Big Beat Steve

Which period/styles of rock are you particularly interested in? And are you looking for a reference book or a "history" book? As far as OLDER styles of rock (roughly pre-1980) go, I like The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll (Jim MiIler), Rolling Stone Press/Random House 1976 And despite what others will probably say about how bad and outdated it is, I still occasionally refer to Lilian Roxon's Rock Encyclopedia (first published in 1969) Also, as far as older rock styles go, today I find it amazing how long I managed to do without ROCK ON - The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock'n'Roll by Norm N. Nite (a book I had seen referenced countless times in the past). I have limited myself to Vol. 1 The Solid Gold Years (1955-64) but there are more Vols. covering the later decades and evolutions of rock. The capsule bios and chart discographies ARE fairly basic for serious ("advanced") listeners and fans but it provides a LOT of reference info at a glance so if you can pick up cheap copies, go ahead ... There are a few German ones that I have come to like (and that have been seen updated and revised editions ever since I bought mine) but they would not fit your bill language-wise, i guess. OTOH, did you check this? http://www.robinbook.com/sello/libros_tema/id_sello/4/id_tema/20 They got several books on various fields of rock, it seems. I bought the Heavy Metal book for my son a while back. He is HEAVILY (literally ) into HM but wasn't doing too brilliantly in Spanish in high school so I got him this book and urged him to "read up on something you REALLY LIKE in that foreign language and learn in passing without even realizing you're learning!!" This approach had got me jump-started into top grades in school at the time and does work for him to some extent now too - so this is why I am aware of this Spanish publisher. In general, i am a bit wary of those generalistic "history" or "introduction" books pretending to cover such topics as "rock" (or "jazz", for that matter). Rock has become such an extremely wide field that such books are bound to be very, very superficial and leave you unsatisfied. My music bookshelves are crammed full too but I have found more specialist books focusing on my "special interest" areas are better suited, even if they still are relatively "general-purpose". But there are a LOT books out there for about every niche or style so you only have to choose ...

It would have been interesting to know what Friedrich Gulda (or one of those third-streamers) would have had to say about this. Or if André Previn felt he had to overcome a perceptible difficulty when he got into jazz in the 40s and would have had to "switch" as described in that paper.

The problem seems to have existed for many, many decades. Some seem to have found a way to cope with it, though. I remember seeing a 40s photograph from one of those old New Orleans dance halls in a book or mag I have seomewhere (but can't quite remember which one so can't retrieve it right now) where a cardboard panel on the wall to the side of the bandstand anounced the rates for playing requests. A number of standards had a tag of 50c or $1 but HIGH SOCIETY was $5!!

If you buy Sonet vinyl, be careful about the condition if you buy older (late 50s/early to mid-60s) pressings from Denmark (probably not a problem with later/70s etc. pressings - my 70s UK-licensed Sonet pressings all are fine, for example). Sometimes they can be lousy as hell - inclusions of foreign matter in the vinyl that stand out like a wart, bubbles in the surface that are visible from a mile way etc. The actual pressing qulaity of Sonet was probably fine but what good is this if the material has all sorts of inclusions or bubbling? No idea what they threw in the mixture at the time or if their vinyl aged particularly badly or whatever, but I haven't even seen such VISIBLY lousy pressing quality with those typical Crown LPs from way back.

Like I said - his entire Decca recordings (including the 1945 Carnegie Hall concert) WERE reissued on 10 LPs on German MCA in the 70s. Never heard of a European CD reissue, though. I hadn't realized later reissues of this stuff were that patchy. Too bad ... Two months ago I could have picked up most of the LPs from that series for a song - but didn't as I have 9 of the 10 LPs myself (and the contents of the one missing are all on the 5 LPs from French MCA reissued a bit later that I also have). I tended to pick up interesting LPs (that I WISHED I could have found at that price when I bought mine years ago) here and there and tried to pass them on to potentially interested collectors but have become a bit wary of this as no matter how good a deal you try to make those who ought to know an opportunity all too often prefer to be picky-picky along the "not now" and "oh well you know ..." lines. Their loss ...

