be the most definitive multi-disc compilation today. They are listed at a shade over 60 EUR per box set on Amazon - which sounds like a fair price. And above all a way better deal than buying twenty 2-CD sets. https://www.amazon.nl/s?k=Django+reinhardt+Intégrale+Frémeaux&crid=1DJ95NVEHL3SM&sprefix=django+reinhardt+intégrale+frémeaux%2Caps%2C89&ref=nb_sb_noss BTW, talking about value for money, some years ago I picked up the below P.D. set of 10 CDs secondhand at a special sale locally for the huge amount of 1 (one!) EUR: https://www.discogs.com/release/4287199-Django-Reinhardt-Djangology If found very cheaply, it is an OK gap filler for non-completists. It includes most everything of the studio recordings from April 1937 to July 1943 (search me why they cover this time span), and the fidelity is good. Sure, its presentation is basic, no session details at all, but at such a minimum investment this can be overcome if you have a decent Django Reinhardt discography (which I think I have). And at any rate, working your way through his discographical work to see what you have and don't have on any given multi-disc set (below the level of the Freméaux packages) and where you can fill any remaining gaps most efficiently can still be a long-winding affair. Better not to be a completist ...

Yes, that's a well-done book. I bought my copy in 2011. The chapters on the various labels provide good overviews that are not extensive but detailed enough for most purposes, but for some labels that are really well-documented you instinctively use this book more as an appetizer and then reach for the more comprehensive ones (such as Colin Escott's "Good Rockin' Tonight" on Sun Records). I've also found this book is usefully combined with the label chapters in the "Both Sides Now" online album discography on labels such as King or Duke-Peacock. As for them not saying anything bad (or not much, really) about the men behind the labels, could this be one reason why they chose not to do a chapter on Savoy Records, for example, I wonder? At any rate, I think Herman Lubinsky was way more controversial than Syd Nathan.

A nice one! Bought an original through eBay sometime in the early 2000s and then made several photocopied and staspled sets (with color cover and all) and passed them on to cats in today's hepcats scene around here. All copies were snapped up in no time at all. Sometime ago (while searching for Down Besats, I think) I noticed it's now online and dowmloaded the file "just in case". I wonder when someone is going to put Dan Burley's Jive dictionary online (not just the bare contents - they are somewhere out there, as is the one by Cab Calloway) but the exact facsimile. Here's a more recent publication for recommended reading on the same subject: https://www.amazon.com/Straight-Fridge-Dad-Dictionary-Hipster/dp/0767908406

Talking about liner notes (those that were not just obvious sales blurb for a brand-new release), I think most people would he hard pressed to decide whose body of work overall was on a higher level - Nat Hentoff or Ira Gitler. One fact that also came to mind (without wanting to slight the achievements of Nat Hentoff in ANY waY) - I seem to have read somewhere that Hentoff probably would not have been too keen on seeing some of his early record reviews for Down Beat from the 50s being recirculated in later decades. Becauses his assessments had changed. And though I cannot name precise examples right now (I would have to re-read in detail) I remember having felt similarly when reading the early volumes of those Down Beat Record Reviews books. There were instances that left you wondering what his judgment would have been, say, 10 year later.

Great find!

Your recommendation of the Savoy 2-LP set is seconded. (Must be "The Most Versatile Band in the Land" - Savoy SJL 2261 with tracks from the Hit and Majestic labels that were bought up by Savoy). 17 or the 24 tracks are arranged by Sauter. But to those triggered by the music examples in your post: the three Youtube tracks you have linked to are not on that set. All three originally were recorded for RCA and were on a 1955 RCA Camden LP, according to the discographies. "Cyclops" and "Idiot's Delight" also are on "Howdy Friends" (Limited Edition LP 102).

You aren't wrong. Writeups from German jazz sources mentioned him as a sort of pioneer of "third stream" in jazz (which was a big thing over here in the 50s and 60s - obviously there were many who did not dare to stray too far from good old classical music into outright "toe-tapping" jazz and felt more comfortable when they still had their aural reference points reminding them of classical music ). The third stream as heard elsewhere is not that evident to me all in all with the Sauter recordings (and the "Eddie Sauter in Germany" LP I mentioned certainly is not as far out as the concert piece from the Donaueschingen festival that Ghost of Miles speaks of in his text for his Night Lights show, but then Donaueschingen always was a meeting place for the "weirdos in jazz" ). But a certain tendency is there, and I also am among those who need to be in the mood to really dig the Eddie Sauter scores. FWIW, just before Christmas I bought an original copy of the Sauter-Finegan's "Return of the Doodletown Fifers" on United Artists, and my first listening impression was that I need to revisit the record later when I am more in the mood for this. (Which often does happen, as I do enjoy my doses of Kentons, Raeburns and Thornhills too. File under "another chapter in progressive jazz", then! )