Thanks from me too. Never would have thought about looking in that direction (when I last checked the "Swedish Jazzdiskografi" on the visarkiv.se website did not list this session or the Anagram CD). But for the record, then (literally ...), these concert excerpts have also been issued on the CD that came with the "Jazz in Köln seit 1945" book by Robert von Zahn published by Emons in 1997. And more recently the entire session was also recycled (reissued) as an "extra" in the "mod record cologne - Gigi Campi: Jazz in West Germany 1954-1956" reissue box set released by Be!Sharp Records a couple of years ago.

So Classics ought to have covered the Decca years ... Too bad the leftovers or secondhand copies now fetch such outragous prices. Only the first ones ... the later Vols. all had 15 to 16 tracks per LP. The collator who compiled those LPs at the time for MCA once told me that the total number of tracks included (12, 14 or 16) was a matter of the German MCA branch's pricing policy. More tracks - higher price bracket. Though I did not notice this at the time in the shops. The MCA reissues usually were priced quite evenly, regardless of the number of tracks.

It's not just the "godmothers". Sonny Parker was no slouch among the blues shouters either, for example (of course his early death contributed to him being a forgotten figure). And at any rate the Hampton band ALWAYS was much more than just a background for some "chirp". I know you meant differently but please don't get others started on the "commercial" tag. He had been blamed for that often enough elsewhere and before. Unfairly and unjustified IMO. Everyone still fronting a big band at that time was out to make money (so "commercial" is a silly ltag, even in hindsight) and he manged to do so with GUTS. And becoming not only an elder statesman of swing (including mainstream jazz that evolved from it) but also a forefather (or "godfather" if you want) not only of R&B but also of rock'n'roll (the REAL and original 50s variety, not what sailed under that flag later), managing to straddle this fence safely and capture his share of the audience among all these target audiences, was no mean feat IMO. Even if only to prove that viable and valuable facets of jazz remained exuberant and suitable for dancing. BTW, did you never grab that 10-LP series done by German MCA in the 70s?

Indeed there doesn't seem to be much on CD from that period, except that the CD set you allude to seems to have ben redone in 2002 ... (How far did they ever get with reissuing the Hampton recordings in the Chronological Classics CD series before tht series folded?) I guess this recording period was covered that extensively in the LP era (notably on German MCA, and the 5 LPs on French MCA in the Jazz Heritage series also provide very good though not complete coverage) that reissuers have not found it profitable enough to re-reissue everything in the same manner again. It is amazing, though, after all these years that have passed since. Or maybe the 40s Hamp still is considered too rambunctious for the "finer" tastes of the jazz sophisticates?

"Late Summer" with a playing time of 7:04 (might correspond to the 6:59 above if you are liberal with counting lead-in/lead-out seconds) and the entire Cologne sessions of 17 and 21 January 1956 for the Carisch label were reissued about 20 years agon on the (Danish) Swingtime label (another one from the Official P.D. stable) and on other Italian labels. The discographies I have on hand do not list a second version or alternate take from this session.

Not wanting to derail the topic at this early stage but since you mentioned others outside Dick Tracy and curious about your opinion: What do you think of "The Toonerville Trolley" by Fontaine Fox? I perused a collection of these cartoons (republished in 1972 by Scribner's) in my school days in the 70s at our local Amerika Haus library and found it very, very funny for its mixture of odd and original (quirky, in fact) characters, sly humor and caricature of backwoodsiness (that wasn't all that backwoodsy if you read closely) - and the intentionally "peculiar" use of the English language no doubt added to its interest at a time when you still attended English classes at school (that obviously were rather stiff by comparison). The Amerika Haus closed long ago but in fact the memory remained and some 12 years ago I finally picked up a copy of that very book on eBay.

I suppose a copy from 1970 still available directly from JH would be a REPRINT? These reprints are of superb quality, though. A few years ago I bought 4 issues from the 40s and 50s (that I had been unable to find as originals via the usual online sources to complete my JH collection of 1945 to 1961) via their online shop and was (and stilll am) very impressed with the reprint quality. Though it's a bit of a pity that their price per copy has gone up from 10 to 15 EUR in the meantime. Bonne année!

I sent a mail a few days before Christmas to inquire about their intentions to stock the Savory set and they replied (affirmatively) the same day with a very friendly mail. Maybe they are slowing down between Christmas and New Year (festive season) right now too?