I had missed this radio show the earlier times round, so it is a nice reminder. Just one detail about the script about your show that's accessible under your link: Eddie Sauter made much more of a splash here on the German jazz scene than is apparent from your rather short mention of his activities in Germany. And he really added a asting page of history to late 50s jazz here. As for the reasons hinted at why his stay with that radio big band ended, it is certainly much less "problematic" than your text sounds. It all boiled down to the permanent problem that no big band in those settings could survive at that time on an all-out jazz repertoire, so a percentage of more commercial "dance band tunes" had to be accommodated. And this contrast probably grated Eddie Sauter more in the long run than it would have certain other band leaders. But it wasn't really a question of the perception of the quality of Sauter's work as such by the deciders. Recommended listening for everyone: the 2-LP set "Eddie Sauter in Germany" on Big Band International 2706. BTW, admittedly I have not looked in detail at the texts accompanying your shows past and present for some time, but I see now that you no longer have a setlist of the tunes broadcast during a show (so that the readers can check beforehand what they will be listening to). Pity, because these setlists came in handy ...

Happy to report that the promised Amazon delivery date was kept - I just freed my copy of this book from my mailbox. Contents look promising after quickly flipping through it - and it's a print-on-demand job indeed: "Printed by Libri Plureos GmbH in Hamburg, Germany". But a neat job, so nothing to complain about this printing procedure - which definitely seems to make delivery more reliable and speedier. Pity only that the Pacific Jazz book by James Harrod will take another 3 months or so to arrive. I am tempted to get started on this Prestige book very soon but OTOH would have liked to read both books one right after another or both in parallel. Seeing and comparing two appraches to two different label histoires would no doubt be interesting (and instructive).

I received my shipping notice yesterday (9 January), and delivery is still announced for next Monday (12 January). Keeping my fingers crossed now ... Am really looking forward to that book. Though I am sorry to say that the earlier "Listening To Prestige" session presentation Vol. 1 (1949-53) I ordered and received before Christmas, though really interesting, is a bit of a mixed bag (or "uneven", to put it another way) IMO and to the extent I've so far read it.

You made me hesitate, but I checked the early posts in this thread again and I see that on 24 June last year I posted "10 months till publication might be an unbearably long time, though." Which does indicate April 2026. So it's good to see everything seems to be going to plan with readying the book for publication. (It has happened before that long-awaited books have been been postponed almost endlessly) So I'm definitely looking forward to April.

Am I totally mistaken or hasn't the release & delivery date for that book been April 2026 all along? At least that's what amazon.de said all the time.

Yes - my copy (published by University Press of Mississippi according to the title page) is marked "Printed in France by Amazon, Bretigny-sur-Orge, FR" on the final page inside.

The reason I was asking was that the publishing details on amazon.de indicate "Excelsior Editions" as the publisher, and that's all. Same as for the "Jazz With A Beat" book of 2024 (which clearly was a "print-on-demand" printing according to the "small print" on the final page). So this had me wondering about the distribution of this book. I see on amazon.com (USA) now that "Excelsior Editions/State University of New York Press" is indicated on that site. Not that I find anything wrong with the print-on-demand process (at least for virtually all of the books I so far have received that way) but this maes me wonder if maybe they are not shipping actual paper copies to be stocked at Amazon warehouses around the globe to fulfill worldwide orders far from the USA but have a file at some printing certer (or several such centers) on other continents and print according to orders received and ship from there. Well, we'll see once it arrives ... My order is now indicated for delivery here on 12 January (next Monday), i.e. the originally indicated delivery date. OTOH it has not yet been marked "shipped".

A question just out of curiosity to those who already received their copies: Supposing the copies you ordered and received are paperbacks, are your books actual publications (and printings) by a publisher and his in-house (or subcontracted) printer (as it used to be the case with books for almost as long as books exist) or are they book copies produced as "print on demand" items (as it increasingly has become the case in recent years, particularly with books on niche subjects). My copy of Tad Richards' "Jazz with a Beat" (Excelsior Editions too) received in 2024 has a small printer's imprint on the final page that says "Milton Keynes UK Ingram Content Group UK Limited" (as did certain other books I ordered via Amazon at about the same time), and my copy of "Listening to Prestige Vol. 1, 1949-1953" (originally published in 2015) received last December has the following imprint on the last page: "Printed in Poland by Amazon Fulfillment, Warsaw". So both clearly "print-on-demand" jobs. Both books look and are perfectly OK as paperbacks, but since different printing centers are probably used depending on where the book is ordered and shipped to, this might perhaps explain the differences in respecting the publication deadlines indicated up front.

I see your point and you are totally right about the vinyl hype negatively affecting the "going price" of newly pressed vinyl. Yet I wonder if that music would have been pressed at all if there had not been this hype. The silliest thing about this hype, however, IMO is the prices charged for newfangled "collectible" series that contain music that has been round the reissue block a zillion times before, including on vinyl. (Need I say "Blue Note" or would this be heresy? ) However (and please beasr with me if i am a bit outspoken in what follows ), as for this statement of yours, "And that this resurgence is clearly distorting reissues with bonus material suppressed that should be available on any CD reissues", first of all I cannot see there is any obligation to include "bonus material" on any CD reissues. (Besides, isn't there a clear distinction between "previously unreleased or previously orphaned extra tracks" from the session(s) that the core reissue is all about on the one hand and oft-touted "bonus tracks" that actually are a more or less vaguely related number of tracks (often an incomplete (!!) second LP) to somewhat augment the playing time of the CD reissue? This latter kind of bonus material can be an asset but sometimes is downright expendable IMO and is likely to be a buying decision only to relative newbies. And secondly, since you are displeased with vinyl reissues that are limited to the contents of the orignal LPS (which is understandable, given the usual practices of many other labels on the reissue market at large), were/are you just as dissatisfied (and vocal in your discontent) with those CD reissues (from Japan, in particular) that also stuck to the exact LP contents (as outlined in my post yesterday in this topic)? So could these complaints about not giving the buyer extra tracks be related to VINYL in the first place at all?

Sleuthing indeed. Hats off! It is this sort of "grassroots" research of what seems to be minor details at first (superficial) sight that actually fleshes out ANY page of history!

Not so sure ... and not because I'd be against peace, unity and love: I realize the "what vinyl are you spinning" thread was started here when vinyl was not yet subject to a resurgence of interest and an ultimate hype in some areas and therefore stressed the particular nature of music on vinyl - as oposed to the then more current formats and media. (Or so I have always understood it ...) And even as it is used today, posting there just might (rightfully) place the accent on the fact that it its precisely music on VINYL that people are spinning. And bypassing those occasional posts that (to me anyway) look just a bit like "showing off" ( along the underhanded lines of "look what supreme pressing I have!" ) , it will certainly be of interest to some (SOME! Others, please disregard! ;)) what someone listens to on vinyl and WHY it is vinyl or any particular release/pressing on vinyl that does it for him, etc. Whereas the generic "What are you listening to" thread places the accent elsewhere and not on one specific format and this can and will lead to different slants in the discussions or feedback. Besides, at any rate I'd guess anyone is free to post even what he listens to on vinyl in the "What are you listening to" thread (which does NOT exclude vinyl, does it? ). But forcing everything together in ONE single thread would make this too much of a hodgepodge IMHO. Nothing to really be gained from that. So this is a classic case of pros and cons that cannot please everyone. Besides, what is begining to baffle me a bit here is that there really seem to be some who feel vinyl fans are way too touchy if they ask not to see their preferred format dismissed too harshly - and then these "non-vinyl" people in turn seem to find nothing wrong with being touchy enough themselves to make a point of publicly announcing they are going to avoid the vinyl forum or vinyl discussions. Is that really necessary? And is it necessary to dig confrontational trenches just because of such petty matters? I hope it all boils down to just some misunderstanding once the dust has settled and everyone has slept it over. And please remember, those of you who feel you are not leaning towards the vinyl camp, for every release or reissue that is "vinyl only" (which seems to be a bone of contention and starting point for quite a few critical remarks about vinyls as such) there are and have been dozens (no, hundreds!) of CD-only releases and reissues over time, and nowadays an increasing number of "download or streaming only" releases as well. So everyone always loses out somewhere unless he equally adopts ALL formats in his listening and/or collecting hobby. But "I've dumped my turntable XX years ago and resent being forced into a situation where I would be forced to obtain one again because I want to listen to that music" should really not be a criterion, should it? ...