RIP and thanks for your contributions. He always appeared very much down to earth to me.

A much larger-sized scan image would help.

I would't totally disagree with you. I pull out the CD about once a year and find it quite OK and fitting for the calm and relaxed Christmas Eve setting so I enjoy it each time. But I can well imagine some of the tunes come across better when performed live in a suitable setting. In general, what I find a bit of a drag about some bands fo this type is that they often come across as too "clean". They seem to be too intent on showing all facets of their instrumental skills and forget to just "BLOW". The violinist on this one, for example ought to have listened a bit less to latter-day Joe Venuti and Eddie South but more to Stephane Grapelly or even to Stuff Smith. I've only one other HCSF CD (bought after recommendations on this board along with the above one years ago) but when it comes to today's "Hot Club" small groups, I do prefer the Hot Club of Cowtown.

All I know is that THIS kind of Christmas tree "decoration" would make me feel freezin' icy cold in no time at all ... http://www.shorpy.com/node/505?size=_original#caption Different traditions, I guess ...

Merry Xmas and a music-laden New Year to everybody ...

You've memorized your Ross Russell well ...

I've had this for about 20 years now. Usualy i like to pair/mix it with this one: https://www.discogs.com/de/Various-Mr-Santas-Boogie-Santas-Secret/release/3909425 Re-your reference to Wardell/Dexter's Jingle Jangle Jump, how about combining it with Tom Archia's "Swinging for Christmas" feat. Gene Ammons (Aristocrat 606, reissued several times, including in the Classics (B&R) series).

Just had a peek in. Looked OK to me.

As it happens this LP is on the Charlie Parker Records "The Complete Collection" box set that (of course) also features the "BIrd is Free" LP referred to above. https://www.amazon.com/Charlie-Parker-Records-Complete-Collection/dp/B006ZUKBJ4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1513878154&sr=8-1&keywords=charlie+parker+records+the+complete+collection (a bit overpriced there, though ...)

King Ubu is right from his point of view, but although I do not know what your approach to jazz from this period is, I'll try to make it more succinct: IMO it is essential to anybody who loves swing-era jazz. Because it adds something new and something substantial to the recorded history of a music where most if not all has been thought to have been discovered and out long ago. (o.k., not counting Benny Goodman ... ) And while I am not holding my breath on this I still hope somehow that some day someone who has been digging through the discs and (?) reels of this find will come up and say "Hey, I just discovered Mr Savory DID record that 1943 Earl Hines big band too!" Btw, any news yet from Jazzmessengers that they will get this in stock too? (Just wondering whether to preorder direct or wait for Jazzmessengers to get on board)

This unfortunate way of adding "bonuses" to pretend the buyer gets extra value through extra playing time of a CD has been going on for a long time and is neither flesh nor fowl IMO as often the extra material is added at random. I did not particularly like this with certain Fresh Sound reissues (as these bonuses often split up existing sessions so do not add much for those who'd like sessions in their entirety so if they get the entire sessions somewhere else these bonuses are useless - if they do not already have them anyway) but this has also happened with reissues on other labels. So there are many guilty parties. Even if it is not even a matter of "thieves" (non-retroactive P.D. laws, remember? ) In this particular case, however, I cannot see how the buyer could have been misled. The back cover clearly says where the extra tracks came from and since the lineup is a totally different one it cannot have come from the Up at Minton's session anyway. Reading the fine print of line-ups and recording dates has become a required art IMO ever simce they started to reissue stuff on CD. Too much attempts (often inept ones) to fill up CDs with RANDOM (instead of carefuly collated) tracks when the original LP playing time would have been a bit meager. And is that Comin' On session really that obscure - release/reissue-wise? What I find much more annoying when it comes to misleading buyers in the reissue field is crediting recordings to persons who NEVER were the original leaders of the session (and in some cases not even the #1 featured soloist) and not even mentioning this in the "fine print". Has happened VERY often with artist compilations. Of course it is tempting to market the music under a name that became a "major" name after the (original) fact but these reissues actually should be labeled as V.A. reissues. (Wishful thinking? Yes, of course, but still ...)